Matt Nathanson blends incredibly poignant, emotional and expressive songs with a hilariously sharp sense of humor. His song topics range from finding someone who loves you to being betrayed to borrowed techniques from 80s staples such as Journey and Def Leppard. The San Francisco-based singer-songwriter, best known for his cover of James' song "Laid" on the American Wedding soundtrack, is bringing all that with him for his October 11 performance at Starr Hill.
tableau: How do you come up with the material for your songs?Matt Nathanson: I'm constantly writing, constantly journaling, trying to work through s**t. For me it's like a vehicle for things I want to express -- something I want to articulate well, like a part of me or life, or the way I see things.
How do you feel your music has evolved since the release of your first album?
I think it gets closer to where I want to be. It's like I feel like every time I make a record I get better at the process. I get better at being able to articulate and hone the skills and have more stuff to fall back on -- just because I've been amassing more knowledge about record-making and who I am and what I want. It sounds very hippie, but the more in touch you get with yourself, the better the music is.
What can you say about the new record?
We recorded the basic tracks, like the drums and the bass and the guitars, this summer. And the songs themselves are finished, but lyrically the songs themselves aren't super finished. So these songs are kind of waiting on me for the lyrics to happen. I've been writing with Troy and Blu, and my friend Mark writes with me a lot. And then I wrote with a bunch of sort of other people that I respected, like people who wrote for bands in the 80s or 90s that I dug.
Do you prefer touring or the recording process?
I think I dig them both in a balanced kind of way. [But] to answer that question: the touring and interacting with people. To be able to feed off that energy from the audience, it's where I'm most comfortable. In the studio, it's taken me a long time to be able to access that part of myself without the audience. And that is mystery of record-making: How do you make a record feel like a live show? How do you put across that energy? I don't think I've mastered that yet, though I'm getting better at it. Live, it is much better, because you get that instant gratification of the audience reacting. That fuels you to go deeper, push harder or sing more.
You're managed by Zeitgeist, who also manages acts like Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service whom have recently become better known. Do you feel you are next in this pattern?
Oh, dude I don't know. I've been doing this for so f***ing long. I feel like every record gets better. And I'm psyched for Death Cab, because they are great guys and make great f***ing records. I can't predict anything; I just hope that I keep enjoying making records -- it is really hippy to think that way. I just dig being around music, and I dig doing my job. I dig every part of it. I dig being able to watch Death Cab do their thing and experience that, it's all just a f***ing rush all around.
So who knows -- if I became incredibly successful, I would not be bummed, but the touring and the records get better every time, and that's what is important.
Your songs have played on popular TV shows on the WB and on other popular teen dramas. Is that the audience you are trying to project to?
I guess I'm just trying to project [to an audience] that gets the music. I'm kind of a 13-year-old girl trapped inside a dude's body. I still watch the WB, so whether or not those are the people I'm trying to get to, I'm psyched as s*** to hear my music on that kind of stuff. People will dig it or not dig it depending on if they like it or not, not because it was on a show. I can't really complain about it. Unless like a tobacco company wanted to use it, I'd be like, "That's not cool, I don't want to do that." But the WB: that's f***ing rad -- that kind of television is the perfect escape.
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