We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mateo Gómez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mateo below.
Mateo, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I’ve been blessed with many mentors and teachers along my professional path that coincidentally were very insistent on fairness and collaboration. “If you’ve worked with someone, everyone has to get their fair share”. And that has stuck with me ever since I first heard it a couple of years ago. I work both in music as a DJ and in film as a producer and both worlds are all about collaboration. I would say it’s practically impossible to grow in both of those arts if you don’t know how to work well with people. And by working well I mean learning how to get to the middle ground with your collaborators. Being a good listener and receptive of your opposing view while still being loyal to yourself. All with the basis of respect
It’s important for me to be surrounded by people that share the same values and share this kind of mentality of being fair but something I’ve struggled with in the past is separating the personal side with the working side. Since I always try to connect with the person as a human before I work with them, when there was a work problem, I tended to take it personal. But it’s a process and you learn from those mistakes!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My name is Mateo, I go by De Los Cielos and I’m a DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist and a film producer from Bogotá, Colombia.
I’ve always been drawn to music ever since my dad had the first Gorillaz album and Discovery by Daft Punk on repeat as a little kid. I got my first drum kit when I was 8 and from there on I decided to devote my life to music. I’ve been in multiple music projects, the biggest out of them was a Funk band I had with my older brother called MatZpace that ended just right before the pandemic. Djing came to me as a response from an imposter syndrome crisis I had during that same time period the band ended. Film production was more like an epiphany I had in my more recent and older years after doing an acting course in LA that made me realize I was a terrible actor and I that could bring more to the table from behind the camera.
For the past 3 and a half years I’ve been polishing my craft as musician and a DJ, learning from and listening to as much artists as I possibly can. I often play Tribal Techno, Latin Bass, Breakbeats, Raptor House, among some other relatively new genres that have been taking the scene in Colombia and in the world. During my sets, I try to aim for a “cave people” and “pre-historic feeling”. With hard drums and percussion that shake your chest to make you feel as if you were transported to a more primitive environment, as if it were an only-sound movie or an audio novel. That’s where my drumming and movie background comes in handy.
I believe there’s storytelling in everything if you pay enough attention. We all want to take a break from the harsh and sometimes cruel world we live in, so my humble contribution to the community and to my country is by showcasing what we have in Colombia and that is great stories and even better music.
I will be having a gig May 1st at the ReCollect Afters in Los Angeles, California, if you would like to listen to what I just mentioned.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Firstly, versatility. I love change and I love variety, so I strongly believe that the more things you have up your sleeve, the more interesting your project is going to be. As a DJ, I honestly enjoy more when I’m playing/listening to several genres during a set rather than maintaining in just one. By saying I don’t want to discourage people that just enjoy one type of music or just one type of movies. Not at all. But I genuinely feel you can be more powerful with the more tools you have in your tool box.
Secondly, I would say listening. And by this I mean taking the time to actually process what’s going through your ears. In this case I’m talking specifically about when you’re learning. Either from a conversation, workshop or class with somebody who has more experience than you or any other environment where you can get something for yourself. Most of the things I’ve learned in both music and film are because I asked somebody who knew more than I did about something I was completely ignorant on and I followed their advice.
Lastly I’m going to say consistency. Very straightforward and I think everyone says this but it’s true. The more you do something, the better you become at it. Just as simple as that.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
Tough question. I feel I would spend half of it trying to leave something helpful and memorable for people to use when in need and the other half I would spend with the people I love.
I’ve come to realize how short time in this Earth is and how we definitely don’t get enough time around our family and friends. Nothing will ever be as important as that. At least not to me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mateodeloscielos/
- SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/nibj9e1ZkhxdwmKP8
Image Credits
Personal photo and black and white picture: @saritacortesita on Instagram Drawing/Illustration by: @me.dicen.jules on Instagram
