Matt Costa has been making a name for himself in the US as well as Europe. He will have his first televison appearance on Carson Daly this month and one listen to his music will cause any music fan to take notice. 1340mag recently caught up with the singer songwriter for a brief one on one in Pittsburgh, PA and here is what transpired.
1340: How Long have you been doing this?
For four years or so.
1340: Where do you go next?
Indianapolis is next for us.
1340: Have you been in the studio recently?
No. Recently, I have spent the last year on the road. I wont hit the studio again until January at the earliest.
1340: Tell me about your creative process you do lyrics and the music what is your approach?
Basically it is like a 4-track, and then I lay down the guitars on there, and other melodies like on a keyboard or piano or guitar harmonies, and things. Then, I bring all that to the rest of the guys I kinda of show them ideas, and then maybe we might work out the drums. But most of the songs, they don’t leave my room until they sound good on the 4-track a complete song it's all flushed out right there.
1340: This is what you eat and drink isn’t it?
I’ve been involved in music my whole life. I was in the school band. I played trumpet. I got an electric guitar when I was 12. I’ve been playing guitar ever since then. I didn’t really start writing music until 4 years ago. I’ve always been drawn to it more then anything.
1340: What made you start writing?
I don’t know. I was covering songs, and I recorded a couple just for fun. One day we were at someone's house and they had a little studio so I recorded something. And everyone was like, "hey that sounds pretty good you should try to do your own thing." I was like, "yeah..I’ve messed around with little things."
Then I said, "ok maybe I’ll try harder. Do more then just little guitar parts."
So I begin to listen to a ton of records, and just see how song structure was, like the basic verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge..whatever simple song structure. I took that and tried to develop songs, but a lot of times they didn't sound right. So I started doing whatever did sound right, and often it would turn into something the parts would blend, I just kept doing it.
1340: Who did you listen too?
I listened to a lot of 60’s when I started song writing, like Donaven and The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and things. I didn’t try to sound like them. I was just taking song structure ideas, or listening lyrically. I just listened for images not the story. What words evoke images in my head? I try to use words that painted pictures in my songwriting.
1340: What are your hopes & goals?
I want to keep playing shows and keep writing records. I mean my main goal is to one day be an old man on my porch, and have a lot of good stories to tell.
1340: Does this surprise you that this is your life?
I never planned on getting into this. I mean I worked very hard at writing the songs, and made them as great as I could. I was just doing it for pure enjoyment, like get in my car and listen to a little compilation of songs I did.
Everything has just been surprising, to do shows is amazing to me. I try to make a live show as good as possible, try to bring it all across energy wise. The songs are one thing, but when people see you live you need to embody the spirit of those songs. So I kinda of let that spirit take me over.
1340: Here is someone creating for enjoyment of music, and now here you are performing for a group of people is that different?
Its so interesting every crowd is different, certain crowds like different things. I just try to see how people react and don’t react. It's all all very spontaneous. I hear of bands that plan to say things the same every night. If I did that, I’d probably mess it up forget it (laughsd). I just go out there try to be myself even tell a couple jokes. That is what is most important be myself. Ultimately you go to a show you want to relate to a song. You want that connection. Cetrtain artists like Prince try to present this big picture. I’m not that yet. Maybe one day I’ll be a Prince. |
