Norwegian DJ-producer Tom Straete Lagergren is making a big name for himself in the music industry. The name? MATOMA. The Flisa-native grew up in Europe, on a balanced diet of classical rap, ABBA and The Beatles. After becoming ‘internet famous’ with a Notorious B.I.G. “Old Thing Back” remix, Matoma has received international critical-acclaim. Now, Matoma is known for his summery tropical house mash-ups of songs by talent the likes of Kygo and Felix Jaehn.

Intro: Camden Gaultney
Photographer: Lauren Engel
Interview: Mike Greene

How do you feel your childhood affected the way you create and produce music today?
I think it affects me in many ways, especially in the creative process and believing in myself and believing in the decisions I take when improving a track. There is a lot happening. You have to keep asking: is this good enough? When I was a kid, I started playing the piano. I got good criticism; people told me what was nice and what I needed to be better on. People have always supported me, which is big. In Norway, if you come from a good family with the right morals, you don’t have so much pressure. You have free health care and school systems. So, if you want to try out music for a year, you can.

So, your parents were totally cool with you producing music and being a DJ?
In the beginning, I didn’t want to become a DJ. But when I applied for music school and I was introduced to the college community, I saw people DJ-ing there and I became interested.

Do you think if you hadn’t gone to college, you wouldn’t be where you are today?
No. I went to music school for Music Technology and Production. I learnt so much about myself and about aesthetic choices and about being structured in doing tasks. Because to produce a track, you can have the right melodies and influence and inspiration to get down the melody, but you need to know the techniques to take yourself from the demo to a full-production. I learnt all of this in school.

What do you think you’d be doing if you hadn’t gone to school? Do you ever think about it?
I would have probably gone to the army or I would have gone to some other school. But luckily, I got in to music school and now, four years later, I’m here.

Did you have any mentors at school?
I had a professor when I wrote my bachelor thesis.

“I think I have inspired a lot of kids in Flisa there to follow their dreams and believe in themselves. When I’m back in Norway, I always try to go to schools and to talk about morals and to be true to yourself and to not talk bullshit to others.”

Did he help you afterwards when making music?
No, now I don’t have any mentors. But, he helped me a lot when I was at the college.

What kind of music do your parents listen to and do you think that influenced you at all?
Of course! Especially, what my big brother listened to: he listened to old school hip hop. Also my mom. She listened to ABBA and she liked the Beatles.

Do you ever play that into your music today?
I don’t. But, that’s mainly because the quality back then wasn’t as good.

In terms of the sounds, not the actual music?
In terms of the sounds! There is a lot of noise in old vocal recordings and it’s also very hard to find acapellas. When I produce music, I want it to sound like a new song. I think the main reason why people like my music is because it doesn’t sound like an original mash-up or a remix. It sounds like a totally different song.

I agree with that! Are you a home-town hero back in Flisa?
I think I have inspired a lot of kids in Flisa there to follow their dreams and believe in themselves. When I’m back in Norway, I always try to go to schools and to talk about morals and to be true to yourself and to not talk bullshit to others. You can be really good in math and I can be really good in music; so, you can teach me about math and I can teach you about music.

Do you think that pushes you to the next level being able to go back and inspire these kids as a sort of role model?
I’m sure a lot of those kids don’t think about it in that way. They probably laugh and think: “he plays piano and I’m the football star.” But if you think about it, he has the same right to be treated nicely.