Mike Banks sees possibility in the future of techno
The Underground Resistance and Submerge co-founder's role has shifted from maker to mentor.
At a time when old Detroit techno heads might yearn for the days of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers he used to make music, "Mad" Mike Banks has no use for nostalgia.
Asked about whether young artists should embrace or distance themselves from technological advances like artificial intelligence, the mythical Underground Resistance record label co-founder said he wouldn't be much of an Afro-futurist if he didn't tell young artists to leverage every tool at their disposal to make the music they wanted.
"All of you guys have got endless possibilities, you just can't be scared of it, because look what it did for us," Banks told a couple of young Detroit DJs who shared the stage during a panel on the history of Detroit techno on Feb. 21 on the University of Michigan campus.
"I'm dedicated to helping out young people down the street, because they are the future. How can I be a futurist when all I engage in is old ass ideas and old people complaining about 'These Instagram DJs?' ... New is what us old people need to invest in hard."
Although his days of churning out mysterious, mind melting singles and albums under his "Mad" Mike and Underground Resistance monikers have slowed, Banks continues to spread his anti-corporate music industry message with fierce independence. His energy has shifted toward nurturing the next generation of Detroit artists who possess the potential but lack the resources needed to create.
Inside the Submerge Distribution space he co-founded to help distribute Detroit-based techno worldwide, he built a museum to showcase the city's role in creating techno. Submerge also has helped foster future generations of young artists in the city through its Underground Music Academy recording studio and support of a new electronic music pilot program at the Detroit School of Arts. Submerge also has a record store to sell what its artists and other Detroit labels put out, becoming a destination for techno heads from across the globe who make appointments to come check it out.
Submerge and Underground Resistance have long invested in building on the potential of young artists by allowing them to maintain their independence and keep total control over what they create.
Never one to mince words, Banks' old soul wisdom is delivered with a gruff tone, a healthy dose of casual cussing and blunt observations about the fake aspects of corporate music and its promotion. To counter that, Underground Resistance and Submerge have built a foundation that goes beyond a record label and distributor. It's a production team, a collective of creative artists and a space for mentoring and meaningful conversations going strong for more than 30 years.
The dream, Banks said, is for UR to help usher in a "global techno tribe" that unites people of all ages, races and sexual orientations around a form of music that is often viewed as inclusive and communal.
"Corporations ain't got no business fooling with art, music, culture, none of that stuff," Banks said. "When you can’t control them three things, there's no expression left.”
Making ‘Mad’ Mike
Before he became an advocate for the future of Detroit techno, Banks dabbled in a little bit of everything. He was a mechanic and worked in construction. He was part of a crew that conducted evictions in the city of Detroit for 12 years. He played guitar and bass and was a session musician for artists like George Clinton. He was part of Detroit’s massive illegal street racing community before helping bring it to the Detroit City Airport tarmac legally for the first time, with the blessing of the city.
Inspired by first wave Detroit techno artists like Juan Atkins and Marshall Jefferson and German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, Banks said he and many Black Detroiters were also heavily influenced by local DJ The Electrifying Mojo. The DJ's eclectic taste and uncompromising vision for what the people needed to hear impacted his free-flowing setlists. It helped position Detroit techno pioneers Cybotron alongside barrier-breaking artists like the B-52s and Prince before it was in vogue.
"Detroit techno is a direct result of Electrifying Mojo's non-program style," Banks said in a 2017 interview with BBC Radio. "He played what the city needed. He played what felt good. In turn, he created Detroit techno."
Tired of the creative limitations and exploitation he witnessed and experienced as a session musician, Banks opted to go off on his own, first with house/garage collective Members of the House, before joining forces with local DJ Jeff Mills to start Underground Resistance in the late 1980s. A legend of Detroit techno in his own right, Mills bonded with Banks over a common disdain for the corporate music industry and radio.
"We both figured that major radio wasn't doing us no favors and wasn't doing the city no favors, so we opted for Underground Resistance," Banks said in a 2017 interview on BBC Radio. "We decided to fight fake commercial music and try to come up with some really authentic music that would inspire other people to make authentic music. I think on the inspiration tip, we did pretty good money wise, yeah we ain't do too good."
UR, which Banks also recorded his solo output under, produced some of the most revered singles and albums of Detroit techno's second wave. The music was often released without clear attribution of who was making it, though Banks had a major role in producing all of it. In addition to the contributions from Banks and Mills, the collective included some of the genre's most recognizable and influential names, including key early member Robert Hood, Blake Baxter and Drexciya. The music’s fiery anti-corporate stances were in step with the collective’s approach to making it, earning Underground Resistance the reputation as the Public Enemy of techno.
The work that can be attributed to Banks covers a lot of ground, incorporating elements of acid house and industrial music into his compositions that are sometimes steeped in political and social commentary and Afro-futurist sentiments. His Red Planet single Cosmic Movement / Star Dancer, produced under the pseudonym The Martian, is one of the most revered in techno and most gushed over on any message board or forum discussing its best songs. The same can be said for with 2002 UR B-side Transition, with its moment of truth vocal intro a mainstay of many DJ sets, and The Illuminator, the shimmering, epic 12-minute closing track from UR’s album Electronic Warfare.
Fixated on pushing forward
In recent years, Banks’ attention has shifted to preserving Detroit’s role in the creation of techno and its position as a producer of it by supporting efforts to bring education programs to Detroit schools and through Submerge’s Somewhere in Detroit record store Banks built.
He’s also made Detroit a primary hub for techno’s origins with the creation of Exhibit 3000, the “world’s first” techno museum, collecting items like Kevin Saunderson’s keyboard and Juan Atkins’ sequencer to illustrate the city’s role in being at the forefront of the genre’s creation. All the while Underground Resistance has maintained its independence, selling its own records out of the space the museum was built.
“That stuff is freedom,” Banks said. “Our music has been free for 40 years. I can't think of any other music that's independent from its (start).
"Being independent with your businesses and your ideas, you can contribute to the whole and it doesn't get sucked up by this giant machine that will eventually make you pay for it anyway.”
Whether he’s facilitating opportunities for the younger generations to create or spreading his message of creative independence, Banks is a firm believer in fostering the possibilities that exist in techno music and in remaining independent, creating music without ego.
“That’s why everybody loves Banksy, he’s uncontrollable - my man putting it down like it is,” Banks said, referencing the anonymous England-based street artist. “Just imagine if he went corporate - that’s called a commercial.
“Our Record label - we do it but we don’t talk, and really take great pride in being non-famous,” Banks said of UR. “… Too much love ain’t good for you neither boy, that’s what my grandfather used to tell me.”
Banks even suggested techno and electronic music have the ability to bring people together in the midst of the nation’s current “political crisis,” encouraging young artists to “lay waste to what was the given.”
“I’ve seen more togetherness of everybody at these gigs,” Banks said. “You want to see some possibility, come to one of these electronic music gatherings. It’s truly the best of us.”