Quick Q & A with Matt the Electrician
Sometimes it only takes one song to make one a fan of a musician. For me it was “Osaka in the Rain” by Matt the Electrician. It’s the lyrics, it’s the melody, it’s a certain magical majesty. Once I heard that one song, I sought out more music by Matt the Electrician and discovered that he played with many other musicians from Austin that I respected. He is one of the hardest working musicians in Texas!
To learn more about Matt the Electrician, check out his website. Here’s a fun video to whet your appetite. And a video of “Osaka in the Rain” so you don’t need to search for it.
- You grew up in northern California. Tell us what your musical experiences were during your formative years. Any memorable concerts? Radio programs? Iconic figures?
- The thing I remember most growing up were the living room jams that my parents would have. Friends would come over, guitars, tambourines, everyone would sing. Old rock n roll songs, and folkier stuff too. That was my main introduction to music, and led me straight to my parents’ record collection, where my brother and I would sit for hours, exploring all of the exotic and unknown records, Taj Mahal, Paul Simon, The Beatles, The Hollies, John Denver, John Stewart, and on and on.
- Your bio says that you started performing at age 15. Did you sing your own songs?
- Unfortunately, yes I did. I started writing songs at the age of 15. My creative writing teacher at the time, Ms Merril, let me write a song in lieu of a poetry assignment, and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. Shortly after my first song, I got a weekly gig at a local coffeehouse.
- As a young person trying his hand at this singer-songwriter “thang,” did you feel like you fit into the scene or did you feel like an alien or sorts?
- As far as I knew, I was the only scene. A couple other friends and my brother too, but we lived in a very small town, and had this residency at Bittersweet Coffee, with no real rules, or anyone else showing us what we were supposed to be doing, or not doing.
- So the story goes that you moved to Texas and became an electrician . . . or did that career move happen before the move to Texas?
- I had done one day of work as an electrician’s apprentice on the west coast, and when I got to Texas, I figured the mostly indoor work of electricians would be better than working under the 100 degree sun as a framing carpenter.
- And the story continues that you worked all day and then went off to any and all music gigs as “Matt the Electrician.” Was this kind of surreal?
- It just seemed normal to me, the balance of work and art. I always had jobs as a teenager, starting with my first job as a paperboy at age 12, and just assumed that everyone who wanted to make art had to also work a day job, and you just juggled that however you could figure out.
- Your music is sometimes called “neo-folk.” What does that mean to you?
- I am actually not sure what that means at all. I think almost all music is folk music, straight up.
- Who are the most inspirational artists creating music now?
- Devon Sproule, Anais Mitchell, Tim Easton, Bayonne, The Deer, Wilson Marks, I could go on and on. . . .
- Your music has appeared in TV shows and in commercials, what is it about your music that speaks to the American public?
- I don’t know, I think that part of the industry is so fickle, I just consider myself lucky to get paid for the use of my music from time to time.
- Do you have plans for new projects in 2017?
- I am in the midst of a 7” Vinyl Project, I am releasing a 7” record every 3–4 months over the course of a year and a half, each one features a different backing band or musical collaborator, and a different visual artist. I have four that have been released so far, with two more coming out in 2017.
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