Following his debut single, “Bandit Town,” which received over 1,000 plays in its first week and led to positive press coverage as well as a live performance on BBC Radio Manchester, Matt Jacques released the sophomore single, “Back to Haunt You.” It is a supernatural love ballad for people who think “’til death do us part” isn’t quite long enough. It’s an indie anthem for your Halloween playlist that walks the line between sinister and sexy. Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
MATT JACQUES: I hail and wail from the North West, born in a town called Stockport (Greater Manchester) and growing up, spent my time between there and my childhood home in a sleepy village called Hayfield, just over the Derbyshire border.
My mum is an artist and a big lover of music and everything that goes with it so I was exposed, from day one, to a pretty eclectic mix of everything she was listening to. I suppose it all started in that house.
2. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style?
MATT JACQUES: When I first started playing in bands, I didn’t consider myself a vocalist. At that time, I just wanted to be able to play gob-smacking guitar solos, with the wind blowing in my hair, stood in the middle of a rainstorm, with lightning striking all around, smoke coming off the strings and all that nonsense. I reckon it was probably around the time I discovered Bob Dylan that I started writing songs with the intention to sing them myself and it took a long time for me to first find and then accept my own voice. I’m pretty at home with it now and, even though it’d be great to wake up one morning and be able to sing like someone like Jeff Buckley, I know that the things I don’t necessarily like about my voice might be the same things that appeal to someone else.
3. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles?
MATT JACQUES: I think it’s safe to say music has been around since the dawn of humanity. They dug up a 60,000 year old flute made out of an animal bone and there isn’t a corner of the world where there are music-less people. It’s an instinct. So it’s only natural that it should channel anything and everything a human can experience.
4. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
MATT JACQUES: The creative process is a labour of love for me. I’m out at sea in a little rickety boat, trying to catch that big fish. It can be frustrating, all consuming and kind of mentally grueling.
The exciting and rewarding part for me is playing to a live audience. I’m back on land, holding up the big fish I caught, for everyone to see. I’m not sure there’s any better feeling.
5. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
MATT JACQUES: It doesn’t always happen the same way but, more often than not, it’ll start with a little seed of an idea floating around in my head. Maybe just a couple of lines, sometimes with a melody, sometimes without, that I ruminate on until I eventually pick up a guitar and try to flesh it out. Other times, a whole song can spill out of me at once. Good ole’ projectile vomit style songwriting. That’s what happened with ‘Back to Haunt You’ and ‘Bandit Town’. Once the lyrics are down, I go back and pick them apart, count syllables, inject rhymes where I can and change certain words or phrasing. I know to some, the idea of rhyming poetry seems primitive but it’s all part of the craft for me. People like Eminem and Andre 3000 were massively inspiring for me, in terms of how their lyrics are so calculated.
The collaboration comes in when I’m recording. Jim Earl Grey (who produced all the tracks off the forthcoming EP) has shaped the sound of the songs massively. I’m a complete luddite when it comes to technology, recording, mixing and all that. Like the proverbial fish I mentioned before, it’s all well and good catching the big fish and bringing it back to shore but if nobody knows how to cook it, you’ve got a problem. Jim knows how to cook a fish.
6. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your music career so far?
MATT JACQUES:
Myself. I spent 10 years standing in my own way. Writing songs and then scrapping them because they weren’t perfect, brushing peoples encouragement off as politeness and just generally tormenting myself. I’m still my own worst critic, I just take less notice when that voice is creeping in.
7. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your music career?
MATT JACQUES:
My son. As soon as he was born it changed my entire perspective and the way I speak to myself. I started to think about what advice I’d give to him, if he was in my situation and started to take some of that advice myself.
8. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
MATT JACQUES:
Social media wise, I don’t think I have a big enough following yet to attract that kind of attention. The only people that interact online, so far, are people who have kind things to say.
In general life though, I find negativity or criticism from others much easier to deal with than my own self criticism. I can and have talked myself out of things many times. Whereas, when other people have tried to put me down in the past, it has usually has a positive effect, in the sense that it makes me want to prove them wrong.
I always revisit a memory of one guy, years ago, at someone else’s gig where they’d called me up to play a couple of tunes. When I’d finished, a few people came over to be generous with complimwnts. Shortly followed by this bitter middle-aged guy stood next to me at the bar, who leaned over to quietly tell me how shit I was. When people are singing every word of a song I’ve written, it’s nice to think of his face and wonder what he’s doing in that moment.
9. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
MATT JACQUES:
Art is open to interpretation, whether you want it to be or not. Once I’ve written a song and put it out into the world, I feel like it then exists as it’s own entity. I have no control over who likes it and who doesn’t or how people will interpret it and that’s quite a beautiful thing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s profound when a song resonates with someone in the same place it was written from, like it reminds them of a similar point in their life or a past relationship or whatever it might be. But it’s just as good when someone hears a different meaning in a song or takes something from it that I’ve never even considered.
KEEP IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE
Photo credits: Andriy Boyar, Emma Goulding