MATT 'JAM' LAMONT
Trading the drawing board (he is a qualified draughtsman) for the turntables, Matt forged his DJing name and reputation for smooth mixing during the early 90’s playing funky & US House at the famed Paradise Club in Islington, Elephant & Castle’s and Frog & Nightgown, which had a lot of influence on the UK club scene and sound that we came to know as UKGarage.
But it was at South London’s The Arches, where the burgeoning underground UK garage sound, and indeed Matt’s career really took shape with his residency at the legendary Sunday venue.
It was at this seminal Sunday club that he hooked up with fellow DJ Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, and together in 1993 they formed the now legendary production/remixing team, Tuff Jam. The duo became the leading figureheads of UK garage during the mid to late 90’s, turning out a slew of classic anthems from ‘Tumblin’ Down’ and entered the charts with TJR’s ‘Just Gets Better’ (Multiply) & Tuff Jam ft, Jaquee Bennett ‘Need Good Love’ (XL) to top remixes for Kristine Blond, Boyz II Men, Usher, Coolio, En Vogue, Rosie Gaines, Brand New Heavies, Mark Morrison and more.
TUFFJAM mix CD’s “Underground Frequencies” Vol.1 (silver sales status) and Vol.2 in 1997 and 1998 for Satellite Records. Another album was compiled and mixed for the U.S.A. entitled ”TUFF JAMS“.
In 1997 Tuff and Jam made an influential leap onto commercial radio (the first UK Garage DJ’s to do so) with their specialist UK garage show on Kiss 100 FM; a highly respected show that Matt still presents today.
In 2000, Matt ‘Jam’ Lamont and Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown decided it was time to pursue other individual and alternative projects outside of the celebrated ‘Tuff Jam’ partnership. Since then Matt has gone from strength to strength and has forged another fruitful collaboration, this time with Gavin ‘DJ Face’ Mills (Banana Republic & Copyright fame).
Together they were responsible for formulating a groundbreaking UKGarage style mix for successful British trio group Mis-teeq leading to a debut top 10 chart hit with ‘Why’ (which was also used as the video/main mix). As an example of production versatility, the innovative ‘Jam & Face’ garage remix of ’Why’ (originally an RnB track) helped Mis-teeq to obtain an album deal on the back of the single.
Jam & face have also re-rubbed the likes of Artful Dodger, Damage, Mary J Blige, Liberty X and last year’s floor filler from Daniel Bedingfield, ’Gotta Get Thru This’, amongst many others.
In the summer of 2001, Matt started up his own label, Solo Recordings, which has quickly established a reputation for releasing quality new tracks including Frances James & DJ Face’s massive ’Girls Play Too’ as well as much loved scene classics from Mike Dunn (God Made Me Funky), The Jam Experience (Feel My Love), Zac Toms (Bring Me Down), Plutonic and MK.
Studio and production success is fundamentally important to Matt Jam, but the true test of a DJ remains in the clubs. With his versatile DJing skills playing funky & US House as well as UK Garage, Matt Jam remains a busy DJ, both in the UK as well as at international clubbing haunts including Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, Ibiza (where he won BEST UNDERGROUND DJ AWARD 2002) and naturally Ayia Napa.
But it was at South London’s The Arches, where the burgeoning underground UK garage sound, and indeed Matt’s career really took shape with his residency at the legendary Sunday venue.
It was at this seminal Sunday club that he hooked up with fellow DJ Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, and together in 1993 they formed the now legendary production/remixing team, Tuff Jam. The duo became the leading figureheads of UK garage during the mid to late 90’s, turning out a slew of classic anthems from ‘Tumblin’ Down’ and entered the charts with TJR’s ‘Just Gets Better’ (Multiply) & Tuff Jam ft, Jaquee Bennett ‘Need Good Love’ (XL) to top remixes for Kristine Blond, Boyz II Men, Usher, Coolio, En Vogue, Rosie Gaines, Brand New Heavies, Mark Morrison and more.
TUFFJAM mix CD’s “Underground Frequencies” Vol.1 (silver sales status) and Vol.2 in 1997 and 1998 for Satellite Records. Another album was compiled and mixed for the U.S.A. entitled ”TUFF JAMS“.
In 1997 Tuff and Jam made an influential leap onto commercial radio (the first UK Garage DJ’s to do so) with their specialist UK garage show on Kiss 100 FM; a highly respected show that Matt still presents today.
In 2000, Matt ‘Jam’ Lamont and Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown decided it was time to pursue other individual and alternative projects outside of the celebrated ‘Tuff Jam’ partnership. Since then Matt has gone from strength to strength and has forged another fruitful collaboration, this time with Gavin ‘DJ Face’ Mills (Banana Republic & Copyright fame).
Together they were responsible for formulating a groundbreaking UKGarage style mix for successful British trio group Mis-teeq leading to a debut top 10 chart hit with ‘Why’ (which was also used as the video/main mix). As an example of production versatility, the innovative ‘Jam & Face’ garage remix of ’Why’ (originally an RnB track) helped Mis-teeq to obtain an album deal on the back of the single.
Jam & face have also re-rubbed the likes of Artful Dodger, Damage, Mary J Blige, Liberty X and last year’s floor filler from Daniel Bedingfield, ’Gotta Get Thru This’, amongst many others.
In the summer of 2001, Matt started up his own label, Solo Recordings, which has quickly established a reputation for releasing quality new tracks including Frances James & DJ Face’s massive ’Girls Play Too’ as well as much loved scene classics from Mike Dunn (God Made Me Funky), The Jam Experience (Feel My Love), Zac Toms (Bring Me Down), Plutonic and MK.
Studio and production success is fundamentally important to Matt Jam, but the true test of a DJ remains in the clubs. With his versatile DJing skills playing funky & US House as well as UK Garage, Matt Jam remains a busy DJ, both in the UK as well as at international clubbing haunts including Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, Ibiza (where he won BEST UNDERGROUND DJ AWARD 2002) and naturally Ayia Napa.
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