Rostam’s 30 – DJ Hurley’s Interview

Posted 1/3/13 by DJ Rostam

Rostam’s 30 is LTCL Magazine’s new initiative led by DJ Rostam to introduce new hot artists to our college readers. Simply put, we interview these artists with 30 questions and provide their music links for you to download and listen to daily. Let us know what you think about DJ Hurley with a comment below!

Full Name: Matt Hurley
Stage Name: DJ Hurley
Occupation: DJ
Genre: Open format but the more house music the better!
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Where did your stage name come from? Just take my last name. Put DJ in front of it. Boom.
Where are you from? Boston, MA.
Where did you start your career? Started in my hometown just outside of Boston doing mobile gigs. When I was 14, I took the $100 I had saved up from holidays and gifts and invested in some crude 80’s DJ gear. Using an analog mixer to crossfade between my iPod on one side and my Walkman on the other, I did a bunch of kids & backyard parties. I grew my company to the point I had two guys working for me and we were booked every weekend, doing everything from Sweet 16s to weddings and school dances.
What city do you represent? Tough question. Gotta represent Boston for my start and my roots. Gotta represent STL for the amazing opportunities I’ve had here and everyone who comes out to see me play.
What gave you that initial push? The DJ at a middle school dance showed me how his gear worked. I thought it was so cool how he could control the mood and atmosphere in the room by picking the right songs.
How long have you been in the industry? 5-6 years.
If you had to give a thank-you speech, who would you thank and what would you say? I would thank my family and friends for being so amazingly supportive of me, Joe Bermudez & DJ Mario Leon for taking me under their wing and showing me the ropes of club DJing in Boston, and Domenic Laury & Khiz Munir for giving me unbelievable opportunities in St. Louis.
What makes you a softie? I just am, naturally. Big softie. I’ve been pushed around in the nightlife game once or twice because of it, but generally people are good to me.
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Produce. Produce. Produce. I’d get Ableton and a keyboard and create music I loved and that I could share with others.
What are three hobbies of yours other than what you do? Aside from DJing, I have a passion for aviation. I’m working on my commercial pilot’s certificate and love flying whenever I can. I’m also a pretty big snowboarder and I really enjoy video production. I could go on; I have too many hobbies.
Pepsi or Coke? Coke.
Rap or Hip Hop? Hip Hop.
House or Dubstep? House. Always.
What do you eat a lot more than anything else? Pop-Tarts. I have them almost every morning. It’s probably really unhealthy. I eat a lot of bananas too so hopefully it evens out.
What was the first event you ever played at/put on? Neighbor’s kid’s birthday party. Really more babysitting than Djing…
What are some of your accomplishments in the field? Some of my bigger accomplishments include playing at Life In Color (Daylow) with Swanky Tunes & Kevin Focus, and opening for Timeflies, Kap Slap, Mat Zo, George Acosta, & Gabriel & Dresden. I’m also proud of my old Saturday night residency at Laclede’s in St. Louis, and my new Friday night residency at Club 15 in St. Louis.
What makes you different than everybody else in the industry? I’m just passionate about it. I’m not necessarily different than everyone else. I’m sure there’s someone out there with a similar style but I’m not in it for the money or to get noticed. I’m here just to make people dance and share the music I love. Instead of planning out a set I see what the crowd is vibing with and do my best to keep them grooving.
Do you produce? If so do you prefer performing or producing? Nah, one day maybe.
Who would you love to perform with? It’s my dream to play with Kaskade one day. I was a huge Kaskade fan before he got big, his old deep house is the most played stuff on my iPod. Now he’s headlining tours and dropping big room stuff while still staying real. So much respect.
What’s your longterm goal? I don’t really have a long term goal. I’d eventually like to start producing in the next couple years with the ultimate goal of playing in different cities and traveling all over to DJ. That’s the dream. That’s everyone else’s dream too nowadays though, so we’ll see.
When all the partying is over how do you like to chill out? To chill out I love listening to some organic music, getting off campus, going flying, playing some Halo, and I’m always down for a good snuggle sesh.
Funniest thing that ever happened at an event? Someone requested Nickelback.
What advice would you give to up and coming artists? Don’t give up and stop making cookie cutter progressive house. A lot of kids are sending me tracks that have the same trite structure and sounds because they’re trying to recreate what Avicii and David Guetta are doing so they can get to the top faster. Try new sounds. Get funky with it. Don’t be afraid to experiment and explore. Your music should be an extension of you and reflect how you want to stand out.
What are your goals for 2013? I just want to keep doing what I’ve been doing. It’s been a steady trend upward and I can only imagine what 2013 has in store for me. On the to-do list: figure out if I’m DJ Hurley or DJ Hurlz, practice more, make more mixes, play in a different cities, revamp my social media pages, and once all that’s done maybe I’ll buy myself a keyboard.