What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Norwich, that is) I started a band with a few friends and started making experimental 4 track recordings at home and I got so into it that I’m still doing it 30 years later!
Introduce us to you and your musical history.
This is a one-man band, I’m Matt and I do everything. I’d previously been in a few bands which got a little attention in the past. The first “proper” band I was in was called Crest who were based in Norwich where I was from, we put out a few singles and got played a few times by John Peel and a couple of other radio people. After that I moved to Brighton and joined the band Coin-op who released some records, recorded Peel and Lamacq sessions for Radio 1, gigged a heck of a lot (did a couple of nationwide tours supporting Deathcab For Cutie and the Inspiral Carpets) played at SXSW and generally made a nuisance of ourselves.
I moved back to Norwich again and formed a band called Cortez, then another called 2 Hot 2 Sweat then moved to London and eventually started up Mild Horses. This started as a experimental home recording project then became a band, then ended up as a home recording project again.
A couple of Mild Horses albums have since followed. Ignorance To Enlightenment And Back Again came out in 2021 and now Return To Dust is coming out on the 10th March (although it’s been soft released on Bandcamp already).
Name me your 3 favourite Albums?
Hmmmm, tricky. This will probably be a different list tomorrow, but today I’m having:
Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted.
Dinosaur Jr – You’re Living All Over Me
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
Possibly Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. After hearing it I went out and bought a guitar pretty much straight away.
The music industry is the hardest industry in the world to progress in, How do you feel you are doing?
If progress is measured in how happy I am with the music that I’m putting out then I’m pretty content. If it’s based on how many records sold/steams, maybe not so well.
I prefer to concentrate on the former!
I’m seeing a lot of debate about women not feeling safe at music gigs, any thoughts on what we need to do to help?
Men need to call out incidents like these when they happen, there shouldn’t be a culture of acceptance.
As you develop as an artist and develop using socials what ways do you get new ears on your music? Any tips?
I am only really on Twitter which has been pretty useful for spreading the word about new releases and is pretty good for discovering other artists.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you?
Gordon Kaye from Allo Allo once told me to f**k off.
I’m double jointed.
My slightly slapdash drumming has been heard on radio 1.
What’s your thought on Spotify monopoly on the music industry?
It’s unhealthy and the streaming revenues are insultingly low. I’m still a regular purchaser of music and don’t subscribe to Spotify. I’ve got a pretty big record collection so it would be weird to then pay someone to listen to music I own already.
Do you sign up for any conspiracy theories?
It’s a strong no. Although social media algorithms have been so successful in destroying the objective nature of truth I might do without realising it.
Did you buy anything you don’t need during the pandemic?
Not really. I spent a lot of it making the first Mild Horses album and home schooling my children so I didn’t really have time for much else.
What was the worst experience on stage?
I was once too drunk to play properly which was mortifying, but fortunately happened in the era before everyone filmed everything, so no evidence exists of it.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about.
I have a good left foot, but my pace is gone.
What makes you stand out as an artist?
I think that the fact that I’m not chasing streaming numbers and trying to please anyone apart from myself makes the music I’m doing sound authentic and interesting.
I hear you have a new album, what can you tell us about it?
It’s called Return To Dust and was recorded over the last year and a half in the spaces between the rest of my life.
Talk me through the thought process of the new tunes.
I wanted to lean into the things about the first Mild Horses record that I thought really worked and that I was happy with and make it more succinct (although there are a few long pieces on there, I feel they get to the point a bit more) and a bit more widescreen than the first album, if that makes sense.
What was the recording process like?
Pretty slow. I take my time and try to make sure every sound and instrument sits right and trying to fit recording into the rest of my life isn’t easy!
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Making music is always a learning process. Writing and recording is something I don’t think you ever truly master, but you get better at expressing the idea.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
There’s always little cosmetic things that stand out when you listen again, but at some point, you just have to send the thing out into the world.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Only my gratitude to the people who buy/stream Mild Horses stuff. It’s nice to know other people hear things the way I do.