We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matthew Bentley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I come from the Trance scene and I have been producing music for years, actually. This includes video game remixes. In any case, I put out an album in March of 2021 called “Trapped in a World Between Beauty and Bass” and it had three video game remixes on it. I sent the album to my brother pre-release and he said, “You should just focus on video game remixes because your remixes are awesome.” That’s sort of how it was born, but I knew I needed more than that.

I had a brainstorming session one night and it hit me like a ton of bricks: mental health awareness.
There are countless DJs in my old scene (mainstream EDM) that have killed themselves or been open about struggling with mental health. It’s something that is JUST starting to be taken seriously in our society. So, although I am not a professional, if I can be just one voice advocating for taking care of your mental health in this crazy twisted world, then so be it. I called my life coach, Nathan (DJ Fat_Rain) and told him about the idea. We were sort of talking before this on wanting to do a podcast anyways, so that’s how the Music and Mental Health Podcast aspect of this whole thing was born.

But… there’s one more piece to the puzzle that is missing.

I used to be a server at a restaurant in Minneapolis called Longfellow Grill. I used to wait on a guy named Thomas during late night happy hour. Long story short, during the midst of all this, he asked me to DJ at my very first VGM Con, which at the time was on twitch because of COVID. Well, the set went extremely well, and that’s what got me involved in the community. I owe him so much for getting me that spot and pushing me towards what I knew I could do.

Now, I have collabbed with some of my heroes in the VGM scene that I have been listening to for years. I’ve played at Cons live and am booked for more shows that will enable me to bring my VGM sound to the masses. It’s kind of awesome how all this happened and now I’m thriving in a way I never knew I would be just one year ago.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I make club-ready video game remixes of all genres. As a DJ and producer, I play the songs that I produce (among other people’s) in DJ sets across the world. I also have a focus on mental health awareness because it’s a huge need today, especially in the music scene.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Focus is key.

I am a person that likes to put my hands into several different areas. However, I have realized over the years that a target audience doesn’t want a billion things, they want one thing. If I am going to a restaurant, I don’t want to be sold a vacuum cleaner. When asking people for money, you have to be extremely specific about what you are offering.

When I initially made my pivot to doing Video Game Remixes, I had way too much going on with what I was offering. Was I a mainstream DJ? Was I a Video Game remixer? What was I going to play on my live streams? What kind of merch was I selling? Did it fit my brand as a nerd?

Answering these questions and picking ONE audience to focus on (the nerdy audience, not the mainstream EDM one) is what made the Theology brand start to gain traction!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Because I am part of a DJ/Producer duo (Wæde Wätts – a more trance-focused DJ duo) and I have a solo career (Theølogy – the Video Game Remixes brand), I had to figure out which brands would focus on which niches. Initially, Theology made the same type of music that Wæde Wätts did (more serious, mainstream trance and progressive), but things were too similar in nature. Although I was supported by names like Above & Beyond, Cosmic Gate, Jes, and Tom Fall under the Theølogy name, I had to make a pivot.

Focusing on VGM allowed me to refocus my patreon on the right things. I started to target the proper audience, offer the right kinds of things that this audience segment wanted, and refocus my merch on things that the nerdy audience wants!
I am so glad I started to do this. The VGM/nerdy audience is the BEST I have EVER played for. They are incredibly supportive, and the whole community is just about making art, not degrading it just to make a buck. As a creative and an artist, I DO have to treat my music career as a business, but I am not trying to win capitalism. The goal is to just support myself with my art, and I am well on the way to this.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theologymusic.com
• Instagram: www.instragram.com/theologymusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/theologyofficial
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/theologymusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/theologyofficial
• Other: www.patreon.com/theologymusic