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“Old-school Anarchy”
by: Emmy Boyce
Sunset Strip…
L.A.…There’s that old dream of music eras gone by. In an day and age
when the next hit single can be cranked out of Joe Blow’s bedroom with
an iBook and a copy of Garage Band Matt Beal, shredder and indie label
entrepreneur, has transplanted himself into “the strip”. The nearby surf
isn’t the only tide that changes. “I don’t even know what alternative
music is anymore,” laments Beal. When it seems that all the scene can
have to offer is the “right” haircut, it’s not always a bad deal when
some of your familiar faces are John Corabi and Steve Ferlazzo. That’s
why people do it, right?
Bringing old-school
wisdom and character to the current state of “the scene”, the original
ideals that spawned decades of metal, rock, and alternative movements
pour out of Beal’s mind. “Part of it is you feel kind of like an
outcast, and the time you're not an outcast is when you're on stage.”
Beal doesn’t view his guitars as pretty props. He actually plays them.
Amidst taking to the stage, promoting his new album “Atom Bomb”, and
launching his indie label Corporate Anarchy, Beal is a busy guy with an
equally busy and seasoned mind. One doesn’t interview Matt Beal. One has
a full-on conversation with Matt Beal.
Alternative
Addiction: What made you want to start a record label?
Matt Beal: That's kind of a good question, actually, because
there's so much to it. Most of all, it's just something that I've always
wanted to do, even when I was a kid. And why, I really don't know why. I
thought it was a cool idea. I met people when I was younger that had
record deals. I was told when you had a record deal that was it, you
were all set. And you were. Then you hear about all the problems that
they had. Then I had friends that started little record companies. They
never really did anything. It seemed like almost anybody can just say
they have their own record company if they're recording their own music.
When I moved out here to California - I'm from Connecticut originally, I
was doing things in New York. I had some interest. T-bone Wolk, he was
the bass player for Hall & Oats, and he played with Saturday Night Live
band back when G Smith played in the band with all the cool guitars, you
know, all the cool vintage stuff...I had some things going on there, but
nothing seemed to be moving quickly enough. I just figured if I moved to
California, that's where the whole industry was, and everything would be
easy, and it would take off. I moved out here, and just getting a band
together out here was really hard because everybody's got their
projects, and everybody's trying to get paid. It's a good place to come
when you're already established, but it's probably a hard place to build
a following. I got a job in a recording studio, and I figured I'd be
around the industry and I'd get to meet all these people. The people
that I met just really weren't terribly enlightened. Most of the stuff
they were recording was hip-hop, so I never even saw guitars or drums
come through the door a lot of times. So, I just kind of got really
frustrated with the whole scene and the attitude. People at labels seem
to have this attitude like they're better than you are, and the thing
is, is that they're nothing without the music. Most of them are just
followers. I've met some cool people too, though. When I was working
there I got to meet Zakk Wylde, and Courtney Love. Courtney Love
actually said one of my songs was a hit, and she wanted to buy it. but
she's kind of scary. Zakk Wylde told me a story...
[Read More]
AA: I think
overproduction is a bigger issue than overplaying.
MB: I do, too. If you listen to "Sabrina", I'm in a 3-piece rock
band, my friend played, like, 4 notes on piano. There's barely anything
on it. If you can't make a band sound good with that, then your band
sucks. Look at King's X. Three guys, and they've got the harmonies, and
they're so big. To me that's a great band. You don't even look at them
and go, "Man, if they had a fourth guy they'd sound better." Some of
these bands like The Black Crowes where there's 5 or 6 guys, that works
too, because they're all good and they're all playing within their
parts. It works, but that's not production. That's an actual band. Their
last album "Lions", a lot of engineers I know don't like it because Don
Was just threw up mics in the room and recorded them live. He thought
they were such a good live band that his idea was instead of producing
them let's just capture this. I think that's an amazing record. I know
it didn't sell very well, but you're listening to one of the world's
greatest rock bands. That's how they really sound.
AA: Right. And that's important. I felt so validated when I read
that Joe Perry from Aerosmith said this because it's always what I had
been thinking myself. He said the point of going on tour and being a
live band and playing live to people is not to say "Buy my record so you
can hear what my band sounds like." The point is you put out this record
to give people an idea of what your band is so that they will come out
and hear you live and really know what your band is by seeing you.
MB: Totally. I totally agree with that. I haven't been playing
gigs for a couple of months now because I've been working on getting the
record out. I think I told you this in an e-mail. The guys I was working
with, they don't really want to tour or do anything. They're kind of
stuck here in town. I have a couple drummers, but I'm still looking for
a bass player to get out there. When I play live, that's when I'm the
happiest in life. It's weird because when I don't play. I found a thing
on big wave surfers, and they were saying that when it's not the season
and there's no waves they kind of go crazy. They lose their identity.
They don't know who they are. They actually get depressed. I can totally
relate to that if I don't play. I used to have a job working with
developmentally disabled, which I loved, but it's kind of a gnarly job
cleaning poop and stuff...
[Read More]
AA: That's, I
think, the magic of it is that you can't explain it.
MB: Yeah. It's almost transcendent. And you don't have that with
every musician. That's another problem I have in L.A., is like I said,
everybody here is so into, well, what are you doing with this project,
what's this, what's that. Anywhere else in the world that I've ever been
you just say I play guitar, let's get together, let's play. And you just
play. Nobody has any kind of attachment to anything other than playing
music, and that's when it's the best. I think when you start trying to
put labels on things, that's when you start screwing it up.
AA: I'm going to use a label in my next question. What is missing
from alternative music these days?
MB: I don't even know what alternative music is anymore. I say that only
because alternative used to be really different than rock, and now it
seems... I think what's missing is people aren't visionary. I don't
think anybody's really totally original. I don't think I'm totally
original in the sense that I'm not trying to recreate the wheel. I like
old-school rock. It just seems like nobody's really saying anything.
Nobody's really got any balls. I don't know if Audioslave counts as
alternative. I guess there are some people out there that are kind of
doing it, but it just seems like whatever that energy was, like when you
listen to an old Aerosmith song, like, something off of "Toys in the
Attic", there's something there that's just not there anymore. It's the
attitude. Rock used to be about not fitting in. My favorite rock is the
late 70's, early 80's, the last time people were saying rock was dead
and everybody was fighting for their right to rock, and rock & roll
isn't noise pollution, and all of that stuff. It was almost like you had
to fight to be into rock. If you had long hair people looked at you
funny. Nowadays it seems like the bands are all doing it to make money,
or to be cool. It's more of a conformity thing than a non-conformist
thing. I think back in the day people were more non-conformist. That
could just be my perspective. I don't know. Like I said, being in L.A.,
being around the industry, it kind of made me sick. It has made me very
jaded. You know, seeing some of
the bands come through, and just their attitudes towards music seemed
like it was more about making money.
AA: When you were saying that there's this energy that's just not
there anymore...
MB: Swaggar.
AA: It is. It's swaggar. It's showmanship. There's none there
anymore. It's gone. It's like bands have been allowed to become so
watered down that nobody out there has the balls to be a showman
anymore. You can laugh at David Lee Roth, but you know what? You're
never, ever going to be what he was, you don't have the balls to be that
kind of showman.
MB: Yeah, Dave really embodies it all, doesn't he?
AA: Yes, he does. David Lee Roth, whoever. Steven Tyler. Mick Jagar.
Where are the showmen? That doesn't mean you're not an excellent singer.
Like Chris Cornell. His talent is immeasurable. He's got an awesome
voice. It's unique and distinct and he uses is well, but...
MB: But he's standing there in jeans and a t-shirt
[laughs]. I want to see some karate kicks, damn it! I paid good money
for this ticket. It's across the board. It's so many bands these days.
You can have as many tattoos and piercings as you want, but that's not
what makes a star. That's not going to automatically give you the
credentials to be what you're trying to present yourself as. Yeah,
there's something more. I can't remember how you said it, about being a
showman, also I think with guitar playing, the bar has been lowered.
Back in the day you really had to be able to play. I'd be playing guitar
regardless of whether I was never going to make a penny at it, I don't
care. That's just what I like to do. But when you practice, and
practice, and practice, you get to the point where you can show off and
you're not showing off. I think David Lee Roth is a good example. Was he
thinking in his mind, "Boy, people are gonna dig this when I jump in the
air"? I think he was practicing karate and stuff, and he could do all
those kicks and splits, and when he got on stage he just felt like
leaping off the drum riser. You know? I don't think it was contrived at
all in any of those guys. Steven Tyler, I don't think that guy thinks
about what he's going to do. He really is that badass. That's what's
missing... [Read More]
AA: Because,
like I was saying, the industry has allowed things to become watered
down and a snooze.
MB: [laughs] Why? You'd think the industry would want to find
something new and outrageous and cool. I've played stuff for people when
I was working in the studio. One guy, he'd worked with Sheryl Crow and a
bunch of people, and I thought maybe he'd "get it" because he's into
rock. He was just like "Yeah, that stuff's great." And I'm thinking,
"Okay, so, what are you going to do with it?" You know? I'm not a person
that asks for things either. If you get it and you want to work with me,
great. If I have to ask you, you didn't get it. "That's great! You're a
really good guitar player!" Alright, thanks. Nice knowin' ya.
AA: That totally leads into the next question that I have, and I
even used that phrase "get it". What is it that someone "gets", like
they "get it" in their head, that some people do rock, and some people
think they rock, but they don't?
MB: I don't know because I think I do. I hope I do. What is it...
I don't know because it's kind of an indefinable thing. I don't wake up
in the morning and think, "What am I going to do today to go out and
rock?"
AA: It's innate.
MB: It's innate. I think it has a lot to do with your life
experience. Part of it is you feel kind of like an outcast, and the time
you're not an outcast is when you're on stage. All the time when
everybody else is playing football and getting chicks and whatever, I
know I totally speak for myself, but I was wood shedding, plotting and
planning my guitar chops. So, when I get out and play in front of a
bunch of people, and the same guy that was out playing football and
getting all the chicks was like, "Man! I wish I could get up onstage and
rock!" Well [makes fart noise]. I think it comes from a place of not
fitting in on some level, and just having to create your own world where
it's different and things are cooler. Because the real world sucks...
[Read More]
AA: I don't
know that joke.
MB: She drops him off at band practice. What do you call a
musician without a girlfriend? Homeless.
AA: That one I have heard.
MB: I think that's kind of true. I think there are people that
really have to create their own world because they don't really like the
world they have to live in. I think that's probably anybody that's a big
public figure. Music definitely is a powerful thing. Bob Marley was
shaking hands with the two big political leaders there right after he
got shot. That's pretty powerful. He was more than just a musician. He
was this amazing, powerful being. That didn't come from posing in the
mirror and making sure he played the right lick, smoked the right
cigarette, and had the right hair cut. There's something way deeper than
that, and I think it's the way these guys live. I know for me, I'm an
egomaniac with an inferiority complex. It's hard sometimes dealing with
reality. That's why I wrote "Atom Bomb". That song is just saying look
at the fucking country we live in. It's a mess, man. Most people just do
whatever they have to do to fit in and get by. It's kind of lame.
AA: Talk a little bit about the name of the album, the track
"Atom Bomb", and what you were feeling when you came up with those
ideas.
MB: Without trying to get too political, because that would open
up a new can of worms... I definitely don't like a lot of things that
are going on in this
country. I think a lot of people are frustrated by it. Without pointing
the finger, because it's really easy for people to say, "George Bush,
he's the devil." Well, Bush is just doing whatever we allow him to do,
or whatever we want him to do. You can definitely see the money is going
places it shouldn't be going, or it's being misspent, or it's being
mishandled. There's so many things you can get pissed off about. I think
I made a point in that song saying - Democrats or Republicans -
"politicians argue the issues, all the same, no matter what you choose,
they take your money, they spend it all, while the country you love is
about to fall". They're supposed to be serving us, and sometimes I feel
like I'm a slave in my own country....
[Read
More]
AA: That's why
I eat organic meat if I eat meat.
MB: Well, there you go if you can get organic food. It's funny
because someone asked me what I think about Ted Nugent. They were like,
"You and Ted Nugent wouldn't get along." I'm like, Ted Nugent, his
animals run around, have a pretty good life. He just sneaks up on them
and shoots them. More power to him. At least he's a man. At least he can
handle the reality of what he's doing, whereas most people they just see
it packaged and they buy it. That's the way everything is, it seems
like, in our society. Everything is packaged in some palatable form so
we can buy it without ever asking where it came from, is this good, is
this bad. You know, cell phone batteries in landfills. Everything. You
could pick any topic. Nobody really seems to ever think about what
they're doing. It's kind of frustrating, and I think that's another
thing with music. It gives you a vehicle to get up on a podium and say,
"Hey! Wake up!" And for ten minutes everybody wakes up, then they go
back and fall back asleep again. But there is a real beauty in that. I
don't really like punk rock because I'm not a huge fan of the
musicianship, but I love the ethic. I love what they stand for. I love
the idea. Or even, like, System of a Down. Wasn't their record "Steal
This Record", or something? I like the ethic of that. I like the fact
that they're against everything. I mean, I don't want to rebel against
everything, but there certainly are plenty of things if you look around
to be disappointed in and to want to change. I do my little part. It's
not much, but it is what it is.
AA: Well, somebody's going to hear it. It's going to affect
somebody. Tell me something about the album. My favorite song off of the
album is "Sabrina". It just has an old feel to it like Faster Pussycat,
or something. What is your favorite song off of the album?
MB: My favorite is “Get In”. It's about the sleazeballs in the
industry that where trying to seduce [my girlfriend]. The production is
really good. I like “Atom Bomb” and the lyrics to “Awake” a lot too. I'm
proud of the messages. “Sabrina” is fun, good energy, and it's sort of a
random poem about a girl I barely knew!
AA: Isn't it funny how the songs that sometimes are written about
the most insignificant things can turn up to be someone else's gem? I
really like the backing vocals on “Awake”, too. Who are some bands or
artists that just haven't or aren't getting what they deserve in terms
of success and fame? A couple of my own are Nuno Bettencourt and the
band Injected. Who comes to your mind?
MB: [regarding Nuno] Oh, yeah! I don't know who Injected is. Nuno
and Dramagods for sure.
AA: Oh, heck yeah. Injected came out of Atlanta a few years ago.
They were produced by Butch Walker, and they were on Island/Def Jam. The
one album came out and they kind of started to go somewhere. Then the
record label totally dropped the ball, which is too bad. They were just
different than all of the poser bands that are pretty much saturating
this era right now. They are a band that "got it". They would get up
there and they weren't afraid to shred, and they would cover Motley Crue
live. Every time I went to see Injected they were covering Motley Crue
live in concert.
MB: Do they have an album?
AA: Yeah. Their one album is called "Burn It Black".
MB: I'll have to get it.
AA: Kick ass stuff. I just had such high hopes for them, and then
their label just totally took a crap on them, and now they're gone. I
just feel so bad because they're one of those artists that came along
that I really wanted something to happen for them, and it didn't.
MB: That sucks. I think King's X, too. I think hands down that
band should be the biggest band in the world. You go to their show and
they have every different kind of person in their audience. They're not
getting the exposure somehow that they need. They have, what, ten
albums? There's something for everybody in their music. Their message is
amazing. They're amazing people. They're incredible musicians. I just
saw Dramagods not too long ago.
AA: Did you!
MB: Yeah, out here at the Key Club. I actually kind of know
Steve, the keyboardist, and their manager, Charlie. Those guys, I don't
understand it, why aren't they on the TV? Why isn't King's X? Even the
Black Crowes, as big as they are, they just play a couple of songs off
the first album on the radio. They never touch anything that they did
later on. You hardly ever hear anything off of "Amorica" on the radio.
You never hear anything on anything after "Amorica". They're not maybe
as unrealized as King's X or Dramagods. Johnette Napalitano too. You
know who I really love, but he had to kill himself for anyone to notice
he existed, was Elliot Smith. It's not rock, but that "Figure 8" album
is just amazing. Lucinda Williams, but I think she's finally getting
noticed. But that's not really rock either. I feel like maybe I'm guilty
of not noticing. There's a couple of bands on myspace that I like. I
think Superstack is cool. That's the only place I really find new music
is on myspace. I hate to admit it. I'm kind of almost ashamed, but there
is nothing on the radio here. L.A. used to have KNAC, which was the big
rock station. It was cool. There's nothing here now. We have Indie 103.
I guess that's cool, but they play a lot of that pseudo punk stuff that
I don't really care that much about. Everybody kind of sings the same. I
think John Corabi, anything he's done, I don't know why nobody notices
that guy. On that one Motley Crue album, it's the best album Motley Crue
ever put out.
AA: I have to say, I know. I am the hugest Motley Crue fan that I
know personally in my own life. No disrespect to every other album that
Motley Crue did, but that is my favorite album.
MB: That's the thing. Like, I think "Shout at the Devil" was
cool, and I think "Too Fast for Love" was cool, but that album, the
drums on it are huge, the songs are amazing...
AA: John Corabi's voice is huge and amazing.
MB: Well, I was saving the best for last. That guy, I've seen him
live a bunch of times, and he actually does these little shit-ass gigs
around here with the Starfuckers. It's just some cover band full of
guys. You know, Eric Dover, Dizzy Reed from Guns 'n' Roses. And you're
like "How am I watching a guy that sings like John Corabi in a bar full
of fifteen people?" When he opens his mouth it's scary. His face
contorts, and the sound that comes out, you're like, how is this human
being making that sound come out of his mouth? He's so good. I think
Doug is that way, too, Doug Pinnick from King's X. Sometimes he'll hit a
note and you're like, "Did he really just..." And you almost can't even
believe it. John Corabi, though, that growl... how he doesn't just hurt
himself.
AA: I was going to go back to his voice. Did you ever read "The
Dirt" by Motley Crue? Their autobiography?
MB: No.
AA: Amazing book. And John Corabi does have his part in the book.
He was saying how he was unhappy towards the end in Motley Crue because
he said that he is a guitarist, not a singer. I'm like, how can you have
that voice and not consider yourself a singer? You can consider yourself
a guitarist, that's just fine, but you should also consider yourself a
singer because you're amazing.
MB: He played guitar in Ratt, right? He wasn't the singer. Jizzy
Pearl was, or something. The guy from Love/Hate. You know the newer
version of Ratt? He was playing guitar. You know, that's funny because
every time I see him, like when I see him with the Starfuckers, Eric
Dover is always actually singing most of the time, and he's [John Corabi]
playing guitar. I mean, I can't speak for him, but I can speak for
myself. I sing, but I only sing because I have to. I only sing because I
can't find a guy that sings the way I want. I'm a guitar player. I can
totally relate to that. I don't consider myself a singer on the same
level as John Corabi. Really, I don't consider anybody on that guy's
level. He's just unrealized potential. He's one of the most... I mean,
he's done stuff, but why that guy wasn't the biggest rock star in the
word at some point...I can not understand it. Maybe it's in his mind.
Maybe he thinks he's just a guitar player. I don't know. I don't know
what's going on with him that he's not somewhere bigger. That's so easy
to say. People say that all the time. When I was working with the
disabled people. I'd bring demos that I'd made in my bedroom in to work,
and people would say, "What are you doing working here?" Well, okay. How
do I get out of here? It's so easy to say. He should be the biggest rock
star in the world.
AA: Yeah, based on his merit.
MB: Yeah. But that's not how the industry actually works.
AA: No.
MB: That's obvious. James Blunt is charting. John Corabi is not.
What's the problem here? Who are the geniuses that make those decisions?
That's another reason. Corporate Anarchy, like I said, is just a small
label that we're doing ourselves, but if I was ever to a point where we
really had some clout as a business, I would want to put people like
John Corabi on a higher level. He's probably in a better position to do
more for himself than I am to do anything for him at this point, but if
I was ever in that position, definitely. And King's X for sure, and Nuno.
There's probably others. I'm trying to think. There are so many guys
that are cool. Well, I'll tell you one band, but they can never do
anything because Ray Gillen is dead, but Badlands. How Badlands wasn't
bigger... Jake E. Lee, I don't know what that guy is doing now, but he
is such an amazing guitar player, why aren't kids buying Jake E. Lee
records? You know? It's funny because I'm a Randy [Rhoads] freak. When
"Bark at the Moon" came out, I was a little kid, but I cried. Because it
was bad. I was like, "This album sucks!" I mean, I literally broke down
and cried. When I saw him live I saw Jake. I think he's as good or
better than anybody that ever was on guitar. That guy is amazing. He's
one of my favorites. And Jerry Cantrell. I don't know if you've heard
the new Alice in Chains with the new singer.
AA: Ashamedly I have not, and my band has even opened for them.
And I still haven't heard it.
MB: They opened for Alice, huh? Was this with Layne, or later?
AA: This was just in September.
MB: Oh, wow. That's pretty cool. I saw Alice twice with Layne,
and I have to say, like we were talking about before, about what is it
about being a showman. I saw Layne one time, he was so drunk that the
only thing holding him up was the mic stand, and he still was "that
guy". Whatever that is, that indefinable thing that makes someone a rock
star, he was that. Even standing completely still not moving. And then
at one point in the middle of the show he leapt up and jumped up into
the rafters and was swinging around in the rafters like a monkey. He
just got this sudden burst of energy. The new singer that they have,
he's kind of disappointing, I've got to say. Like, I've heard people
say, "Oh, I saw them live. He sounds just like Layne." Dude, I've seen
them. I don't think he sounds
anything like him. I think Jerry Cantrell is another guy that's
unrealized. They're big enough that they're getting exposure on VH1 and
stuff, but maybe it's just because the singer is dead. You can call it
Alice in Chains, but it ain't gonna be Alice in Chains. Even though, I
think Jerry is Alice in Chains...
Jerry and Layne.
AA: Yeah, you've gotta have Layne. It's kind of a Tyler-Perry
thing. Let's talk about your record label a little more. What size
roster do you envision?
MB: I always wanted to have a label. I wanted to call it Stygian
and Shores, but that's my publishing. You know the shores of the river
Styx? All the dead souls that can't pay the boatman get lost for
eternity. I thought that was a cool name for a record label, but [my
girlfriend] came up with Corporate Anarchy, we found that 666 barcode,
and I thought of superimposing the upside down flag on it. People think
the upside down flag is also anti-American. Mariners fly flags upside
down when they're in distress so that other boats know they're in
distress to help them. So, if I fly the American flag upside down it's
not because I don't support the troops. I have friends that are marines.
I put the flag upside down just to say we're in distress. And Corporate
Anarchy is kind of a contradiction because you can't be corporate and be
anarchy... [Read More]
Emo fan
or not, it’s certainly evident that Beal has been around the block and
back again. Sit him down to talk about music and he’ll open up an
infinite world to your brain. Spin one song and his chops speak for
themselves. All in all, he just wants to sing it with his guitar. Check
it out by visiting Matt Beal’s myspace page at
http://www.myspace.com/mattbeal where you can also find out how to
purchase the new full-length indie release “Contributions for an Atom
Bomb” (Corporate Anarchy Records). To find out more about the indie
label Corporate Anarchy Records visit
http://www.corporateanarchyrecords.com.
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Special thanks to Matt Beal, especially for your patience.
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