In the world of the twenty-something’s night-life scene, DJs are about as ubiquitous as Urban Outfitters at a hipster house party. And just like hipsters, most of these so-called DJs are total posers whose musical talent is akin to that of an ipod shuffle. Fortunately, in the house scene, the cream of the crop tends to rise towards the top, rewarding DJs who work their own remixes and productions to the point that people actually show some interest.

After five years of hard work, the ambitious producer/DJ Matthew Burns (aka BURNS) has finally begun to attract some serious attention. With over twenty remixes, a handful of EPs and recent tour with Deadmau5 under his belt, BURNS’ name has been popping up in all sorts of places, with consistent mentions in blog-land and on the Hype Machine. We took a particular interest in BURNS’ work, in major part because of its production aesthetic; put simply, this Scottish producer has a sound all of his own. As we suspected, Matthew Burns is quite the individual, drumming to his own beat in musical production, and elsewhere. Read on for the interview, a gallery, and a few tracks to familiarize yourself with BURNS.

IYS: I've noticed that you've been video taping your tour across the US. Are there any plans for a documentary of some sort, or are you just doing it for sentimentality's sake?

BURNS: There is a rough outline of a plan. Thomas, the guy who has been doing all my promo stuff and all my short viral videos, he's out with me, so hopefully if we can compile enough interesting footage, there's going to be a full length documentary.

IYS: Thomas was telling me that you guys are thinking of doing something in the style of Justice's Across the Universe. Is that what you are going for?

BURNS: When I told him we were gonna come do this tour, he was like, “What should I look at in terms of influence, and in terms of what it's going to turn out like?” Believe it or not but, we both agreed that Justice's documentary is similar to what we hoped it would be like. We want it to be as Rock n' Roll as possible and as least like Paul Van Dyk's world tour as you can get, you know? We want to steer as far away from the big European DJs and Trance DJs as possible, because that's not what were about.

IYS: Blog-House. What are your thoughts on it?

BURNS: Maybe 98 percent of it is just complete shit. I don't know if it's a proper genre or not. People keep mentioning it; maybe I'm in that so-called “genre.” Like I said, most of it I'm not overly keen on, but as a form of content distribution, it's a great way of discovering new talent, because there are so many places to source from.

IYS: How do you use social media / the blogosphere to grow your fanbase?

BURNS: Well, I do MySpace, I do Twitter, I try to do Facebook but I haven’t used it too much. Social networking is the new way of getting your music heard. Back in the day, you used to just send out demos, and if someone liked your stuff you might get signed. Now, you can build up a fan base without having the big record label behind you.

IYS: Do you think you could do this entirely without a label?

BURNS: For most people, to actually sell music and do touring and live gigs you need some sort of record label. Anyone can start their own record label nowadays. You can do it independently and put your own music out, but I think it depends on how far you want it to go. If you just want to do the odd DJ gig, and do the odd few shows, start your own label and do it yourself. But I think a big label can help to establish some credibility. It's a good way of getting yourself out there.

IYS: You've been in the US for about a month now. How's the tour been? Is this is your first time traveling in the United States?

BURNS: It's the first time I've been really traveling in the US. I've been to the States to do a few gigs before, but never a proper tour, so this is my first major US tour. It's been really good so far. The reaction has been amazing. Most of the gigs have just really surprised me, because I... well, when you're supporting such a big artist, you come out with low expectations. Everyone is here to see the main act, so you just try your best, do as well as possible to get the crowd hyped up for the main act.
For whatever reason though, the crowds have been really into it. I didn't expect to get the amount of support that I have. I'm flattered by the level of positive reactions that people have had on the tour so far.

IYS: What was your favorite gig you’ve played in the US thus far? What were your favorite cities to play in?

BURNS: The one in Portland was amazing. That was probably one of the best.

IYS: In terms of the crowd, or your set, or...

BURNS: Both! I don't know...with the whole anticipation of the tour, the whole build up. You don't know what to expect, but the crowd was just prepared to go crazy. From the first track I played, everybody was just with it. But Austin was amazing as well...You know, a lot of time the lights make a big difference. If the lightshow for the opener is good, it makes a difference on the crowd. Sometimes you do a gig and they don't even switch any of the lights on, and you only have like three lights flashing.

IYS: How long have you been doing the DJ thing for?

BURNS: Not long really. Probably two-and-a-half, maybe three years. I mainly consider myself a producer; being a DJ is kind of a thing on the side for me. I was never like “Oh I want to be a DJ,” it kinda just came with the territory. But I've worked hard at trying to become better. As far as I'm concerned it more about what you play, not how well you do it.

IYS: I've read in several interviews that you never plan out your shows, you just ask yourself, “Alright, what does the crowd want to hear?”

BURNS: I just approach a set as if I was going to a house party or something. I just play whatever I want and kind of gauge what people's reactions are. My opinion on the music is what I go by, and hopefully the crowd feels the same way.

IYS: So, what do you do with your time off? You've been in the United States for a month now; I hope you’ve at least been able to wander around a bit…

BURNS: There's not a lot of time off really. We've had like three of four days off, so it's been quite a hardcore tour. I've been on tours in the UK where you have three days touring and then a day off. This one is just gig after gig. You do a week straight. We don't get to see much of any towns. I mean, we've done some exploring. Like yesterday we were in Washington D.C., and we had some time to go around to the museums. I did a bit of walking around Detroit, which was cool.

America has amazing architecture as far as I'm concerned; it's so much bigger than in the UK. Everything's like, double the size of what we have over there. Some of the cities have been kinda...like, we had a day off in Little Rock, AR [laughs] which was a ridiculous place to have a day off. We stayed in an industrial section, and all we had there was a KFC and a Wendy's or something. There was not a lot to look at. But usually on days off I’ve just relaxed a bit, because everything has been so hardcore.

IYS: Is this your plan for the next few years, to just go-go-go-go?

BURNS: I'm gonna take a couple months off. I think January and February are going to be quite quiet for me. I'm just going to take some time to finish the album. I wanna do a little bit of work to just tweak things, and make it as good as I can possibly get it. I've been working on it now for about two years, so...

IYS: The album is set to come out this summer. Where are you exactly with it at this point?

BURNS: Right now, we are at the stage of selecting tracks. Over this past year, I've been releasing single songs, but nothing that I've released so far is going to be on the album. The whole point of the album is to try to surprise everybody; it's going to be a completely different...well it's not going to be a completely different sound, hopefully it will be recognizable, but it's going to be from the opposite end of the spectrum...a lot more poppy sounding.

So anyway, right now we are just selecting what's going to go on the record. I've been making music now for almost five years, so there is a lot to choose from.

IYS: Can you describe the general sound of what will be on the album, in contrast to what you have released so far?

BURNS: The album is going to be more centered on the melodies and chords, rather than the hard, dancefloor...I mean, a lot of it will work on the dancefloor, but mostly...I'm just trying to create a whole body of coherent music. Like I said, it's certainly in the pop vein. I'm trying to crossover into pop...not pop in terms of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, but I'm trying to crossover into the dance pop world.

IYS: There are currently nineteen remixes listed on your MySpace. How do you go about choosing what to remix?

BURNS: A lot of producers would agree that they usually don't choose who they remix. The people that want remixing will choose you, and then you just decide whether you want to do the mix or not. You get the original song, and if there's a part in there you really like, or if you really like the whole original song, then you'll do it anyway.

Usually, I'll listen to the original song to find an element that I really like, one that I think that I can work to suit my genre. If I don't like any of the elements, or if I just don't like the artists themselves, then I normally will just say no.

IYS: Of the remixes you've done, which is your favorite?

BURNS: There's one I did recently for Jack Splash that I really like. It's not necessarily the most playable, but as far as musically, in my mind, I think it's a really good mix. I just like the arrangement, the whole build up, and the production. I think that one, as well as the Gossip mix, have set a high standard for my production career.