Mattock On the Making Of 'Daughters'
Punk Head: You rehearsed these songs for a year before recording, which is almost the opposite of how a lot of modern records get made. How did that extended gestation shape the emotional core of the album?
Mattock: I think the long rehearsal time helps us form the songs and get in tune with the feel they need. It's like a prolonged revision process. And when we feel like we've got them where we want them, that's when we record. We also have jobs, and actual daughters, so it lets us operate on a timeline that fits our lives.
Punk Head: The idea of using “intuitive feel” as the foundation suggests a kind of shared language between you. How did that language develop over time, especially given your different musical histories?
Mattock: On a practical level, it just means we don't use a metronome. We just record live and the drum track becomes the foundation, so most of the pressure is on Jason! But the way we write and the prolonged workshopping process definitely helps us develop song details. Like, if I know Jason is going to emphasize a break or do a certain fill, I can anticipate and add something with him, or drop out and let him fill the space. Every time I've played in a band the sound becomes a mix of the personalities and sensibilities involved and that's definitely the case with us. And we have enough of a shared love of classic and 90's rock that we have plenty to fall back on!
Punk Head: There’s something interesting about building a record in fragments across different spaces, then trusting it will cohere. Did you ever hit a moment where the album felt like it might drift apart rather than come together?
Mattock: I think the key is knowing who you're getting input from. John Ranta, Jason Gambrell, and Jay St. Peter are guys we know and have played with so in a sense we know what to expect. And we're sending them tracks with finished drums, guitars and vocals. But, because of who they are and how talented they are musically, there were also moments of surprise; like John's bassline for daughter, or Jason's keyboard parts on Fox. In those cases, I just enjoy being surprised and try to mix and build around the unexpected shift or enhancement to the feel of the song. It's kind of what you want, a new take on the song and hearing a direction in the arrangement that you wouldn't have come up with otherwise.
Punk Head: With Songs About Birds, there’s a sense of exploration and range. With Daughters, do you feel like you’re refining that identity or challenging it?
Mattock: I think we're refining. We developed some longer compositions on Daughters and I think that was a result of following through on the process we used for Birds and gaining some confidence. I had a visual artist friend in NY who described noticing patterns in her work as going, "oh yeah, there's that thing I do again." So, in terms of identity, I think we have natural proclivities or spaces we want to operate in, the reasons we come to music to begin with, so we're definitely going to explore those areas, intentionally or not. That's another reason for the discipline of rehearsing; if we put the time in on the pieces, they'll naturally come out as reflections of our shared sensibilities.
Punk Head: When you say “fearless songwriting,” what does that actually look like in practice? Is it about subject matter, structure, or something less tangible?
Mattock: I hope it means putting the song first and trusting the path it leads you on. We put a lot of effort into developing something we can get behind and feel good about working on and the fearless part comes in maybe taking advantage of openings where we find them, whether it's chasing a beat that might be unexpected or atypical or leaning into some hardcore passages, or even subject matter. Nothing's really off limits; if one of us wants to try something the other is willing to follow and see what comes of it. Worst case we just scrap it :)
