Feature by Andrew Faust - December, 2006
Andrew Faust conducted an e-mail interview with Deleware's My America Is Watching Tigers Die, who released their full-length debut, Narratives, late in 2006. Read on to catch a glimpse of the band's tour habits, tour van, upcoming plans and feelings toward their new record.
Andrew: State your name and what you do in the band.
Matt: My name is Matt and I fill the lone lead-guitar position along with some very sparse vocal duties.
Andrew: When did the My America Is Watching Tigers Die form?
Matt: Brian, David and I (bass and vocals, respectively) all went to high school together and have been playing together since way back in 2002 when we all had Spanish 3 together. Brian and I were in 11th grade and David was in 12th at the time. Brian and I had some even earlier musical endeavors that were pretty uninspired. We started talking music together in Civics class freshman year. So I guess we've all been together for awhile, but it wasn't officially what it is now until May, 2004, when we started it what we call it now.
Andrew: To this date, what has been your best show/crowd response?
Matt: This is a pretty difficult question, but I think the best show we played was at home earlier this year with the Fall of Troy. We may have played in front of more people before, but not too many more times and not with anywhere near that kind of reaction. It was a good time. Also this past summer we went out on a couple days with Fear Before the March of Flames/The Number 12/The Jonbenet/Heavy Heavy Low Low and all those shows were packed tight and a killer time.
Andrew: Obviously demo material and full-length material will be different, but can you discuss any major differences the band went through when in the studio? What were you trying to accomplish as far as a certain sound goes?
Matt: I really don't think going into recording our last record that we had a lot of expectations on a real sound. We knew how the songs were going to be tracked in the mechanical sense and how they sounded to us when we rehearsed them but you have to really respect that transformation step that takes place when you record. There's a lot of stuff that just happens in the studio and it all comes down to sort of evolution and change. We were constantly reminding ourselves as we wrote the album to leave some of the loose ends open just for this reason alone. You just have to anticipate it and act on it. In our case we just kind of go with it because it's really the time and place for it and it's what feels right. I think that's one thing that Andy and I can agree when it comes up. All the way from when we write it and we are thinking about recording it and then when we actually do record it we just leave that extra space and acknowledge it so we don't prematurely block off any creative paths. We are all about those kinds of risks. We were really excited to work in a really nice and sorta fancy studio and with a really talented and experienced engineer (Paul Leavitt at Valencia Recording) and I think it made our record turn out really clean and polished in some parts, but just dirty and raw enough in others.
And I cannot stress how important mastering our record was with none other than Alan Douches at West West Side. We drove up to sit in for the session and everything and it was worth every drop of gas and effort. He really made our record come to life and made it sound like a real album that I would listen to. I don't even need to get into this guy's resume. Having our recordings end up there is really just going to be the standard procedure from now on. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Andrew: How did you guys hook up with Emerald Moon Records? What do you think of those guys?
Matt: First of all that guy, Matt Boylan, is a pretty hard working dude and I think he's pretty sweet, otherwise he probably wouldn't be putting out our record and doing this whole thing by himself. Matt probably had been in touch with us for awhile and expressed some interest but we didn't really give it too much thought. We were really still evolving so much as a band and still were really trying to solidify things. Some time passed and his name came back up again, and we started chatting a little more. At the time, Matt played in a band called Fall River (which has since become defunct) and we were scheduled to play a show with them here in Delaware for one of our home dates for last winter's little tour stint. I think Matt had only come out one time before to see us, and if I remember correctly it probably wasn't the best impression. So on this particular night with the Fall River show almost a year ago, we made plans to talk a little more in person at the show. I think we all had a pretty good idea what was going on but we all got in the van and he just said "I want to put out a record together," and at that point we were already planning to record, so it just worked out, and then we just said "O.K. dude!" It was just like that extra initiative after that. We pushed ourselves so much more because we weren't just doing it for ourselves. And even though now, in retrospect, it wasn't the hugest victory or biggest break we ever got, but it was a small step and I think we were all pretty happy about it.
Andrew: As far as your sound goes, what bands do you guys look up to when writing music?
Matt: I write a lot of the groundwork for the songs and I don't know if I necessarily "look up" or try to imitate anything really, but I guess in more of a magical way music that I listen to a lot creeps its way into what I do. Sneaky though, huh? Personally, I really think I'll never stop digging on bands like Deadguy/Kiss it Goodbye and Refused. I have been really into what those bands do with that direction of aggressive music. But I really like such a wide range stuff and I can't deny that even things like Boards of Canada and The Casket Lottery even have their own influence in the creative process.
Andrew: What are your favorite bands as of now? Any band in particular that you would like the readers to know about?
Matt: I just got this record that's been getting some good press lately and really impressed me. "Be He Me" by Annuals. Dude is only 20 fucking years old. Makes me sad because I am the same age and I'm still just acting like a kid. I've also been listening to a lot of this band called Baroness and that new Kylesa record and some Caspian. If you haven't heard of any band that I mentioned in any part of this interview, do some research. It will be quite rewarding. Promise.
Andrew: Every band has a unique story for their van, can you tell me a story about your guy's van?
Matt: Like about getting it? We got it in Smyrna, Delaware for pretty cheap around April of 2005. We take good care of it and it's really blue. Like a couple different shades of it. There are two nice bench seats, the two captains chairs up front and a little homemade bed in the back that can comfortable sleep two. Most of the time it's just the four of us, but even this summer when we had two extra lackeys on board we lived pretty comfortably for two and half weeks. The worst part about the whole deal would definitely have to be the fucking sliding door on the passenger side. It doesn't close all the way unless you shoulder-jock it like a complete asshole in front of as many as people as possible. We have to sleep in it sometimes, and we spend a lot of time fighting over bench seats and who has to drive and shit like that. Heat and A/C are functional but our stereo is not. So sometimes there is a lot of silence in our van, but I think we kinda dig that. We are all way thoughtful dudes and are usually just trying to think about life all the time anyway.
Andrew: What is the next step for MAIWTD?
Matt: Winter tour! I am swamped right now with booking and preparing for all of that fun stuff. We are going to on the road for the majority of January up and down the east coast. We also are trying to work on a small batch of new songs to record and release before spring time on a cute little 7" through EMR. We have been putting this off for awhile and it was actually supposed to be a re-release of some old material, but as time went on we decided that it might be a good opportunity to release some new material. We just started trying to write some new stuff this week and it was pretty exciting. Most of the songs on our Narratives record were written last winter, so it has definitely been a little while.
Andrew: By the way, who preformed and wrote the piano parts on some of the tracks? Those were fucking rad.
Matt: All the piano stuff was Brian, our bass player. He plays religiously and is always coming up with sick shit. I think ever since we knew Brian could play piano we wanted to implement it somehow, at least I did. We just sat at his house the day before we left for tracking and just did some live recordings on a shitty tape player we took from Andy's house. I just wanted to add to the sort of dramatics and sort of dissonance the album has, and maybe its cliché or whatever, or fuck that. The little parts were just really short, simple, and repetitive so it was just kind of like these little trance-inducing segues. I like them, I think they work pretty well.
Andrew: Also, just for giggles, which do you prefer: Ham or turkey sandwhiches?
Matt: Turkey for sure. I am not really into ham, especially like honey ham. It's a little overkill.
Andrew: Death metal or Tough-guy Hardcore?
Matt: I think the obvious and intelligent choice is Death metal because it is quite clearly still of the metal flavor.
Andrew: Victory Records or Ferret Records?
Matt: If Victory didn't put out Progression Through Unlearning or Fixation on a Co-worker I think that I would say Ferret, but I don't know. Those are some pretty heavy-hitters, not to mention genre-defining. And as many shitty records Victory has put out I don't know if Ferret has put out any records that can really compete with those.
Andrew: How many days have you gone without a shower on tour?
Matt: The whole thing. The rule is if you shower on tour you are out of the band and out of my life. Strict policy.
Andrew: Anything else you'd like to add to this awkward-ass interview?
Matt: It wasn't too awkward, it was mostly just fun. We don't do interviews that much so hopefully I answered some of those long-standing questions that have required some attention for some time now, but probably not. Thanks for your interest in the record and giving it a listen, and hopefully after YOU read this YOU will think we are cool and YOU will want to buy it. So maybe for the holidays? I hear it looks amazing in decorative wrapping paper.
P.S: You can do that here: Interpunk
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