- A journey through 35 years of house from the godfather of UK rave.
- In popular mythology, the '90s are, without question, the halcyon days of dance music—an era of free raves and unadulterated hedonism. It's a myth that Matthew Nelson, AKA Slipmatt, knows better than most–he was there.
During the late '80s, as the rave scene in the UK began to boom, Nelson began moonlighting as a DJ. He would land his first residency at Raindance, the East London rave that launched in September 1989 and would become the UK's first legal rave. By 1991, he'd reach #2 in the UK charts with "On A Ragga Tip" as half of SL2 and two years later, sell over 10,000 copies of the first press of SMD#1.
Nelson has got a lot to share (as you'll see below) so we'll let him do the talking. He's been variously called the godfather of rave and happy hardcore, but what you'll hear on RA.958 is "a journey through my 35 years of house." A DJ with this much pedigree brings much more than that, of course: touching on the breakbeat, jungle and acid house that soundtracked that golden age, as well as nods to the rich cross-pollination with scenes beyond the UK, from Joey Beltram's "Energy Flash" to Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You."
What have you been up to recently?
I'm pretty much doing the same thing these days as I did back in the day, but with all the mod cons of the 2020s. My main focus is always the DJing, but I am trying my hardest to get more time in my studio. I still love making music.
On top of DJing and music, the other big one for me right now is my event, Slip Back In Time, which takes place across Ibiza in May. The team is myself and my partner Rachel, with our good friends Terry and Jacqui. It's a seven-day dance music event, mainly house and rave, where we party for seven days in San Antonio. We deliver a big lineup of DJs and artists across the week, all based in our exclusive all-inclusive hotel with music all day by the pool and then we party at the best venues through the night including Es Paradis, Eden, Ibiza Rocks Bar, Itaca, Summum and more. 2025 will be 25 years of the Slip Back In Time brand, and our fifth Old Skool Ibiza event. We're almost sold out for 2025 already… it's so much fun, with such a lovely bunch of older ravers. It’s going from strength to strength every year.
How and where was the mix recorded? And can you tell us about the idea behind it?
I recorded the mix in my home studio in Essex. I use a Pioneer XDY-XZ for simplicity and I always record my mixes manually. I know a lot of DJs that will create mixes on their computer these days using software, but that's not for me. I like to keep my DJing real.
As it's my official 35 years as a professional DJ this year I thought I'd take a journey through those years picking some pivotal tunes, some classics, but also some real quality underground tracks that don't get played so much anymore. There's obviously thousands of tracks to choose from so it's not easy to pick just a couple of hours' worth, but I think the selection certainly reflects my personal journey.
What are you looking forward to in the near future?
There always seems to be so much to look forward to, and for that I'm very grateful. I'm really excited to knuckle down in the studio and get some serious tuneage under way. I've got so many ideas as well as remixes lined up, I'm almost ready to burst.
I also want (and need) to get cracking with my book. It's been on the table for years now so I may need to take a bit of time out at the end of the year to get it on track, or it will never come to fruition.
For those unfamiliar with Raindance, could you describe the event? What were your feelings stepping up to play that night 35 years ago?
Raindance was created by my older brother, Paul Nelson, back in the summer of 1989. He was heavily influenced by his little brother (me) playing and mixing house and rave music twenty-four seven at our family home. He was friends with Ray Spence, a club promoter at the time working at a place called HQ in Camden Lock. And also, a fella called Lou who was the caretaker of the site over at Jenkins Lane in Barking. He put the three-man team together, brought in other people to make everything happen including a barrister to fend off the police on the night. Of course I was the natural choice as resident DJ along with DJ Lime (one half of SL2) and some other close friends of mine from Raw FM.
The first event was September 16th, 1989, in a big white marquee with a proper 10k rig with lasers, and the party went from around Saturday midnight to 2 AM Monday morning. The police did turn up in the early hours of Sunday morning, but the barrister sent them away. On their second event they didn't get away with it, so by their third event they worked hard and managed to get the country's first ever outdoor rave licence.
I remember I was as nervous as hell stepping up to the decks on such a big stage in front of so many people. It was the start of the journey that totally changed my path in life, and I'm so glad it happened.
If you could pass along any advice to the Slipmatt of 1989, or convey anything about the career/journey that led ahead, what would you say?
I suppose if I'd known I was going to be a professional DJ for the rest of my life, I would have paid a lot more attention to the business side of things in the early days. I've always been very disciplined when I've needed to be, but for the first few years it felt like a novelty that was time limited. How wrong was I? It's been an amazing journey for me and looking back, I now think it was always meant to be. I was playing records at 18 months old, DJing on a mobile set up in the '70s and mixing tracks together on record deck and a reel-to-reel tape player in the '80s. I was always fascinated with mixing tunes together.
My advice has always been to stay disciplined, to practise and prepare at every opportunity to make sure you know your tunes inside out and be prepared to work extremely hard with long hours. Many people joke about DJs having an easy life, and yes, we get some great benefits at times, but for me, it's a way of life rather than just a job. It can be really tiring, and it does take over. For me, that's 100 percent cool.
TracklistAdonis - No Way Back (Greg Wilson Edit)
Landlord - I Like It
Nitro Deluxe - Let's Get Brutal
Fallout - The Morning After (Sunrise Mix)
Armando - Land Of Confusion
Rhythim Is Rhythim - The Dance
Reese & Santonio - The Sound (Re-mix)
Swan Lake - In The Name Of Love
Man Machine - Man Machine
Nightmares On Wax - Dextrous
Robin Wants Revenge - Robin Wants Revenge
Joey Beltram - Energy Flash
Second Phase - Mentasm
B-Sides - Magic Orchestra
Greed - Give-Me (Hypersonic Remake)
Clubland - Let's Get Busy feat. Quartz
SL2 - DJs Take Control
Altern8 - Activ-8 (Come with me)
2 Bad Mice - Bombscare
K-Klass - Let Me Show You Love
The Bucketheads - These Sounds Fall Into My MInd (Mazella Bistro Mix)
Tori Amos - Professional Widow
Express of Sound - Real Vibration (Want Love)
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar (Da Bruck & Klein Remix)
Southside Spinners - Luvstruck
Mauro Picotto - Lizard (Gonna Get Ya)
Ariel - A9
Quo Vadis - Sonic Boom (Life's Too Short)
Agnelli & Nelson - Everyday (Alex Gold Vocal Mix)
Alex Neri - Housetrack (Antoine Clamaran Hard Bass Remix)
Philippe B - Can You Feel It
Bootleg - Put Ur Hands Up 4 Education (Mashup)
Liquid - Sweet Harmony (Dave Spoon and James Talk Remix)
Micha Moor - Space (Klaas Club Mix)
CoCo Star - Miracle (Funkda's Playing With Knives Mix)
Awesome 3 ft. Lizzie Curious - Don't Go (Hoxton Whores Remix)
Crazibiza vs Eddie Amador - House Music (Jerome Robins Simple Mashup Mix)
Alexis Raphael - It's Kinda Jazzy (Original Mix)
Sooney - Hit The Dance Floor
Reza, Tom Chubb - Anthem (Club Mix)
Jacq (UK) - Fall Back (Original Mix)
Bessey - Non-Stop (Club Mix)
Jose De Mara - To My Beat (Extended Mix)
Tony Cortez - Losing My Mind (Extended Mix)
Frank De Wulf - The Tape (Pig Snatchers & M-Staffs Anthem Remix)