Matt Wertz Interview June 5th, 2006

This is the interview I did with Matt Wertz in Seattle on June 5, 2006. Later that evening, I was fortunate enough to see Dave Barnes and Matt Wertz play a capacity crowd at the Crocodile Cafe in one the most memorable concert experiences of my life. Do yourself a favor and check out Matt and Dave’s music, as well as the organization they are involved in:

The Mocha Club

Thanks to Emily & Nettwerk Management!

I am in bold type and Matt is in the normal type.
Introduce yourself in whatever way you please.

my name is Matt…Wertz. I’m originally from Kansas City, MO but I’ve been living in Nashville, TN for about the past for years and it’s really where I consider home, now. It’s where my friends are and I really don’t have any plans on leaving. Half the year my home is in my van and that’s where I’m at home right now. In my van. Seattle, WA. Are you in Seattle?

I am, and I will be at the show tonight!

Awesome, I was checking out the website (drivenfaroff.com) and the other bands on the site are really like Indie-rock and that sort of thing, how did you hear about my music?

Actually, I went to school down in Los Angeles and a friend of mine who’s from Missouri, his name is Addison, he brought my attention to Dave Barnes. I got Dave’s CD from Dryve Management, and then when I checked out Dave’s myspace I saw a link to your page. Not long after I got connected with Nettwerk management and received your CD Twenty-Three Places and the Today & Tomorrow EP.

Well, it’s a great site and it’s killer music on it, it’s quality, so I was just wondering how I fit into it all.

What is your current label situation? Are you still considered independent?

I’m independent and what I’ve decided to do is start a label that will house my records. I’d love to expand that in the future but it’s going to be put out through my management company, Nettwerk.

Same thing as The Format?

Yes, and they have distribution through Sony so Nettwerk will act as my label without me having to sign anything over. They’re staffing my label, is how it works. They have a lot of vision and I like that, they are not content with status quo. It’s really fun to be working with people where anything is a possibility and I love it!

What did the sneakers you designed look like?

(Matt laughs) They actually look a lot like variations of Nike from the early 90’s. When I was doing that I was in middle school and I had a fascination with all the shoes that I couldn’t afford to buy. I would get these brochures and catalogs and would draw them, it’s pitiful actually, I’m kind of letting you into a very vulnerable place in my life right now. Then we kind of came up with some ideas for some laceless shoes with velcro straps which I have ended up seeing on other shoes. I’ll just go ahead and take credit. We were the first to come up with the Nike air pocket that goes all the way around on the shoe…that wasn’t Nike’s idea, that was mine.

You sold it to Nike, right?

…and they stole it from me. I’m sure they’ve had the idea forever and were just trying to figure out how to make it work but I’ve got drawings of that stuff.

well, my opinion is that you should post those on myspace for everyone to see.
That’d be hysterical and awesome. Good idea.

In your journal, er blog, er…You talked about your experience at the Moore Theatre here in Seattle, what’s it like playing a venue of that size and now coming back two months later on your own and being at the much smaller crocodile cafe?

Ya know, we’ll find out tonight. I don’t really know, the Moore was just awesome. I am kind of anxious to see if that show helped at all with earning fans. I’m curious to see if anyone stuck after that show. It is kind of a bitter-sweet thing playing in those big places when they’re sold out and you’re playing before someone else. You get spoiled a little bit getting to play those rooms and just saying ‘Gosh, I don’t know when I’ll get to play this room again.’ It may be years before I’m back here.’ It quickly puts you back in reality when you play a club again, you just think, ‘OK, this is where I’m at.’ It’s cool though, I know the fans that will be there tonight are going to be my fans and we’ll just throw a little party!

The Nashville singer-songwriter scene is huge, it seems like that place is infested with talent, what makes an artist stand out from any of the others?

I think what makes an artist like me stand out, I think I know the limits of my abilities. I think I have a pretty good grasp on reality. With that, I also have a strong work ethic. Definitely, my friends have strong work ethics too, I feel like my friends in that scene are all successful and we all have pretty bright futures. In Nashville, in general, a lot of the really talented people just kind of sit around and expect things to happen for them because they know how good they are. They just figure, ‘I shouldn’t have to work cause I’m really good.’

I never really expected anyone to do anything for me. I felt like if it was going to happen I had to do it myself. Musically, I think I write really accessible songs. I think people can really relate to what I am talking about. Not only what I’m talking about but I think the music is pretty contagious. It kind of gets in your head. Even if you don’t like my particular style of music, I don’t know that you can deny that it’s catchy. I’ve always been a fan of catchy music and pop music in general.

You guys all help each other out, whether it be through myspace or touring together, it’s almost like you’re a team, what is that like?

I think that’s a very good observation. I’m thankful that that comes across. We really pull for each other and we’re all friends. That’s the thing that I love about the community there. It kills ‘competition.’ When you befriend someone you feel like you’re not in competition anymore. I feel like in my group of friends we’re all kind of doing the same thing. It’s just like in any other job. When you care about someone though as a friend you really support and like what they’re doing. I love that I’ve been able to do that, support other people.

You have had Dave Barnes as a friend, producer, and tour-mate for a long time, what’s that relationship like?
Our relationship is really (lots of background noise) I’m in Starbucks right now, if you can’t tell.

Really? Starbucks in Seattle, surprising.

I’m at the one in downtown Seattle, do you know where I am?
(laughs)

Our friendship is one that has really gone through the fire. We learned through doing it how to be friends, we just got shoved out there like, ‘figure out how to do this thing.’ Early on, it was hard. It was hard to see Dave be successful. It was hard for me to be excited about it when he played a great show. I hated that I couldn’t be excited about it. I think anyone who is honest with themselves can say that when something great happens to your friend there’s a still little bit of the feeling that ‘I wished that happened to me.’

It still happens sometimes, like when Barnes put out his new record, I was jealous because the record is amazing and he was getting great press and it was hard for me. It’s good because iron sharpens iron and we’ve made each other better. Not only better musicians but better people through learning how to be friends to one another.

I recently reviewed your Today & Tomorrow EP- tell me a little more of you talked about in the liner notes of the cd.
We were thinking that it was going to be a while before the record was going to come out. It had been awhile since my previous record and there were some songs that I wanted to record. I didn’t know if there would be a place on the full-length record for some of these songs.

We limited the vocal takes to three per song, so we had to find what worked in those three takes. It was really cool, it was a liberating thing to do that. We only had one day to do the record so we just went in and attacked it. We had this guy named Byron House to play the upright bass and he’s the best upright bass player in Nashville. My friend Josh Robinson played drums, he’s a really creative, solid drummer. Ben Shive was playing the Wurlitzer and he’s just a phenomenally talented piano player. It was just cool to have it stripped down and have some limitations on instruments.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and it holds a really nice place in my discography.

What’s the story on this new record? when can we hear some of it?

The story on the new record is that it is done. It’s done being recorded, we’re still trying to figure out what we are going to do with the mixing of it. We’re going to try somebody out and see if we want them to do the whole record or not.

There are ten songs and it’s called Everything In Between; it’s a lot of relationship songs. Also, there are a lot of really fun songs. I’m really proud of it and I think it will be worth the wait. It’s scheduled to come out Sept 12 or 19.

Anything else you’d like to add?

No, just to say thank you for your interest in the stuff and I hope you enjoy the show tonight!

Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule for the interview and take care!