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A replay of Peaches Pit Party which you can hear on KBEAR 101 weekday afternoons 2pm - 7pm MST
The Artist Interrogations podcast. Let's sit down with Matt B from the back. Same strumpline. It's a little hard to deal. It sucks.
We get good at it. You deal? Yeah. Yeah. I've done it a couple times with you.
I've been bragging and go I've been going to this show to our listeners because we've been playing, Barely Breathing, the new, remix of it Yeah. With Against the Current Yeah. Consistently on the air. It's an awesome track. Love it.
Alright. Thanks, man. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
And you guys just released, Blackout Deluxe. Yes, sir. A couple days ago. Yeah. I think.
You think? Yeah. You lose track of time on the road, don't you? Hoo, dude. You know, we've made the joke, and it's not a joke anymore, but the the amount of bus problems and the tour length itself is a very long tour.
Right. You know, this is the longest this tour is, like, seven weeks, I think. It's the longest three year tour I've ever done. Exactly. You know what I mean?
Like, it's it really feels that way. You have to forget what city you're in too. Right? Sometimes. I I I checked out mentally in Albuquerque.
We didn't play in Albuquerque, but that was our, like, last bus breakdown. Right. We're on our fourth bus. So Oh, jeez. Yes.
It's just been an absolute nightmare. So when that bus broke down outside of Albuquerque, my brain just went, I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. So you you guys have to have a bus on standby?
Or Well, it's up to the company that we rent through. Okay. Contractually, it's up to them to make sure that we get recovered. Oh, yeah. So Yeah.
The rock shows up inside of the road. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's my suck.
Which we which we did a couple times on this tour. I've never, you know, I've never actually experienced it at all ever. Right. In this tour, like I said, we're on our fourth bus. So Wow.
I would think that's, like, it would take a couple hours to get to you. Right? There's no bus on standby or a bus following or bus nearby. You have to have some sort of yeah. That's weird.
Oh, they they usually have to meet you. Like, typically, a band will cancel that show Right. Because they're on their way. Yeah. Not us.
We get, like, U Hauls or Penske's, load the gear, or cross load the trailer. Right. Rental vehicles, like, with that we've done that about 2 times now. Well, that's the thing I would I was gonna mention about you. You guys as a band entirely is that you guys are, like, nonstop.
I mean, this tour, then you have another tour coming up with, to set it off. Yeah. We have set it off and nothing more. Yeah. Yeah.
Nothing more as well. Yeah. I mean, you guys barely have any time to just breathe, really. I mean, next year, you guys just gonna take the whole year off and just sort of relax or is that not your thing? That's not your thing?
Yeah. I think next year's gonna be an even bigger year because I would imagine we're gonna have new music. So Oh, okay. There we go. So Blackout Deluxe is out now.
You got about 5 remixes or are they remixes? What do you call them? Yeah. Remixes with features, like, I I we've got a few on there that we did, what, Nightmare with Sullivan King Yes. Monster Me with Yellow Wolf, Barely Breathing with Chrissy Costanza.
One Foot in the Grave is a new track that's with Aaron Polly of A Mice of Men. Yeah. And then we have, Live Before I'm Dead, which is the first track that I've ever sung on. That's what I was gonna touch base with you on too is that I saw the social media post about you singing for the first time on a track. Yeah.
Was that nerve wracking at all? No. Not not necessarily nerve wracking. It was just a different approach to something. Like, I can sing obviously, but, like, I never really took that type of approach.
And Lance really wanted me to try it, our our guitarist, and I didn't want to. I was like, Danny can do it. Why don't I just let Danny do it? Right. Because obviously Danny's more versed in that stuff.
It's easier for him to just go in there and do that. I've gotta think things through a little bit. So, so I could sing. It's just I've had different styles of singing throughout my career. Nothing quite like that.
Mhmm. More like, vulnerable and subdued and stuff like that. So, so it was a little bit more of a process, but I'm glad I did it because I think it turned out super awesome and I'm proud of myself for Definitely. Pushing myself outside of my boundaries and going outside my comfort zone, which I think we should all do in life, as long as that the the idea is good and not bad. Right.
No. I think about if you could sing, you might as well go for it. I mean, I'm jealous of people who can do stuff like that. For me, I just talk on the radio and make dumb jokes. But people are jealous of that too.
You know what I mean? So I'm a tall guy. I'm actually, I consider myself the tallest radio DJ in the country. Alright. Right.
How tall are you? Six nine. Yeah. Probably. Probably.
Yeah. Unless there's some guy who's like seven foot somewhere. I think I've met him. I've met a lot. I don't think I've met him.
I mean, for also a lot of the, tracks on Blackout, you have a lot of, like, not breakup, but like heartache, you know, from Hate Me 2. Is that just, like, did you guys go through a lot of heartache or like I have. I mean, I think we all have though. Right. I just write those types of songs come from, like, personal experiences of mine.
And, yeah, I mean, heartache is just kinda like about growing up in a town where you feel like you're just stuck. Mhmm. You know? And it's like everyone's like, nah, you can't be anything more than this. This is what you're gonna be.
So just fall in line and be that. Mhmm. You know, that mixed together with just, like, you know, I was pretty pretty poor growing up. You know, like, I watched all, like, the kids in my school get all this cool stuff and I was like, I want something like that. And I just never really had the opportunity to get it.
Not that my parents didn't work their asses off to, like, you make sure we had the things that we needed as kids. But, like, I was like the play in the dirt kid, you know, like, I didn't get a bike from the store. If I did, it was the greatest day ever. But I didn't get a bike from the store. I had to, like, 1 out of parts.
Right. So, like, that's kinda how I grew up, which, you know, now later in life is a blessing because, like, now I know how to fix everything. I know how to, you know, work on houses, cars, bikes, whatever it needs to be. Like, I don't have to hire people out to do stuff for them. I can do it all myself.
So So you could have fixed the bus? I probably actually could have, but now I'm at the point where I'm paying someone for that, so they better do it. You know what I mean? Exactly. Exactly.
No. Looking back on it now and seeing where you're at currently, do you just go, like, man, I'm now, like, that better off guy compared to people who I grew up with? Yeah. I mean, I don't know that I necessarily compare myself to people. Like, I do think that I'm outside of the the high school, competition of popular.
Yeah. You know? Lucky you. I'm still in that for some reason. Dude, I mean, well, I'm now in in the music world.
Like, there's there's a cool kids club for sure. You know, I don't really like that stuff. And that's kinda like what I talk about in music and on stage too. Like, what I don't really care. Like, I never really gave a about what people thought about me.
Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's just the way that I approach life. And, I think that there's too much stress that that comes with, like, trying to care so much about what you look like or I mean, like, I take care of myself and I do care about what I look like, but not because I care what someone else thinks. I care what I think.
Right. You know what I mean? And it's like, I think there's a lot of added stress when you when you worry about other people's judgment. Mhmm. And that goes throughout life, whichever phase that you're in.
So I try not to buy too much into that stuff and just kinda live life to my standards And Yeah. You know, make sure that I'm just doing the right thing. So no going through, like, the Facebook comments and seeing negative people, you know? I do it. And, you know, sometimes I feel some sort of way because you do put yourself out there as an artist.
You do. You know what I mean? Like, you know, for example, doing Live Before I'm Dead is something I've never done before and putting it out there. Obviously, I open myself up to some type of critique or whatever it is. Right.
Yeah. The the response has been overwhelmingly positive. You always get a couple people who are like, no, man. Just no. You know what I mean?
It's like you're gonna get that. It is what it is. We can't dwell on that because if you dwell on it, then you'll just ruin yourself. That's a big problem I face because I I I look at it like with our crowd. I mean, our crowd's pretty easygoing.
They're nice people. But I'm I'm looking at like, Octane's comments and, like, you see people fire Jose Mangan get rid of Katie Bev. That's tough. I'm like, dude, that would be terrible. I'm mad every day.
You always gotta kinda realize too, like, the ones that have the negative stuff to say are always the loudest. Right? Like, so, like, you know, sometimes you gotta look at just the like reactions. You know what I mean? Just some people just see it and they're like, oh, that's pretty cool.
Right. You know what I mean? And they like it. You know what I mean? Like, then they don't have much to say.
But people who are, like, really, like, like, pissed off just all the time, they're always the ones who have something to say. Like, it always like, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. You know what I mean? Like, they're always the ones that are just, like, I've gotta be loud and obnoxious. Yeah.
Definitely. Someone commented on a TikTok that I made for live before I'm dead and I think that his 1 con I think he just 1 word, horrible. I think is what it was. Right? So I I was like, you know, I wanna see what this guy's about.
Let me go to his page. So I went to his TikTok page and of course he had videos but every single 1 of his videos was just him hating on every which artist. You know what I mean? He's like every artist in the industry is just hating on it. So I actually did comment back and I was like, listen, you're entitled to your opinion and that's fair.
I don't have a problem with your opinion. If you don't like the song, you don't like the song. Whatever. Definitely. But dude, you spend your entire day hating on people, man.
Like Right. Get some help, bro. Like, something's going on. You're you know what I mean? Like, you you didn't get somewhere in your life and now you're taking it out on everybody else.
And that's kinda how I feel when just constantly hate. They just feel bad about themselves. Yeah. You know? And it's like they're just taking their frustrations out on other people because they don't feel good about something in their life.
And they may never realize that. But I kind of fell down that hole, the jealousy hole in music. Like, I fell down that for a little while. I was like, why is this person doing better than me? I'm better than them.
Why are they doing better than me? And then I realized, I'm like, why does it matter? Your guys' social media presence, I mean, it is like crazy. I'm not I I go to you guys' like Instagram all the time, Facebook, TikTok, whatever it be. And there's, like, top notch videos.
You guys have a whole team dedicated to that sort of thing? No. It's me. It's just you. Yeah.
So did you go to, like, school for social media? No. I just I'm I'm a personable guy. Like, I'm just, like, you know, like, I see you in a grocery store. I don't mind sitting there and having a conversation with you.
Uh-huh. You know what I mean? And I just take that to the social media world. Like, so and I just talk with people or I I I think about, like, what would I like to see? You know, if I post something, like, what would what would intrigue me?
Or, you know, like, I pay attention to our fans. Like, what what what excites them? What doesn't? You know? So then I try to make sure my posts are catered towards what my, you know, our fans are gonna react to.
Definitely. I've just done that from the very beginning, and and some of the stuff works. Some of it doesn't. Some of it's crap. And then, you know, you don't win everyone, but you know what I mean?
For the most part, I think that, you know, it's just being on the ground level and engaged with our fan base is what makes me good at social media is just because I know exactly what people are thinking. Absolutely. And you guys are definitely, you know, vulnerable, I should say. Because, like, when I talk about my problems on the air or thing like, my stories on the air, it's like, do people really care about this? Or they just wanna hear, like, the music more so.
Because you get those people occasionally on Cabaret that will go say, like, what it's Idaho's only talk station or Slogan's Idaho's only rock station and, like, they'll our morning show guy, Victor, he goes on and on. I'll kind of, like, occasionally speak here and there, but you'll get people in the comments saying, you guys blabber your mouth too much and that sort of thing. But I feel like most people enjoy what we have to say, especially interviews like this because it's like connection from the music to the artist. Yeah. I mean, you are gonna have both sides.
Right? And I do speeches on stage. Sometimes they end up being, like, six, seven minutes long. Right. I don't really even realize they're that long because you're just up there talking.
You know what I mean? But, you know, you're always gonna get the person's, like, just play music. You know? And I get it. I mean, they're there for music.
You know what I mean? So I get the the sentiment to just play music. But I also think that a lot of that means that that person doesn't have a connection, and they're only connected to the song. Mhmm. So, like, for example, you talked about, like, Howard Stern.
Like, Howard Stern, like, people are connected to him because what he talks about. You know, that's why they listen to him. Definitely. And and there's DJs in my area where I grew up that started as radio DJs and then had their own morning show or whatever. Now they just b s on the morning show all morning long, and people listen to him for that.
That's what they tune in for. Yeah. Exactly. That's because they've drawn a personal connection with them people. Mhmm.
The people who just wanna listen to the music's fine because that's what they're there for is to listen to the music. They're never gonna have a personal connection to anything other than the song. Mhmm. They won't have a personal connection to you. But when you look at artists that build, like, their legacy and they build their fan base and they build it's because the people have a personal connection to that artist and not just their music.
That's why you and this is this is my my theory. Is that why you look at, like, some of the artists, like, in the pop world or, like, you know, these big worlds of music, they're, like, man, their music was so big, but then all of a sudden they were gone. Yeah. Yeah. It's because people were only connected to the music.
And the next time that they released music, if it wasn't up to the standard of music that those people that were connected to, they went to the wayside and it fell off. Mhmm. But when you look at certain artists and I always use people like Brent Smith of Shinedown or Iva Moody of Five Finger Death Punch. Definitely. Both of them are great.
Right. And people are connected to them. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean?
And it doesn't matter what they do. Those those people will always come out and support them because they're connected to them on a different level. Mhmm. And that's why I'm not afraid to go out and have a talk with somebody or have a talk on stage or whatever. And 1 guy in the crowd, like, shut up and play a song.
And it's like, dude, like, I get it, but you might not be at the next show. But my message that people are out there resonating with right now, those people are gonna come because they know that they're on the same level as me and that we have something in common. And it's crazy too because, I mean, I love bands who actually talk with the audience more so than just play song after song after song. Like, we just had Death Clock come to Idaho Falls, and they're more so just blasting you with the visuals, getting you with the metalocalypse cartoon on the wall. But I I I was talking about it with our morning show host, Victory, about that whole thing about, like, you know, bands that just go out there and perform.
Like, I don't necessarily like that. I like the whole theatrics or talking or something like that in between the songs. Sure. There are some artists that are geared just to their show, though. So, like, talking in between.
Like, I'll use I'll use my homies in Ice 9 Kills, for example. Definitely. They're great. Like, they have a specific show. Do you know what I mean?
And, like, talking outside the narrative in between that might be might actually come off as weird because they have, like, specific narrative that they're sticking to. Like, the horror theme, like, everything is themed around. Yeah. It'd be crazy for them to come out and Right. Like so if, like, Spencer came out and started talking about, like, his personal life struggles, people are like, wait a second.
That has nothing to do with, you know, why I bought into what you're doing. Yeah. You know what I mean? But like us, we're like you said, social media being personable and heartache talking about the things that, you know, we've gone through. It's more about, like, the message behind the music being personable and like, hey.
Like, we're kinda all on the same playing field. So, like, me going out and having a heart to heart with the crowd is is along the narrative. You know what I mean? So, like, I get I get certain bands don't do that. Like, I wouldn't expect, like, GWAR to come out and have, like, a heart to heart with me.
Right. Or Steve Token for a vessel to speak up. Right. It might it might be weird. You know what I mean?
So I get it. There is, like, different sides of it. You know what I mean? Like, we just happen to be on the side, like, that's more of, like, a, you know, a person a a personal experience. Like, something that people might come to the crowd and be, like, man, like, I needed this song at this moment because I was going through this.
Yeah. And 1 last thing here I wanted to touch base with you on is the most of the songs on Blackout, I think I heard you say they're they were written back in 2020, '20 '20 01/00 that time. Yep. And after all that time releasing the album, just was it last year Blackout came out last year? Yeah.
Looking at those songs, were you kinda cringed about it or were you kinda just like, okay, and those still stand with me? Because I feel like if I look back on certain themes from like a year or two ago, I would be like, ugh, why did I why did I write that and get rid of it, you know? I've done that before, but not with this album. And I think this still stands the test of time. Like, you know, I've definitely looked at some of our prior work from from previous albums and went, man, I could have done this different or this could have been better, you know.
Not blackout though. I think it just fits the moment. I think that we're still in that moment. Like, I think they even know it's not 2020 and 2021 still, it's still the same vibe, in the world. So I think that they're so fitting, and I don't I don't think there's any art on on this album that I would regret doing.
Yeah. And it's it's great that you guys also put out stuff that's specifically how you feel or things that you are passionate about versus just, like, another radio hit or something like that, you know, because it's I it always gets me so upset whenever I hear people say, like, oh or or band say, like, we made this song for specifically for rock radio, because we're a station that will play whatever's huge. Like, we'll play, like, Take Me Back to Eden from Sleep Token or, you know, Knock to Loose considering they're going crazy right now. So I've been glad I've been listening to that new Barely Breathing, I really enjoyed it. So I was, like, oh, so stoked that you guys were coming to Salt Lake City.
Yeah, man. There's there's definitely some songs that were created for the purpose of what you're saying, but that's not on us. Yeah. And I'm not gonna get too far into it. Yeah.
Yeah. But I don't like writing music like that. Mhmm. I I enjoy just writing music and writing from the heart or writing from the moment. And, you know, when we're told to write in a box, I absolutely can't stand it.
So Yeah. So for me, like, I don't I don't wanna do that stuff. Like, it's just, you know, that's insincere and and that's not how I roll. So Right. Well, very we're we're I'm very excited to see you guys tonight here at The Depot.
Thank you so much for spending all this time with me here today. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks for having me. The Artist Interrogations podcast is a production of Riverbend Media Group.
For more information or to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.