Mat Zo was born in London, moved to Cleveland Ohio, then moved back to London all by the age of eleven. His mother is a professional violinist, his father is a successful artist, and his half-brother is Israeli singer, Alma Zohar. It’s almost as if it was in his destiny to be involved in the arts in one way or another. His first venture in to music was when he self-taught himself how to play the guitar at only eight years old. This subsequently led to Matt playing Bass and even Drums in a couple of Jazz and Rock bands throughout London.
It was in 2001, after moving back to London with his father, that his father gave him his first computer, and it was there that he discovered the world of Trance, Drum and Bass, House and the rest of the world of Electronic Dance Music . It wasn’t long after this discovery that Mat started playing around with different beats and sounds and producing his first tracks. He eventually would go on to win the “Baroque Remix Competition” for “In My Life”, which would become the push he needed to get his name and his music in the mouths and on the turn tables of the worlds biggest DJ’s. Another rather large push to super star status happened in 2007 when world dominating DJ and Producer Tiesto, personally hired Mat to re-mix his “Driving To Heaven”, which later appeared on Tiesto’s seventh edition of his “In Search Of Sunrise” CD series.
“I’ve had a very hard time escaping this whole ‘trance’ genre. It is very limiting, especially at gigs when you get put on a trance line-up every time and I just don’t want to be exclusively part of that. It’s hard to be a part of that and be a part of something else at the same time.” – Interview with salacioussound.com
Mat does anything he can to escape having a specific label or genre attached to him. This may sound like an odd fact, given that he plays Armin Van Buuren’s “A State of Trance” (ASOT) events around the world. His live shows outside of the ASOT events consist of blending Trance in to House, and House in to Electro, Dubstep, and more. He really leaves no genre forgotten, even adding some Rock and Classical influences here and there. You may have heard of the Drum and Bass DJ/Producer “MRSA”, that also happens to be Mat Zo. “MRSA” is Mat Zo’s Drum and Bass alter ego that he brings out every now and then.
His recent schedule over the last few years has had him traveling around the world, playing to crowds of thousands at some of the largest and most well-known clubs and to crowds in the tens of thousands at multiple festivals world-wide. Taking him to Holland, Ibiza, India, Ukraine, and so many others. You never know what you are going to get with a live set by Mat Zo. It all really mostly depends on his mood before his set. No two sets with this guy will ever be the same.
