Imagine, if you will, browsing the internet. Maybe it’s on Instagram or TikTok, there’s a video of some kid building a sandcastle, some weird lip syncing video, some obscure meme, then BAM! A man takes over your screen. It’s not just a man. It’s a man WITH a matchstick head with giant nipples that has successfully hijacked your attention and he’s playing a serenade. What do you do? What could you do? What will he do to you?
He’s actually just going to play his own original music and make podcasts in St. Louis. His name is Matt F. Basler, by the way, not the matchstick-head-big-nipples guy. He’s traveled across states, playing his music with his band, making wild edits, and now is writing 52 songs in a single year! Today we wanted to talk to Matt and learn about what he’s up to and just how he does it.
Hello Matt! Can you tell us about yourself and your history with the music scene?
“Oh boy oh gosh, I’m just a guy having fun and making whatever I want to make. Cool songs and weird videos and anything that feels good. I’ve played in a bunch of bands around St. Louis. I am currently being Matt F Basler and drumming with Middle Class Fashion.”
I’ve noticed that your discography encompasses a diverse range of genres and instruments. You have Anything Can Be a Song that has elements of rock, then you follow it up with Feelin’ Kinda Lonesome, focusing on Country. How’s your process been with exploring these different genres?
“Well, we made ‘I’m Gonna ____ Your ___’ which is an album of synth covers of modern country songs about beating people up. Partially as an apology for making a mockery of country music, and partially as a big long April Fools joke, I thought it would be funny to make a very sincere album of country originals. If you look at my social media from that era, you won’t find a single video of me puking ranch dressing or laying around with giant nipples and twenty foot limbs. I was a serious country guy for a month. We did an album release show, and after four or five of the country songs, I tore my pants off (my beautiful, perfect lover Courtney made me tear away pants) to reveal my gold shorts. It was all a ruse. April Fools. We gotcha. But we also made a pretty good little country album, too!
So I guess most of time the reason I do anything is because I think it’s funny.”
In Feelin’ Kinda Lonesome, I noticed it really separates itself from other country albums with its energy and lyrics. I don’t think there was a single truck in there. How was the writing process for the album?
Making the album was a joke, but the album isn’t a joke. These are the country songs I would write if I wrote country music. Which, I guess I do – or did. Most of the songs are just me writing songs how I normally would, then working with the wonderful Dylan Clubb to morph them into a more authentic country sound. I feel like rock n’ roll and country are basically the same rooms with different decorations. Maybe the songs on Feelin’ Kinda Foolish are a little more lyrically direct than I’d typically write, but I don’t know if that’s always true.
While listening to your Podcast, you mentioned wanting your band to have multi-instrumental players so that a listener couldn’t tell which member was playing the guitar or bass. What are your thoughts on this choice?
“Oh gosh, I don’t remember saying this. Also, almost everything I say on the podcast is insane bullshit. I don’t think this is a thing I actually care about at all. Everyone in the band does play multiple instruments, but I can’t really think of a time they’ve done it in this particular project. I wouldn’t take anything I say on the podcast as true. And I want everyone to get the credit they deserve for the parts they’ve played or come up with! Man, I’ll have to find this episode. What the hell was I talking about?
First of all, let me say that I 100% believe that I said that on the podcast. Second of all, let me say that I do not remember 100% of the things I have said on the podcast.”
It’s okay; we know when you say you’re editing nipples onto yourself in promos that you’re hiding the truth from us. How many nipples do you truly have?
“It just depends on the day.”
Jokes aside, how do you make your promos and how would you describe your brand?
“I would never put jokes aside. But currently I use After Effects and Premiere for most of the nipple content. Working on wrapping my head around Blender. I desperately want to add the Z axis to the nipples. I want them to be long and dangling, flapping with physics. This is my dream.”
I noticed that you’ve set a goal to write 52 songs in a year – 4 songs a month! What made you want to do this?
“I just take way too long to finish songs. I’ll be ‘working’ on them for months, but really just thinking about working on them. I get worried that I’ll wrap it up too soon and then later I’ll have the perfect idea but oh no it’s too late, the song is released. This has never happened to me, but just the fear of it has kept me from completing songs. I am hoping this will help me get over that. So far, I don’t notice any real quality difference between the songs I’ve done for this and the songs I’ve labored over for months in the past. You gotta trust yourself sometimes! I want to be prolific. I want to die with a huge catalog of songs for people to pour over and look for clues to some imagined throughline.”
What’s your process for making those songs?
“I’m trying to be very loose with it. Sometimes I’m finishing up old ideas, other times I’m writing a brand new song in a day. A sort of side goal for this is to get better at home recording, so some songs are written around a recording technique I want to try or improve.
I’m also already behind. Our van was stolen (and then recovered!) and two weeks of songwriting and recording time went to insurance phone calls and DMV visits. We just did a short run of shows and I never found time to write during that trip either. So another secondary goal for this is to learn to not drop something and consider it a failure if it isn’t going exactly the way I planned. If I find some weeks with extra down time to catch up, that’s great – but If I end up with 52 songs in a year and two months, that is also great.”
Besides the 52 songs in a year, what are your goals moving forward?
I want to get rich.
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Some musicians play better than they can sing while some sing better than they can play. What makes Matt’s music special is that he does both and balances them perfectly. We personally are always excited to see what Matt releases next as we’re never sure what genre’s going to be next but there’s one thing for sure, we’re going to love it.
You can find all about Matt on his website directly and listen to his music on Spotify. Or, if you want to see what we described in the intro, you can check out his Instagram.