Pioneer, veteran, innovator; whatever you want to call him, MJ Cole has been a defining figurehead in the UK garage movement since it began. Since the early days of his career, MJ Cole, or Matt Coleman, has become synonymous with UK garage, having released an abundance of work in that time. His debut album, “Sincere,” released back in 2000 on Talkin’ Loud, was signed by acclaimed musical taste maker and Radio 6 host, Giles Peterson, and was lauded by both fans and critics alike, becoming nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Now, Matt has been nominated for ‘Re-mixer of the Year’ at the 2014 Music Producers Guild Awards, alongside artists like Four Tet and the Freemasons, which will be taking place in London on February 13th. In its sixth year, the Music Producers Guild Awards recognize the enormous contribution made by recording professionals to the success of the UK’s music industry.
With the award, and moments like the recent American TV debut of Disclosure, it’s clear that garage is back on just about everybody’s radar, once again becoming a cultural phenomenon. So we sat down with Cole to find out what he thinks about things coming back around, hear his thoughts on modern production methods, and see what the future holds for one of dance music’s core figures.
Hi Matt, thanks for speaking to us, Happy New Year! How was New Year's Eve for you? Yeah it was pretty good thank you. I was in Manchester and London for New Year's Eve, but yeah the New Year is going well so far thank you.
Excellent. You started as a sound engineer, how did this progress to producing? Did you start producing solely garage? Well I grew up mainly playing piano and classical and went to music college, so really that was the beginning to my music career. Then I got into messing around with my Dad’s HIFI, so I got more interested with that side of things. I probably moved into having a little computer at home and listening to dance music in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, and kind of thought I want to spend the rest of my life in the studio because I liked the studios. Then I went to go and work in the studio. I had a lot of these skills anyway, and they started to come through as I was engineering for other people. I never liked garage or anything at the beginning. I was a drum and bass head and pretty much disliked house music. But after engineering for a few different people, I found out that liked working with music at a slower tempo and I could play piano put my own music in and yeah, it kind of went from there.
Garage, or "future garage" has come back into full force these days. Being a pioneer of the UKG movement is this something you’re happy to see? Yeah, I guess so. I mean for a few years garage was a really dirty word and no one really wanted to mention it at all. I always thought the scene and the music we were producing in the late ‘90s and early 2000s was innovative and lent itself to pop music and was quite a selective genre, so it was little bit disappointing when it kind of got rubbished. But these things tend to happen to all genres. It’s going on with dubstep at the moment. It’s nice to see that it came around (garage) again with the likes of Disclosure. Those guys are reinvigorating the sound. Yeah, its nice to see that its coming around again, but even nicer to know that 18-25-year-olds are really into it, it’s not just like a resurgence of old guys with shiny shoes.
“Sincere” is probably one of the most iconic tracks that you produced,and is still played religiously in 2014. Where did you produce this track, and when you produced ut, did you think it would be so influential? I did it in my bedroom in my Mum’s house in Twickenham on a basic computer and a sampler. I remember the first person I took it to was a distribution place and they said they didn’t really like it. So no, I didn’t suddenly think it was going to be an amazing record, but it just kind of came out; it was very natural the way it happened, really.
Maybe there’s hope for all of us then! How would you say your sound has changed from your bedroom producer days to 2014? It’s just much, much better and a lot louder. I guess I’m constantly trying to have fun in the studio. I’m constantly moving on and trying new bits of this and that. A few years ago I got into the whole UK Funky thing. I went a little bit darker and produced a bit of dubstep and a lot more textual music, and now I’m using a lot more strings with classical influence. I guess I move around the whole time, but I just try to keep it interesting and have fun making music because that’s what comes through at the end of the day. And its what I like doing.
You’ve collaborated with a lot of great artists in the past, both for your label Prolific Records and in general. Who has been your favourite artist to work with? I worked with Jill Scott that was really cool. I’ve had Tom Jones in the studio he’s a really cool guy. I’ve also more recently done something with Dizzie Rascal; he’s a great guy. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some pretty interesting people, and they’re all fun in their own way. But I think I’d have to say Jill Scott would be my favourite pick as she’s just got amazing soul. What can we hope to look out for from Prolific Records in the coming months? I’m working on some new stuff at the moment, and I’m trying to have about three new releases on the label this year and getting that lined up. There’s a lot of new stuff going on in the studio at the moment, so we’ll wait and see what happens. I’ve got a cut on the Katie B album that’s just coming out too. I’m also doing some work with Azealia Banks and with new vocalists like Jimmy Napes. There’s going to be a lot of good stuff coming out.
You mentioned Disclosure before. What UK producers are you digging at the minute? Who should we look out for in 2014? T Williams, I’m really into his stuff, people like Shadowchild. There’s a lot of good stuff going on at the minute, however Zinc is still making good stuff, as is Zed Bias. I’m very into his music. There’s a lot of good stuff coming into the UK at the minute. I’m very happy to be apart of it and to make music for a living!
One last question before you go. What’s new for MJ Cole in 2014? Well what’s new is new music that’s going to be coming out. I’m going to be doing lots of DJing in York, Birmingham, London and Sheffield. I try and keep DJing as much as I can as it gives me room to work in the studio as well as have a social life. I like a balance between the two. It’s good to go out and see a crowd. I find you can get a little lost in the studio otherwise.
The Music Producers Guild Awards take place on Thursday, February 13. For more info, head to their website.