{"id":61325,"date":"2017-08-20T17:48:36","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T22:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=61325"},"modified":"2017-08-29T14:12:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T19:12:55","slug":"interview-matt-stansberry-of-matt-stansberry-and-the-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2017\/08\/20\/interview-matt-stansberry-of-matt-stansberry-and-the-romance\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Matt Stansberry of Matt Stansberry and The Romance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Heartbreaker \u2013\u00a0Matt Stansberry &amp; The Romance\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o97htj1CBvw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Matt Stansberry:<\/strong> Lead Vocals and Guitar<\/p>\n<p><strong>Live at The Bottleneck on August 26th, 9 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: I\u2019m a big fan of these two-part band names. How did you come up <\/b><b>with Matt Stansberry &amp; The Romance?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> The first part, my name was easy enough. But as far as The Romance goes, I just wanted something that had a positive connotation to it. I was driving down the highway one day &#8211; and this was after we started recording, so the band name actually came last &#8211; but I was driving down the highway, thinking about the project we were working on, all of the people involved and the good feelings, the love, and the synergy, and that\u2019s when The Romance came to mind. The name just felt right. I actually called my brother, who is in the band, and he said it was cool too. And my brother, he shoots me straight, so when he said it was cool, I knew we were good. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: How many people are in Matt Stansberry and The Romance?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> It\u2019s a nine-piece band. So we\u2019ve got eight in the Romance part of the band. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: How did you guys find each other? Is there a story behind that, or did a group of good musicians just happen to find each other?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Oklahoma City is kind of a big small town. Everybody knows a little bit of everybody through somebody else. So when we started making our first album, it was originally a solo album, but we brought in a rhythm section &#8211; just keys, drums, bass and guitar &#8211; and we recorded it that way, kind of live. And then a few of us were like, \u201cthis is really cool, but I think this music needs horns,\u201d and so we just started adding stuff to it. That&#8217;s how it developed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: Listening to your music, I can tell that you all have a certain chemistry, which is especially important when you\u2019re dealing with so many different people. How long have you been playing together as a band? And have you noticed that chemistry develop over time? <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> As a band we\u2019re going on five years now, so we\u2019ve been at it for a little while. Some of us have played together even longer than that, so there\u2019s a lot of chemistry between how everyone performs. And on top of that, we\u2019re a live band first and foremost. We love recording and writing, and it\u2019s all about making good music, but at the same time, playing live is kind of our thing. We improvise a lot, we take turns with things that aren\u2019t rehearsed, so the group has really learned to be intuitive to what is going on and everyone is really able to listen to what is going on around them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: How would you describe that sound, or the type of music you make?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s kind of all around. It\u2019s an American rock and roll sound, but with a lot of blues and soul and funk influences in there as well. So it\u2019s a little bit eclectic <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: Who are some artists or groups who influenced the band, and you in particular?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> A lot of early 50\u2019s stuff, we\u2019re obviously into that. And then 60\u2019s mo-town as well. But really, we\u2019ve been influenced by anything from James Brown, to Jimi Hendrix, to even some newer stuff. So it really comes from everywhere. I\u2019ve always liked Buddy Holly, his image and what he does, but we just pull bits and pieces from all sorts of different places. We have a laundry list of different influences. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: I noticed in a lot of your music videos, everyone is rocking the black and white suits and the long black dresses, so I can tell that there is definitely a style aspect going into your work.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Totally. We\u2019ve actually changed up our look a bit for this new record, but there is definitely a throwback look to a lot of our earlier stuff. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: How would you describe the changes that you have made on this most recent record?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> I would say it\u2019s a lot funkier. We\u2019ve pulled a lot of inspiration from the 70\u2019s era &#8211; some 70\u2019s funk and even a little 70\u2019s classic rock. I think there\u2019s a little more a that edge to this new record. I also think that we bring the live element to this album too. There are a lot of energetic moments that we haven\u2019t done a ton of historically. We do it live, but this is the first time we\u2019ve captured it on a record. So those are the biggest changes, because typically, our stuff is rooted more in the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s era, but with this album we\u2019ve brought it forward a decade and really made it new. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: From the looks of it, you just are moving along that timeline pretty seamlessly &#8211; from the 50\u2019s to the 60\u2019s, and now onto the 70\u2019s. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Yeah, but it\u2019s not really on purpose. Who knows, in the future we&#8217;ll maybe go back or forward but I don&#8217;t necessarily see how we&#8217;d make an 80&#8217;s album. That&#8217;s a tough jump to make.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: If you could see any two musicians or bands &#8211; dead or alive &#8211; in concert, who would you see?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. Just going off the top of my head, that\u2019s who comes to mind. I would also have loved to see Stevie Ray Vaughn. I\u2019m a guitar player, so I would have loved to see him as well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: If you could have dinner with any two people from history, who would you choose to share a meal with? <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019ll have to assume that we all speak the same language, so I\u2019ll go ahead and make that jump. Leonardo Da Vinci, though. I think he was an absolutely genius creator, inventor and a brilliant person. To have a lunch or a dinner with someone like that would be amazing. And then my second choice would probably be somebody related to music, like a Mozart, because when you go that far back, there is a lot of information on them, but there is still so much we don\u2019t know. I\u2019m going pretty old school on both of those. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: If you weren&#8217;t a musician, what do you think you&#8217;d be doing right now? What are some of your other passions?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> I think I would be a painter. All through growing up, before I became a musician, I was painting and drawing and all that stuff. Now I\u2019ve kind of put it aside to focus on music, but I think at some point in my life I\u2019ll come back to all that. I\u2019m still very much inspired by that world though. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: What type of painting did you do? <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Pretty early on I was able to develop technical skills, and I think maybe that\u2019s why I haven\u2019t painted in so long, maybe I just haven\u2019t found my muse or my style. Early on I was just trying to paint things as real as I could, and then as I got a little older I started to take stuff that looked real and mix it with things that weren\u2019t. I guess you could call it a surrealism kind of thing. That intrigued me for a while, but I haven\u2019t really figured out what I\u2019m into yet<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: I was listening to a few of your interviews before this, and I stumbled across your red shirt story. Would you mind telling that story again? <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Wow, I actually just did that interview last week. I think my wife might kill me if I tell it again. But I was in college as a freshman, and my wife &#8211; who I didn\u2019t know at the time &#8211; was a senior. So her and a few of her friends prank called me, and they didn\u2019t tell me who they were, but they said, \u201chey, wear a red shirt tomorrow if you\u2019re interested.\u201d So I put a red shirt on the next day, because I didn\u2019t know who this girl was and I wanted to figure it out. It turns out my future wife was wearing the other red shirt and that\u2019s how we first met. Now, the rest is history. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: That\u2019s an awesome story, and it\u2019s one of those where, if you didn\u2019t put on the red shirt, who knows what would have happened? I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve thought about that a few times. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Exactly, exactly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: To get back to the music, Matt Stansberry &amp; The Romance has had the privilege to record at Sun Studio in Memphis, right?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Correct, we did that last year. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: And for those who might not know, would you mind explaining the significance of that studio?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> It\u2019s known as the birthplace of rock&#8217;n&#8217;roll. It\u2019s where Elvis got his start, where Johnny Cash recorded a lot of his stuff. So many artists have been through there &#8211; Jerry Lewis, Carl Perkins, a lot of the early era rock was recorded and created at Sun Studio back in the 50\u2019s. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: How did it feel to be able to make music in a place with so much history?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Oh yeah, it was incredible. The way it actually worked out for us was, about a year ago we played a show in Memphis and we got to tour Sun Studio. While we were there they asked us who we were, and when we told them that we were a band, they asked for a CD and said they\u2019d give us a free tour. Unbeknownst to us, they started playing the CD back in the cafe while we were in the main studio, and at the end of the tour they said, \u201chey, we want to have you guys record here.\u201d It was actually a really organic way. We were just super excited to go tour the place, we didn\u2019t know that a few months later we would be recording there. So that was a really cool experience, and the history is just wild.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: And you have an album that will be coming out shortly, right?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Yes, it\u2019s coming out September 8th and it\u2019s called Future Love. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: Was that recorded at Sun Studio as well? <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> No, that was actually recorded in Memphis, but at a different studio called Ardent. It has a amazing history too, a lot of great artists and albums have come from that studio. But here\u2019s the cool thing: a guy named Fuzz Hampton and another guy named Curry Weber are the ones that worked with us in Sun, and they also worked with us at Ardent. They were the main two engineers or executive producers that were involved with the projects. They\u2019re awesome guys who do great work and I think it worked out super well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: Awesome, well we\u2019ll go ahead and wrap things up with some details about your show in Lawrence. You\u2019re playing at the Bottleneck on the 26th of August, is that right? \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Yeah, I\u2019ll be there August 26th. It\u2019s my first time at the Bottleneck. We\u2019ve played in Kansas City and other close areas as well, but this will be my first time in Lawrence, so I\u2019m excited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: We have some Kansas City listeners as well. Will you be making any stops there?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Yeah, we are actually. August 26th we\u2019ll be at the Bottleneck and then September 4th we\u2019ll be at Crossroads KC, where we\u2019ll be supporting Lake Street Dive. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>GM: Awesome. I heard you guys put on quite a show, so that\u2019s something that people will definitely be excited to check out. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MS:<\/strong> Well I appreciate it. That\u2019s what we love to do and we\u2019re looking forward to it. Hopefully we make some new friends and new fans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Matt Stansberry: Lead Vocals and Guitar Live at The Bottleneck on August 26th, 9 p.m. GM: I\u2019m a big fan of these two-part band names. How did you come up with Matt Stansberry &amp; The Romance? MS: The first part, my name was easy enough. But as far as The Romance goes, I just wanted something that had a positive connotation to it. I was driving down the highway one day &#8211; and this was after we started recording, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18233,"featured_media":61335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3268,3234],"tags":[7159,2059,3127],"class_list":["post-61325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-articles","category-music-interviews","tag-garrett-mould","tag-live-music","tag-local-concert"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/7941276.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}