MATT BENNETT

MATT BENNETT

So to start out, let's go back in time a bit. Before OUTLOUD! Records, before The Moans, when did you first fall in love with pop punk and begin to pursue it as a songwriter?

I think I narrowed it down once, my first punk rock record was NOFX's "Ribbed" on cassette. It was on the "new releases" upper shelf thing in the heavy metal/hair band section. Purchased for the condom cover art alone and it was all over after that. It didn't take long for me to come across pop punk even though I didn't really understand sub-genre divisions at that time. I took a backwards route to the RAMONES through the QUEERS and SCREECHING WEASEL.

Song writing came WAY later for me. I used to scribble down little thoughts and ideas or rants that I wouldn't deliver to the people that deserved to hear them. Those crazy person poems were the nuts and bolts of my first "songs." Both of my parents had shitty little acoustic guitars that I'd sneak out of their closet and play. They weren't tuned and didn't have enough strings but it was enough for my horrible basic progressions. I got my first guitar (a Fender P-Bass) for Christmas towards the end of High School and continued to suck on a better instrument for a couple more years before my first "band."

The Sacramento scene has produced a ton of great bands, and Kepi Ghoulie was holding it down there for a good while. The Secretions, Helper Monkeys, all the Kepi-related bands, it seemed like a rad scene for a while there. Were you a part of it? What's your connection to the "classic" Sac bands of the 90's and 00's?

I started going to shows religiously in '97-'98. Mostly in Stockton, CA at first and then I'd venture further north to Sacramento. I saw the Ghoulies and Secretions and all those guys quite a few times before I ever really met or played with any of them. I wasn't an overly social guy then-- I'd say two or three words to whoever was at their merch table, snag a CD and some stickers and that was about it. I didn't start playing shows until '07 or '08, I believe-- I'd have to check MySpace for specific dates. The funny thing about Sacramento is that any band that became a name owes it to all of the little bands that "never made it" who kept all those shows going. Sac can be over-saturated at times and the underground bands and space owners that put on the house shows, bar concerts, and coffee shop gigs that gave those so-called "big bands" a place to pay are the real heroes of that scene.

Before I forget to ask this question: Can you talk about your activities as a comic artist? You once told me that it was your main passion and that you were part of a community of artists. What was that experience like, and how did you end up shifting for focus to music?

Yeah, Comic Books Broke My Heart! I tried and I failed. I gave it a shot but definitely didn't have what it took to make it. I wanted to be a cartoonist since I was a little kid. My dream job was to write and draw my own book. In the early/mid 2000's I was a member of every art forum and drawing community website that you could belong to: DeviantArt, Pencil Jack, Drawingboard, Digital Webbing, etc etc. It's pretty cool now to see the comic book industry full of all of those guys that were contributors back then.

I had met Scott Godlewski (who has gone on to kick ass at Image & DC comics) when we were both just starting out and in 2009 we teamed up to produce a quarterly pulp/sci-fi anthology style book called Mysterious Adventure Magazine. They were over-sized black & white books with multiple stand-alone stories that (for the most part) both Scotty and had a hand in creating. Breaking into comics has always been such an odd prospect and how and why you're able to get in is always changing. We thought Mysterious Adventure would be the best business card we could ever have. How better to show that you can meet deadlines, work with others, and produce a quality book than actually producing a quality book. It was all self-funded (printed through IndyPlanet & KaBlam and hosted on eJunkie) with art and stories being contributed by a ton of our buddies: Doc Shaner (DC Comics), Joe Dellagatta (Dark Horse/Sideshow Collectibles), Dan Schkade (The Spirit/Dynamite), Ryan Cody (Image/Dark Horse) and a bunch of other talented guys who have gone on to be big noises in the industry. We were even lucky enough for Charlie Adlard (Walking Dead) to draw the cover for our Special Edition Annual (that never came out). We debuted the first issue at the 2009 Phoenix Comic Con and did 4 issues in total with a couple of promotional companion mini-books. I don't recall how many we printed but we sold through everything we had.

Once Scotty and all of our other regular contributors started getting regular solid paying comic work Mysterious Adventure fizzled out. I had always been writing and playing music at the same time as trying my hand at drawing and writing comics. I still sit and fiddle with those old ideas now and again but once I officially finally set comic booking aside in 2010-2011, the MOANS became my creative writing outlet.

Let's get a bit more recent and talk about some of the projects that people probably associate you with - The Crappys, The Dumb Fox, and The Moans. Could you give a little background for each?

THE DUMB FOX (2006?-2011?) was a catch-all for every musical inspiration at the time. Very immature dick & fart joke centric band. I played guitar and sang in that. You can hear some proto-MOANS songs in that band in terms of subject matter.

THE MOANS are the best thing I've ever done. When we started the MOANS it was a total side project: DANNY REYNOSO sang and played drums in THE SECRETIONS, I was in THE DUMBFOX, and JEFF HOLLANDSWORTH sang and played bass in HIT RESET at the time. I think we all fell in love with the MOANS because we allowed it to just be fun with no pressure and no expectations.

Danny, Jeff, and I had met at shows in STOCKTON, CA and eventually were in an ensemble RAMONES Tribute/Karaoke Band called THE SHITTY RAMONES with a bunch of other guys. Danny sang leads, Jeff played bass (drums at one show), and I played guitar (bass at one show). The karaoke function of that band didn't work out as well so it morphed into a drunken cover band sort of project. The idea was to not really practice the songs and just see what happened. Danny, Jeff, and I really connected during that and I was always trying to get them to start playing originals. Danny pushed me to not focus that energy into our cover band and as he was missing playing guitar, I was missing playing bass, and Jeff was missing playing drums, the MOANS came together.

THE CRAPPYS were/are a sort of DUMB FOX prosthetic replacement for the need of a catch-all band idea. The thematic writing exercise of the MOANS would cause songs of other subject matter to not have a home. There were a bunch of songs written over the years that never made it into THE DUMB FOX and concurrently written while in the MOANS that I still wanted to have an outlet for so JEFF HOLLANDSWORTH, RYAN GARCIA, and JEFF MELENDEZ were cool enough to have some fun playing a bunch of stupid songs about drunk chicks, chicks on their period, and eating fast food.

Throughout your experience with these bands, you've been writing your own songs. How has your process evolved over the years? What do you think makes a good song in the first place?

I don't know if I have one process to be honest. Being lucky enough to be a relatively prolific song writer probably made me take it for granted as I've slowed down over the last few years. When I was younger and more energetic, staying up til 2 in the morning every night yielded a shit-ton of new tunes.

Song writing is cool because it's two parts: music and words. For me, they never had to happen at the same time. I've always scribbled down ideas, rants, and clever song titles. I've also used microcassette recorders and later voice notes on my phone while I noodled around on my acoustic or fiddled around at full amp volume-- there's never been set rules. Sometimes words and music come at the same time, sometimes I'll grab a pre-recorded riff or progression and wedge in the words that I'm working currently on. My main process has been to never force it. You can "work on a song" without making it a factory job.

What makes a good song? That's one of those amazingly subjective things that makes music so fucking cool. Music that I hate someone else might love-- it's its own language. For me, a good song is a hook (whether it be words or music) that resonates with the listener. It can't be overly repetitive while still establishing a melody. The instruments should be dynamic enough that any wasted space is filled with little flourishes that makes the ear happy. No idea how to express that.

OUTLOUD! Records has been your baby for a long time, and I'm honored to have been invited to join the family back in 2016. You'd already been putting out plenty of bands by that time. How did the label start, and did you know at the time that you'd be running it in a non-traditional manner?

I grew up on dirt cheap punk rock CD samplers. Compilations are the best combination of promotional tool and community fostering that has ever existed. They're a music festival on a Compact Disc. Cheap to manufacture and inexpensive to purchase. You get to check out a shitload of bands and discover new music that you might not have heard otherwise. By the time I started playing in bands they were kind of dying out. I always wanted to be on one, nobody ever asked my shitty band, so I said fuck it and did it myself. 

Back in 2011 we had a big show coming up so I started asking a bunch of bands if they wanted to contribute a song and put the thing together. I got multi-disc burner, bought some art-printed blanks and burned & packaged a couple hundred CDs and sold them for a buck at SUCK FEST, a 2 day festival in Sacramento. That was it until it wasn't. Here and there bands started asking me for help or how to release their music or just to put it out. I slapped the OUTLOUD logo on my band's CD to make it look legit. I organized another sampler. I had already designed a few releases for some bands and recorded others, most musicians are uniquely mentally unstable and can use help in the organization process. I always enjoyed that with my own band(s) and so doing it as a label let me flex those creative muscles more often. It morphed from a DIY CD manufacturing/packaging service to a Lookout/AsianMan style mailorder outfit and eventually into the bare bones drop-ship style distribution that it is now. There was no grand plan or design it just kept evolving. May 27th 2021 will be our 10 year anniversary.

One of the things I think we're both accomplishing, for better or worse, is translating our passion through the modern lens of the digital age. You do made-to-order releases and merch. I do Bandcamp. We create physical releases but thrive on social media and digital content. I know there's been some blowback over our shared commitment to updating the standards and practices of our scene - how do you feel about it? What does your label have to offer that's unique among the other great labels going now?

I don't think OUTLOUD would exist without Bandcamp. The entire industry owes a huge debt to those folks. I think it's the nature of the beast for people's inability to accept that it's not 1977, it's not 1994-- the bubble burst. It's over. You can still hear people clinging to things that were once important and the progressive people just trying to move things along. You can see it in some of the older more seasoned bands who are still expecting a level of decadence that just doesn't exist anymore. Whether they were on the ship or missed the boat, it's an understandably tough adjustment to make. I've even noticed it in myself-- things like meta-data, replicated VS duplicated, and things like that used to be important to me. Let it go, boys.

First and foremost, when you're buying something from OUTLOUD you're paying the band. The band gets a piece of every sale. That was always been important to me-- what better way to know that your band is reaching new listeners than to get a PayPal alert that you've sold XYZ number of records over the last few months. Nobody's getting rich here but it's always been a matter of principle for me to pay my bands. The second piece goes back to the samplers. Every sale gets a compilation. Whether it's a themed organized release or just a random sampling of songs from our releases, every active band in the roster gets exposure with every sale. That's what it's all about, getting bands heard by as many people as possible.

I enjoy being a CD niche label. We've gotta bunch of regulars who are like minded in the way they consume their music and OUTLOUD is here for them!

As a guy running a label that is essentially a passion project, I'm sure you've dealt with your fair share of negativity beyond those mentioned earlier. I'm referring to things like entitled bands, people desperately pushing their demos, thinking that you'll be able to provide some kind of financial package beyond what bands take the initiative to earn for themselves, etc. And then there's the scene drama, the factions, the conflicts... how have you managed to continue without becoming disillusioned by it all?

I think I have been disillusioned by it and have just had to push past it. If someone wants to know what I think or how I feel about something, they can ask me directly. If they want to get their information from a third party and treat me differently based on that? Their loss. It makes them and their shit-talking buddy a coward. Everybody has made shitty decisions, and everybody has the ability to forgive someone else if they want to-- if you've done something shitty through passive inaction or otherwise, you can say you're sorry, you can clear the air, or you can let things fester-- what kind of life do you wanna lead?

Like I said before, music attracts mental disfunction because it allows for an unconventional expression. Those disfunctions don't walk out the door just because you sang a song about them. So like all humans some musicians can be flawed, petty, and vindictive. It's a shame because we should all be building each other up. "The dinosaurs will die" they have died. This industry is ours now. Why would we wanna fight?

To sum this up, everyone is responsible for their own words and actions. Silence is not consent. When you're the mouthpiece of a label, you have to consider every person who's ever released something with you. The idea that you're in some way speaking on behalf of all those bands is a big responsibility. You can't get pulled into petty disagreements because you have a duty to stay neutral and faithfully represent the people who have shared their art through your organization.

At the end of the day nobody tells me how to run this thing that I've built. I don't care who the fuck you are or who you used to be.

As far as band entitlement and the demo hustle: Bands being realistic isn't always a given and I get it. When you're so over-the-top passionate and enthusiastic about something it's easy to lose touch with grounded reality. It's also tough to see our own art through a critical lens. The question I've always put to myself is this: If I won't invest in my band why should anyone else? I've never been fortunate enough for someone to see so much value in my band(s) that they match that with financial support. While that would be nice, I'm not bothered by it either. We recorded demos ourselves in the garage, played shows, earned door money, made/bought merch, used our band fund to record, went on tour, produced our CDs, tapes, and 7"s and we'll keep doing that.

Being put in the unfortunate position to judge someone's art isn't an enviable position. So before you get upset that someone didn't respond to your unsolicited email, remember that you created that dynamic where you're putting a stranger in the position to pass judgement. I'm not saying don't reach out but don't believe that you're entitled to something or that the individual owes you anything. Do it yourself and be prepared to do it yourself for as long as you're doing it. Anything else is just poor preparedness.

The Moans have been recording a full-length album for a while now (I've heard it, it's good). What has that process been like, and how have you navigated the challenges of the last year plus in terms of keeping the band on track to achieve this goal? What was the writing and recording process like, and what are your plans for the release?

Yes! Thank you. We have a new record that's nearing completion. We had a number of life events that slowed the process on top of every day band life challenges of time management and stick-to-it-iveness. Then the 2020 political sphere and pandemic left more important things to focus on. We've been ultra-responsible during all of this and haven't put each other in the uncomfortable position to have to refuse being in close physical proximity. That includes getting together for practice or mixing sessions, etc.

WRITHING ON THE WALL will be available on LP, CD, Cassette, and Digital in 2021 or 2022.

As a family man, someone who works for a living, and someone who shares my love for pop punk, do you find it difficult to keep up with life's demands while still maintaining some satisfactory level of musical activity, be it with the label or your own songs? I sure do!

Absolutely! Every day I have to make the decisions to focus on this instead of that. If I'm working on Project A then my lawn doesn't get mowed, if I decide to get drunk with my wife, then Project B doesn't get worked on. When I get off late from work, somebody's album designs take a day longer.

A few years ago I never would have believed that I could go longer than a couple of days without touching a guitar. Unfortunately working in the healthcare industry during a pandemic is exhausting enough to let my bass get sufficiently dusty. We're still not having practices or playing shows so I'm not too concerned just yet. I've been setting small reasonable goals for getting back into shape-- those downstrokes aren't gonna stroke themselves.

Finally, when you think back on the last decade and all that you've contributed to the scene - are you stoked on the mark you've made so far? What are your bucket list goals for the label and for yourself as a musician?

Honestly I don't think I have a bucket list. OUTLOUD started out alot like the MOANS, just a side project thing for fun. For fun can quickly turn into work sometimes and so always being able to strike a balance there is probably the main goal.

Every once in a while, I'll look through my record collection and find a band that has one great album and maybe nothing else. They put something out in the world that resonated with me. I'll never meet them but their art has a home. I think we've done that with the MOANS. I think we've made some music that can give you 30 minutes of joy before moving on with the rest of your day. I think OUTLOUD has contributed to the scene enough that if it ends tomorrow, I can feel justified in the karmic payback to the musical community.

Even if I never write another song, I want to record everything I've already written, play more shows with my dudes, and help get more people's chords and poetry out there.