A Chat With Tramp Attacks Matt Barton
We had a chat with Tramp Attacks Matt Barton about the band’s long history and his new comic. Matt Barton is a founding member of Tramp Attack, who have been lurking about for 24 years. Dave McCabe ( Of The Zutons!) played with the band for a while in the early naughties. The lineup settled around 2002 and the band has produced two albums.
Along with talented Scottish artist, Steve Lucas, Matt is now in the process of completing a comic-book memoir of his attempts to break into the music industry. Despite lead-guitarist Barry living in the USA, the band still gig now and then, recently one of their songs was used in the opening scene of the hit BBC drama, The Responder.
Earlier this year Tramp Attack released an album of rarities- called I Got Lost Down the Back of My Couch- available on Bandcamp…or Spotify if you’re a skinflint.
NSG: Hello Matt and how are you today? What have you been up to this morning?
MB: Hello, I’ve been showing American tourists around the city. They’ve been very nice, and I love that I get to tour guide for a living. Of course, music and other creative pursuits are what I get most out of, but tour-guiding sort of ties in.
NSG: It’s amazing to finally get a chance to catch up with you! So your iconic and legendary band TRAMP ATTACK has recently reformed? You’ve been around a long time in different incarcerations with Dave McCabe of The Zutons also being a past member! Can you tell us how the reformation came about and what new and old fans can expect this time around?
MB: We’ve only ever really split up once, the quiet moments are just us on standby mode. Tramp Attack has been a thing since about 1998- me, Scott Dulson, Tony Dunne, Ian Lane and Kristian Ealey. The line-up with McCabe came a bit later in 2000. We already had a few of the songs but McCabe and Redmo (James Redmond, who is releasing an album soon- you interviewed him here recently) were good players already and things sped up a bit with them in the band.
There has been some cynical talk lately that suggests that Tramp Attack was their baby and that I just took credit for everything. Everybody’s truth is subjective- and they were important to the band as it was then- but it’s a silly old notion really. Tramp Attack has been around for twenty-four years, and only one of those years had that line-up- it’s a bit mad that it’s even open for discussion. Especially seeing as we’re not really a big enough band to warrant an ownership contest. I still see Dave about- he’s a great guy! He taught me a lot; playing with him was the first experience I had of working with somebody who knew what they were doing. Tramp Attack now? It’s something we hope to do more but it’s dependent on Barry, our guitarist, who lives in America with his wife and kid. The present lineup (me, Barry, Ian, Chris Marshall and Dunne) is set now I think- I can’t see us changing it much. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t Tramp Attack stuff coming.
NSG: I read recently that one of the band’s songs was used in the Liverpool-based BBC TV drama, The Responder? What song was it and how does it feel having your music used on such an amazing show that was based in your home city?
MB; I spoke, via the interweb, with the writer of the Responder, Tony Schumacher, after they used ‘Oh When the Sun Goes Down‘. He seems like a great guy who is very deserving of his success. Apparently, he just remembered the song and decided it worked with the opening of the show. I wrote the words and music to ‘Oh When the Sun Goes Down‘ on my mum’s couch in 2001, just before Dave McCabe and Redmo left the band. There’s a mad blast of a waltz in the middle of the song that either Redmo or Mccabe added. They both used to love a good waltz. McCabe sang it at first- Kristian had left the band at that point due to other commitments. He later ended up playing with EdgarJones– if you don’t know Edgar, he’s a local legend and I think you would benefit from hearing his stuff. When McCabe and Redmo jumped ship I never considered continuing to play the songs they’d written- and there were some good ones- but I kept hold of the songs I felt were mine; with the exception of a track called ‘Baby Don’t You Knock me down‘; which was a rewrite of something I already had, that benefited greatly from the involvement of Redmo, Mccabe and Kristian, who I think wrote most of the words. By the time we released the album Attack! Attack! Attack! the band was a very different beast. It’s great to have Oh When the Sun Goes Down involved with such a prestigious show and I really wish more people would use our songs; I could do with the money.
NSG: Earlier this year Tramp Attack released an album of rarities- called ‘I Got Lost Down the Back of My Couch‘, cool name! Can you tell us more about the new album, please?!
MB: Our first album was delayed by the record company; meanwhile, we were stockpiling songs and developing a new, softer sound. We tried to make a second album before the first was released. But by the time the second album came out, we’d already moved on, so Call in Sick is very different to the LP we originally envisaged. Then we tried to make a third album (which probably should have been the fourth) but somehow never got around to finishing that either. So now there’s I got Lost Down the Back of My Couch, which is a mix of the abandoned second and third (fourth?) LPs. I don’t know whether to think of it as a proper album or as a compilation. But I do think it’s boss. Basically, if we’d had the resources, time and money, I think Tramp Attack would be on our 48th LP by now. But at least we finally got around to doing this one. Click here to listen on Spotify.
(TRAMP ATACK ‘I Got Lost Down the Back of My Couch’ Album ArtWork)
NSG: Do you have a specific writing process?
MB: Sort of. A little phrase will go around my head, and I’ll put it to some chords- sometimes this results in a song that has a deeper meaning than you might initially think. Sometimes it’s just as silly a surface idea as it sounds- ‘Piggy Back Ride‘ off the new album, for instance, has a fun riff but I have to admit that it is basically a song about riding around on somebody’s back. Saying that I think some of the songs deal with proper stuff too. I’d just rather people noticed that themselves instead of me pointing it out to make myself sound dead clever. (I’m also painfully aware that I have a very small audience and that these things probably aren’t being thought about much at all.) Of course, the writing process doesn’t really finish-people are always adding elements to even the best songs. I am very appreciative of other musicians fleshing out my initial ideas. Everybody who has ever played with me has brought colour and life to my work.
NSG: Some people may not know this, but along with talented Scottish artist, Steve Lucas, you are in the process of completing a comic-book memoir of your attempts to break into the music industry? What a unique idea, please, please please tell us more!
MB: I wrote a blog which had the conceit of being a guide to what not to do in the music industry. It was writing practice more than anything, but it gained a little following. Then Steve started producing these brilliantly illustrated comic-book versions. You should read them. It has cameos from The Coral and Lee Mavers of The La’s and all sorts of other people who were knocking about back then. But really, it’s about lots of silly wrong-turns that I made as a musician. I try to be as nice about everybody as I can in the comic. I can’t see the point of just lashing out in a nasty and bitter way.
There were probably things I could have gone into deeper. I always thought music people were going to be nice nerds, you see- just making art and stuff- maybe lefty types thinking about, I don’t know, how to help poor people. But if I’m honest, the music scene had a lot of alpha-male wannabes trying to outdo each other- occasionally this could result in random acts of violence and early on I had a “Christ, this is just like school” moment that I never really got over. If the infamous “Golly-pit” of West Derby been transported to Crash rehearsal Studios, I think it probably would have got a lot of use.
The comic is about failure. People who fail in the music industry always have reasons that they trot out for why they failed- I’m no different in this respect. During a period of electro-pop dominating the indie scene, a friend of mine once told me his band hadn’t made it because they weren’t “gay enough.” Sometimes, there’s a hint of truth in what these failed musicians are saying- after all, there are bands that are so tied to a particular time or place that they simply would not have made it in any other era, no matter how good they were. It helps people like me to hang onto these explanations of our failure. But I think it is equally important to remember that loads of people did hear the music we made and, unfortunately, they thought it was shit. Loads of them thought it was dead shit. It’s possible that people ripped our posters off walls and pissed on them. Then wiped their arses with them. Most people, though, just didn’t care either way. You can read the comic via this link: pennylanedreadful.wordpress.com. I want to release a collection of the comics as a book but I’m still trying to figure out how best to do it. I’d love a publisher to do it for me and then reward Steve and I with a big bucket of money each. But that offer hasn’t been on the table yet.
NSG: Who has the coolest or strangest hobby out of your band members?
MB: I’m not sure how to answer this- at first I was thinking “is there a hobby that one of us has that people know about?” But I couldn’t think what that would be. Barry, the guitarist, is a banjo player. And he’s into banjos. Like, he knows stuff about banjos. Chris, the bass player, likes cooking. But that’s not very strange. Ian is a telly addict. He used to make videos of random stuff he’d seen on the telly- this was before YouTube. I remember watching the death of Madge from Neighbours over and over again one summer. In a way, I think he invented YouTube. In a way. Tony Dunne? Strange hobby? I’ll have to get back to you on that. Me? People used to say I was strange for liking comics but recently I heard two checkout girls in the Asda discussing the ins and outs of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so I don’t think that’s strange anymore.
NSG: If you could sit down and have dinner with three people from history, who would they be and why?
MB: Jesus- So I could ask him if he had ever existed- I’m still not sure about the whole idea everyone subscribes to that he has a basis in historical fact. If he satisfied me that he had been real, then I’d ask him if the magic stuff was true. If he insisted it was, I’d want him to do a few tricks while we were waiting for the starter. JFK- So I could count the bullet holes. 8-year-old me so I could show him some future tech to make him rich. I’d also tell him to just go “fucking mental” and bite the ear off Gavin Jones so nobody messes with me again.
NSG: Your lead guitarist Barry, lives in the US, doesn’t he? Does that make things like gigging and recording hard?
MB: So far, we haven’t really come up with a way around this, which is why Tramp gigs are so rare. We all have things outside of the band though. Barry is a member of The Horsenecks a country act that plays all over the states. Ian records as Ian Lane and the Moments of Shame. Chris is a full-time member of The Loose Moose String Band, Tony Dunne records electronic music and puts a lot of his creative energy into his turtle breeding business. I make music as Matt Barton but it’s quite rare. If I’m promoting anything here, it’s the album – I Got Lost Down the Back of My Couch– and my writing. As well as the comic, What would Matt Barton Do? I also write stuff about weird Liverpool on Penny Lane Dreadful… I write fiction but I never finish it…I might do an album if I have the time.
(Extract from Matt’s Penny Lane Dreadful Comic, What would Matt Barton Do?)
NSG: What music are you listening to at the moment? Like what’s on your playlist?
MB: I don’t consume music as voraciously as I once did. But in the last couple of years I’ve been getting into all that Ghost Box records type of thing- you know, fake soundtracks to non-existent BBC Sci-Fi Programmes. The best one, although it’s not actually on Ghost Box, and goes beyond that basic remit, is Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of The Radio Age. It’s boss. I just looked at Spotify to see if there was anything worth mentioning but it would seem I’ve just been mostly listening to The Doors Soft Parade (which is brilliant and hilarious) and The Beach Boys. I bloody love the Beach Boys Gintis are great. And I like a band called Holiday Ghosts– they’re from Brighton I think.
NSG: How did you manage personally through the pandemic? Do you think it changed you or your outlook at all?
MB: Weirdly, I managed quite well. My girlfriend (I suppose you should say “partner” at this age) and I watched loads of old telly shows like The Changes and Moondial. It was mental though. There are times, even now, when it occurs to me just how strange and dramatic the whole thing has been. There’s a series of the programme 24, where, in the last episode, Jack Bauer, after having killed people, blown up nuclear bombs and performed back-flips while having a heart attack, suddenly bursts out crying. That’s how I feel when I think about how mad this shit has been. So I try not to think about it.
NSG: How is the rest of 2022 looking for Tramp Attack and when and where can we get to see you?
MB: As far as Tramp Attack is concerned, I suppose we would just like everybody to listen to our stuff as much as possible. If I manage to get the What would Matt Barton Do? Book out it would be nice if people bought it. It’s possible that we’ll play at Christmas. We used to love doing Christmas gigs and I’ve always wanted to do a Christmas album.
NSG: Thank you so much for your time, we wish you all the luck in the world! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
MB: Thank you for having me. I suppose what I’d like to add is that Tramp Attack comprises, basically, Barry, Ian, Chris Marshall, Tony Dunne and myself. In 2016 we lost the original Tramp, Kristian Ealey when he sadly died at the age of 38. I wish everybody who has ever sailed in the Good-Ship-Tramp Attack the very best. James Redmond- Redmo- who played with the band from 2000-2001, has an album out soon on the amazing AV8 records and I hope it does well for everybody involved. McCabe is about to come back with a new Zutons album- I would love to work with him again at some point- I think We should come up with a concept album- maybe about when Bear Grylls had to hunt Raoul Moat while Paul Gascogne offered beer and butties. Me and a guy called Picko have already discussed this. But I’d be just as happy with him noodling on a Tramp Attack tune. If he’s up for it of course. Tramp Attack will deffo do more
Please listen to I got Lost Down the Back of my Couch while you await the next instalment in the Tramp Attack story!
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