In order to describe Matze's music, it takes more than a few of the usual pigeonholes.
De Matze makes German rap. Is he a hip hop head? Definitely no!
De Matze makes ballads. Is he a singer/songwriter? Neither!
De Matze makes guitar tracks. Is he a metal head? Rather not!
De Matze makes music! It's the term that best, and at the same time probably the worst, describes his style.
Music is the all-encompassing carrier, the artistic dress that is needed to underscore his lyrics. Lyrics from his own microcosm, always. Always very close to himself, always in sometimes painful self-reflection, always in his own reality, sometimes close to madness, not always in his own comfort zone.
In this constant up and down, the music has to support, it must not limit. And so the music builds on the necessary mood, and he doesn't give a damn what so-called genre it takes. The transport of the feeling is the essence of the whole, everything else has to be subordinate.
Matze made his first steps in the world of music in the early 1990s with his own rap lyrics, then still in English, in the formation "Mixed up". The technical possibilities were severely limited, but the fire called in him even then. The only performance was celebrated as if it had been Woodstock. The 3 tracks created during this time are considered lost. Legend has it that there is a tape of one track that is still in the possession of the bandmate at the time. This has not yet been proven.
The next project started in 1996 under the name "Family Business". This time a bit more crossover oriented, they managed to get 2 tracks, which were distributed to a few interested people on a very limited, self-made demo. But this formation dissolved relatively quickly. These demos were considered as lost, until one copy recently re-appeared. After all the songs that were created are still preserved in different versions in Matze's archive for posterity.
The first notable successes came from the year 2000 with the band "HartBeatz", which was formed by chance from the soul singer Dominick Thomas, the sound designer Manuel Schleis and Matze himself. Various publications, professional for the first time, were created here, which also received regional attention. A respectable amount of live gigs, radio and a television appearance followed, as well as various guest contributions on albums by artist friends. In 2006, HartBeatz broke up amicably due to different musical goals.
Matze took an artistic break that lasted a long time. Far too long from today's perspective. But the fire in him never went out, he continued to work on tracks in the background and set up his own studio.
Call it coincidence, destiny, whatever, it will remain a mystery. In 2022 he was fundamentally inspired by various events and started writing new tracks and realizing long-standing ideas. It quickly became clear that he would now start as a solo artist. The tracks for the first album as "De Matze" were finished in record time and form the basis for this man's musical future after starting 30 years ago...
