I wanted to kick start the ‘Introducing’ features again on the site as I have been neglecting them over the past few months owing to the podcast taking priority. I was approached by a PR manager about a talented soul called Matt Finucane who lives in Brighton, he likes music, writing and horror films but mainly music, in fact he admits that it’s a compulsion.
He’s released a slew of recordings over the past couple of years and is about to drop his new album in April, we caught up with him for a chat.
So, we’ve been in lockdown on and off since mid-March 2020, what have you been doing to stay sane?
I wrote and recorded an album over the course of last year, and a few other creative efforts. I’ve had a very good lockdown, and am enormously grateful for that – in a way, it’s like I trained for it all my life. But I’ve been lucky, and appreciate it.
Have you picked up any interesting hobbies or pastimes during lockdown?
No, I’m a musician – I don’t need any other hobbies, apart from collecting pedals.
Please tell us about your band, who’s in it, when/where did you form etc?
I sing and play guitar and bring the creepy intensity, Stephen Parker plays bass and brings the charm, Barney Guy plays drums and does the jokes. We formed in Brighton a couple of years ago or three or four, I’ve actually lost track of time in this pandemic.
How did you settle on your name? Did you have any other names in the mix prior to agreeing on this one?
It was always about my songs and my fat ego, so no – it was never a democratic band setup. I want my ridiculous, impossible to pronounce name in lights. Or at least in chalk.
Tell me a fascinating fact about the band or a band member….
Stephen’s a novelist, a comedian and a thespian. In many ways, he’s the greatest of us all, a real devious renaissance man.
Do you remember the band or artist that made you want to pick up and instrument and learn to play?
The Velvet Underground. I’ve damned Lou Reed’s bug eyes for putting me on this path of frustration ever since.
Do you remember the first gig you ever played? How did you feel? Did it all go according to plan?
Yes, it was horrible, and I remember the sickness and fear very clearly even now. Teenage semi-goth band in a rough boozer in Oxford, two 45-minute sets like a slow-motion nightmare – we did no covers, just weird original material to a room full of pissed up ‘hard men’… It went about as well as you’d expect. We lived, anyway – I wondered if we would.
Have you ever met one of your ‘heroes’? Who was it and how did it go?
No, but I sat next to Mark E Smith in a pub near Abbey Road studios once, and he sneered at my girlfriend’s copy of The Guardian – this is before it went shit, so as usual he was ahead of his time. All my heroes are dead now, thankfully.
What do you carry with you at all times that you CANNOT live without?
It used to be Valium. Now it’s my fucking phone, like every other poor bewitched idiot on the planet. I despise it.
Tell me about the new album that you have recorded during lockdown, where are you recording? Who is producing? What is the title of the new track/album? When can we expect to see it on the shelves?
That would be the album mentioned above, which comes out Friday 23 April. It’s called To The Outer World and was recorded at Church Road Studios here in Brighton with Julian Tardo of Insides, and several other musicians guesting. I like it (for now, anyway).
What do you prefer more, playing a regular gig or playing a festival? How do they differ for you? (apart from the mud of course!)
My festival experience is very limited, but it’s nice of you to assume I’d know.
Tell me about the STRANGEST thing that ever happened to you when you’ve been on stage…..
Nothing strange has ever happened to me onstage. Humiliating, ugly and shocking yes – strange, no.
Let’s imagine that you’ve been washed up on a desert island and there’s a record player, an amp and some speakers but only enough space for 3 records, which 3 would you have in the box to keep you going until you’re rescued? Why these three?
The Fall’s complete Peel Sessions, because it’s a brick containing about a week’s worth of music on its own…
The Velvet Underground & Nico, so I could scowl at the sea at dusk and feel angry – again, see above – and ask myself “why am I still listening to this creepy old shit?”…
A Hate Records compilation so I could chew my face and pretend I’m on amphetamines. Just to make the time nice and full.
Tell me about any forthcoming live streams / shows / festival bookings etc…..
The horizon’s as blank and empty as that desert island, at present. I don’t like live streams as they’re very difficult to do well, and venues are only just getting back to me about bookings. Wait and see, really.
Name 3 bands or artists that our followers should be checking out….
Where can people keep up to date with you on social media
www.instagram.com/matt.x.finucane/
Lastly, there are MILLIONS of bands/acts/artists out there, why should people be spending time checking you out?
That’s the big question, isn’t it. Maybe they shouldn’t: maybe I’m better off as a complete cult.
We’d like to thank Matt for sparing the time to chat to us and wish him every success with his new album ‘To The Outer World’ which lands on April 23rd.