Man Like Me

With their next single ‘London Town’ available through ‘Our Time Records’ later this year, we thought it was time to catch up with the ‘Man Like Me’ trio who are making some serious noise with remixes including one featuring Boy Better Knows prince of Grime, ‘JME’. DJ Vokal managed to grab one third of them, Johnny, to see what they were planning for their new single and what’s in store for 2009.

So, for people that haven’t heard of you guys before, tell us a quick summary of how you all met up and where you all come from?

Me and Pesk met at Acland Burghley secondary school in Tuffnell park as he’s from Tuffnell and I’m from Camden Town. Jerome is from Brooklyn and grew up in Texas but has been playing trombone on cruise ships for the last 10 years. He got off the boat heard us and decided to join.

How would you describe your sound?

Pop music


Who’s on production duty when it comes to your music?

Mainly me (Johnny) with the other two chipping in when needs be.

From listening to the ‘London Town’ sampler, I’ve noticed that you have delved into a few music genres when it comes to the remixes. Was this a conscious effort when making the CD?

That was the labels idea, I have never seen so many remixes so I assume they believe they can sell more if they appeal to every genre.

One of the remixes features the ‘prince of grime’ JME, tell us how that collaboration came about and how it has been received by the fans of your music?

We are big fans of JME and Pesk is bang into his grime so it was an honour to get him on the remix. As far as how it is being received by our fans I think it’s all good, you gotta love JME he’s one of the most talented MCs in our country.

You’ve also worked with a ‘Best British Breakthrough DJ/producer’ nominee ‘Foamo’ on one of the remixes, how did you find out about him?

This is another thing the label sorted out, I’m not really up to date with dance music these days, I only know about Drum and Bass from the 90s really.

What was it like working with the director Rollo Jackson for the ‘London Town’ video? Did you have any expectations before meeting him due to the artists he has worked with in the past?

No not at all, the guy is one of the safest people I know.

Tell us the idea behind filming in an abattoir for the video?! Was that your decision or Rollo’s??

Our mate Grant Burton works the night shift down there (Smithfield’s meat market) so we knew he could allow us access. He’s one of those blokes who knows everybody so it allowed us to mess around on the fork lift trucks with security and health and safety turning a blind eye.

How can people find more about your music and can they catch you on the live circuit any time soon?

If they want to find out more about our music they can come down to a gig and ask me. All our gigs are up on our myspace (www.myspace.com/manlikeme).

Any shout outs?

A big shout out to my mum, dad , brother, sister and especially my daughter!

Interview by DJ Vokal