Max Linen's Mr Pink on Paradiso Del Mundo

Named after an instruction on a steam iron, Max Linen is the nom de guerre for hugely experienced British duo Ror Roar and Leiam Sullivan (also better known by his DJ name of Mr Pink). As Max Linen, the pair rose to immediate prominence with their first ever co-production, remixing Joe Smooth's seminal acid house anthem Promised Land, following it up with their equally acclaimed own track Soul Shaker last year. Earlier this year, their latest single Paradiso Del Mundo debuted at Miami to the delight of house luminaries including Robbie Rivera, whose remix of the Gibaro-inspired tracks has been tearing up Ibiza throughout the summer.

While Roar's background includes A&R stints with legendary labels R&S and Skip n Slide, Leiam's journey through house has been more based in production (including Lisa Marie Experience and collaborations with Dave Joey Negro Lee). Both also continue to maintain high profile DJ careers (Leiam under his DJ persona of Mr Pink) throughout England and the world's better quality house clubs. For Leiam, it's been a long and highly rewarding journey from DJing at his local youth club in Rotherham, in 1989.

I've lived house since I was 12 years old and I can't get away from it," he told Skrufff's Jonty Adderley.


Skrufff (Jonty Adderley): You made Paradiso Del Mundo a while ago, was it originally aimed for Ibiza-

Max Linen: "Yeah, it was aimed for Ibiza, we always loved the whole Balearic that happened in Ibiza originally and Paradiso Del Mondo actually samples Gibaro, the old Balearic anthem. We wanted to update it and bring it back to the dance floors of today because it's a fantastic track and we wanted to put a different twist on it so we could play it as DJs. It was primarily for Ibiza but also for England."

Skrufff: Obviously Chicago has a great history in dance music terms, but what made you relocate their last year-

Max Linen: "I was signed to a label based there in 1993, a label called Minefield. We built a relationship over the years with lots of releases then the guy who owned the label started working for Mark Picchiotti over there and he got involved with some songwriters Keith Encarter and John Smith; John Smith had written for the Police while Keith had written for Madonna and Phil Bailey. The asked me to go over there and work as a producer for the whole song-writing team so I spent a year over there. I keep going back every six months for a few weeks to work on new material, then bring it back here (to the UK)."

Skrufff: Did you find much of a modern day house club scene there-

Max Linen: "No, to be honest. The scene which is happening there seems to be much more progressive. Derrick Carter used to play at the Metro on Tuesdays and Thursdays but that was probably the only house scene I came across. For stuff that's commercially accessible to the general public there didn't seem to be much at all, I found it quite depressing really."

Skrufff: How was the vibe there affected by the War on Terror, flying in and out-

Max Linen: "I was actually in England on September 11 but I had to fly back and spend the rest of the year there and I did feel a little uncomfortable, a little like being the next sitting target, waiting for the next attack to happen. I do try and avoid America at the moment, I'm still going there if I have to but the whole situation does scare me a little. If I lived there permanently, I'm sure I'd view the same way everyone else does out there but my base is in England and I much prefer to be here right now."

Skrufff: You DJ as Mr Pink, why do you like all these pseudonyms-

Max Linen: "The reason is because I like lots of different styles, from breakbeat, garage to much harder stuff and to put it all under one tag would confuse the buying public; I like the buying public to know what to expect from the next Mr Pink track. Hopefully, it will be different but it will be a type of music that they can trust and be familiar with."

Skrufff: How Tags

• max linen
• mr pink