MATT WALLACE - WRITTEN FEATURE

“I’m always trying to find that balance between beauty and brutality”

Russell Porter in conversation with Matt Wallace.

Having provided production prowess for such platinum selling acts as Faith No More, Deftones and Maroon 5 to name but three, Matt Wallace would be well within in right to sit back and rest upon his laurels. As it goes, there seems little danger of this happening; speaking with him over the phone at 6am L.A time, the day ahead promises a full schedule “Well, I’ve got two children so I’ll get them ready and take them to school, then I’m in the studio during the day, have a some meetings in the late afternoon, but we could certainly talk after that.”  So much for kicking back.

Later in the day, true to his word, Matt is back on the phone and ready to talk production with Show Me How To Play. Friendly, relaxed and completely approachable he seems to embody West Coast equability. How did growing up in the Bay area, renowned for it’s musical community, affect the way the young Mr Wallace started making and listening to music? “Well, I grew up overseas initially but moved back to the US when I was still quite young. The Bay area definitely nurtured a lot of young musicians – it was were I first worked with Faith No More (who, at the time, were called Faith No Man) in my parents garage, there was the Gilman Street scene that involved bands like Green Day… definitely a lot of energy and enthusiasm came out that place. I was playing in bands from aged 13 onwards, my first band was really into things like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple: the heavier, darker stuff. Interestingly though, at the same time I would love listening to pop music on the radio, so I guess even then I had quite an eclectic taste”.

Attending college at Berkeley, famous for generations of student activists, Matt continued to play in bands influenced by English groups of the 1970’s “I played with a horrible Rock & Roll band (The Replacements) [this was a band that I produced in 1988, not a band that I played with/in] who were really influenced by The Clash and all those British bands.” Although a musician first and foremost, more and more he found himself on the other side of the desk- was it a conscious decision to move away from performance to production? “Whatever band I was in, I was always the guy who recorded the music. It started with a tape deck, then two tape decks, then a reel to reel four track, then an eight track… it just escalated from there. I built a small studio in my parents’ garage, initially for me to make music in, but also to record the bands I worked with. Sooner or later everyone had heard about it and was like ‘hey, why don’t you record our band too?’ and I got drawn in. It turned out to be a smart move though, I was becoming a much better engineer because of all the work I was doing.”

It was during this time that, although he was performing less, Matt started moving into production and began developing the ‘hands on’ approach that would become his trademark “Bands would ask me about arrangements, about what should go where. We’d already be in the studio and I’d say ‘well, it’s kinda late in the day for talking through this stuff’ so I made a point of turning up a week before at rehearsals and working with the bands on all of the songs” And this is something he maintains to this day; regardless to how big or small the band is Matt insists on spending time working together before going in to the studio “I won’t make a record without going into rehearsals with a band, I won’t even go into the studio: maybe we spend a week, maybe two weeks, on working out the songs. I think albums are basically made or broken by their pre-production.”

This involvement, which certainly isn’t typical of all producers, is clearly important to Matt, but how important does he feel his role of producer is to the finished material- does he see himself as someone who stamps his sound onto a record or does he prefer act as a conduit for bands, helping them achieve their own sound organically? “I personally don’t feel that I have my own ‘sound’ although some may people may disagree. I work with such a varied group of artists, from female pop acts to really ugly, heavy music, that it’d be hard to have a production sound that would suit them all universally. If there are any similarities I guess that it would be that I tend to focus on the energy and emotion of performance, rather than the technical side of things.” A look through Matt’s back catalogue indeed reveals a wide and eclectic mix of artists and projects. Given this array of styles and genres, how does he go about choosing who he works with? “Well I guess it depends on my mood. Normally, if I’ve been working on something really pop, something light, I’ll instinctively move towards the heavier, uglier, more masculine side of things for my next project. I love pop music and I love heavier, harder music and I guess I’m always trying to find that balance between beauty and brutality.” Had he worked with any bands that managed to keep a footing in both camps? “Off the top of my head… Faith No More and Fightstar are the two bands that have played incredibly hard, ugly music but kept a strong feeling of melody throughout- eagerly pushing in both directions.”

Wallace’s polished production of Faith No More’s album Angel Dust was a huge inspiration to the burgeoning generation of Nu Metal bands that now dominate mainstream charts all over the world. Did he go into the recording sessions with the intention of breathing new life into heavy rock? “I wish I could say yes, but all credit has to go to the band. Faith No More are easily the most democratic and driven band I have ever, ever worked with; they’re like a 5 man spider web, each guy pulling equally hard away from the centre with no specific leader. While recording “The Real Thing, they had a specific idea of what they wanted and I just helped them achieve it. And they work really hard too- when we finished recording, the record company were worried that a: there were no singles and b: radio would never play a rap-metal crossover, so they toured the U.S five times and the same in the U.K, until they’d built up such a groundswell of support around the world that radio stations had no choice but to play their music. They toured like crazy and that’s why they were so successful.”

Recently Matt’s studio work has seen subtle reference to his teenage Anglophilia, working with two British bands- Fightstar and Cat The Dog. Fightstar will be known to most as the Alt Metal rite-of-passage of former Busted member Charlie Simpson, but what of Cat The Dog? “They’re one of the most honest and raw rock bands I’ve seen in a long time, they have great melody but it’s also kind of scrappy. They’re great to record because they’ve played a lot of live shows and they’re solid.” Is there a noticeable difference between British bands and their American counterparts? “I wouldn’t want to generalize, but in the case of, say, Fightstar and Cat the Dog… I’d say compared to those guys, the American bands that I’ve worked with are generally better prepared. To be fair though, Fightstar were able to come up with the goods when it mattered, but it took a lot of pre-production.  Normally I walk into the rehearsal room and the songs are ready to go, with Fightstar it took a lot of scrambling about although, again to give them their credit, it sounds amazing for it.” With that in mind, does Matt see the studio as an extension of the writing process, a place for experimentation, or is it purely a place for recording and documenting? “It can be a place for experimentation, but really I’d like to keep the percentages 80-20 in favour of written, pre-prepared material. I’m always open to the idea that something genius may happen in the studio, but really I have to go in their with a substantial road map.”

An easy-going temperament is clearly one of Matt’s strengths when working in the studio, where egos can dominate if they’re allowed. What other attributes does he think help when working in close confines with musicians? “The best thing to do is try and be calm, clear and provide some inspiration. Some bands are so disorganised that they need someone to jump in and pull it all together; other bands are too organised, then you need to try and unravel it a little bit. They can be so anal about things and you need to persuade them to keep a late note or a latent rhythm in because that’s where the music breathes. I always go for spirit, intensity, vibe and soul before anything technical: that’s the most difficult thing to capture.”

Having produced Kerrang magazine’s “Most influential record of all time”, namely Faith No More’s  Angel Dust, worked with artists as diverse as Sheryl Crow and Butthole Surfers and produced music for film soundtracks including Romeo & Juliet and The Crow: City of Darkness, Matt Wallace is a worthy inspiration for anyone moving into production, but who were his idols from behind the glass?  “Well, when I first got started I was really into Hugh Pagham; he worked on a lot of early albums by XTC and The Police. My biggest influence though, it has to be Mutt Lang. The way he moved successfully from working with AC/DC and Def Leppard to Shania Twain… he’s overall a really good producer. I also think Timbaland is amazing! He breaks a lot of ground with his work, especially the stuff he did with Missy Elliot that brought in so many different influences.” When asked which song Matt would have most liked to produce, there’s very little hesitation “Oh, Back in Black by AC/DC. I love that song, and I would have done it exactly the same as Mutt Lang… f*cking fantastic!”

Words by Russell Porter

- check out the interview with Fightstar

See also
Fightstar 99
Fightstar Interview