Link - PAGE 40

Matty Healy Interviewed in the New York Times

Jason Tate

Matty Healy of The 1975 sat down with the New York Times:

It’s difficult to be big and say — genuinely — that I have zero commercial ambition. There’s definitely a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of thing, which is where, listen, we’ve never known what to do and we’ve never tried to do anything. So the second we stop doing that, we’ll probably [expletive] up. I tend to say no to stuff for money.

I don’t know how you can write this up without it being rude or inappropriate, but I just got offered a four-month tour next year of stadiums with the biggest singer-songwriter in the world that would’ve made me money that I’ve never even seen or heard of in my life.

Ed Sheeran?

Yeah. And I got offered to be main support and do whatever I want. Think about the money you think I’m getting offered — it’s not just offered, it’s what he can afford because of what he makes for shows — and then just triple it. It’s insane. The thing that’s stopped me just doing that is because — I don’t care. It’s not worth it. Not because I don’t like Ed Sheeran. I think he’s, in a lot of ways, a genius. And he does what he does better than anybody else. But opening up for somebody and not just being real, that’s the kind of stuff I think about.

Win Butler Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Arcade Fire
Jason Tate

Win Butler of Arcade Fire has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct:

Numerous people who spoke with Pitchfork in recent months say that Win Butler’s virtuous public reputation is not entirely in line with his offstage behavior. Three women made allegations of sexual interactions with Butler that they came to feel were inappropriate given the gaps in age, power dynamics, and context in which they occurred. All three women were devoted Arcade Fire fans between the ages of 18 and 23 at the start of their interactions with Butler, which took place during overlapping periods from 2016 to 2020, when he was between 36 and 39.

Butch Walker Talks Green Day, Taylor Swift, and More

Butch Walker
Jason Tate

Butch Walker talked with COS in a new wide ranging interview:

Keep in mind, as a producer, this is the ugly side, where longtime fans of a band hear that they want to “broaden their horizons” and do something different, and the first thing they do is shoot the producer. They hate the producer because the formula for their Coca-Cola got changed and they are very mad because of a band wanting to do something different.

To Green Day’s credit, this vision was Billie’s. This was his vision. It wasn’t like I came in and said “let’s change it all up, let’s make a ’70s glam throwback record.” But at the same time, this was the kind of shit that he was into at the time, and it’s my wheelhouse. I love making records like that and those are huge influences for me too, I grew up on glam and power pop and metal and rock. So we had a great time making it and it was absolutely a collaborative effort. We spent a lot of time sending files back and forth — COVID was looming but it hadn’t hit yet. They have a very over-qualified massive studio in Oakland and of course, I have my sandbox, and I was like, “Hey, I work best in my sandbox,” and Billie would be like, “Okay, cool, I usually work best in mine.” So I was like, “Great, let’s send stuff back and forth and then we’ll get into the studio.”

MoFi Hit With Lawsuit Over Analog Vinyl Controversy

Legal
Jason Tate

Billboard:

“MoFi never disclosed this fact, nor did it change its representations to reflect the fact that its records were using DSD,” lawyers for the accuser wrote in a complaint filed Thursday in Chicago federal court. “Instead, MoFi intentionally hid this fact from consumers.”

The lawsuit claims buyers paid extra for the supposedly all-analog vinyl, labeled as either “Original Master Recording” or “Ultradisc One Step” – not only for better sound but also because they’re intrinsically more scarce than recordings that incorporate digital processes.

Mark Hoppus Talks with People.com

Mark Hoppus
Jason Tate

Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 sat down with People.com:

”Today I’m doing good. The recovery is taking a lot longer than I had hoped, but I am in a much better place,” says Hoppus. “I feel like I have a second shot at life.”

Adds Skye, also 50: “He’s a rock. He rose above and got through it…The last couple years threw a lot of wrenches in our system, but we’re on the other side of it even stronger.”

Since doctors gave him the all-clear, Hoppus has been getting back to work. He’s writing a book, launched the record company Verswire and is hosting his radio show on Apple Music.

Tom DeLonge Announces New Adult Comedy

Tom Delonge
Jason Tate

Variety:

Described as a parody of mobster dramas, combining elements of Yogi Bear with “The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bear” follows the escapades of three bear siblings who decide they have to start selling drugs in order to raise money and save their home after gas companies start fracking next to their cave. The bears soon enlist other forest animals in a scheme that will pit them against oil companies, the Russian mafia, local Hell’s Angels and polar bears who hate anything that isn’t white.

The 1975’s Matty Healy Turns On, Tunes In, and Logs Off

Jason Tate

Ryan Dombal profiles Matty Healy for Pitchfork:

Yes, Being Funny in a Foreign Language is quite funny. There’s a mom joke, a QAnon joke, a joke about a 10-year-old who is “obsessed with fat ass.” Taylor Swift, who got an early listen to the record, summed it up in three words: “It’s so funny.” Most of Healy’s friends are comics, and their approval of his work is particularly important to him: He played the album for musical comedian Bo Burnham, and was pleased when Burnham laughed at all the right times. Healy jokes he was furious when he heard Burnham’s 2021 song “That Funny Feeling,” which lists out society’s ills on the eve of destruction, a la “Love It If We Made It.” “He needs to stay in his lane a little bit,” he adds with a grin. “When he did that song, I was like, ‘You motherfucker.’”

SoundCloud Announces Layoffs

Soundcloud
Jason Tate

Billboard:

“We will be making reductions to our global team that will impact up to 20% of our company,” Weissman wrote in a memo obtained by Billboard. “Making changes that affect people is incredibly hard. But it is one that is necessary given the challenging economic climate and financial market headwinds.”

“Today’s change positions SoundCloud for the long run and puts us on a path to sustained profitability,” Weissman added. “We have already begun to make prudent financial decisions across the company and that now extends to a reduction to our team.”

The 1975 on Zane Lowe

The 1975
Jason Tate

The 1975 talked with Zane Lowe about “Happiness” and working with Jack Antonoff:

“I love Jack’s work, and those Lana [Del Rey] records, in particular, like, some of my favorite stuff. So we were talking about that. We became friends talking about production and what I was doing and what he was wanting to do and what I was wanting to do. And then I kind of just thought, ‘Well, this is like a really nice new energy.’ I don’t… because we are so closed, me and George [Daniel], we’ve always been so closed. “Why don’t you like come down to the studio and see what happens?” And then he did. And, then, ever since, we were just great, great friends.”

The Oral History of Dashboard Confessional ‘Unplugged’

Dashboard Confessional
Jason Tate

The Ringer:

Carrabba: Kids at those shows were used to singing loud and not being heard. To them, they thought this kind of reaction was normal, but this time we could all hear each other. And I do remember the first time it happened that I just stopped singing, but thankfully didn’t stop playing. Because I kept playing, they kept singing, and I thought, “Oh, wait a minute. I’ve got to get back in there.”

Paramore’s New Album May Be Finished

Jason Tate

Manny Marroquin mentions in a new interview that he just finished mixing the new Paramore new album:

It’s common for records to have multiple producers and just as many mixers. Marroquin views that as a choice that depends in large part on the genre and artist. “We just finished the record for Paramore,” he explains. “That band needs one consistent sound because it’s an album with one producer. But then you get another band or genre and they may have several. If there’s only one producer, nine times out of ten it’ll be the same mixer. So, it depends a lot on who the producer is. In today’s world, we don’t necessarily listen to albums as much as we used to, so it becomes less important to have [only] one mixer.”