Interview with From First To Last guitarist Matt

From First to Last is a band whose name might make you think of a downward spiral, but in all honesty, for this group nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, with the insane progress that this band has been making over the past couple of years they have gone literally nowhere but up. Now as the band is in the middle of an extensive North American tour in support of their recent release Dear Diary, My Teen Angst has a Bodycount, they appear busier then ever. Following this tour in particular the band can look forward to a year of intense touring as well as the release of their next full-length album in March of 2006. Recently, as the band blew threw Toronto, Canada and played to a sold-out crowd of fans, I had the opportunity to catch up with Guitarist Matt and talk about the groups’ last record, their crazy and bloody onstage antics, and the future to come.

How and when did From First to Last come to form?
Matt: It was a couple years ago… Me and Travis were friends from previous bands and we had a couple different people before we found Derrick and Sonny and we had John… John recently left so, now it’s just the four of us. It was just basically mutual friends over time and stuff….

What’s the story behind your unique band name?
Matt: It’s funny ‘cause I was in a band that had almost the same band name when I was in high school, it was a pop-punk band. We just kind of modified the name and restarted it. The meaning of it is kinda weird because no one has a specific meaning for it but I don’t know… I guess it’s kind of like a reminder that you can always get knocked back down to the bottom.

In 2004 you released your full-length debut Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count on Epitaph Records. How has the CD done so far, what do you personally feel about it, and why did you choose to go with Epitaph?
Matt: We chose to go with Epitaph because we were meeting with a lot of labels and stuff and Epitaph was the last one we met with. When we me Brett, he runs the label in America, he was the most genuine guy that we met, he just really loved music, he loved our music, and he was really really amped on the band. He seemed the most real to us so we just stuck with what we thought was the right thing in our hearts. The CD you know Dear Diary… it started off kinda slow but it’s picked up pretty good now and we’re almost at 100,000 copies sold in the States. It’s doing really good and we’re really stoked on it. We didn’t put as much time into it as we would have liked because Sonny joined the band in the studio. But, it’s cool because our next record is about to come in March and it will be a chance for us to show what we’re really capable of with the time and resources. But Epitaph is an amazing label to us, they’ve really stuck their necks out for us over the past two years and we love ‘em.

The band of course originally hails form Gainesville, Florida. What’s the music scene like down there?
Matt: It’s like really boring and nonexistent to be honest with you. Most of the scene is like 21 and up people… they like to go to bars and drink and watch bands and stuff. There’s not too much of an all-ages crowd there. The band… it pretty much kick started off in Gainesville, but even before that we lived in Orlando for a while and there it was a lot more accessible to kids and music enthusiasts there. Gainesville is just kinda like a jaded town… they’re just not very excited about anything.

Although you are from Florida, you actually moved to Los Angeles. What made you move and why L.A.?
Matt: We moved to L.A. because we had that idea in our head that since the label is there that we should be there too. We had a bunch of parents there and at that point in time we weren’t very self-sufficient so we just ended up living with a lot of the band members’ parents for a while. That lasted for about a year and now we all live in different places and we’ve all settled into our own. So… it’s pretty cool.

From First to Last’s music has been characterized as a mixture of Hardcore, Emo, Screamo and Fashioncore. Do you agree with this description? How would you yourself describe the band’s sound?
Matt: I mean if you’re basing it off the first record it can be lumped into that category, I can understand why. A lot of people don’t really realize it, but the first record is actually kinda like a satirical take on music at that point in time when we wrote it. A lot of the songs sound different and a lot of the songs are kind of our take on that particular kind of music and there’s a lot of really sarcastic lyrics. But I mean you can lump it into that category all you want, it doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is if you listen to it or not and if you enjoy it. I think when our new record comes out you’re not really going to be able to lump us into any particular category except for rock, because that’s all it is.

A little over two months ago, you announced that your bass player Jon had left the band. Now that he’s been gone for a while, how do you think this affects the band’s sound in a live setting?
Matt: I guess I don’t want to say anything that’s mean, but since his departure our live show has been a lot more enjoyable. We’ve been actually having a really good time… we have a girl playing bass now her name’s Alicia. It’s really cool in my personal opinion for a couple different reasons. No one really gives girls a chance anymore. No girls play music because dudes are always like, “yah man, girls can’t play music what do they think they’re doing.” There’s been a lot of really amazing girl musicians. The Smashing Pumpkins had a girl bass player and they were one of the biggest bands that ever was. You know Alicia’s cool… she’s been working for bands for years so we figured we’d give her the chance to finally step up and play instead of work. It’s great… I really love the presence it gives it on stage. And a lot of girls look up to her and are like, “wow, if you can do it, we can too!” It’s cool… I like it.

After Jon left the band, word has it that Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit fame helped play bass on your new album. How exactly did you guys hook up with Borland and what was it like to play with such a big name from the rock universe?
Matt: Well what happened was we needed a bass player on our record ‘cause me and Travis, the other guitar player, we didn’t want to play the bass because we play the guitar and we wanted another vibe I guess. So Ross just called Wes and was like, “Hey I got this band do you want to play bass?” And he was like, “Sure!” And he literally just said “Yeah” and just drove up and it was like a 10 hour drive from L.A. And he drove all the way up and he learned all the songs in like 3 or 4 days and actually wrote a song with us. We just hung out… me and him got drunk one night and we had a duelling solo competition onstage and I ended up breaking my guitar. I don’t know man… I love that guy. He’s a really really close friend to us and he’s a really amazing musician. A lot of people kind of lump him into the Limp Bizkit thing. But you know he has his own band now and that’s a part of his life he doesn’t even really like to think about anymore. I think he’s gonna show a lot of people really soon, with our record and his new record that he’s making, that he’s capable of a lot more than just that.

Speaking of Wes, you guys were able to hook up with famed Limp Bizkit and nu-metal producer Ross Robinson for your latest record. How were you able to secure the services of Robinson and what assets do you think he brought to the table in the making of the new record?
Matt: With Ross it was something that we had talked about for a really long time. We’ve been wanting Ross to produce our record for a year or so. But we always were like, “There’s no way!” He does platinum band’s records… wow this guy is insane. You know he did that At The Drive-in, Relationship of Command, he did that and that’s like one of my favourite record of all time and the first Slipknot record, he did that and I love that record. He’s done so much stuff that there’s so much respect for him. We were just like, “wow, there’s no way that guy would ever want to work with us.” But then we just decided one day that we have to make this guy do our record. So we made new demos and we recorded them and just made as good as we fucking could and we sent it to him and he was like, “I love this! I wanna do your record” and we were just like, “whoa!” And even though he was really expensive Epitaph still went for it. And working with him was honestly the most amazing thing we have ever done in our entire lives. He completely changed every single person in the bands’ life. He makes you tap into a part of yourself when you play music that a lot of people don’t know about. It’s a whole new thing and I think it’s come out in our live show on this tour. Everything is just so much different now since we’ve worked with him and it’s really amazing.

You guys are well-known for your super-energetic live performances. What is your philosophy when it comes to live shows and where do you get the energy to continually exert yourself on stage?
Matt: I think a good live show comes from a band truly enjoying what they’re doing. A lot of bands who don’t have good live shows which are around right now I think… it’s because of the fact that they’re not playing music they love because they love it. That’s a big problem with music in general in my eyes right now. But as far as when we play live… we just let go and just do what comes naturally. We love playing our music and we love playing for people who love our music so when we play it’s like all that energy just comes out and it’s just a natural thing. If it’s forced then I think it won’t be the same. That’s about it really.

Do you have any stories in particular which pertain to your crazy on-stage antics?
Matt: Yah like a long long time ago we were on tour and our bass player John at that time, he did something with his bass and the tuning key stuck into my head and I was bleeding all over myself and I was playing and as the show ended I was walking offstage and I passed out. I mean there’s been all kinds of stuff. We all have huge gashes like I have this [pointing to his hands]… this is finally heeling a little bit. Sonny fractured his finger the other day or something. It’s just all kinds of stuff… we’re always getting cuts and wounds and bruises and stuff. Travis broke both his arms on the tour one time. I don’t know… it’s just craziness.

What are your favourite and least favourite parts of touring?
Matt: My favourite part of touring is watching things happen. On tour you can kind of see the progressive growth. You know as time goes on you see more and more kids coming… more and more people… I don’t know, it’s just a really cool energy… it’s like super-awesome. My least favourite part about it I’d say is the fact that it’s really hard to keep close to your loved ones and on top of that I hate being freezing cold in the winter [laughs]. That’s actually the worst one… the cold part [laughs].

What lies ahead for the band?
Matt: We’re on tour for the next year straight. Touring with Story of the Year and Every Time I Die in January. Headlining Europe in February. We’re touring with Fallout Boy and Hawthorne Heights in March and April. Headlining Warped Tour this summer. We’re just doing all of it!  [ END ]