MID-LIFE MAYS
At 40, singer-songwriter embraces self-love, ready to get musically ‘weirder’
Canadian rocker Matt Mays is making his way across the country on the first theatre tour of his two-decade-plus career. Dubbed Howl at the Night, the journey brings him and a full band to 18 cities, ending with two shows in his hometown of Halifax, and including his first appearance at the National Arts Centre.
In this edited interview, the singer-songwriter-guitarist talks about the tour, how his new single, Let There Be Love, came out of his struggle with anxiety, and the liberating effect of turning 40.
Q It’s often a challenge for artists to make the jump from playing clubs to theatres. What’s your secret?
A It’s just because I’ve been around so long. This is my 20th fall tour. The first tour was 1999, touring across Canada with The Guthries. I’ve got a really strong relationship with people who come to the shows, and it’s nice they’re still coming out after all these years. We’ve had some really special times in all these towns we’ve been playing in for 20 years now. It’s great that people have stayed with me for so long, and they still come out … especially Ottawa. It was our first town that really started showing up after Halifax. I’m thankful for that.
Q Do you get nervous when everyone is sitting there quietly?
A Yeah, the silence is weird. The whole pin drop thing, it definitely freaks me out but it also gives a chance for people to listen to some of the lyrics I’ve worked really hard on. When you’re in a club, people are usually a bit hosed, or talking and it’s so loud. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want people to think it’s going to be a super mellow quiet show because we plan to go berserk towards the end as usual. It’s going to be loud and crazy and you might not hear the lyrics. But it’s nice that the songs that I want to (get) across, it’s a lot easier for me to do that when it’s quieter.
Q Are you bringing a band? A Yeah, it’s the full eight-piece band. I’m playing the first song solo, and we’re building the show, adding a musician for each of the first eight songs. Then the eight of us are going to play the rest of it together, just to crescendo the show.
Q Wow, that’s a big band. Why so many players?
A There’s a lot of parts in my tunes, and a lot of bands these days use backing tracks, just hit play on something. But I don’t want to do that. We’re all super close and we’ve all toured a lot together this year, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do where no part is left out, whether it’s some percussion or background vocals. It just feels right.
Q You just released a cool new song, Let There Be Love. What inspired it?
A A few things, including friends of mine who are amazingly gifted and doing really well in their lives on the outside, but struggling and having a hard time figuring out life, as am I, and a lot of people around me. As I travel, I find I just sort of start leaning on things that are actually real, like friendship and love, and especially self-love, which is a tough one. Like a lot of people, I suffer from some pretty heavy-duty anxiety, which is, I know, ironic because I’m the singer in a band. But I deal with that a lot and I’m getting help for it.
Q There are actually two versions of the song, one electric and one acoustic, like your last album, Once Upon a Hell of a Time, and its acoustic counterpart. What’s the appeal of doubling your workload?
A I think about music a lot, and I’ve always been confused why a song has to end up one way and that has to be it for everybody. I think the process of writing it and putting it down in time, that has to be a real relationship, one on one, but after that, it can be done a million different ways, if it’s done from the heart.
Q Why release the song now? Why not wait and put it on an album?
A I felt it was a good time, I didn’t want to wait. I know there’s a zillion love songs out there, but this one, to me, has its own kind of niche because it’s about all the different kinds of love, not just love between two people. It’s about the omnipresent love that we should keep nurturing and keep the pilot light going on.
Q Sounds like a reminder that people could use right now.
A Yeah, we have to remind ourselves to love ourselves and other people instead of our phones. I deleted any account that made
me feel jealous or envious or anxious in general, and it changed my life. I didn’t even know I had anxiety until I was 35. I worry about young people who can’t even identify it yet. Call it anxiety, nervousness, fear, whatever you want to call it, it’s a definite feeling and it’s OK to have it.
Q Is an album in the works, too? A Yeah, we’ll be getting in the studio this winter and get a record finished. I’ve got a bunch of songs that I want to get out. I’ve been working 9-5 in two studios in Toronto so I’ve got a lot of material and the band is primed. I feel super liberated as an artist these days. I’m just going to release a bunch of music and get weird, and go for it.
Q You turned 40 this year. Is it possible you’ve grown up?
A To me, a lot of my heroes really mellowed out after 40 but I just want to get weirder, take more chances in music. Maybe it’s just the times or whatever, but I feel my eccentricities are starting to show themselves more. There’s no dampers on any of it. I’m not afraid to say no or yes. It’s really a nice feeling.