Lindsey takes his act on the road LINDSEY
The term “getting a break” to describe successful, up-andcoming bands is an apt description.
Although it’s ironic because growing success is followed by a heavy workload, big opportunities represent a huge shot of life for hungry artists and musicians.
Local drummer Matt Lindsey recently experienced this boost after traveling the US with Metal band, The World Over.
An alumnus of Antelope Valley College and the Los Angeles Music Academy (now LACM), he received an offer to play drums on TWO’s recent tour opening for Powerman 5000, a classic Metal band originating from the early ’90s. I spoke with Lindsey to get a behind-the-scenes look of his touring life.
Jesse Davidson: What was the experience of touring with Powerman 5000 like?
Matt Lindsey: Those guys are so much fun. Every time you go to initially meet the act you’re opening for, that can be kind of an uncertain day. You’re probably going to interact with them for the first time, you’re anxious, you don’t really know how people are going to be. I was already a Powerman fan before we did this. I used to listen to that stuff a lot. At the same time, meeting someone who has some level of significance in your life, you don’t want to be let down.
We got pretty close with all of them. The bass player, Murv Douglas, hung with us all the time. He was super supportive and watched all the opening bands. The two guitarists were super cool. We spent a lot of time with their stage tech, Daniel June, and their tour manager, Brad Hartley. Early on, the concern was making sure our stage set-up was simple so we could get off stage as quickly as possible. The initial first half of the tour, everyone was mostly concerned about how Spider One (Powerman’s lead vocalist) felt about everything. The funny thing is, he was easily one of the coolest people in that crew. Total road dog energy. Nothing phases the guy and he’s always has a joke to crack.
JD: What did the dayto-day routine consist of ?
ML: We were on full blast every single day. We were driving ourselves everywhere and doing these insanely long drives. Sometimes we had to drive 18 hours straight. We didn’t really have time to do more casual stuff like hanging around in towns or see cool stuff. We were either playing or driving.
JD: Describe the transition that your body and mind goes through on tour.
ML: In terms of this situation, I kind of had a leg
up. I knew basically everyone in the band except for our rhythm guitarist Christian Rivera. I knew our lead singer, lead guitarist and bassist from college. The lead guitarist, Ryan Knecht, and I would play ping-pong every day and eat junk food. Once we reconnected, did the rehearsing and became reacquainted by the time I got on the road with them, we were already bonded. If it had been getting into a bus with people you didn’t know on super-short notice, that would be an entirely different animal.
All of us, already being friends, kept it moving forward. There were definitely days where emotions flared up. Everyone is tired. Everyone is eating junk after gigs at 4 a.m., when nothing is open. That initial push when you’re not in the thick of the pirate’s life yet, it’s total chaos for your body. You’re out at all hours of the day. You’re kind of groggy all the time and that has a way of messing with your mood. It also makes you kind of punchy, too, which is when the best jokes come out from everybody.
Something we did as a way to get our showers every day, we had gym memberships. That was our place that was sacred. Me, our singer Tiare Ball and our bassist Juan Arguello, the three of us would just work out and get a shower in. That acted as a huge mental reprieve.
JD: Which moments on tour were the most memorable?
ML: It was kind of every night of just doing the tour. We had been preparing for so long and got shut down two separate times. It made the whole thing special. The very last night of the tour, Powerman finished their set. Spider shouted out the band, telling (guests) to buy our merch and check out our music. Then he said this super cool line that made everyone in the band almost burst into tears. He told the audience, “Go support these guys because maybe someday, we’ll be opening for them.” Because of the time we spent with them and how good they were to us, when Spider said that at the end, it sent everyone over the top.