| Rules and Words with MATT PRYOR of THE GET UP KIDS. |
| Written by Sarah Mudgway |
| Monday, 27 June 2011 16:14 |
 MATT PRYOR, the vocalist and guitarist for legendary band THE GET UP KIDS, likes to keep his cards close to his chest. When asked if there are any secrets or little known facts about the band that he wished to share with Coup De Main - in reference to the saying "know secrets about people" written on the liner notes of their latest release - Pryor laughed, and replied that "it won’t be a secret anymore if I tell you." After reuniting from a four year hiatus in 2009 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their seminal album ‘Something To Write Home About’, the band went on to release an EP in 2010 entitled ‘Simple Science’, and in early 2011 they released ‘There Are Rules’ - their first full-length since 2004’s 'Guilt Show'. Ahead of the band's first ever New Zealand concert this August, Matt Pryor kindly took time out of his Dad-duties to speak to Coup De Main about their new album and what we can expect to see at their show... COUP DE MAIN: First things first - The Get Up Kids are FINALLY making it to New Zealand! THE GET UP KIDS - MATT PRYOR: Yeah we’re really excited to come! CDM: What was it this time that persuaded you to make the trip over? MATT: We finally convinced the promoter to pay us to come there. We’ve been trying to come to NZ for a while actually. CDM: Since it will be the first time many of your New Zealand fans will be experiencing The Get Up Kids live, can we expect some older material in the set? MATT: Of course! Our live set is primarily older stuff with some new songs thrown in there, especially for somewhere that we haven’t been before we definitely tend to rely heavily on older stuff. CDM: Your new album ‘There Are Rules’ came out earlier this year - the first since 2004 - what was the vibe like in the studio when you started writing the music after spending a few years apart? MATT: It was really good! It was written kind of like a songwriting experiment where we all wrote collectively; we all just got in the room together and wrote stuff as it came to us, instead of having one person writing the whole thing. So it was really fun actually. CDM: Since it was your first album in seven years, were you ever thinking about writing songs with fan's expectations in mind? Or was it more a purely ‘let’s make what we want, who cares’ kind of experience? MATT: We’ve never written for anybody other than ourselves, which is kind of selfish but it’s the only way that we feel that we can make music that we’re passionate about. If we start writing it for other people then it becomes dishonest and disingenuous. We have to write stuff that we like. CDM: When the album first came out, a few people said it didn’t feel like a The Get Up Kids' album - would you say the changes were a natural progression, perhaps influenced by the work you’ve each done in other bands? MATT: I would split that question in half and say it is a natural progression, and that I don’t think it sounds like our individual experiences with other bands. I think it sounds like what the five of us can agree upon at any given time. It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve ever done before and that was intentional. Repeating yourself over and over again gets really boring. CDM: Have you found people’s reactions to the album have altered now they’ve had time to let it grow, especially in a live setting? MATT: I think if people give it a chance and allow the band to not be writing ‘Something To Write Home About’ part two over and over again, then they can listen to the record and realize it’s really good. It’s different, but it’s still us and it’s a really creative record and a really positive step forward and it’s not redundant. CDM: Well, you did write 'Something To Write Home About' in a different life... you have families and are in a totally different stage of life now so change is surely inevitable... MATT: It’s that, and it’s also just not wanting to repeat yourself. We already made that record one time and it worked out really well so why would we want to try make it again, you know? CDM: 'There Are Rules' was released by a label that you created for the release. What was the idea behind that? MATT: I think the nature of the music industry and for bands like us, it’s really viable. It’s really just a business decision, we really wanted to take that plunge and see where it would take us. CDM: Is it something you would consider doing again? MATT: Yes, of course. CDM: With the recording of the album, you used mostly analogue equipment. Why did you take that route? MATT: Truth be told that’s really the way we’ve always done stuff, so it’s not that much of a stretch for us. But it’s also that we wanted to challenge ourselves both creatively and technologically speaking, so we did things the hard way on purpose. We thought we’d be more creative that way. CDM: How does it change how you approach recording in the studio? MATT: Well you have got to get it right the first time, or soon there after. You can’t just cut and paste. CDM: When the album was released, you mentioned that there was a quote you would all throw around the studio: ‘make it weird’. How refreshing was it to have that ‘make it weird’ mindset while writing? MATT: Very much so, it was very liberating. We didn’t get this band back together in order to make money, we didn’t get this band back together in order to do anything other than make ourselves happy, and so we felt very liberated that we could do whatever wanted. We kept saying ‘make it weird’ but it wasn’t like ‘make it weird for the sake of it’, it was make it weird if that’s what sounds good and don’t be afraid of it. CDM: In your experience, how has the rise of social networking and piracy impacted your band? MATT: I think it’s a positive thing overall. I can’t really say how it’s affected us directly, [we're] still kind of trying to figure that one out. But overall it’s a really positive change. I think it puts power in the hands of the people, instead of in the hands of a few select corporations. CDM: Outside of The Get Up Kids, you personally ran a Kickstarter campaign recently to raise funds for your next solo album. What made you decide to take that approach? MATT: I’ve always been intrigued by it and I wanted to try it, and that particular project seemed like it was a small enough project that it would be worthwhile, and well if I was going to attempt it, that would be one that could maybe work and it went above and beyond what I expected it to.  CDM: I have a few questions submitted by fans if you don’t mind answering a few... MATT: Of course! CDM: What is something you’d like to experience with The Get Up Kids that you haven’t yet done? MATT: Going to New Zealand! CDM: Through your experience in the industry, what advice would you give to aspiring musicians or bands? MATT: You need to do it because you love it and not because you want to make money or become famous - because if that’s the only reason why you’re doing it, people can tell. You need to love it enough to do it for free because you may have to for a long time. CDM: Has being a father changed how you approach writing or touring? MATT: Writing, no. Touring, yes. I don’t really like being away from the family unless it’s worthwhile - and you know, not to keep plugging it, but going to New Zealand is worthwhile. CDM: Have any of you ever been here before outside of the band? MATT: Yes, Rob and James have. CDM: The Get Up Kids are known for being fans of Fugazi and quite often have stated that they are major influences on your band. For fans of yours who are unfamiliar with Fugazi, which song or album would you recommend? MATT: You can’t go wrong with 'In On The Kill Taker'. CDM: What element of Fugazi influences you the most? MATT: I think they influence us sonically and in spirit. Their attitude is that they make art because they like art. And musically they get loud, they get weird, and they’re not afraid. CDM: What is on your playlist at the moment? MATT: Bon Iver. Also we’ve been listening to Telekinesis - a band from Seattle. Steel Train and The Miniature Tigers are really good too. CDM: You have a song entitled 'Pararelevant' which you have said describes how you feel like The Get Up Kids runs in this alternative parallel universe to everyone else... what do you mean by that? MATT: I don’t know, we’re always kind of constantly at odds with what we know we are, and what we in fact are, and what people want us to be. At some point people are just going to have to realize that to love us is to love all of us, and all of our many facets. We are not just going to be the band from 1997, we’re going to be the band from 1997 as well as the band from 2011. CDM: Your song ‘Rally Round The Fool’ to me, speaks about celebrity culture... I’m not sure if that’s what you intended... MATT: Not necessarily, but that’s an interesting take on it. I actually like where you’re going with that... CDM: Well I have a two-part question - a) what is the song actually about and b) what do you think of society's obsession with celebrities? MATT: The song is actually about, or at least what I wrote it about, is putting all your stock in someone who isn’t necessarily worth of that stock... which I guess you could translate to celebrity culture. And I think celebrity culture is ridiculous and moronic. Haha! CDM: That brings us to the end of our time, is there anything you want to say ahead of your New Zealand show? MATT: Just that we’re really excited to come and it’s going to be a really good show as we’re going to be in a very good mood to finally be there! It’ll be fun!!  |
