| Mobile |
| April 25, 2006 |
| Mat Joly |
Katrina: How did you come up with the name for your band?
Mat: Mobile, actually Frank our guitar player came up with the name, we were called Moonraker in the past and we just found out there was another band called
Moonraker and they were from the States and they owned the rights for the name so we wanted to change our name because of that. We were actually looking for a
name for quite a bit and Frank was going though his records looking for a name and there’s a record that we all love, a band called Long Pigs, they’re not together
anymore and they have an album called “Mobile Home” so it’s a really good album everybody in the band is really into that band so we just decided to go with Mobile,
just get rid of the home and go with Mobile. And we wanted a one word name, something easy to remember so that’s why.
Katrina: Who were your musical influences growing up and have they changed?
Mat: I’m influenced by a lot of stuff. We started with the 70's bands like The Who, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, bands like that and after that was The
Cure, The Cult, The Police, Duran Duran, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, and most of the bands from the UK Oasis, Stone Roses, Primal Scream, mostly bands from the
UK. I think we’ve been able to for this album hide our influences a bit so you can tell we love The Cure, and all them but at the same time we make our own sound.
Katrina: Which artist would you like to tour or work with?
Mat: There’s a lot of artists I would like to work with. There’s a band I love called The Afghan Whigs and they’re not together anymore but they’re called The Twilight
Singers. I’d love to work with the leader of this band he’s called Greg Dulli and personally I would love to work with this guy, he’s a really talented guy. I really love
Kayne West also, I love hip-hop music as well and I think he’s a really talented guy, really talented songwriter and producer. Maybe Primal Scream that’s a great
band, I would love to do something. I think that’s about it. I’m sure the other guys would have more ideas too.
Katrina: How do you write your songs and where do you get your ideas from?
Mat: The way we write songs is usually Christian writes all the music most of the time and the wit works is he records all the guitar parts, the drums, the bass,
everything except the vocals. So he gives me a cd like a really good pre-production so I get the cd and I listen to the song over and over, I can listen to the song 1000
times a day, that’s all I do, back and forth so I get really obsessed by it. There’s nothing else I think about but the song. So usually that’s the way we work so I listen to
it, come up with a few words or melody and usually that’s the way we work. I get inspired but I rather have the music first then write the lyrics and can get inspired for
the music by a lot of things. Especially on this record I’ve been influenced by things we’ve been through as a band like going to New York City for doing a showcase
that didn’t turn out well then we wrote a song called “New York Minute”. We came back to New York after with our vengeance and got a record deal. You know a love
story is always good for song writing and also sometimes it’s weird because sometimes things that are really tough you know sad things in life can make you write
good stuff. I’m not saying that all the songs that I wrote are about sadness but it’s true, when you are really happy and really in a good mood I’m rarely into writing
music. So I guess sometimes I need to be in a okay mood to write something. But you know everything like watching the news or hearing a conversation people
around you, everything can be very inspiring.
Katrina: What’s your favorite venue to play?
Mat: I think it depends, we played really cool club shows across Canada and the UK as well and Germany too. I think it depends, you can play in a really big venue
packed with people and the mood is just not there. People, they’re into it but sometimes you get just the right room, the right vibe so but this summer we’re going to
play festivals in the UK and Europe and we’re going to play in front of maybe 30-40 thousand people. That’s going to be fun, really looking forward to that.
Katrina: What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Mat: On stage, yeah it happens once and a while when your tired. I go and start the wrong song so that can be embarrassing sometimes, but it’s not too bad. A long
time ago not with this band but I fell down the stage, it was slippery and I fell down, flat on my ass. That doesn’t look too good either. Back in the day a long time ago,
like 10 years ago I had really long hair and pulled my hair back and it got caught in the bass neck so I lost a lot of hair.
Katrina: What’s your most memorable moment?
Mat: I think that there’s been a few like when we won a radio contest. I think it was our third show as a band and we won a radio contest, it was a really big thing for us
in Montreal and we were really proud and it really got us going after that. Also obviously when we signed the record deal that we have right now was a really amazing
accomplishment. After all we’ve been through it was a really special moment.
Katrina: What’s the nicest or craziest thing a fan has done for you?
Mat: You know we don’t have crazy fans yet. Sometimes we got a few crazy people but they’re not too bad. They think they know you. You know the feeling you get,
you come to their city and you come back a few months later and they’re like hey what’s happening and then they call you by name and you don’t know the person.
Sometimes if you put them on the guest list they think they know you even better and sometimes they can create their own little stories. But we’ve never been
embarrassed or attacked by any crazy fans. I guess we’re not big enough yet. It might happen.
Katrina: What’s your favorite song to perform?
Mat: I guess it depends. Usually it’s “See Right Through Me”, it’s my favorite song on the record and usually it’s my favorite song to perform.
Katrina: Who causes the most trouble in the group?
Mat: We all do. We each have our moments I guess. It depends on the situation too. It depends on if somebody’s drunk, it can act a little crazy. Christian can be
annoying when he’s drunk sometimes, but he’s my soul-mate so maybe I’m the same sometimes. The drummer can be annoying too sometimes, Pierre, he’s a good
kid though. We get along so well I think we are a really really special bond in our band. We got something going on really unique. I’m sure we get on each others
nerves once and a while but it’s all for the better.
Katrina: What do you think makes a good live show?
Mat: I think that you have to be really passionate, really into your music. The expression that I heard shoe-gazers band, that are standing there and I can respect that
but we’re not a band like that. If you’re a shoe-gazer type of band you have to be really special, your songs have to be really strong. I think showing your emotions
and your passion on stage is good because people relate to that. If it shows your having a great time then I think the audience will have a great time and you have to
have that bond with the audience. I think it’s important.
Katrina: What advice can you give to people who are wanting to create a band?
Mat: Well first of all you have to believe in yourself as a musician and as a band member and you have to be respectful with your band mates and be equal on
everything. I guess it depends for band but us, we always decided to make things equal for everybody. Christian and I, we write the songs but we share the money,
like the publishing money with everyone in the band because everybody has a specific role. Everybody is important in the band. You have to be passionate, you have
to work really hard. It depends like sometimes bands have been lucky, they got signed after their fourth or fifth show. I think when you preserver and you’re
passionate and you work really had I think you might get somewhere. You need talent for sure but you need a really good work ethic. I’ve heard stories, bands that
are drunk or high all the time and you have to take care of your own business too. Because being in a bad is also 50% music and fun and 50% business. You got to
be smart. Make sure you work with the right people because that can destroy your career in a heartbeat. That would be advice for a young band.
Katrina: What do you think about how Canadian music is being shown around the world right now?
Mat: Well I think now is the best time ever to be a Canadian band. There’s so many bands out there coming from Canada. I’ve been told so many times about the
Montreal scene because we’re from Montreal, it’s true there’s a lot of good bands from Montreal. Also there are so many good bands coming from Canada right now. I’
m thinking like K-OS, Metric, Billy Talent, The Deers, Sam Roberts, MOBILE, I had to say it. There’s so many great bands I think Controller Controller, I can name a
few but I think probably right now is definitely the best time to be a Canadian band.
Mat: Mobile, actually Frank our guitar player came up with the name, we were called Moonraker in the past and we just found out there was another band called
Moonraker and they were from the States and they owned the rights for the name so we wanted to change our name because of that. We were actually looking for a
name for quite a bit and Frank was going though his records looking for a name and there’s a record that we all love, a band called Long Pigs, they’re not together
anymore and they have an album called “Mobile Home” so it’s a really good album everybody in the band is really into that band so we just decided to go with Mobile,
just get rid of the home and go with Mobile. And we wanted a one word name, something easy to remember so that’s why.
Katrina: Who were your musical influences growing up and have they changed?
Mat: I’m influenced by a lot of stuff. We started with the 70's bands like The Who, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, bands like that and after that was The
Cure, The Cult, The Police, Duran Duran, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, and most of the bands from the UK Oasis, Stone Roses, Primal Scream, mostly bands from the
UK. I think we’ve been able to for this album hide our influences a bit so you can tell we love The Cure, and all them but at the same time we make our own sound.
Katrina: Which artist would you like to tour or work with?
Mat: There’s a lot of artists I would like to work with. There’s a band I love called The Afghan Whigs and they’re not together anymore but they’re called The Twilight
Singers. I’d love to work with the leader of this band he’s called Greg Dulli and personally I would love to work with this guy, he’s a really talented guy. I really love
Kayne West also, I love hip-hop music as well and I think he’s a really talented guy, really talented songwriter and producer. Maybe Primal Scream that’s a great
band, I would love to do something. I think that’s about it. I’m sure the other guys would have more ideas too.
Katrina: How do you write your songs and where do you get your ideas from?
Mat: The way we write songs is usually Christian writes all the music most of the time and the wit works is he records all the guitar parts, the drums, the bass,
everything except the vocals. So he gives me a cd like a really good pre-production so I get the cd and I listen to the song over and over, I can listen to the song 1000
times a day, that’s all I do, back and forth so I get really obsessed by it. There’s nothing else I think about but the song. So usually that’s the way we work so I listen to
it, come up with a few words or melody and usually that’s the way we work. I get inspired but I rather have the music first then write the lyrics and can get inspired for
the music by a lot of things. Especially on this record I’ve been influenced by things we’ve been through as a band like going to New York City for doing a showcase
that didn’t turn out well then we wrote a song called “New York Minute”. We came back to New York after with our vengeance and got a record deal. You know a love
story is always good for song writing and also sometimes it’s weird because sometimes things that are really tough you know sad things in life can make you write
good stuff. I’m not saying that all the songs that I wrote are about sadness but it’s true, when you are really happy and really in a good mood I’m rarely into writing
music. So I guess sometimes I need to be in a okay mood to write something. But you know everything like watching the news or hearing a conversation people
around you, everything can be very inspiring.
Katrina: What’s your favorite venue to play?
Mat: I think it depends, we played really cool club shows across Canada and the UK as well and Germany too. I think it depends, you can play in a really big venue
packed with people and the mood is just not there. People, they’re into it but sometimes you get just the right room, the right vibe so but this summer we’re going to
play festivals in the UK and Europe and we’re going to play in front of maybe 30-40 thousand people. That’s going to be fun, really looking forward to that.
Katrina: What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Mat: On stage, yeah it happens once and a while when your tired. I go and start the wrong song so that can be embarrassing sometimes, but it’s not too bad. A long
time ago not with this band but I fell down the stage, it was slippery and I fell down, flat on my ass. That doesn’t look too good either. Back in the day a long time ago,
like 10 years ago I had really long hair and pulled my hair back and it got caught in the bass neck so I lost a lot of hair.
Katrina: What’s your most memorable moment?
Mat: I think that there’s been a few like when we won a radio contest. I think it was our third show as a band and we won a radio contest, it was a really big thing for us
in Montreal and we were really proud and it really got us going after that. Also obviously when we signed the record deal that we have right now was a really amazing
accomplishment. After all we’ve been through it was a really special moment.
Katrina: What’s the nicest or craziest thing a fan has done for you?
Mat: You know we don’t have crazy fans yet. Sometimes we got a few crazy people but they’re not too bad. They think they know you. You know the feeling you get,
you come to their city and you come back a few months later and they’re like hey what’s happening and then they call you by name and you don’t know the person.
Sometimes if you put them on the guest list they think they know you even better and sometimes they can create their own little stories. But we’ve never been
embarrassed or attacked by any crazy fans. I guess we’re not big enough yet. It might happen.
Katrina: What’s your favorite song to perform?
Mat: I guess it depends. Usually it’s “See Right Through Me”, it’s my favorite song on the record and usually it’s my favorite song to perform.
Katrina: Who causes the most trouble in the group?
Mat: We all do. We each have our moments I guess. It depends on the situation too. It depends on if somebody’s drunk, it can act a little crazy. Christian can be
annoying when he’s drunk sometimes, but he’s my soul-mate so maybe I’m the same sometimes. The drummer can be annoying too sometimes, Pierre, he’s a good
kid though. We get along so well I think we are a really really special bond in our band. We got something going on really unique. I’m sure we get on each others
nerves once and a while but it’s all for the better.
Katrina: What do you think makes a good live show?
Mat: I think that you have to be really passionate, really into your music. The expression that I heard shoe-gazers band, that are standing there and I can respect that
but we’re not a band like that. If you’re a shoe-gazer type of band you have to be really special, your songs have to be really strong. I think showing your emotions
and your passion on stage is good because people relate to that. If it shows your having a great time then I think the audience will have a great time and you have to
have that bond with the audience. I think it’s important.
Katrina: What advice can you give to people who are wanting to create a band?
Mat: Well first of all you have to believe in yourself as a musician and as a band member and you have to be respectful with your band mates and be equal on
everything. I guess it depends for band but us, we always decided to make things equal for everybody. Christian and I, we write the songs but we share the money,
like the publishing money with everyone in the band because everybody has a specific role. Everybody is important in the band. You have to be passionate, you have
to work really hard. It depends like sometimes bands have been lucky, they got signed after their fourth or fifth show. I think when you preserver and you’re
passionate and you work really had I think you might get somewhere. You need talent for sure but you need a really good work ethic. I’ve heard stories, bands that
are drunk or high all the time and you have to take care of your own business too. Because being in a bad is also 50% music and fun and 50% business. You got to
be smart. Make sure you work with the right people because that can destroy your career in a heartbeat. That would be advice for a young band.
Katrina: What do you think about how Canadian music is being shown around the world right now?
Mat: Well I think now is the best time ever to be a Canadian band. There’s so many bands out there coming from Canada. I’ve been told so many times about the
Montreal scene because we’re from Montreal, it’s true there’s a lot of good bands from Montreal. Also there are so many good bands coming from Canada right now. I’
m thinking like K-OS, Metric, Billy Talent, The Deers, Sam Roberts, MOBILE, I had to say it. There’s so many great bands I think Controller Controller, I can name a
few but I think probably right now is definitely the best time to be a Canadian band.
