The term “a DJ’s DJ” has probably never been more accurate than with Mad Mats. He is one of those rare DJs who is more comfortable playing a wild style session rather than simply playing it safe. Like Mats often states, real DJs got balls! He’s known worldwide to combine all style of black dance music with a flawless DJ technique and a healthy leftfield attitude towards the underground club scene.
Born in 1971 and brought up in a less privileged suburb of Stockholm where music was never of importance until he around 1983/84 dived head over heals into the world of hip hop through breakdancing (Swedish b-boy champ 1985). That later led Mats to become one of the resident DJs at Stockholm’s early hip hop jams in the mid and late 80’s. In 1988 during a trip to London he witnessed the thriving rare groove scene that opened up his musical senses to discover a world of dance music. At the same time he also started producing hip hop and collecting breaks which made him search deeper for rare funk, soul, jazz and world music. The cycle was complete when he in the early 90’s got into house music after a visit to the legendary Sound Factory Bar NYC.
With this wild cocktail of music styles he became one of the most popular and respected DJs in the Stockholm club scene during the 90’s and is today a DJ with a solid cult status and has on numerous occasions been voted Sweden’s best DJ. In 1996 he started what would become one of the most long lived and respected club nights in Swedish history when he opened up the legendary Raw Fusion club. The Stockholm club was a mirror of Mats own musical references (100% musical freedom) and went strong for over 13 years with guest DJs like Theo Parrish, Peanut Butter Wolf, Jay Dee, Carl Craig, Laurent Garnier, DJ Harvey, Gilles Peterson and Kerri Chandler to name just a few. In 2001 the Raw Fusion brand also evolved into a highly acclaimed record label that for 10 years released a wide range of dance music.
Today Mats is working hard with one of the most hyped house labels of today, Local Talk Records. Together with his partner Tooli they deliver house in all colours and shapes through their releases but also via Local Talk club nights all over the world. Even though Mad Mats had a DJ career that’s been running strong for over 25 years and taken him around the world more times than he can remember, he’s actually hungrier than ever and is spinning every week around the globe.
