Some musicians say that music runs in their blood. For Matt Tamblyn, a local Ottawa DJ, that saying hits close to home. The son of Juno winning folk singer Ian Tamblyn, Matt has always been surrounded by music.
According to Tamblyn, becoming a DJ happened gradually.
“I would take different songs by people that I knew, record them onto a single tape, with the goal of making a seamless mix that went really well together. It was kind of an endless pursuit for the ultimate mix,” he said.
Though he confessed that he hasn’t yet created the “ultimate mix” Tamblyn said he has experienced some success.
“There have been moments DJing when I’ve been able to put a lot of songs together in a row that worked well, but I think if I found [the ultimate mix] I wouldn’t be doing it anymore.”
Tamblyn said he draws on a variety of music when creating mixes.
“I don’t subscribe to the idea that one genre of music is better than another,” he said, with a laugh. “I like music.”
Tamblyn said he enjoys researching and educating himself about types of music.
“I’ve been doing parties with specific themes . . . that’s what I hope to continue. It’s all actually just an excuse for me to explore,” he said.
Currently, one of his most time consuming activities is Open Air Social Club, a live outdoor event, he said.
The event was started by him along with two of his mentors, Sir Ett and Gregular, who ran Mind Games at Babylon Nightclub.
“I was still not very known and I put an incredible amount of time into organizing my sets and stuff,” he said, speaking of when he began DJing the event. “I would be at home a lot of the week just . . . choosing my songs that I would play each week.”
When Sir Ett moved out of town last summer Tamblyn took over the organization of the event and brought forward new ideas.
“I decided to change the format a bit and chose to have guest DJs each week. And that seemed to work really well because it brought a new audience each time, more people were exposed to it and within the past two years it has really taken off,” Tamblyn said.
Tamblyn said Ottawa’s nightlife has a great community of DJs throwing interesting parties, but they are faced with a lack of venues.
He said he also sees a slight divide between the musical acts found in the Byward area and the rest of the city.
“It’s kind of too bad that it’s that way sometimes. I don’t think Ottawa’s big enough that it can afford to have [this divide].”
Tamblyn said he doesn’t see DJing becoming a full-time job due to health issues. Since he was young, he said his ears have been “pretty messed up.”
“I’m someone who doesn’t want to do all those sort of gigs in restaurants. As far as gigs that are my events, I think you can only expect to do a few a month which of course doesn’t pay the bills.”
“I shouldn’t complain. It’s pretty fun.”
