What is your name and role within The Good Minus?
I’m Matt and I’m a songwriter, singer and guitarist in the band.
Where are you currently based and what is the music scene like there?
We’re based in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne has a pretty thriving music scene. Some good venues have closed down due to development but there are still lots of great places to play.
How did you first start playing music?
I started playing piano as a child but then switched to the guitar as a teenager because I thought it was “cooler”. I’ve always enjoyed writing songs and performing but may biggest influences as a child was probably my grandfather. He used to write and perform songs he’d to my family as a child with my grandmother accompanying him on the violin.
How did The Good Minus form?
We’ve been friends for a long time and played in our own separate projects. In 2015 we decided to join forces and create The Good Minus.
What’s been happening recently?
We’ve just been fine tuning things and getting ready for our album launch gig on October the 11th. We filmed a video clip for our song, Mechanical Shark which was at an old ruin about two hours out of Melbourne. That was a really fun experience.
You have album coming out on the 27th of September, what influenced the sound and songwriting?
We’ve all got very eclectic tastes in music. I think our sound draws from everything we like but hopefully doesn’t sound too derivative of one artist in particular. We basically enjoy writing and performing songs that excite us.
Where and when did you record and who did you work with?
We recorded the songs in two main batches. They were recorded at Tender Trap Studios in Melbourne and David Kean our bass player recorded and engineered all our songs and mixed most of the tracks. Greg J Walker (Machine Translations) mixed I’ll Decide For You and Rohan Sforcina (Head Gap Studios) mixed Blood Brothers, Shadow Love and Catch Us Up. Alan Douches of West West Side Music (NY) mastered the album.
What programs/instruments did you use to record?
Our album was recorded on Pro Tools. We recorded vocals, guitars, bass, drums mainly as that’s how we perform the songs. There were some other instrument overdubs such as sleigh bells and a piano accordion too.
How did you approach the recording process?
We recorded the songs playing together live and then overdubbed the vocals, harmonies and extra guitars or parts that needed to be tweaked etc. For Mechanical Shark we also sang around one mic for the choruses to give it a really full sound.
How did you go about writing the music?
Most of the songs we workshop and jam on together to get them to their final structure. I (Matt) often bring in ideas or half songs that we work on. Stu wrote the main riff for Lovers Disguise on the guitar even though he’s mainly our drummer and David (bass) wrote Shadow Love. I think some of the best songs we have are the ones that we’ve worked on together as a group.
What does this upcoming album mean to you?
It’s nice to have a collection of great songs that we are proud of. They are all quite different and I think it’s a good representation of who we are and what we sound like.
What do you have planned for this new album?
We’re looking forward to launching it and hopefully a few different people hear it who wouldn’t have found us otherwise.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
We’re really liking Stella Donnelly and also Ainslie Wills’ new album.
What do you like to do away from music?
Hanging out and going to gigs or catching a movie.
What’s planned for the remainder of 2019 going into 2020?
Keep playing and writing songs.
Any secrets that you care to share?
The hidden track is called The Elements of Eloquence
Favourite food and place to hangout?
Pizza and hanging out at Kean Studios.
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