Kevin McKay

Kevin McKay

Scottish DJ, producer and label owner Kevin McKay has a discography that spans the last 30 years. He hasproduced everything from world-renowned dance tracks to cult underground productions and has beenplaylisted by a wide range of DJs, fromthe late Andy Weatherall to David Guetta.Most recently, he revitalised the Pupa Nas-T and Denise Belfon song “Work”. His 2022 version has been amassive hit, topping the Beatport charts and getting played by countless A-list DJs. A UK club chart #1, thesingle was playlisted in radio stations worldwide and hit the Shazam charts on multiple continents.Most famously, he produced and mixed every track on Mylo’s platinum album “Destroy Rock & Roll”-including the 4 top 40 singles “Drop The Pressure”, “Destroy Rock & Roll”, “In My Arms”, “Muscle Car” andthe UK Number 3 hit “Doctor Pressure”. In addition, he was behind the Linus Loves album “Stage Invader” withits singles “The Terrace” and “Night Music” and the UK top 40 hit “Stand Back”.In the 90s, as onehalf of Muzique Tropique, he remixed Jori Hulkonnen, Larry Heard, Two Lone Swordsmenand Cassio. In addition, under his name, he remixed Romanthony, Mateo Matos, and Vince Watson. Throughthose productions, he appeared on Radio 1 Essential Selection mixesby Roger Sanchez and the late AndyWeatherall. Other DJs who playlisted McKay’s productions included Kiki, Matthias Tanzmann and LaurentGarnier.Kevin started his journey into production DJing in Glasgow in the 90s. Hanging out at the Sub Club, he listenedto local DJs Harri and Slam and their Nugroove, Italo House and Balearic Beats soundtrack. He began collecting12″ s from local stores 23rd Precinct and Raw Records and spent his nights making mixtapes to pass around thelocal bars and shops. He soon picked up a residency at The Tunnel, playing alongside guests such as Sasha,Masters At Work and Roger Sanchez. It was at one of his residencies he met Andy Carrick. Carrick was makingdance music and asked for Kevin’s help in making his music more DJ-friendly. They put together a 4 track EPand failing to get a record deal, Kevin decided to apply to the Prince’s Trust for the funding to self-release. Hisfirst label, Muzique Tropique launched in December 1994. Its debut release-the McKay/Carrick penned”Prelude To The Storm”-sold 2000 copies, and the label was off and running.By the end of 1996, Muzique Tropique had built heavyweight DJ support with international players like DannyTenaglia and Deep Dish counting themselves fans. Demand was growing fromdistributors for more materialthan McKay & Carrick could produce, so Kevin set up Glasgow Underground to release music from themselvesand fellow Glaswegians DJ Q and Harri and music from Mateo & Matos and Romanthony-friends he’d metworking for Muzik magazine.Over the next seven years, Glasgow Underground released 38 albums and over 100 singles and firmlyestablished itself as one of the era’s critical British house music labels.In early 2002 a demo appeared at Glasgow Underground from a young producer called Myles MacInnes. It hadone stand-out track-“Destroy Rock & Roll”. Over the next two years, MacInnes became Mylo and delivered120 demos, from which Kevin selected the best 14. Finally, MacInnes handed over the ProTools sessions. Kevingot to work producing and mixing, replacing samples with original performances and creating the 500,000-selling album named after the stand-out track from the first demo.As well as overseeing the music, Kevin set up the label to house the new project organising everything from thefirst 7″ to the international network of major labels and independent partners that made Mylo a big nameworldwide.In 2007 Kevin met another young Scottish producer called Grum. In him, he saw the same qualities he saw inMylo and set upthe Heartbeats label to release his productions. Grum went on to become an internationallyrenowned DJ and producer. His debut album, “Heartbeats”, was one of the US iTunes electronic albums of theyear, the BBC gave 100s of plays to his singles, and he remixed everyone from Lady Gaga to Dirty Vegas. In2019, Grum signed with Anjunabeats.

In 2011, Kevin returned to his first love, the house sound of Glasgow Underground. Of the relaunch, DJMagazine stated–as they made new Glasgow Underground signing SmallPyramids’ “I Want Blood”, one oftheir singles of the year–”It sure feels good to have them back. Kevin McKay revived his ‘s GlasgowUnderground label in 2011, and luckily, his impeccable taste and A&R skills remain intact.”Since then, the label hasreleased productions by a who’s who of House and Techno music talent; Claptone,Camelphat, Metodi Hristov, Romanthony, Dixon, Gerd, Oliver $, PBR Streetgang, Ejeca and Andres have allfeatured. Their releases regularly feature on BBC Radio 1 and top the sales charts at Beatport and TraxsourceAs a producer, Kevin continues to release music that tops the sales charts and features in A-list DJ playlistsworldwide.In 2022, Kevin started the Superfeel club night in London to showcase the label’s local talent