Interview with Matt Wertz

by Tyler Horne

Matt Wertz is not your typical singer-songwriter. He never grew up wanting to be a musican, but rather a tennis shoe designer. Through hard work and touring relentlessly, Matt has managed to gather a large grassroots following. His new album, Twenty Three Places, fuses rock, pop and creative lyrics that draw the listener in and relate to them on a personal level. Matt explores a spectrum of emotions ranging from love, having fun and being young, to the loss of his grandfather. After eleven songs, the listener truly feels like they know Matt's heart; a feeling a lot of artists try to evoke but don't accomplish.

Dreams Awake: Your album, Twenty Three Places, has done really well in sales on www.awarestore.com, and has maintained its #1 spot for quite some time now. At one point it was listed higher than John Mayer's newest effort, Heavier Things. The internet seems to have been a huge help in the promotion of your music. What are your thoughts on this grassroots movement of dedicated music lovers?

Matt Wertz: The internet has changed the way that we do EVERYTHING. Ten years ago, the only way to find out about new artists was either seeing the artist live, or literally by word of mouth. It's enabled artists to gain fanbases all over the world without really having to do a whole lot. There's good and bad that comes with this, I think -- on one hand, if you have a hard working musician who incorporates and utilizes the web to help spread the word, it's great. New fans are born and hopefully more albums are sold and more people come to shows in places where the artist never would have had a fanbase before. The BAD things that come with this are that now, any dude with a gutiar and Cool Edit Pro can record a song, take a picture of himself and throw it up on the web and just work the crap out of it. There's just SO MUCH out there. I mean, I think the good stuff will withstand the test of time and the bad will be filtered out. My career has definitely advanced tremendously by result of the internet, but 90% of my attention has been spent in reality -- focusing my attention on playing ACTUAL shows, writing REAL songs, and meeting REAL people. I think that's the way it has to be if someone wants to establish a meaningful career.

DA:: What instrument would you like to learn to play that you do not currently know how to play? MW:: Definitely piano. I grew up taking lessons, but I've retained NOTHING. I used to memorize how my teacher was playing something, go home and then play it back by ear. It was great for training my ear, but in doing so also taught me how NOT to read music. I would love to be able to write songs on the piano -- it's just so versatile and timeless. DA:: If you were not a musician, what would you see yourself doing career-wise? MW:: I always grew up wanting to work at NIKE. It's such a creative place. If I didn't work with them I would have loved to work for a company like them -- like Apple or Volkswagen -- some kind of forward-thinking company who targets a niche group. I've always said that as long as I'm involved in some field that satisfies both my creative and entrepreneurial spirit, I'll be fine. Writing and performing music is what is satisfying that right now, but I know I'll be involved with other things in the future -- whether that's starting a label or working with NIKE to design my custom Dunks -- we'll see.

DA:: When it comes to your music, which is easier to deal with? Praise or criticism?

MW:: Wow -- great question. I've never thought about that. My knee-jerk reaction is to say that praise is easier to deal with, but when I stop to think about that -- it's only because of praise that criticism is hard to swallow. I think when it comes right down to it -- I'd rather have constructive criticism from someone I respect and trust than a bunch of people I don't know tell me I'm great. People telling you you're great isn't going to force you to get better. All that praise does is make you believe that you truly ARE great which brings on a whole new set of problems. As soon as you believe your own hype, you're through.

DA:: You're doing a lot more material with the band now. Is your ultimate goal to do almost all songs with the band, or to keep it like it is, where you do some solo and some with the band?

MW:: Ultimately, I want to serve the song. Whether that's in the studio or live, with a band or without. Whatever way that best presents the song. I get sick of people saying that a song is overproduced because they heard some acoustic demo and when the album version comes out with a full band they think that the band or artist sold out and let the producer make the song into this big two-headed dragon-beast because there's drums, bass, and an electric guitar or two. I have, and will continue to attempt to do what will best present each song. As far as the live show goes -- I would love to have some other instruments on stage with me to add to the songs dynamically and give variety to the show. I'll always play some songs by myself on the guitar -- that's where I came from, that's my comfort zone. But like anything else -- we have to get out of our comfort zone if we're ever going to learn anything or get anywhere.

DA:: Who is someone you think is doing unique music today? MW:: I'm going to answer this as if you'd asked me 'Who is making unique music today that EXCITES you?' because there are a lot of people making unique music that doesn't move me at all. Outkast, of course, is one. That's kinda The Rolling Stone answer. A little less mainstream answer I'd say would be Thicke and probably Jump, Little children. If you ask me -- Big Boi and Andre 3000 are going to be the new pop super-producers, giving the Neptunes a run for their money. Thicke is just fresh -- nothing COMPLETELY new, but definitely stuff we haven't heard for the past couple decades -- it's the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, and Prince with wacked-out production. Jump, Little Children is just some beautiful music -- soaring melodies for fans of Rufus and Buckley, but instrumentally incorporating strings and upright bass, it's all at once haunting, beautiful and passionate. I feel like I'm writing blurbs for Tower listening stations... DA:: If you could step into the shoes of any musician in history and tour as them for one week, who would it be and why? MW:: Great question. Michael Jackson during the BAD tour. I mean, that was HUGE. I remember seeing clips from concerts and there were like a hundred thousand people there to see a PRODUCTION. It's so different from what I do that a part of me would LOVE to be empowered to just go and put on a SHOW -- glitter glove and all -- moonwalking from one side of the stage to the other while the band plays Billie Jean -- that would be BAD. Thanks for asking that question -- that was a fun daydream...

DA:: And finally, what was your childhood dream?

MW:: My childhood dream was to be a major league pitcher. I'm lefty when it comes to throwing (still bat righty), so I grew up with hearing about how left handed pitchers had an advantage because there aren't as many of them. That's when I figured out how to sign my autograph -- getting ready for the majors.

For more information on Matt Wertz, visit his website at www.mattwertz.com.