Matt Pryor hits the road to perform his album The Salton Sea this spring and we’re lucky enough to have a Chicago date this April at Cobra Lounge.
We had a few questions and Matt told us about his latest album’s influence, songwriting, and being a parent who makes music.
Don’t forget to get your tickets to the gig!
Your latest album, The Salton Sea, has a raw, homemade feel. Were there any specific albums or artists that influenced its sound?
The biggest influence on the sound of the record was Sugar’s “Copper Blue” in that I wanted to drums to sound huge and the other instrumentation to be simple.
There are a lot of instruments on each track but they are all basically playing the same thing in a sort of indie “wall of sound” kind of thing.
That’s what I was going for anyway.
Was there one song that made the album “click” and feel like a complete story?
The song “Union Transfer” is about my literal rock bottom moment.
It was the first song that I wrote and once I did I had a “well, I guess we’re doing this … here we go” sort of moment. That’s when I knew what the album needed to be.
How has your songwriting process changed since getting sober and starting your early-morning writing routine?
I don’t think the morning writing routine would have been possible when I was still drinking. It wasn’t until that fog had cleared that I was able to even attempt the process.
I would say the biggest difference has been the intention as far as what I’m writing about. I tend to have a clearer understanding of what I’m trying to accomplish now.
If you could give 1999 Matt Pryor one piece of advice, what would it be?
Save your money. This won’t last forever.
Similarly the bad times don’t last forever either, the music industry can be very feast or famine and if you keep the wheels rolling eventually things will come back around.
How has being a parent changed what success and longevity in music mean to you?
Its funny you bring that up, it was just on the first leg of this tour playing with my kids that I realized that they don’t think of music as a job, they think of it as a joy.
I used to be like that but at some point this became my “career” and though it’s never not brought me joy I think I’d like to get back to that place where I can separate the art from the commerce and just enjoy what I’m creating and performing.
The kids really open my eyes sometimes.
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