Matoma Talks Inspiration And Upcoming Bus Tour In iEDM Exclusive Inter

It's only a week or so post-Zoo and I'm still buzzing over how much fun I had. One of the highlights of this year's Electric Zoo, besides awesome tunes, stellar food and prancing in the sun like an animal, was meeting the most incredible and inspiring people.

Of these people, one of them happened to be a very humble and down-to-earth Norwegian, the king of all feel-good, tropical house tracks, Matoma.

After we chatted about all the NYC sight-seeing he got to squeeze in before playing Zoo, we discussed upcoming projects, his bus tour, his inspirations and bonded over our cultures.

iEDM: You excited to play later tonight? What type of vibe are you going for in your set?

Matoma: I'm going for a laid-back, chill, party vibe. It's gonna be interesting, I have a vision after seeing how the crowd is, and it's such a good vibe here, so I'll play some uplifting, uptempo stuff and I'll also play some old-school stuff as well. It's gonna be fun!

iEDM: Well I'll be excited to hear all of that! How'd you prepare for your set? Are there any tunes you're looking forward to playing the most today?

Matoma: There's some songs I'm gonna play today that I think the crowd is gonna react really well to! I have some mashups that are really sick, and I've also been working a lot on developing my own type of set that when people will hear it, they'll be like, "oh, this is Matoma." It's all about having a good time and partying- that's why I called my new bus tour "Party At Your Place" because it's just me being at your place, partying!

iEDM: Yeah I feel that! Just letting loose and having a good time- that's what life is about!

Matoma: Yeah! I wanna play music that people can dance to, but when you listen to it, you feel it too. So many people just listen to things and they just jump around. They don't feel anything. When I play my sets, it's a journey. I want to set an atmosphere.

iEDM: And you have a distinct sound for sure.

Matoma: Yeah, and today's perfect. The weather is not too hot and not to cold, and the landscape is so nice. It's cool to come here to New York and write music, meet new people and see the culture, but after a few weeks I get tired and I want to go back home to Norway.

In Norway, we have a saying *speaks Norwegian* and it means, "Away is nice, but home is the best."

iEDM: I completely agree, we have a saying like that in my culture too. I love being out and doing things but I'm such a homebody at the end of the day. There's nothing like it.

Matoma: People over here in the states, they live to work. Back home, people work to live. It's a pretty different mentality but I really like it over here.

iEDM: So the next couple of months are gonna be super exciting for you with the bus tour coming up- tell me a little bit about the tour and any upcoming singles you have.

Matoma: The next two months will be crazy, I'm doing 42 shows in 46 days on the bus tour and I'm really looking forward to it. We're bringing a sick stage that we've been working really hard on, so it's gonna be next level shit for me. I'm really excited! I'm also playing a lot of new music that's coming out too. I'm just having a good time.

iEDM: Awesome to hear! And your track "False Alarm" came out too, gorgeous song and gorgeous video, tell me about the process and inspiration you had when making the song.

Matoma: Thank you! Becky Hill has such an amazing voice and such an amazing passion, you really hear her emotions and feelings in her voice. I remember when I heard the demo and I go, "who is this girl?" and they told me, "oh it's a British girl, Becky Hill, you should check her out."

I got the acapella and produced on it, and sent the demo over to her management and everybody was excited and loved the production. We finished it together and released it on a day where we had almost kind of like a Billboard type festival back in Norway and 75,000 people attended.

They broadcasted it live on television and we released and performed it that day- the reaction was incredible. It went to top three in Norway and it's been doing great, so I'm very happy and maybe even release more music with Becky in the future.

iEDM: Congrats, that's amazing- where do you find the inspiration for your tropical sound? Or does it come naturally?

Matoma: It comes naturally, and I get inspired being on the run all of the time and meeting all these people. Like meeting you, for example, inspires me!

iEDM: *laughs* Aw! Thank you!

Matoma: No seriously! Hearing other people's stories and experiences, hearing about their cultures, and seeing all these new places too. I'm actually going on a backpacking trip in Asia after the tour with my girlfriend, just to get inspired and maybe get influenced by Asian culture and sounds for my album, so it's gonna be really cool.

iEDM: That's gonna be the experience of a lifetime. What's the craziest thing to happen to you during a set or casually in life?

Matoma: Yeah, I remember when I played back in 2015 and I staged jumped for the first time. I was pushed off the stage and that was incredible, it was the first time but probably the last time too. But it was definitely fun!

iEDM: In the spirit of the whole Electric Zoo theme and animals, what would you say your spirit animal is?

Matoma: An eagle.

iEDM: And how come?

Matoma: I think it's so peaceful to just be up in the sky and look down on everything and look over the world. It's such a majestic and beautiful creature and it has a lot of pride.

iEDM: Good answer! It's funny because one of the artists I actually interviewed yesterday also said they would be an Eagle!

Matoma: *laughs* Yeah!

Thanks for chatting with us, Matoma, who killed it during his Zoo set and had the crowd completely wrapped around his finger.

Matoma is coming to bring the party to your place, so you can snag some tickets to his "Party At Your Place" tour here and if you're unable to make any of the shows, cure your FOMO by jamming out to his SoundCloud here!