Matthew Good

Part 1

0:21Do you feel it's going away? I think it's going to die soon. I think it's dying. I think that that's going to take over Yeah, you know, it's the radios like music television It's so you know, why the hell would you want to sit there and go through all the advertising? You go through everything else and you could just get it by going online You know and as long as the net continues to grow and access you know for The majority of Canadians or whoever else for that matter, you know becomes becomes easier to get I Mean people are going to turn to it, you know and and and platforms and operating systems And I can't speak really for PCs because I don't use them But you know, especially on apples. It's become so idiot proof. Why why max? Why do I use Mac or why is it idiot proof? Why do you use Mac's? Well, just because they're first period. Oh, okay

1:09Well, you're not recording or just for everything in general just for everything in general first of all I like the fact that it's an open source You know, it's an open source operating system So that if you know if there's anything about it that that that's incorrect or someone finds a problem They can email Apple and Apple seriously address it and then they you know, they'll send out an update and correct it Where that doesn't happen? With with Linux base. Well the current Linux base PC system. Yeah But and obviously I record with Pro Tools HD in the studio and at home I use garage band just for fun and and lots of different stuff and it's fantastic for graphics and the rest of it I find it far better for web design You know you say you like you like Pro Tools and stuff like that you recorded white lei rock and roll of you all live off the floor Yep Do you like doing that more than using the Pro Tools and adding all the overdubs is it easier to do it that way?

1:58We recorded its Pro Tools. Oh, okay sure absolutely. I mean Pro Tools Pro Tools is just a format I mean back in the old days when you went you know when you when you go to 2 inch you can still overdub, right? I mean you can still just go do the the the beds like the drum the bass or just the drums for that matter and Then go back and do the bass go back do the guitars do a million takes you can stay back Then you just had to punch right it took a skill of an a skilled engineer to punch and not only that too I mean for drums and stuff they cut tape I mean if there's obviously that famous story of metallic is black record Yeah, how every like you know three quarters of an inch there's a there the tapes cut and together drums perfect You know Pro Tools just makes it a lot easier for people who want to do that and if you listen to a lot of modern music

2:45It's very sterile because what happens primarily is it's recorded and then a producer will send it over to the Pro Tools engineer And he'll cut everything you know so it's so it's perfect and send it back. That's editing the user goes to an editing So he comes back that's very common not all bands do it I'm not you know, but I was really kind of inspired to do that record I wrote that record to be a live record, you know and I mean it was more to go and play it Really than rather sit at home and listen to it as an album. It was largely listen to I love listening to it Yeah, I mean me too, right? But it was more kind of a guilty pleasure for me because I think that it comes across far better alive than it does on disc And I really was inspired by we were touring avalanche and I had a five piece of the time and I and And I owned it already and seen it before but I revisited the who's 1970 performance on the Isle of White

3:36Yeah, when they go on at two o'clock in the morning It's probably one of the greatest rock concerts ever filmed and They're just phenomenal and you watch these guys with just this limited technology limited instrumentation and they do Tommy Yeah, and you think to yourself how far has how modern musicians gone with all the reliance as we have in recording and everything else Right? I mean, you know, I mean if something goes wrong in the CD It's easily fixable people who don't play together I mean if you think about a lot of early recordings in the early 60s and that kind of thing everyone's playing at once And you know and if you if you really took the majority of rock musicians today And made the musicians in the 40s. No one none of them would get work I mean you had you had to know exactly what you were doing back then or you're at a job Mm-hmm. I mean I always I always remember that the fantastic buddy rich that that buddy rich bootleg that that was floating around for a while

4:25Where he's reaming his band out Backstage and it's this um, so I basically wrote the record To record specifically that way, right? I mean I wrote all the parts knowing that everyone's just going to play At the same time You know, it's definitely sonically a thinner album in comparison to what I've done in the past And that's another thing I wanted to do to you know, I mean sonically kind of change it up But that was kind of the motivation behind it. Did you do the vocals live off the floor to or jab those in afterwards? Some of the songs I did some of the songs I couldn't because it'll bleed from the drums Yeah, right because if the drums, you know, you got Pat whaling five feet away from her 10 feet away from me It's just it basically cancels it out or you can hear me singing through the drum mics

5:11You know all the amps are isolated in other rooms. So yeah, so but I did I sang empty road at the same time. Oh cool and What else did I do at the same time? I think hopeless I think at the same time as well, which is a hidden track But there's a lot of cool stuff. I mean Blue skies over bad lands. We only played once And that's that tape we were getting sounds and I went in and listened to it And I just said I'm keeping that just off the first take yeah We just didn't do it again. Have you ever practiced it before or was it? Oh, yeah, we've rehearsed it a couple Yeah, of course we'd rehearse it like, you know, five or six or seven times But it was just really loosey goose after something with it now. I was like forget it I'm keeping that yeah vast a bunch of my friends, you know a bunch of big Mac good fans What are your favorite tunes then I've cut them down and you know, I'll just have you pick pick

5:58I'm kind of so I'll go we'll start off and play either brand new tune from way back when or fearless I go with fearless. Why is that I don't know I think it'll last but we get a last or not It's like one of two songs or three songs that I actually like You know, I think lyrically it's tiny bit naive, but you know, you are you are naive when you're in, you know 24 So I think it's kind of I really kind of like it its textures. I guess You know cool I

9:05With Matthew good you just heard fearless when you back went off last with the ghetto astronauts

11:42I read that you started off as a folk singer. Yep. I Just all kind of am a folk singer. I just a little bit have a band You ever want to go back to that just playing the acoustic guitar in front of a crowd stuff like that Yeah, you know, I might next year. Oh right in the winter next year I might just go out and do it to her acoustic with coffee houses universities Just kind of everything to tell you the truth I don't necessarily want it to be so much a concert as I do kind of want an open discussion With people about everything cool, you know about politics But the reality is of you know of their of you know, their daily lives just you know kind of just an unopened form I'll play some songs and and and and people talk and I think that would be kind of really neat experience That would be cool. How do you how do you expect to get people to talk just have some open likes in the crowd?

12:27Yeah, cool. Yeah friend of mine Pam Kapoor Who has worked with NGOs in Ottawa for out of 15 years? Got and was one of the people who originally got me involved at a higher level with amnesty in Canada years ago We've been floating the idea For a while now So, you know, and it would be great too because it would just be me and a couple of guitars and her probably handled in the mic and maybe someone else handling, you know, a web stream or something and You could stop in a lot smaller towns Yeah, you know what I mean? And you can only if it was only a hundred people and that's all the room fit then fine That's cool. Yeah, I think it would be really really fun something I wanted to do and of course I mean I've got kind of a box that thing coming out which is like a 10-year retrospect thing

13:17Before I start recording my next record But for that record I did nine songs acoustic like old songs like from various records for the box that yeah Oh cool. What can we expect on that one? Let's see on that. There's one disc. I guess that's like 18 songs like you know most of the singles plus two new tracks cool And then another disc which is this nine song acoustic thing that I've done which actually even though it's tracks It's if you let it run. It's one uninterrupted the trap piece of music for 37 minutes Oh really see all the songs are linked together. Did you record it that way? Yeah, we're recording it as one huge track actually And then also on that disc their fans can get loser anthoms and lo-fi b-sets

14:03Oh nice They're all on one disc good and then the third one is a DVD all like all the videos Audio commentary by me and Bill Morrison on all the videos There's a special surprise which I am giving away, but people will flip out bar fans will definitely flip out I see it it's a bit of an animated thing. Then there's I believe on that disc as well I think they're working on I film the making of that acoustic nine song thing So I think that's on it and a couple other surprises here in there. That's cool That's a huge thing coming up. Well, it's great too because I think it's gonna be around 25 bucks Oh, that's great, which is a steal. Yeah, you know and that was a huge hugely important for me That it be that price do you help pick the prices for your music?

14:49Well, no I mean it's universal has to set them and then obviously they set them for when they go to a music store and the Music store adds you know, you know what they want to on top But you know, you can try to say like listen This has got to be affordable for people, you know I'm not gonna ask people who are working, you know, nine to five jobs or two jobs, you know But let's make them pay 35 bucks for something. Yeah, I mean it's ridiculous $25 for that much music and all those videos. Oh, that's great. That's and not only that the package is just stellar looking So yeah, I think it's great You know and so I'm really looking I'm real super looking forward to it to be honest with you I think the two new tracks that I did the full band tracks that it did are awesome. So yeah, it'd be fun See you're also working on a third record for you. Just the solo career. Yeah. Oh, yeah So you guys in the band Ryan and Megan actually I just played one show with Ryan and Megan. Oh, okay

15:39I just did the one out there rich and Christian to the time You know being a solo artist have the ability to kind of just switch players up and try different people For the two full band songs that are recorded for this package coming out in September I used them in the studio like Ralph Blaze in the studio. He plays guitar meek Megan plays Bass and stuff and if they had stuff to do the summer anyway for a limblifter So, you know, the timing didn't work out at all But in the future there's lots of people I would love to work with on record. I mean I'd love to work with the good brothers from the Sadie's Yeah There's a lot there's lots of people I've got to work with so my next record is going to be kind of just I think a Little bit more bizarre than people are used to for me

16:24Which is one reason why I kind of wanted to do this kind of culmination, you know and put out kind of You know a kind of retrospect up to this point. I think that there's you know There's been there's been a lot of years of that kind of confusion between me and the band kind of thing And I think that it'll help really kind of let people digest the fact that it's really over Well, you know it was it was it was there was a lot of reasons behind it How the band was put together was very politically unsound to begin with You know, I was always the primary songwriter in the band and then You know at the end of the day, man, I had a drummer who wanted to be a lead singer

17:10And who wanted to start writing songs for records who had never written songs before yeah, you know I had a guitar player that I had to really placate along a lot of songwriting credits to Or placate him with a lot of songwriting credits to make him you know to make him feel involved and and and and and control somehow and It wasn't creatively it wasn't creatively healthy. It was a very unhealthy relationship. It actually gave me an anxiety disorder Oh, wow, and I for the last year the band existed. I threw up every day During the audio being that's all I did all day Was I doing vocal takes and guitar takes I'd throw up more time in my entire life and When it ended it completely all stopped

18:00When the band broke up I remember In like December and November of 2001 me and Rick started Demwing for Avalanche And that was probably one of the greatest two months of my life because it was just like, you know It was like someone someone had been standing someone had been standing on you for a long time And so many they weren't on you anymore and not to say that those guys aren't in their own right really great guys That's not what I'm saying at all I mean every every person's family out there has a problem and sometimes I'm not trying to equate it with saying that family should break up But you know sometimes business relationships, and that's really what the math you get banned was from day one It was a business relationship. It wasn't friends and a lot of people obviously kind of thought that we were well I think most people think that of bands really yeah

18:46We especially want their favorite band you want them to all the of course and we went and really we weren't We really never were You know and to be quite honest with you for eight years that just broke my heart more and more every day The fact that I was never in that kind of band you ever pick up the record anymore Take a listen to it. Oh, yeah, well I have to I mean sometimes like you know for this little run of dates We're gonna start doing Suburbi again. Oh nice. So I had to go listen to lyrics I've been saying that song since like 2000 to thousand one You know or advertising on police cars. How do you go up and pick it? Oh, I like that song. I argue that too How do you go out and take songs like that just randomly off the old records? I don't know. It's really tough man to be honest with you two days ago For the master list and the hotel of songs going oh my god

19:34Cuz you can't put them all in a show you'd be there for three hours. Yeah, you know and it's just You know my voice can't handle that. So it's just it's really really difficult Obviously certain people are gonna come and they're gonna want to hear the songs they recognize right Yeah, so you know you play time bomb you play a low me up and we've messed with those anyway So it's fine, but coming up with the rest of it's very difficult and it's gonna be even more difficult for for the fall Because I'm gonna add a lot, you know even more even a greater amount of old stuff in there that with the band that right now doesn't even know And start playing that which you know I'm gonna try to do a kind of tour that I did that very reminiscent of last June where we played multiple dates in every town Oh smaller places That way I can really kind of diversify Every night yeah, and you have to play the singles for the people who show up to one time and and then yeah

20:23I mean going all the way up one night. Yeah, exactly exactly that's what night you'll hear deep six one night You'll hear something completely different one night You know what I mean, it'll you know and not only that too. I can probably do a you know a five six on the acoustic set in the encore That'd be as well. So Going back those folk roots. We were talking about the thing in that one now Let's play another tune fine art of falling apart are going all the way Ooh fine art of falling apart for sure. Why's that? Lyrically, I think it's the best song I've ever written really yeah, cool. I love that song not only that it was it's one take It's like a live off the floor and one take all over it like singing in some places It's just not there because it's just brutally honest. Yeah, you know

21:10And that's why I decided to keep it when I recorded that I just walked in and look at Zach Blackstone Who works with me or has worked with me for a long long time And I just said to him, you know, I'm out all over the place and screw it. I Think it gets the point across and I think that's far more important So nice here it is fine on the falling part Enough Little Kevin

23:03This Good if you just joining us want to talk about your book for a second at last there's nothing left to say

24:55You dedicated to your dad's stories of India. Mm-hmm. How do those stories influence you musically or maybe even in the literal world? Well, I mean my dad is unfortunately I think as far as the Tradition goes in my family my brother inherited his kind of skills I mean my brother has the ability to sit down and just completely mystified an entire room into silence But my dad has that ability he can sit down in a room and start telling a story of His of my family's my family lived in India for over a hundred years my dad's family And you know he can shut an entire room up Just talking a little crazy crazy things that occurred especially when he was young which was in India during the Second World War

25:45Oh, wow, so you know, I mean there's stories of because they lived basically In Calcutta So, you know, they would they would sit up on the ruse. Well, the Japanese were we're strafing the Hauer bridge and You know and he would he would tell how how the English would just they would sit on the roof like they were watching a circus And zeros were just like you know, but over the Hauer bridge and then they'd strafe the Hauer Hauer bridge for half hour Then they go bomb Chinatown Because they just hated the Chinese and then they'd screw back off to Burma You know and it was just just very very bizarre I mean there's a lot of stuff a lot of stuff too Obviously my dad was very young and doesn't agree with now, but just a lot of really disgusting colonial You know

26:30arrogance as well that that you that's translated a lot of these stories because obviously they were English Which is definitely nothing to be proud of just has that ability and I Don't know it's always translated. I'm into my my love for writing things, so You ever any of your songs have stories that are influenced from him. No, particularly No, I'm not not from anything directly you ever think about using that maybe for any of songs about his stories I don't know. They're really long. No They're really long and complicated and and like I said you really he has to tell them I can't tell them like when I tell them it's just like you know when someone tells a joke and they just completely screw it up

27:18It's the same with my dad's stories You know whether he's talking about India or are these talking about living in post-war London Of course they after India got it independence in 1947 the family had to all go back to England Which of course they've never seen so I mean no so he grew up most of his life early life ten years in London before he came to Canada and So there's stories of that You know and then there's stories of being an 18 year old kid working along the Fraser River for for you know Pulp and paper companies and BC and the rest of it, so he's just great at it cool What's the difference between putting on a book and a record? Well to be on quite honest with you I mean looking back in the book. I really wish I hadn't done it at that time I think that why there's just a lot of material in there that I'm not happy with

28:05Okay, you know you look back and you're just kind of like I mean like television for example I think that that that's a book unto itself It was a kind of really kind of naive story and I really wish it wasn't in there But for the sake of content and filling up pages it kind of had to be you know So I Wherever I mean there's some stuff in there that I absolutely love and there's some stuff in there like that's that's to the test time And there's some stuff in there that I just can't stand at all and I wish that wasn't You know that I just don't think it's very good had to do it all over again It would probably be a somewhat smaller and a little bit more focused, but It's different in that I mean I can't really comment on it honestly to be honest with you because it was such that was such a I don't know an anxiety ridden part of time of my life

28:53I mean I went on that book to a right before the audio being came out and You know man that seriously that's like just being You know when you're so drunk. You just don't remember anything. Yeah, that's kind of what it's like except you're not drunk Oh, so you know, I don't know. Let's play another tune everything's automatic or eco. Oh automatic for sure. Okay. I Don't know you feel like it. Yeah, just feel like it. All right I'm at good on the phone. You re-release beautiful midnight out in the States

33:32I know you've never been one to really want to break out the states not a main concern of yours. No, why is that? Well, I mean first of all I think my first real problem with it was When Atlantic signed us. I mean my first record deal in America was before I was ever signed in Canada Oh, really early 90s with BMG That was on a gun stuffer. That was and was the product of that. I was signed by a guy a Fantastic guy named Mike Gellie But on a company called private music In from Los Angeles, which was a BMG subsidiary at the time and the company was just fantastic now They didn't have a rock band. They had everyone from A to Z from Yani to Taj Mahal to

34:20It's Gerald Just all the Leo cod key to just tons of people and They wanted to start a rock band I think I think wrong Goldstein was the president and he had I believe in instrumental in signing YouTube Island Oh, well, so they they really wanted to get back like they really started wanted to do rock and and I think maybe at the time actually they were completely independent I don't really even remember BMG might have bought controlled and sharing them right after they signed me and What happened with that was is I went into record underdogs in the first day we got fact deceased and desist Oh and told we were told to stop so you know I went on Forced you know forced leave for months while I legally tried to get out of the contract with them and then I finally did and

35:12Of course they had to buy me out of my contract and that money I used to make underdogs So which which is good because now I own it So but my main problem because I never had a release in America with them just worked with them and they were all fantastic people I was signed by Atlantic after a beautiful midnight came out several like a month after beautiful minute came out We released record and went to New York in Los Angeles to do press and I think that's when I really first noticed it that you know There's kind of a cult of celebrity in the United States and the media knows who they make and who they don't and It's not so much based on talent as to how much you want to kiss their ass And I find that very wrong. That's not what this that's not what being an artist is about No, and if you think that's what being an artist is about then I really don't want to talk to you

35:59You know, I mean remember I don't even remember who the hell it was with there was this one woman who that everyone just treated like some kind of golden patriarchy and I was interviewed by her and she was so absolutely condescending and just so you know you are so privileged to be sitting here at me having me interviewed And I just of course that with me just does not work. No, I just turned into the biggest dick in the world and You know and the label got very frustrated with me You know the fact that I were if there's certain things I refused to do I'd you know certain things that I thought wasn't that were extremely questionable as far as how the band would be received and Ultimately, they just didn't like that and They just shut the whole thing down. That's pretty much exactly how it happened And ever since then I've just been not really interested in playing that game

36:48To be quite honest with you now. I mean if I could you know get an independent release in the United States, that'd be fun Yeah, you know with a label that was cool But it's never been a high priority with me It's never been a high priority with me I mean, it's you know, I mean if you want if you go and play that mainstream game you're gonna go and play You know radio shows for free because that's the new payload Really oh absolutely you go and you play huge huge festivals for nothing your label pays for you to get there and blah blah blah blah And you play for nothing. Yeah, so they'll spin your record But I mean also just you know just the whole festival atmosphere You got to think the fans are there too having a good time They didn't pay to get in you know well sure I guess I want a lot of them do pay to get in though Oh really? I didn't know is the k-rock we knew rose free. Oh, I was just saying

37:34I went to go see with the wall flowers in Boston. It was free and no no that's you sometimes I guess they are free sometimes I guess they're the pay but I mean ultimately you have to look at it and go you know I mean what's what's the point in the current structure of the music industry? So you're gonna just live on debt. Yeah, you know, you're just incurring Thousands tens and tens of thousands and ultimately hundreds of thousands of dollars and debt You know basically play play-kiting radio stations and giving them all this crap for free So maybe they'll spin you maybe they won't you know, and you're in competition with how many other bands? And at the end of the day you owe so much money you owe so much money that You know, you're never gonna make anything off of record sales The only thing you ever make money off is radio from radio or from from your publishing or from advances

38:23Yeah, it's it's stupid at some point you have to artists have to look at themselves and go, you know Why why do guys with business degrees? You know or lawyers are doctors Why are they looked upon is people who deserve to make a lot of money or or that their services are invaluable? If you look through human history, I would think that probably one of the most invaluable services and definitely the ones that mark civilizations are those contributed by artists. No, I totally agree artists or intellectuals, you know, a philosopher's etc So I think that being a musician or being a poet or being an author or being a playwright or being an actor As long as you have your head screwed on straight about it as long as it's your passion as long as you would do it even if no one gave a damn That's entirely as important a contribution to anything as you know being a world-renowned physicist

39:16So but our society doesn't look at it that way You know, especially in rock and roll because you know what you just you should just be glad you're living the life that everyone wants to live Is it glamorous? Bullshit not at all not in this country man. I'll tell you that not in this country There's no way, you know, you know, and not only that I didn't get into it because of that I got into it because it's intrinsically. It's what I am as a person. It's what I do. Yeah, I have no choice in the matter So, you know, I do it. I do it anyway when you first pick up a guitar 20 20 Hmm, I give me a little inspiration. It's alright some music now I was 20 years old when I first started playing the guitar before then I wrote I was a writer first and Painted quite a bit. I went to art school. Oh cool and

40:04everything as well as being privately studying History and political science because I just my parents and I just didn't have the money to go to university So, you know all those things all I there was basically self-education to something of course that I continued with and do every day of my life But you know, but I mean it As far as the United States is concerned, you know, I mean a lot of a lot of people in Canada I've always looked at the United States as if you don't make it there then, you know, you're basically not worth your salt and What I want to know is, you know, why don't they have that belief in England? Why don't they have that belief in in Australia? Yeah, they don't You know, there are plenty of bands who do fantastically well in

40:52In the UK that never do a damn thing and look at Robbie Williams Yeah, I mean he can't get arrested in the United States and he can sell out Wembley three nights in a row So we're in Europe for that matter, you know, and there are plenty of bands from Australia powder finger and Plenty of bands from Australia did exactly the same way So how come that isn't I mean that is the case in some respects in Canada? You know would like even some people such as my stall for the hip or whoever, you know But I think that we do ourselves such a massive disservice by discrediting ourselves We have such a potential for such an unbelievably powerful insular music community and scene in this country that If it was properly supported and actually taken seriously

41:39Yeah, it would probably be one of the world's best. Why do you think it's not taken seriously? I've lots to do with the media. Yeah in this country lots to do with Jackass as you write for dailies We talk about you know while you know, they didn't do well in America Yeah, or or or X Y and Z or you know, I mean I have no idea why Dear arcade fire is not the biggest band in the world. I have no idea why Leslie feist isn't Madonna They should be oh, I agree, you know, it's starting though. I mean the arcade fire is starting. They're huge in Europe. Yeah Well, of course, but not America not in America and not in and really not in Canada I mean they do well here, but I wouldn't go as far as saying huge. Yeah, that's true, but who wants to be huge You know the band like that. It's very tricky

42:25You get all the case makers and everybody saying you're the greatest thing since sliced bread man And you've only made one record. Yeah, that's dangerous You know, and I'm sure that they're you know, I hope that they just basically don't feel any pressure I hope they basically just go fuck I'm going to do what we want to do people like it. They like it if they don't I'm sure though I'm sure that's what they'll do whether it's them or stars or whoever You know, you know, I you know, that's what's fantastic about a lot of these bands whether it be broken social scene or you know I'll a lot of the bands on arts and crafts for that matter I mean, it's just fantastic to listen to fresh sounding records. Yeah, I go this is fantastic You know and why isn't this being far more celebrated? Why's Tom Cochran playing live eight? You know and forget what bread being a live eight. I mean, it's just like seriously

43:14You know, what did you think the lineup for live eight? I think it was kind of a massive disservice to Canadian music Like what the hell like what the hell is? DMC doing on the bill. Yeah, you know Just talking from a purely musical standpoint here because I just disagree with it as the concept of the show anyway, but You disagree with the concept of the show? Absolutely It's giving money to Africa. It's not giving any money to Africa. Well, they're trying to get over there No, they're not doing and I'm not doing it what in in May or June 55 billion dollars of debt relief was given to the 18 poorest countries in the world the finance ministers for the seven the seven of the G8 countries G7 G8 minus Russia made sure that in that agreement there were privatization stipulations Which basically mean that they're gonna make more money than the debt they forgave?

44:03When you exploit the third and developing world that is the problem not throwing money at that problem What do you think's the answer for stop exploiting the third and developing world? There's a reason why it's up to here in Africa is the world's most lucrative investment region It's because I mean if Africans were allowed to nationalize half of you know if they were allowed to nationalize half of their industries You know if shell didn't go into places like Equatorial Guinea or other or other companies and basically take advantage of questionable governments to You know look at the diamond trade for that matter. Why don't we why don't they nationalize that? Why don't those countries that that have that ability nationalize nationalize that?

44:50I mean, but no, right we have we get to exploit it It doesn't matter if it's Africa. It doesn't matter if it's the Far East It doesn't matter if it's central of South America our society Benefits from exploiting other people yeah, you go to Mexico on vacation and you pay three hundred dollars US tonight to stay in a hotel and two miles away someone's living the house with a dirt floor and they don't see anything Anything from the fact that you're staying in a five-star hotel. That's that's the simple reality So you can't address this problem and what with Bono and Galba basically saying that that that package was a was a little piece of history Does nothing but legitimize? criminals All it does it to those working to actually really address the problem

45:38You know, I mean you can't when when Africa is basically a dumping ground for European for European agricultural goods And farmers there can't get a fair shake, you know We keep these people down and not only that you have to still you have to throw hundreds of years of colonial You know if colonial rape and exploitation on top of that as well You know, I mean and then we wonder why everything is so backward and convoluted I mean it's find me one region of the world where the white man suffers from this problem nowhere That's the answer nowhere And there's a reason for that. We're the world's foremost exploiters. Yeah Right, it's because we went all over the world and other subjugated people are eliminated them

46:27Or four-star religious and and and social political beliefs on them I mean we live in a continent that was founded on genocide Central and South America same thing. Yeah, so I know you feel very strong about that You feel very strong about a lot of other political things. Have you ever thought about getting into politics? Well, I've been approached about it by several people, but I don't know I really don't know I mean you look at a guy like Chuck cabin You know disagree with the fact that he you know was aligned with a conservative party to begin with or not But you look at a guy like that who can make a difference in certain things and you go well You know, maybe being an independent MP wouldn't be that bad an idea. Yeah You know, I can't really say I can't really say I mean would it would be obviously a massive life affecting decision for me It would be very interesting too because first of all I would refuse the pension

47:14Because I don't believe in it. Yeah And you know, I would probably refuse my salary being what it is I would probably basically because why should my constituents pay for me to have some overblown salary and an overblown travel budget? Yeah, you know, I basically live Honestly within your means to do your job and Basically just the amount of money that you get for that and then return the rest all it does is raise taxes You know, you have to vote if there was an election tomorrow, who would you vote for? Oh, I don't I when I vote when I vote I don't really adhere to the kind of Looking at it from a federalist standpoint. I think of my constituency first and foremost So basically what I do is I start emailing those people running for my writing and unfortunately this time

48:02I'll vote I voted for Kennedy Stewart who is the NDP is not to say that I I back the NDP I just felt he was stronger than the Green Party candidate I voted green in the provincial election the BC just had but I voted for Kennedy Stewart because I believe he could have done a great job For Vancouver and I don't think he'd fry I you know, I think Hoover Center is it's all about big business And we have such a such a horrible problem with the Lower East Side Vancouver I mean, it's the Lord's largest heroin poor for Christ. Oh, really? Oh, yeah You go from up town to the Lower East Side. It's like walking into whole other world As you know, they prefer for the you know for Christ's sake on the Hastings quarter They park fucking ambulance on the side of the road. Oh, well, you know It's just worship and then the Olympics are gonna come in 2010 and the same thing's gonna happen to those people that happened to them during Expo 86

48:50They're just gonna get pushed further down. So slum lords can paint, you know Throw a new coat of paint on the hotels that are usually just it shittles So people from around the world can come and pay over and play to prices, you know It's there's such a matter and I mean such massive problems in our mayor who's fantastic very Campbell is now resigning You know, but I think you have to you have to you know, you have to think locally first Yeah, if it's if the if the if the if the person who you think can do the best job is Happens to be a member of the conservative party then so be it, you know But you have to go with you know what your gut in your heart tells you to do for your area That's the only way the federal politics will ever be positively affected That's the only that's the only way electing people of conscience is the only way that will defeat the fact that party leadership controls

49:42National policy not individuals not impassioned individuals not people like Mike Pearson not people like, you know, Pierre Trudeau Choose another song start a protest song. Let's see for that kind of fitting for now or truffle pigs who truffle pigs? I don't I love that You

51:20Whoever we called five questions, huh? Just five quick questions one word answer

54:41iPod or CDs alcohol if you could change any law in this country. What would it be? I really don't know. That's a tough question Probably I'd raise the tax rate for corporations Good song you've written you're most proud of avalanche Alerts that us red video a little bit of calm mind some controversy you pulled it for a little while you put it back How do you feel about it now? You know that video for me was just it was it took part in my French, but it was just a clusterfuck It wasn't it that my intention even have that footage in to begin with it was shot And it was just it was such a it was such a calamity because I work with people that I mean

55:29I mean bill Horace and in the past it took tons of stuff on on digital handheld Right and I've worked with people who are all used to you know the cushy life shooting on 35 and When I put him in the position of trying to do it was very much my fault thinking they could pull it off And they couldn't so at the end of the day they kind of tried to had to make a video out of Whatever they could and they're the ones who kind of put that in there wasn't my intention whatsoever And what is Buffalo 7? What is it? Buffalo 7 is in reference to a pitcher that I used to have hang in my apartment. Yeah, it was a pitcher Seven basically seven like Cowboys You know basically from the American West and it said Buffalo 7 at the bottom And during kind of I used to kind of look at it. It was like the last thing I kind of look at before I go to sleep

56:17Mm-hmm. It's just kind of a relation to one's time and one's life. It's very much kind of a personal inside personal comments So let's let's play a little more song either Buffalo 7 or empty road who I'll go with empty road cool Awesome, not good. Thanks so much. Thank you very much for having me

Part 2

0:06I'm Matt Kid and you're watching MSN exclusive. I'm watching the football soccer, I don't do football, do you call it soccer? I call it football because of my dad. Okay. Because my dad refers to this football, I doesn't really refer to it as soccer. Right, that makes sense. Is he an Englishman? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that way. Yeah, so now which is confusing in our house because my father's also a very die-hard Seahawks fan. So, you know, whenever he comes, he'll usually refer to, when he refers to,

0:53like, North American football, he'll just say Seahawks. So, he just went in for the sport, he just Seahawks. The Seahawks are playing. So, that's amazing. Yeah. So, coming in here watching you watch football, sorry. It reminds me of Giant. Like, it takes me back to that record. And I was thinking, I was listening to an interview while I was researching this from when the last record came out, you saying, I don't do videos anymore, there's too expensive, it's not worth anymore. But you seem to figure out a way to do it for this record. Well, what happened was, is when I went over to do some shows in England, Dave, who's shot a bunch of stuff from like Madonna to Rihanna to whatever's like footage, concert footage and that sort of stuff. He kind of put something together and he had contacted me privately and just saying, you know,

1:39why don't we just do, have some fun? And then my record company got a hold of it and they were like, how about we pay you to shoot the show? And so they shot the show and he shot me doing some stuff like I went out into the audience and sang Loeb Me Up, completely acoustic, like in the middle of the floor and he shot that, but he also filmed me walking from the hotel to the show. So, you know, I guess, and up until this time, I didn't really realize that the whole lyric video thing was like a really new popular thing. You're a big technology guy. Yeah, I know, I just completely out of the loop on that. They were like, well, let's do a lyric video and it came up with one and it was pretty cool, but then they put that footage together and they're like that better. So they put that out,

2:24which of course has nothing to do with the song or anything like that. But, you know, we, I don't know, it works. I like, yeah, I enjoy doing videos. I enjoy doing videos if, you know, obviously the budgets there to do them properly. You wanna talk about that song? Cause you're doing like a different, like I was listening back to that song, I don't know, three or four times today. And it almost has like a Dylan kind of cadence to it at times, just the way you're speaking the verses. Yeah, I, if anything. And I mean, that is a compliment. Oh yeah, thank you. If anything influenced that song, it's been tired by the, been tired by the Pixies. Okay. Right? You know, you know, one, two, three, she's a real thing. Like that whole verse is brilliant. Right? So, if I lifted it from anywhere, it was from.

3:10All right. I didn't mean lifting, I just meant like it was, something I've got something for it. Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah, definitely. I haven't done anything like that before. Maybe, maybe 21st century living on Avalanche is a little bit like that. But, yeah. I kind of was pretty inspired by Charles, you know. I hear also Afghan Wigs very inspiring on the record. Yeah, well, I mean, we kicked off both of those bands have been kind of, you know, huge inspirations of mine for a long time. So, I mean, more so obviously the Pixies when I was, you know, younger, I mean, do a little came up the year I graduated from high school. So, you know, there were the EPs before that, but, you know, the Wigs really didn't really arrive on the scene till about 1990, 1991. So, if the Wigs inspired via the La Rosa,

3:56how did that song inspire the rest of the record? If that was the first one, how did you, did it? Yeah, well, I wrote via the La Rosa and quickly after that, around the same time I wrote Arrows Azhar as well. So, they were both happening, they had kind of bounced back and forth and they were both happening at the same time. So, I don't know, I just, for me, with regards to the Afghan way, like the kind of the inspiration for the Wigs, I don't really take the, like direct, I don't direct influence, you know what I mean? Like, I kind of do what I do, but certain things influence me. I mean, like the kind of the, not kind of the abandon that Greg Gully has,

4:41like, you know, when he sings completely out of tune, but he does it and it's magnificent. And in the course of that song, it's just kind of got that abandoned in it. I mean, I sing in tune, but I felt that it had that abandon when I demoed it and kind of after coming off the road with light some of the major species, I just, I fell back into just listening to a playlist that I had just a lot of bands like that and it's just, you know, what inspired me to pick up a guitar and write what I wrote. So how long after you got a throw, did you start running for this? Like, do you always have a grace period? I mean, this is like 13 records, you know, do you have like a routine now where you need a couple weeks off and then get back into it? You just, it really just happens. Usually, I mean, when I was younger, I write it all the time,

5:28right, but, you know, in a hotel room, wherever, I was writing all the time. Now I write, you know, like, okay, I've got to write a record, so I write a record. And so it really, it'll depend. Sometimes I'll come off the road and it'll be between like being off the road and then say, festival stuff in the summer and then I'll start then in the, you know, or coming back, like coming back up, like between Canada and the States, I'll maybe mess around a little bit. And, or sometimes I'll leave until I'm completely done and then I'll just jump back into it, you know? And just how it comes out is how it comes out, right? No. Talking with the old days there for a second, I got a Twitter question from someone today. And I was asking about that first, I don't even know if that first record of demos was a thing or history teachers, what's something called it. That's not, yeah, that's not even,

6:13that's a, that thing, that was just a thing put together of a bunch of demos by a guy I used to do some recording with and that played piano for me for a little while. And he put that together and I had nothing to do with it at all. Well, except for writing the songs. Well, yeah. And singing the songs. Yeah, but it's not something that I would have ever had, you know, released or accessible to people. That was the question, will you ever release it? Or we record it was the question. I was like, I don't think he'll rerecord the songs you're only like 16 years old. No, no, I don't, you know, they're highly naive and you know that everyone has to start somewhere and it's, you know, you learned your craft and, yeah, they're not very representative of what I,

7:00I mean, how I hate my first actual album. So do you never touch the songs live? Even though you know people want to hear them. Off last at the ghetto astronauts, the only thing I play live is if I'm playing acoustically, I'll play emissions of the omen. That's the hidden track. It's the only song off our record I play. Interesting. How do you come up with a set list? Now that there are so many songs people want to hear. And obviously you want to play the new stuff too. With a band, it's very difficult because you have to kind of choose your poison before a tour, rehearsing it. What I do is with new records, I have, we know every song from a new record. So we can play, you know, that. You bring the same guys that play on the record on the road? Well, on this record, they played on the record, on a previous records, I played everything with the drums.

7:48And then I'd have other people come in and maybe do some guitar, like play a guitar solo that I'd written, but play it in a different kind of way. So it's not obvious. Let me get their own feel. Yeah, yeah. The band that I play with now, they played all their stuff on this album because I produced it as well. And I've produced, self-prese myself several times in the past, but I was also playing everything at the same time. So I thought this time would be better if that I would just do my bits and I could produce it. So, well, how does that change? We'll get back to what you're saying. But how does that change the process of that? Must be so different then. Oh, it's a lot easier to produce. Well, I'm sure it is, right? Because you're sitting there. Yeah, because you're sitting there kind of going, you've just done take a bass and you're just like, well, how about that? Yeah. And I'm notoriously, especially when I self-produce and I'm

8:39working primarily by myself, I'm notoriously very fast at what I do because I'm the only person. I'm like, OK, yeah, we got that. OK, yeah, we got that. OK, yeah, we got that. That felt good. I like that. I like how that sounded. Let's go. And then when you've used other people, you have the greater picture in your head. So it's more obviously discussing and translating ideas to them with regards to like, I really like this or maybe they'll put a little twist and a turnaround. You'll be like, yeah, let's explore that. So what song changed the most on this record from the demo you had? What did the band really bring to this record? Well, a lot of Anthony's Moog stuff was on

9:27songs like Garden Knives and that sort of thing. The middle bit in Letters and War Time wasn't piano. Originally, it was still guitar. And then in the middle of that decided I didn't want to go with guitar and I asked Anthony to play the guitar line on a piano, which he did. And so that ultimately changed. Jim came up with a couple of really great guitar ideas. And Milos came up with some interesting bass stuff as well. Nothing that really left the path, what I'd laid down originally, but that expanded on it in certain ways too.

10:14And you have to remember that it all depends on matching stuff up like a player will always play when Milos is playing along with Pat when he's playing drums. On the demos, all have played the drums. So when I get a drummer in to do it, obviously I'll go through a song, produce him and talk about what kind of fills I want where. And then someone like Milos will play to those fills and that sort of thing. Yeah. What's the fastest you've ever done a song by yourself? Like start to think. Well, I mean, I made hospital music in three weeks. Really? Oh, no, there's a lot of full band songs. I always think of that as a slower record for some reason. Yeah, I know. But there's 15 songs or something like that on the record. Yeah, that's probably the most.

11:00Why did you feel so rushed to do it? I didn't feel rushed. It just did. That's just how bloody that's just how fast I did it. And that's a good answer. OK. Now I played everything on that record. They're actually, except for Rod's guitar solo and Champions and Nothing and Ryan's Doll's guitar part on doubles in your details, played everything else myself, including all the keyboards and everything. But I was just, I don't know, I just came in and worked from 11 in the morning to midnight and got it done. Right? Social media. Just want to switch it up for a second. Because I had that Twitter question. And I liked your post today. And yesterday, you spelled Miley Cyrus wrong and then was like, whatever, I don't care. Good.

11:45But then you defended it today. And I was totally in that same boat of why are people talking about this. Why is this the big news story yesterday? When there's so much other stuff going on in the world. And I know it's kind of pathetic. Really? I mean, I don't see that she did anything different than anybody else. Isn't this the point of the show is to be risque and to be the person that everyone's talking about the next day? So you have to go crazy? Yeah. You're not go crazy. That's the wrong word. But go extreme. You know? I mean, we forget all these things, right? We forget that Elvis Presley was, you know, I mean, called every name in the book by everyone for simply gyrating his freaking hips. We look back at that footage now and it's the most harmless bloody thing you could imagine. You know? But it's this well dressed kid with an acoustic guitar,

12:33you know, singing completely unoffensive songs. And you know, and it's, I don't know. It's interesting. And of course, probably 20 years from now, they'll look back at what we thought was offensive now. And, you know, and think it ridiculous that we thought it offensive in the first place. But, you know, I mean, I just find it interesting that her performance is what's critiqued. People don't look at the song or anything like that. It's just, well, what she did. And obviously that was for a fact. I mean, you come out of the Disney kind of corporation of being a child star and you've got to do something to sustain a career. And one way to do it as a young adult, obviously, is to play up on, you know, that whole sexuality thing, right?

13:22And hopefully capture, you know, a later teen, early 20 market out of it because you're not going to be, what are you going to be 30 and still have the tween market following you, you know? All those kids that grew up with her that were tweens are all listening to different music now. And, you know, they're not, they don't want to hear Hannah Montana, you know, they'll be like, oh, I remember when I was eight, you know, Hannah Montana. So, but then again, it's difficult also for me to comment on it because I have no frame of reference when it comes to things like that, you know? I didn't grow up in any, a place that, or with that kind of, you know, I don't even know the word for it. All I remember is, I remember when Zeppelin,

14:07the last time Zeppelin played Vancouver, all the older kids in the neighborhood came home with those blue shirts with the, with the Zosso guy on it, right? And being so jealous that I, that I, you know, that I was just, just a little too young to go. And, and, you know, that's how you learned about music back then, right? I mean, you know, you were, back in black came in the mail practically like those little samples are tied, you know? I mean, that's how big that album was. You know, there was no them playing some music award show or what. And if they would have, they would have just been them playing, you know, back in black or, you know, you shook me all night long or whatever, right?

14:52So, I don't know. It's, it's, it's kind of a weird thing, you know? There's so many artists out there that do it that, that, people are just caught in this whole thing. Like she was this, you know, highly controlled brand. And then now that she's grown up and can't be that brand anymore, what is she supposed to do? Like turn to Christian gospel and so everyone will be really happy about it. And, you know, I don't know. I really don't, I really don't know. I don't know what to say. I mean, I like the answer. I'm happy with that.

15:38I think, and you said in there 20 years from now, I got me thinking about that future blog post year where you, you talked about being in an old age retirement home at 65. I can't see you doing that because I don't think you can get, can you, would you be okay with never playing music again at 65 and just, well, it doesn't mean I'm performing for the oldies in that room. Yeah, it doesn't mean that I, you know, we can go to the rec room and have a little bit of fun, but hey, man, three meals a day, you know, China service, excursions, excursions. Oh, I'm not the only one that's in on this. Well, my wife wants to do it too. Could you, could you, you'd be happy not making records and not going on tour again? You see, if I could live in a retirement home and just, just hang out like cocoon style. Hell yeah. Come on. I mean, that's, it's kind of like being on a cruise ship, but it never moves.

16:26Come on. That's, isn't that the goal? Isn't that what we all live to do? Is this the retire? Well, there's the George Burns way of just going out all the way. Well, you know, you can do that too. I mean, obviously, yes, I'm an artist and I'll be an artist till the day I die, but you know, obviously I met that more humorously. No, I know. And, and I, and I, and I say that more in the context that I probably will just never have the financial freedom to actually ever be able to do that because those places are pretty expensive. Yeah. Anywho, five good questions, one more dancers. We've done this before, but it was, okay, years ago. So I wonder how to go. Okay. Okay. Rode or studio? Oh, Rode. Leonard McCartney. Pardon?

17:11Leonard McCartney. Oh, Leonard. When you hear a song, what usually hits you first, lyrics, melody or rhythm. Lyrics. Song. Or no, we changed it up a recently. If someone's never heard Matthew Goode before, what song do they start with? Oh, non-populous. In one word, Matthew Goode. I'm shaking my head right now. Thanks, man. You're, I appreciate it. My pleasure.