Making it in the music industry does have a formula for success…

…but every road is different, and so is everyone’s journey. No one knows this more than UK producer, artist, promoter and former agent Mickey Marr. With over a decade of experience in multiple positions throughout the scene, Mickey is looking to make his name stand out in lights and move his career to the next level. Will the founder of NextGen Artists be the next generation of trance artists? Only time will tell, but his drive, passion and focus have the odds in his favor.

First, thank you for taking the time to sit with me today. How have you been? It was great catching up with you at this year’s Luminosity. What were some highlights for you at this year’s event?

Thank you so much for having me on Danielle, and it was great to see you at Luminosity also. Well, what can I say about Luminosity? There were so, so many highlights this year, pretty much every set I saw was absolutely amazing! Stand-out sets for me, I would have to say, Alex Di Stefano, Gentech, Key4050, Jak Aggas, Renegade System, Metta & Glyde and Billy Gillies to name a few. Jordan Suckley, Shugz and John Askew absolutely killed it also! So many good sets it was hard to choose from.

You recently posted that you would be playing Adrenalin Sessions ASOT 1000 after party with Next Gen artists. But last year you stepped away from the agency. One, why did you fold or stop the agency? Playing a gig like this with your former artists does it make you miss running the agency? Is this something you would consider going back to in the future? Why or why not?

When I closed NextGen, it was to concentrate on my own musical journey and once my manager Amanda Vanderheyden announced me on the HQ Bookings roster it was hard for me to say no to joining another agency, but I decided to give it a go and see what we can all do together. To be honest, when I started NextGen Artists, I never really imagined it would become as big, as quickly as it did. I gave myself a 10-year plan to see how it would roll so I armed the agency with the best up and coming talent there was. Before I knew it, there were NextGen logos on most flyers which was amazing to see. It got me seeing a different side to the industry in a good way. DJ’ing I’ve always done, throughout whatever industry activity I was doing, so from running labels to putting on events, it was always in my blood to play out.

Adrenalin Sessions ASOT 1000 afterparty is one I’m really looking forward to, having played at the last one in 2019. There was such a great vibe from the crowd. It’s even more special that a few of the other guys from NextGen will be playing also. I’ve actually played with the NextGen crew quite a few times as we’ve all pretty much become really good friends and still support each other. I’m not sure I’ll miss running an agency as much as I’ll miss seeing the successes the guys were getting but thankfully a lot of them have gone onto bigger and better things which I’m really proud of. Would I go back? Never say never.

Your duo MayMarr has some solid tracks and a great performance under its belt at the HTE weekender.  How did this duo come about? What is in the future for you two?

I’ve known Laura May for quite a few years, as we only live about 10 minutes from each other in the same town. When I played hard house under my Mickey Crilly name, I remember Laura from those days, then we both started making trance, which definitely had elements of the harder side, we started bouncing ideas between each other and realized that there is a huge gap in the market for a male and female duo within the scene. With the agency closed, I was able to fully focus on MayMarr and my own journey. We have so much planned at the moment with Amanda at HQ Bookings, with a lot of interest coming in from the USA so that’s going to be one of the main focuses for us both! Music-wise, after the huge success of Energise on HQ Recordings, we’ve already got stacks of ideas ready for our next tunes which we will be starting soon. Our main aim is to bring that old-skool hard house element into the techno and trance scene with some fresh sounding productions.

You have worn a few different hats in the music scene, from DJ to producer, promoter, agent, etc. If you could only do one job, what would it be and why?

All of them are great roles to have, albeit stressful but if I had to pick one it would be DJ, the sheer buzz you get from seeing people dancing to what you spin, there is literally no other feeling like it. Happy vibes!

You have been involved in the music scene for quite some time. What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back in time?

Twelve years in the music industry has certainly taught me that you’ve got to crawl before you walk, the amounts of knock backs that come in this industry are vicious and it can really affect your drive to continue, so just keep going, things will eventually start to click.

Finally, if you could only live by one motto, what would it be and why?

My favorite motto is ‘At the end of the game the King and the Pawn go into the same box’ so go all out! I love that motto, everyone is chasing the same dream, but some, are doing it better than others so adapt and keep moving forward and stay true to what you want.