March 2009 music feature 2: Sebastian Matar
Last modified: 13:13:03 CET on 18 Mar, 2009 |
My name is Sebastian Matar, I’m part Finish (Finland) part Lebanese and born and raised in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. And I’m married to a beautiful girl, been that for 5 months now! I can’t say that I’ve always been into music, like playing instruments and like, thinking about different details in a song... well you know, into music. So it’s been a lot of super heroes, comicbooks, Batman toys, and videogames through out my youth! But there has always been something artistic about my hobbies i think, like drawing, painting and even cooking. Music has always been running through my veins, but it wasn’t till like about 4 yrs ago that I bought a guitar, me and a friend was about to start a band, so we needed guitars. That was the start of my passion for playing and creating music! I’m self-taught, haven’t studied any music except the music classes in school. You don’t really learn any instruments there. It’s more through books and youtube videos that I’ve learnt to play guitar. I listen to a lot of music, I love John Frusciante, indie and singer/songwriters.
I can name a few influences: John Frusciante, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Damien Rice, Ryan Baxley, The Frames, Adem, Lightspeed Champion, Chris Cornell, Andrew Bird, Joan As Police Woman, Maria Taylor, TV on The Radio, Bob Forrest, Bycicle Thief, David Ford… Well the list could go on, but actually right now it´s like only Frusciante.
I played in a band that lasted for about 4 months and we called ourselves The Hey Js and the name has all of our initials. So it’s not a very deep or intelligent name… And we found out later that there is a band with that name, 4 grandpas playing music together, which is cute. And then I have a "band" with my wife since a year back, Cookie Kills You, which we think is a very cool and a very indie name. We did one performance together like 10 months ago and we’re about to record 3-4 songs by the end of the year I think. She plays the Cello by the way. And there’s been a couple of other projects that could see the light again soon, but other then those I have just been playing and writing my own songs all this time.
To hear my music, visit My Myspace or my Last.fm artist page.
What are you doing aside from music?
Well right now I’m working fulltime, trying to get my driving license and trying to find some music that has nothing to do with John, which is very hard because his music affects me the most and his music is just so beautiful and he’s a genius!
What is your approach to recording music?
I don’t know if this is the answer to that question but, I just record what I think sound good, what I like, what makes me happy and what makes me want to continue writing even more songs. Right now I use a H2 ZOOM handy recorder, it works like a external USB mic and I’m mixing with Acoustica Mixcraft. It’s a pretty easy-to-work-with program. I’m actually not so good at the whole mixing and editing thing, I just try to get the songs interesting with small details.
How do you cope with a lack of inspiration and confidence?
Well if you are stuck with a song, then I think the best thing is to take a break. I believe that the brain is a lot smarter then we think. If you give your self a break the brain will work with the song and eventually you will put that last piece where it belongs and it will sound just perfect. Confidence on the other hand… I just don’t know. I think we care just a bit too much about other people’s thoughts. And we are so different everyone, some of us are very shy and some of us just aren’t! So it sure is a difficult question. But as I said, I think we worry too much about people judging us.
What would be your advice to young people wanting to study music?
Well because I did not have that chance or the passion for music that i have now, when I was in school, I have missed a lot. I think I could do so much more if I only had the chance to study music and to learn different techniques and different sounds etc. Just look at mr. Balzary! He´s going to school now! So if you like music even a little bit, then go study it! Really!
Many thanks to Sebastian for this interview!
