Mark Wise will have you feeling the heat with his heavy metal-techno hybrid The Fire Within — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
The New Jersey artist crafts an original and essential sound that connects the guitar-driven rock of his youth to the digital realm of his current evolution on his explosive and intense new release. Wise’s sonic and stylistic amalgam makes it clear he shares a dedicated passion for both genres, mixing them together with care to create a harmonic space where much musical mischief can ensue.
“I grew up listening to grunge, classic rock, and various shades of metal, and this release is the culmination of my entire musical journey,” he says. “From getting into grunge as a little kid in the mid-’90s, to taking up percussion in fifth grade, playing in a band with friends in high school, starting to DJ in college, finishing my first ever electronic production in 2011, picking up guitar in my mid 20s, and taking on the Mark Wise name in 2017 and making techno my sole focus. All of it has led to this, and the day this was released … was one of the proudest days of my life.
“One strange thing, though,” he continues. “The most immediate and direct influences for my heavy metal-techno style were neither metal nor techno!! In the early months of Covid lockdown, I went through a malaise where I had no motivation to produce anything and wasn’t listening to any techno. I was watching a lot of a YouTuber … who teaches music theory and production by breaking down rock and pop music and explaining what’s happening. His content drastically improved my songwriting and production ability, and along with a reaction channel I was also watching exposed me to new musical influences I don’t think I ever would have discovered otherwise.
“Some of these artists were Harry Styles, Snarky Puppy and Royal Blood, and strangely enough, those three artists most directly led to my first heavy metal techno. Royal Blood was most significant in that regard. I would listen to their song Typhoons and find myself shuffle dancing during the chorus the exact same way I would dance to house or techno. That really put the idea in my head that I could put heavy guitar riffs over techno beats and led to my first heavy metal techno productions using a synthesized guitar sound. It was only once I started writing that the music I grew up on started to come through.”
Wise officially entered the techno scene in 2017 with the Loco Motive EP, a collaboration with Mike Stein. Over the next few years, he developed a unique sound blending elements of different styles like minimal, progressive, house, and trance, and this hybrid approach eventually led to him to blend heavy metal and techno. With tracks that have been supported by names like Carl Cox, Nakadia, Fjaak, Juliet Fox, Brennen Grey, Cristian Varela, Spartaque, Ilario Alicante, T78, Vikthor, Anna Reusch, Mosher, Sebastian Mora and Horatio, Wise has forged a unique techno sound that will make him a force for years to come.
Watch the video for The Fire Within above, hear more from Mark Wise below, and rock out with him on his website, Facebook and Instagram.
