Hello guys! So happy to finally have you with us. How have you been? Where are you at now?

Mat: Very well thank you! I’m currently at work, Monday morning, first thing – bad times!
Tom: I’m pretty good thanks. Just got home from work and about to mix down some vocals for a track off our next EP!

Tell us a little bit more about yourselves. Who are you? How did you find each other?

Mat: Catjam is a relatively new project – about a year and a half in, but myself and Tom have been making music together for about 5 years. We met when we were put on a b2b set together back in 2011 when we used to play dubstep. Starting messing around with some productions together, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Tom: What he said. The only thing I’ll add to that is we came up with the project and it’s name at Bestival 2014.

Where did you get your ‘Swing’ influence from? Do you like the dance itself?

Mat: It all started with a dubstep tune we made together that sampled Doris Day. Absolutely loved the jazzy feel to the track and from there it gradually evolved into that full on electro swing sound.
Tom: Besides from that, I think I got my swing influence many years ago when I was playing Saxophone. I like the dance, but can’t pull off many moves myself”

What is it like to be a part of a duo? What are the advantages? How do you manage to work together, considering the fact that you don’t live in the same city anymore?

Mat: It’s awesome being part of a duo, saves so much time and it’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off. It’s also cool to not have to travel miles to a gig on your own! As for us living in different cities – the Internet is a wonderful thing!
Tom: Yeah I like the same as what Matt said, on top of that we utilise each others strong point as Matt is far more creative when it comes to arrangement and my stronger points are on the mixing/tech side of things.

What part does the music take of your life?

Mat: Music takes up the remaining space in my life when I’m done at my day job and doing Dad things. Nowhere near as much time to spend on it as I’d like, but such is life!
Tom: I think it’s safe to say it’s always played a big part in both of our lives, it’s not something either of us decided later on in life ‘yeah I want to do this now’ and then went from there.

Tell us a little bit more how do you choose the tracks when building up your mix? What do you aim to achieve as a final result?

Mat: We try and build up tempo through our sets, starting with hip-hop sort of tunes, moving up to house and electro, and ending on drum n bass – all with a jazzy/vintage twist.
Tom: Beside the tempo changes through our mixes, nearly every set we play 15 minutes each, that way we can get creative with our chosen tracks and display our different approaches to mixing.

How do you normally get yourself ready for a gig?

Mat: Have a few pints and a blend with Tom.
Tom: Haha yeah I think it’s safe to say we haven’t played anywhere without a few beers first.

As we know you are signed with Ragtime Records, how did this come about?

Mat: After releasing a few free tracks to gather a following, we sent a demo of our first EP to a few labels and Ragtime were keen to get us on board.
Tom: Yeah props to Mat on this one as he does 99% of the AR and PR.

What do you think about the new generation music tools? Do you use them in your production and mixes? Do you consider using them more in the future?

Mat: I’ll let you answer that one Tom.
Tom: I think without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. Production hardware can be very expensive and the software alternative makes music production available to the majority of musicians. From start to finish we utilise 3 digital audio workstations (Reason, Ableton Live and Logic Pro) purely because between us we like different aspects of each piece of software. Some would probably argue it’s unnecessary and a little overkill, but that’s just how we’re comfortable working... For now.
Besides software I have an Arturia Minibrute which we have sampled and used in a couple of our tracks, and I’ve just recently purchased a Roland System-1 which I hope to do the same with.

What music do you listen to and what do you do in your spare time?

Mat: I listen to all sorts of music, everything from Squarepusher to The Avalanches! In my spare time I like writing music and spending time with my family.
Tom: I’m probably less adventurous when it comes to variety, I’m a sucker for most broken beat electronic music. Some artists that that have been on repeat lately are Jon Gooch aka Feed Me/Spor, Cuthead, Kursa and Tipper. As for spare time I like to do draw geometric patterns and learn about design throughout the ages.

Share with us your future projects and plans gigs wise for this summer. EILO Radio wishes you a great summer and hope to hear from you soon.

Like I mentioned earlier we have an EP in the works that we hope to release later on in the year. And as for gigs, our next stop is Boomtown Fair next week!
Thanks for having us!