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New Music Scene
Author: ???[who?] (CMJ)
Published: March 2003
- The ex-Weezer bassist turned singer/songwriter waves hi from the tour supporting his as-yet-untitled first solo release.
CMJ:
Where are you right now?
Matt:
I'm touring 'round the U.S. doing really low-key shows with Josh Hager. The shows are real stripped-down, just me and an acoustic and Josh does a little of everything (ambient stuff, guitar, harmonica and lap steel) around what I'm doing. We're previewing songs from [the record], and just started talking with labels and trying to figure out where the best home for us will be. Meeting people who won't judge us strictly on the music I've done in the past, but what we're doing now. This tour and the new record are a real departure from the Rentals thing. The songs are very slow, sparse and kind of somber.
CMJ:
What were last night's accommodations?
Matt:
I don't know about last night, but a delusional overweight 5'5" security guard, who was actually from The Twilight Zone but thought he was starring in an episode of Cops, kicked us out of our rooms in the Sundowner Casino in Reno for a reason I'll never know. All I remember is him saying. "This is the last time you'll make a mockery of this hotel!"
CMJ:
How are you traveling?
Matt:
Astro Van all the way. During the Texas ice storms I blew out a tire, went hydroplaning. did a couple of 360's, nearly flipped, but ended up without a scratch in the median strip.
CMJ:
Who in the band has the most annoying sleeping habits?
Matt:
Me. I have a neverending ongoing lifetime battle with insomnia whenever I'm at home, but I've recently discovered that when I'm on the road I'm out like a rock, like a wee baby, and I have a feeling that little bonus of deep sleep on the road is going to keep me [on the road] 90 percent of every year for a long time to come.
CMJ:
What's currently being played on the tour vehicle soundsystem?
Matt:
One of the great things I've found about performing again is being exposed to so much new music. Every night people turn us on to things I hadn't heard before. Right now I've been looping: Departure Lounge, Hope Sandoval, Low & Dirty Three, Bright Eyes, John Phillips. Sinatra, Stars Of The Lid, that Sigur Ros & Hilmarsson thing (track #16 especially) and a lot of Josh's ambient music (he's currently working on).
CMJ:
What rituals do you have, if any, that are part of every tour?
Matt:
Fixing all the broken Christmas lights.
CMJ:
What's been the best show of the tour thus far?
Matt:
When Greg Brown was out with us it was, far and away, Seattle. Everything came together perfectly, the audience was amazing and we finally figured out what it was we were trying to do after being out for over a month. When it's been just Josh and myself, I'd say Chicago, it was packed on the inside and snowing on the outside.
CMJ:
What song request are you most tired of hearing?
Matt:
Hell, I don't know. I'm just getting started, frankly, I've been away so long that I'm just glad there are people still around interested in listening to me at all.
CMJ:
What do you miss most about being away from home?
Matt:
Getting lit on cheap wine, throwing on a kimono and turning up Gainsbourg's Comic Strip and then chasing my little Amalee all over Silverlake.... oh yes, and Allegria's mexican food on Sunset Blvd.
CMJ:
What is your personal "Code Of The Road"?
Matt:
To make sure the shows are as intimate as we can get 'em, to have as many people from the audience sit on the stage with us as possible, so we're right on top of each other, so there's a minimum of b.s. between us and the crowd.
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