EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MATT SUCICH

HypeTune.com: How does New York City inspire you as an artist?  Would you ever make the move out to LA or do you feel The Big Apple has a lot to offer in terms of music and the people who create it?

Matt Sucich:  I’ve been in NYC my whole life. Born and raised in Astoria, Queens and it’s hard to not be inspired. There are so many amazing spots to just sit and watch everything from the skyline to the river to the people. Endless possibilities. I do love California, though, and spent some time in San Diego a while back.  The last 2 times I’ve been to LA to play some shows at Room 5, a songwriter named Joel Eckels convinced me that the Los Angeles music scene is alive and well when I opened for his Monday night songwriters in the round. 4 incredible writers on one stagant its the caliber of talent and the vibe that blew me away.  I definitely look forward to visiting again soon.

Obviously I’m biased, and the NYC scene is just unmatched in my opinion, if only based on proximity.  We have the luxury of hopping up to Boston for a day, or down to Philly without too much trouble. In a weekends time you can play 3 major markets and that’s a hard fact to beat.

When it comes to people, the friendships I’ve built in the past year speaks volumes to the support on the music scene. The Monday night open mic at Caffe Vivaldi in the west village holds a special place in my heart for that reason and I don’t know a better way to immerse yourself in this lifestyle than by hitting the open mic circuit. We’re all doing this together, creating and looking to be heard, and the mutual respect is staggering.

HypeTune.com: When did you realize that music would be a big part of your life?  How did you start your musical journey? 

Matt Sucich:  Music has always been present in my life, even before I knew I could write, play or sing. My parents raised us on a healthy diet of “oldies” – doo wop,  the girl group sound, etc…- and not only did that impact me at a young age, but its had it’s effect on a large number of my songs.  While it may not be obvious to the listener, those influences are some of my biggest.

It took me a long time to realize I could do this seriously and confidently, but once that door opened, I went wild. I’ve been playing guitar for over 10 years, and I had written a handful of songs over those years that just weren’t any good. It took until last year to have a major breakthrough, and suddenly I wrote an albums worth of cohesive material, and for the first time I was confident in myself…if I tried to explain this to a younger version of me, it wouldnt make any sense. Life needed to happen, and i needed to find my voice.

HypeTune.com:  What was it like putting together your album?  Can you describe the meaning behind the album title?

Matt Sucich:  Putting together my album was a labor of love. I produced and recorded it on my own, and I’m fully aware of the “bearded brooder in a cabin” cliche, but that was me and there’s no arguing with it.  I went through a tough time, I wrote a lot of songs, and I retreated. I knew if I had distractions I wouldn’t give it the proper attention and this place in Pennsylvania, belonging to a great friend of mine,  had no phone service and  no internet. I had to drive 20 minutes just to call home and check in every other day.  Only 4 tracks have full drums, and we recorded them in my drummers basement in queens. I sat in one room and practically whispered the song into a mic while he tracked the drums. I took those tracks with me and built the songs on top of them. In 7 days I had a full album recorded and over the next few months, I tweaked it (any overdubs were made in my apartment in Astoria) mixed it, and did A LOT of listening.

I had some great people at my disposal to help with the listening. There comes a point where you’ve just heard too much, and nothing sounds right. You get inside your own head and the project could suffer from that, but I’m fortunate to have some really supportive and musical people in my life that helped me get through the final stretch. Music producer, Devon C. Johnson, is one set of those ears, and he helped not only with the minor post production details but with mastering as well, which is a very necessary step in making a record, but something I may never really be able to grasp.

The title track, “Jubilation & Jealousy,” came about from an idea that’s always been present in my mind which, simply put, boils down to loving something so much that you become envious and in my case it’s always been songs. Before I considered myself a writer, I was a sponge and on more than a few occasions Id hear songs from my favorite artists that were so good it almost made me angry.  I was thrilled when this song came to me, and the alliteration made it a great album title.

HypeTune.com:  You perform a lot of live shows.  What’s your favorite thing about performing?  Do you get nervous?

Matt Sucich:  I’ll never get enough of an attentive audience. I have a lot of fun playing with a band because it brings about a whole other level of adrenaline, but when its just me and my guitar, and i can tell the audience are listening intently…that’s what keeps me performing. Nothing tops that feeling.
Nerves used to be a problem, but never anymore.  I love playing music and I know what im trying to say in my songs, so there’s really nothing to be nervous about.

HypeTune.com: If you could collaborate with any other musician on your next song, or perform with them on stage, who would it be and why?

Matt Sucich:  I’m a pretty big M.Ward fan, so I’d love to work with him in the studio just to learn from his process.  I love subtle production and he’s pretty great at it.

HypeTune.com: What projects are you working on now?  What can we expect from Matt in the next few months?

Matt Sucich:  At the moment im just playing as much as I can and writing new songs. I’ll most likely be starting the next record this Fall, but im not looking to push anything out quickly. I learned a lot in making the first one, so I’d love to take those lessons and apply them to the next effort to make something better.
I’m trying hard to write with others as often as possible.  Follow me online and you’ll see a lot of the same names popping up regularly.  follow them as well. There’s a pretty great community of artists and I’m happy to be a part of it.