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Ah, it was another chilly night in February when I found myself in the backstage area of the York Fibbers, in front of the stage. I had just shuffled over from Mínus to have a chat and a giggle with UK heavy metallers Matter. I begin the interview with long-haired vocalist of slightly sore throat, Dom and his backup vocalist and drummer, Jim…
You seem to be very angry. What fuels this?
“A lot of the bands around us are a lot younger than us, 19, 20 year olds moaning about how they were picked on at school and I’m nearly 30 and that kinda stuff never really bothered me. All the shit things that have happened to me have happened in the last few years. Becoming an adult is a lot less fun than becoming a kid.”
“A lot of people say that we’re one of the nicest heavy bands around but that’s because when you get the chance to stand up on stage and scream for an hour, you’re not really as mad as you could be during the rest of the week. It’s a necessary catharsis.”
You live in Brighton. How does this influence what you do?
“The shit, cliquey cocktail bars and the ‘metal scene’ that isn’t there piss me off – loads of metallers but no fucking metal scene. Oh and especially relevant to us, there are only big venues and if you’re a small band you can't fill it so it’s impossible to play.”
“But I like living there. It’s a nice place to live. It’s a nice cross section of different people. It's not as claustrophobic as living in different towns. The wankers are outnumbered in Brighton because there’s every creed and colour under the sun and there’s a massive gay community and all that. People with long hair and piercings just slip in.”
You have recently received praise from fellow heavyweights Raging Speedhorn…
“They are a harder working band than us because they’ve been going a lot longer in terms of actually getting out there. We've been compared to them a lot but I don’t think we actually sound anything like them but they are a fucking good band and to be honest when bands like Raging Speedhorn get as much coverage as they do its fucking great for us and British metal. They are the anti Linkin Park. They like AC/DC and play Sabbath riffs!!”
You seem to dislike the nu-metal phenomenon. What do you think about LostProphets?
“I think they are great. They are the pinhead of the Linkin Parks and Papa Roachs of the world but they seem to have so much more credibility because they are great musicians as well. Their album’s really good. a refreshing alternative to the bands in America doing the same thing but a bit too melodic and cheerful for my liking.”
You recently released your album. How well has it been received?
“We haven’t been slagged off anywhere yet. We’ve had really good reviews from all the magazines!”
How do you deal with working full time and keeping a band going to this degree?
We don’t! We’re just tired all the time. We don’t rehearse all the time. Its just once a fortnight. We’ll take some time off before a tour though to rehearse well. We work 9-5 jobs and then we’re knackered.
You’ve been on this tour for 2 weeks already and have a week to go: a long tour. How do you deal with it?
We get on so well with both the bands. Everyone’s been really nice. Before the tour I was thinking there was no way we were all going to fit in that bus!! We just get a bit pasty and sweaty and fat on stage. I wish the tour was for a year because we have to go back to work after this. We’re the skintest blokes on the planet. We’re not in it for the money. It’s a release, man. The horrible thing about clichés is that they are right.
Matter are supporting Candiria on their headline tour of the UK during May.
