Motek’s creators speak about their intimate London shindigs

One of the few resolutions I made this year was to try and avoid larger club nights in favour of smaller, more niche promotions. Mainly because larger nights seem to be attracting the wrong kind of crowd, whereas smaller nights have quite a cult following which gives the parties a more intimate, friendlier atmosphere. One of the nights where I experienced this kind of thing was Motek, which takes place at the CAMP in Old Street – run by Canadian Matt Hardinge and good friend Ben Coda, the night is one of those events where a loyal group of followers and friends get together for a good old knees up and mutual appreciation of good music once every few months. In my eyes it’s spot on so I got in touch with Matt and Ben to find out more about Motek…

So guys, what’s the history of Motek? Why did it come into existence?

Matt: Motek as an idea came into existence one ‘morning after the night before’ in September 2010. The main idea was to build up a night where we had a platform to showcase our own sound, but also bring something a little different to London. Both of us are experienced DJs and promoters, and we come from pretty eclectic backgrounds, incorporating progressive house, techno and deep house… We wanted to bring all those styles together under one brand with the focus on cutting edge music and great vibes.

Ben: Exactly… The main aim of starting the night was to create a special vibe, with no pretentiousness (something we’d both seen a lot of in club nights), and to really take it back to its roots – it’s dance music at the end of the day, people are there to party. I think most people that come along have commented on the wicked atmosphere at our events.

Yeah that’s what I found myself, it was good natured all the way through. Where did the name come from?

Ben: We wanted something memorable and unique and it came from a whole load of brainstorming, it’s a name that we made up, we didn’t realise at the time that ‘Motek’ is a term of endearment in Hebrew.

Matt: Haha, yeah it could have turned out a whole lot worse!

So who are the people behind it (and their background)?

Matt: It’s just the two of us that run it… Ben is a well-known DJ in the progressive house scene and has released music on many of the top prog labels around with support from some big names. He’s also got a monthly radio show on Proton Radio, home of John Digweed & Umek amongst others… As for myself, I have a really varied music background, I used to be really into hip-hop until I snuck into a Sasha + Digweed show at Twilo, NYC as a teenager. Since then I’ve been a bit single-minded musically but definitely for the better. Unfortunately, I started off playing some really bad stuff such as UK hard house but I have thankfully moved on since then, now my sound is rooted firmly in deep house and techno.

What’s the ethos behind the whole thing? What’s your aim/ambitions with it?

Ben: The ethos is a focus on quality music and creating the right kind of vibe to allow the crowd to let go and have fun. We make sure to select local DJs based on what they play rather than how many mates they’ll bring along. We’re seeing a definite shift towards promoters only booking DJs with lots of mates, rather than DJs who actually play good music, which really has an adverse effect on the music quality in clubs.

Matt: That’s right… London has so many good nights but even more poorly run nights where the music policy is thrown out the window to bring down a load of ticket selling DJs. Those events are really obvious as it’s a random crowd with no musical programming whatsoever. We’d rather take a potential hit on ticket sales in order to have quality music and a special atmosphere.

What’s the music policy and how have you gone about booking the headliners? How do the people you book reflect Motek’s ethos?

Ben: We always try to book headliners who are on the cutting edge of the music they’re writing, who are creating something unique and generally we look for artists rather than just DJs. Max Cooper is a great example, his music crosses over from techno to progressive, and his live show is awesome. We love it when our guests really get what we’re doing, and pretty much everyone has so far.

Matt: Almost all of the acts we’ve booked have played a live show as well which is really important to us… it means they aren’t playing the same old tunes as every other DJ and that our crowd will get a unique show.

You recently hit the States and Canada for a Motek tour, how was that? Any plans to tour elsewhere (Europe for example) or head back to America?

Ben: America was great, it’s the first time I’ve been back in years and we had a wicked trip. Canada was also amazing, the crowd there was really special and everyone we met was super friendly! The highlight for me was getting to play loads of my own tunes to a packed crowd at Circus in Montreal, the sound system in that place is something else…

Matt: It’s always great going back to the US and Canada, I’ve got so many friends there after living in both places for some time. It’s really hard to pick a highlight of the trip… I had an amazing time in Austin, Texas, there were so many familiar faces in NYC and the roof top at Push Lounge in Florida is always an amazing party. That said, Montreal is my hometown and I love playing there… the crowd are super clued up and always up for a good time.
As for future tour plans… I’ll be playing at WMC [in Miami] this year and then the two of us are planning to hit a couple of festivals as well. There will also be some exciting European dates, but we can’t talk too much about that just yet. We will also definitely be planning another US/Canada trip later in the year.

How did the States compare to London?

Ben: London definitely has more of an underground scene than the states at the moment… But they’ve got some really cool venues and people are always willing to party!

Matt: Yeah, London definitely has a more evolved club culture… but things in the states are really picking up pace. House and techno are way more popular now than when I was living there previously… If you turn on the radio, every pop star out there right now is making dance music, so they are starting to like it whether they know it or not.

What’s your opinion on the current house/techno scene in London? Club-wise and music-wise.

Ben: Music-wise its all gone back underground, which is definitely a good thing, but I’d like to see a bit more diversity, I’m hearing the same tunes being played pretty much wherever I go and it would be good if DJs dug a bit deeper than the Beatport house/deep house top 10.

Matt: Haha, he says that and I’m pretty sure the last track in my mix was in the top 10! Anyway… It’s a real shame that clubs like The End and Turnmills have disappeared, but we’re seeing some really cool warehouse spaces and unique venues cropping up. I think people are starting to be a bit more creative with their selection of venues, which really helps keep things fresh and interesting. We’re really privileged to be doing our thing in London… the scene here is amazing, but at times it fills a bit over saturated with everyone trying to get a piece of the pie. In the end, it’s always the good nights that stand the test of time.

What does the future hold for Motek?

Matt: For Motek, we’re planning on keeping the events up this year, we’re looking at working with new artists and a few new venues, from intimate parties, to some larger events later on in the year.

Ben: We’re also planning to set up Motek as a record label to release music we find that really fits our vibe…

…and yourselves individually?

Matt: I’ve got a lot of exciting gigs lined up, but my real personal goal is definitely to spend more time in the studio… I’ve always neglected it as I find DJing way more fun than producing. Other than that, definitely keeping the focus on Motek, and also keeping the gigs quality as opposed to quantity.

Ben: I’ve got lots of gigs coming up in March and April in the UK and abroad, and carrying on my studio schedule, which is pretty hectic as usual. I’m also planning on putting together a live show this year, so I’ll hopefully be hitting the road with that in a few months, I’ve got so much source material now, the time has come to do something new with it all and a live show is the way forward.

Check out Matt’s exclusive mix right here…

Independance by Matt Hardinge

For more information on Motek head over to their website moteklondon.com

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