Former Southeast Engine keyboardist Matheny making return to Dayton
William Matheny is based in Morgantown, West Virginia, but as a former member of Southeast Engine, he’s an honorary member of the Dayton music scene.
So, if you see his band perform at Blind Bob’s in Dayton on Saturday, April 15, say hi, shake his hand and buy a copy of his great new Misra Records release, “Strange Constellations.”
Matheny recently spent a bit of time with us for a brief Q&A.
Did you lead your own band before playing keyboards with Southeast Engine?
“I was doing solo material and playing with a lot of different bands. I didn’t have any real ambition. I was just playing shows and recording stuff. Once I joined Southeast Engine, that was my main priority for five years. I did some side work for other people but I didn’t play a show under my own name, record anything or even write a song for at least four years.”
When did you start writing again?
“I started writing on one of the last Southeast Engine tours. I got inspired and wanted to get back in the game again. I started writing songs after the band was asleep. We were in the strata where we were staying at friends’ houses and sleeping on couches and stuff. I would wait until everyone nodded off and then I’d find a spot and try to write. The songs started coming and then Southeast Engine stopped playing.”
How did working with an accomplished songwriter like Adam Remnant influence your songwriting?
“Being in Southeast Engine was a big game-changer for my writing. Before that I just kind of wrote songs for the sake of having material for shows. Watching Adam every night and watching the way he really constructed our records, really inspired me to put as much of myself as I could into the situation. That was really, really key for me.”
How did you put this group together?
“After Southeast Engine ended, I was without a lot of direction. I had some friends who threw out the idea of getting together and recording some stuff and see what happens. That kind of coalesced into this thing. Gosh, I want to say by the end of that first weekend it felt like we had something. I was like, ‘This is really what I want to do and these are the right people for it.’ It was exciting. It happened pretty quickly. We started playing shows and now we’re touring. It feels good to get back out there.”