A DJs’ DJ… Mad Mats technical skills, musical history and never-ending hunger for underground dance music has kept him at the forefront of the Swedish dance music scene for the past 20 years and is enriched further by releases on his Raw Fusion and now Local Talk and Basic Fingers labels and club nights.
An original break dancing champion & B-Boy with a DJ career running over 25 years,Stockholm born Mad Mats, has on numerous occasions been voted Sweden’s best DJ, and in 2009 he was voted Number one by leading club site Clubstockholm.se, receiving over 15,000 votes. With a remarkable and open-minded musical soundtrack you will easily find Mad Mats spinning at house/techno, hip hop/r&b or retro soul, funk & disco clubs but most of all he prefers a freestyle session where he can mix everything up…Mad Mats style!
When not touring the world spinning at various clubs and festivals Mats runs the legendary Raw Fusion club in the heart of Stockholm, now in its 13th year, having played host to diverse guest DJs such as Theo Parrish, J-Dilla (RIP), Kerri Chandler, Gilles Peterson, Sbtrkt, Carl Craig, Jazzanova, Laurent Garnier and Dixon to name a few. Besides running one of the most important underground club institutions in Scandinavia, the Raw Fusion party, Mats also runs a new house night called Unhous where together with Tooli (24:hrs) and Jonas K he delivers the best in underground house music at Stockholm’s Under Bron (Under The Bridge).
Mad Mats: The Interview
It’s well known that you are a very versatile Dj with a vast knowledge of Music across the board. If you had to choose one genre of music to play, what would it be and why?
Well, it’s the story of my life and I can’t really choose. If you would have asked me in the 80’s I would have said hip hop, in the 90s I would have said soul, funk & jazz, and in the 00’s I would have said jazzy/broken beats but nowadays probably house. I always said that I’m a musically a very confused individual – lol 🙂
How does Sweden differ from the other countries you play?
In the last 4-5 years Sweden’s been bitten by that Berlin bug and it’s way too hard so it’s all about techno and raves everywhere. If you wanna hear anything else you have to hit up bars so I usually don’t play that often over here…but it happens. But I have a feeling that the London mentality which has a more open minded music mentality is coming back 🙂
Who gave you your first break DJ-ing and are you still in contact with that person?
I can’t actually remember exactly who gave me my first one as it was so long ago. But my first major gig was in 1989 when this promoter in Stockholm called Alex Strehl gave me the warm up spot for the Jungle Brothers when they played over here.
Local Talk has been a hugely successful label. What made you decide to set it up in the first place and what’s forthcoming on the label.
After I closed down the business with my previous label Raw Fusion Recordings I wanted to start a new label that was not so spread out musically. I decided to start a house label but still with an open minded approach to all house genres. I later teamed up with my friend Tooli and started Local Talk.
We’re super excited with our upcoming releases and we’ve finally got some proper vocal jams and some more jazzier bits coming. I think we’re getting much more diverse and mature every year and we’re not just a straight up or classic house label. We’re aiming to have an element of surprise on our future releases, which include hot new releases from DJ Spinna, Art Of Tones, Ezel, Atjazz, Boddhi Satva just to mention a few. It’s all good stuff I promise you 🙂
Who are your favorite DJs and what makes them so special?
That’s a tricky one, but I would say that people like Gilles Peterson always influenced me for the selection, Joe Claussell and Louie Vega for their soulful energy and Lefto for the technical diversity.
What does the future hold for Mad Mats, and are you still as hungry as you’ve always been?
Trust me, there are some aspects in life that become clear when you come of age. For me it’s very clear – I’ll never (ever!) get tired of playing my favourite music to an audience of dancers…It’s in my DNA! 🙂
What should people be listening to before heading out to Deep Into Soul on Saturday June 4th?
Well, I would suggest that they listen to the exclusive mix.
Mad Mats from Local Talk, Sweden, headlines Deep Into Soul’s Summer Terrace Opening Party with Danny Krivit (NYC) on Saturday June 4th alongside Rhemi Music’s Neil Pierce and Ziggy Funk, Sy Sez (Mi-Soul) and Melvo Baptiste at the Prince of Wales, Brixton.
All info on www.facebook.com/DeepIntoSoul
or
tweet @deepintosoul
Rhemi Music Live at Deep Into Soul
Mad Mats on Soundcloud: @madmats
Mad Mats on Soundcloud: @localtalk Mad Mats Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Local-Talk…/199872936724510
Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/user/LocalTalkRecords
