Matt BooM Interview

Courtesy of Haris from Freeze Magazine (Greece)

Dear Matt how is the scene now in Holland ?Regarding psy parties and stuff like that?
The scene here is small but fun, and very well established. An average party would be for about 300 - 400 people. The same as in most countries these days, it is hard to find venues / locations. In Amsterdam most of the clubs close at about 4.00 am, which isnt really good for trance parties. For this reason a lot of parties are held in squats ... but not many buildings are squatted these days. Illegal outdoor parties are very rare - Holland is a small country, without mountains so there are no places to make parties without upsetting people, and the police tend to close these down. Most of the parties are very low- budget, so we dont get to hear big name djs/live acts like in other countries - only sometimes. This year we have been holding small parties for 200 people on a boat ("Cosmic Trip Ship") , really underground and good fun !! One of the best things is that the police are not allowed on boats (only coastguard) and a boat doesnt need a licence to serve alcohol. This way we can give parties lasting till 10 am without any problems, and have had guest djs from all over the world asking to play for us =) One of the things that annoys me in Holland is that you always here the same few djs playing, until you are really bored with their sets. Thats what made us want to start throwing parties ! Just like the label, we like to feature new talent and interesting guests. If anyone is planning to travel to Holland, I would recommend checking the website at http://www.goatrance.net as it has an excellent party listings page. The boat parties can be found at http://www.boomrecords.com/tripship2002.html

How u took the desicion to start back in 1996 a label that will release psy trance from wordwide artists?
I have been djing internationally since 1992, and my partner and I have been partying hard since 1988 - so it was just a logical step, and I meet a lot of interested and talented people on my travels. In 96 there were very few goa labels, so we decided to start up. As a DAT dj I had access to a lot of unreleased music, much of which was better than what I could find on cds back then. But the big breakthrough round this time was Internet. Suddenly I was not just involved with the scene in Holland, but had friends from all around the world (trance is truly international) and these daily contacts inspired us to start the level.

Is it difficult to "survive' in this rough world of music industry?
Definitely. Anyone who gets involved with the goa scene with the hope of becoming rich will be very disappointed. Its difficult even to cover the costs of running a label. The biggest problems in the past were that the distributors often dont pay on time, or pay at all. So far we have witnessed four big distributors going bankrupt owing us a lot of money. The first one was the legendary Flying Distribution in London. When they went down, they took a lot of very good labels with them - these people simply couldnt start again. Each time we have just managed to keep the label alive. The main reason is bad debt control - the distributions are selling enough cds, but they arent so good at collecting their debts, or paying their labels. last month our biggest Dutch distributor went down ... their total debt was 500,000 euro ! We ar enow distributed by Wirikuta in Austria, and are very happy with their service. The latest problem of course is illegal copying of music on cd / MP3's. Trance is now ten times as popular as when we started in 96, yet the sales now are maybe 60 % less than then. If people want to support the trance scene, they will need to start buying cds again. Several top producers are now making other music (top 40, or commercial club trance) just because this is the only way they can make a living.

You have been colaborated with reek AND Ubar Tmar .Please tell us about that and your opinion about the jp scene...have u ever played over there?
Japan is great, a true experience !! To me its like being taken 10 years into the future ... My best dj set ever was in Japan last year, playing in yokohama. The people there give you so much amazing energy. Every time you play a new track, they start to scream harder. It made me feel like a real rock star - you are standing in the middle of a big stage , with all lights shining on you and everyone watching every move you make. In europe they hardly even look at the dj, in japan everyone is dancing facing you and smiling - what a feeling ! Together with a friend of ours over there we have started "BooM! Records Japan" for future collaborations and releases. At the end of this year I will be touring Japan for 2 weeks before we go to Australia to play at the Eclipse festival.

How do u see the fact that everyday a new label is coming out and ad itself to the trance community?
For me its no problem, diversity is always good. These days there are many sub-styles of goa - progressive, techtrance, full on, melodic , weird, minimal. For each style there are unique labels, all working on their personal mission. I think that a lot of the new labels wont have much chance of survival as their is so little money and so much risk in a trance label, but I wish them good luck ! It takes years to build up a good name for your label and to get taken seriously.

Boom records and Boom festival....I know there is no connection , but how it felt when you learn about Boom festival when first started in Portugal?I mean someone could thought that th erecord label "Boom" starts a fest?OR i am completely wrong?
We get this confusion quite a lot, but its no problem. Our label started early in 96, and as far as I know the first Boom was held in the same summer, without us knowing about each others existence ! But it didnt take long for us to get to know each other, and now we are best of friends. They changed the name from "Boom! Festival" to Boom Festival as the ! mark is our trademark and they wanted to avoid confusion. But at the end of the day, its good promotion for both of us as we have similar visions. I have played for them several times, including Boom 98, Ypy Poty in Brazil and the "mini-boom" earlier this year in Portugal. Good Mood productions are great people and give some of the best quality parties around, and are very easy to get along with, big respect to Diogo and crew !

Tell us about your future releases and please tell us for releases after summer and stuff like that?
We are entering a busy summer for the label, our aim is to release one album every month this summer. The first 3 are : boomcd013 - various artists - "Psychoactive Scandosounds 3. The latest in our legendary Scando series, including tracks from Logic Bomb, Future Buddhas,LAB, pHat pHase and several new talents.

boomcd014 - Battle of the Future Buddhas - "Demonoizer
The second album by the Buddhas on our label, and what a release ! They havent lost touch with their roots and original style, but the production quality is now much higher from their new studio, and many new elements have entered their music. Interest in this release is already very high, and I believe they are especially popular in Greece .

boomcd015 - carious artists - "Ice-o-lator"
This is our new label compilation and features some frenzied dancefloor tracks from booM! friends old and new. Includes tracks from Rastaliens, Chi-Ad, Transdriver and a remix of the amazing Chasing Ganesha by Fractal Glider.

Later in the year we will be releasing full length albums from Quantum State (our new discovery from Hungary), Weirdo beardo and a second cd from Fractal Glider - are you smiling yet ?!?

what is the musical style that Boom records represents>?
We have always represented dancefloor music - before a track is released on our label, it is played on parties all around the world in my dj sets. This way we let the people vote with their feet !! If everyone is smiling and dancing, then the track is a winner and we will release it. Some of the things you will typically find in our tracks : a good hard 4/4 kick drum, a bpm of 140 - 148, psychedlelic squeaks and bleeps, a clean production and most importantly - a good sense of humour !!! Partying should be about having fun, after all ;-) We are especially looking for music with good melodies, as these are hard to find these days and are a very important part of the traditions of trance music.

What you wont hear on BooM! - boring minimal trance, psy-techno or dodgy progressive !!

the issue of freeze magz that your interview will be published will be dedicated generaly to the history of "rave" from the early early days....Can you add some infos on that by telling us how the whole "rave" thing started in Holland?
I was actually born in the UK - I moved to Holland in 1993, so I cant really comment on the beginnings of trance in Holland then - my first time playing in holland was 1992. However, I have been going to "Acid House parties" since 1988 in England though. When I arrived in Holland in 93 the scene was very different. At parties there were no different styles like Trance, Techno or House - everything was played together on the same party. They were all called "house parties" in Holland then, even if nobody played house !! People were experimenting much more with music, with decos and finding the best way to go forward. I think all the people involved in the scene were more enthusiastic and interested, and also much more creative. The drugs were also very different, most people just took LSD, Ecstasy became popular several years later. You couldnt buy fluoro cloths like now, so we had to make our own. Now it is much more of an industry, then it was a hobby ;-) But in Holland we never really saw big "raves' for trance, they were always smaller events. The only place I have seen the traditional form of "raves" is in america and canada - lots of young kids who are taking too many drugs and have all these strange toys, clothes and glows ticks, vicks, white gloves etc. This is what it was like in the UK 14 years ago, its strange to think it is still happening in America now. In August I play at the WEMF mega-rave in Canada, so I will be surrounded by 25,000 of these kids again ! Keep the vibe alive folks, and stay psychedelic =)

Matt BooM plays Club Sessions this Friday the 10th of January, 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. Check out http://www.australiens.net/clubsessions for more info