He's a West Coast DJ legend, and come August 1, Mat the Alien will be headlining The Nest stage at Electric Love Music Festival. We had a chance to chat with Mat: check out what he has to say about his techniques, his current projects, and of course, what he feels about festivals.

Electric Love: What are your previous festival experiences?

Mat The Alien: Every summer, I play a bunch of festivals like Shambhala, Bass Coast and Soundwave, which used to be on the island. I’ve played Motion Notion, a lot of the BC ones actually; I go and do a bunch in the states as well. I’ve done Sonic Bloom, this year I'm doing “what the festival” and I’ve done Decibal also. Festivals are pretty much my favorite thing to play because people have to be committed to going for a few few days and everyone is hearing new music. People are going to get drunk or high and they know they’re going to have a good time.

Electric Love: Can you share a wild tour or show experience?

Mat The Alien: I’ve done some crazy shows, it can be great because of the sound system or the crowd like Shambhala. I got to go to the Philipines and play with a bunch of people I look up to. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself and think “what a crazy job”.

Electric Love: What do you bring to the table, musically?

Mat The Alien: Music for me is always evolving, I like to keep it fresh, last night I did a radio show and I played music I downloaded all that day and people sent me thinking “oh I like that”. I like the idea of playing records and digging through crates and me being excited about it. Some people want to do a set that’s all planned out but each festival has its own vibe and I like to change it up and play some some old bits and some new bits. Really try and contrast the set and play some upbeat stuff or some chill stuff and really try and take people through a journey with all kinds of different sounds. All festivals are different vibes and I usually go with a bunch of different genres and start out 125/130 bpm and move up to 170 bpm as the set progresses and try and throw in some scratches and turntable stuff.

Electric Love: What type of setup do you have?

Mat The Alien: I use traditional technique turn tables and I use Serato and the Serato mixer so I don’t have to touch a laptop and I can just pick the tracks out with the mixer. I usually have 3 turntables if possible and use one for scratching. I use the silver technique 1200’s, I like how you can incorporate things like Serato with it but the tables still have that old school feel to it.

Electric Love: What are you currently working on?

Mat The Alien: I’ve got an album that’s going to be coming out this summer that’s a remix album, it's all the people that have remixed tracks off my album that I put out last year. People like 6blocc , Pigeon Hole and a bunch of other people coming in. I’ve been in transition in the last year setting up my studio and I’m starting to work on more mixes now, I’m always trying to work on stuff.

Electric Love: What are you looking forward to most about Electric Love Music Festival?

Mat The Alien: The best thing is going to check out all of the other sets and people I want to see. Hanging out with friends and having a few beers and seeing friends from all over. I can’t complain, it’s always a fun time playing festivals.

Check out Mat on:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/matthealien

Twitter: www.twitter.com/matthealien

Instagram: @MatTheAlien

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Artist Profile: Mat The Alien