After seven years immersed in the UK’s dynamic music culture, music producer Faiz Matshah returned to his native Kuala Lumpur to a nightlife scene that felt frozen in time. ‘I left for seven years, and the playlists are still the exact same,’ he recalls. This realisation became the catalyst for Midnight, an event brand he launched in January 2024 under the Billionaire Records label, with a clear mission: to breathe some fresh air into the Malaysian music scene.
Midnight is Faiz’s answer to a stagnant market, an ambitious project to introduce the community-focused, artist-centric vibe of the European underground to KL. Inspired by his experiences at London’s Boiler Room events, Faiz kicked off with a bold concept: a multi-venue micro-festival in Chinatown. ‘You have multiple venues acting as different stages with different sorts of music and lineups,’ he explains. ‘You just get one ticket, and you get to bounce around.’ The event was a runaway success, drawing nearly 900 people instead of the expected 400 and setting the tone for everything that followed.
A key element of the Midnight philosophy is breaking down the barrier between the DJ and the dancefloor. ‘I'm very adamant about having the DJ in the middle because it creates more of a community vibe,’ Faiz insists. ‘When you got the console in the back, it's like the DJ is untouchable, but it's just a guy playing music.’ This simple but radical shift is a direct import from the Boiler Room ethos and a signature of every Midnight show.
Ironically, Faiz’s path to becoming a nightlife visionary was entirely unplanned. He had ‘zero interest in art whatsoever’ before moving to London, where he studied philosophy, politics, and economics. A chance encounter in a friend’s dorm room changed everything. ‘He had some DJ decks there, and he started spinning music. I was like, whoa, I didn't realise that regular dudes could just have that as a hobby.’ This sparked a passion that saw him evolve from a bedroom DJ spinning hip-hop at parties to a full-fledged music producer during the pandemic.
Now, he’s found his calling throwing parties for a living, a job he describes as both incredibly stressful and deeply fulfilling. ‘A month or two of prep, and then during the day itself, it's chaos,’ he admits. ‘But the payoff after that, when you look at the crowd, you look at 3,000 people in a room all having a good time… it's just so fulfilling.’ He finds a unique joy in witnessing the full spectrum of human emotion his events facilitate, from couples making out to people arguing. ‘It's cool to be able to affect people in that way, to provide a space.’
The business has been a rollercoaster. He speaks candidly about taking financial hits, like a recent techno show that lost money on ticket sales. His attitude is pragmatic: ‘You just gotta take it on the chin and move on. You can't win them all.’ This resilience is crucial in a high-stakes field where navigating authorities and securing licenses is a constant battle.
Faiz believes the key to growing the scene is a mix of education and experience. He challenges the idea that the market isn't ‘ready’ for more underground sounds. ‘You have to blame it on your marketing,’ he argues. ‘If they don't want to come to see just the artist, then you have to think about how to increase appeal, add to the experience, and add value to your ticket.’ He sees his events as a way to ease people into new music, balancing commercial appeal with what he believes is a truly fresh sound.
This mission to broaden artistic horizons is deeply personal. ‘Broadly, Malaysians don't have a good appreciation for art,’ he muses, attributing it to a wider Asian culture that often discourages creative pursuits. His own family story is a powerful testament to this. His mother, who was initially ‘really, really against’ his career in music, has since become a micro-influencer on Instagram. In a moment he describes as ‘crazy, wholesome’, he recently recorded a song cover with her. ‘Full circle,’ he says. This change of heart coincided with his own realisation that he comes from a surprisingly creative family of chefs, designers, and singers.
Looking ahead, Faiz is focused on crafting ever more ambitious experiences. He prefers a nomadic approach, using unique venues like a recent tour stop at Fort Cornwallis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Penang. While his company has a physical office and a DJ academy called AAA Underground, he has no desire to be tied to a single club. With double the budget for his next tour, he is ready to push the boundaries even further, bringing his vision of a connected, vibrant, and forward-thinking music scene to more cities across Malaysia.
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Want to learn more about Faiz's journey and his vision for the future of Malaysian nightlife? Read the full interview in EPHEMERA, the 6th volume of INTERLUNAR's zine.
