Today, Matt Webb, guitarist for Marianas Trench called into Atlantic Canada Rocks to discuss the band’s upcoming Atlantic Canada tour dates, plus, we discussed songs and release dates for the band’s upcoming record Astoria, Asbury Park, and George St, among other things.
The band will perform at Casino New Brunswick on July 11th, as well as Mile One Centre in St. John’s NL on the 13th. Ticket information follows the interview. The band also features Josh Ramsay – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, Mike Ayley – bass guitar, vocals & Ian Casselman – drums and percussion, backing vocals.
There’s a lot of great stuff for Trench fans in this interview, so we think its best to just jump right into it, so without further dialogue, here it is!
INTERVIEW BY: Cole McLean
QUESTIONS BY: Cole McLean/Kate “OHSOKATE” Graves
Cole: I’ve always wondered, how does a band decide to name themselves after the deepest part of the ocean? What was it that just made that “click” over a decade ago?
Matt: (Laughs) well, I don’t know man, it’s truly a long story, but I don’t know, I think it was just that all of the other names were taken, to be honest, we were really going for U2 but that wasn’t available, (Laughs) so Marianas Trench was the next in line. Many years ago, we had a couple other guys in the band and one of them came up with it, and it just sort of stuck, but honestly I really don’t know.
Cole: You’ve been working on Astoria for awhile, many artists have changed their styles to perform for different crowds, or be on different radio stations, but you seem to hold your own, would you say you are taking a different approach to this record, be it musically or the recording process? What can fans expect?
Matt: Well, the thing about us, is we never like to release the same record twice, I think once a record has been done, it’s done, and we grow and move on from that and evolve with the times, fans, with ourselves. On Astoria, we sort of touched on a lot of 80s material, you will hear a lot Police, INXS influences, Michael Jackson, that sort of stuff. It’s sort of an area that we hadn’t dove into before and we are excited to bust out this new sounding stuff. It’s unmistakably Marianas Trench but we’ve got a few different sounds on it this time. We purchased all of the era correct instruments, amps and studio gear, and we are trying to be as authentic as we possibly could be. On top of that, I think that this record, Astoria, is lyrically Josh’s(Lead vocals) most candid record to date, there’s a lot of pretty heavy, personal stuff on there and I think lyrically speaking it’s going to catch everyone by surprise.
Cole: Can’t wait to hear the record! Obviously you haven’t released the track list for Astoria yet, do you have a favourite song from the sessions that may or may not make the cut?
Matt: I do, and it definitely will make the cut, there’s a track called “Burning Up” which is one of my favourites, and the closing song, we are sort of known for doing long, epic, if you will, openers and closers, and the one we’ve got is called “End of an Era” and it’s a favourite of mine too, it was a lot of fun to record and we are excited for everybody to hear it!
Cole: Do you have any updates on the release date of Astoria? Can you say a month yet?
Matt: I can tell you that we are about 99% sure it’s going to be released in October. We haven’t settled on an actual date yet because we just have to do the mixing of the record. The physical recording of it is complete. We have taken off on the road for a couple of weeks, so we’ve had to put it on hold for a second while we complete this tour. When we’re back in town around mid July, we’re going to mix the record. If we can get the mixing and mastering, artwork etc done, then yeah we should have it out for October. So yeah, I think it’s safe to say it’s gonna be October.
Cole: Excellent! You mentioned touring…Lots of touring happening this summer in advance of Astoria’s release, all across Canada and the U.S, including tour stops in Moncton and St. John’s here on the East Coast, is this considered “the calm before the storm”? How will your schedule look after the album release?
Matt: (Laughs) you know, summer time is always a busy touring time for us and actually yes, I would agree it is “the calm before the storm” as the record nears release, and we jump right into a touring cycle. My bed will be a tour bus for the next couple of years, but it’s the job man! As I talk to you, I’m actually standing on the shores of Baltimore right now, and we’re about to play tonight in Baltimore, then up to New York City tomorrow and then over to the East Coast of Canada on the weekend. It’s exciting, it’s been a fun run, we are two thirds of the way through it, we’ve got another week or two to go and then home to finish up the record and get that out for everybody.
Cole: Awesome! You’ve played some interesting venues on this tour, especially the gig you just finished at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, you must have thought “wow, this is where Springsteen started!”, did that add any pressure to the gig at all?
Matt: You know, I wouldn’t say it adds more pressure, but it’s certainly cool and inspiring to see these little clubs where these huge guys such as Bon Jovi and (Bruce) Springsteen get their starts, I would say it’s more inspiring than anything. We’ve had the pleasure of being able to play on a lot of cool stages over the years and you walk through the halls and dressing rooms and see photos of all of your idols, whether it’s Keith Richards, or Sting or whoever played these places and it’s cool, it’s inspiring and just cool to walk in and think “oh, you guys did it were hopefully on our way to having a career one tenth as good.”(Laughs)
Cole: It’s great that you enjoyed that gig. What can fans in Atlantic Canada expect to hear at the shows this weekend? Will you focus more on previous work, or work from the new album? Are you saving some live performances until after the release?
Matt: I’ll tell you right now, we’ve got four new songs from Astoria that we have incorporated into the setlist for the summer that we are excited to debut for everybody, we’ve been testing them out on our American audiences over the last couple of weeks, and it seems to go over okay, but the nice thing about coming to Atlantic Canada is that we’ve finally got all of the kinks worked out so you guys are going to hear like the best versions of these songs. When you start incorporating new songs, there’s always a little bit of shakiness that goes on for the first little while when everybody’s figuring out what the hell they are supposed to do with their fingers and their singing but I think we’ve got it under control now. So yeah, a few new songs for sure and then just a typical Trench show, it’s going to be fun, we always try to one up ourselves, we don’t have our flying rig with us or anything like that this time but we’ll be back for more of that. I’m really excited man, St. John’s is gonna be awesome, and Moncton is sweet. It’s just a treat being out on the East Coast, with the world’s nicest people, beautiful venues, beautiful scenery, so, excited to be back!
Cole: For you, what is the high point of the night during a show? Do you have a song that you always enjoy playing no matter how many times you have played it live?
Matt: Good question, I would say the highest point would be walking out on stage and getting that rush of screaming fans, and you see everybody that’s come out to support you, it’s an overwhelmingly amazing experience. In terms of a favourite song, it sort of switches around all the time. There’s certainly a few I’ve played a number of times that maybe I get a little bit bored of, when you hear everybody screaming and singing along, it can make for quite an interesting experience. It kind of changes every night, some cities love “Cross my Heart”, and others love like, “Fallout”, it’s cool, and always changes, so I never really get bored of it.
Cole: Do you find yourself diversifying your setlists? Do you ever end up playing any covers at all?
Matt: Yes, well, on this tour, we did something interesting where we got fans to vote for our opening track every night.(US only) Fans got to vote through our website which was kind of cool so we never knew what we were going to play until the last moment. Aside from that, the setlist varies a little bit night to night and yeah, we’ve got some queues, or guitar changes that need to be consistent, but, Josh usually comes out and does an acoustic encore and we like to switch it up and do a cover song here and there. We’ve also been doing an acapella cover a song we like to do from Billy Joel called “And So It Goes”. and we used to do it all the time years and years ago and kind of dropped it from our set for the last 3-5 years and for whatever reason we decided to pick it back up, so we might do that too, we’ll see how we feel on the day.
Cole: I notice that you guys are offering more VIP/Meet and Greet options on this tour. How do your fans react when they have the chance to meet you? I’ve heard lately that fans have been giving their favourite artists gifts, is this something that happens a lot for you?
Matt: (Laughs) You know what? we do get a lot of gifts from fans. I really appreciate it but at the same time it’s totally unnecessary. People just go above and beyond sometimes and it’s very surprising to us. We’re so appreciative of everything our fans have done for us over the years. Please, if you are reading this, don’t bring any gifts, the tour bus is crammed(Laughs) Your smiling faces are all we need to see at the shows. Yeah, the meet and greets are always a good time, we do like a more formal meet and greet with VIPs during our sound checks and we try to come out after the shows to just say hi to as many people as we can. I make an effort to try and shake as many hands and take as many pictures as I can every night. It’s the least I can do.
Cole: To close, what would you say has been your biggest achievement to date? What are you hoping to achieve in the coming years as a band following the Astoria cycle?
Matt: Well, I mean, we have been around for a long time and I would say that our biggest achievement is that things really show no sign of slowing down. I was always skeptical about getting into the music industry because it’s such a hard nut to crack. It’s a tough career choice, but we continually release albums and tour, and play and grow, the fan base keeps growing, the attendance keeps growing and everybody that comes to a show seems to tell a friend and next time we’re in a town, there’s twice as many people, and it’s been like that everywhere we’ve gone and I’m shocked by it, it’s so cool to be able to grow like that and to keep putting on shows for people. It’s such a wonderful achievement, even after all these years, so, I don’t know, there’s been so many great milestones in our career, but just the fact that we are still doing it and having fun, I think is a pretty impressive achievement in itself.
Cole: Excellent, again thank you very much for your time. Do you have any final words for your fans in Moncton & St. John’s before the shows kick off?
Matt: (Laughs) Well, just that we all love you very much and particularly in St. John’s, we’ll see you all down on George St. We’ve got a bunch of our crew who have not been “screeched in” yet so we’re looking forward to giving those guys their “rite of passage”.
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Tickets for the Moncton show are on sale now! Tickets range in price from $49.99 to $59.99 (plus tax and applicable surcharge) and are available at the Casino Gift Shop (located at 21 Casino Drive in Moncton, exit #450 off the Trans-Canada Highway), by calling 1-866-943-8849, online at casinonb.ca and at the door subject to availability.
Tickets for the St. John’s show are on sale now! Tickets are $40 – $50 (tax included plus service charge) and will be available at the Mile One Centre box office, by phone at (709) 576-7657 and online at www.mileonecentre.com. Additional fees may apply. Also available at the door subject to availability.
FLOOR IS GENERAL ADMISSION STANDING
DOORS OPEN AT 7:00PM for both shows.
