Concert Addicts – So I was listening to your new album. It’s amazing by the way.

Matthew Good – Oh, thank you very much.

Concert Addicts – It feels very personal, on a lot of the songs. What was it like this time around not having to worry about anything else besides being the artist on the album?

Matthew Good – Oh, its great. I got to lay down a lot.

Concert Addicts – You just put yourself into that roll?

Matthew Good – Of laying on the couch, in the back of the studio. and Warne would turn around and go – Waddya think? And I would kinda just stick a thumb up in the air like that, and keep like looking at my phone. Ya, I mean him and I try to think of something different for every record we do. And in this case it was just, I mean I had demoed everything already and written all the parts. So we did pre-production and messed with a few arrangement ideas. As far as the performances and everything were concerned and the sounds, I just left it with him. I mean I’ve been working with him for 18 years, right.

Concert Addicts – So you know each other pretty well then?

Matthew Good – Ya. Its like, I’m not worried about it. Ya, from that aspect it was really nice.

Concert Addicts – Nice. Is that something you would do going forward on your next recording?

Matthew Good – Oh ya! I’d have no problem with that. To be honest with ya, the older I get its just like eck, I don’t wanna fucking sit at the board. You know for ten hours a day, either ghosting him or when I’m prducing or whatever. It’s just, na, I’d rather be sitting on the couch gettin coffee, being like – ya right okay cool.

Concert Addicts – That sounds like a nice way to do it.

Matthew Good – It is. In comparison to most records that I make it is far less demanding in that reagrds.

Concert Addicts – That makes sense, sounds like a good way to do it. Takes some of that stress off you. In listening to the album, the song Tiger By The Tail it really struck a chord with me. It’s delicate and vulnerable but its really powerful. Can you speak about where you were inspired by that song?

Matthew Good – Well that song actually, interestingly enough, I demoed an entire record, it was just a lot of really outside kinda stuff. There was a twenty minute song on there. A lot of stuff, I don’t think there was anything under nine minutes. And out of all the material the only thing that I really had lyrics to and melody was “Tiger By The Tail”, and its the only thing that survives the kind of general purge. ‘Cause after I had that then I started writing material thats on the record. So I did that, then Los Alamos, then Coldwater – bam, bam, bam.

Concert Addicts – Ya, I was going to say, Coldwater really has the same sort of feel to it.

Matthew Good – Ya those three they all fit nicely together. It’s a song that I, I don’t know. There’s definitely a lot of Mark Hollis going in there, that’s for damn sure but thats okay because Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock are probably two of the greatest records ever made, so.

Concert Addicts – Ya, I just noticed for sure with Coldwater and Tiger By The Tail, that they came from an almost slightly different place then the other ones. So it makes sense that they came from a previous space in your mind.

Matthew Good – Absolutely, ya.

Concert Addicts – Your cover of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting, its beautiful. Your version seems more intimate, where hers is more playful. Was that just how the lyrics spoke to you? Like how the lyrics represented to you?

Matthew Good – I think, ya, I think that one of the things about when I did that song I had, well obviously, huge reservations. I did it originally as a demo just for fun because I was listening to Hounds [of Love] a lot of the time and it’s one of my favourite records, and I don’t think you cover Kate Bush. I think its sacrilidge. I didn’t, and you know the powers that be heard the demo and we kind of decided – Well maybe it will be an iTunes extra kinda thing. But by the time we were finished it, everyone was like – we should put this on the album. So I kinda think of it more as a tribute, more of an omage* then anything. I did do some stuff to it, like I changed the chord progression of the first chorus and the second versus from her song. I like her version of it. Well I shouldn’t say her version, THE version of it. Hers is impish, absolutely, but there is a lot of power in hers too, right? And you have to remember that the original is like six minutes and whatever.

Concert Addicts – It’s a long song, ya.

Matthew Good – Ya, its a long song, so I just kind of took bits and pieces of it and its four. But I kind of had to look at it from the perspective of being a male vocalist. Even though, ironically, its written from the perspective of a little boy. But I kinda had to look at it from that stand point and trying to think about how I could subdue it, rather than, range wise, keep it up top. I didn’t want to do that, I wanted it to be a little more low-key.

Concert Addicts – Ya, it really came across that way. I guess thats where the sort of more personal side of it comes from. Feels almost more poetic as opposed to playful.

Matthew Good – Ya.

Concert Addicts – You’ve been fairly open in the past about your dealings with anxiety and that sort of stuff. As somebody myself who suffers from anxiety disorder, you speaking about this really helped me feel less alone. And helped me feel less abnormal. Like I wasn’t segregated. I don’t want to touch on this too much, but you feel that remaining creative has helped you with these things?

Matthew Good – Well sure. Its a fifty-fifty kind of thing. I mean it creates creativity and creativity sways it for a time. I mean I’m bipolar, and thats kind of what its always been like. Obviously I’ve been on medication for nine years now. Actually almost ten years. Nine years is almost ten years, what am I thinking. Anyway, thats obviously helped quite a bit. You know, the thing about it is after I was diagnosed, and after I got out of the hospital alot of people that interviewed me and the fact that I was open about it and that I was willing to talk about it and stuff, I always found that kind of strange. I don’t see why people have a problem talking about this stuff, like really!

Concert Addicts – Ya, it always seems to come about that somebody talks about it and it just seems too few and far between, like nobody wants to talk about it. And when people do talk about it feels like – Well why aren’t we talking about it?

Matthew Good – Ya, I know. Its a little rediculous. I don’t have a problem with it all, I’ll talk about it openly anytime with anyone.

Concert Addicts – Great, from a personal level – thank you so much.

Matthew Good – No, hey man, ya definitely.

Concert Addicts – ‘Cause anyone talking about it is a…

Matthew Good – …good thing.

Concert Addicts – Just to switch gears. You’re about to launch into tour mode. You are going to travel around Canada. Can fans expect a good mix of soungs from your whole career or is it going to be more focused on the latest album?

Matthew Good – I always focus on what I’ve just put out, mostly. Umm, you have to make hard choices, ’cause I don’t play for three and half hours a night, and that kind of thing. So you have to make some hard choices when going back in the catalog and deciding what your going to do. For example one of my favourites to always play live is, since Lights [of Endangered Species] came out, is always Non Populus, but I kind of made the crunch choice on this tour to NOT do it, but do Advertising On Police Cars instead, with a band. I think fans will appreciate the difference in those two things. I’ve often done Champions of Nothing too, and we can pick that up in soundchecks too. I’ve decided to go back to doing Blue Skies [Over Bad Lands] because Stu’s just such a damn good lap steel player, and he’s back playing with me and Blake. I mean there is stuff there that we’re going to mess around with, and some things that haven’t been done live really ever, or in a long time, and a lot of new stuff.

Concert Addicts – I mean you have twenty years and seven albums, its hard to pick and choose and make everyone happy, so that makes sense. As a musician from the Lower Mainland, do you happen to have a favourite venue you love playing. I means is there any venue that holds special in your heart, or that you love over the others?

Matthew Good – Well the Town Pump would have been my answer to that question, but its gone. You know, the Commodore is always, I mean the Commodore’s the Commodore it’s always gonna be a special place ’cause it’s the Commodore. I think out of everywhere that’s left standing, I mean I’ve played pretty much everywhere you can play in Vancouver. I mean, I ‘ve obviously played many times at The Vogue [Theatre], many times at the Orpheum [Theatre], the Centre for the Performing Arts, Rogers [Arena] which was GM Place, the Pacific Coliseum, the [PNE] Forum. So I’ve done it kind of all. Thunderbird Stadium.

Concert Addicts – I think the first time I saw you play was opening for Aerosmith at the Pacific Coliseum. So, I mean, I’ve seen you perform at everywhere around here so I just wondered if there was anywhere that was more special then the others. A little off topic on this one. I grew up in Coquitlam.

Matthew Good – Oh, okay.

Concert Addicts – Ya, and I used to go to a dentist office in Coquitlam Centre.

Matthew Good – My mom worked there.

Concert Addicts – I was just about to say that. I used to talk to her everytime between my family getting there teeth done, I would sit there and talk to her for an hour at a time. One day she mentioned she had a son that is a talented musician and I never thought anything of it. Then a couple times after that she said – Oh you might know him, his name is Matt Good. I didn’t pick on it, but I always wondered. It was a dozen or so, maybe fifteen plus years ago. I always just wondered. She was such a nice lady, everytime I was there I spent an hour talking to her.

Matthew Good – My moms like that. She’s been retired almost that long now I think. She’s in her seventies now.

Concert Addicts – I always wondered, so thats great it wasn’t some lady just telling me some story. So the last question we have for you, a question we kind of ask everybody. Are there any lesser known musicians out there that your listening to that you think people should check out?

Matthew Good – Ehnn. I’m really bad with these sorts of questions because I’m one of those guys that listens to a lot of old obscure stuff rather then new obscure stuff. I mean you have the two aforementioned records. It’s really interesting, I was talking to a friend of mine that’s an artist in Brooklyn and we’re just talking about how there’s a saying that the only way that you find out about Laughing Stock is by another musician giving it to you. Those records are seminal albums in that, if you, and I hate like splitting hairs genristically, they were the first two post-rock albums ever made in my opinion. No to those records, and then there’s just a cavalcade of bands that just don’t exist. So, those, obviously. Pretty much anything by Explosions in the Sky.

Concert Addicts – A wonderful band.

Matthew Good – Who are genius, absolutely unbelievable. And of course everyone should go and obviously, just for there own sense of self, just go and get Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen. It’s that important of a record.

Concert Addicts – Anything Bruce Springsteen is just, I mean it’s Bruce.

Matthew Good – Ya, but Nebraska above anything. I mean its a fucking four track for christ’s sakes.

Concert Addicts – It shakes your soul when you listen to it.

Matthew Good – It does, it is so good.

Concert Addicts – I mean that’s great. We just like to share some music. Get people out there listening to new things, and that helps greatly. Thats literally all I have.

Matthew Good – Alright, cool man.

Concert Addicts – I totally appreciate your time.

Matthew Good – My pleasure.

For more information about Matthew Good, please see the following links:

New Album – Chaotic Neutral by Matthew Good

Matthew Good website

Matthew Good Facebook

Matthew Good Twitter