A quick chat with Matador - the latest addition to the Minus family.
'Matador' is Gavin Lynch - a techno producer residing in Dublin whose warped beats have landed him a signing on Richie Hawtin's techno megalith Minus. His productions are infomed by various residencies in Dublin: 515 at Tripod, Acii Disco and the now infamous Mixed Salad parties. He plays purely live sets these days, and he's playing just that at the awesome Noisily Festival at the end of May. We caught up with him to talk techno heroes and how it feels to be wearing the classic Minus black.
So you have been snapped up by M-Nus… is that the realisation of a long-standing dream?
I've been working in this game for over 6 years now, in the past 2 years I've gone full-time in the studio, made a lot of sacrifices, but I was pretty determined to make it work. I had invested a lot of time and money into the project, and really was committed to seeing it through. I was never specifically aiming for Minus, as we all know, its quite a small window to get into, but with a combination of things happening at the right time, I was lucky enough to find a great place like Minus for my music.
Are there strict rules once your in the 'family'… - they all seem to wear black….
Haha! I've been asked that quite a bit. The answer is no! There's no strict dress code, however I think everyone involved has a similar vision/mindset which favours the darker colours in dress-code. It seems to be quite a natural thing...
Your career appears to have hit the point where things start to go supersonic. Once the 'big names' in techno are associated, people start to sit up and listen. Has this been a long time coming? How does it feel?
As I said earlier, I started producing over 6 years ago, seriously in the past 2 years. I feel it was the right time for this to happen. My music was finally in the right place standard-wise, being supported by various big names, and I met the right guy at the right time. It almost feels like it was all supposed to happen this way, strangely, but cool none the less!
Do you feel like there's an element of luck to making it as a producer?
I think you have to have a number of things in place first, before you require the 'moment' of luck, or call it 'right place right time'. Bottom line is you have to have your shit in order before you need the 'luck' bit to happen!
Any advice for young producers?
Patience is the key. Don't rush it, let it happen naturally, find YOUR sound and work on that until you feel its 100% ready to send to a label...and only then send it.
Put in lots of hours finding and working on your sound, make sacrifices, start staying in at weekends, working nights, whatever it takes. Commitment and determination is paramount!
Techno heroes?
Dave Clarke, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills.
Non-dance music influences?
I come from a Motown household, so I like a good hook in music, and good, popular music has that - the older stuff anyways. Also influences outside music include food, friends and partying - in that order too.
Best ever set?
I've had some electric 'live sets' lately, Goa in Rome a few weeks back was pretty wild - also back in Dublin for Paddy's Day was crazy good!
Best DJ set, has to be back a few years also in Dublin at the infamous 'Mixed Salad' parties where we were residents. So memorable still.
The person you would most like to go back to back with?
I have no real desire for B2B sets, I like my own vibe and choices when I'm DJing, but if i had to pick someone at the moment it would have to be Hobo, we have so much fun touring, and do play similar stuff, so I'm sure that would work a treat and be lots of fun!
What is your most reliable dancefloor weapon at the moment?
Seems as I'm playing only a 'Live Set' at the moment, it has to be one of my own, and what seems to be most popular for crowd reactions is 'Kingswing'. It's probably one of the more party-orientated tracks in my live set, so works every time!
You can catch Matador playing at the awesome looking Noisily Festival in Leicestershire on May 25th-27th 2012.
For tickets to Noisily click here.
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