The Matt Whatley Project is an episode
of VH-1's Behind the Music waiting to happen. Good rock music, a good story and
a likeable guy who almost lost it all, this emerging musician is chasing his dream
of becoming a national recording artist. With the help of Indianapolis-based Bell
Records and release of the haunting and intensely personal new EP Overflow, Matt
Whatley may very well be on his way to catching the dream.
With recurring themes of alcoholism, loss, mental illness and breakups under-girding
the music, one might think the Matt Whatley Project needs a Prozac spritzer and
a few hundred hours of therapy. But after listening to Overflow and talking with
Whatley and Bell Records owner/producer Trent Bell, it's clear that the songs
are rooted in Christian beliefs and hope for healing and second chances.
Matt Whatley Project History
Singer/songwriter Matt Whatley began the Matt Whatley Project with the help of
friend and guitarist Eric Biron in Orlando, Florida in 1997. Together, the pair
penned songs Down, Bootleg Wine, When I'm Gone, Destiny, Peace of Mind, One Good
Reason and Another. Another, which appears on the new Matt Whatley Project EP
Overflow, was written about the privilege of waking up and having the privilege
of "another" day to live life.
The Project moved to Louisville, Kentucky with Matt in 1998, where he continued
to explore deeply personal topics such as the loss of a friend (Reason for Rain)
and relationships gone bad (Sane). The song Sane appears on the new EP and chronicles
Matt's struggle to deal with a relative's mental illness.
Later in 1998, Matt was hired as chief recording engineer at S.M.A.R.T. Studios
in Texarkana, Texas, and the Matt Whatley Project picked up significant new collaborators.
Paul Dunn, Joe Dunn, Jack Miller, Caleb Pierce, Vinni Camponovo, and Tony Camponovo
contributed a new level of musical development and chemistry to the Project. Matt
wrote Glass Jar, Lonely Friends, and Lifeline during this highly creative period,
and all three are included on the new Overflow EP.
In 2000, Matt joined the technical support staff at Klipsch Audio Technologies
in Hope, Arkansas, and a little over a year later was transferred to the company's
worldwide headquarters in Indianapolis. Thinking the Project would end without
his longtime collaborators, Matt had no expectations when he met Bell Records
owner and producer Trent Bell at a church service. But two months later the new
friendship turned into an official partnership, financial backing was lined up,
and the Matt Whatley Project was back in the recording studio mixing previously
recorded tracks for release as the EP Overflow. With work at Bell Studios in Brownsburg,
Indiana and mastering by Jim Falzone and Rebekah Hanover at Venus Mastering in
Nashville, Tennessee, the Overflow EP was completed in late March 2002 and is
currently available through the Matt Whatley Project web site at www.mattwhatley.com.
"Lifeline" was recently selected to appear on a compilation album
for Venus Mastering.
The Interview: by Josh Hall
Starting at the very beginning, I ask Matt how he began writing music and
what his creative process is like today.
"I've been writing since I was 12 years old," says Matt. "I
just started writing a lot of poetry and stories and I kept a journal. A lot of
my songs came from my journal and still do. I was reading your interview with
Nina Storey and I think she said it pretty well as far as the writing process
is concerned. Sometimes songwriting is spontaneous and sometimes it is not. Sometimes
it takes a lot of work to craft a song and sometimes is pours out of you in what
seems like minutes. I bet most songwriters find that."
"What artists have influenced you," I ask.
"Though our styles are day and night different, one of my biggest influences
as a songwriter is James Taylor," replies Matt. "Musically, people would
probably compare me to the Seattle sound, before they'd ever think of Taylor,
but it's artist like Taylor and Tom Petty who had the biggest influences on me,
especially structurally. Of course anything goes with songwriting, but those two
are masters at taking an idea and weaving it into a song that tells a story, and
I like to think that's what I'm doing. Neil Young and Kirk Cobain are other influences.
Cobain's music taught me a bit about melody. Even though I'm not sure I fully
understand what he was getting at lyrically, I thought he was one of the best
at coming up with melody lines that worked.
Turning to the new EP, I ask Matt to tell me about the ideas and stories that
drive Overflow and to share the true meanings behind each song.
"The whole album is about recovery, more or less," reveals Matt.
"It's the things I have been through - recovering from a failed marriage,
recovering from alcoholism. Alcoholism is actually something I went through with
a lot of my friends. Some people think substance abuse is just part of being a
musician. I don't agree, but it is something that I went through and I write about
it because it's real. Glass Jar is about shying away from relationships to avoid
getting hurt. It comes out of my marriage that ended badly. Lonely Friends is
about my being a Christian and walking a path that isn't always easy, especially
in the eyes of people who know my past. It's a real struggle to try to be who
I am and reconcile that with who God wants me to be. Sane is another song about
my marriage and the heartbreak of trying to keep someone you love from spiraling
into a world of clinical mental illness. Sane is probably the most direct song
on Overflow. Holding Me Down is about alcoholism. At the time that I wrote the
song I was a pretty serious drunk, along with most of my friends. I had a dream
about someone holding me down and choking me and when I woke up I had one of those
moments of clarity that showed me booze was strangling me. I was 23 years old
and the days went by in a blur. I wasted a lot of time living and a lot of time
musically. I hope I get a chance to make up for it now."
"What kind of success are you hoping for with your music career? Do you
have a benchmark you're shooting for," I ask.
"Commercial success on a volume sales level would be great," says
Matt. "Because I want as many people to have a chance to hear and relate
to what I'm saying. On what scale I don't know, but as long as the people that
are listening are touched by my music, I'll be happy. That is what I consider
to be success and I would be thrilled if that is all that ever came out of it.
Of course, to a larger degree it would be cool, too."
The Equipment
The Matt Whatley Project tours with Klipsch KP-302 (mains), Klipsch KP-480
(Subs), and KSM-12 (Stage monitors).
"The KSM-12s are the best stage monitors I have ever used," said
Matt. "The highs and mids are pristine, and the lows are excellent as well
-- especially for stage monitors. The vocals cut through the mix just right."
"On the recording side, part of the mixdown session at S.M.A.R.T. Studios
was done using Klipsch Reference Series RB-5 bookshelf speakers," explained
Matt. "These are home audio speakers and we used them as studio monitors!
They were more accurate for mixing than the actual powered monitors that were
previously used at the studio. Guess what they use in their mastering suite now?"
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