An Interview: Mattiel

We had a great interview with American musician Mattiel, who will be giving her first concert in Istanbul on October 9th.

Enjoy!

Are you in Florence now? In Italy?

I'm in London at the moment and I come here periodically. I've been here for about a month, working on the album, but actually, today I'm flying back to Florence for a few weeks before I go to Istanbul.

So you are coming from Florence to Istanbul directly, right?

Not directly. Actually. I'm going back to London for rehearsals, and then I'm  going to Istanbul from London.

Ok. I think you've been writing your next album there. Can you tell us a bit about this process? What kind of songs are waiting for us?

Yeah. I have more than an album's worth of songs, but now I'm going through the process of, um, kind of choosing the right ones and putting them in the right order. And the process is a lot like writing a demo. I write my demo, and then I take it to some producers that I really love here in London, and we kind of make a plan as to how it's going to get recorded. And each track is kind of recorded in different ways. But obviously there needs to be a bass line and there needs to be a keys part. It needs to be this here and this kind of background vocal here. So it's putting up all these pieces together. That's what I've been doing for the past like eight months or so.

I've listened to your two upcoming singles. Actually covers. One is Terry Gibbs’ Somebody is Knocking and the other one is Bob Dylan's famous song “Tonight I'll be Staying Here With You”. They really sound perfect. How did you choose these songs? Will there be more cover songs in the future?

Yeah, I love doing. I've done a Beastie Boys cover before. I've done a Clash cover. This Terry Gibbs song was shown to me by my good friend Troy Staines, who lives and works in Nashville, and he's a really great musician, but he's also a very well trained sound engineer and producer. So he's the one who is responsible for making that track sound so good. And he has a good friend, Alex Kid who's a pedal steel player. And in Nashville, it's just really nice to work with country musicians who are just totally dedicated to country music. And we recorded both of those songs in Nashville, so, that feels really good to me that I got to record two country songs in Nashville. It's like, you know, amazing.

You are preparing your fourth studio album, right? What do you think that has changed or developed musically between your first and upcoming fourth album?

There's a lot more material on the fourth album that I've written entirely myself, whereas before I was collaborating with people on the writing process. And that's not to say that there aren't, there are a few songs on this upcoming record that are collaborations with other people, but there's also a lot more material that I've written by myself. And that's a big, kind of like exciting challenge for me. And I honestly am surprised at what I've been able to do. And I'm really happy with it. I'm learning to use my voice in different ways that I haven't before. I'm a lot more relaxed. I think maybe that just comes with, like, getting older and maybe more tired, but I think that it's got a lot of dynamic sound. There's a lot of new experimentation

So if you are writing most of the songs now, maybe it can sound more personal and more about you.

Oh yeah. Definitely. It's definitely more personal.

You will play your first Istanbul concert in October. So how do you feel about it? Do you know anything about Istanbul or Turkish music scene?

No, I don't, I've never been to Turkey. I've never been that far East but I'm really, really excited to see what it's like. I think that going to Istanbul is going to be my introduction to Turkish culture. I did live in a few months, I stayed in a neighborhood in Berlin that was a Turkish neighborhood. I used to buy groceries from Turkish grocery stores and Turkish restaurants and places that make ready made meals and things like that. So that's probably the most of my Turkish exposure. But I mean, incredible food. I love the food, you know.

It's much better here. You you'll see that.

Yeah.

Will you have any time to walk around the city or see some museums and historical places in Istanbul?

Yeah, the Hagia Sophia. I would love to see that.

I want to ask you about your experience about supporting Tame Impala and Jack White, such great names on their tours. What is it like to perform in different countries or cities with such names, or do you have any unforgettable memories from your past tours?

It was a wonderful show that we played in Saint Louis, Missouri with Jack White, and that was in 2018, and it was a great show. And he invited me on stage to do a duet. And so we performed a song together, and that was like a life moment for me. That was really amazing. And then after the show, we all went bowling, and I will never forget it. It was felt like I was dreaming. It was amazing.

And with Tame Impala, we played in a Roman arena in Pula, Croatia. That was like the oldest venue I've ever played in. It's 2000 years old. It's a Roman amphitheatre. So that was unforgettable. Of course, it was like playing in the Colosseum. It was amazing. It was like, you know, 10,000 people there. So incredible to play in a in an ancient structure like that.

And once you said that Jake White personally encouraged you to pursue a career in music. Do you want to tell a bit about this story?

Yeah, it's pretty simple. I think Jack became aware of the music that we were making in 2018 and he invited me and my band to play at his record store in Nashville, and it wasn't too long after that he asked for me to go on tour with him. I guess it was about two weeks or something. And I mean, the whole time it felt like he was really supportive and invested in this whole thing. And it felt like such an honor to be asked to support him on that tour. I've only felt support from Jack and his whole team. It's a very tight knit team, and they've been working together for, like, 30 years. I just had a really great time meeting all of them. And it just felt like they're very hospitable, very generous with their time and generous with everything.

By the way, do you have a dog there, I hear some barking?

I'm watching a dog. It's not my dog.

Well. Not yours. Do you have any pets; cats or dogs?

No, I don't, not in Florence.

Your songs have been featured in some series, such as Guy Ritchie's The Gentleman, Outer Banks or Meryl Streep’s “Let Them All Talk” movie. How does it feel when your songs overlap with certain movie scenes? Or have you ever thought about composing a soundtrack for a movie?

I don't approve projects that I don't think are right. Everything you see in movies is a process where I get paid and have to approve it, where my co-writers on the song get paid. There's also a negotiation process with my publisher. I feel so lucky to have my music in movies and TV, it's a dream come true.

I know you and Jonah Swilley were at a crossroads. Would you like to tell the story of how you decided to go separate ways?

Yeah. Jonah actually has an amazing project called Revival Season. I don't know if you've checked it out, but it's a hip hop project, and he's been touring in the UK and he's got a record out on Heavenly. “Golden Age of Self Snitching” is the name of his new album with his group Revival Season. So he's I think having a great time doing that. And we're business partners with all the music that we've made together. So we talk all the time. But I've decided to go and write my own songs and get them produced, and that's what I'm doing. So that's just how things go sometimes. But I'm very supportive of everything that he's doing. And I think he's one of the most talented people I've ever known.

And who are you listening to these days?

Oh, I have to think about that.

Look at your Spotify’s last played songs 😊

Actually, I've been getting really into Emmylou Harris and Waylon Jennings. And there's a lot of new modern country coming out of Nashville. That's something I normally in the past hadn't paid much attention to.

I listen to Post Malone's new country record. I think it's pretty cool. ASAP Rocky is one of my favorites. He just came out with a music video shot in Kiev in Ukraine, and it's probably one of the best music videos I've ever seen in my life.

And is there anything else you are passionate about besides music?

I love to make linocut prints, which is like woodcut. It's similar to woodcut, if you know what that is. It's like carving into wood and then on a flat surface, or carving into linoleum, rubber on a flat surface. And then you put it through a press in a big studio, on paper. And then you have a print. So I've been making a ton of those. And then also, I love making pottery. Making pottery is one of my favorite things to do. In Florence, there's all kinds of resources for handmade arts. And just like studio art, because it's one of the most densely populated, like places where artists are all making things, you know what I mean? It's the birth of the Renaissance. So I've got access to some studios there to do pottery and to do printmaking.

What are your plans for the near future?

Got a tour in December. A pretty short tour in the UK. And my first concentration at the moment is getting this record finished and putting it out. I don't know what happens after that, but I'm having a very good time living in Europe. I feel very safe. I'm eating really good food, so I hope to be able to do that as long as possible.

Great. Thank you very much. We are very excited to see you live here. And is there a message you would like to give to your listeners in Istanbul?

Thank you for listening. It's a really great feeling to know that there's people across the world that are so far away from where I was born and so far away from where I made music in the beginning,  that my music has reached that far.

So all I have to say is thank you.