An interview with Scott Matthew

All my gratitude goes to Scott Matthew, who agreed to answer my questions via email without knowing anything about me, except my blog. With this first short interview, I am back to journalism. Hopefully, lots more will come soon…


When I asked Scott Matthew how he got in touch with the Shortbus crew, this is what he answered: “I met the lovely John [Cameron Mitchell, director of Shortbus] at a party in Williamsburg. We got chatting about Tarnation and how I love Low. I gave him a demo and he liked it. The rest is history”. For me, history is one of those movies where you realise that sex, whenever you want it, deny it, or not, is the most beautiful energy of the entire universe.


Ever since I saw Shortbus, I have been listening almost non-stop to his four songs on the soundtrack. I know how I feel about Scott Matthew’s music and i wondered how he would describe it: “I tend to write fairly straight forward ballads mostly about love, love lost, heartbreak, you know, the usual. Oh, I do have a new song about the horrors of big business exploiting children.”


And because I am completely obsessed with New York these days, I asked him if he finds his inspiration away from it: “Fuck yes... If someone would just give me some cash so I could get the fuck out of here. I really want to get to Europe, this year fingers crossed.” People of Europe, you’ve been warned…

His present dreams? “To finish my album and stop smoking”.


And just for the ride, these are his favourites of the moment: “Antony [and the Johnsons], I adore. Olivia Newton-John, Chet Baker.”

Later