Matt Hitt in the East Village – Photos by Rachelyn Remz Last Call is an interview series where I, Brittany Marino, ask talented folk all about their lasts: last time they did something, last time they felt something, etc....
Matt Hitt in the East Village – Photos by Rachelyn Remz
Last Call is an interview series where I, Brittany Marino, ask talented folk all about their lasts: last time they did something, last time they felt something, etc. This week I interviewed another friend, the charismatic and clever Matt Hitt. He allowed me to hit his vape during our chat.
I probably don’t need to introduce you to Matt Hitt, he’s been around NYC’s music scene for quite some time. Originally hailing from Wales, Hitt has made New York his home for the past 13 years. In 2011, he formed indie rock band Drowners with three other members and across several years they released an EP and two studio albums. He has also been a touring member of English indie rock band, The Vaccines. Now Hitt is doing his own thing, writing and performing under his own name. Catch him play his first solo show with Rebounder at Nublu Classic on December 7th.
The show is sold out, but find more information about the show here.
Brittany: Last person you texted and about what?
Matt: (checks phone) Oh, it’s boring though. Okay, last person I texted was one of my best friends, Pete Voleker, who is here for Thanksgiving. I officiated his wedding. He moved to Washington, and I don’t see him very much anymore.
Brittany: Ok, so it was just a ‘hi what’s up?’ or?
Matt: Yea I wanted something more salacious.
Brittany: How about your second to last text then?
Matt: It was you! But no they are all boring.
Brittany: I guess you are not a spicy texter.
Matt: (laughs) But yea, it was Pete Voelker, who is a great photographer.
Brittany: Last song you played?
Matt: Black Boys on Mopeds by Sinead O’Connor.
Brittany: Did you listen to that on your way here?
Matt: Well, I got this Sinead O’Connor t-shirt (gestures at his shirt). And I was thinking about her, and I thought I’d delve back in.
Brittany: Last time you cried?
Matt: (long pause) This is written right? You can edit this out?
Brittany: I will probably make note of it and say ‘Matt took a long pause.’
Matt: Last time I cried was when… I was at my parents house this summer, because I felt overwhelmed about how life was turning.
Brittany: Overwhelmed in a positive way or in a negative way?
Matt: In a way where, the last time I checked, I was 24. And now I’m 36, and I was sort of thinking about how I thought my life would turn out, and how it did or didn’t. And it was just an overwhelming sort of life contemplation thing.
Brittany: Do you cry a lot? I assume no since you said the last time was this summer, which was many months ago now.
Matt: Is that not regular?
Brittany: Some people cry every week.
Matt: (laughs) I don’t cry every week. I feel emotional a lot but I don’t actually cry.
Matt: Actually I wanna redo my answer, it’s cuter.
Brittany: It’s cuter and it’s accurate? Is it actually the last time you cried?
Matt: It’s not but it’s a better story.
Brittany: (laughs) Ok
Matt: The last time I cried was, my best friend Tilda had never seen Billy Elliot and it’s one of my favorite films. Every time I watch it, I cry. And there’s a bit in the film where there’s a letter that his dead mother wrote him to open when he was 18 but he opens it early and he reads the letter. I started crying as I always do whenever I watch it, which is now, must be my 50th time watching because it’s my favorite film. I feel embarrassed and I am crying and I look across, and Tilda is also crying.
Brittany: That’s very validating. Sometimes I show friends things and I will turn to them and be like, ‘this is the best part!’ And you are watching them and it’s not hitting the same way.
Matt: Yes but thankfully she was also crying.
Brittany: That actually is a good segue to my next question, last movie you watched?
Matt: Saltburn
Brittany: I was suppose to see that today, didn’t work out though.
Matt: It was awesome. It was equal parts Virgin Suicides, Brideshead Revisited, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. I loved it.
Brittany: Well I want to see it soon, so I am glad to hear it has Matt Hitts approval.
Brittany: Last song you wrote?
Matt: The last song I wrote was… it is called Kentucky Mules. You know the Moscow Mule?
Brittany: Yea I do.
Matt: An ex girlfriend I had told me about Kentucky Mules, which is basically a Moscow Mule with whiskey. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard anyone talk about this drink.
Brittany: Is it an actual thing in Kentucky?
Matt: I think it is a thing. It’s whiskey and ginger ale, I suppose. But I’d never heard of it. I thought that’d be a great title for a song.
Brittany: Have you had a Kentucky Mule?
Matt: Yes, she made it for me that night.
Brittany: Did you drink it when you wrote the song?
Matt: No, no.
Brittany: Are you gonna play it at the show?
Matt: I will be playing it.
Brittany: Last concert you went to?
Matt: I saw The Walkman at Kings Theatre.
Brittany: I was there!
Matt: You were there! We were all there.
Brittany: Everybody was there, it was about 20 of us.
Matt: They are a band that I’ve seen twice in my life, even though I’ve loved them for 20 years.
Brittany: Did you also go to the one at Webster Hall, earlier this year?
Matt: Oh, I did go. So three times I’ve seen them. I saw them once when I was in college, once at Webster, and then this one. They are one of those bands that I have loved forever.
Brittany: My favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I have never seen them. And I have been to a lot of concerts, seen artists several times over.
Matt: The Cure is the only band I have never seen that I need to.
Brittany: Didn’t they play MSG or somewhere recently?
Matt: They did and I had a ticket but I was away this summer.
Brittany: Okay so which Walkmen show was the best?
Matt: Webster because it was similar to Kings where I hadn’t seen them in ten years. And with Webster, it felt small and Michael and Ryan were there.
Brittany: Was the energy better there?
Matt: Well, we were sort of all smushed into the standing pit. I think a lot of people feel this way about the band, where it’s like, they fucking really love them. They occupy this weird space where they don’t really come up that much in a way that like, The Strokes or The Cure do. It’s deeper. So, I guess, versus Kings Theater, where it was seated… well we were in the standing pit but Webster was all standing and you are shoulder to shoulder and people are shouting.
Brittany: Were people moving?
Matt: We were swaying.
Brittany: When they played The Rat, I expected everyone to go nuts. Our group certainly did and we were jumping around. But everyone else in the theater, not so much.
Matt: When I was in Wales for the summer, this guy that I know said this thing to me. He was talking about how he had a hard day at work and then a late night, and he had to wake up early. He goes, you know, it was one of those mornings you just wake up and you say: ‘Siri, play The Rat.’ And that was the only way he could wake up.
(both laugh)
Brittany: I thought they were great at Kings though. It’s a beautiful theater.
Matt: It’s awesome, I saw Jenny Lewis play there, and I am fine standing up for Jenny Lewis. But yea for The Rat, I wanted a little more…
Brittany: Not every song by The Walkmen do I need to be going crazy for but there are those few songs that you expect everyone to freak the hell out. But yea, that was my last concert too and I had never seen them, so that was a fun one.
Brittany: Last thing you splurged on?
Matt: I never splurge.
Brittany: Never?
Matt: No. I very rarely spend a lot of money on individual things.
Brittany: Instruments? Clothes?
Matt: I am trying to think… Oh, the last thing I splurged on was a pair of shoes. A pair of shoes that I really liked. I have only ever bought Converse. My annual Christmas present from my parents are a pair of Doc Martens. But I bought a pair of loafers that I liked.
Brittany: Are you wearing them regularly? Does it feel worth it?
Matt: I am wearing them right now.
Brittany: Let me take a look (looks down at his shoes). Ok! Those are nice. Shoes are a great thing to splurge on because you walk on them all day everyday.
Matt: Well you know the famous quote? The only thing you should spend money on is a mattress and shoes, because if you’re not in one, you’re in the other.
Brittany: Who’s famous quote is that?
Matt: I don’t know I can’t remember. I heard it years ago.
Brittany: Well that’s a smart person.
Brittany: Last argument you got into?
Matt: (laughs) I’m gonna lie about this one.
Brittany: Ok, or you can skip the question.
Matt: No no no. The one that I am willing to say, it was an argument about Morrissey I suppose.
Brittany: That’ll do it.
Matt: It was about which of his solo albums is the best.
Brittany: So which is it? I am a Smiths girl I don’t really know much solo Morrissey.
Matt: I am Smiths too, they are my favorite band. I discovered them when I was 15. I heard of them via that band, Brand New. From the lyric, ‘The way you always criticize The Smiths and Morrissey.’ I was 15 and was like, who are they? Then I looked them up.
Matt: But yea, it was which Morrissey album is the best. I was arguing for Vauxhall and I.
Brittany: Last note written in your notes app?
Matt: Oh, I have an ongoing to-do list:
Buy battery for fire alarm and buy toothpaste.
Brittany: (laughs) I love that.
Matt: Your fire alarm battery only runs out every five years.
Brittany: Is it doing the beep thing?
Matt: It did the beep thing and then I pulled it out so it wouldn’t do it anymore.
Brittany: Last time you called your mother?
Matt: Yesterday. She had just gotten a COVID booster, and I asked her how she was feeling. She asked me what I’ve been up to. I was FaceTiming her, so I could see her. She fell asleep halfway through.
Brittany: That’s actually very normal.
Matt: I talk to my parents a lot.
Brittany: What is a lot?
Matt: Well, I live 3000 miles away from them, so I try to FaceTime them once or twice a week and then I text them things I think they would find amusing every other day.
Brittany: So you are close with them?
Matt: Yes
Brittany: How often do you get to visit them?
Matt: Normally I only go back for Christmas.
Brittany: Do they come here?
Matt: They’ve never been here.
Brittany: What? How long have you been living here?
Matt: I have lived here for 13 years.
Brittany: And they’ve never been to New York?
Matt: My parents have never been, my brother has never been. My sister has been twice, and one of the two times she came I was on tour so I wasn’t even here.
Brittany: Have you tried to convince them?
Matt: I constantly try to convince them.
Brittany: Last thing you obsessed over?
Matt: Last thing I obsessed over was when Spotify got the audio book thing.
Brittany: How were you listening before?
Matt: Well, I am an avid reader. I did English Lit in University but my current lifestyle means I spend a lot of time on the subway and I am often tired so I’ll just listen to an audio book instead. So when Spotify got the audio book thing, I was obsessed over saving books that I would wanna listen to.
Brittany: Were you listening to audio books before?
Matt: No, not really. All of a sudden they had their own weird library and I was going through it to save all the ones I wanted to read.
Brittany: Then what’s the last book you read?
Matt: Last book I read was London Fields by Martin Amis, my friend gave it to me.
Brittany: Thoughts?
Matt: It’s great, there is a reason why everyone likes it.
Brittany: Last time you created something you were proud of?
Matt: Oh, that’s a good one. Well, without wanting to sound too self important or flowery, I am so happy that I was interested in song writing as a young teenager. The last thing I am proud of is the last song I wrote, because I always think to myself, well that never existed before and I just made something that now exists. I am not proud of myself about a lot of things but anytime I do that, I am proud of it.
Matt: I am friends with a lot of songwriters and musicians and they do the same thing and we often boringly talk about that. But there are people I know that don’t have that in them, so I always think to myself, lucky that I pursued it and had an interest in it. So yea, the last song I wrote is the last thing that I am proud of it. Because it was literally nothing and now it’s here. It’s crazy that I can do that.
Brittany: Absolutely. Do you think you are a tough critic on yourself?
Matt: Yea, I think everyone is.
Brittany: Do you ever create something that you are not proud of?
Matt: Well, it’s not that I am not proud. I think it’s a common thing with songwriters, you write something and there is no one around to tell you whether it’s shit or good. So one thing you might think is: ‘that was probably shit, no one will care about it.’
Brittany: So who’s opinions matter most to you? Family, friends, people you don’t know, fans?
Matt: It use to be, when I was in Drowners, the other guys in the band. I would write the songs and I would send it to them. I would send them batches of songs and then they would be like, ‘these ones are cool!’ And I’d be like, okay those ones were cool. Now, I don’t know. I do send them to people though. I have some people that are in bands, and then some people who don’t know how to play an instrument. I send them to both and if there is a correlation there and they both think it’s good, then it’s probably good.
