The lore of it, I say that I'm in one quarter of the swatch that one of my grandparents says that's a swatch. Hello and welcome to WNC Original Music, episode 159, the Fair Value Option episode. This week I am very happy to have on the show Squatch. Squatch is led by Burke County native Matt Masterson.
It's an ever-evolving collective of musicians, hand-picked by Matt Masterson. It's had a lot of iterations over the years. I just wanted to be able to say iterations and save that word. This song is talked a lot about growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, traveling the world, and landing right back in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Been wanting to have Matt on for a long time, so glad we finally put this together. We're going to have a few selections off of his EP, which is also titled Squatch. And you can find that at SquatchyVibes.Vancamp.com. Also look for more links in the show notes as usual.
Now here is Squatch. The Cotton Candy Sky is written on a roof, as is the lyrics. A lot of my stuff is pretty autobiographical, and then take that and put it through a lens of looking at the world itself too. And this one was written under Cotton Candy Sky's on a roof, as the refrain mentions.
And then the verse of it is actually almost verbatim at Peter McWilliams' home. It's from a really, really cool collection that just goes through the first tingles of butterflies in your stomach all the way through the demise of a relationship. And it called me immediately when I read it and said that that was going to be the first of it. And I've been trying for quite a while to reach out.
He passed quite a bit ago and publishing company no longer exists. And I think I would love to have anything I come in, like work out a structure of what they would make from it. And so if anybody out there, anybody decided from Peter McWilliams, I would be able to speak to that. Every interview I try to make sure that I put that out there.
Where is someone driving him that might be interested? And just to hear it, I'd love for them to hear what I've done with that work and how I was inspired by it. Right. Where were these songs?
Where'd you record all these? I recorded them. Swatch Studio is more or less my name, my recording process under and it changes. It's very mobile.
And so it's like suffice to say it was swatch studio in a basement in South Asheville. And that's really good equipment and completely untreated space, but then just cared for greatly. And then it was also the songs were mastered, the ETO was mastered by Tim Husk, who also works on a kind of mobile style. He's the founding member and organizer for the I Wouldn't Family Band, which no one's heard highly recommend looking at them.
And so I thought the swatch name was the significance of that. It's funny, a lot of people are like, oh, you just thought you were swatch, I'm like, absolutely not. That's a kind of weak to the pretense that I steer away from. It was so long ago now.
And it was a Shakori Hills, maybe like the second year they were doing it, I think. And I had split up from a group that I was camping with and they all went off one way and then they came back to the main field. If anybody's familiar with the Shakori Hills venue, so not gigantic, but a pretty large field. And they spotted me from the opposite corner of the field where they were coming in and saw me.
And I was dancing with my arms kind of flailing in the way that the swatch's arms walk. They're like that famous photo of my arms are just doing that move and they saw it from way far away and it made me swatch them. And it took a while for me to really embrace that. I just thought it was a neat thing.
And then over more and more time, I was like, that's it. That's the name to run with. Has that caused you to have any kind of following them on the swatch hunting populace? Absolutely.
There's a few hats of mine that I saw that are on heads of people that will probably never hear my music. It just loves Sasquatch and swatches. And I have a plan to get a little more involved in the Bigfoot festivals that happen around the country. That's kind of a next season goal.
It's a big shout to a lot of those because we make a lot of sense to have banned on their stage calls to watch instead of just whoever was available at the local. I think there's probably more Sasquatch podcasts than or music podcasts. So you might want to try to go on some of those. There are a ton of them.
Don't tell them who you are. Just contact them under your name and say, hey, I want to be on your podcast. We have swatch. I'd like to talk about swatches.
I am a swatch. If you'd like to talk or realize, go watch the lore of it and say that I'm in one quarter swatch that one of my grandparents has a Sasquatch. The name is a mash of two words last and and it also is kind of like from that space. This is my last stand.
But lyrically, let's see, I've been running down that same old path that I swear could never last and is what happens in the hook. The namesake of it. But I wanted to be two words so you could see his last stand as well because it is a song about making a last stand and trying to do better in pet life. And it has one of my favorite parts to do.
I really love whenever I want to play in this live and I see some folks actually embrace what's happening. The bridge, the bridge happens short and then much longer the second time. And the first time is just to acclimate. The second time is to actually practice square breathing.
The lyrics and the bridge are just in two, three, four, hold two, three, four out two, three, four, hold two, three, four, which is the guidance for square breathing, which is the guidance for square breathing, which is the guidance for square breathing. The first verse is pretty dark and the second verse is much more hopeful and the square breathing is the bridge, is the bridge between those two things that happened. Like how I went from being in such a dark place to being able to handle things a little better. And it certainly wasn't, I just started square breathing and everything was fine.
It's not the, our things I'm curious approach for any Reddit users out there. It's much more just the searching for coping mechanisms or searching for coping skills or replacing coping mechanisms and then putting them in practice will be helpful. Will it turn your whole life around? Probably not.
You need to do much more than just that. But that's one of the big things. It's just, I swear, almost every day at some point when I start getting overwhelmed, even if it's just for 40 seconds, it works for me. And I'm not saying that's the one for everyone.
But it, after looking through a lot of different coping skills and working through a bunch of them, was that helpful, like taking my own emotional pulse afterwards. That's always been helpful. I've always gotten a little more calm. A lot of my work is from a place of mental illness and dealing with it, be that mine or someone that I'm close with.
So I think that's why that bit is one of my favorites in all of it. It doesn't just talk about what it's like, but it offers direction towards something that might be helpful as well. You write all these, you're out of these by yourself. Do you co-write with people sometimes?
High style life is co-written lyrically. I write all the music for things and then there are co-writes from Sarah Grissell on these songs. It's just a lot of it in the moment where I'm writing it and she's like, oh, I think this, or either I would request something from her, or she would put something down on it. I'm like, oh, this would go really well there.
And that's the case in high style life that the lyric she hears singing. And musically, yeah, musically, I just know I think most songwriters have a songwriting process. I write this and then I write this and it stays pretty regular for most songs. I talk to you for me.
It really can go either way. I might have some lyrics that I'm really loving lyrics. And even then the songs kind of written the vocal melody in place and that writes the chords. So the chords are decided by the vocal melody.
And a lot of times I just have this progression where I say with the progression sometimes for years, just like this progression. Here are the words. They just all come together. And this is one where it's kind of all at once.
I just sat down with the guitar and I'll just kind of pour it out together. Oh, what's your musical background? Oh, musical background. There's a whole lot I have recorded hip hop and a trap in Brooklyn.
I played in punk and metal bands, the kid. I played in the punk scene, but with a lot of country influence for Fagors in Greensboro, where I was cutting teeth. I'm really familiar with Maddie Sheets. He has an open mic there now.
And he had one long ago at a different venue where I really learned to step up like all the musicians that were playing. They were really phenomenal. And I was like, okay, you better practice. I think that's where I really started to go from just sit down and do a thing to crafting.
Yeah, I'd say hip hop, punk and metal at various stages. Those were things that were pushed through a filter of being raised on classics like Classic Rock, meaning 60, 70s. Classic Rock. Kind of differentiate at this point what Classic Rock might be.
You're talking about the outfield. There's a Classic Rock, isn't it? Speaking of talking heads, CCR, Bob Dylan, Joggy Nachal, JNSCN. The one that stuck out the most I think would be John Prine.
It was easily the most influential songwriter to me. I like to take the quote that Steve Rold denied saying he said, it sounds like he's the best songwriter and he'll stand on Bob Dylan's Coffee Table in his Calwig Wistens. And I like to flip that and say that John Prine is the best songwriter that ever lived. And I will stand on the townspeaker and say it's Coffee Table in my Calwig Wistens.
He captures the ability to have something like Hello in there or Sam Stone, which is some of the saddest songs I've ever heard. And then turn around and give you something like a legal smile. Or please don't bury me. Or is this just this jovial feel?
Yeah. Not afraid to make you laugh or cry or just tell a story. Yeah. Not particularly emotionally driven.
The kind of song where when you're listening to it you might be in the wrong mood or a different mood before and after you realize what the lyrics are. Yeah. Absolutely. I think it's a very good comedian.
Mitch Hedberg, George Carlin, um, who else? Oh, Delphinakis. I would say if anybody just knows him as a guy from the Hangover and then being weird in movies since then, then live at the Purple Onion is just, it's pretty phenomenal. Yeah.
It has its own beat. Like it's, well, you see where he's drawing from other comedians, but he's definitely just got his own style, which I think is pretty rare in comedy in the last 20-30 years for somebody not to be. Obviously just doing another version of somebody else's work. The thing that stands out for me always is when he says on I'm gonna do my impression of the pretentious illiterate Yeah I told you I don't know how to read yeah Charichers are pretty great for gift will be Can't believe this was a right at the top of the list but serious overman.
I think it's just an absolute genius Always the search work right at Comedians I think one of the weirdest things I noticed when I was going through watching some old Star Trek like I think it's Voyager Star Trek gave Usually pretty small roles, but gave roles to aspiring comedians quite a bit like if you go through yeah, like particularly I noticed a Voyager like I can't remember who else was in there But it's just like Sarah Silverman was in an episode Oh, really? Was possibly gonna be a character that they kept on and something happened without they're looking pretty something slightly different But yeah, they really gave a lot of convenience You know, that's a huge role if you're just doing clubs on a strip and like you get a shot at Star Trek like that's probably paid At least what we get right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I might have paid your rent Anybody that's in creative work You get your rent paid on one gig right?
Yeah, it's very solid and you get saying the union so you get your medical benefits I guess you and saying more from Matt and just a few moments want to remind you that you can find Squatch his Recording project at Squatchy vibes.bancap.com and a few other places look for those links in the show notes Also, don't forget to subscribe to WNC original music wherever you get your podcast or go to WNC original music.com or Google WNC original music or as the smartest person you know, hey, where can I find WNC original music? Hey friends, it's Rose Sattage here and you're listening to WNC original music so sit back relax and enjoy the show Corrections and clarifications from the last episode with Crava Mico ExpressO is a word, but it's not coffee related It's actually the language that twins teach each other so we were both right where should what's the best place for people to find your music? We can get it pretty much anywhere that you get music The only one I particularly like to name drop is bandcamp because that also has merch on it That could be bought I've got the EPD on vinyl and CD there are stickers for sale there caps You have the caps on bandcamp. Oh that is a direct thing You know, like if you send me a message on any like any social media with at Squatchy vibes and then and bandcamp is Squatchy vibes dot bandcamp.com I think you can even send a message on there But if I send you a message that I'd send a picture of what hats are available They're all individual is not like one set hat anyone you get That's the only one that's gonna be exactly like that Sometimes the color schemes get similar or the styles get similar but something is different on a reasonable hat And so no one's gonna have that and I love like, you know, I think that works with the individual Yeah, the duality of what a Sasquatch kind of represents the future in the woods No, no two Sasquatch is insane.
Yeah, yeah And I think that's really reminds me of some kind of funny the Use of the word snowflake as a negative thing this cracks me up like you're an individual I don't like you you're special All fragile so like get out of here That's using it at this point. It's just thrown back and forth Everybody's calling each other snowflakes and using it as a bad thing. I'm a yeller. That's similar the word weird weird Emologically just means knowing your own destiny and chasing after it so like I You can call me a weird snowflake anytime.
Yeah, nothing but grateful for that, right? That's what you do you aspire to that so yeah, yeah If I'm not a weird snowflake, then yeah, I guess I should go sell insurance Who are some who are some local or independent musicians that you wish people listen to more besides, you know yourself? Oh We're in the one mr. Game Agsdale.
I love he plays with chase holiday They both sing songs for road soda and shedding many more people should hear Um Those guys are just absolutely family I mentioned I wouldn't family been earlier, but Tim is doing great work he Pretty much plays with a new pickup band almost everywhere it goes which is just blows my mind to always be working with artists that are only vaguely familiar with the songs and you're just good enough to follow you yeah Super impressive to me when I first heard about that. I didn't think it was real I was like I was like so you you know do you get there like a week before and practice with them? You know just you know So they don't know it and tell them what key it's in and you know just hope for the best, you know One of my favorite music jokes that I've got pick up bander Just like a couple people I haven't played before yeah I think myself and half of the songwriters in the world have a lot of songs in C and I love turning back to somebody that's new Hey, this one's in B shark Which if you're not musically inclined it goes straight from B to C there's no shark right B shark would be C It's just I love a dumb joke and that's one of my favorites other musicians I scream James and dr. Bacon absolutely love Drex for Brian's crush it There's so many so many local musicians that I think deserve more than what they're getting and I also have been trying to make a point of Grabbing people that have been playing living rooms and around campfires a lot and getting them up on stages with me Okay, my dear friend Shana Brian plays with me a good number of times and Here I didn't realize it was the first time I hear him say that the song he led at our release show It was the first time he had led us on with guitar and singing it on a stage.
Oh, and it Did it like you've been doing it his whole life here because he has just the microphone wasn't right there in the empire place right, but I Think like most my favorite musicians are mostly playing in those settings and there's no good reason why they shouldn't get paid to be on stage Do what are your favorite venues to play or some good ones that you played? Oh, I love the slagrag and It's you know right now it's outdoor only, but it's just a really cool space no matter What version of it has been an existence like it's always just the people behind it and the community that supports it or both just Yeah, they care so much and they have such a cool vision It's really changed if I mean the original was like a coffee shop like a yeah Sing or songwriter coffee shop place and then it was like a Almost underground when it changed like it moved over and it was like almost an underground place and now it's like a fairly large venue Yeah, now it's everything. Yeah, but now there's nothing nothing regular nothing else. Yeah Let's see I only mentioned slide rock as far as when you guys I'm a man doing some work at one world west I think the sound there is phenomenal indoors and outdoors And they work really hard to support the music community and then this spot great.
Well nowhere See they won't see this, but I've got this pillow from there from the artist Andy here. It says art gallery slash bar He was where is what's in that place great? Well nowhere in the river arts district. Oh, okay, and Yeah, we were playing there August 13th.
I don't know this might be out a little after that Yeah, we play in there when I was 13 with the old one to date party after and it's It is our gallery and a bar with indoor stage and then I think we're gonna be working it as an outdoor stage It's just it has a lot of options in Andy's just a super cool guy cool Has a really neat thing going on. It's like I think There's a ton of venues I love but I spend a lot of time in the one stop to you Only only played there once and had a great experience playing there, but I just just like Something going on always and I appreciate that aspect almost more than anything else like this If I if there's just nothing happening in town, it's the place I know I can go and ask for it Right. So somebody's playing some kind of music right right that night whatever night it is Fairly obvious. It's titled sad.
It's about being sad and one of the big reasons I want to do it is highlighting that it's okay You know, we all get sad at some point. That's that's a perfectly acceptable thing to be sad I think society often tells us that it's not okay And you need to hide that side or seem to hide things that are super happy and I just Have the most positive stuff that I've written and released on the CP like the four other songs are quite positive And if they're not completely positive they like push towards a positive direction throughout the song and not just like staying in that dark place that a lot of my music is in and I was trying to decide what I mean It needs to be offset because I am a sad songwriter like I write stuff that embraces that sadness that people feel often Yeah, even if somebody's not dealing with depression or in any or just a hard time that they're going through You know, they're so sad It might be a sunny day and you're around friends even been like normal people might just like get hit my little But I said this is a whole lot of trauma in the world sure and that's gonna see been even in the best moment sometimes Yeah, this song is from a place of one people feel okay with that. Yeah, so are there ways that you incorporate Awareness mental awareness awareness more subtly into your songs It's usually not particularly subtle right This highlighted in this one called sad and then the single from the full length that I'm in the studio with Michael Dowell at those studios right now working on the single from that is called mental health day Mm-hmm, and that's pretty intentional. I'm sure there are a lot of moments that I don't realize are addressing this addressing mental illness that though and much more focused on Making it very apparent.
Yeah, and like just making it feel I'm trying to make it okay They say hey, it's fine to talk about these things. This is your reality This is your experience and I wouldn't ever want anybody in this world to feel like they can't share their reality and their experience Just because it's not bright and bubbly and fun. Yeah, you know, I mean, I'd say maybe poolside on pool day That's not the time to go into it with your friends. There are times and places You know, let's bring all the status there, but even then there's been moments of a weird something comes up I'm like hey, let's step over here and that friend and I will go over.
Yeah Yeah, somebody is on shine. Yeah, there's somebody waiting for somebody to open up, you know throw that opening to them So they can say hey, you know, I'm honestly on that to you. Yeah. Yeah, like with mental health day I've spent a number of times where I played that either live or just in a living room We're campfire setting and a little while later after playing it.
Somebody come up and you'd be like thank you I really needed that and you that could be just pushed out so loud Like share it in front of everybody like I feel like I'm having this conversation with you because you played that song And now and then that person might go into what's going on their life and we can have a really real discussion Which you know, I'm not gonna get that same response out of I've got a song called good moon rising. That's really fun and it goes in to having issues sometimes, but it's not that deep right? Like it's not gonna invoke those feelings. I really do love just hitting things directly as I can What's a movie what movie do you think the most in your life?
Movie have you wait what movie have you seen the most in your life? Probably the fifth element. Oh, yeah, I've seen the most Yeah, I would imagine I put it on and it's it could be close though because I had a copy of pop fiction on VHS And maybe two or three other movies on VHS And I think that played there's like a tool shed left from when my dad moved from the family And then the tool shed kind of sat until I turned it into my own extra space, right? Right hang out and we've TV and VCR out there And it's only a handful is like both fiction rush hour two and maybe whatever movie and the public should play almost daily in that place Oh, but but watch with intent.
I would say right put on and watch start to finish where I'm actually watching movie I said the element I love sci-fi, but I love tongue-in-cheek sci-fi like the Douglas Adams Kurt wanna get into that sci-fi world where it's silly and fun. Oh, yeah, what's your favorite vacation spot? I'm doing like a I'm doing like a tiger beat interview now. Yeah, I love it.
I love it My sister had the JTT poster up on the wall I love the light I live in Hawaii for a year and it's it's a super special place to that I love the feeling and the land in the area. I think I'm exploring looking for my favorite vacation spot And sure I'll find it, you know, but there's a lot of world to look out to you. I think my favorite vacation spot is somewhere new That's that's the short answer. It's like somewhere new is where I want to be All right, big thanks to Matt Masterson aka Squatch for being on the podcast Don't forget to find his music at SquatchyVives.bancamp.com also follow his social media So you see the shows he has coming up.
We'll also have a few upcoming shows on the podcast social media So you'll be kind of hard to escape honestly speaking of the podcast don't forget to follow the WNC original music wherever you get your podcast and Follow on Instagram and Facebook and all the other places mainly just Instagram and Facebook This week's closing song comes from Aranda Koyt Dodge. I probably won't say that once They're an indie bluegrass country ban from Austin, Texas And they consist of Eric Leger, Rita Bliss and Jimmy Scott Calhoun They've got an EP out now and you can find them on arandacoit dodge.com. Oh, I said twice I'm not gonna try to spell that you're gonna have to check the show notes, but it's a really good EP. Check it out I said it three times three different ways.
Have a good week