Tuesday Talent: Matt Cameron


Matt Cameron is the musician behind eating alone, a Brooklyn-based experimental electro-acoustic band. The newest release from eating alone is 'the long haul,' which goes on sale on Wednesday, july 21, 2010. Below is an exclusive Column of Life Q&A with Cameron who shares insight into his talent, new album and sharing the music.

You play guitar, bass, ukulele and keyboards. What was the first instrument you learned and what inspired you to get started?

Ihe first instrument I started playing was bass. When I was 13 or 14 I really got into Led Zeppelin and really appreciated what bass palyer John Paul Jones brought to the group. He was playing an instrument that is typically in the background but he just made it shine and really drove their whole sound -- I wanted to be that guy. I wanted to be the person who was driving the whole show but in a subtle manner -- like there's room for everyone but there's definitely a leader. Plus I really loved how people cheered every time he started playing "Dazed and Confused" and wanted to have that. One of my mother's friends had an extra bass that he gave to me and I taught myself how to play it. I learned a good part of the Zeppelin catalog -- haven't played any of it in years, though.

In your bio, you mention the album explores the emotions of dealing with an estranged father. How much of this album is autobiographical for you and what made you want to explore this now?

The album is 100% autobiographical. Some of the songs have a sort of fantasy element where I'm imagining scenarios or outcomes that didn't happen -- and it's clear they're like daydreams, but the scenarios are just vehicles for how I express my emotion. My boyfriend is the one who actually suggested I tackle this issue. I wrote a bunch of songs last summer for this album and ended up scrapping all of them. When he noticed I was stuck, he gave me the idea to write about my father. I thought I'd write a song or two and ended up with 41 demo songs. I cut out some of the songs that were a little more than I wanted to share but they're hanging around and might see the light of day sometime!

You have a listening party coming up on Thursday night at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. How excited are you to share the music on the new album with your fans?

I am thrilled to share my music! I've been writing songs and playing since I was about 16 and until recently, only shared with close friends. people asked me about my music, but i'd always shoot them down and not share. Last fall I realized that people would have a hard time believing anything I said if I ran around saying I was a musician but never produced any music for them to hear. I started to share some of my songs and people were responding favorably. It was scary (and still is) but it's become easier. Music really moves me and is really powerful for me and I just want to give people that experience. I'm sharing myself and I know there are people out there who can see some of themselves in what I express -- to move people like that and to connect with people through music is a gift and I'm happy to share it!!

eating alone is releasing a new album, the long haul. On Thursday, July 22 from 7-9pm at The Stonewall Inn, the band is having a listening party for industry, friends and fans to celebrate the music.

Here's the link to AlwaysEatingAlone where you can order a copy of the new opus. It's also available online tomorrow at Cdbaby and Amazon, will be on iTunes soon.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

POZ - POZ Army

Sunday Songs: Abbey Lincoln