Interview taken from Leigh Matty.
GEORGE: Welcome to BeRock Radio guys, the most melodic place! I am George, please make yourself comfortable!
We’re glad to have you here. To start from the beginning, you released your debut album in 1988 with tracks such
as "I Cry Myself to Sleep at Night" and "Heaven in the Backseat" with great success, in fact, the latter being the
opening track to a blockbuster, "Nightmare on Elm Street 5".Tell us, did you expect such a success on your debut
and, as a new band, how did you manage to score a track in a blockbuster film?
LEIGH MATTY: Hi George – it’s good to be talking to you! No, we were very surprised at the success of the
1st album as we were so new on the ‘scene’ – it probably helped us greatly to have Matt Lange on board as he was so
famous and such a well-respected producer and song writer. The Nightmare on Elm Street sound track came about as
it was released by Zomba who were our publishing company at the time and they were keen to get as many bands of
theirs as possible on the sound track.
GEORGE: After 5 years, you've released your second album, "Delectable", which also was a quality album.
One of your works there was the incredible "Nobody Like You", which melodic rockers still love to this day.
After 19 years, you've released your third work in 2012, "Rapture", which rockers welcomed with open arms.
What happened in between those many years to delay the next release for so long?
LEIGH MATTY: Well, the band came to an end in 1994, due to a lot of different reasons. Music had changed
dramatically from the early 90’s with the introduction of Grunge from Seattle which was so very different to the style of
music we were playing. Consequently, we all went our separate ways but stayed in touch. We were asked to re-form in
2009 to play at The Firefest festival in Nottingham, England , which we did and loved – the response was fantastic so
we decided to record an album together which took a couple of years – Rapture was released in 2012 and was very
well received.
GEORGE: In the next year, 2013, the band had a busy schedule, such as performing at the HRHAOR festival in April,
Cropredy festival in August, with Alice Cooper headlining and a UK tour at the end of the year.
Tell us a few things about this period of time.
LEIGH MATTY: Well it was really great to be performing live again as it was always a big part of being in the
band that we loved. We also began writing tunes for the new album at this time so we were very busy on the road and
in the studio – it always takes much longer to record an album than 1st thought as we are all such busy people with
busy lives!
GEORGE: At first, you were aiming for 2014, but your latest work, "Spin", is being released this year. Personally,
I think it's the best you have released so far, with fantastic tracks such as "All Because Of You", "Enemy" and
"Touch". The production is of very high quality. Will you tell us who's responsible for it?
LEIGH MATTY: Well, Craig Joiner (Guitar) and Ed Poole (Bass) produced it with help at the mixing stage from
Jeff Knowler. We are all fortunate enough to have ‘home’ studios which makes life a lot easier in the recording world
(if a little lonely!) We decided when we got back together that we would do everything in-house as we don’t have a
record label behind us this time.
GEORGE: Will you tell us some information on the album? Was it hard composing the tracks?
How long did the recording sessions take?
LEIGH MATTY: Yes and forever!! Some songs were quick to write and others took a lot longer for eg.
Radio was one of the 1st riffs ideas for the new album but was the last song to be finished.
Once the tracks were recorded, I did the vocals which tended to take a day a track.
We actually recorded more songs than were needed as we wanted to make sure that we chose the best 10 tracks.
GEORGE: What was your inspiration for writing the tracks and who's responsible for the composition?
LEIGH MATTY: Craig Joiner is the writer on all the tracks with help from everybody in the band.
His inspiration is taken from many different walks of life and not always from his own personal experience.
He is a naturally gifted song writer and it is a joy to be able to sing his songs – we have worked together for so
many years that he knows my voice very well!
GEORGE: Did you encounter any problems during the recording of the album? If so, how did you overcome them?
LEIGH MATTY: Not really – no major problems thank goodness!
GEORGE: Leigh Matty's voice is better than ever in your newest work. Truly amazing.
I'd like to hear her opinion on her performance in the album.
LEIGH MATTY: Thanks very much George – that is very kind of you to say so!
I loved singing the songs which I hope has come across in the performances.
It brings me much joy to sing a Romeo’s Daughter song and I hope I can carry on doing so for a lot longer!
GEORGE: What are your plans for the promotion of the album, but also generally speaking?
Should we wait for a video clip? What plans do you have for live shows/tours, will we see you in
other European countries as well?
LEIGH MATTY: We are promoting the album as we speak! A week after it is released – 20th April –
we will be on tour with FM in the UK for 10 days which we are very excited about! We plan to release a video clip
for ‘Touch’ to come out before the tour and we will definitely be videoing more tracks off the album that will be
coming out during the year. We would absolutely love to play some dates in Europe – we just need to be invited!
GEORGE: For the past 3-4 years, we’ve been seeing a bloom in Melodic Rock\Melodic Hard Rock.
Do you believe that rockers want more quality in the music and listen to more of this centre?
What is your opinion on this?
LEIGH MATTY: Yes, there has been a major resurgence in Melodic Rock over the past couple of years.
We have always found rock fans to be incredibly loyal (in fact, we wouldn’t have been able to reform without the
support of our wonderful fans from the 80’s) I think that music nowadays seems to be focused on the very young
which doesn’t always appeal to discerning, older rock music fans. They also love to see their favourite bands play
live and there seem to be a lot more Rock festivals all over the world which is great news!
GEORGE: The music industry in the recent years has changed.
We see that a lot of people prefers digital purchases, which is more convenient, faster and accessible.
What is your thoughts on the future of CDs?
LEIGH MATTY: I think that although Digital purchases have grown over the years, a lot of rock fans still
like to hold a product in their hands. There has been a big resurgence in vinyl sales over the past few years as
well although I am not sure if it is ‘fad’ or not – only time will tell!
GEORGE: It’s not just the music industry that has changed over the years. Nowdays, we see social media
(facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, etc...) become hugely widespread.
How much do these support a band and in what way?
LEIGH MATTY: Facebook and Twitter has been our main marketing tool since we reformed.
It didn’t even exist when we started out in the 80’s but we realized early on that it was a tool that we needed to
get up to speed on very quickly if we were to try and attract a bigger audience. The problem we have is that
there are a lot of people who were fans of ours in the 80’s who don’t even know that we have reformed so
maybe a few of them will read this interview and find us again!
GEORGE: Thank you for your time, I wish you all the best for the future!
The last words are yours for this interview.
Feel free to say whatever you want to all BeRock’s Radio minizine readers!
LEIGH MATTY: Thanks so much George – we are very grateful for your fantastic review of the album and
support! We hope that if any of the BeRock radio minizine readers buy ‘Spin’, that they too enjoy listening to it as
much as we enjoyed recording it! XXX
