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The Rentals Matt Sharp Plays God and Wont Reunite “The Clique” Being a long time fan of The Rentals, and the first two albums of his previous band, I had the pleasure to speak with Rental’s front man Matt Sharp. There are many things you may already know about this multitalented artist, but I thought it would be more interesting to include some little known facts about our friend Matt that otherwise may have been swept under the rug. Few may know that in 1989 Sharp fronted a Goth band called “The Clique” that dismembered after only two weeks. Although the raw genius may have only had the life span of fourteen house flies, rest assured Mr. Sharp, this tattoo is not a rub on. Only being nine in 1989, you can bet it was hard for me to get the tattoo, but that just shows my dedication, and the fact that daddy never loved me. Six months later, Sharp and Patrick Wilson formed a band called “The Wrong Sausage,” having Jason Cropper join the group. “The Wrong Sausage” at the wrong time found Sharp moving to Berkeley and the band was done. In 2003, Sharp played the role of God in a movie called “Slasher,” which tells the story of Northern Irish rock band Ash hitting an American tour getting mixed up with a serial killer that just happens to be the ghost of a woman brutally murdered on her wedding night. Although “Slashed” is unreleased and may never see the light of day, the low budget horror film hosted an all rock star cast: Chris Martin as FBI Agent Sherbet Bones On a more serious note, Matt Sharp has created his own style and undeniably unique pop syth sound with The Rentals. With three albums under his belt “Return Of The Rentals” (released October 24, 1995), “Seven More Minutes” ( released April 13 1999), and “Last Little Life” EP (released August 14, 2007), he has managed to released two equally great solo albums, the self titled “Matt Sharp” (released May18 2004), and “Puckett’s Versus The Country Boy” (released on July 1, 2003). Sharp has worked with an array of incredibly gifted and notable artists like Greg Brown (Cake) Petra Haden (That Dog, Rentals), Rachel Haden (That Dog, The Rentals), Mya Rudolph (Rentals, SNL),Damon Albarn(Blur), Jason Mcgerr (Death Cap For Cutie), Hunter (AFI) and Tegan and Sara. Through the years Matt took his time away from music, found a nice restaurant in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, befriended and took care of horse, and now back good as ever to find ways to constantly challenge himself to make the music that has always been lacking in a tapped out industry. Beyond all that, he is a nice human being that literally stopped a recording session just to give me an interview. The Current Rentals Line up is: Artists on Artist Kevin: How is the new album coming? Matt: It’s good. Right now we are just going over a lot of the song ideas. We’ve been doing a lot at my house and my drummer’s house who has a home studio. We are just going through all our song ideas seeing what makes sense to us and what feels right. I think there is a lot of songs we will be proud of. Now we’re just up at my house taking a lot of time to experiment with stuff you don’t normally do in the studio, or at least the way that we used to do it. Now there are potentially millions of keyboards stock piled in my living room and we’ve been plugging them all in to see what they do.
Kevin: What are some of your favorite keyboards that you’re working with at the moment? Matt: I have a Farfisa that I bought right around the time we decided to make another Rentals record, before we started touring two summers ago, and it’s the greatest thing, It’s not something you can really travel with, and we’ve been performing so much, we haven’t been able to use it too often. It’s just really heavy (Matt laughs) and too suave for the road, or something like that. We’ve been using that a lot today, and it’s pretty phenomenal sounding. Kevin: With all the Rentals albums, starting with “The Return of the Rentals,” then to “Seven More Minutes,” and even “The Last Little Life EP,” I’ve definitely been able to hear your music evolve and progress in a very unique way. This time around, while working on a whole new album and trying these new approaches, is it safe to say that that progress is still consistent? In other words, do you feel like you are still moving forward? Matt: Certainly, a friend of mine told me, “no matter how much you challenge yourself, no matter how far you try to take it, the truth of the matter is, you are who you are.” In some ways there is something to that when you are working on music, but at the same time you are always facing the same challenges. That’s the most exciting part about working on this record is just challenging ourselves, and trying different things. I don’t think that we feel any particular need to appease anybody but ourselves. I think we just get together, have fun, and not set to many limitations on what we are working on. We’re doing that more and more, and I think that with this album we will be challenging ourselves. Kevin: So when do you think we can expect that album to released? Matt: Well, I’m not sure. We’re just finishing the end of our promotion for the EP with a couple of the radio stations that are supporting “The Last Little Life,” so we are making that transition with that into working on the new album. We have a good sense of who we want to work, who are the engineers, producers, and the people that have been really supportive of us and enthusiastic of how we want to make the record. We are just getting all of that together, so they are going to help us determine how quickly we can make the record, where we are at, and what songs we should be focusing on. Kevin: Well you have to forgive me for being impatient, I just would like to hear it now. Matt: (laughs) Yeah, I think we do to. But at the same time, we are taking a lot of time to just challenge ourselves, to push ourselves to make a more audacious record.
Kevin: Now you guys started touring again two years ago, and that is one of the shows I never thought I would be able to see. I noticed the excitement in the crowd, and how energetic everyone seemed to be. Did you find that a normal occurrence throughout both tours? Matt: Which shows did you get to see? Kevin: I went to the House of Blues show in Anaheim. Matt: Oh the one were the PA Died? Kevin: Oh you know, only a little bit, I mean what can you do? Matt: That’s funny. That’s what I remember about that show. I was like, “did the circuits go out in the house?” Well all of our shows, especially our first shows, had some type of chemistry that was beyond the music itself. It was something that was intangible that definitely had an impact on all of us. It certainly made me feel incredibly humbled by it and grateful by all the incredible energy and enthusiasm from the crowd. I definitely did not expect the shows to be received at that kind of level. Kevin: Well like I said, the shows that I did go to, I could see the excitement and the loyalty branded on the crowd’s face. That has to feel pretty special right? Matt: I think the thing that was so nice is that it truly was a surprise to us. We spent so much time away from music, that we didn’t have any way to gage what to expect or how people would feel, or if there would be anyone there at all, quite literally. We didn’t know if we’d be playing to fifty people or to one hundred people. We didn’t have any idea of what the reaction would be or what kind of support we were going to have. That was certainly one of the things that was most overwhelming about the whole experience. It gave us a lot of confidence as far as who our audience is. During both those tours we would have fun with rearranging the songs in any matter we wanted. We didn’t necessarily play the songs completely faithfully to the original recordings, and people had such an open mind about it. Those shows all had that incredible celebratory feeling to it. Kevin: I was reading that not too long ago you were working on Tegan and Sara’s newest release “The Con.” How was that? Matt: It was great. I worked on the “So Jealous” record as well, I played keyboards on a good part of that one. The record before that was a record called “If It Was You,” and I met them during that record and went on the road with them for a little bit at the very end of that album. We became quite good friends. For me its one of the most important musical relationships I have in my life. There is a connection there with them that is very strong. Essentially when they are ready to record music, I just let them know that I’m there for them. If they need me, or if they don’t need me or whatever the situation is. Basically I will do whatever they ask of me. On this album (The Con) they asked me to play keyboards, but I thought with “The Con,” they did so much on their own space in their own home studio, kind of like how we are recording our album. I thought the ideas that they came up for keyboards were very unique and had a really great vibe. I said, “I sorta like how the keyboards on this record don’t have the same tone like the keys I played on ‘So Jealous.’ Maybe I should find a different way to contribute to the album, or not contribute to the album at all.” Sara basically laid down the law and said, “I want you involved in the album one way or the other and we’ll figure out how.” So I decided to play bass on Sara’s songs and Hunter from AFI played bass on Tegan’s songs. So that was a challenge all to its self because the recordings didn’t have the drum tracks, and they said, “maybe we’ll record the bass before we even get the drums on the songs.” So I was going. “Oh my God! Crazy.” But it was a really great experience, and Jason from Death Cap for Cutie played drums on it, and that was kind of an honor just to be playing with him. It was just a really great group of people involved. Kevin: Yeah, you’ve worked and played with so many amazing musicians from Greg Brown from Cake to Rachel and Petra Hayden. I would never ask you to name a favorite, but with the array of talented people you have worked with, what has been some of the more memorable experiences? Matt: Oh God, I don’t know. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some really special people. For me, Greg is the most authentic guitar player that I have ever met. It’s very hard to have five billion people learning how to play the electric guitar, and there be a million in this city alone, to have any certain individuality that really separates you from the rest. When I hear Greg play, I instantly know it’s him. He is very high on my list as far as the most musical people I know. He is the person that knows how to put the one part that needs to be put on the record. He doesn’t come to you and give you a lot of choices. He’ll take your song idea and go into a corner by himself to get away from everybody and come back and say, “This is what I have to offer.” Certainly working with Tegan and Sara, they have such integrity with the way they conduct their lives and the way they do what they do in music, it’s really just an inspiration to continue to be in music. Kevin: It must be a good feeling to be surrounded by, and play with so many unique individuals. Matt: Yeah. Even though we’ve been playing the last couple years, my violist Lauren Chipman and I really haven’t spent that much time musically as far as how we want to approach things. She is going to have such a big impact on this album. She is pretty much exclusively from a different place than I came from. Her first experience in working with a group is when she joined The Rentals. Before that, everything she has done has been in the classical world in quartets. So we’ve recently started to work, totally changing the way that I approach music, getting up in her schedule, where we start working at 7:30am. She comes over, we have a cup a coffee, and we start arranging string parts at 8:30 in the morning. Kevin: Hey, you get to wake up and play music every morning, no complaining there right? Matt: Absolutely Kevin: I know that you and I have something in common. I heard that at one point you were a telemarketer. Is that true? Matt: Not quite a telemarketer, but I was in customer service for a while. I got all the call backs, so I had to take care of the base. Pat Wilson (Weezer, The Rentals, Special Goodness) was working at the same company at the time, but he was in sales.
Kevin: Take music out of the equation. Let’s say that you never picked up an instrument, as far as a career goes, what do you think you would be doing with your life? Matt: When I was younger the decision was whether to get into music or films. I think there is times when I’m working on music, I’m probably more fitted to be in films. Being in a group with seven people, there are similarities with film directing. Somehow you have to bring all those voices and different personalities together and be able to have them be enthusiastic about a common vision. I think the hardest part is to be able to sustain that. In directing, you work with a group of people, you get them very enthused and excited about a particular project, you have their attention, you complete that project, you get a whole new crop of people, and you start all over again. I think that would be the most sensible thing for me. Kevin: While we are on the topic of movies, what was it like playing God in the film “Slashed?” Matt: (Laughs) You’ve done your research. Kevin: This was filmed in 2003 and I’m still waiting to see it. Is it ever going to be released? Basically I want to see you as God, that’s all I’m saying. Matt: That’s a little terrifying. I haven’t seen any of that footage. The only footage I’ve seen, is where Chris Martin (Cold Play) is playing this Sherlock Holmes character and he is freakn’ hysterical. He’s kind of like a Mighty Python player. I would have never thought of him to be that funny, and have absolute command of it, he’s great. Kevin: Well I guess being married to an Oscar Award winning actress might have a little bit to do with it, but we can give him a little credit. Matt: (Laughs) yeah, I guess so.
Kevin: Ok, I have one more question for you before I go. Matt: Fair enough. Kevin: What are the chances of you reuniting with…”The Clique?” Matt: (Laughs for a second) You’re like the James Lipton of this kind of Forum you know that?. Do you know who he is from Inside the Actors Studio? Kevin: Yes I do. Don’t worry, I wont ask you what your favorite swear word is. Matt: Your research is rather unparallel here. Kevin: Why thank you. Matt: The Ash movie “Slashed” and now this thing (Matt laughs). The chances of that are pretty slim (matt laughs). Kevin: Well, even though it was only around for two weeks, it was a good band. We got to hear more Clique is all I’m saying. Matt: yeah (Matt laughs) I don’t know if you’ve heard any of it before, or if you’re speaking from the heart, but the fact that you mentioned that is pretty amazing. Kevin: We got to bring the Goth Rock back man. Let’s to this. Let’s start something here. Matt: (Laughs) Kevin: On a serious note, I just want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me, and I wish you the best of luck on the new album. Matt: Thank you so much for your support. I’m sure we’ll be on the road sometime this summer, so we hope to see you there. -------------------------------------------------------- For more info, show updates and music
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