Who: Mat the Alien
When: Tuesday Nights
Where: Maxx Fish
If you want to listen to Mat the Alien spin, you could drive down to the Vancouver airport ($20 in gas, two and half hours travel time), board a plane for Las Vegas (airfare $300-something, two hours travel time), book into a hotel (roughly $200) or sleep at the bus station (free, but might pick up lice) and drop by Eye Candy at the Mandalay Bay Casino where he spins every Thursday night.
Estimated cost: give or take $600. Estimated time: at least two days off.
Or, you could catch the local talent in Whistler for about a five to ten dollar cover on Tuesday nights at Maxx Fish, Wednesday nights at Moe Joe's and once a month at Soul Kitchen at Tommy Africa's.
You know you are good when club owners are willing to shell out the dough to fly you 1,400-plus miles each way every week.
Pique Newsmagazine readers feel the same: for the zillionth year running, Mat the Alien was voted Whistler's Best DJ by a landslide.
The U.K. boy moved to Whistler in pursuit of his snowboard addiction in the mid 1990s and pioneered four-turntable nights in Whistler with his legendary scratching and mixing skills. The globetrotter began spinning his talent overseas and represented spinning at Canada House during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
In addition to a weekly residency in Las Vegas, Mat the Alien has had quite the year, and 2008 is looking even better.
Highlights for 2007 included two Korea tours, which included a show with Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5 fame. He also showed off his scratch wizardry at the Shambhala Festival in Salmon Arm, Motion Notion in Edmonton and Soundwave in Victoria. He performed alongside the likes of Q Bert, A Skillz, Krafty Kuts, Killa Kela, DJ Craze, Bass Nectar, Skratch Bastid, Peanut Butter Wolf, Aphrodite and Snoop Dogg.
In his free time, if you can call it that, he has been making music. His beats were used on Anna Nicole Smith's A&E Biography, MTV News, the Bonaduce Reality Show and the theme song for Ride Guide.
Even though he can't even play it (because he has an old school Playstation 1), Mat did the scratching on the EA sports video game NBA Homecourt available now for X Box 360 and Playstation 3.
He's released a mixed CD called Pow this summer, which has had 4,000 downloads. (Visit myspace.com/matthealien.) He also laid down a vinyl track on the Hai Karate remix from the Smalltown DJs based in Calgary.
He is in the midst of scratching for Sweatshop Union's new LP and has other plans. "I am going to try to snowboard as much as possible in Whistler, Golden, Fernie, Nelson and Colorado," he says, adding, "if I can wake up early enough."
Other plans for 2008 include an Asia tour with Jon H from Fort Knox Five, shows in the United Kingdom at Fabric and Supercharged with Krafty Kuts and Killa Kela.
Canada and U.S. tours will follow, including a stopover at the World of Drum and Bass in Miami and Las Vegas, and releasing a mixed album with Skratch Bastid.
