Matador Interview

Dundalk producer Gavin Lynch, aka Matador, has had a successful 12 months, with his distinctive thumping techno winning an international following.
Indeed, when Hot Press catches up with the groove technician, he is grabbing a bite in Nice, the latest stop-off on an extensive European tour. Lynch then heads to the US before concluding his globe-trotting excursion at Electric Picnic.
“The shows have been going great,” enthuses Gavin in his Louth accent. “You do have to work harder in some places to get the crowd going. France is somewhere you need to put in a wee bit of extra effort. There are certain cities and countries where you can stand there and let it rip and everything is well-received. In France, people react a lot more to the more melodic kind of stuff. You have to tailor the sound more. I’m playing all my own music. I need to have a good body of work to transcend genres.
“It was almost like the flipside when I was in Belgium, which I’ve visited recently. They wanted full-on techno. I played a lot tougher: it went over very well.”
Originally a chef, a few years back Lynch decided to give himself 12 months to make a career out of music. With just three weeks to go to his deadline, a support slot with Richie Hawtin led to him signing to the Detroit producer’s acclaimed Minus imprint. Lynch subsequently decamped to Berlin for 18 months in order to be closer to the label. How did he find Germany?
“Funnily enough, I didn’t spend that much time there,” reflects Gavin. “It’s kind of the same now that I’m based in Dublin again. With the amount of touring I do and so on, I’m usually only back for about two days a week. In Berlin, I was super-productive. I set up my studio and really got into the zone and got a shitload of music done.
“Then I wanted to go back to Dublin to record my album. Last November I jumped ship. I settled right back into the studio buzz. Berlin served its purpose. I have so many friends and people who I work with there. I go back and forth still – I see them most weekends. For all that, it is nice to be home.”
As he says, Gavin started recording his debut album in Dublin at the start of the year and had it finished in three months. Was it a smooth process?
“There was a bit of difficulty at the start, because my computer died about three days into it,” recalls Gavin. “That caused a lot of fucking stress. It was a case of right, let’s get back on track. So I had to order a new machine, wait for that to come and reinstall everything. Between the computer getting delivered and me getting everything set up again, that took a couple of weeks. Also, I was getting a new Moog, some circuits and a few other bits and pieces of gear up and
running as well.
“But once I got everything plugged in, it was like, okay, let’s fucking go! So it was pretty intensive work for about two- and-a-half months straight, and I ended up with 14 tracks. It was a different sort of process as well, because obviously over the course of an album you want to have peaks and plateaus, and for it to be more of an overall experience. So there is plenty of pumping techno, but there’s quieter, more cinematic and ambient moments as well. I think it balances it out nicely overall. We’re looking to have it out around the autumn, so it’s exciting.”