Mat Kearney, on tour with Owl City with a stop at Club Nokia on Thursday, is about to release his new album, “Young Love.” He spoke with Daily Bruin’s Andrew Bain about his musical development, his new album and his musical influences.
Daily Bruin: How did you first get into making music and writing your own songs?
Mat Kearney: Well, I grew up in a completely unmusical family. So, no one played music and there was never an instrument in our house. It actually didn’t start until … I was going to school in California. … I had always written all through high school and I would pick up my roommate’s guitar and sit on the front porch, and I was so bad at covering other people’s songs that I would start writing my own songs.
DB: Describe your writing process.
MK: Some songs depend on the song and the moment. Sometimes, you get hit over the head with this idea and you find chords that fit it, or sometimes you start playing chords and they spark this emotion in you. Or sometimes, like I did on “Young Love,” I would just sit down and literally make a beat – clap my hands and stomp on the ground and record that and start building these loops and … writing songs to that. There’s never any set way I write.
DB: You’ve said that “Young Love” is a return to innocence. Can you elaborate on that?
MK: I wrote “Nothing Left to Lose,” my very first record, from this honest, “I didn’t know anyone would care about it” place, and it blew up. And then, I wrote “City of Black and White” and I had gone through some struggles and had had my heart broken and had broken someone’s heart and I had a lot of questions. And that (record) came out of that place. With “Young Love,” I really wanted to write a record which wasn’t scared to view life in an innocent, believing, optimistic, fearless way.
DB: Was that approach reinforced by your recent marriage?
MK: Yeah, … I think that spark of a relationship that can change your life so much definitely bleeds over into all these other areas of your life and music. … I think we’re taught how to distrust, and I think this record … is really me attempting to step outside of distrust in this place of openness and passion and fearlessness. It’s also dealing a lot with looking back at certain things that have happened. There’s … a song about my father as a child, and I wrote from that perspective more on this album – a younger perspective.
DB: On “Nothing Left To Lose,” you used some spoken word. You’ve said that you used some spoken word again on “Young Love,” after not using it on “City of Black and White.” What drew you back to that form of music?
MK: I always want to do the opposite of what I did before, so I think I made “Nothing Left to Lose” (with) this … epic guitar thing going. And then “City of Black and White” was my singer/songwriter record and … on this record, as soon as I started writing … I was listening to all this hip-hop music and Paul Simon music and all this rhythmic stuff and so the spoken word side poked its head out at me and was like, “Okay, it’s time.”
DB: What drew you to record in a smaller environment as opposed to a bigger studio?
MK: Last record, we (recorded it) in a big, expensive studio. And, it was fun but it’s just a lot of pressure. So, (for) this record, I just wanted to make it in a basement with some friends and play a lot of it myself with them … (to) take a lot of pressure off and make it in a home-recording atmosphere.
DB: Who are a couple of your major musical influences?
MK: (Bruce) Springsteen would be a huge influence (because of) his storytelling and his emotive quality, and (also) that he’s trying to do something larger than life with every song. (That) has made a huge impact on the way I write songs and the way I write story songs. A Tribe Called Quest is (also) a huge influence. … When I first loved music it was driving my … ’68 Volkswagen Squareback to Eugene, Oregon with A Tribe Called Quest in the tape deck feeling like the baddest dude in town. Some of that swagger has carried through into my music.