Work-ford Playford
Dance music is a fickle industry. It’s true to say that many artists operating within its sphere are people who create records on a whim, and through a combination of luck and timing, experience a typical ascent: a string of ill-prepared DJ gigs, an overnight change into the emperor’s new headphones, substance abuse swiftly becoming a habit… It is these self promoting types who tend to break through, sometimes detracting from artists right underneath our noses – the artists that have respect, understanding and a genuine love of their craft. Mat Playford is one such artist. His passion for music began when, at the age of 5, he took it upon himself to be the tape operator at his mother’s aerobics class. Throughout his teenage years and to the present day, Mat has spent many hundreds of hours and equivalent pounds tracking down keyboards and synthesizers of all ilks and vintages, it’s clear that Giorgio Moroder and Jean Michel Jarre are big influences.
After building, creating and curating (considering its contents) a small studio in his mid-teens, Mat followed his inspiration and enrolled at Leeds College of Music for 5 years of study. By the 4th year he was being asked to lecture at the college. Around this time Mat met two US house producers who would further shape his future. In 1996 he went to Brooklyn NY with Sandy Rivera and Angel Moraes to hang out, soak up their advice and skills and generally have his mind blown by what was now possible. Experiences like this breed life-changing moments, these times fueled Mat’s mind and drive to keep pushing forward. ‘96 was a pivotal year for dance music, the likes of Photek and Source Direct (incidentally also from Mat’s hometown of St Albans) were transcending their local surroundings and breaking through in the world of drum n’ bass.
A collaboration with acid-house exponent Paul Woolford brought about a deal with Arista. Sidelines in A&R appeared when Mat scouted and signed M1 – Electronic Funk, picking up more experience, this time with mechanics of the majors. The original track by Paul and Mat sat languishing in “development-hell” to use Hollywood parlance; Arista signed it and sat on it. Around this time Mat also ploughed a huge amount of energy into the Play Music record shop in Leeds which was nominated in it’s first year as Best Independent Record Store in Musik Magazine awards. The scope of his musical trajectory and volume of experience has secured Mat Playford four exclusive days on the Space Terrace this summer 2010 with We Love… on 13th June, 11th July, 8th August and 5th September…
Kosack synths - Photo credit, Emma J Woolhouse Studios
Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
All You Need To Know About The Music Business by Donald S Passman and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
My parents have encouraged me in anything I’ve wanted to do. My mum’s fit and my dad is very witty…
How did you begin to work professionally in music?
I started promoting parties and DJing when I was 14.
How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
I definitely write music from experiences I have or something that sets me off, but there’s no set way or blueprint.
Where is your current studio and what is it like?
I’d say I have one of the strangest set ups there is… or so people tell me. I have six 40ft Portacabins all joined together in London Docklands, it runs off a generator on red-diesel – so although I don’t travel as much as James Zabiela, my carbon footprint is about 20 times the size, which isn’t that good I suppose. It’s funny to think I turn red-diesel into house music though. My speakers are in front of a 10 foot window so I have battle ships and all sorts go past me on the river. I make as much noise as possible at all times. If you think Blade Runner, dystopian future, the steel works scene from Robocop, you’re in the right zone. As for equipment, I have about 20 analogue synthesizers and I use Protools and no MIDI.
How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?
Interesting question… I would have said it would be a bad thing for myself 5 years ago. But in the last few days alone I’ve done some really creative things to help market my music involving shooting and editing videos which I’ve found to be nothing but fun, which pushes your creative self forward I think.
How would you describe your work?
Spacey house.
Who were your teachers?
Sandy Rivera, Angel Moraes, Phil Greenwood, Donald S Passman and Leeds College of Music.
Your home is burgled but fortunately the culprits are caught and your possessions returned to you. What would you deem a suitable punishment for the burglars?
I’m happy to say my place is impossible for burglars to break in to, professional jewel thieves maybe… I’m set in 2 acres of land surrounded by an 11ft high fence with CCTV and motion detectors, then I’m on the second floor with no less than 6 doors to go through before entering my studio (in which is my home). However, if what you are looking for is a violently creative answer how’s this: Wire them up to my oldest analogue keyboard (Korg MS 10) and run 240 volts through them and tweak the cut off and pitch so the electrical frequencies displace the volts all over them, record it into Protools and send a copy to his family… Or, put his hands in toasters and set it on 5. Here’s a picture…
You were such a nice boy when you operated that tape-deck at your mum's aerobics class Mat.
You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would that be?
Humans. (sorry)
If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
I don’t like the sound of this question because I’m sure anything I thought of would be an anti-climax. I we could choose something from the future it would be more fun. You could just make things up instead of worrying about what they did at Studio 54 or what Churchill had for breakfast.
Many thanks to Mat for kindly taking the time to answer our questions (and many, many thanks to Paul Woolford for the copy), if you go to Mat’s profile and scroll down the bottom of the page, you can find his latest mix produced this very day! Especially for us, it starts off as a cosmic slow house jam before moving thing up a notch with some future classics from his very own studio. Also check out this self-produced video he has made as a short promo for an upcoming album…
