Adelaide Producer Motez’s forthcoming EP ‘The Vibe’ has been described as ‘ground-breaking’ and ‘unforgettable’, following the release of his newest track “Down Like This” with Adelaide local Tkay Maidza. Touring some of the most popular clubs in Australia, Motez let me in on his global touring experiences, home town nerves and pre-show rituals.
First off, congrats on the EP, I heard it this morning and it’s pretty damn good! How long did it take you to create it?
Well, the EP itself, it’s not like I sat down and went “Alright I’m gonna write an EP,” it’s like a constant thing that I do all the time. I write music and compile a bunch of songs and I sit down with my management and go, ‘Which songs are cohesive enough together and are representing where I am right now, professionally and personally from an artist’s perspective?’. We compile them together, and these four tracks are ones that we’re really happy about the way they flow, and I don’t think they sound similar to anything that’s going on around right now.
What was it like collaborating with Tkay and Wax Motif?
It was good! It was just a diverse group of people and it really wasn’t something deliberate. With tracks like the Wax Motif one, we worked on that in Burbank, LA and it was just so easy to work on and to finish because we just get along together, we understand each other’s music.
The Tkay one was easy because I’ve worked with her before on her previous mixtape, I produced one of her tracks on there. This time around it was more like “Hey, I’ve got these verses that I’d really like to work on with you” and it ended up being Down Like This.
The track with Scrufizzer, ‘The Vibe’, was pretty much 95% done, but we thought to make it 100% we need the right vocals so we sent it to a few people and Scrufizzer was the one that kind of stuck. It was really good, it kind of captured the essence of the track, which was fun, easy going, doesn’t take itself too seriously, kind of all those tongue and cheek. So that’s how it happened, pretty much.
Motez and Tkay relaxing in the studio after producing single ‘Down Like This’.
And did you struggle to change your EP, to differ from the last? Did you struggle with creating new stuff?
Absolutely not, it was actually a change for me to club music, because I grew up listening to electronic, pop and rock and not actually dance music. I started making music years before I started DJing, so it was kind of natural for me to come back to where I started and release things that are not strictly club music and that you can listen to on your headphones and listen to at a party, at a friends house or on the radio. It’s first and foremost, songs and pieces of music rather than just club tracks and it was natural for me to come to that because that’s what I grew up with.
You just came back from playing some gigs in America, was that quite different to performing in Australia?
Yeah definitely, last year I did about 6 tours in America. I played Beyond Wonderland, I played a few club gigs as well. American culture and Australian culture are similar in a way that there’s a lot of instant gratification, compared to Europe where the audiences are a lot more patient with your tracks, and they give you that trust that you know what you’re doing and they’re there to listen.
In America and Australia, I found out that the tracks that I play, I chop and change really quickly, I move on between tracks really quickly. One fundamental difference between the Australian audiences and the American audiences is that in American fans, you get the super fans. And they love you, they travel around the country. Like I played in Vancouver and people travelled from Seattle to Vancouver, they drove from America to Canada just for the shows.
It’s first and foremost, songs and pieces of music rather than just club tracks and it was natural for me to come to that because that’s what I grew up with.
A few artists have said Adelaide crowds have a strong passion for live music. Did you notice that the crowds were more lively here at all?
The last year has been completely different for Adelaide, we’re doing so well. A few more clubs are opening, the state is relaxing on the small bar licenses. Adelaide is a UNESCO City of Music badge now, so things are going really well for us. It’s reflected in a lot of the live music culture, the club culture and the links between the two because I feel like it’s merging a little bit in a lot of places.
Motez in action.
And so you said you got nervous for before Croquet, do you have any pre-show rituals?
Oh, umm. If there’s coffee, I go for the coffee. One of the beauties about Adelaide in the Fringe time is that in the Garden or in Croquet Club, there are coffee places open really late so I got myself a coffee and I was just in the zone. So I did that, or I just jump around usually. I haven’t been nervous before a show for probably more than a year. I guess wasn’t too nervous; I was just kind of aware.
I guess the Australian music scene has definitely changed to fit a bigger audience as well.
Not only Australia, you look at the bigger picture around the world, that’s pretty much what’s going on. You have tracks that are clearly club tracks, really, and you hear them a lot on the radio. The lines between club music and radio music are blurred now and the perfect example of that is Disclosure.
I hope the EP is just as popular amongst everyone else as it was with me. Thank you for having a chat!
Thank you, that really means a lot to me because I haven’t really shared it with a lot of people. So it’s really good to know that you guys have listened to it and liked it.
You can catch Motez play at Fat Controller on May 6 and you can also listen to his new EP ‘The Vibe,’ released on April 22nd.
Image: Motez FB
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