Culture :: Interviews
MATT BOONE
September 12, 1998 |
| Matt Boone |
MATT: I'm from California originally. Near San Francisco, a small town called Alameda. Trekkies all know where it is because it was featured prominently in Star Trek IV. But know one else know where it is.
BAZOOKA JOE: Really? I didn't know that
MATT: That's were the "nuclear wessels" that Chekhov was looking for.
BAZOOKA JOE: But what brought you to Boston?
MATT: There are two stories: one story is I wanted adventure, the other story is that I was following a woman here. And that's the true story.
BAZOOKA JOE: Did you get the woman?
MATT: No. But I stayed and I love it!
BAZOOKA JOE: This is interesting because there was also another person from California at the party we met at last night who doesn't like Boston all that much.
MATT: I love Boston!
BAZOOKA JOE: Why do you love Boston?
MATT: I came from the Bay area and I grew up around a great city, San Francisco. But it was so familiar, I grew up with it, and I never really had the inspiration to really look around and see what's going on in the city when I grew up. And so when I came to Boston suddenly there was this brand new town that was small enough to get to know and I could get around on public transportation all the time. There's great music here, great clubs. It's really a fun place to be.
BAZOOKA JOE: He came for the girl and he stayed for the city. So you can't play guitar as much as you'd like. What's up with that?
MATT: That's true. About five years ago when I was when I was an undergraduate I was doing a lot one semester. I was playing lot of gigs,a lot of acoustic gigs, I was playing in a jazz class, I was helping lead a choir and I was doing a lot of typing on the computer and I started to get pains in my forearms.
BAZOOKA JOE: I know what that is.
MATT: It's not carpal tunnel syndrome but I've never had a confirmed diagnosis but for three years I just went to doctors non-stop. No one could tell me what it was. I went traveling in Europe for about five months and it was the best therapy I ever had because I just stopped worrying about it. So know I still get pain my forearms when I play the guitar but I've found a way to manage the pain so I only play a certain amount, practice a certain amount. When my band was going we just practice two times for a gig, and just play the gig. You just had to accept the fact that it was going to be sloppy and kind of off the cuff...
BAZOOKA JOE: That's a damn shame! I've asked you to play four songs tonight. That's not a problem then?
MATT: No, no. With the band we'd play an hour set but then I I probably couldn't touch the guitar for two or three days while my hands rested.
BAZOOKA JOE: So now you do more engineering, is that correct?
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| Matt Boone |
BAZOOKA JOE: D.I.Y.. Do it yourself. So where do you work now?
MATT: For two years I used to work for a residential school for emotionally disturbed children. It was fodder for a lot of good stories and a lot of crazy antics. The kids were aggressive, they swore all the time. You've never laughed so hard or been more horrified than have a seven-year old cursing you out. Saying every word in the book you didn't know until you were twenty years old. It was a pretty wild place to work. At the time when I first started working there it was really stressful and hard for me to find my way there and I was having a little trouble coming up with lyrics for songs. So I would try a trick: I would take little things that every one had said to me, primarily at my job, and put them into a song. Cut and paste little phrases and things.
BAZOOKA JOE: It's a shame you had to leave the party last night because Joe and Mike from the band Everything Else ended up playing a couple songs on the guitar. They even played a Pink Floyd song.
MATT: Really? They play that song Fearless from Metal. That's a great Pink Floyd album.
BAZOOKA JOE: Joe and Cliff fro the party might be listening in. They might even come down but since we haven't seen them by now that might not happen. How did you meet Joe and Mike.?
MATT: You know, it's funny. When I first started playing in Boston Michael was hosting an open-mic in a Pizzeria Regina in Brookline. I was pretty much the only person who showed up that he didn't know.
BAZOOKA JOE: So you became instant friends.
MATT: Michael is a really excellent person as well as a great musician because he plugs all his friends constantly. The way I met you, Joe, was that I'm at the party is that Michael says "Hey, this is Matt! He's a songwriter, he's a singer, he's great!" He and Joe Panzetta have a wonderful band called Everything Else and they are excellent songwriters.
BAZOOKA JOE: They played last night and opened up for Bic Runga. But you weren't that impressed with Bic either, huh?
MATT: I have to say that she had a beautiful voice and had a great stage presence but there's nothing memorable about her songs.
BAZOOKA JOE: Very forgettable.
MATT: Yeah. She seemed very nice. I met her after the show, she's friendly.
BAZOOKA JOE: Yeah, she seemed like a really sweet person.
MATT: If anyone's interested in a demo you can e-mail me at mboone@bu.edu. If you're a bass player or a drummer and you're looking for a band you can e-mail me as well.
BAZOOKA JOE: So you're trying to get together another band, huh?
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| Matt Boone |
BAZOOKA JOE: What are you going to be doing with the rest of your Saturday night?
MATT: I'm going to be hanging out here for a little while. Listen to the tunes, have some pizza. Hang out.
