He returns! He returns!

It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found (Luke 15:32)

The word spread like wildfire through the under belly depths of Brisbane’s underground community. After a long sojourn in China’s Shanghai, Matt Kitshon, the Crown Prince of Brisbane’s Dancescape, was coming home. But unlike the Prodigal Son from the Bible, Matt did not “waste his substance with riotous living”. Much in the manner of a cultural diplomat representing Australian Culture, Matt relocated from his home town (which he describes in his bio as “dance music’s final frontier”) to Shanghai. Here Matt could showcase the positives of a subculture that has come to be frowned upon by the conservative western world while remaining relatively unknown to the east. In such clubs as The Dragon Bar, The Tiki Room, Studio 78 and Nexus 11, Matt has unleashed his unique brand of transmuted house upon the eastern masses.

Taking up the standing of professional international has likewise granted Matt the opportunity to concentrate on studio production. In his usual gruff yet humble manner, Matt claims his studio production is “as bad as my mandarin. I make noise not music,” he puts forth [sic]. “There is so much good stuff out there that I wonder whether it really needs my contributions.” But, he proclaims that he “will be working harder on this.” While the irony of Shanghai is it too is somewhat a hinterland in the global Dance realm, this has not detracted from Matt’s personal quest in pioneering the unknown and untried. That Shanghai and Brisbane are both “final frontiers” in the international Dance arena and both share humid conditions particularly during Summer, are likely to be where the similarities end. As a centre for finance and trade for the mainland, Shanghai is “the most populous and well developed city in mainland China” (smartshanghai.com). Shanghai is also considered the centre for popular culture, with tourists and inhabitants highlighting its architectural attractions. Matt tells me there would be a huge list in trying to outline the differences in Brisbane’s nightlife to that of Shanghai. “How does chalk differ from cheese?” Matt relates by way of brief explanation. “The population of Australia in one [Chinese] city – enough said.” When I asked Matt what he had learnt in China, Matt replies “I was ready for a change. Too long in the same venues playing to the same crowds… It was a new challenge and the opportunity to be part of the dance music scene from its beginnings all over again.” I laugh when he adds “I can tell you what I haven’t learnt…much mandarin – and I took up smoking…just replacing one bad habit with another… oops.”

China has forced Matt to musically and spiritually extend himself. “It changed the way I approached music,” Matt tells me. “Playing to audiences that have not grown up with electronic music at all takes a different style of playing – attention spans are shorter” for example. In a 2005 interview with ITM’s Custaro, Matt pointed out that Dance music in China was “in its infancy in a lot of aspects.” There was “no electronic dance music radio stations or even print media.” He does note however that “the venues are world class and the people are taking to it more and more.” To me Matt relates, “I think being away from the people I love for so long made me appreciate the few close friends I have much more. I think they would agree it has changed my outlook in as much as what I feel is important in my life.” I understand. Seeing the bigger picture always does alter one’s perspective. Matt reveals that his experience in touring “does get a bit ‘rock star’ at times with 5 star hotels and limos.” His jesting is something I have come to enjoy as integral to Matt’s forthright character – and I’m thus glad to realise that his travels haven’t changed him on a deeper level. Indeed, China has been a highlight for Matt – and perhaps, a stamp and reaffirmation of his self-belief and resolve. “The local residents and artists in China take their music very seriously,” Matt explains to me. “On the whole, they are really very technical to their approach. They’re not so caught up in the medium and are more interested in the creativity that technology brings.” Of course, Matt as a peerless sound designer acknowledges he is a big fan of this philosophy.

I have always found Matt to represent anarchic synthetic rock. No genre escapes his attention. No resonance eludes his aural perception. From stilted spatial computer effects to the blaring golden tones of the alto saxophone, Matt Kitshon is truly a sound designer and an adept in his arts. With an affinity for early electro and breakdance, Matt has embraced all manner of beats and meters. I best remember him playing alongside Jason Rouse and Graham Don at Viva Nightclub and then The Port Office (aah, those were the days!) followed by The Monastery, though Matt states that his DJ career began with “Millenium” at the Tube in 1995. He musically developed after personally observing the cultural revolution of 1980s acid house. “What thoughts flash through your mind as you look back at Viva through to now?” I ask him. “How am I able to answer these questions with all the abuse I’ve put my mind and body through.” Matt replies tongue in cheek. “Why the decks though?” I ask him, remembering his penchant for non-conformity with mohawks, piercings, multiple tattoos and a risque rocking image. I’m not at all surprised when he replies “cos I can’t play guitar?” Besides, from the mid 90s, the decks was the ‘new guitar’. In an alternative universe, I’m sure Matt is comfortable as the frontline rhythm guitarist in a Punk band, furiously strumming before a stack of Marshalls and vigorously reacting to the crowds. It is a credit to his valiant musical psyche that regardless of instrument or instumentality, Matt has always produced jangling discords of distortion and mayhem from his mixes. Really, in no way could this be more effective than in the godly role of DJ. “I think it was a move.. a transition from ‘professional clubbing’,” Matt grins to me. “All my friends played music. I never intended it to be a profession – it was an escape from day to day that grew into something more. My DJing has always been driven from a passion and love of dance music and its culture. I fear some people have lost that understanding,” Matt reveals. “I don’t care for the fame or the fortune – it’s all about the music.”

For Matt Kitshon, music is “a drug that you hear rather than swallow. It changes your moods, takes you back to a place in time or helps you forget the world. It brings people together. It is my life, my religion.” If Brisbane is indeed a religious centre, Matt would be the Potentate. He has seen styles come and go; he has in fact established genres – popularising the breaks and tek sound for Australian Dance. He was there, right at the very beginning when Dance Music was barely birthed in this small backwater town of suburbia. Matt would very well be heeded as the first generation of Dance DJs, flanking the original holy godhead of DJ Freestyle, Graham Don, Jason Rouse, Mark Briais and Matt Nugent. He has an incredible backdrop to his career – Matt took out #3 in the ITM50 for 2004; has supported a melange of global artists such as Derrick Carter, Groove Armada, Fat Boy Slim, Hybrid, The Crystal Method, DJ Heaven and more; toured for masses of events including Gatecrasher, Big Day Out, Adventj*h and the Australian leg of Ministry of Sound; and traveled from US to Manila and every major destination in between. Being based in the centre of the globe has also enabled Matt to actively keep his finger on the pulse of the Australian Dance Industry. “Australia is the bomb when it comes to music and crowds,” Matt informs me. “Ask any international DJ who plays here and they will say the same thing.”

It would be best to note that Matt is notorious for upsetting the standard and digressing towards the path less travelled. Yes, the Potentate has returned, prepared to usurp the reverent mantle he cast off only a mere two years ago. But his return comes with a purpose. With the exciting news of a new superclub buzzing in Brisbane since late 2005, speculation ran rife as to whom would be awarded the residency. When whispers came out confirming the superclub name as The Met with the hint that the residency would go to a local DJ with an international profile, it was not long at all before Matt Kitshon’s name was thrown about as the obvious choice. When Matt confirmed this with me personally in October, I knew Brisbane would know no bounds in her joy to welcome her Lost Son. “I have been back a couple of weeks,” Matt informs me, his tongue of course, firmly planted in cheek, “and I have to say I am having MSG withdrawals. I am however excited about the prospects ahead for The Met.” He discloses that “the main room is huge and I think I will be a little nervous the first couple of nights until I find my groove. It’s definitely a big room,” Matt confirms “and as a new venue, I’m all into lots of mash-ups, acapellas and the likes at the moment … but business is business and I will be doing my upmost to rock it from the word go.” Alongside his Sunday residency at Chic Boutique and his studio likely to be set up and raring to record, Matt’s plate would appear loaded. I couldnt help wondering though, whether he harboured any thoughts of anxiety at returning to a slightly different Brisbane. “I have always concerned myself with what I am doing and playing to the best of my ability every show,” Matt tells me firmly. “I don’t think of other DJs as competition so much as partners in a movement.”

That Matt Kitshon is the Lost Son returned is absolute. He took on a personal challenge, stepped out of his comfort zone and re-established his sense of self-belief in his music. It takes only the very brave or the foolhardy to attempt that. Matt will likely try to convince you he is the latter while we all know the former is closer to the truth. As an Aquarius, it appears destined that Matt is a man with ideas of the future and the unusual. With the creative, challenging, entertaining, stimulating and independent character to all Aquarians, Matt is likewise inclined towards rebellion, unpredictability and the abstract. He has developed a taste for hunan pai gu (“spicy pork ribs” he kindly translates for me) and touts his favourite superhero character as Aeon Flux. “You can’t beat a chick in PVC with guns that dies in every show”, Matt tells me. I remember him enjoying his beer while behind the decks and I have potent memories of staring brazenly at the many wondrous tattoos adorning his arms or his ever-changing, flagrant hairstyles. Indeed, I remember being able to recognise him coming out of the Sun Apartments even though I was across the road at Rics, merely from the sight of his shaved head. Matt Kitshon has always struck me as an awe-inspiring character, certainly too large for this life in suburbia Brisbane. That he was once lost to us, and is now found, is good fortune. Matt’s return heralds a great stir and ferment for Brisbane’s Dance scene. And while it seems so agreeable and compliant to Brisbane now that Matt Kitshon is home, I have no doubts in my mind that if Brisbane returns to its typical complacent self, there is nothing that can prevent Matt from packing up his records and his studio, and heading into the setting sun. Still, no matter how far he runs, nor the extremes Matt may go to leave Brisbane behind him in his passionate pursuit for music, he can not escape the unbreakable bond that first spawned him as a pioneer for electronic music. Matt’s place is here. And while he may at times be in Brisbane only in spirit, his heart will remain ensnared, nevertheless. Brisbane has that effect on her denizens…. and especially, her sons.

Matt Kitshon commences his residency at The Met, November 25