We catch up with Matty from Liverpool band The Shipbuilders to chat about their new album, how the band formed, their Shipwrecked all-day gig at Future Yard last August, and what they get up to for fun when not creating amazing music.

NSG: Hi Guys and welcome, how have you been and what have you been up to today?

MATTY: Hello! Matty here; we’re good thanks; we’ve been back in the studio today. Due to seemingly never-ending vinyl delays, our first album has been pushed back that much, we thought lest the grass grow over our feet, we’d better get back in and crack on with album two! We’ve done seven tracks so far and whisper it, but we’re nearing the end of writing album three – make hay and all that!

NSG: We’ve been listening to your new single ‘The Moon’ a lot this week, for me it’s extremely nostalgic, it evokes memories of Quintin Tarantino film soundtracks, especially Pulp Fiction! It’s quite a haunting song I feel. Could you tell us what it’s about and how you wrote and recorded it, please?

MATTY: Oh thank you – it’s quite a dramatic song and we try and paint scenes with our tunes, so the fact you’ve picked up on that is great. Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of a soldier in the Spanish Civil War, who has lost his love and is contemplating what might happen if the same fate falls on him. It draws heavily from the poetry of Lorca and the idea of ‘Cante Jundo’ or ‘deep song’, which is the name he gave to the folk music of Andalucia. Proper folk that is, as in the song of the people and the land. So it’s hardly a laugh a minute, but then again, very few of mine are! Musically, it actually came to me whilst I was watching a documentary on BBC Four about flamenco. I handily had a guitar next to me and tried to badly imitate the wailings – much to my wife’s delight, I’m sure. But in the midst of it, I thought there was something there and it grew from that. I wanted a heroic, grand sound – I pictured The Walker Brothers meets Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain – whether I achieved that is another matter…Recording wise, we initially had a go at it way back in 2016 as part of an EP we did. We were wet behind the ears, and as the song – and the band – grew in stature and beefed up, we felt we could do it justice and so re-recorded in last year with Danny Woodward (BC Camplight, Ladytron). It’s much fiercer now and Danny’s guitar solo especially is somewhat face-melting.

NSG: I love the description, Surf-rock Scousers, and definitely feel that in your music, I also hear a bit of Liverpool iconic band SPACE and Tommy Scott vocally in some of your songs. Can you tell us a bit about your influences?

MATTY: Well, funnily enough, Space was the first band I ever saw when I was 12 years old, so maybe there’s a bit of that in there! We’d be daft to deny the Mersey elements of our influences, but things go much, much deeper than that. Off the top of my head, some of the key influences are the weird and wonderful ones like Tom Waits, The Pogues, Arthur Lee/Love, Galaxie 500, Sea Power, The Cramps, and so on – bands that balance melody and chaos. Lyrically, Lorca, James Joyce, and Leonard Cohen pop up again and again. There’s a lot of literary allusions there – people often ask if I’m influenced by films when they ask about the lyrics, but truth be told, I’ve seen about ten films in life. And four of them are the Toy Story ones.

NSG: How did the band form and how did you all meet? Also, did you know the sound you wanted when you formed, or did that develop over time?

MATTY: The Shipbuilders initially started out as a collective idea, of whoever turned up on the night was in the band. A wonderful idea – a logistical nightmare. I knew Danny and once I heard him play I thought “that’s it” – his sounds are the absolute backbone of The Shipbuilders. No Danny Lee, no Shipbuilders. So that guided the songs. A lot of them I’ve had for years and years in various guises and forms, but hearing Danny play on them cemented the direction I knew we had to head in. Naturally, the sound has developed and changed over time, but I think the core concept remains the same. Then came Sully on drums, who really tightened us up and brought a rockabilly element to the sound and Jack Mac is our latest recruit – who is sickeningly good on any instrument he turns his hand to. The gorgeous swine.

Future Yard gig

NSG: Outside of music what do you guys do for fun?

MATTY: I’m a fan of the outdoors and as un rock and roll as it is, when I’m not trying to get anyone and everyone to listen to our music, I have an allotment and I love birdwatching. I released two solo albums during lockdown and they were named after birds I especially love (‘Goldfinch’ and ‘Nuthatch’) – the lads don’t know it but I reckon by next year we’ll all be twitchers on tour, binoculars in hand. You wait, the great avian revival awaits. Sully is big into his horror films and literature – he’s an encyclopedia on that stuff. Danny has an amazing political brain and I could honestly listen to him talk about Marxism and whatnot all night. Although him and Jack should team up and go on Mastermind, with the specialist subject being ‘Peep Show’. Every other conversation contains a ‘Peep Show’ reference or three. Other than that, our lives really do revolve around music and when we’re not playing it, we’re talking about it or going to gigs. Either that or sending daft memes to each other in the band WhatsApp group. Most of them are ‘Peep Show’ related. High brow lads, us.

NSG: You’re releasing your debut album, ‘Spring Tide‘ on May 6th, 2022? Wanna tell us a bit about it?

MATTY: Cor, do I! Like most, we’ve been hit by the universal vinyl delays, but fingers and toes crossed, it will be out this May. It’s a definitive statement of the band’s journey to date. That might sound wanky, but it’s true. Half of the tracks feature our former bassist, Nicky McGrane and half have Jack on – the songs have been around for a few years and we’re so made up to have lassoed them and captured them as they have existed live over the years. We’re really proud of it and it’s not us saying goodbye to the songs or our sound, or drawing a line under them, but it feels good to have them set in wax now, to use as a springboard to the next part of the story. I’m as biased as they come, so I’m bound to say this – and I don’t expect anyone else to necessarily agree – but I think it’s a masterpiece. I really do. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t put it out – you only get one debut album, after all.

NSG: The pandemic stalled a lot of people’s careers and a lot of bands broke up due to not being able to rehearse and jam. What was it like for you guys and how did you manage to still be together after 2 years of lockdowns and even record an album?

MATTY: It was weird, no denying, but in the grand scheme of things, we were alright. We did the usual, Zoom quizzes and that. I held some live streaming gigs and we did a few videos which we all remotely recorded. It was tough, feeling that momentum had been taken from us through no fault of our own, but as every other band was in the same boat, it was a weird leveler. I’m a believer in the “the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory” thinking, so when we were unleashed from lockdown, phwoar, we made the most of it, and our Shipwrecked all-day gig at Future Yard last August was such a celebration and was frankly, one of the best days of my life. Not that I’d want to go through another two years like it though. 

NSG: What gigs have you got coming up and how’s the rest of 2022 looking for you?

MATTY: We’ve just announced our next Shipwrecked – which is our own club night – at Future Yard. It’s on April 15th and is another all-day event. We were due to host it right before Christmas, but we postponed it due to you-know-what. We were gutted, but the time off made us determined to make the most of the event once we were able to reschedule and so we went away and bagged Andy Bell (Ride, Oasis etc.) as the headliner. It’s quite the coup for us and it’s absolutely brilliant – his solo albums in particular are stunning. We’ve also got Gintis, The Gingerbread Man, Anna Jane Houghton and spoken word from Matty Smith and Madelaine Kinsella. It’s going to be brilliant. Other than that, we’ll be releasing the album in May and are sorting out live dates around the country for later in the year. Between that and finishing our second album, busy little ‘builders are we.

NSG: If you could sit down and have dinner with three people from history, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

MATTY: I can’t speak for the rest of the lads, but here we go…Nina Simone would have some tales to tell. She took no prisoners and I’d love to hear how she thrived when the odds were stacked against her.I feel like I should say someone really awe-inspiring like the Buddha, but honestly, I’d love to sit and listen to Michael Palin talk about all his travels and Bob Mortimer, as he’s simply the funniest man alive.

NSG: We read that you actually wrote and recorded a Spanish version of ‘The Moon’ called La Luna?

MATTY: I’m excited to hear this! What made you want to record a Spanish version? Hah yes! Well, we’re doing a bonus disc for ‘Spring Tide’ (called ‘Neap Tide’), featuring demos and remixes of the albums tracks and so on. I can’t quite remember where the idea came from, but given that the song is about the Spanish Civil War and is flamenco heavy, I figured it was worth doing. My brother – another one time Shipbuilders bassist – lives in Madrid and speaks Spanish, so he and a few mates translated it for me. I thought it was dead good, but he’s ashamed of my pronunciation! It’s currently only available via our Bandcamp and the label’s (Mai 68 Records) on flexi disc, as part of Mai 68’s Flexi Club, which is a great initiative that allows us to get physical products pressed and printed within a more realistic timeframe. With it being on flexi disc, it will wear away over time and leave you wondering if it ever existed at all…

NSG: What’s the best food in the world in your humble opinion?

MATTY: Oh that’s an impossible question! I’m bang into Nepalese curries at the moment – for some reason where I live just outside of Liverpool, there are three Nepalese restaurants and there’s a dish – I forget its full name – but it’s smoked aubergines and oh my word. I’ll have to record a song in Nepalese for the second album now.

NSG: What’s the best advice you have for any young people wanting to become musicians?

MATTY: Be humble without being submissive – everyone can spot a dickhead a mile off. Things take time. No band has a right to be heard – you’ve got to earn it. And maybe the most important, which I only took on board far too late in the game, is keep your eyes on yourselves. The moment you get into comparing yourselves to others or getting wound up that so-and-so have got a good support gig or x amount of plays on Spotify, you’re circling the drain and you’re chasing someone else’s dream. Keep as much as you can in house – pay for your own recordings, that way, you keep control. And don’t forget, it’s the best thing in the world. If it stops being the best thing in the world, take a step back and think about why it’s not.

NSG: Thank you so much for your time, we wish you all the luck in the world with your upcoming tour and album release. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

MATTY: Never trust a man with a flagpole in his garden.

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