Matty Mullins 3

By Jackie Cular

Matty Mullins, lead singer of Memphis May Fire, takes a pause during Ice Jam to answer some more questions.

TheCuttingEdgeCulture: “ Do you have the freedom to choose your own tours?“

Matty Mullins:  “To an extent yeah, I guess like once a month we’ll get like a certain amount of offers for whatever tours are coming up and we can just say that we would rather do this one than that one. We leave most of it up to our booking agent because he knows best you know?"

TCEC:  “It’s kind of cliché, this concept of ‘sex drugs and rock and roll,’ and I know that that is not the type of person you are; you’re married and you have a very a specific and fundamental moral system. How do you maintain your sanity and stay grounded while so many people on tours are not?”

MM: “I think that really the key is surrounding yourself with the right people. I’ve been so blessed being in a band with four other dudes with a great set or morals and they’re not out to hook up with chicks every night and get wasted and everything. These dudes have solid heads on their shoulders and everybody is just in it to write and play music and hopefully change lives and inspire people. We are all in it for the same reasons, so it’s easier for me than it is for someone who is in a band with a bunch of partiers or whatever.”

TCEC: “Songs on The Hollow were based on more of a destructive life style. Now that you’re married, what do you use to influence your writing now?”

MM:  “I’ve been married for almost six years now. So there is only one song on The Hollow that is about me at all. Ii wrote the record as a concept album and each song is told by the perspective of somebody that I know very well, either a family member or a close friend and the things that I’ve seen them go through. I really wanted to write a record that had a song that anybody could relate to and that fans could really attach to, and use as an emotional outlet. So i know there’s a lot of things I haven't personally been through that a lot of my fans have so it worked out really well.”

TCEC: “What is the one song that is about you?”

MM:  “So, the song ‘The Victim’ is just about me and my experiences in the music industry and so that one is about me but the rest are about good friends of mine. I grew up with an amazing father and I am so blessed to have that, and one of my close friends did not and it was a really rough situation watching him go through that as we grew up and that was very inspiring to me so i definitely wrote song about that.  And then you know that relationship stories are about certain family members of mine that I’m not going to name personally obviously but, it’s been amazing because I’ve noticed that on previous records I’ve written a lot about myself and my current views and opinions, and it’s not so much relatable as raw intimate song writing that fans can say, ’oh my god that happened to me’ or  ‘that songs about me’ and to me that’s what its really all about is just letting our music be more than just a song.”

TCEC: “How did you come up for the concepts in the video ‘The Sinner’?”

MM: “It was partially us and partially the producers that did the music video. It has a very specific treatment, and the shots of me in the suit are symbolic for me as a believer and also with my own set of morals and values. But obviously like it’s just like anybody else, being really susceptible to be consumed by sin and so the shot of me covered in blood and worms is me as a believer watching being consumed by sin. But the overall story, the video ends that the sin never catches up to me and that I am never consumed by it and that I make it out. That to me is like everyday life of a believer, it’s never easy.”

TCEC: “How was is physically being covered in blood and worms?”

MM:  “Honestly, I think it was one of the weirdest experiences I have ever been in. At first i think it was terrible because i had to lay in there with no shoes on so the worms where like going in between my toes. And that honestly was one of the worst feelings ever. But the worst part was since i was laying down in it, when i sat up there were all kinds of worms and things in my hair. So our base player was like pulling worms out of my hair and also in the process smashing them like all the worms guts in my hair. We were shooting the music video out in the woods and the producer had a house in the woods and i couldn't go in to the house covered in worms, so they had to hose me down in like 30 degree weather outside. And then right after that I had to do a scene in water that was like 20 degrees so it was grueling. But we wanted to do a video that showed real emotion and that also had raw emotion. And when u look like I’m in pain, and when i look like I’m struggling.... I really am. But it was worth it.”

TCEC: “Do you think that the industry is over flowing with an abundance of hardcore bands?”

MM: “Absolutely, I think that whatever is popular the market is always going to be over saturated always. And especially these days as oppose to the old days, it took a lot for a band to start up and go on tour but these days it seems like so many bands are on the road. And record labels are signing bands so fast, and if you stick you stick and if you don’t you don’t. So I think that it’s definitely over saturated and you definitely have to stand out if you want to make it. Everybody has got their own thing, and we have never been a really gimmicky band. But we are one of the few bands that will always stay true and write music that we love and also love to play. I think kids pick up on that a lot. You always have to find a way to stand out. We’re still ahead of the game when it comes to that.”

Matty Mullins and the rest of Memphis May Fire will be playing Vans Warped Tour all summer.