Mobile

CONFRONT: So, basically, we’ll start the interview; I’m Steve Karmazenuk and with Mobile I’m speaking with:

MATT: Matt, the lead singer.

CONFRONT: Matt The Lead Singer!  Quite the family name.  I suppose with a family name like The Lead Singer it would be inevitable that you would become the lead singer of a band.

MATT: Well I always use Matt The Lead Singer so I don’t get confused with Whothawhotha Singer.

CONFRONT: Okay; we will get serious, obviously… Tell me a little bit about the history of the band so I can get away from the crib notes and ask some real questions.

MATT: We’ve known each other for a long time, we grew up on the same street, went to the same school so we have known…even some of us from before kindergarten so we’ve come a long way.  We started playing music around fifteen years old, all of us.  Our drummer Pierre, he started when he was twelve or something like that.  And then we formed a band; actually, we started playing together in different bands for a while, then we’d play together, then we separated and got back together all the four of us and then Jean Luc the base player, joined the band in 2001.  So that’s basically a bit of the story of the band.  You know, we’re really tight friends and that’s really important for us, the way it has a lot to do with the success of the band.

CONFRONT: Well, that’s cool.  You guys are from Montreal, is that correct?

MATT: Born and raised.

CONFRONT: But you left Montreal and the Quebec music scene which is really vibrant; what made you decide to go to Toronto?

MATT: Well in our case, [I guess] like every band has to take their own road and at first it seemed like it really didn’t work out well in Montreal; it worked okay, like the fact that we were playing venues, packing venues like Le Cabaret and Café Campus and venues like that, but as far as the industry’s concerned, we’d never been able to capture the right people’s attention, we didn’t have a manager, we didn’t have an agent, we never had anything to do with the record companies.  And we thought at first of moving to New York City but that was too complicated because it was after September 11th, so we thought “Let’s move to Toronto” because we knew Toronto’s the biggest city in Canada; that’s where all the record companies are so we packed our things and left and shared a two bedroom apartment in Toronto for a year and a half and then the last six months we lived in our manager’s basement because we couldn’t afford to pay the bills.  We’ve been through a lot.  But Toronto was really good for us.  We got there and we were pretty much unknown and we knew nobody there.  We started playing clubs; we started hanging out at The Horseshoe six nights a week, trying to get in touch with the right people and it paid off.

CONFRONT: What are some of the difference between Montreal and Toronto based on your experiences?

MATT: As much as I love Montreal…we were born and raised here…we signed the record deal and then moved back…a lot of great bands come from here, a lot of great artists…we’ve just never been part of…there’s a certain clique in Montreal and we’ve never been part of that…it’s not to say anything against them but we never got close to these guys and we never had the chance to share the stage with any bands that were happening.  And in Toronto it happened: we got in touch with a lot of bands; local bands out there really helped us to really get our name out there.  In Montreal that wasn’t the case.  As much as I love Montreal, Toronto was better for the band.

CONFRONT: I wanna make sure this is clear in my mind: would you say that the bands coming from Toronto are more collaborative and the bands coming from Montreal are more competitive, is there that kind of atmosphere?

MATT: I think it’s tough to say; ‘cause I know that a lot of those bands in Montreal are friends and have been helping each other but us we’ve never been part of this.  But in Toronto we just had an easier way to get in touch with these bands that were happening over there.  I remember I met Ian from Billy Talent and he’s a really great guy, always been really cool with us and you know he talked really highly of us to record companies and to agents.

CONFRONT: Well, that’s pretty cool.  I understand you guys have a street team, like you’re involved with a MySpace group, a fan group and that sort of thing.  How have you used that to garner more success and how important is the street team versus your regular fan base or are they one and the same?

MATT: I’m not responsible for the street team; it’s someone else in the band…to be honest, I write the songs so I have enough on my plate but for the MySpace thing [everybody] in the band is involved…and we really like to interact with our fans; we do it all the time, we comment our fans, we talk to them…you know I would have loved that at fourteen if Eddie Vedder would have wrote me just to come and say “Hi” and “Thanks for the add, thanks for joining”  We get that all the time, especially from the young kids who can’t come to the club for the show because it isn’t all ages and you have a fourteen year old kid who loves the band and can’t come see the band live at least you know you can leave him a little note and you chat with him; it’s great.

CONFRONT: This is actually something that I find is a recurring theme with a lot of the new bands that we interview; CONFRONT is a new magazine and our focus is mainly on the new bands, on the people who are redefining the mainstream.  One of the things I notice with almost everybody we’ve interviewed is how important it is for them to be able to communicate one on one with the fans.  You mentioned Eddie Vedder; and I can remember when was in college in the Grunge Days, Kurt Cobain was one of my Gods, basically.  When I was in my twenties or when I was a teenager and a kid, I remember we would put the artists up on pedestals…we would revere them as gods and now I find that a lot of the guys who are touring, making music are just saying that ‘This is just what we do, we want to have that relationship with the fans we want to be able to be one on one and be equals… be the friend who happens to be in music as opposed to the Rock Superstar.’  Do you find that this is how you guys feel?

MATT: Yeah, definitely.  I mean, we’re not like, egos; we’re not about that.  After every show we go to the merchandise table and we hang out there and sign autographs and take pictures with our fans and that’s cool… kids, they love that.  They take a picture and to them it means so much.  It’s great to do that.  You know, we play music for a living and yeah when you’re up there, you’re a rock star on the stage.  And I respect all the musicians who are totally somebody else up on the stage and can be totally different in person…but sometimes that’s a great artist and an asshole.  Us, we try to be a great band and cool people and be easy to talk to…like you said, me too, when I was younger… they were like, impossible, unapproachable.  It was impossible to get in touch with them because after their shows they don’t walk in the venues and we didn’t even have internet back then.  But what has changed is that there was a sort of a mystique about bands back then…there was always something secret about them, which now is impossible.  You get music free on the internet and all sorts of things happening that have changed the music industry…obviously I’m against people stealing songs.

CONFRONT:  This is something else that we talk to the bands about; it’s a question that I like to ask especially: File sharing takes  revenue away from musicians but on the other hand it might also give you a chance to expand your music to a wider audience…where do you see file sharing going?  Obviously it’s going to change, but how do you think it will ultimately benefit you as a band?

MATT: I think it’s going to benefit us as a band, because we’re really close to our fans.  A good example is that our album hasn’t been released in the United States yet.  A lot of people get the radio station from Windsor and we get tons of people every day from Detroit, Michigan adding us as new friends after they hear a song that’s playing on the radio.  That’s a great tool as file sharing; I think iTunes is a great example because you can buy a song for a buck…that’s nothing.  But if you get it for free you have to understand that musicians, we need to put bread on the table and if the fans want the band to put out another record, whether we’re with a major record label or an independent company it doesn’t make a difference, you need to sell your music.

CONFRONT: That’s very interesting, because you’re the second person that’s given that sort of answer, where they have said that file sharing can be good but that ultimately, the fans that do file sharing and abuse it are going to end up stealing from themselves.  You did speak about the mystique being gone…I can see from a certain point of view where you might miss that the rock party of the 1970s is over but on the other hand without the mystique, I find that it gives me a great deal more sympathy for the artist and for the so-called celebrities when you realize that the business aspect of it is very much more a part of the reality than say, just going on tour or into the studio.  What has been your experience with the mystique not being there anymore?

MATT: Well like you say, the business side is really important; you need at least one person in the band who’s totally aware of what’s going on, on the business side.  We all pretty much all have our roles in the band; I write the songs with Christian and Frank, and Dominic and Pierre take car of the business side.  And some people say that if you’re signed to a major label that you’re a sellout; whatever.  Other people say “That’s amazing!”

CONFRONT: Well, this is actually a question that I want to get back to.

MATT: Cool.  In my mind, we never tried to say, “We want a major deal”…whenever we had any interest it was coming from major record companies.  I think our sound is a little bit more mainstream than an independent kind of sound.  But there’s a lot to deal with on the business side.   Kids who want to play music and be on the stage and party every night… well yes you can party all night but you better make sure that the next day you’re on stage and you do well, because the big bucks who are paying for the record and paying for the tour they need results.  It’s a company…if you lose money for the company then you’re going to get booted; that’s the reality.  I don’t know any company in the world that’s losing money that would keep this employee…it doesn’t work like that, so it’s very important to know who is taking care of your career.

CONFRONT: Honestly, especially these days, the quality of music that you get isn’t different from one label to another…yes, a major label’s going to have more money, more ability to sign the acts and promote the acts better.  But is there, in your opinion, any real difference between someone who’s with an indie label and a major label?  Besides the amount of footwork that they might have to do personally…is there really any difference?

MATT: Well the thing is, I’ve never been signed on an indie label so I don’t know exactly what it’s like but I know people who’ve been signed like that and I think that the most important part is, you need people who are really into your work and into your band.  When we signed with Universal Music in Canada, we totally felt like they were totally into us; they really wanted to sign us because they knew we were a good band and we talked about how we wanted to be promoted and how they wanted to put our name out there.  We have great examples [of bands on small labels though]: look at Arcade Fire.   They’re signed with a small label and they’ve been all over the place and had David Bowie sing on their album.  All you need is the opportunity to get out there and play and you get a good gig with a lot of people to see you…and you got examples like Billy Talent…to me, people have to be devoted to your band and you have to be willing to make all the efforts to make it work.

CONFRONT: It sounds to me like basically the only real problem with being with a mainstream label these days is there’s a stigma attached to it.  But basically, if the music is good if it’s something that someone wants to listen to, something that’s going to sell, it doesn’t really matter if it’s by an indie label or with a major label.

MATT: Exactly.  I know people who are like, ‘Because you’re with a major, you’re a sellout’ and I think that’s bullshit.  Also a lot of indie labels are owned by majors.

CONFRONT: Like Miramax being owned by Disney and Miramax is the independent film company of the world.

MATT: Many small record companies you don’t think are big but they’re owned by majors.  I think you need to be promoted the right way.  I’ve heard stories about majors, I’ve heard stories about indies and it all depends on who you work with and who’s willing to make all the efforts for you.

CONFRONT: Every now and again I just have to say ‘good answer’ because it just makes me not have any more questions on the subject.  A couple of questions that we ask everybody: What was the first record you ever bought and what was the most recent?

MATT: The first record that I ever bought was Duran Duran ‘Seven Legged Tiger’ and the last record I bought was Kasabian ‘Empire’.

CONFRONT: I bought that…I actually reviewed it for Confront Magazine and then I ordered it right away.  It’s a really great CD.

MATT: Yeah, it’s a great album.

CONFRONT: Okay, first and last concert attended.

MATT: First was AC/DC ‘Razor’s Edge’ tour in 1990 and the last one was TV on the Radio in Montreal a couple of weeks ago.

CONFRONT: If you can come up with five it would be great, but what five groups do you think people should be listening to?

MATT: New bands or…

CONFRONT: Whatever; new bands, old bands, classic rock, a jazz album…whatever.

MATT: Okay…Black Sabbath…

CONFRONT:  Which one?

MATT: Uh…the first one.  Second album?

CONFRONT: Well I know there’s going to be Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd on there because they are your influences.

MATT: Yeah; ‘Led Zeppelin II’ or ‘Led Zeppelin IV’.  All of them.  Stone Roses…um…Pearl Jam “Vs”

CONFRONT: Pearl Jam “Vs”; excellent choice.

MATT: How many do I have now?

CONFRONT:  I actually lost count, but that’s a pretty good list.  One last question: You do mention among your influences The Cure.  How big an influence have the Cure, Zeppelin and Floyd been on you; that’s going to be the “closer” question.

MATT: It’s been huge.  You know sometimes you remember things from your childhood?  I remember the first time I heard “Say the Prayer” by Duran Duran; it stuck in my mind and I was totally impressed with Black Sabbath.  Riding my bicycle in the street I remember I found the cassette ‘We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll’.  I put it away and then a couple of years later I listened to it and I was so impressed; I’d never heard anything like that.  The Cure was the same thing they totally got me.  They have such a distinctive sound that Robert Smith is one of my favourite singers…I think you can tell.

CONFRONT: Okay well I hope you have a good show tonight…thanks a lot!

MATT: Thanks, bye!