Introducing: MATTY G

Matthew Gonsalves, known as Matty G to the world of music, is a pioneer of the US dubstep scene. Since his debut release on the Argon imprint in 2006, Matty has ceaselessly pushed his unique brand of hip hop inspired, 808 bass workouts, that have been destroying clubs the world over. His 2007 release ‘50, 000 Watts’ shook up the scene with its stripped down breaks and punishing subs, finding its way into the bag of just about every DJ worth his salt, becoming something of an instant classic. Its profound influence on the scene is still being felt today, and it has become one of those tracks that people are still searching Discogs to get hold of, at any price. His 2008 LP, ‘Take You Back,’ cemented his placing in the flourishing dubstep scene, exploring his diverse musical influences and amalgamating the sounds of hip hop, funk, soul, reggae and jungle into a 140bpm template. It still remains one of the most accomplished albums to have been made in the scene.

After linking up with Dub Police head honcho Caspa, who remixed his massive ‘West Coast Rocks’ for Argon, he has recently officially joined the Dub Police crew, the fruits of which we will see over the coming months. In the meantime, he will be touching down at fabric on Friday 21st May as part of the label takeover of Room One. He laced us with an exclusive track (up for DL after the jump) so we decided to get some questions at him to gain a bit more of an insight into the world of Matty G…

Hi Matty, how are you doing?
Great! I’m really looking forward to my upcoming trip to London.

To start from the beginning…When did you start producing and what kind of stuff were you making at the time?
I started producing around 2003. I have a pretty diverse taste in music so I was excited to make all different kinds of stuff right off the bat, but mainly did big bass, hip hop style tunes. I was really into early jungle, and drum and bass before that, and especially dug old No U Turn tunes. I really wanted to mesh the dark basslines and low subs of jungle with some raw old school hip hop beats. My computer at the time, which most of my dubstep tunes were made on as well, was pretty old and limited, so sampling was key as far as conserving processing power. A lot of my early tunes consisted of soul and reggae samples, with some 808 sub and breaks over them.

You were one of the first people overseas to pick up on the flourishing dubstep scene at the time. When did you first come into contact with the sound?
Nick Argon's brother has been into grime for quite a while, and so one day Nick came over with all these mixes his brother hooked him up with around 2005 or so. Some were grime and some were dubstep, and I just spent the next week or two listening to them.

What was it about dubstep that you gravitated towards?
The minimalism... specifically in the tunes ‘Horror Show’ by Loefah, and ‘Nomad’ by Distance. When I heard those two tunes, they really stood out to me. The best part of tunes for me, is when you strip away whatever the melody happens to be, and just let the bass and drums ride, before building it back up again. These tunes were pretty much extended versions of just that... bangin' bass with some sparse drums knockin' out a beat. As a listener at the time, it seemed like a competition between some producers to see who could make the most bangin' tune with the least amount of elements.

Do you feel an affinity with UK music?
Not all kinds...haha, but I have been a big fan of old school hardcore, jungle, and everything kinda down that thread. Jungle and early drum and bass really did it for me though. Back when it was more sample based, producers would flip hip hop, soul, R&B, reggae... The drums would remind me of hardcore punk at times as well, which I was into. It was the combination of all my favorite kinds of music.

Over the last few years dubstep has exploded internationally; what is the scene like in the US now?
The scene over here is different wherever you go. A lot of the major cities in the US had picked up on dubstep by 2006-07, so there's a bit of history now and the scenes have grown to be pretty big. As far as party vibes, a lot of the production crews that have stuck with it like Smog in L.A., and Dub War in New York have continued to bring in top talent from overseas for a number of years. These long running parties have helped cultivate scenes where a lot of people know their tunes, and are super into the music. Other parts of the country are just now discovering the music, so it's like going back in time 3 or 4 years. There might not be a lot of ladies at the shows, people dig the music but haven't figured out how to dance to it yet, and they don't know much about tunes that came out two, three, four years ago. Those places are nice to play though, 'cause you can have a little more fun with the set. Pull out some old school wax and watch people go off 'cause they haven't heard it a million times.

As far as what people are playing in the clubs, I'd say there's a big draw towards the tearout tunes. I'd personally like to see a bit more diversity... at least not having opening DJs go straight for the throat instead of building up a vibe, but to each their own. Everybody doesn't like everything though, so I guess if you book a DJ who plays ruff tunes to open the night, that's what you're gonna get.

In general, the scene is big and still growing. I realised how big it was recently, when a co-worker said her daughter likes dubstep....she's 12 or 13. I was like, how the hell did she get exposed to the music!?

Hip hop is clearly a big part of what you do too; is that what you were mostly listening to when you were growing up?

I was listening to all kinds of stuff. I was real big into hardcore punk in my teens, and played guitar in a hardcore band into my 20's. For most of my life, I've been into soul and doo wop from the 50's on, and of course was into a lot of the dope R&B and hip hop from the 80's and 90's. Somewhere along the way, a couple people schooled me on Jamaican music, which I love, and soon amassed a huge collection of dub and reggae. As far as hip hop though, it was kinda tough to get some of the more underground tunes where I lived. I grew up pretty far from the city, but would go in to visit family and learn about what's really going on from my cousins. I also had some friends who moved up from the city, and schooled me. My friend played me N.W.A. And Eazy E in junior high, which looking back makes me feel like that white kid in CB4, haha. After that, it was Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Dru Down, Too Short, Mac Mall... a lot of west coast gangster rap during the 90's. Once I discovered Wu Tang though, it was all over. They blew my mind. I didn't have a lot of access to east coast hip hop when I was young, so when I heard ‘36 Chambers,’ I went nuts.



Your early track ‘50, 000 watts’ quickly became a dubstep classic, and was doing the rounds amongst all of the biggest names. Did you know what you had with that tune when you were building it?
I knew the parts I was using to construct the tune were big, mainly the vocal and the break, because they're catchy. The break is huge, and will make any tune a banger, and the vocal is classic. I had to debate whether to spread it out a little bit and make two good tunes or one banger. I combined them, and people seemed to like it.

Having previously been releasing on US label Argon, how did your hook up with the Dub Police stable come about?
Nick Argon and I came out to check the DMZ two year anniversary. A lot of international producers and fans were rolling out from all over the world to go to this show. A lot of people were connected through the dubstep forum, so they all scheduled to meet at a pub at Victoria Station I believe. Somehow, I can't remember, Caspa and I had already gotten in touch. Instead of rolling to the station, I went and linked up with him. Had a beer. Rusko showed up. Had a curry. Went back to Rusko's pad and chilled for a bit. He played me a bunch of tunes that hadn't come out yet like the ‘Dutch Flowers Remix’, ‘Cockney Thug’, ‘Jahova’.... so it was crazy when those tunes blew up.Caspa and I kept in touch and swapped tunes. When I did the tune ‘West Coast Rocks’, he dug it and wanted to do a remix. He dug ‘Street Knowledge’ as well and decided to put it on the Dub Police compilation ‘License to Thrill’. I've been back to London a few times since and always link up with Caspa and the Dub Police crew.

What projects have got coming up at the moment? Have you got any plans for another LP?
I don't have any plans for a follow up LP at the moment. I do have a couple singles scheduled to come out though. There's an upcoming release on Dub Police entitled ‘My 808’ b/w ’Turf Warz’ which should be out late May/early June, as well as ‘Watching You’ b/w ‘The Realness’ on Argon records coming out in July. I'm currently working on a remix of Subscape's tune ‘Screw Up’, but I won't say it's gonna get released until its done, haha.

Are you looking forward to your set in Room One for Dub Police?
Most definitely. Had a blast last time, and the lineups are always dope, so I have a great time as a fan as well.

What can we expect from your set?
Haha, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. Definitely some new Matty G tunes... smooth and ruff, as well as dubstep classics and dubs. Gonna try and keep it street, 90's style.

Matty has kindly given us his ‘Cuttin’ n Scratchin’’ track taken from his 'Take You Back' album on Argon for you to download.You can catch Matty G in Room One on Friday 21st May, as part of the Dub Police takeover, alongside Caspa, The Others, Emalkay, Oris Jay and Trolley Snatcha.

Download: Matty G - Cuttin' n Scratching'