Some of the bands on this years Tattoo the Earth tour were new, some of them were hardcore, and some of them were freaky looking, but only one of the bands was all three. They were Mudvayne. It was a hideously scorching hot day in San Bernadino when I got the privilege of sitting down with the drummer of Mudvayne for this interview. It was a privilege partly because I've recently become a huge Mudvayne fan, but mostly because their tour bus had air conditioning.

Matt: I'm like the official interview guy.

Shoutweb: The official interview guy? Why's that? You run the slowest, right?

Matt: Exactly. No, I just like talking the most. I go off on some astronomical tangent.

Shoutweb: First off, how's the tour going?

Matt: Really well. I mean, you can't get this kind of exposure playing any kind of show, or any venue show. We've played to over ten thousand on three different occasions.

Shoutweb: Did you get any new tattoos on the tour?

Matt: Unfortunately not, but I still might be getting one, maybe tomorrow. Sid the drummer from Slipknot and I, have you ever seen the shaolin monks, the old shaolin Kung-Fu movies? They do like six dots, black dots on their head. Him and I were gonna do that. So hopefully, maybe tomorrow we'll get that done. We've been so busy that we really haven't been able to interact with the artists, but a lot of people have gotten work done.

Shoutweb: How have the bands that you've been on tour with influenced your band?

Matt: Oh. Fuck. Well, I don't really know if you know anything about the relationship between us and Slipknot. Do you?

Shoutweb: No, I don't.

Matt: Um, Clown (Shawn #6) was the executive producer for our album. He was interested in our band even before we were signed. He's always been kind of an angel on our shoulder through the whole process. Him and I have a really special relationship. Did you see the boot that I was carrying around that I had onstage with me? Did you see us play?

Shoutweb: I caught part of it, but I didn't see a boot.

Matt: Him and I exchange gifts and we have talismans that we work with and involve ourselves with... I don't want to say ritual, but exercises that we call our work that take us beyond just being on stage. So, if you're looking for a response like we play harder or something like that, then all of that. All of that and above, but outside of that, all bands, (hed), Sevendust, especially Slipknot, all of us, we're really like a tight knit family. We involve ourselves in our personal lives, we're like a family. We hang together, we cry together, we give each other camaraderie and support, and like I say, Clown and I have our little life experiences that we get ourselves involved in. Adventures so to speak. Recon.

Shoutweb: So how did you get hooked up with Clown?

Matt: Originally our A&R from Epic found out about us through our booking agent, and he happens to be the manager of Slipknot, so when he came to showcase us he brought Clown with him. And of course Clown is Clown, and he came a saw us play and was just like BANG, and that was it. And since then we've been best friends.

Shoutweb: The members of your band have no formal music training.

Matt: Uh oh, somebody's been reading the bio!

Shoutweb: Well how long have you guys been playing your instruments?

Matt: I've been playing drums for nineteen twenty years. Ryan's been playing bass for probably about eight. Chad still isn't playing his instrument. Greg has been playing guitar for probably at least fifteen, maybe as long as me. I used to play in drum and bugle chorus when I was a kid. Marching snare. The drum and bugle chorus which I was a member of specifically focused on classical music. We did like, Tchaikovsky 1812 overture or a whole show, that kind of thing. Ryan has a pretty intense background in jazz vocals, bass, dance, that type of thing, which if you watch his technique it's pretty obvious that he's dialed. Greg, Greg just plays guitar. On drum kit I've never taken a lesson. I just kind of figured it out.

Shoutweb: What kind of music do you listen to primarily?

Matt: One of my favorite albums right now is Harry Connik Jr's "To See You," Fiona Apple's new album "When the Pawn," Front Line Assembly, I might throw that in on occasion. Um... Emperor, Emperor's new album. 9 Equilibrium is one of my favorite albums right now. How Job. I listen to a lot of European electronic music, and I'm really into the Vancouver industrial scene. Skinny Puppy, that kind of stuff. I try to stay away from music like we play. Maybe because I'm surrounded by it. Saturated by it. But in all it's an appreciation of music in general.

Shoutweb: So, if you're listening to all of those types of music, what made you want to play this type?

Matt: Because this is what I do... One of the things that we want to do with our music, hopefully when the album comes out we'll be able to get this more across, but we're gonna be labeled as a heavy metal band, and I don't have a problem with that. But unfortunately, heavy metal always becomes associated with anger, juvenility, immaturity, I'm pissed off at my parents because they won't let me go to the mall, that kinda shit. One of the things that we'd like to do is kind of bring an artistic maturity to heavy metal, or heavy music. Let people know that just because it's heavy, doesn't mean that it can't involve the human experience. When I'm happy, I can be REALLY HAPPY! You know what I'm saying? I can play happy and smile. That's heavy. Heavy happiness, heavy sadness, heavy fear, heavy anger. You know what I'm saying? So one of the things that we've really wanted to get across with being a heavy band and a hard rock band is the intensity of it and not necessarily just the superficial anger of it. We're all really passionate neurotic individuals, all four of us. So, this genre really helps us, and lets us be ourselves.

Shoutweb: Especially with your association with Slipknot, do you guys ever get any crap for wearing the make up?

Matt: Yeah. A little bit. Actually last night, some kid sent me a proof of a concert review that I guess he's gonna post on the web. Something about the last time that he saw us in April we were wearing masks, and now we've quit wearing our masks and we're wearing make up. I was like, fuckin' open your eyes. We've been wearing make up for over two years. We were wearing make up long before Slipknot ever even came out. I don't have a problem with their masks, they don't have a problem with our make up, we're all really tight. Unfortunately, they broke before we did, so now there's that extreme association. Some people say stuff, and we knew that it would be an inevitability, so we just kind of skirt those issues.

Shoutweb: But do you think that your look makes the fans more receptive to your sound

Matt: It doesn't hurt. One of the reasons that we started wearing make up was to incorporate a theatrical element to our show. A visual element. Myself specifically, but the whole band is really influenced by films and cinematography, and one of the things that I've always wanted to capture in our live show is a film element. Sort of like you're coming to watch a theatre, you're coming to watch a movie from beginning to end. When we first started to push in this direction, just mentally put it together we had no money, we had no resources. What was easy to do? Paint our faces. So we started painting our faces. I never saw the personification getting to the level that it is now, which pretty much answers your question. It's pretty much become what we are now. I enjoy it. It lets me threaten the crowd. It lets me get really close to them.

Shoutweb: How so?

Matt: How so? Um... Kinda like the deer in the headlights syndrome. People are just so stunned trying to soak it up that it gets REAL close REAL quick.

Shoutweb: So, what made you decide that you wanted to be a musician?

Matt: ...I don't know that I ever actually made that decision. I can think of some times in my life where I could have done something else but I decided to (stick with music). I've always been a musician, it runs in the family. My uncle was one of the first drummers for Cheap Trick. I can remember drum kits down in my grandparent's basement when I was like four years old, and I would just sit down and play. It's music. It's always been with me. Sometimes you take something so far that it kinda takes over your life. I got to a point where I couldn't say no to it anymore. I just had to keep doing it and keep doing it.

Shoutweb: What's the first single off your new album?

Matt: "Dig" I believe.

Shoutweb: Is there gonna be a video for it?

Matt: I can't answer that. It's possible that we might do videos, but we haven't had any guarantees or anything like that.

Shoutweb: If you were to make a video would you be receptive to MTV play?

Matt: Oh yeah, sure. Absolutely. Anything that's gonna get our product to our fans is positive. I'm not much of a radio listener, and I'm not much of an MTV listener, but those mediums should be dictated by the audience. What is on the radio should be dictated by the audience, not by some jack ass suit and tie guy who's worried about the moral majority or whatever. If the fans wanna hear it and can make it happen by demand, and we can get on the radio or get on MTV. Fuck. Let's go. I'm not gonna say no to that.

Shoutweb: I heard that somebody elses song was on the internet in MP3 format labeled Mudvayne.

Matt: Napster, yeah. Napster was all fucked up. Nine out of ten songs that you'd see on Napster weren't ours. It's done now isn't it? Is Napster done?

Shoutweb: No, a judge gave them a stay.

Matt: I'm so disconnected right now being on tour. I don't wanna say... Napster got our product to kids, so I don't wanna shut down that, but not being able to control the medium, hurts us as artists. Certainly by identification and representation. You go on Napster and you see thirty songs and only four of them are ours, and then on top of that you see, if you like Mudvayne, you'll really like this and the reference from that is to another song that isn't even ours. It doesn't do us any good.

Shoutweb: That was all the questions that I had. Is there anything about Mudvayne that you wanted people to know that I haven't covered?

Matt: Um... We're coming... Be prepared... We invite anyone to approach us, come talk to us, become involved in what we are. One of the things that we've told every single person that's become involved with this from the business aspects to the artistic end of it is, we want to encourage a community that encourages people to give to it. Consequently you as a viewer and audience can help become a part of this by how you see us, and by becoming involved in what we are. Talking to the fans, hearing what they think, hearing what they want to think, hearing what they want to see, that all becomes part of this great spiraling thing that we are.