By Rikki MacCuish
Special to the Times Review
It’s one thing to be a DJ and quite another to be a music producer. Spinning fresh tracks that have been cultivated by your own very ears and fingers is not only a rewarding experience but turns the audience on as well.
Stickybuds, aka Tyler Martens, a popular breaks and ghetto funk producer and DJ from Kelowna, B.C., will be headlining Funk Yes, presented by local Astral Mountain Productions, on Thursday, Feb 10, at Outabounds Nightclub.
Martens is starting a tour that is taking him all the way down to Brazil and over to the UK. With a number one release – a collaboration remix of “King of the Bongo” and “Stickybuds Guaranteed” with Deekline and Ed Solo on Juno Records – currently under his belt, Martens has been making his mark in the electronic music world, churning out massive songs and getting play by top producers such as A Skillz from the U.K.
Between tours, teaching music production at the Center for Arts and Technology in Kelowna and producing his own music, Martens says he hardly finds time to catch up.
“Literally, I spend all my free time in my studio aside from maybe one night on the weekend where I’ll leave my house to go interact with humans and feel normal,” he says. “I have had a ton of deadlines to hit lately . . . but it’s been good and very productive.”
Martens will be heading off for his U.K. and Brazil tour shortly after the show in Revelstoke and will also be playing at summer festivals such as Shambhala Music Festival, where he’s held a resident spot for six years at the Fractal Forest stage.
Playing for massive crowds is nothing new to Martens. He recalls one of his first shows ever played in Brazil:
“It was a massive, city-wide block party and there were over 2,500 people there,” he says. “It was my first big party in that country and it was something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
But as crazy as it gets sometimes, Martens always comes back to the studio, constantly inspired to keep creating.
“I think being a producer is a constant evolution,” he says. “Every week I learn new techniques through research, experimentation and watching tutorials from other producers. There are so many different ways to produce tracks, or ways to treat audio . . . I think as a whole my productions have gotten a lot tighter.”
Tickets for the Feb. 10 Funk Yes show in Revelstoke are $10 at the door. Attendees are encouraged to wear their best retro gear and get ready to tear up the dance floor. For more information on the event visit www.astralmountainproductions.wordpress.com or contact 250-814-4845.
