4/17/08
Dear Friends,
I do have lousy luck with authority figures sometimes. Just the other night I was riding my bicycle over to meet up with a friend on the southside of Williamsburg and I rode up onto the sidewalk very briefly en route to a pole at which I intended to lock up my bike. There were two policemen standing on the corner at the time but I didn't pay it much mind. One of them called to me so I stopped. He told me that I wasn't supposed to ride on the sidewalk. I apologized and said that I never, under any circumstances, ride on the sidewalk but that I wasn't feeling well and that this must have caused me to lose my
moral compass. They asked to see my ID and if I had ever been guilty of any kind of violation.
Now, that's a tough one because the first thing that came to my mind was when I got "busted" for putting a sticker on a wall in Manhattan and a unmarked car rolled up on me filled with angry undercover cops who slapped on the cuffs and carted me off to the 7th precinct where I spent a good part of the evening in the pokey until I was discharged with a court summons.
I told them that I had once gotten a speeding ticket and they ran my license. As they waited for the results several children rode by on push scooters and skateboards and I looked at them, incredulous, biting my tongue so that I would not say something I would end up regretting. My license came up clean, they told me, but they issued me a summons. I thanked them and walked away.
I felt pretty annoyed for a while. But then me and a friend went to the Living Room to see a great set by guitar wizard, Jim Campilongo and it cheered me
right up.
Boy this town has changed from what it was when I first moved here. I'm starting to feel a bit alienated, I guess. I'm afraid that one of these days I'll break some dress code, completely unaware that the northside has become a gated community and they'll cart me off to an in-patient treatment facility in Queens. Love, Matty
2/20/08
It's been quite a while since I wrote anything here and for those of you who check in, sorry about that. I'll try to get better with it.
As of a couple days ago Matty Charles & the Valentines is officially disbanded. After seven years of playing together we've decided to go our separate ways. I want to express my gratitude to Josh Stark and DJ Mendel and wish them the best on their endeavors.
5/15/07
THE VIKING...
I just found a picture of my old van sitting on the desktop of my computer and my heart gave a little thump of affection and nostalgic longing. I had to sell her because she cost me too much money, was too hard to park, and gas? Forget about it!
When I bought her she was pretty clean. But as soon as she was tagged once that was it. Every pecker with a sharpie or a can of spray paint felt obligated to leave a trace of themselves on her hulking metal exterior. I knew there was nothing I could do so I embraced it. I even came to feel a sense of pride when discovering something new that wasn't there before. Somebody saw how special she was besides myself and that made me feel good. My favorite was the vertical "viking" on the passenger door. She was a lot like a viking, I thought. Intimidating the other cars. Taking charge without remorse or apology like a wild animal. People admired her and they knew better than to mess with her. I was never pulled over by the cops in the 5 years that I owned her. State after state. Big town. Small town. It didn't matter.
Sometimes in warm weather I would drive her down the street with Mettalica's Four Horsemen blasting from the tapedeck. People and other vehicles would scramble to get out of the way regardless of my impeccably polite driving etiquette.
We had fun together, the Viking and me. I really think she liked me. She always started right up and I wouldn't let anyone else change her oil for fear that they might do something untoward.
She's gone now. I sold her to a guy in Deleware. If she ends up being used in a bank heist I wouldn't be surprised. She's just kind of like that.
5/14/07 RECORDING UPSTATE...
This was an exciting weekend for the Valentines. Our friend Kristin Mueller and her room mate, Sam lugged a ton of gear upstate to Josh's place and we set to recording songs for our next record. We bought an enormous bag of pocorn, some beef jerky and enough red cool-aid to sink the Bismark and then we knuckled down and managed to get quite a bit done. Nobody hurt anybody. There were lots of trees.
A great discovery for me was that an amp I bought last weekend for $50 turns out to be one of the best gear purchases I've made in a long time. It's a 1965 Silvertone tube amp with a single 8" speaker, and all original parts - model number 1481. This is only a 30 watt amp with a tiny speaker but it sounds amazing! It's got a growl but it isn't harsh. I used it in tandem with my Fender Vibroverb to achieve more range and drive on the top and it really impressed me.
5/10/07
THE GREAT RECORD STORE PAST…
I was just thinking about the grand old days of the record store. I spent countless hours as a kid sorting through bins of old vinyl. My hometown was full of second hand record stores and you could even find great classics at the Goodwill. Not to mention that new records only cost about $8. Ah, the glory days before the format switched to disk and the greedy labels jacked up the prices threefold. Here are a few of the finds that really knocked my socks off.
RAMONES – ROAD TO RUIN
I bought this record when I was fifteen in the “nice price” section of my local. I liked the album cover which sports a cartoon drawing of the band wearing their signature leather jackets and torn jeans, playing music while the city behind them burns and falls into urban decay. The song tittles also appealed to me – I wanna be sedated, I just wanna have something to do, go mental, etc. The band captured in the photo on the back looked seriously wrong - kind of mongoloid and scary. In fact I found the whole thing confusing. The combination of cartoon and the modified 50’s greaser look with these absurd bowl haircuts was like nothing else and that also made me want to buy it and take it home.
When I put it on the turntable and listened to the first song, that was it! It was so good I couldn’t believe it. “Hangin’ out on 2nd avenue. Eating chicken vindaloo.” I had no idea what Joey was talking about and I had to read the lyric sheet to understand the words but it sounded strange and exciting. Then I Wanted Everything tore out of the speakers. Fast and hard and angry about “all day workin’ on a truck, bringin’ the groceries up. Not much of a salary. No tip for the delivery.” - the nothingness of the situation compelling the narrator to commit robbery. Economy. Power. Stark imagery. There wasn’t one superfluous note or sappy sentiment to crap up the album. This record converted me into a Ramones fan and I bought all the Ramones records I could get my hands on.
To this day I still love the Ramones. I believe in their economy and I can honestly say that it’s that same economy that informs much of the way I write songs. I used to own almost all their records but over the years I’ve gotten rid of some of the later releases. I think the first four records are a must have for any fan and although the first three (Ramones, Leave Home & Rocket To Russia) contain hit after hit I do think that Road To Ruin is probably my favorite. Every song on the record is great and the production is dramatically better than the first three releases. What follows this record is the very spotty and long decline of the Ramones. They toughed it out a long time and continued to release great songs and put on great shows but internal strife and odd production choices took its toll on the quality of the records they put out. Rest In Peace – Joey, Johnny & Dee Dee.
5/01/07
Dear Friends,
Here’s what’s been going on. I’ve been working on a group of songs and some instrumental music that started as the soundtrack for “Charlie”, a film written and directed by Sal Interlandi and staring none other than Valentines drummer, DJ Mendel. It was so inspiring to involve myself in this project that even after it was a complete film score I’ve continued work on it. I think it’s about three fourths complete but I don’t want to jinx myself. These are songs that nobody has really heard yet. It’s also a bit more experimental than other records I’ve put out. In short, I’m having a lot of fun with it and I think the quality of the music so far shows this to be a successful approach.
As far as the Valentines are concerned, we just finished a residency for the month of April at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn. The purpose of which has been to prepare ourselves for a recording weekend coming up. We’re gonna do our best to get material in the can and put out another record. This has been a long haul for us and I think we’re ready personally and musically to tackle the challenge. It’s funny, when you play music with others as long as I’ve been playing with Josh and DJ a lot of stuff comes up. It’s an intense relationship and it takes a lot of work and co-operation to stick it out through the ups and downs. And believe me, we’ve had both. So I’ll let you know as material gets released and for the meantime keep listening to our records. You can listen to some funny old stuff on the Artifacts page of this site. Take care. –Matty Charles
Dear Friends,
I do have lousy luck with authority figures sometimes. Just the other night I was riding my bicycle over to meet up with a friend on the southside of Williamsburg and I rode up onto the sidewalk very briefly en route to a pole at which I intended to lock up my bike. There were two policemen standing on the corner at the time but I didn't pay it much mind. One of them called to me so I stopped. He told me that I wasn't supposed to ride on the sidewalk. I apologized and said that I never, under any circumstances, ride on the sidewalk but that I wasn't feeling well and that this must have caused me to lose my
moral compass. They asked to see my ID and if I had ever been guilty of any kind of violation.
Now, that's a tough one because the first thing that came to my mind was when I got "busted" for putting a sticker on a wall in Manhattan and a unmarked car rolled up on me filled with angry undercover cops who slapped on the cuffs and carted me off to the 7th precinct where I spent a good part of the evening in the pokey until I was discharged with a court summons.
I told them that I had once gotten a speeding ticket and they ran my license. As they waited for the results several children rode by on push scooters and skateboards and I looked at them, incredulous, biting my tongue so that I would not say something I would end up regretting. My license came up clean, they told me, but they issued me a summons. I thanked them and walked away.
I felt pretty annoyed for a while. But then me and a friend went to the Living Room to see a great set by guitar wizard, Jim Campilongo and it cheered me
right up.
Boy this town has changed from what it was when I first moved here. I'm starting to feel a bit alienated, I guess. I'm afraid that one of these days I'll break some dress code, completely unaware that the northside has become a gated community and they'll cart me off to an in-patient treatment facility in Queens. Love, Matty
2/20/08
It's been quite a while since I wrote anything here and for those of you who check in, sorry about that. I'll try to get better with it.
As of a couple days ago Matty Charles & the Valentines is officially disbanded. After seven years of playing together we've decided to go our separate ways. I want to express my gratitude to Josh Stark and DJ Mendel and wish them the best on their endeavors.
5/15/07
THE VIKING...
I just found a picture of my old van sitting on the desktop of my computer and my heart gave a little thump of affection and nostalgic longing. I had to sell her because she cost me too much money, was too hard to park, and gas? Forget about it!
When I bought her she was pretty clean. But as soon as she was tagged once that was it. Every pecker with a sharpie or a can of spray paint felt obligated to leave a trace of themselves on her hulking metal exterior. I knew there was nothing I could do so I embraced it. I even came to feel a sense of pride when discovering something new that wasn't there before. Somebody saw how special she was besides myself and that made me feel good. My favorite was the vertical "viking" on the passenger door. She was a lot like a viking, I thought. Intimidating the other cars. Taking charge without remorse or apology like a wild animal. People admired her and they knew better than to mess with her. I was never pulled over by the cops in the 5 years that I owned her. State after state. Big town. Small town. It didn't matter.
Sometimes in warm weather I would drive her down the street with Mettalica's Four Horsemen blasting from the tapedeck. People and other vehicles would scramble to get out of the way regardless of my impeccably polite driving etiquette.
We had fun together, the Viking and me. I really think she liked me. She always started right up and I wouldn't let anyone else change her oil for fear that they might do something untoward.
She's gone now. I sold her to a guy in Deleware. If she ends up being used in a bank heist I wouldn't be surprised. She's just kind of like that.
5/14/07 RECORDING UPSTATE...
This was an exciting weekend for the Valentines. Our friend Kristin Mueller and her room mate, Sam lugged a ton of gear upstate to Josh's place and we set to recording songs for our next record. We bought an enormous bag of pocorn, some beef jerky and enough red cool-aid to sink the Bismark and then we knuckled down and managed to get quite a bit done. Nobody hurt anybody. There were lots of trees.
A great discovery for me was that an amp I bought last weekend for $50 turns out to be one of the best gear purchases I've made in a long time. It's a 1965 Silvertone tube amp with a single 8" speaker, and all original parts - model number 1481. This is only a 30 watt amp with a tiny speaker but it sounds amazing! It's got a growl but it isn't harsh. I used it in tandem with my Fender Vibroverb to achieve more range and drive on the top and it really impressed me.
5/10/07
THE GREAT RECORD STORE PAST…
I was just thinking about the grand old days of the record store. I spent countless hours as a kid sorting through bins of old vinyl. My hometown was full of second hand record stores and you could even find great classics at the Goodwill. Not to mention that new records only cost about $8. Ah, the glory days before the format switched to disk and the greedy labels jacked up the prices threefold. Here are a few of the finds that really knocked my socks off.
RAMONES – ROAD TO RUIN
I bought this record when I was fifteen in the “nice price” section of my local. I liked the album cover which sports a cartoon drawing of the band wearing their signature leather jackets and torn jeans, playing music while the city behind them burns and falls into urban decay. The song tittles also appealed to me – I wanna be sedated, I just wanna have something to do, go mental, etc. The band captured in the photo on the back looked seriously wrong - kind of mongoloid and scary. In fact I found the whole thing confusing. The combination of cartoon and the modified 50’s greaser look with these absurd bowl haircuts was like nothing else and that also made me want to buy it and take it home.
When I put it on the turntable and listened to the first song, that was it! It was so good I couldn’t believe it. “Hangin’ out on 2nd avenue. Eating chicken vindaloo.” I had no idea what Joey was talking about and I had to read the lyric sheet to understand the words but it sounded strange and exciting. Then I Wanted Everything tore out of the speakers. Fast and hard and angry about “all day workin’ on a truck, bringin’ the groceries up. Not much of a salary. No tip for the delivery.” - the nothingness of the situation compelling the narrator to commit robbery. Economy. Power. Stark imagery. There wasn’t one superfluous note or sappy sentiment to crap up the album. This record converted me into a Ramones fan and I bought all the Ramones records I could get my hands on.
To this day I still love the Ramones. I believe in their economy and I can honestly say that it’s that same economy that informs much of the way I write songs. I used to own almost all their records but over the years I’ve gotten rid of some of the later releases. I think the first four records are a must have for any fan and although the first three (Ramones, Leave Home & Rocket To Russia) contain hit after hit I do think that Road To Ruin is probably my favorite. Every song on the record is great and the production is dramatically better than the first three releases. What follows this record is the very spotty and long decline of the Ramones. They toughed it out a long time and continued to release great songs and put on great shows but internal strife and odd production choices took its toll on the quality of the records they put out. Rest In Peace – Joey, Johnny & Dee Dee.
5/01/07
Dear Friends,
Here’s what’s been going on. I’ve been working on a group of songs and some instrumental music that started as the soundtrack for “Charlie”, a film written and directed by Sal Interlandi and staring none other than Valentines drummer, DJ Mendel. It was so inspiring to involve myself in this project that even after it was a complete film score I’ve continued work on it. I think it’s about three fourths complete but I don’t want to jinx myself. These are songs that nobody has really heard yet. It’s also a bit more experimental than other records I’ve put out. In short, I’m having a lot of fun with it and I think the quality of the music so far shows this to be a successful approach.
As far as the Valentines are concerned, we just finished a residency for the month of April at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn. The purpose of which has been to prepare ourselves for a recording weekend coming up. We’re gonna do our best to get material in the can and put out another record. This has been a long haul for us and I think we’re ready personally and musically to tackle the challenge. It’s funny, when you play music with others as long as I’ve been playing with Josh and DJ a lot of stuff comes up. It’s an intense relationship and it takes a lot of work and co-operation to stick it out through the ups and downs. And believe me, we’ve had both. So I’ll let you know as material gets released and for the meantime keep listening to our records. You can listen to some funny old stuff on the Artifacts page of this site. Take care. –Matty Charles