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60 secs with...Mason

DJmag.com chatted to the producer behind the mammoth dancefloor hit Exceeder...

Who the hell is Mason?

I'm 26, half-Greek, half-Dutch and based in Amsterdam.

I'm about 177cm tall, 70kg, have brown hair, greeny-brown eyes and I'm left-handed.

Does that mean you mainly DJ with you left hand?

No I'm good with both hands. My first gig was in 1995, when I was too young to legally enter a bar.

It was a very dodgy nightclub in my hometown.

I used to nick my gran's turntables every week and the crowd usually consisted of five alcoholics and one prostitute.

After a couple of months, some even more scary people bought the place and told me to F off.

Presumably since then your DJ career has improved somewhat?

Yep, since my 'Exceeder' track blew up I've become quite famous.

Tiƫsto has been a big supporter of my music and I've been his warm up DJ on quite a few of his tours, which was great.

Also some Dutch guys like Don Diablo, Spider Willem and Terry Toner have been bigging me up.

In the coming months I'm gonna be playing at Stereotype (Edinburgh), Custard Factory (Birmingham) and Screw (Portsmouth), so I'll be across the canal quite a bit.

Your working week must be pretty hectic.

Every day I'm in the studio from 10am till 8pm except on Sundays.

I love spending long days down there! Usually from Thursday to Saturday my days are dominated by preparing DJ stuff for the weekend.

I've been occupied with music for as long as I can remember.

I sucked at sports when I was at school, so I started DJing at the age of 14.

Are you a bit of a nerd?

I think all producers must have a certain nerd-level to get a kick out of using computers and equipment.

I mainly use Logic, but also have a museum of hardware synths.

I get annoyed that lots of people produce dance music to a standard formula.

I think electronic music should, as all music, be based on creativity and not on a standard 'this is what a club record should sound like' layout.