Martin “Quickie Mart” Arceneaux might be one of the hardest working people in the music scene. This dynamic DJ is known for his diverse party sets and impressive original production. His unsurpassable talent has made him a household name in New Orleans and beyond.
Quickie Mart delves past musical boundaries; constantly switching it up between dubstep, funk, bounce, and hip-hop genres. His talent and distinct swag has brought him much success in his long and fruitful career with no plans of stopping.
The Louisiana native took some time to chat with us about his upcoming projects and some of his favorite moments of his career.
What made you get started with music?
“Music was always around in my family growing up. I lived on the street for two years as a teenager and during that time I was going to raves locally and regionally and selling drugs to get by, all the while staying in school. I saw music as a way out of that life.”
Your repertoire is extensive and you’ve played all around, what are some of your favorite moments?
“There are just too many insane adventures to count but some of my favorite shows I can remember off hand would be Young Avenue Deli in Memphis with the Media Darling Crew in 2004, Jazzfest at Congo Square Stage in 2008, Voodoo at Preservation Hall Stage in 2009, Bonnaroo at THAT Tent in 2010, Bamboozle at Giant Stadium, and most Recently SubwayXL in Rotterdam this year.”
Where do you go when you are looking for inspiration?
“To literature.”
Over the years, your sound has evolved through heavy dub to twerk and bounce music. What’s next for Quickie Mart?
“I have four vinyl projects and several digital records dropping in the first four months of 2017.
Most people in New Orleans probably do not know this but I am one-half of a project called Computa Games which is a modern funk duo. With the other half of my project in LA, we do most of our work online together. We have played Dåm Funk’s event Funkmosphere twice as well as toured in the cities that have a boogie scene like Austin, DC, San Francisco, as well as Madrid, Spain.
New Orleans doesn’t really have a boogie scene outside of Soul Sister and she doesn’t really play current modern funk, only classic records. We dropped a 7-inch on Austin Boogie featuring Bay Area’s K-Maxx and the label sold out of it in a month. Our follow up 7-inch Computer Rock drops this January on Superjock Records and our 12-inch debut EP Cosmic Dispatch is slated to drop on Los Angeles imprint Hobo Camp in March with features like B. Bravo, Lovechild, Jackie Rain, and E. Live.
Werd2Jah, Unicorn Fukr, and I recently signed our Dem Man EP to Subway Recordings in The Netherlands. They released a 12-inch featuring a remix by New Zealand’s TRUTH and we toured Europe with it in the Spring. Unicorn Fukr and I have several tunes dropping digitally this year but those are under a totally different pseudonym, not Quickie Mart.
Unicorn Fukr, Organik (subMission) and I own a label called VERSED and are dropping a full compilation in the first quarter of 2017 with original songs from artists like The Widdler, Gwann, Werd2Jah, and Cimm. It will be our third release on the imprint.
DJ Yamin and I recently signed to FatBeats to make scratch and break records and they roll out our first one King Cake Breaks Vol. 1 just before Mardi Gras. DJ Yamin, Tony Skratchere and I also dropped a 7-inch this year, NOLA Bounce Breaks Vol. 1, which the label sold out of 1000 that were pressed and landed us the FatBeats deal. We just received the test presses back for NOLA Bounce Breaks Vol. 2 and slated for release in early February. The three of us are currently working on Vol. 3.
Savaj, Keno and I licensed our song “Calling All The Shakers” to TruTV for the network’s rebranding and I am currently doing some sound design for them as well.”
Make sure to mark your calendars for these new releases and keep an eye out for more coming from Quickie Mart. As an artist who works endlessly to share his music with people all over the world, don’t be surprised to see big things from this Louisiana native.
To keep you satisfied in the meantime, check out this exclusive recorded live set from our River Beats Artist Showcase Party held at Esplanade Studios.
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Photo: Kalliope @ Bonnaroo
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