Matt McAndrew is the embodiment of the current state of music.
You’re probably thinking this is a load of journalistic hyperbole. But, when you about it — the former runner-up on Season 7 of NBC’s The Voice — is a poster boy for today’s music scene. He’s an artist who’s not beholden to a label, who’s experimental, who wears his eclectic influences on his sleeve, and is not afraid to share them with the world. He’s writing his own rules, and producing music from the heart and soul rather than the direction of a corporate machine. His catalog is as diverse as any of our Spotify playlists, and like many of his contemporaries — he’s boldly swinging for the fences with every song he releases, project he’s involved in, and show he performs at.
We talked to Matt in depth as he gets set to play our Third Annual Locals Christmas Party at the Grand Arcade of Convention Hall on Saturday December 8.
One of the things I wanted to start out with you obviously were on The Voice…
Whoa, you’re breaking my mind right now! (laughs) I thought that was just a project between a couple of friends and it’d never see broadcast.
Hate to break it to you but you’ve been lied to for the past four years.
Your whole life is a lie, kid! (Laughs).
But seriously, it’s been four years since you were a runner-up on The Voice — with all this time behind you how do you view the experience of being on the show?
I view it more or less the same as I always have. I see it as a tremendous opportunity for me. It’s the thing that keeps me from working at a grocery store in Philly. It’s allowed me to to be in L.A. getting to do music and entertainment professionally for the past four years. Even beyond that, it was just a lot of fun. Regardless of it being super helpful in my career, it was really just a good time. It was a very positive, fun experience.
How has it impacted your career? Has it been “Oh, he’s just a guy from The Voice” or do you feel that it’s been positive with no real negative side effects and you have just been using this to grow yourself as an artist?
I will say that it’s been enough time now that I don’t feel that I really have to play the songs that I did on the show live anymore. I used to play a bunch of covers that I did on the show and I understood like that’s what people wanted to see. But, you gotta keep in mind I was lucky enough that I had just released a record [View of the Pines] record right before I did the show. I know a lot of people listened to that and they liked that. So I’ve always had a little bit of that edge. The fact that “Wasted Love” was an original song was good too.
As far as people’s perspective of me being a Voice artist … I just live my life in a very open way. When I was on a TV show I was like, here I am. I feel I was portrayed very accurately. There’s always going to be people that feel a certain way about the show or that it has a certain stigma. But, I think if you watch me on the show you’d be like, ‘Wow, this guy seems pretty down to earth.” It’s not like I’m like a diva or something. I’m just kind of a normal dude.
You’ll be performing on at our Locals Christmas Party on Saturday — which is actually your debut in Asbury Park. I figured if you were a musician in New Jersey it was required by law that you had to play Asbury.
Even though I’m from Jersey I didn’t really start playing a lot live until college and I went to college in Philly. I played around the Philly circuit so there’s not a whole lot of like small to medium Philly venues that I haven’t played. I definitely haven’t played that much in Jersey to be honest with you.
Well, is that because of that weird, unspoken divide in New Jersey where if you’re South of Toms River everything is Philly centric?
I mean Philly is definitely a lot closer. I think it really just comes down that before The Voice, all I really ever played was around Philly. I don’t think I even played in New York until after I’d been on The Voice. I remember like my first New York show was like a sold out show. But this [playing in Asbury Park] is definitely something that I should be doing.
So about a month ago you dropped a new single, ‘Game Over.’ Let’s talk about this song — it’s danceable, it’s catchy. Is this song indicative of the next musical chapter in the Matt McAndrew saga, or is this a continuation of your previous work?
So, it’s a little bit of a confusing time to be Matt McAndrew because I don’t know that this song is a good indicator of what’s to come. That’s what’s interesting about putting out a single, right? It’s not necessarily indicative of what’s happening — it’s not like this is a single off a record. I think there were some people that heard [the song] and were like, “Oh this is not the direction I thought you were going to go in.” I’m kinda like, ‘Is this the direction I’m going? You will have to wait and see.” The music that I’m going to follow up that single with is not very related. It’s going to be a little different. But then I think I will circle my way back around to things that are a little bit more contemporary pop.
The whole vibe of ‘Game Over’ was I wanted to put out something that I thought was contemporary and current and more production focused, which I just haven’t done. Every stage of my career of me being a songwriter has been kind of focused on different things. When I first started out it was just about whatever came out. And then I started another band and that let me learn how to write songs in a pop structure. Then I was more of a folk artist, and I was just all about lyrics. I study a new thing in every era that I’m in. ‘Game Over’ was a real study in trying to be contemporary and trying to keep something that’s focused on the production. And I will revisit that. But first I’m going to put out some things that are a little bit more organic.
When you say organic, do you mean something that people might say, ‘Oh, that’s sounds more like Matt.’ How would you define organic?
Like no pesticides. A lot of it’s grass fed. Most of the new music is plant-based. (laughs).
A lot of it is me on the acoustic guitar and then things happening around that. I’m about to put out this anthology thing for me. I referenced being a folk artist, but when I went solo — this was long before The Voice —Â I was a solo folk artist. I wrote a bunch of folk songs and out of those songs I picked a few to be on my debut project which was View of the Pines.
So I’m going to put out 13 of my old folk songs that were recorded in friend’s bedrooms and it’s real rough around the edges — but there’s something liberating about that. It’s like what we talked about how much time has passed since The Voice. I think this chapter [of my career] right now has been me sort of reclaiming any freedom that I felt like I’d lost. I went through this phase where I felt after having any sort of success you feel like, ‘Okay, this is kind of what I am now.’ It’s like once you have an identity you feel a bit of a pressure to keep that up. It felt like maybe you’re not allowed to grow anymore or have growing pains like in the public eye.
Now I’m like, well fuck that. That doesn’t make any sense. And I think if you look at any great artists, like they’re constantly going through that. Look at somebody like Bowie or, or Dylan when he went electric. I mean people lost their damn mind. I think it’s important to continue to evolve and do it awkwardly and it needs to be in the public eye after you have people watching because that’s what being an artist is about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d402p1nH1vI
Do you think given the current state of music where record labels aren’t as much of the holy grail anymore that it’s somewhat easier to have these awkward stages in public? Maybe because there isn’t that “you had the hit record, now you have to have another hit record and another hit record” mentality?
That’s definitely been another thing. I’ve been living my life under the weight of a lot of hypotheticals which I just recently decided was silly. I’d be ‘I got to do this because maybe this will lead to this or there’s a potential blah blah blah.’ And it’s like, screw that, dude. I’m going to make music for me, like exactly what I want to do, what I need to do and keep living my life. I’m sharing my diary with everybody until somebody says that I can’t basically. Until the record man is like, ‘Listen, we’ll pay you X amount of money to not do that and to do this other.’ That’s not even an option for me right now. So why wouldn’t I just be myself?
Then you hope that then when you do get some big commercial backing it could be you. Growing up I was like a big Modest Mouse fan or Nirvana or any of these bands that started out on a small indie label doing their thing. They built up enough success so by the time they got courted by a major label it was to do them. That’s sort of my goal.
Also, I’ve been doing some side projects where I can wear different hats. So the Matt McAndrew name, like I said this is my diary and for better or worse, that’s me. I just try to be open and honest with what I’m doing now
Are these side projects going to tie into what you were saying about ‘Game Over’ — where they’re more production based? Or is these projects you’ve always wanted to do?
No, ‘Game Over’ was just something that I thought it was kind of time to work in that setting. Traditionally like production for me involves me writing a song on guitar, and then getting a band together to pull it off. So I wanted to embrace the electronic side of music and because I like all kinds of stuff.
It’s been really interesting actually to work on side projects and have that inform what my identity as a solo artist is. For example, I like a lot of different kinds of music and I can sing a lot of different kinds of music. I have this project now that I’m really hyped on that’s going to be like a pretty heavy rock project.
So you piqued my interest lately about this hard rock side project. When can we be hearing some of that?
I hope in 2019 for sure at some point. I haven’t really talked about it at all so I’m not going to say too much — but it’s going to be really cool. I’m really excited about it and it’s neat to see that it feels really genuine. It does even feel like genuinely me but “People who know me from The Voice, they know I can sing with a kind of growl and a little bit more of a rock vibe. The music is pretty heavy. It’s pretty cool. So I’m hyped on that.
But I’m going to continue going. I have a new solo record that’s going to come out in early 2019. Then I have a bunch of pop singles to follow it up. So basically, as far as I can figure my range right now as Matt McAndrew can be reduced to a kind of singer songwriter, acoustic folky, whatever you want to call it up to — something that’s a little bit more like pop like a Maroon 5 kind of sound. But it’s all very nuanced. It’s weird, man. It’s a tricky thing. I just know when something’s right for me to put my name on it and maybe somebody else wouldn’t.
Just to clarify, the solo record and the anthology of older song are two different thing?
[The anthology] is coming out this month. It’s going to be called The Early Years and it all folk songs I wrote like almost a decade ago. I’m releasing a song called ‘Pins and Needles’ I did years ago as well and putting that up on iTunes. That’s kind of me going into the past.
Then I have a collection of songs that I had been playing live for awhile that people like and I’m finally gonna record. So The Early Years is this month and then beginning of next year we’ll have this new Matt McAndrew record. Then from there I get real kind of experimental and go into more of like a more of like a pop thing — but it’ll still be good.
With the new record you said was going to be based off a lot of stuff you’re playing live now. What’s the vibe of that going to be? Is that, could it be the singer songwriter stuff? Is this going to be in the middle of a being in “the pines” and being in L.A. So, basically this new music is Chicago.
Exactly. It’s a record built for midwest anthem arena rock. It’s like the deep dish pizza version you’re plant-based music. It’s all made from sauerkraut. It all cabbage-based deep dish guitar driven rock.
I’m finally done with the past after this month, even though the new record is going to be a lot of older songs still, older unreleased songs. The core of it is going to be me and my acoustic guitar. For some reason I have this mindset live right now where I can be on an electric guitar on some of these songs but I chose to stay acoustic. Mainly because I love my Hummingbird so much. It’s like actually like my friend at this point.
There’s something I like about me with the acoustic guitar because even if the power goes out the show still goes on. Maybe people are somewhat skeptical about like live performance in general nowadays just because there is so much like support from technology, whether it be like live auto tune or backing tracks. So that’s why if the venue’s small enough, I’ll walk off stage and do at least one song like ‘Wasted Love’ in the crowd.
One final thought for you. In the next 12 months you’ve got the folk anthology, your vegan deep dish-style new record, pop singles, and a harder edged side project all coming out. Do you ever worry that people will be confused at who you are musically? Or does all this even cloud your own thoughts of who you are musically? Or do you just not give a shit?
I don’t give a shit that’s true. When I was really confused, I started to think of myself as like more like Matt McAndrew the record label and I signed different bands that I liked — but all the bands are me. We can have that conversation right because of the death of genres — people listened to all kinds of music now. Think of a DJ. They spin all different people’s records. And if my taste is a little eclectic then let’s just go with it.
I think it makes a lot more sense for the audience than it does the artist sometimes. I would use Led Zeppelin 3 as an example. You start out with ‘Immigrant Song’ and then it goes all super acoustic. How does that make sense? Well it just does. “So as a solo artist, if I were to tell you that I’ve been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, John Mayer and Maroon 5, you wouldn’t think that’s a crazy taste in music. But if I told you that’s my inspiration for the new stuff I’m putting out — maybe you’d think that was weird.. I don’t think it’s weird. It’s all pop music because it’s…popular.
Where do you want to see yourself a year from now? Next Christmas.
I guess I’d like to have a lot more records out. I think I’d just be really proud of that. I mean it’s gonna happen. I’m on the trajectory to do that. You’re gonna have like a new, a new new record from me. At least one more new record. You’re going to have this side project out and then a bunch of singles. I just want to be doing more music than I’ve been doing.
