“The Shiba Inu is a loud, vocal breed of ancient basal doggo that can create some rather head-turning utterances, and I approach every one of my DJ sets the same way. No matter which genre I’m wielding, I try to stack my mixes like a sonic assault.” -Josh Matlock.
Growing up in the Midwest on the outskirts of nowhere, Josh's only gateway into electronic music came through the soundtracks to some of his favorite films, such as Hackers, Mortal Kombat, and Trainspotting. Those movies are how he found some of his favorite artists, such as Orbital and Underworld. Along with movies, he was into a steady diet of eighties and nineties anime and Japanese role-playing games like Final Fantasy. He fell in love with composers such as Nobuo Uematsu and anime like Mobile Suit Gundam.
Josh and his step-sister, Lauren (pronounced law-RENN), became inseparable when their parents married when they were nine. The two went on to do everything together growing up. At fifteen, they went to their first party together at United Skates, a former roller-skating rink that had been abandoned. Christopher Lawrence was one of the DJs that night, and he “melted their brains,” inspiring them both to become DJs.
Josh and Lauren soon traveled all over the Midwest for raves while listening to Bad Boy Bill & Richard "Humpty" Vission's House Connection 2, Happy 2b Hardcore Chapters 1-3, and Global Underground mixes. He fell in love with the music and culture immediately.
They bought their first set of turntables simultaneously, Stanton Magnetics' “Platinum Pak with DJ Craze,” which included their first direct drive turntable and SK-6 battle mixer. At age sixteen, they got their first residency, DJing at Gadzooks in the Castleton Square Mall for $200/day on the weekends.
Through that turntable transaction, Josh made a long-time friend, Jason Crouch (DJ K9). Jason hosted nights and weekends in his basement where Josh and others would spend their time spinning alongside other friends and mentors such as Steve Wilson (DJ K-Step), Shannon “Steady B” Burton, Dennis Roseth, Kyle Cochran (KID K), Jonathan Keith, Greg Campbell, and Brian K. During that time, Josh was also able to brush shoulders with the likes of Lisa Ess (DJ Shiva n/k/a NONCOMPLIANT), Chocolate the Freaky Afronaut, Alan “Topspeed” Roberts, Dan Dave, Adam Jay, DJ Simple Simon, Mike Bledsoe, and Wesley Clay.
“When we weren’t spinning records in K9’s basement, we were playing Halo, eating Hungry Howie’s pizza, and being spawn-killed by DJ K-Step’s insufferable sniper skills” -Josh Matlock.
Josh considers himself very fortunate with the community of support that surrounds him. He had so many mentors and remembered them all fondly. At that time, Josh wasn’t old enough to get into clubs, so he acted as the crate boy for everyone, carrying all the vinyl record crates into the clubs. Security never questioned him and assumed he was of age since he worked for the DJs they had booked for the night.
After Josh graduated high school, he went to California, where he attended the Los Angeles Recording School in North Hollywood. While other students were cashing their student loan checks for bulk quantities of ramen noodles, he used his to buy electroclash, indie dance, and alternative hip-hop records from various record stores on Melrose and Sunset.
His first CD purchase was from the Moonshine Music Label: Micro-Tech-Mix by DJ Micro. He fell in love with the label and bought everything he could from them to support it, even sporting a giant orange Moonshine Music vinyl sticker on his modded-out purple Dodge Neon. While in LA, he developed a taste for all things the eighties and electroclash and became involved in the West Hollywood club scene, DJing and supporting LGBTQIA+ events.
With such an impressive start in the industry, no one was more surprised than he was when his DJ career came to a stark halt in 2007 in response to depression finally catching up to him. He went on a hiatus from DJing, gaming, and life. He said if you had told him, in high school, that one day he would quit doing everything he loved, he would have never believed it, but that is what depression does. Around 2013 he came out of depression and made a promise to himself that he was going to do all the things he had always wanted to do. He started attending clubs, cosplaying at conventions, and gaming again.
It felt like the stars aligned when Josh returned to the EDM scene. While all of the mentors Josh had grown up with had either retired, moved, or weren’t in the scene anymore, his sister, Lauren, ended up marrying renowned DJ, promoter, and club owner John Larner in 2022. Josh had known John from the rave scene when he was a teen, and now he was part of the family.
Josh quickly became friends with John and his business partners Slater Hogan and Brandy Allen-Harvath of The Patron Saint and Andy and Annie Skinner of A Squared Industries. His world was again filled with DJs, and being immersed in the culture made him realize how much he had missed it. He was inspired to learn again for the first time in over a decade, but not without challenge. Josh was a vinyl DJ, and now everything was digital. He had no choice but to start over from scratch.
His friend, Bit Decay, lent him his old MacBook on which Josh used spare Technics turntables from John and Slater. Bit Decay, John, and Slater, along with Jake Massey (Dj Mass Appeal, Gerald Collins (Cadillac G), and Nick Samaro (Samaro), got Josh up to speed using Serato and the new digital technology.
Josh casually mentioned to Andy and Annie, of A Squared Industries that he was thinking of DJing again. Without hesitation, they invited him to play Spellbound, an event they still hold today. He was so nervous for his first show back he says he doesn’t even remember playing it. He used his own name for the show instead of a DJ name because he still didn’t have one yet.
It wasn’t until after a trip to Japan in 2018 that his DJ name came to him. He spent two months in the country, falling in love with the culture, Anime, and Shiba Inu dogs. Upon his return, his DJ name, SHIBASCREAM, was born. The name came from his new Shiba Inu puppy, Kyary, and the earth-shattering scream that she would let out to show her disapproval of baths. It also fits perfectly with his love for cosplay and desire to DJ conventions and after-parties for events like Indy PopCon, Indiana Comic Con, and GenCon.
Josh always envisioned SHIBASCREAM as being an omni-genre project. When he started doing Spellbound, Judgement, and Gallowdance events, he was playing Darkwave and EBM, but in an effort to continue exploring genres, he reached out to Nick Samaro in 2019 to play Proper, the local house music night at The Patron Saint. Just before Josh was set to play, one of his favorite composers/producers/DJs, Phillippe Zdar, well known for his role as part of the French electronic duo Cassius, tragically passed away. Josh, and Bit Decay, catered their set to be a tribute to the man’s career.
After his debut at Proper, Josh continued pushing himself to expand to different genres, and he quickly picked up residencies around Indianapolis. He began DJing the drag shows at Hamilton Designs in Irvington, spinning alongside his brother-in-law, John Larner, at the Patron Saint on some Fridays and co-hosting the We Are Your Friends events with Andy and Annie Skinner at Black Circle. Josh is a very collaborative DJ and gets along with everyone. He has also played for NAPDNB, No Secrets, and Progression Indy. Josh's goal for the scene is collaborative too. He would like to "see our scene grow with promoters and DJs supporting each other by sharing their events and showing up to support them in person whenever possible."
In recent years, Josh has also taken on a personal project where he can showcase his style alongside Johnathan McCormick (Tetsuo the robot.) and Kyle Johnson (KHTO RIDER) where the three host events under the title “Newtype.” The Name is derived from the Anime series Mobile Suit Gundam and is also a person who has reached a new stage of human evolution in the Gundam universe. The theory behind this is that to adapt to life in space and be able to pilot the giant mechs known as “Gundams,” the human body and mind evolved with heightened mental awareness. “When I thought about that, I thought about evolving music genres, expanding consciousness. It just seemed like it made sense, and I loved the duality of the name.” He thought this name played well into what he was trying to accomplish with this event and loved the double meaning since it is also quite literally a “new type” of the night for the cosplay and EDM scenes.
Growing up, Josh was fascinated by the variety of genres played at raves and still has fond memories of attending events where one could find upwards of ten different genres being played in different rooms or at different times at the same show. He strives to bring the same energy to Newtype to create an atmosphere where people can explore several subgenres of EDM at one of their events.
He originally began Newtype with Jesse Barnes (High Rise Hooligan) and Rusty Tromboner (Neon Church), and the trio threw their first Newtype event together at El Volkan in January of 2022. After his original partners were pulled in different directions and he was booked alongside Jonathan and Kyle, a new medley was born, affectionately referred to as “Newtype 2.0.” The three immediately hit it off and began to think of themselves as musical soul mates and dubbed themselves “the Strange Music Squad.”
The three went out for ice cream and discussed their vision for cosplay-inspired events open to all that embraced the left-field side of EDM, like Japanese Hardcore, Hardstyle, and Hyperpop. The new trio held their first event at the immersive art and event space Healer in October of the same year.
Aside from wanting to have a variety of genres, emphasizing those that weren’t getting much play time in clubs, Josh is passionate about emphasizing inclusivity and creating a safe space where everyone feels comfortable. A strong passion of Josh’s has been his desire to “pay it forward.” Much like Jason Crouch and others before him, he has taken it upon himself to mentor newer DJs and provide them with a platform to grow. He offered several DJs their first headlining spots and has heavily focused on booking more diverse DJs, such as women-identifying DJs and DJs from the LGBTQIA+ Community.
Another way Newtype has emphasized inclusivity is through their cover fees. Early on, they decided that anyone who came dressed in costume, cosplay, or Kigurumi (adult onesie) could get in at a discounted rate. If you were not in costume, you paid full price. This encouraged cosplayers to attend and dance in costume, which they do not have an opportunity to do at most other events unless it’s for conventions or Halloween. This has certainly set Newtype apart from all the other EDM dance nights in the city.
The next event for Newtype is in August of this year. They have officially partnered with PopCon and will handle all of their music events going forward. This is a dream come true for the trio, as one of their earliest goals was to be involved with these types of conventions, and PopCon has always been their favorite.
The convention takes place at the Indiana Convention Center from August 24th-27th. The lineup and event schedule will be announced in the coming months.
Before Newtype partnering with PopCon, you can catch SHIBASCREAM playing at the Patron Saint on March 31, We Are Your Friends at Black Circle on April 14, Spellbound at the White Rabbit Cabaret on May 27, and HooliGANG Presents: The Hangout at the Patron Saint on August 23. Additionally, you can follow DJ SHIBASCREAM on Instagram for more upcoming events yet to be announced.
Josh was interviewed by Kate Morgenstern of Nuvo and this article was written by Kate Morgenstern in collaboration with his partner and publicist, R.E. Colbert. Cover photo courtesy of Gary Watson Images 2022.