Middle Brother: The Extended Interviews

Matt Vasquez

Who was the artist that made you want to be a musician:

I would probably have to say Kurt Cobain.

Why is that?

I was seven years old when my older brother brought home Nevermind. A neighbor taught my brother the “Come As You Are” guitar lick. I kind of butted in, and learned it too. From then on, My brother and I kept getting so competitive, and had to learn more and more and more. It was that band, Nirvana, that pretty much showed us that God had landed.

It’s interesting to think of a seven year old listening to that kind of music. What is it that appeals to a seven year old kid?

Believe it or not, you can have a lot of angst at seven. I didn’t understand the words, but I loved the melodies and how loud it got. It was so fun just to go crazy, and that music went crazy. I actually went back to a lot of those records maybe two years ago, and just started studying his melodies, his chord selections, and his songwriting. That style doesn’t really exist anymore. Kurt Cobain’s songwriting style is pretty brilliant.

It doesn’t exist in the sense that…

There are good, loud bands, but there hasn’t been a good, loud American rock band to take over the world since that. You know? There hasn’t been a band that has that aura or mystery around them.

What’s a song that every time you hear it, it makes you cry?

Lauryn Hill’s “Zion”. My God. She played the Coachella festival. We were so pissed we missed that. Nobody can do it like her, man!

What is it in particular that makes you get emotional? Is it the melody or the lyrics?

Both. She’s the whole package with it. It’s really amazing work. Lauryn Hill can just be a song when she sings it. She was so honest, and it’s so good. She has a voice, and that when you sing a lot, you basically lose your voice. I heard that’s why she had to step away. She wasn’t able to talk when she was on tour, and she couldn’t handle not being able to talk to her kids… I don’t know if that story is true or not, but somebody told me that. It grips me. Made me respect her a lot.

What was the first song you ever wrote?

I think it was E major, A, A sharp, or B Flat. It was all just down-strumming eighth notes, probably at about 155 bpm. Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. Basically, it was shit.

My grandma gave me my first guitar, and my brother got his around when I was seven. We both jut played it, and played it, and played it. The first thing I wanted to do was write my own songs. I thought it was the best, most interesting thing to do, and it was the only thing I wanted to do since I got that guitar. Then I got my own Strat. I also wanted to be like Randy Rhoads.

During my senior year of high school, I started writing music more and started singing. I had a girlfriend that I sang to over the phone, which is terribly embarrassing. She was like a stage singer, and upon hearing me she said, “it’s not really your instrument,” and to not take it personal. But I actually did, I got pissed.

The songs I was writing then sounded a mix between Cheech and Chong and Green Jelly. I knew mostly power chords up until high school. In high school, I started learning what chords were, what sevenths were, the circle of fifths. You start learning what the one is all about, and what you can do with the one, and key changes and stuff. I learned more when I was 20 through being put in all of these songwriting sessions. One of the strongest things I ever learned was about the one, and how to use the three a lot. It’s about using the three the right way, like alongside a major seven. You know what I’m talking about?

Yeah.

It’s in [the Delta Spirit song] “St. Francis.” We use it a lot. It’s in a lot of our songs. The three major seven is a powerful chord. It’s the chord that makes [band member] Kelly’s head turn like a dog — he plays piano most of the time. You know? He loves it. I love it. It’s great.

Nice.

You learn those tricks, and you learn that you can sing the fifth and the fourth or whatever. There’s a million possibilities here. Yeah, damn.

Music theory is pretty trippy.

Yeah, it’s insane.

What’s the best thing about being in Middle Brother?

The tour was so fun. If you weren’t there, you missed something really fun. I brought my girl with me, the love of my life, and that was really fun. I love John’s songwriting. I love Taylor’s songwrting. I love Deer Tick. I love Dawes. I’ve known Dawes for so long. They’re all great dudes.

I mean the songwriting was a collaboration. John and Taylor were there for two weeks. This guy named Johnny Corndawg, who is a brilliant songwriter and I had just finished a record and had a ton of extra songs I hadn’t used yet. From a production and arrangement stand point, you went with your gut immediately. It was like “Oh, that sounds like a Phil Spector song. Let’s do that.” That is what we’d head towards. It was like boom, boom, boom. That’s how we were able to cut like 20 tracks, you know? 20 tracks in a week is pretty crazy.

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