Dj Gold Digger

Dj GOLD DIGGER spearheaded Seminyak’s soulful music scene since hitting Bali shores in 2000. From his humble hip-hop beginnings at Loco Bar to his current role as resident block rocker at local venues such as Chandi and La Plancha, whatever he plays…it’s got to be funky. 
Legend has it, Matt began DJing in the mid 90´s when he was 16 and bought his first turntables at 17. He started collecting music when he was still quite young having been influenced by his mother on the Soul and Motown side and by his dad on the rock n’ roll side. Having been raised in the northern England town of Blackpool, epicenter of the famous Northern Soul scene certainly had its influence on Matt, as did the nearby metropolis of Manchester and the iconic Haçienda nightclub where he got into groups like The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Primal Scream as well as Acid House and hip hop. Matt’s first residency in England was at the The Hub Nightclub in Blackpool where he ran a night called Soul City. It was here that the owner of the venue gave him some fateful advice that would later become Golddigger’s calling – “people love familiarity.” Fast-forward to 2000, Matt was fresh out of university and decided to visit a friend in Bali working as a fashion designer. He arrived on the Island of the Gods as his first stop on a worldwide trip, extended his stay for the next fifteen years. 
Blowing into town with just a surf board and a few dozen of his favourite records, Matt settled down for spell and began sussing out the local music scene, which at the time consisted of trance and hard house. By 2001 he had discovered Loco Bar in Seminyak on Jl. Double Six that was the only spot known to play Disco, hip-hop, funk and soul to a small but dedicated crowd. This is where Matt plied his funky wares, hitting them with an unexpected blend of edits, remixes, and bootlegs that appealed to the soulful House music fans. Over the course of the next couple of years Matt adopted his moniker “Golddigger” which referred to his skills in “digging in the crates for them golden classics.” Venues such as Cafe Del Mar, La Boheme, Lush Bar, Woodstock and various other clubs and bars became the stomping grounds where he would rock his trademark turntablist blend of disco, house, funk breaks, hip hop and soul rarities, playing strictly from his handpicked vinyl collection. 
Golddigger teamed up with musical compatriot Stevie G in 2005 to start their very first regular Bali residency, the seminal Hip Shaker bi-weekly at F-Lounge which took over Loco Bar’s mantle as Bali’s only alternative music venue, undoubtedly paving the way for how much eclectic party music is supported on the island to this today. After a successful one and half year run the party had run its course and Golddigger became in demand at several diverse venues and parties such as the Sentosa Villas events (Playboy Mansion and 3D parties), Rip Curl rooftop blowouts, Sky Garden monthlies and beach shindigs on Gili Trawangan and Canggu´s Echo Beach where his Dark Moon parties became legendary in the Bali underground scene. 
In 2007 he was recommended as a DJ for the opening party at Chandi Restaurant and from this became the first official Chandi resident DJ. Stevie G soon joined up with Golddigger on the decks and thus the G-Unit was formed, as was their G-Spot monthly party held on the first Saturday of each month, the event that was to eventually launch Golddigger’s fame to heights never before seen on the scene. Although it was at first slow to burn, the G-Spot blew up once he transitioned to the Serato Video mix system that has made him become the most in demand DJ in Bali today. The technology allows him the innovative ability to synchronize actual music videos to the tracks being played. Cross fading, cutting and scratching the images as the songs themselves would transition in a sort of video mash up mix that continues to delight audiences and has revolutionized the way they interacted with the party. Being a graphic designer by trade, Matt was also intrigued with the idea of mixing visuals with the music and Serato provided the perfect medium for this. And it also allowed him the unique opportunity to actually create his own video accompaniment for songs that did not have accompanying visuals. 
Musically, Golddigger’s sound has certainly become more accessible with tunes and imagery spanning 5 epic decades of familiar house, soul, disco, funk, hip-hop, plus the occasional surprise he decides to throw into the freestyle eclectic mix and video showcase. But whatever he comes up with, it’s been proven by sell out audiences in Bali at Chandi, Hu’u Bar and La Plancha, in Bandung at Maja House and in Jakarta at CO2, New China and Dragonfly, that no matter what he touches, it always turns to gold.