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Features Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! Goa based party animal and artist extraordinaire Nirmal talks punk concerts, metal sculptures, flying and rippin' it up on a High Tide! DJ Wired talks to us about the Rise of the Hope and parties, ahead of his upcoming set at Tribal Village on 14th January 2022!

Interview with Matt Smallwood Reported by Tom Allen / Submitted 16-06-03 13:12 Kicking off his DJing career at just 16 years old, Matt Smallwood has had a few years now to refine his sound into the trademark energetic hard house and harder edged sounds that he plays today. With his first track (produced with Ali Wilson) 'Let the Games Begin' signed straight to Nukleuz and their latest creation 'Devastation' appearing soon on Vicious Circle he's firmly establishing himself as a production talent as well. Read on for more... Tom Allen: How did you first get into DJing and Production? Which came first for you? Matt Smallwood: The DJing came first for me when I was 16. During the summer holidays a friend of mine from school bought a pair of decks and we just used to sit in his room playing around with records all day! It only took about a week before I was totally hooked! The production has just been a natural progression really, I’ve only been producing for a year or so, so I’m still learning all the time and still have lots to learn. It’s something I’ve always been interested in and I’m really enjoying it at the moment. TA: How would you describe your sound? MS: My sound has changed a lot over the years! I started off playing really cheesy house music before progressing into the harder stuff, but for the past few years it’s remained pretty much on the hard side of things. I’m really into my techno as well now, I love the Hard House/Techno cross-over we’ve seen develop over the past 12 months. TA: Do you think that there is anything that really sets you apart from the pack? MS: I don’t know if there’s anything that ‘sets me apart from the pack’ as such, but I’ve found a formula that works well for me, personally. I often incorporate different styles into my set to keep it interesting, variety is the spice of life and all that! I also think another essential part to being a good DJ is being able to adapt your set to the event, time and crowd and I always take that into consideration before starting my set. At the end of the day though, as long as people are dancing to the tunes I make and play then I’m doing my job, and I’m happy! TA: What's been the highlight of your DJing career so far? MS: At the moment I would say going to play in Auckland, New Zealand in the summer of 1999. I went over with Trinity, my first residency, for a week and it was the most amazing experience! We did a couple of radio shows and played at The Staircase club which is a fantastic venue that holds 2000 people! Before that I’d only played to a maximum of 600 people at the Chunnel club, so that is definitely my highlight so far! TA: And a highlight on the production side? MS: As I mentioned before, I’ve only been producing for just over a year, so at the moment everything’s a highlight for me! Obviously getting my first track signed to Nukleuz was a massive highlight for me, and Ali, as it was the first track we’d actually made together. Then getting ‘Devastation’ signed to Vicious Circle was another and more recently ‘Just Listen’ was signed to Vicious too. It’s always a wicked buzz to see your track on compilations too and so far ‘Let the games begin’ has been on two and ‘Devastation’ on three, so all in all I’m well chuffed! TA: You've been mentioned a couple of times in the gossip column of the Hard Dance page of Mixmag - so who's been blabbing to the papers? MS: Haha! Good question, I’d like to know that too! It’s all been quite funny though, nothing too incriminating, and in all fairness, I could have quite easily confessed all to Dave Cross, who writes the column, and had one too many vodka and lemonades to remember telling him come the morning! TA: Can you tell us about the circumstances surrounding your departure from XLR8 and the XLR8R DJ Agency last year? MS: Basically, when I signed up to the XLR8 agency, I was playing uplifting, ‘Bouncy’ Hard house. Over the year or so I was with the agency I began to experiment with different styles of music, mostly techno. After playing a techno record at the Fridge for one XLR8 party, it was evident that the people who were running XLR8 didn’t appreciate or understand the music I was playing. After several meetings I decided that the best thing for me to do was to cease my involvement with the agency so I could have the freedom to experiment and to play the styles of music I wanted to, and so that XLR8 could continue with their bouncier sound. I think its important to play fresh, exciting music as that’s what keeps the scene moving, so that’s what I did. I’m now signed to a wicked agency, Element-7, (www.element-7.com) where all the artists are given total freedom to play as they see appropriate. TA: You've had a couple of tracks signed to Vicious Circle and one to Nukleuz, two of the country's top labels. Did you send off your material to all the high profile labels or did they get in touch with you? MS: With regards to our Nukleuz signing, Ali and Myself were in the car with Ed Real on our way to Leeds one day when we slipped a CD on with ‘Let the games begin’ on it. Luckily for us Ed really liked it and asked us to send a copy to him in the week so he could have a proper listen to it. A week later he called and said ‘Yep, I’ll ‘ave it!’ Most of the time though we just send CD’s to labels and they contact us to say yay or nay. TA: Tell us about who and what you've been working on in the studio recently. MS: I’ve got a couple of new bits done with Ali, ‘The Storm’ and ‘Concentrate’. Our latest signing is ‘Samba’! Which has been signed to Paul Glazbys new label 999 records. I’ve recently done a track with the troublesome two from Brighton, AKA ‘Project Mayhem’ called ‘Destination’. This year I’m really looking to get a few more collaborations under my belt and hopefully some solo projects too. TA: Do you have your own studio or do you work at Ali (Wilson)'s? MS: No, I don’t have my own studio yet, if I’m working with Ali we’ll use his. TA: What software and hardware do you use when creating your tunes? MS: At the moment we use Fruityloops, accompanied with loads of plug-ins and soft synths when we work together, it really is a wicked package when you get into it. TA: How long does it take you to create a track on average? MS: Normally we’ll do 2 or 3 nights a week on a track before we burn a CD to test it in a club to see if anything needs changing. Then we’ll take it in again and make relevant changes to it, turn certain sounds up/down etc. It really does vary, but on average I’d say a couple of weeks before we’re 100% happy with the result. TA: We understand you're heading to Ibiza a few times to play this summer - what do you have lined up there? MS: Yeah that’s right, I’m due to play at Summum on June 19th, July 31st and August 28th with one more date TBC in September. So if anyone’s on the magical island around those dates, make sure you pop into Summum to ‘ave some laaaarge! TA: Where do you see things panning out in terms of the sounds being played on UK dancefloors? Back to the hard stuff or staying trancey? MS: I definitely think the harder stuff is gonna be massive this year and the trancier stuff will take a back seat for a while. The whole Techno thing is very much part of the scene now too, which is wicked and that’s one thing I love about the scene so much is that it’s changing and developing all the time, never a dull moment! TA: Which producers and DJs do you look to for inspiration in the scene today? MS: DJ wise, guys like Andy Farley, BK, Ian M. and Steve Thomas have always been inspirational to me, and continue to be. On the production front Nick Sentience is amazing, he never ceases to impress me. I also find well produced techno to be inspiring, guys like Guy Mcaffer, Dave the Drummer and Ant always have very complex and advanced production going on. TA: And which up and coming DJs or Producers have caught your ear as showing they've got what it takes? MS: Well I couldn’t answer this question without mentioning my partner in crime Ali Wilson! We’ve been good mates for ages now, and I’ve seen him progress over these past few years from playing around with tunes in his room to being one of the best up and coming producers in the country at the moment. He works really hard too, so fair play to the lad! (Send the cheque in the post Ali, cheers mate!!) Also Paul Maddox is another young gun to keep your eye on. He’s been churning out some quality tracks lately as well as engineering for the likes of Paul Glazby and Anne Savage. TA: Do your parents still tell you to get a real job? MS: Haha! No, my parents are actually really supportive, always have been from day one. My mum loves hard house which means I get away with banging it out at 11 at night! Whenever I’ve done a new demo CD I have to do her a copy so she can listen to it in the car, she does get some funny looks when she pulls up next to a boy racer though! TA: Any predictions for the rest of 2003? MS: As I said earlier, this will be the year of the harder sound, hard house is back with a vengeance! Of course the hard trance sound will still be played, but I think last year was definitely its peak. The scene’s progressing and developing all the time and as long as we move with it, and enjoy it, then the hard dance scene will be as strong as ever in years to come. And as long as I’m still there enjoying it with everyone else, all is good! TA: Finally, what are your top 3 tracks of all time? MS: Tony de Vit, Are you all ready, Tony de Vit’s mix of Age of Love and OD404’s mix of Hooked. All these tracks were massive around the time I was just getting into the scene so they all bring back such wicked memories! Thank you for your time Matt. View Matt's DJ Profile here. Matt plays next at Bedlam on Saturday 21st June - for full details click here Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Tom Allen: Hardhouse Academy Preview: Interview with Nuw Idol The Thirsty DJs Interview with DJChewy Lashed Preview 2: Interview with Charlotte Birch Interview with Nick Rafferty Interview with Jana The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: Neats on 16th Jun 2003 14:02.42 Wicked - love your work Matt From: Stevi D on 16th Jun 2003 14:12.34 Nice interview Tom, good answers Matty. See u at the forrest party on the 28 June im on at 2230, So make sure u thier. Good work my boy!!!" From: hong kong phooey on 16th Jun 2003 16:05.19 christ- how young ? shouldnt you be pulling skids on your bmx or trying to put your hand up girls tops ? - anyway - fair play fella! From: Alex Parsons on 16th Jun 2003 18:53.00 Nice One matey... Keep up the good work From: Project Mayhem on 17th Jun 2003 13:45.27 Add your comments here ! From: Project Mayhem on 17th Jun 2003 13:47.03 Tu!tu!tu! "Troublesome two" what ever gave you that idea my lad From: Danny Gilligan on 17th Jun 2003 14:06.23 niceone Matt u are a legend! From: LOULOU(umustdoya)LINES-SCRASE on 17th Jun 2003 19:27.27 one thing to say to u young man- GTFRI C U SOON SMALLWOOD U SLAG! From: Lucy Fur on 18th Jun 2003 12:00.00 keep it up matt x x From: Jon Rundell on 20th Jun 2003 09:51.54 mathanio smallwaardio! From: Janie Mac on 20th Jun 2003 11:58.31 Nice tan geez!! xx From: Element7 on 20th Jun 2003 23:23.17 Its 'Slagwoof' From: Zoelee on 2nd Jul 2003 13:00.08 Can't wait to hear you play on the 16th Aug @ Ricochet! From: Steve Prince on 2nd Jul 2003 17:27.18 come lets av it hard

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