Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet
Sidney Matthew Sweetis an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. He was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s. He continues to tour, and his most recent studio album, Modern Art, was released in 2011...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth6 October 1964
CityLincoln, NE
CountryUnited States of America
Things are going to change in this business. Look at how well Bright Eyes has done on Saddle Creek. No one's done anything like that before.
First off, I don't want anyone to think I'm this huge thing in Japan. Every group from here that's made any records over any length of time - even indie bands - have a Cheap Trick effect in Japan.
I think of it as 'pretend freedom.' It was a way to trick my mind into not feeling so pressured. I felt like I had become numb to that process.
More labels should be like that. Instead of putting these records out myself, I should have just signed with them, but they probably don't like my music (laughs).
My family lives there, so I come back sometimes between shows for a couple days. I get back a couple times a year. When I was 30 to 34 I was weirded out when I came back - you know, how your past gets away from you. It's grown so much.
When I go to Japan and do shows I play for 1,000 to 1,500 people. I like a lot about Japan. Their popular culture and mass commercialization appeals to me.
They said, 'If we put you in first class with Brian, will you do it?' So I flew after not having flown in eight years. If there's one person who doesn't like flying as much as me, it's Brian.
I got better money playing live and some publishing money - I still get checks from publishing. But the label was always recouping advances.
He helped make Living Things even more crazy than I wanted it to be. He added old-fashioned piano and classical folk music - that weird otherworldly vibe - all these elements got onto the record.
My management always laughs at me when I say I felt all these pressures all these years. They think that I fought everything from the very beginning.
I'm not in for killing another man, defending my holy land, as if there's a god who would understand.
The openness of rural Nebraska certainly influenced me. That openness, in a way, fosters the imagination. But growing up, Lincoln wasn't a small town. It was a college town. It had record stores and was a liberal place.
It became a question of do I want to be on a label where it could take three years to put out a record instead of putting out three records over the same period of time on my own.
Back then, we could drive a mile from home and there was nothing. Now it's grown in every direction and is populated and modernized. I guess I have mixed feelings about it, but I'm not someone that thinks everything should stop growing.