Matthau Mikojan
We meet up with Matthau Mikojan at his old watering hole, the legendary Amadeus Music Bar. The man is in a upbeat mood, joking around as he reflects on his career, personal struggles and what all that has lead up to - the new Mikojan album. An album he made on his own. An album that took over 19 months to finish. An album titled Her Foreign Language.
Text versions:
Vince, Ääni Magazine: How are you doing? I know I called you on little bit of a short notice, giving you one day. Or was that plenty?
Matthau: I was in the middle of a drinking session back home. Been binging for a week now doing drugs and drinking - so the usual.
V: Well you did do all the hard work already.
M: Actually I faked it. I did nothing! I just claimed I did everything myself. I for paid alot of good musicians to do all the work. So now I'm getting all the attention. Those guys were very cheap. So it's coming together according to my plan.
V: Did you pay with potatoes or peanuts?
M: No, sex.
Already this is turning out to be the greatest sitdown interview ever.
Her Foreign Language is the fourth solo album and Mikojan's sixth release counting his Bloodpit days. The album comes out March 27th in Finland and elsewhere April 10th. The single “You “ is already out on Spotify and iTunes.
V: I heard you will hand-deliver if someone orders the album straight from you.
M: Yeah but I lied. That was a long time ago. I would never do that now. Nah, actually I would. Once the record comes out I think I'm gonna have a box full of CD's at home so I can send you a copy if you like.
V: Is it going to be back to the old school mentality of having a box of CDs in your bag and you'll be just walking down the street and saying "hey - buy a CD"?
M: I'll just hand them a coupon. Fill in your name, address and email. I don't bother carrying the CDs around. They are rather heavy.
All joking aside, Matthau did the lion share of the work on Her Foreign Language. Mixing, recording, playing all the instruments. It was a process he now thinks was inevitable.
V: Let's go back to when you were doing the album before this one. (Hell Or High Water) What was your after the promoting, after the touring, when things sort of settled down to "That's over, what am I gonna do now?"
M: You know what - We were going nowhere. Out of that frustration... I just didn't want to go on and I basically wanted to pull the plug on the whole "band" thing. At the same time I started hearing new music in my head, new rhythms and stuff. I've always come up with different styles, musical styles that I was never able to record because I think bands are always restricted. In a way. You know, the bass player plays the way he does and the drummer's got his own style etc. So there are certain things you can't make work with that lineup.
V: You get stuck in a rut
M: - Exactly. And the only way to actually make this record was to make it on my own since... Well, imagine me booking a studio for two months straight because I wanted to make an album, not just 1 or 2 tracks. And that would have cost a lot of money since I have to play everything myself and I can't play live in the studio environment.
- It started out of sort of frustration and feeling that it's going to end unless I act upon it - and do something on my own.
This wasn't the first time me and Matthau had touched upon these issues. The two of us have a very similar place in the musical landscape as we share the role of front man and singer/songwriter. Our paths have crossed more than once; doing shows together, performing each other's songs and even winding up in the same band for a moment, right around this time period. A few of those songs continue to live on, two in my catalog and one that can soon be heard on Her Foreign Language. His story is one that resonates with me and really hits close to home.
V: I remember talking to you on numerous occasions, usually around the fall. And I had the same thing. It was almost like a depression of "What's the point?", "Why are we even doing this?". And then I'd see you like two weeks later and you sort of figure it out again. So - what IS the point? What made you learn all these new techniques and produce your own album?
M: I find that there is no point to live unless you do something that you love doing. I don't mean I'm gonna kill myself if this record doesn't make it or anything like that. You should always listen to your heart and never give up. Never give up hope. Because that's all you have. And times are changing all the time. Nothing is for good, everything will pass. Even bad times. Usually bad times are followed by good times.
V: How did you go about it, learning mixing and recording? You didn't go to any school for it
M: I started out recording demos on my laptop using the internal microphone. Suddenly I found myself very fascinated (and fashionated) about recording sound. So I started watching videos, reading books and going to studios to watch engineers, seeing what they do and how they do it. By trial and error. I recorded alot, I recorded my stuff and my friends' stuff. I got a lot of tapes. Well... not tapes. Digital tapes. And it took me a couple of years to get the confidence to press the red button eventually. And it took me a couple of years to figure it out as problems occurred along the way. There was a couple of times I was ready to pull the plug on the whole thing. Working alone, it's a bit of everything... It's rewarding - and sometimes you hit the f'ckin' bottom because things don't work out the way you want it to work out. You got no one to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes you get very frustrated. But then I always - somehow, I don't know how - I got it done. Finally.
The artwork for Her Foreign Language was done by local artist Teemu Koskenoja. A man who has previously worked with Cheek, Petri Nygård, Flegmaatikot. Mr. Mikojan had a very thought out idea for the imagery of the album.
M: The theme of the album is muse, muses. The way I see it, the muse you are always trying to find - to capture - it comes from within. It's always you. The source for inspiration is always you yourself. I had the idea to put a female figure on the cover. A muse figure. And let's just say it's a compromise. I got the muse on the cover.
Matthau Mikojan has been around now for longer than just the proverbial cup of coffee. He is a staple in the Tampere music scene, with a colorful story and a rich back catalog. His sound has sort of devolved to a simpler, more organic state. Being on his own he has found the joy of playing drums again and speaks of reconnecting with rhythm. He calls himself an old soul. Everything he likes was from a long time ago. Well not everything. He still enjoys indoor plumbing.
M: I love it!
