Matman joined the FBBB music team a while back now, he just spent the summer smashing festivals with us and Desperados all over the UK. We catch up with him and ask a few questions, look out for all his latest news coming straight from him right here from now on!
How and when did you first get into music?
from a very young age, since the days of a fisher price record player for kids! me & my brother dj Daredevil had a few 7″s, disney records and all that good stuff..
When did you start to DJ?
When I was around 15 I started messing with friends decks, & around then my brother got a pair & i’d mess around on them when he wasn’t at home, he’d get mad when he found out I was on them, wearing out his crossfader! I quickly got a pair of cheap shitty belt-drive decks and made a lot of noise.. I got my first proper hip-hop gig back in my hometown of Bristol, supporting Company Flow, when I was 17.
Who were you major influences?
DJ Madkut was killing it back in Bristol when I was getting started, he was winning all the local dj contests & ultimately a uk final- & was a couple of years above me in school, my older brother DJ Daredevil knew him & via that connection & his friend Mike Burns a lot of techniques were passed down.. My brother of course was and still is a huge influence, we used to watch an early X-Men (x-ecutioners) video a lot, the dmc dj battle tapes, & Q-Bert’s Turntable tv series.. Tim Westwood used to have ‘Mixmaster Weekends’ on his radio one show back then too, featuring a lot of the uk’s best djs at the time – I once taped an old school hip hop set by 1995 UK DMC champ dj Kofi set that had me tracking down every record he played! Jazzy Jeff & DJ Premier were also huge influences, and there’s way too many others to list..
How would you describe your style?
Pressure! I like to move pretty quickly, cutting up tracks & throwing in scratches & little tricks as I go, quick mixing tracks & above all keeping it funky. My music & style of playing is very much rooted in hip hop, though I’m into a lot of different stuff too so go other places musically depending on the venue/night.
What are you working on/looking forward to?
Myself & Daredevil have recently mixed & scratched the award-winning soundtrack to an Ipad game that’s just been released, ‘Skillz: the DJ Game‘ – it’s a sick dj-based rhythm game game currently featuring music from Ninja Tune, Stones Throw Records, Hospital Records, Ministry of Sound, Om records – & were currently working on more material to be released soon for in-game purchases, featuring some pretty major artists, an iphone version is coming soon too! I’m also constantly releasing mixtapes online, setting up a record label, recording cuts for various people, & polishing up my production skills.
Where can we find out more about you/hear you play?
You can catch me spinning regularly at Bungalow 8 & The Box in Central London, me & my crew Droppin’ Science (with dj Nickname & my bro Daredevil) also have a regular hip hop night at East London’s Vibe Bar every 1st Saturday of the month. We record a monthly podcast live from central London’s Upper Playground store before each gig, you can watch & listen every 1st saturday of the month on www.sensei.fm 4-6pm, or stream/download/subscribe via itunes from www.droppinscience.co.uk/radio. You can check out my solo mixes & more at www.djmatman.com, you can ‘like’ me at www.facebook.com/djmatman1 to check for gig updates, & you can befriend “droppin-science london” there too.
Matman Live in Bangkok
