Founder of one of the UK's biggest dance record labels Hed Kandi, Mark Doyle is a UK based nightclub DJ & headliner of his club event parties Fierce Angels, which holds events around the globe.
Mark also hosts a radio show on Jazz FM every week, which is broadcast in over 12 countries worldwide. This year Fierce Angels will be celebrating 5 successful years in the business & their popularity just keeps on growing & growing.

Here I speak to Mark about Hed Kandi, Fierce Angels & generally just pick his brains ;)

You founded one of the UKs biggest dance labels Hed Kandi back in 1999. Where did your inspiration for that idea come from & did you feel there was a gap in the market at that time?

MD: The inspiration came pure and simple from the fact that I took a look around and being a clubber / DJ / music lover from the mid eighties I just didn’t think there were any CD’s that really were being produced and marketed for a slightly older target audience. In the late 90’s there were simply tons of “dance” compilations put together by big name DJ’s, they all featured many of the same tracks and were fairly interchangeable. My inspiration was the compilations I used to buy in the eighties likes Streetsounds & Mastercuts. They were great compilations that featured full 12” mixes and weren’t driven by having big commercial hits on them.
So the idea for a great quality driven compilation series that was collectable and featured great music pure and simple seemed a bit of a no brainer !

Why did you feel it was time to pass on the reins of Hed Kandi & start a new project?

MD: Part of what made Hed Kandi great was that I was pretty much left alone to do my own thing whether is seemed like a sound business decision at the time or not. This was because Hed Kandi was owned by the company I worked for “Jazz FM.” As a Jazz radio station the directors of the company pretty much left me to my own devices and as long as I didn’t lose loads of money I was allowed to take the company in the direction I wanted. Unfortunately as businesses get bigger and more successful you come under more pressure and scrutiny to keep the money coming in. While Jazz FM was a small radio station and run by it’s original directors this was fairly easy but when it was taken over by The Guardian Media Group things changed quite drastically. Quite simply towards the end we were becoming more and more successful but it was a daily battle to keep the business where I thought it should be.
Eventually I decided that my own personal happiness was more important than the paycheck ..and moved on.

I'm a big old skool fan! How do you think the clubscene & dance music has changed since the 90s? And do you feel it's for the better?

MD: There’s always the argument that nothing was ever as good as it was in the old days ... I say it, my parents say it and no doubt in 10 years times the clubbers of today will say it. The only constant in life is things move on and change. You can spend the whole of your life looking over your shoulder and wishing for the old days or try and do something about it now.. The club scene is an awful lot harder than it used to be and the current state of the economy doesn’t help much .. But then the flipside to that is there is a huge worldwide clubbing market to experience. In terms of music styles change and certain things have their moment in the spotlight but great true soulful house music is always there..and it’s great labels like Fierce, Defected, Z Record and Strictly (to name a few) that keep that flame burning. The internet has definitely opened up the market to hearing lots more music it’s just a shame people feel the need to steal it rather than pay for other peoples hard work.

Do you have a favourite club either here in the UK or anywhere else in the world that you love to play at & feel really at home?

MD: There are so many of them ..we are incredibly lucky to work with some amazing venues off the top of my head I would say The Wright Venue in Dublin, Barcelona Ultra Lounge in Vancouver, Es Vive in Ibiza, Stereolab in Singapore.

Fierce Angels has been a great success, especially in the UK & Ibiza, but also other parts of the world too! What do your nights bring to the dancefloor that other club events may not?

MD: A sense of fun and a bloody good time. We don’t for one minute think we are a super cool brand and we don’t rely on superstar DJ’s so Fierce Angel is all about the atmosphere and the music and providing an amazing night.

Is there a particular DJ who has inspired you over the years & is there anyone recently that has caught your attention?

MD: DJ’s that inspire me include Joey Negro, Erick Morillo, Simon Dunmore, Masters At Work, Frankie Knuckles and the list goes on and on .... More recently our newest residents are certainly leading the way with great music and they include Verity Mayes, Martin Wright and Marc Rowell.

If I say some words that you can only reply back with one word, how would you answer these? :-

Ibiza - HOME
Music – YES!
Mark Doyle - WORKAHOLIC
DJ – CONDUCTOR
Bass – ESSENTIAL
Dancing – COMPULSORY
Glow sticks – MUSEUM
Old skool – HISTORY

And lastly could you share a piece of your knowledge to best advise someone who wanted to start a career as a DJ/Producer?

MD: Don’t expect to fall into a gig because you’ve got 20 great records from Beatport and can use Serato effortlessly. Technical skill is great but experience and a wide taste in music is essential in making a good DJ a great DJ is about working your backside off and putting yourself out there.

Editors note: Thank you very much Mark for taking the time to share your vast knowledge with us, we wish you well in all that you do =)