Canadian Musician - November/December 2018 | Page 18

AS HEARD ON...
MATT MAYS
For the full interview, listen to the Oct. 17, 2018, episode of the podcast
Matt Mays: The way I feel
is there’s a lot of honesty
and a lot of love. It’s very
family-oriented and there is
a lot of trust. We try to push
each other on both ends and
whether it’s management or
label, I know I have a really
good team in my corner
because we’ve been through
a lot and there’s been a lot of stuff proven on both sides – from them to me and me to
them. That is nice to have. During such a weird and tumultuous time in the music business,
to have something that is, to me, more family-oriented and you know they’ve got your back
no matter what, that feels good.
Also, they’ve been changing with the times and very on top of the changes, to the
point where I could call and be like, “OK, what’s an MP3?” [laughs]. Things are forever chang-
ing and evolving, but they always seem to be one step ahead of it.
Record Producer & Engineer
MARK HOWARD
For the full interview, listen to the Sept. 12, 2018 episode of the podcast
CM: You were a very young and very
green engineer when you recorded the
Oh Mercy album with Bob Dylan and
a then-burgeoning super producer in
Daniel Lanois in the late 1980s. Were
you just tiptoeing between these two
strong personalities?
Mark Howard: Well Dylan was kind of in
his own world and Dan, you know, he was
hot on his trail just coming off of Peter Ga-
briel’s solo record and then the U2 record,
Joshua Tree. So, he was high on his horse
[laughs]. So Bob would be goofing off, sort
of thing. You know, I’d put the microphone on Bob and he would turn this way, and so I’d
put the microphone up here and he’d turn that way, and I sat in front of him and would just
follow him with a mic.
So, one day it just pissed Dan off, like Dylan was just strumming sloppily and stuff,
and Dan had this metal dobro. Dylan wouldn’t wear headphones, so I had two EV wedg-
es in front of him, like you see in a live concert, and I would just pump his voice through
those. Dan just kind of flipped out one day and smashed that metal dobro over the monitor
and Bob just went completely white. I kind of just got up from the console and walked
outside…
It was kind of a freaky thing but it woke Dylan up and nothing was ever said about it
again, and then he said my name [for the first time]! He walked over, asked if I could get him
a motorcycle, and we’d talk about bikes and all kinds of stuff. It was kind of nice but sad it
took such a thing. Something similar happened on Time Out of Mind, too, but nothing got
smashed [laughs]. But there was a tension in the air.
CM: You’ve been with
Sonic Records for almost
20 years. What’s been the
secret to that seemingly
successful partnership?
The Feldman Agency’s
SAM FELDMAN
For the full interview, listen to the Sept. 19,
2018 episode of the podcast
CM: You began your legendary career
as a doorman at a club, making con-
nections, working hard, and moving
up in the music business. Over the
years, has the barrier to entry changed
significantly?
Sam Feldman: You know, not really.
Obviously, technology has changed things
a lot, but at the end of the day… if you’re
passionate about something – like say
baseball is your thing but you can’t hit the
ball but you want to be in the baseball busi-
ness and there is only one job available and
that is selling peanuts in the park, take the
job. You’ve just got to get close to the action
where your passion is and if you’ve got what
it takes and you’re willing to work hard, then I
think things will happen.
I do think that integrity and reputation
count for a lot, whether it’s online or personal.
Every person you talk to in this business is a
marketing opportunity because it is a very
gossipy business. So, word of mouth and
reputation count for a lot but there is no
doubt about it, you’ve got to work hard. It’s
almost beyond work. Like, when I was doing
it, I didn’t even find it work, I was just so into
it, so passionate about it, that it consumed
every waking hour when I started. It was 10
years straight with no holidays and 15 or 16
hours a day. That’s what you did but it never
felt like work.
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