My buddies Steve and Mike have done some
touring with Shai Hulud over the years, which is actually how they met and came
to form their current (sick) project called Hollow Earth. At some point along
the way they met Tom while touring with Hulud, and eventually recruited him to
play with Earth for a while.
Anyway, they were super stoked when they
first told me that he was gonna join the band, and true to form, when I met him
I found him to be a truly awesome dude. He’s since had to step out of Hollow
Earth and move back to Long Island, but we’ve kept up on social media and whatnot
so I was pumped a few weeks ago when he said he had self-recorded and was
self-releasing some new songs he’d been working on under the moniker Servant.
As always, I wanted to know more about
the project, as well as get to know Tom a little better. So yeah, all hail the
DIY spirit!
So the first time I met you, you
literally stepped out of the van while touring with Shai Hulud, and having not
practiced with them even one time, played a show on bass with Hollow Earth,
proceeded to play your last show with Hulud, quit on the spot and then joined
Hollow Earth, leaving for tour with them the very next day. That was probably
one of the most epic and ballsy things I've ever seen anyone do, haha. So two
questions....number one, did you have any sort of formal musical training as a
kid, and if not, how did you develop the ability to just learn music by ear?
You make me
sound way more badass than I am for sure haha. I started playing guitar when I
was 9 and took about a year of lessons from a friend of my dad's. I never
really took it seriously until I started playing in bands. I really decided to
try and actually learn what I was doing when I was playing in the band The
World We Knew and would sit for hours practicing and writing songs. That was
also around the time I started to learn about recording which helped me out
massively.
Number two, you obviously just do not
give a fuck! How did you come to develop that sense of confidence and that
feeling of just doing whatever you want and rolling with it?
I never thought
of myself as a confident person but reading your question back I guess it would
appear I am?! I suppose I just really stopped caring what other people thought.
I spent a lot of time worrying about how my actions would be perceived by
others (and I still do), but instead of sitting around and being miserable in
certain situations, I just did what I felt would be better for myself and my
own well -being. Playing with Hollow Earth was the best decision I could have
made at that time.
Also, I guess I
do feel more comfortable playing music than doing anything else.
So talk about your time in The World We
Knew. I seem to remember that band being fairly active for a good number of
years. What were the highlights of that project and what lessons did you draw
from it that you applied later when you were jamming with Hulud and Earth?
My time in The
World We Knew isn't easy to sum up. I joined the band playing guitar when I was
19 and we rushed right into trying to tour and play out as much as much as
possible and I worked on trying to come up with as much material as possible
and recording mostly DIY. Me and everyone else at the time had different ideas
of how we should go about things and it severed some good friendships I had. I
went on to play in a few other bands on the Island and worked and went to
school.
Flash forward
about eight years and bands to playing a show with none other than Shai Hulud!
I reconnected with Frank who sang for the band. He soon got in touch with me
about playing bass for them for their upcoming tours. It was very weird at
first playing bass in a band that I helped start out with all different members
but it was a fun experience. I had a different role where I was just playing
someone else's songs for a change and it was a very welcome change of pace. I
definitely picked up some good experience being out with them and every band I
played with in between.
How did you wind up getting involved with
Shai Hulud? What aspects of that experience lined up with what you were
expecting, and what things were different (for better or for worse)?
My tenure with
Hulud came about the same way presumably as most; friend-of-friend mentioned
they needed someone. I had become friends with people who sang for the band in
the past, one being Mike Moynihan, and they were in circles of friends close to
me at the time. I got a text from a friend saying Hulud was looking for a
singer. I went home, recorded me yelling over instrumentals and e-mailed them
in. I got a response from Fletcher saying it reminded him of Integrity and I
laughed and assumed that was that.
About a month
later Fox messaged me on Facebook saying he knows I sent a vocal tryout, but
also knew I played guitar and that they were in more need of a guitarist at the
time. I drove down to Jersey and barely hacked through “Profound Hatred Of Man”
with him and went home thinking "well that was awful." The next thing
I know he's calling me telling me I need to send him scans of my passport
because I'm going on a tour that Metallica is headlining.
I thought this
was honestly some inside fucked-up joke being played on me and then a few days
later I see the line-up for Soundwave announced with Metallica headlining and
Shai Hulud being just announced. For the next few weeks I drove out to Jersey
and learned as many songs as I could and now you and several other people know
me as "that other guy who played guitar after Tony."
I really didn't
know what to expect from playing with Hulud. I was always a fan and had seen
them play packed-out shows and some lackluster shows, but every time I had a
blast. In retrospect, all I can say is no matter what, Matt Fox will always
pull something together and keep Hulud going.
Touring with
Hulud overall was one of the best experiences I've had. I saw places I honestly
never thought I'd have the chance to see and I got to meet some really good
people. Not to mention connect with friends and family of mine all over the
world. Hulud introduced me to people that I consider some of my favorite
friends that I still talk to almost every day. There were ups and downs through
it all but overall it was an unreal experience and I'm grateful it was offered
to me even if it was out of desperation, haha.
I know towards the ends of your time in
Hollow Earth the responsibilities of adulthood sort of started catching up with
you which brought you back home to Long Island.
Talk to us about that transition out of tour mode and the process of
starting your new project Servant.
The end of my
time touring with Tha Earf was kind of abrupt; it wasn't something that was set
like "okay, this is my last tour with these dudes" or "this is
my last show playing with them". Life just happened and that was that.
Transitioning back to the "civilian life" wasn't and still isn't easy
sometimes. I have a steady job now working at a record store which isn't
glamorous but it pays the bills and then some. I have a house where I live with
my girlfriend and we're slowly fixing it up. It's a big difference from the
impulsiveness I've grown accustomed to!
Going from
ending a tour with absolutely no money and a one-way plane ticket to start
another tour to now; I actually have money set aside and I don't owe anyone
anything. It's like a major shock. I miss touring; waking up somewhere
different every day and seeing what dumb stuff me and the boys would get into
that day, seeing old friends from home who moved elsewhere, and most of all
EATING. I wouldn't give up anything I have now but I do hope to get back to it
at some point. I'll be a part time punk, weekend warrior or something!
As for Servant,
in between tours with Holla, I just started writing some heavier songs and
figured I'd try and get friends here on the Island to play some shows here and
there. I wrote about five and then after being back home for good, I wrote
about fifteen more. I decided I had enough material to work with and reached
out to some friends about playing, had a few practices, and even tracked some
vocals with other people, but as it does, life got in the way. People got busy,
changed jobs, etc. and after sitting on these songs for over a year, I just
decided to record vocals myself, mixed it, and sent it to Audiosiege to have it
mastered by Brad Boatright. Instead of just releasing it online for free like
I've done with other projects, I went through and actually got some 45’s
pressed!
Damn, that's so tight! I noticed the
first one is a lathe, where did you get it done?
The first one I
got done by VinylOnDemand. Check them out at www.vinylondemand.com. They do
super small runs with no minimum. It's pricey but if you only want like 10
copies of something, it's worth it. Quality wise, it sounds just like a pressed
record.
I think for a lot of music nerds like us,
there’s this idea that working at a record store is sort of a dream job. Is it
awesome or like any job do you find it feeling like a grind?
Working at a
record store is definitely a cool gig but there is far more work than one would
realize. I figured I'd ring up customers and post a few social media updates
and that would be that. The store I work at is one of the bigger independent's
on the East Coast so we have a lot of crazy promotions and in-store events
where bands come and play or do signings, etc. which is always interesting when
the tour/band life overlaps with my work.
We've had bands
like Counterparts and Stray From The Path play in the store as well as people
like Frank Turner and New Found Glory (Hulud brotherhood 4Lyfe). Being an
independent store, we only have 4 employees but still maintain a retail
storefront as well as an online presence through marketplaces like Amazon,
eBay, Discogs, and our own webstore. It's very fast-paced and quite the
opposite of what most people would believe. Picture Jim Breuer's character in Half-Baked,
it's the exact opposite of that.
Now that the two records are out
physically, are you planning on recruiting some of the people you originally
started writing with to play some shows, or are the records the end game for
now?
Now that there's
some music out there, the goal is to get a couple of schmucks together to make
some loud noise in front of people. Ideally, I would like to just play guitar
but we'll see what happens. I still have another 15+ songs already written for
this project so I'd like to head into a studio and do an LP within the next
year. I really haven't set any expectations for this project; it's something I
just wanted to do, so I'm doing it, haha.
Man, I love that you're just going for
it! Have you always had that sort of DIY gumption or has it been borne more out
of necessity since you've been home?
I've always
tried to do everything I can on my own. I just hate relying on other people and
if something goes wrong, I'm responsible for it. With this project, I didn't
feel like I could go to a label or friend and say "Hey, here's this thing
I'm doing but it's not REALLY a band but I want you to put it out anyway."
Tying back to my job at the record store, they run a small label from the
storefront as well which deals with vinyl reissues and licensing stuff so I
picked their brains, got a few contacts, and went from there. I had a local guy
from the Island cut a lacquer for me; Alex Abrash of AA Mastering and he put in
a word at Gotta Groove and that was that. It was cool because it's not music he
normally worked with but he was really excited about it!
While I guess
this wasn't entirely out of necessity because I just wanted to do it on my own,
I don't think anyone would be sinking money into a "band" that hasn't
played a show and has no plans of touring, haha. Hopefully that will change soon
and maybe I can convince someone to hook me up with a studio to track some loud
ass, mean songs for said LP.
For that LP, are you thinking of
self-recording again or would you prefer to have someone else engineer it? And do you foresee doing it all solo again or
would you wait to record until you have a full (or at least partial) band in
place this time around?
If I get
impatient enough, I will probably self-record again, but I'd have someone else
mix the next time around. I already have everything tracked musically! I would
like to head into a studio and I'd probably just bring a drummer. It would be a
nice change of pace to just focus on playing.
Talk a little bit about the lyrical focus
of the material, particularly of the songs on the two 7 inches....
Lyrically it's
pretty straightforward. I'm not very good at being cryptic with the exception
of maybe the last song, haha.
I'm just saying
the same things that have been said before. I've got nothing new or profound to
say, just reiterations. Everything I ever could've wanted to sing about has
been done by Propagandhi or Burn.
Scornful
cynic, outcast,
your claim
sincere in hate
of the light
serving a
reminder of what you’ll never have
cast yourself
outside
writhing in a
sorrow
writhing in a
fear
of being welcome
of being loved
coward, caitiff,
your truth
burn down the
bridges you’ve been building
falling into
despair
you will fall
cast yourself
outside
you’ve cast
aside
any hope of
finding more
in sorrow,
you’ll die alone
die alone
you coward
you fool
you will fall
- - - - -
Unbridled Earth
this world was
not made to serve man
with the rising
tide and skies of ash
Mother Nature
will expel human existence
we’ve ushered in
our own demise
Earth be no
bridled beast
we have yet to
learn
we’re no masters
just servants
- - - - -
Son Of Civilization
I am a bastard
son
a son of
civilization
with a blind
thirst
we trudge on and
on
trying to hold
the reins that harness the Earth
controlling life
to grow, to
breed, to die at our will
asserting man’s
rightful place as ruler of the globe
depleting
resources
shaping her face
to our liking
with disregard
of a sustainable future
- - - - -
From The Dark
never left the
shackles of sadness
left one cell
for another
the walls change
but never the confinement
pleasing all
before the self
it’s what I’m
made to do
lowered deeper
in an internal hell
with a smile,
I’ll be burning
I blame you for
what you’ve given me
you brought your
solace
you brought a
light
it ripped me
from the dark
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