Meat Katie is the performing name of Mark Pember, a DJ and producer from the United Kingdom associated with breakbeat and related electronic styles. He begins as a bass player in the skate punk group Sandladder, where his first record deal is with Iggy Pop’s Kill City Records.

Recording career

As Meat Katie, Pember records for a wide range of labels including Wall of Sound, R&S Records, Kingsize, Bedrock, Perfecto, Great Stuff, Renaissance and Saw. He releases three artist albums under the name: Off the Bone, Long to Belong and Vibrator. These albums combine a techy, lo-fi approach with a broad dance music sound.

He also issues a one-off alternative album, Never the Less, under the name Avenue A, which is a collaboration with Jason O’Bryan. That project leads to his work scoring the music for the film adaptation of Martin Amis’s Dead Babies, an art-house production by Gruber Films starring Paul Bettany.

Collaborations and remixes

Pember remixes and collaborates with a long list of artists, including Arthur Baker, U.N.K.L.E., Boy George, Deep Dish, D. Ramirez, Peace Division, Chicken Lips, Robbie Rivera and James Zabiela. He also works with vocalists Kurt Wagner of Lambchop, Holly Golightly, Roland Clark and Katherine Ellis.

DJ work and style

His reputation is strongly tied to DJ performance, where he is known for technical skill, energy and an ability to work across different dancefloor styles. His sets move through techno, electro and breakbeat, a blend often described as tech funk. He plays alongside artists such as Digitalism, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, Soulwax, Erol Alkan, Deep Dish, Steve Lawler, James Zabiela, Sasha & Digweed, Carl Cox, Armand van Buuren and Marco V, and he also appears with breaks acts including Plump DJs and Stanton Warriors.

He supports live acts such as the Chemical Brothers, Pendulum, Basement Jaxx, Represent and Infusion. He also plays on the Valve Soundsystem, as one of the few DJs outside drum and bass to do so. His compilation work includes mixes for the Bedrock Breaks, Fabric Live and Sessions series on Ministry of Sound.

Other projects

In 2000 he creates the alternative project Avenue A with Jason O’Bryan. He also works under the names Ceasefire, Figures, Blim & Katie and Meat Katie & Elite Force. He sets up and runs the Lowering The Tone label, also referred to as LOT49, with Dylan Rhymes, with whom he shares a studio in south west London. The label builds a catalogue of more than 50 releases and features artists including Dubfire, Audiojack, D. Ramirez, Elite Force, Dexter, Phil Kieran, Lee Coombs, Robbie Rivera, Marco Bailey, James Talk, Alex Metric, Lützenkirchen, Evil 9, as well as Meat Katie and Dylan Rhymes.

Live audio-visual work

He develops an audio-visual show with VJ Anyone and takes it to clubs including Fabric, Urban Gorilla and Technique, as well as festivals such as Glastonbury and Glade.