Matters

In 1999, the Australian three-piece Silverchair could do no wrong. I got to meet up, albeit via a phone call between Pretoria, South Africa and Cleveland, Ohio, to talk through their third album release, Neon Ballroom.

Lead singer and songwriter Daniel Jones spent 10 minutes with me, taking me through the journey to where they were at the time.

They were incredibly young but no less mature in their approach to becoming globally famous. Enjoy this one, should you be a fan of all things modern rock-related.

Fun fact - Silverchair has won more ARIA Music Awards than any other artist in history, earning 21 wins from 49 nominations.

Thievery Corporation made up of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, had the world sitting up and paying attention when they released their debut album, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi.

The year was 2000, four years after the album was first released by the band independently. 4AD called the duo up and rereleased the album at a time when remix culture abounded, so getting to chat with Rob to discuss their journey to then was such a pleasure.

Mere months later, they dropped The Mirror Conspiracy, one of the most critical chillout, downtempo, dub and chillout records that still sounds fresh and relevant more than decades later.

Hugely talented, warm, and humble – if you don’t know the music Rob and Eric continue to make some 20-odd years later – commit an hour to any of their ten studio albums and multiple compilations, and you’ll quickly realise their genius. Enjoy.

In October 2000, I got 15 minutes with Nine Days’ founder member, guitarist, and vocalist Brian Desveaux.

This is an interview that highlights the fact that time-in pays dividends. Nine Days took ten years to achieve success with The Madding Crowd, an album that’s a testament to a commitment to the belief in what later became and remains a critical modern rock statement.

I was gifted a rare opportunity to speak to the American singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and actor Lenny Kravitz on the eve of his 2000 Greatest Hits album release.

In the 10 minutes I was given, we spoke about how he successfully melded rock, blues, soul, funk, reggae, folk, and everything psychedelic in-between to become one of the biggest and most respected names in popular music. Enjoy.

Maxim, the English musician, best known for his vocal deliveries across the better part of the Prodigy’s rich catalogue, hooked up with me in September 2000 to talk about Hell’s Kitchen, his critically-acclaimed XL debut.

It took a few minutes for him to settle and open up, and the next twenty minutes revealed a true artist on a respectful journey he could proudly and humbly claim as his own. Enjoy!

On the 21st of November 2000, I reconnected with Buffalo Tom’s guitarist and founder member Bill Janovitz. This session captured a decade into the band’s career, is an interview all things retrospective, post-Smitten’s success.

For the unincubated, Buffalo Tom is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986. Its principal members are guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginnis.

Enjoy!

Embrace began life as a band in 1990. I was privileged to get to lead singer Danny McNamara in September 1998, three months after the band’s seminal Hut/ Virgin Records debut, The Good Will Out rocked the world.

Since then, they’ve released no less than six more albums, each one brilliant. If you’re curious about what and where their earliest motivations came from, this one is for you. Enjoy.

Disclaimer – Remember, all Matters’ interviews are unedited, ripped from ageing analogue cassettes. Hence, the sound quality is less than perfect due to their age and the rescue method employed.

In early 1998, 12 March to be exact, I got less than 10 minutes with Marcy Playground, an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak (lead vocals, guitar), Dylan Keefe (bass), and Shlomi Lavie (drums). The band is best known for its 1997 hit "Sex and Candy" from its debut self-titled album. These interviews are always unedited, captured from decaying analogue cassettes. John sounds fine on this one, which is the most crucial part, despite my calling him Mark for the better part of the interview. I put it down to nerves ;-). For some odd reason, my vocal is a tad faint, however. Please enjoy, regardless 😊.

This is a very candid, unedited interview with Goldfish, made up of Dominic Peters and David Poole, making waves throughout the better part of the early nulls. On the cusp of releasing Perceptions of Pacha, I got to sit with the group to deep dive into what made them tick at the time. Enjoy.

Kula Shaker, a band that bloomed and faded – all in record time.  

 I got to the band in early 1999, at the beginning of their sophomore album, Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts’ journey. Never an easy album to make for any band or artist, and in the case of Kula Shaker, this sadly proved to be the case.   

I had the privilege of speaking to the then bass player, Alonza Bevan when neither of us knew what lurked mere months away, ultimately causing the band to split in September of that same year.  No less brilliant and a critical piece of the incredible music history made in England at the time, this interview is lovely to listen to, some 23-odd years after its capture.