(Subway)
Matt Watt aka Killawatt first took the decks at the age of 16 in 2006. Originally a jungle / reggae / breakbeat DJ at free parties in East Anglia, he rose quickly through the ranks of the regional DJ scene, representing his co-run jungle label Satta Sounds. It wasn’t until moving to Guildford to study creative music technology at the University of Surrey that he was first exposed to dubstep. With his background in jungle and reggae, it was no surprise his early production was focussed more on the ‘dub’ side of dubstep with heavy influences from artists such as Lee Perry, Radikal Guru, Roots Meetings and Vibronics.
His first solo release was on the New Zealand label, DubPride Recordings. During mid 2010 he was asked to present his own show on the forthcoming legal FM station, Kane FM, based in Guildford. The station hopes to be up and running by the end of 2011. He also became a resident at Rotation DnB / Dubstep events and Kane FM Presents nights in Guildford, as well as sustaining a residence at Satta Sounds jungle nights in Brighton and the University of Surrey’s own in-house monthly bass music event.
Late 2010 saw a change of direction in Killawatts production style and techniques. Studying topics such as sound design and soundscaping at university, he became influenced by the darker, ambient aesthetics within the dubstep sound. Kryptic Minds, Burial, Headhunter and early Loefah productions were his main focus of inspiration. Shortly after heading down this new path he was picked up my N-Type’s ‘Wheel & Deal’ imprint with his debut release due out late summer of 2011. Since signing for Wheel & Deal, tracks have also been signed to Black Box, the Dutch label Subway Recordings, Poland’s New Moon Recordings and DubPrides sister label, Iron Shirt Recordings.
After producing for just a year and a half, Killawatt has quickly established himself within the scene with a unique combination of influences from jungle, dub reggae, techno and tribal.
