Posted on January 6, 2009 - by Mark Zonda

The Good Brigadier

Matt Williams is quite an amazing surprise. Or maybe I should say that it’s surprising how the World (or should I say MTV, NME or whatever’s got three f characters in it’s name to drive youngster mad) is not paying attention in such talented people just doing art for the love of art. Matt William in – as a metter of fact – also The Brigadier, just like a Sci-Fi character moving undercover with some secret name redy to unveil his special powers only when someone crosses casually his path. And I had the chance to be enlighted and delighted by his music. Here’s our little interview.

Mark Zonda: Matt Williams, UK. Please introduce yourself to out sleepy audience .

Matt Williams: Well, my name is Matt Williams but I release music under the name of ‘The Brigadier’, as there are a few other Matt Williams’ and it sounds a bit boring.

Mark Zonda: Why Brigadier? There’s the image of an Italian Comics character on your blog. He’s a kind of “mystery detective”. Coincidence?

Matt Williams: I named my previous band I was in Brigadier and when I went solo after that I decided to keep the name, I didn’t really want to go under my own name as there already other musicians called Matt Williams so I just went with it. I’m not sure if it is a good idea or not, though a name suggests a more singer-songwriter sort of thing which I’m not. As for the drawing, It is a coincidence actually, an Italian artist friend of mine (Roxyinthebox) did a drawing of me which I decided to use on my profile, then people kept saying to me ‘It’s Dylan dog’ but I didn’t know what they were talking about then I googled it and found out!

Mark Zonda: When did you wrote your first song? When you felt the urge of writing music, and which song you consider your first success…

Matt Williams: I started coming up with tunes when I was about 4 or 5 and then continued until my teenage years when I learnt to play guitar. I always wanted to make music from a very young age, I was always enchanted by pop music and ad to see if I could make my own. I’m not sure what song I would call a success, it was an evolutionary process over many years of developing so I’m not sure. I think by the time I got to about 19 I’d pretty much honed my writing style which I still have now.

Mark Zonda: As for me I see the world of Pop Music like one big Marvel or DC comic. Which superhero are you?

Matt Williams: Hmm, I don’t know, someone who does a mundane day job and then gets to be his real self in the nightime – could be anyone really!

Mark Zonda: One man band, each sound close to perfecetion. Where have you learned to master your studio skills, and which artists would you like to collaborate with?

Matt Williams: I learned just by myself by trial and error, it took a long while to get where I am now as I’m not very technical and don’t learn things very easily, no one taught me and I didn’t read any books all I could do was listen to records and copy as much as I could! I don’t know who I would collaborate with but I do like producing people which I’ve done a bit of, I like not having the responsibility of writing the songs but just being able to suggest things and help to make it something else.

Mark Zonda: What would you suggest to a famous singer, Paul McCartney for example.

Matt Williams: I don’t know if I’m in any position to be suggesting things to Paul McCartney especially as he is one of my idols. I would ask him to release all his unheard songs though!

Rhymes for Rainy Days, a classic

Mark Zonda: What does the Brigadier thinks about modern pop music, and why does he sounds like Todd Rundgren meets Bowie meets ELO?

Matt Williams: I listen to the radio a lot so I still here modern stuff though when I’m listening to albums at home its usually the older stuff. I want to like music and want to like new bands but not as much as I would like gets me excited. It’s odd that you mention those artists (Bowie, Rundgren, ELO) as I’m not really influenced by any of them. I like the odd song and album by Bowie and Rundgren but don’t listen to them that much, I don’t really like ELO at all! I do get compared to them sometimes though – probably the same influences – the Beatles!

Mark Zonda: Does a song ever helped you to reach something you really wanted? Does “some sort of magic” ever happened to you?

Matt Williams: I sometimes find that writing is very therapeutic if I’m going through a bad time or something, it can help to clearly write in words a situation that you’re experiencing and then making something creative out of it.

Mark Zonda: So we’re wishing you all the best to make the old magic work. Keep on watchin on us!

Let it ring on...

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