HWC Matt Pinfield Interview

We're mad. We're mad. And we're loud. It's all green around it.

You know, every time you see it all over time, it just looks like nothing but dirt and sand around it. I think it's been raining quite a bit lately, which, of course, we need it for a long time, especially with all those fires. So, you know, I mean, it came just a little bit too late. It would have been great if it would have come a little bit sooner for all the people around the hills and everything.

But otherwise, how are you guys doing today? Yeah. Being in Mississippi, we're dealing with 40-degree weather, and it looks basically so much to go, you know. So, yeah, I mean, I really can't complain.

So a little rain is good. We definitely need to rain out here. So it's a good thing. Most definitely.

And for my listeners out there, you have been hearing a voice that sounds familiar to you. And if you'll allow me to do a little intro, maybe I can put two and two together for you. Think about the impact that music and movies have had on one another, specifically the impact that movies have had on the music industry. October 1956.

TV changed music forever when Elvis Presley showed up on The Ed Sullivan Show. Not, you know, eight years later, you get the start of the British Invasion as The Beatles show up again on Ed Sullivan. August 1981. A massive change in the consumption of music as MTV launches as the first all-video network.

God, we miss those days. Then another change came in September of 1991 when Nirvana released the Smells Like Teen Spirit video and introduced the world to grunge, something that we'd all just kind of been, or an alternative, something we hadn't really heard much about. And then in 1999, we all met a somewhat angry bald man from New Jersey who liked alternative music and turned out to be one of my favorite interviewers to ever watch. And it is an honor and a privilege to have him with us today, especially after a recent accident that we will, I'm sure, we'll get into.

Guys, Devin, you too. Help us welcome to the show former host of 120 Minutes on MTV, Mr. Matt Penfield. How are you doing, Matt?

How are you doing, guys? Great to be here with you today. Great to be alive and great to be with you today. Yeah, I mean, we didn't want to start really with the wreck, but that seems like the way to do it because we've been discussing this interview for over a month.

Yeah, I mean, we talked about it, of course, and then I got derailed. I mean, what happened was it was the night of December 3rd. I had literally been crossing the street coming from a coffee shop. It's right over here on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, California.

And I was crossing the street like I've done a thousand times, as so many people do, going back and forth. And as I was looking across the street, looking both ways because, you know, never take for granted to ever walk out in front of traffic, especially after all those years of working in New York City, which, you know, people will hit you. I mean, they definitely will. The cabbies will hit you in New York.

Yeah, so I mean, I learned about that years ago. I mean, it's really important, you know, to keep an eye on where you're walking because people will get hit by buses, by cabs. Like, I'm crossing. I go across two lanes.

There's no cars coming either way that I can see. As I get in the third lane and I'm almost home free, I notice a car coming out of the right side of my eye. Just make a car speeding at me. And when I go to jump up, there's no way to get out of the lane in time because the person driving the car, obviously, was looking at their phone texting or just weren't looking in front of them because there was certainly enough light that they would have seen me walking across the street.

So I was hit. I jumped up, and I, you know, the first thing that happened was bumpered at my right leg, broke my leg in two places. I had a compound thrasher, so the bone actually came out of the flesh. So I was like, the leg was looking like a pretzel.

But, I mean, at this point, everything was happening so fast. I was conscious, of course. So I was going through the air. My head smashed through their windshield.

So I have a scar there now because my head completely opened up to the skull. So after that, I spun through the air, bounced off the other of the car, and then back onto the street. I hit my head twice, so I hit my head again on the concrete right on the street. And the miracle is that I had no brain damage, no paralysis, no change in my motor skills, no stroke, no loss of consciousness.

And, you know, it's a miracle. I say that it's one of the guys' miracles. And this is what the EMS people said. And, obviously, when the impact, when the car hit my body, it was so loud because the driver didn't brake that literally people in the whole surrounding area, you know, in a couple of blocks in different apartment buildings, all came out or came outside or came out and were looking because it was so loud.

It was so loud. One car hit another car. But, no, it was one car hitting my body, which was pretty amazing. So, I mean, I ended up – I was conscious for the entire thing.

I looked down, and, you know, I guess I knew I could – I was just trying to get up. I was in a bit of shock, but I was conscious. And, you know, they called 911, a bunch of neighbors. People were surrounding it.

The driver obviously stopped because the windshield was shattered from my head. And I got in the ambulance, the Los Angeles Fire Department, and they basically looked at me and said, you know, eight out of ten times, you wouldn't have survived this accident. You're a real miracle. So, I got to the emergency room at a hospital called Cedars-Sinai in Beverly Hills.

And when I got there, I was still conscious for the entire thing. And the surgeon in there, who was working on my head, basically said, no, no, you know, I used to watch this guy growing up on TV. I'm going to sell him up. I'm going to sell him up.

That's one of those times when you're grateful. And so while he was selling me up, you know, this is an amazing trauma that I've been through, he's talking to me about rock and roll. He's talking to rock and roll. It was a plastic surgeon, a head surgeon was talking to rock and roll, which was great because it certainly distracted me from it.

But it was, you know, it was one of those things that were painful because you didn't sell it up in your conscious. And there's only so much of a local anesthetic that they can use, which they're kind of putting inside. But there was a picture at a TMZ show that was literally a photo of me in the emergency room. They had to blur the top out of it because most people consider it too gruesome, but it was my head split open.

And there was an incredible amount of blood. But, you know, I stayed in intensive care for about a week. A lot of friends came and visited. And a week later, they transferred me to a second hospital, this place called the California Rehabilitation Institute.

And I went there. I lived there for another week and did physical therapy about four hours a day. And, you know, eventually was discharged because they knew that, you know, I had people who were going to help me out. So I'd be all right at home.

You know, they knew that my girlfriend was here. She was going to help me out, which was, you know, help take care of me a while I was here. And, you know, I'm doing physical therapy. I'm getting better every day.

You know, I just have this crazy looking scar. It was funny because you mentioned the Beatles. And, you know, I see Ringo sometimes out here with a bunch of other guys who get together on Monday night sometimes. And Ringo said last week, he goes, hey, Matt, he goes, the great news is at least you have a really bad-ass scar.

So, I mean, the scar. It does fit your, yeah, I mean, it does fit the persona. I mean, I'm grateful because, you know, if you think about it, that scar could have been an inch lower. It would have taken my eye out.

There's no question about it. I mean, it could have been anywhere. It could have been across my mouth. I mean, a lot of people will, I mean, the other thing that I found out later was that the surgeon actually showed part of my ear back on.

So my ear was partially ripped off my right ear. And he did a really great job. And I'm just grateful that I can still hear. I mean, I can still hear music.

My eyesight is fine. Again, it's a miracle. So I'm grateful. I'm still in the process of recovering.

But, you know, I've been getting out and about, you know, as much as I can. And I have to use a walker right now. But I'm expected to make a full recovery and be able to walk again. I have a metal titanium rod in my leg because, like I said, it broke pretty badly in two places.

But, hey, again, I'm just grateful to be alive and grateful to be able to be here and talk to you guys today. Absolutely. Now, as somebody that's had surgery and didn't deal with a walker before, I have to ask one particular question. What's that?

What brand of tennis ball did you use? Wilson's were my favorite. Oh, yeah, Wilson's are great. You can use those, you know.

It's funny. You know what, though? I did have Wilson's on the one that I had in the hospital. But these just have these stuffers on the bottom of them.

Oh, that's so fun. Yeah. So this is the one that I have. And they gave me this.

And, you know, I'm going to go to this Chris Cornell tribute concert on Wednesday night, which is the big thing that they're having over at the LA Forum with, you know, the Metallica guys, Foo Fighters, and Perry from James Dixon, Mike Patton from Big Memorial. These guys are going to be performing. Ryan Adams. And it's going to be interesting.

It's going to be the first time I go to a major venue and actually walk around on the walker. But I did go to Jimmy Kimmel last Wednesday. And Jimmy was great because he made sure, like, I got a couch to sit on a disturb that we're playing. So they do the big thing outdoors.

And those guys were looking after me. So that was cool. And, yeah, I'm getting out and about. You know, I'm slowly going out, you know, as much as I can.

And, you know, I mean, once again, I'm just grateful. It could have been both legs. You know what I mean? So many people have been through worse things.

And considering the amount of impact and the speed the car was going in, I consider myself blessed. I consider myself extremely lucky, you know? Absolutely. I mean, it could have been much worse.

And that's, for one, I know for our sake, we're glad to know that everything's okay, that the recovery's going along well. And hopefully you'll be back on my radio or my TV before too long. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm still doing my show Flashback, which is this syndicated show that I do, which is a rock history show, which West of One syndicates.

And, you know, they ran a few best ofs, but getting back in the flow of recording that as well and doing that show. You know, I was actually working on this, to be honest with you, I was working on a TV show that, although it just worked out this way, it's this new show that it looks like it'll probably be on Showtime, but I can't guarantee that right now. I can say that this guy named Ash Appleton, who runs a record label called Sumerian, also has a company called Sumerian Films. His father directed Rocky, Karate Kid, a bunch of other shows and movies back then.

He wrote this TV show called Paradise City. Of course, named after the Guns N' Roses song. And I'm in it as myself. You know, it's not the first time that I've been in a show as myself because I was on Portlandia with Kurt Loder and the Town of the Storm.

We did that MTV comedy episode, and I did Dennis Leary's Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll on effects. But, and I always had to play myself, which is fine with me. So anyway, I ended up shooting a bunch of scenes for this TV show. It's about these two rock and roll bands, and it's a fictitious show, but it's got cool people in it.

It's got like, you know, characters and people from Sons of Anarchy, Entourage, Walking Dead, Sopranos. So it's all different actors and actresses from these different shows that are in this new show. But it turned out that I was supposed to shoot the majority of these scenes for this TV show the day after my accident. But because of the change in the weather, speaking of rain, they were going to shoot a scene on the Santa Monica Pier.

And because it was going to rain one night, the director calls me up and goes, hey, I'm moving up your scenes two weeks, so you think you can be prepared and focused and ready to do these scenes tomorrow night? And I said, all right, I sure will. So it was a 12-hour shoot. It was an overnight shoot, but I got my scenes done.

So, you know, I mean, I would have been completely out of that show. I mean, I was in no condition to do it. So that was good news. Most of that stuff, other than a documentary about the making of that show, I was interviewing all the people in it.

You know, everything's been all right, you know? So, yeah, I just look at every day as a blessing, you know, I'm still here, you know? And that's the cool thing. I mean, it gives me a lot of time to listen to music and to catch up on some of the new movies that are out there coming up for Oscar season, you know, and the SAG Awards.

So that's what I've been doing, you know? Right. Now, okay, what have you heard or seen since you've had the downtime to kind of absorb what's out there now? What have you seen that has really spoken to you?

Well, I mean, it's important for me. I mean, I enjoyed seeing Bohemian Rhapsody, of course, a Queen movie because, you know, I saw Queen when I was a kid. You know, I saw him in 1976, Night at the Operator, at a small venue. I mean, the Beacon Theater is a pretty small place.

They didn't graduate to play in Madison Square Garden and Big Arenas until the following year in 1977. And I saw that as well as a young kid with Finn Lizzy opening up for him. And that was a, you know, it was a great show. But the 76 show was a magical for a kid.

And they were still, you know, Freddie still had really long hair. It was still early years, the first four albums. So years ago, I got a phone call from Brian May. He had called me when I was working at MTV in the late 1990s.

He had, was told by Trent Reznor, he had asked Trent Reznor to write liner notes for this Queen box set called The Crown Jewels. And it was, it was an eight CD box set set of the first eight albums released on CD all together in this velvet box, blue box. And I got a phone call because he asked Trent Reznor from 1980s to do it first. And Trent said, look, I'm really busy with this Downward Spiral tour.

And I'm going to be on the road a little longer. But he said, but I got just a guy who should do this for you. So Trent Reznor recommended me for it. And I had to write in the liner notes a small book inside the Queen box set.

So because of that, historically, you know, I wanted to see that movie. I want to, you know, basically any movie about rock and roll, I definitely want to see it. You know, so that was, I enjoyed seeing that movie. I mean, there were certainly parts of it that were historically wrong time-wise.

But, you know, you're going to find that in any, the way I look at it in any Hollywood movie, they rarely ever get that kind of thing right. But I did think the performances were great. So I saw that. I think I've seen Vice, you know, I just got that in the mail, which, you know, luckily, because I've done some acting in these TV shows, I've gotten, you know, I'm on a screen actor's guild list.

So they send you movies, the movies that are out there. And so I've been trying to check out everything, you know, while I'm just playing around. That's the only way to get me to not leave the house is give me a bunch of new movies to watch. Yeah, because, you know, you can watch in the convenience of your own house on a DVD player.

That's a good thing. You need to pause and go to the bathroom, you pause and go to the bathroom. You want to stop and smoke, stop and smoke. Exactly, exactly.

And that's kind of what I do, you know what I mean? I smoke too. I'll step out, I'll take my walker out on the patio and have a cigarette and come back, you know what I mean? Which is, you know, I mean, they did warn me, you know what, smoking is not good for healing bones, but I don't know.

I've been hearing for years, it's not good for you, but I've never stopped me either. Yeah, well, I haven't stopped yet. You know what I mean? I haven't stopped yet either.

Maybe I cut back a little, I don't know. But I've seen some of my other friends quit, and I give them a lot of credit. But, you know, that's what's going on here. I mean, again, it's one of those life-changing incidents, you know, one of those things that happens.

And a lot of different things happen with age. I mean, who's to say that my knees, like you said, you've had knee operations. I mean, who's to say that that wouldn't have come along? I mean, you know, my father had two artificial hip replacements.

So, I mean, genetically. Who knows if that was something in the future anyway. I will say that my knees got banged up pretty bad, obviously. I had a lot of road rash, you know, so everywhere.

You know, I mean, my head, like I said, it looked pretty crazy. If you look at the interview on TMZ, which I know they have an edited version of it up on their website. And then all the other news services picked up the story. But, you know, they said I was lucky to be alive, which was absolutely true.

But, you know, like I said, I'm feeling pretty good out in that scar, which, you know, maybe I'll get a role as a bad guy. You know, and then sometimes I'm coming up. You know what I mean? Hey, Matt Pinkfield is far face.

Yeah, I'll take it. Don't you do that single? Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't know if they could ever beat the original, but that would be great to be in something like that.

But too bad Sons of Anarchy wasn't still out there. Oh, he would have fit perfectly on that show. Yeah. You know, in fact, I went to the rap party for this Paradise City TV show.

You know, a guy who played Bobby on there, Mark Boone Jr. Boone, he rang out. And he was like, you want to see all the other pictures of me from the accident from early on? Because he hadn't seen them all.

But he was, all those guys were just, everybody reached out, which was cool. A lot of musicians and just a lot of friends, people were checking in, which was cool, you know. And I think it just blew a lot of people's minds, you know, all of a sudden out of nowhere. Like, you know, I'm just glad I like the famous Cypress Hill song because I ain't going out like that.

I'm just glad that I'm still with you, you know. You know, it's funny because we had, we ended up in what we call a YouTube rabbit hole one night watching old rock documentaries or behind the music or whatever we could really find. And we found the one on the Headbangers Ball. And we were sitting around talking about Headbangers Ball.

And I said, screw the Headbangers Ball. Like, for me, it was 120 minutes. I said, I always liked Matt Penfield because he always came across as somebody that was just shooting straight with you. And you knew he wasn't going to take any shit off of him.

Oh, yeah. I appreciate that. I'm sorry. Don't let me interrupt you.

I just absolutely love that show. Because it opened me up because I didn't get into the alternative genre until later. You know, it started hitting in 92, 93. I didn't come along into a lot of the more popular stuff in the early era until 98, 99.

So my taste evolved a little differently. But that's great. I'm glad that 120 minutes was an important show to you because, I mean, I loved doing that show. And it was one of those things where when, you know, I saw the show.

It's an interesting story, I'll tell you. You know, I was working there. I was running a radio station. It was a station that I worked at part-time on the Jersey Shore.

It was called WHDG. It was an alternative station. And I worked down there doing weekends from about 1984 until right around 1990. I had, you know, all of a sudden there was a change in management.

And he let some of the management go. He brought in a new program director from Washington, D.C. from the station there. And the owner of the station, he was, as he was looking to figure out who his music director was going to be, the owner of the station said, I think there's one more guy you should meet before you make that decision.

So I came down and I met with this man, Michael Butcher. And by the end of our meeting, you know, he decided he wanted me to be music director, which was what, of course, the owner of the station was her idea as well. So I ended up becoming music director. And I was, you know, I'd already been spinning an alternative rock nightclubs.

I've been doing that for, since about, you know, literally like 1982 or three. The drinking age was still 18, then it was 19, then it was 21 in New York and New Jersey. So I kind of rode the wave of the drinking age so I could spin in nightclubs. And, of course, when you're a young guy, there's three things that are great for you to be doing that.

Number one, you're controlled in music. Number two, you drink for free. And number three, it's a great way to meet girls. So it was like, it was a- I like the way you think, sir.

The ultimate trumpet club. Yeah, it felt like the perfect job for me. I loved doing it. You know, I was doing college radio directors.

You know, and that was what I did. And then I continued to spin in clubs because I built up a really great following of people that would come between New York City and Philadelphia. They would come to central New Jersey, you know, and they would come down to this club called The Melody. And it was pretty infamous.

I would spin there four nights a week through four nights a week and then a couple other clubs in the area. And then, so I did that. And then, you know, like I said, I was part-time until 90 when they hired me to be a music director. So at this point, I was doing weekends there at the radio station, working five days a week as a music director and still doing clubs four nights a week.

And that's, you know, that's what you do. I mean, even while I was, I was still doing the clubs even when I was in management there because, you know, I was a mom-and-pop radio station. And although I had a huge listenership, I didn't pay very much, but it was what I loved to do. So I mean, I love turning people on music.

I love playing music for people. So, so I did that for 90. And then also within a few months, they put me on midday. So I was doing, I was a midday jock there.

And so I was doing the days, gave the weekends up. I was still doing the clubs, of course, throughout the entire experience. But I was a music director for a couple of years. And I won these two music director awards.

They used to exist for radio. And, you know, what happened was, I think it just surprised people because I was coming from the Jersey Shore. Usually, the guys that would win this award on a yearly basis were always from the major cities. They were from Chicago.

They were from Los Angeles. They were from New York, Detroit, San Diego. And all of a sudden, people are like, well, who is this guy from this small market, this medium small market? And so the industry got to know who I was, you know, at that period of time.

I was doing my best in the same way we did on 120 to break new artists and play new bands and turn people on to new things. And, you know, I always said the difference between me and maybe some of the other music directors and program directors were there. I was looking for reasons to play music, not to not play it. What was the drawing card for you to alternative specifically?

Well, I was into it from a very, very early era, you know, from the new wave era. I mean, I certainly kind of, I rode the wave, to be honest with you, with all the 90s bands. Like when the grunching happened, I was really in it early, which is why, you know, Nirvana gave me a four-time platinum, you know, plaque for Nevermind. And, of course, all the other bands that I was involved with, working with, you know, Soundbar, Nelson Chains, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, you know, the list, there's just a huge list of artists that I was involved with at MTV and even in radio.

So I think that in some ways, you know, you look at, as the music changed in 91 when Nirvana came around, it kind of changed the rules for everybody because it made things different after, you know, like, I mean, at first the Guns N' Roses thing kind of changed the dynamic of what was happening with the 80s glam and hair metal stuff that was happening. I mean, Guns N' Roses were certainly sharing in some of the audience without a question, but it was definitely more edgy and more grungy than a lot of stuff that had been out there. I'm not discounting any of the music at all. I'm just, by anybody, I'm just saying that Guns came along and really kicked everyone's ass.

And then the next thing they called the bulldozer was Nirvana and the whole grunge revolution and everything that was happening around there with Alternatives. So, and I loved all of it, but it was really important to me because I'd been involved in the Alternative music scene for such a long time. It just, the timing worked out really well for me. So here, I'm working at this radio station.

Then I'm going to do an afternoon drive. Then the program director leaves. So I'm now program director, which is, you know, the guy's really running the station. Music director is usually number two to the program director.

And so I'm running this radio station. It's doing well. It's Rolling Stones, Paul is one of the best radio stations in the country. And, you know, I get a phone call.

Bottom line is I find out that Dave Kendall, the host before me, on 120 Minutes, I find out he's no longer hosting the show. I open up a music trade, a music magazine, a radio magazine, and I see that Dave Kendall's gone. So I started, I become friends with some of the people that worked in the MTV music department. And those guys were like, you know, they were literally, you know, once they had met me out of shows, they started calling me basically to get a temperature on records because they wanted somebody like outside of the record labels who were kind of hyping them on everything that came out trying to get video play.

They wanted to ask, you know, find somebody they could trust to ask them, well, how's this record really reacting? Does your audience like it? You were the whole kid with the bootlegs. Yeah, which is fun.

Yeah, which is great. You know, and I wasn't afraid to play different things. Certainly, that was the thing that I loved. I love to turn people on to new things and imports and like you said, great independent records and everything.

So we take a lot of chances. So that's what we were doing. And then all of a sudden, I'm on the phone with Kurt Steffek and he was a guy who programmed for 120 minutes at the time. And I'm going to, you know, and I call him.

I go, hey, Kurt, you know, what's going on? What happened to Dave Kinn? Why is he no longer hosting 120 minutes? He said, oh, they let him go.

I never really asked the reason. Dave was always, I consider a nice guy. And, you know, I remember him interviewing me at a Robin Hitchcock show. One of my first ever appearances on MTV was just like as a man on the street kind of thing.

And a couple of years before that. And, you know, as soon as he tells me they let Dave go, I just, I'm very, very naive. And, you know, it was really naive. It wasn't like, you know, it wasn't cocky.

I just literally said to him, like, Kurt, you know, I think you guys need someone like me to do that show. Somebody who the artist will respect who really knows the music. I mean, that show is about the music. And, you know, so he basically says to me, he goes, oh, you know what, I'll talk to the bosses about it.

He goes, and it was the funniest thing in the world because he goes, I don't know if you're still in the demo. And I was laughing now because I did work on MTV for years, you know what I mean? So I certainly, that was not the case. But he said, all right, you know what, I'll talk to the bosses and I'll call you back in about a week.

And later that day he calls me back. He's spoken to the head of music and talent Andy's show and he said, hey, they actually want you to come in and do an audition. So a few weeks later, I ended up coming in for an audition and I'd never done television before. I'd be like a deer in headlights, but I knew I could give it a shot, you know, and I was doing radio and dealing with people because I believed in my love for music and my knowledge of it because it was really what I was into.

You know, I had to do a little thing where, you know, you basically tell a bit about yourself and what you do and then you do a bunch of sample breaks, throw into videos. And once I did that, some time went by and all of a sudden they said to me, hey, Matt, we're going to give you a chance to come in and fill in because Depeche Mode don't want to host the show. So, you know, we're going to have you come in and fill in and do the show because at this point they were having artists host it. They had not come to a conclusion about who was going to host Depeche Mode.

It was pretty crazy because it's funny, Dave Lehan from the band, he was so, he was great. You know, he was like engaging with me. Meanwhile, Martin Gore, you know, he was a great guy, but he was a little burned out probably like, and this was a syndrome that happened to a lot of English bands who would come in the night before, shoot 120 the next day. They would go out and party like the night they landed in New York and then they would suffer for it the next day, you know, but he was a little burned out.

I remember looking at him just thinking to myself going, oh my God, please, please look at me, man. I go, you're going to kill this for me before it begins. And, you know, it ended up, they liked the job that I did the first time around and years later I used to joke with Martin Gore and tell him, you almost killed my TV career. You just killed it, man.

But, you know, I ended up doing a bunch of radio specials with him and more interviews, you know, as the years went on. But so I did that one time and then a little more time went by. I remember this woman, Lauren LeBee, she was the head of music, I'm sorry, the head of talent of all the DJs. She called me and told me that she thought I did a great job and maybe talking to me more and that was really encouraging and I ended up, you know, eventually getting a call to come and meet with Andy Schoen, who was the head of music talent.

And he used to run K-Rock in New York. I mean, I'm sorry, K-Rock in New York was a classic rock station. He used to run K-Rock in LA, which was an alternative station. So he was the PD there and he brought Lewis Largent and Kennedy with him from there and hired them and moved them to New York City.

Well, Andy had me up in his office and I'm, you know, I'm kind of thinking, oh, man, maybe I got the show, maybe they're going to give me the show. This is an amazing opportunity. I get into his office and he says to me, he goes, we thought you were great and we want to let you know we'd like to use you again, but we're going to have Lewis Largent host the show. We want to give Lewis more of a national profile.

He's our VP of Music Programming, but we did want you to know we were really happy with the job you did. So my heart sunk at the floor. I mean, I was like, you know, it's almost bringing you up there to a company like that. You're thinking, you're pretty close to thinking you're going to get some good news.

You're going to think you got called up to get the nice easy let now. Yeah, so that's what I got. And I remember I was, I had to go do an interview with Water Voice for a CD promo, a band from Scotland. I was listening to the interview later that day and I had, I'm walking down the street, I felt like somebody, you know, I felt like I'd literally been hit by a car when I wasn't.

I found out about what that was really like later, but I felt like, I felt horrible. I don't feel so bad about the tennis ball joke now. At least you're making jokes too. Oh yeah.

Oh no, I've been joking about it nonstop. I mean, you have to. You got to be lighthearted about this thing. I'm grateful to be alive.

You know what I mean? I've been talking about songs about car crashes and everything else like this. But, you know, so anyway, so one of the things I did was I never really stopped singing in touch. I certainly was still very good friends with the people that were in the music department.

They continued to track records and songs with me. And, you know, every month or so I would leave a voicemail, or not a voicemail, but I would leave a message with Andy Schoen's secretary of assistant, and just to keep on his radar to let him know I was out there, because you know how the site's out of mind, you know. So, eventually, some time went by, and I got a phone call. Some people are leaving the music department, and MTV's going to be looking to hire some more people in the music and talent department.

And they said, we're considering you. So, I was, you know, at this point, I brought our small radio station, although it's a great radio station. I love that. We had some incredible years there, and did so many great things in the Asbury Park market, and they continued to, you know.

I mean, it was a station that at the Springs, he'd listen to every day. I mean, he loved it. You know, it was a different format than what Bruce's music would necessarily be on. He loved listening to the station.

He'd show up for my Christmas shows that we would put on and do all this stuff. And, you know, it was a station that really mattered. But I'd known I'd kind of hit a brick wall there. You know, I was still working three jobs, you know, award-winning music director, and loved being there, but knew that I was going to have to make a move at some point.

And so, this looked like a great opportunity. I mean, who wouldn't want to program, you know, help program and pick music videos for MTV in that period, because it still meant so much. I mean, it was still a music-based channel, even though there were, you know, a handful of reality shows, like Real World and Rogue Rules, but it was still, music was still the main focus there. And so, you know, I got interviewed for the job, and eventually, he hired some new people, and I got one of the positions.

So, I was manager of music programming there, and I remember, you know, it's crazy, because this, I'll just explain to you, it's one of my favorite things. I laugh about it. Our station was so small. It was a radio station.

You know, everything's perception is reality, and it seemed like a big radio station, because we had every great artist come in there, but we were actually in a house in the woods, the radio station. And it had an AM station that played Frank Sinatra and Sanders and Big Bandorn, you know, from Dawn to Dusk, that was the AM station. And we were a 24-hour alternative station. And we were in a house where you'd go through the kitchen, where the woman who owned the house lived with her cats, and go through her kitchen, go down the basement stairs, to where the sales office was, and where the production office was.

It was her basement. And so, there were only, like, three phone lines. So, I know I'm getting this call, and I'm waiting to find out if I got this job. And I know that Andy Schoen is calling me that day.

Well, sure enough, it's a radio station. It's functioning. So, every single phone line is busy for hours. And I'm sitting there, you know, I'm running through my head going, oh, man, what he changes his mind because he can't get through.

on the phone. What if he decides to hire somebody else? So I was sitting there worrying about that and all of a sudden this phone call that changed my life. I get the call.

I answer the phone and Andy Schum says, hey, Matt, I'm trying to call you for a few hours now. I said, well, Andy, I'm really sorry. We only have about three phone lines here for the entire radio station. He said, I'll tell you what, come work for me.

I'll make sure you have more than three phone lines and I'll never forget. That was the thing that he said to me. It was a life changer and next thing you know, a couple months later, I am commuting to New York City It was already hard to give up doing radio five this week because I love having a media platform but I knew how important it was to get a job there and to basically program what was the biggest radio station in the world and that was a TV station. You always came across, unlike some VJs that I can remember back in the day, you always came across as the interviewer that put the artist and the music over and didn't worry about whether or not you were the one getting the maximum exposure.

No, it was always about the music for me. It's always been. That's been the thing for me that goes back to college radio to spinning in those clubs to doing that radio station on the shore. It was always music first.

It was artists in music first. It still is artists in music first for me. I think that's the most important thing. I mean, I always believed that it was so important that if an artist spent six months to a year writing the music, recording the music, I wanted to do the best job of getting their music and their ideas and their songs and everything they're working across and doing the best job that I could for their fans and for somebody who might discover them.

So that was always my priority. I found out you were involved with a band that I discovered although they've been around now for quite a while. But Cody and Cambry has kind of been your baby. Well, I love those guys.

I will say, yeah, I signed up to Columbia. Now they were on an independent label before me but I was the one who actually ended up getting involved with them while they were making their second album which was In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth and that record I was involved with even though it still came out on the indie and then what we did was released on the indie for a short period of time and then it came out on Columbia so it was a joint venture. But yes, Cody were a very important band to me and I was really involved right about from the beginning with them. I discovered them and we're still playing in clubs for about 30 people and I love the guys and then, you know, ended up putting In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth out and working on that record with them and then doing all Good Apollo I did that directly with those guys Good Apollo on Burning Star 4 the first one Volume 1 with the longest title but I love that record so much I love all those records and it was an incredible experience to be involved with those guys They're still like brothers to me They're just the greatest of friends and I remember when I was living in San Francisco doing a morning show up there at Gatehog and the guys came through for the anniversary tour for Good Apollo and Claudio Sanchez went on stage and made this incredible dedication to me right before the encore about, you know, just how devoted I was to the band and what they know so it was an incredible experience to work with them I toured Europe with them I, you know, was with Claudio through a lot of writing process of all those songs and they were my little brothers back then They're not my little brothers anymore They have their families of their own You know what I mean?

They're all, they're dads and, you know but I love those guys very much and I think they're a great, great rock band I mean, they're still out there killing it Every album they put out enters the Billboard Top 10 They've got an incredible, devoted fan base and I've been nothing but proud of those guys so love, love working with them and I'm glad that's a part of my story, you know and so that was an incredible thing getting to work with Columbia Records and Coeaters certainly I made some great records there but Coeaters are really special to my heart and so I'm glad you brought them up Yeah, yeah It was one of those things where you know, they had a moment where MTV was behind them with a favorite house at Atlantic and then Welcome Home and you know, they even did I remember they did a Hard Rock Live we did it from Orlando with a half hour, eight at night album or special Right Which was great I was there for that, of course but yeah, there's still a lot of people who don't know Coeaters that should because I think they're such a great band You know But where do you think music goes from here? What's the next big thing that people are kind of sleeping on at this point? Well, I think, quite honestly I think music will continue to evolve as it does You know, I think that things have changed because of the way music is delivered it's changed quite a bit of what people do I mean, I love the fact that there's a resurgence of bands that are playing, you know rock and roll like the Struts and Greta Van Fleet, you know and even bands like Nothing But Thieves and there's a new guy, Des Rocks that's coming out D-E-S-R-O-C-S that I'm a big fan of and he's going to drop it out this year and, you know, alternative bands like I said, like Nothing But Thieves Love Royal Blood I think those guys are great because they're a two-piece but they sound like a you know, cross somewhere between you know, Muse and Zeppelin In fact, those guys, Royal Blood are two-piece from Brighton England it's funny because they've been endorsed by Jamie Page and Lars and Metallica and, you know, Jack White and a ton of people so I'm a big fan of Royal Blood but I just think music will keep evolving it's an interesting period that it's in right now because, you know, there's certainly on alternative radio there's a lot less rock and like guitars which, you know, I'd like to see more of a balance of not that I have anything against the stuff that is more keyboard or synth driven by any means there's some great stuff but I would certainly like to see a little more of a balance of that but, yeah, I mean, I think that music just continues to evolve it's one of those things where you're always really hoping that people break through more as artists as opposed to just songs I think it's become with digital delivery of music I think that it's a very song-based business right now where people are about songs and I think that I wish radio would become decided they own artists too and they want to promote an artist and not just go by only by a song because I think that's I mean, that's really no different than Top 40 in a sense because, you know, like people always say Top 40 is a place that you live that you visit you can't live you don't live there and that's a funny line that a major executive of Columbia said to me back when I was doing A&R over there in the 2000s and it's an interesting point because of course things are always moving but I do believe that they're really in radio and there needs to be more loyalty to artists and, you know, when artists decide to do something a little bit different or step out of their complete comfort zone I think the thing that really has always made people gravitate towards artists and build an incredible catalog of music and songs is because they've had the opportunity to grow and to change and to experiment and do what they want to do and radio is to stand behind them and I think that's one of the things that's missing a little bit right now to be honest with you know I definitely see that in that it looks like and much like me and I think anybody else that listens to music everybody's got those albums that you bought because you heard those one or two songs that were on the radio but you've got this album that you liked so much more than was ever played on the radio and the stuff that was actually not the deep cuts actually turns out meaning more to you in the music than the actual hits that came off the album and nowadays with the digital onslaught you're allowed to just buy the hits so you may miss out on some music that could be phenomenal and could, for some kid playing music or wanting to play that could change his life Oh, I agree I absolutely agree and I think it's, you know like albums as a body of music are very, very important and I think, you know like you said that's always been the way that's been for me since I was a young kid certainly, you know the hits were the thing that brought you in that invited you in and they're very important as part of the history of that artist but it is those deep tracks on the albums that you love that you kind of become your thing that you take more ownership in and you get to really experience the artist on a deeper level and, you know you're always hoping that that's, you know where people go but I think a lot of younger people are definitely because of, you know just how easy it is to get music and everything at your fingertips I think it's different than when you had to go home and buy a CD or buy a vinyl album or cassette because you liked a couple songs but you had to live with it and you would listen to it all the way through and hopefully it was a great record because then you would get so much more out of it more joy and enjoyment out of that record just a deeper feeling for it but there are certainly still artists out there that people do listen to and love and are passionate about and listen to their entire records but, you know I don't think with a certain amount of young people this isn't that disrespected this is just the way they've been raised it's, you know it's much more of a song-driven market which it's always been but I think more than ever that's really the way it is and that's just because of the ease at what you can do to consume music and personally I have nothing against it I stream music too I mean, I have a huge vinyl collection and I still have a boatload of all my CD stuff which a lot of it is still because I moved from New York to New Jersey to San Francisco and then LA I still have a container on one of my buddy's shipyards out on Port Newark that's literally filled with my original record collection and all my CDs because I couldn't move and all that stuff and I didn't move in and if we don't get it we can have it, right? Yeah, of course yeah if you guys can find it my buddy's my boys that grew up in New Jersey are the Bill Sopranos you know what I mean?

You won't be going looking for those records yeah, exactly it's pretty funny but those guys one of my buddies just said to me you're killing yourself coming back to San Francisco every weekend I'd try and finish packing your house while you're out there I was doing a morning shift I was doing a syndicate show and at the time I was also tracking nights for K-Fox and I would get on a plane I'd come to New York on a Friday night all day Saturday and half of the day Sunday I would sit there and be packing and boxing with a couple of my buddies and then eventually my friend who owns a big trucking company said to me Matt I'm going to send over two trucks just tipped the drivers I got an air conditioning container on my yard I'm going to lock it up and put yourself there and believe it or not it's been there ever since so it's been there for a few years I started anew when I moved to San Francisco and then I had less stuff and moved down here to LA where I am now but that's the thing that's funny I was going to say I love the stream music I make playlists and do all that stuff I think that's important I love Spotify and Apple Music but I also still love having my vinyl here and being able to put on records and I love the artwork and I love reading about the artists so all that stuff is super important and people feel the same way about CDs like I did so it was the same deal or maybe cassettes they grew up with but yeah I just want to finish up one story and get back to you when I was talking about MTV the really interesting thing was when I got there again I wasn't expecting to be on the air ever again in fact it was kind of sad to me the day that I did my last radio show it was bittersweet on that radio station but of course little did I know that within about 8 months I would be back on television and then every week on 120 Minutes for years and doing other shows for MTV and then doing radio again I was in Radio New York a Sunday night show that I did for 13 years on K-Rock there called Buzz where I play all the music have artists come and perform so much in the style of 120 Minutes so yeah all I can say to you guys it's been an incredible ride of a very blessed life I've had everyone else in their life you've had challenges you've had your ups and downs but I've also had some incredible moments and I'm grateful for all those good times and I'm grateful to still be alive and continue to get to go keep going finding new artists finding new music going to see great music going to see great rock and roll great alternative music and you know I'm really happy to be alive and happy to be here like I said we're definitely happy to have you here to wrap things up we always do what we call our weigh-in segment and we have a topic each week and it's a top three and we go around and each tell one countdown our top three in honor of you being on today is top three favorite alternative albums okay great alright what do you guys want to pick? do you want to go first oh I want to hear you guys first I'll go my three are easy it's Nirvana Nevermind Silverchair Freak Show and Strange by James Addiction all great records absolutely and Devin what were your three? my three is Nine Inch Nails with Downward Spiral Alice in Chains Tripod and Pearl Jam Versus all three great records you know it's so hard for you guys you could some of both of you guys could some of my favorites I love you call it Tripod too because man that dog Jerry really had that dog man a three-legged dog that was Jerry's dog for a long time you know Jerry Cantrell I was over at Jerry's birthday party this past year and there were a ton of cool people that came out to Jerry's and you know I just saw him I was with Mike Inaz and Alice in Chains literally you know just two weeks ago I may even see him tonight I'm not sure but you know I love those records you know you mentioned it's so hard to break down three but I gotta say Nevermind is my number one and the reason I gotta say that is I think that I see the parallel with how much what Nirvana did and how it changed things to being very very there was a similar way that the trajectory of my music career and radio and TV career went with Nirvana so I've got to put that at number one just because it's very important to me there and number two I'm gonna put James Addiction Nothing Shocking which is another really important record that came through there and just because you guys mentioned other favorites of mine I'm gonna put Soundgarden Super Unknown as my number three because I love that record very much and I was very close to Chris and the band and you know again just like Alice in Chains I was their go-to guy for the Seattle bands but I love everything you guys picked I mean I left out Radiohead to Benz that's one of my favorites I do love that yeah you know I love that I love you know I mean 1908 Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine or two of my favorites Pearl Jam Versus you mentioned that's my favorite Pearl Jam album with hands down you know what I mean that record starts to finish is so great I love all those records that you guys picked and I love that you picked Silverchair because I mean those guys those were a band that I debuted on there I remember hearing them finding out about them right around the same time that David Massey signed Silverchair and I remember he was really surprised that I knew who they were and I told myself that that record was going to be the first record was going to be huge you know what I mean so you know with Tomorrow on it so Frogstomp anyway so yeah I thought you guys did great records I'm just getting so hard now we're down to three but I'm just gonna put it in that but there's some great there's so many great records I love all those bands you know so and that's nine albums if you're getting into Alternative pick those nine up you got a pretty good start absolutely absolutely but guys I really enjoyed doing this with you today I want to thank you for having me on absolutely we want to thank you tell everybody out there that's listening where they can find you back on the radio when you are back in the studio I'll give you a couple things you can check out first of all I'm on the radio every weekend around the country I've got 93 radio stations I do a rock history show called Flashback which there's a four hour version of it and a two hour version depending on which market you are in but if you look it up or check your local radio stations you can find that show there I also want to let you know I wrote a book that came out the first edition of the book came out just about two years years ago um it's an autobiography all these things that i've done my insane improbable rock life and uh i gotta read this yeah this book is great it's you know it's a hardcover you can find it on amazon you can buy there new or used you can uh get it on milk kindle you can get it on audible and you get on books on cd so it's everywhere and that's again it's named after the killer song that brandon flowers wrote the night that he met me all these things that i've done it says i got soul but i'm not a soldier and if you want to find out the story behind that song and a lot of other stories about you know my years at mtv and you know relationships and everything youtube and bowie to the seattle guys it's all in that book so it's got all these things i've done um and that's a book i'd love you to check out um you can find me online at uh on twitter i'm at matthew pinfield okay and then on facebook i'm also matthew pinfield because i always tell people they're uh matt pinfield is a pretty common name in the uk in england because i'm english irish i'm a little italian so i'm uh all over the uk there's matters bunch of matt pinfields in fact one time on my morning show in new york city uh we did a thing because i was in a band called young runaways alternative band guitar player named matt pinfield so we did this thing we said it was called matt pinfield meet matt pinfield and uh we got a lot of hair with us which was really cool but um so yeah so it's matthew pinfield on facebook matthew pinfield on uh instagram and at matt pinfield on twitter so that's where you can find me in the radio show the book you can check any of them out but uh guys it's really a pleasure to do this with you today and uh thank you so much for having me and i love your taste of music and uh and i would love to have you back anytime oh yeah anytime you guys need me you know how to reach me so uh and i'll be around good good news is i'll stop right now and everything looks good that i'll still be breathing i'll still be a part of the world and i'm grateful to be here you know we are thanks guys we really enjoyed it thank you so much thank you all right guys well listen i will speak to you soon thanks again for doing it and uh let me know when it's up and i'll be looking for it okay that's not a problem man all right guys thanks so much have a great afternoon all right thank you and that ladies and gentlemen is the end of what i would say is probably our biggest interview to date i would have to agree so much like our waistline things are growing around here i thought our waistline was shrinking hey hey shut up nobody needs to know that yet well until we do this again same fat time same fat channel