My wife, our baby, and I moved to Scotland at the end of 2019, having previously lived in Southend-on-Sea. If you happen to have read previous posts and wondered why artists from in and around Essex kept cropping up on a music blog based in Scotland, then that’s the reason. For a while I was worried it looked like I was just promoting artists that are from Southend and its surrounding areas, but it’s just that I happened to have met several musicians over the years that left a lasting impression on me. Anyway, fortunately the blog seems to have taken on a life of its own now, and there’s a steady stream of music coming in every week from all over the place. Not a crazy amount, sure, but still far too much for me to cover.
Anyway, all of that brings me on to today’s post. Winding things back to our relocation last Christmas: as luck would have it, our little family landed in a small coastal town in the beautiful county of Ayrshire and – by chance – were drawn into the orbit of one Matthew Hickman, also known as the writer and frontman behind Brownbear. If you’re not familiar with his work, I’ll try to give a brief rundown.
Since the release of his debut single in 2014, Brownbear has toured extensively, supported artists such as the Libertines, the View, and Michael Kiwanuka, played at festivals including Scotland’s T in the Park and Belladrum, as well as Switzerland’s (bloody oddly named) Blue Balls. 2018 saw the release of his first LP, What is Home?, which is comprised of ten tightly crafted guitar pop tracks that range from the zippy, hook-filled Covers to the quiet and introspective title track. All in all, it’s 31 minutes of compact songwriting, great musicianship and bucket loads of heart.
A few things struck me straight away about Matt: firstly, he knows his way around writing a pop song – close your eyes and stick a pin in the What is Home? tracklist for evidence. Secondly, he’s an artist with a social conscience that champions other artists and isn’t afraid to tackle wider issues in (and outside of) his music. And lastly, but by no means least, from my (admittedly very limited) interaction with him, he seems a nice guy with no ego for whom it genuinely does feel about the music.
Having changed-up his sound with the excellent Retro single in January, I (along with an ever-growing fanbase) have been patiently waiting to see what’s next. Unfortunately the global pandemic kind of put a dent in things, but with the smoke starting to clear a little (or not as the case may be) it feels like now is as good a time as any to catch up with Matt and see where he’s at with album number 2. Knowing he’s an artist that relishes playing live, I wanted to talk about his songwriting and recording processes, but also to discuss the state of the live music industry post-COVID. It’s worth mentioning here that a July headline show at the legendary King Tut’s in Glasgow was among the many gigs to be rescheduled to September in the wake of the first wave of the virus, and then rescheduled a second time for next summer.
(Note: as always, my questions are in bold and Matthew’s responses in plain text).
• One of the things that struck me straight away with what you do is that you’re very much a champion of other musicians – particularly from Ayrshire – along with being generally very conscious of others who work in the industry. I dropped in on a few of your Sunday Socials over the lockdown period and thought it was interesting how you were reaching out to other artists and exchanging stories and sharing songs. Is the idea of community something that’s really important to you?
I think I am just a fan of music. I love to hear new acts and I really believe that MAJOR is not the definition of talent or an artist’s success. In fact, it’s almost the opposite these days. In light of the pandemic I think we need people more than ever to look locally and see how much professional, major label talent is on their doorstep. Scotland quite often gets treated as a region in the UK industry rather than a country, I think we have a duty to support each other and keep proving why we are home to some of the world’s best artists and writers.
• What was it that got you into music, and was there always the idea to write songs?
Music is escapism. My Dad was a huge music fan and collected records, he was always telling me the importance of records and not just the people performing but the band members, the engineers, the producers, the writers. He instilled a passion for music in me very early on as well as a respect for it. In all honesty I only started writing songs because I drew the short straw to be the band’s singer in high school when we all wanted to be the lead axe man. Best bit of fate I’ve ever had though.
• Do you see it as a writer’s duty to write about social and political issues?
I don’t know I do see it as a duty, it’s just who I am. I think as a writer you should stop and consider the world around you. Sometimes that is about love, sometimes it’s about lust, sometimes it’s about what’s right or wrong. Growing up it felt that artists were political if not in songs then videos. I feel that they shy away from it on the social media world in fear of dividing fan bases until recently where it now seems part of branding. I grew up working class in Ayrshire, music was a kick back against your social situation. I think we need that. Not the middle to upper class bland shit show that it currently is.
• Retro had a distinctly different feel to the material on the first album – replacing the more classic indie-guitar-band sound with something more understated and groove-based. I love the way that it just sets out its stall early on, comes in with that jazzy riff and the addictive backing vocals and then just rides that snare to the end. I guess where I’m going with this is: was it a conscious decision to do something different, sound-wise, and is it a good pointer for the next LP?
Thanks very much. I think it felt like a natural progression at the time but I wouldn’t say it’s going to define album 2, I had written a lot of that before Retro but we were vibing it so much we wanted it out. Maybe it will bode a bit more for album 3? Who knows. I try not to overthink music. Just do what feels right and hopefully people can get behind it.
• How do you typically write a song? Do you carry a notebook, make voice recordings on your phone or follow a particular process? For example, I’m thinking about something like Retro – which I’ve seen you play a lot on keys (and I’m presuming you wrote on piano)… do you find yourself writing primarily on one instrument or switching back and forth?
Songs come differently every time for me. Sometimes it starts with a word or a phrase. Sometimes it starts with a melody. Sometimes on the instrument but either way I just feel that once you start it flows and almost feels like there isn’t another option for the words or phrases, it just fits like a puzzle almost. I think that’s why I enjoy writing for others, I feel more free to analyse the song that way and maybe do more with it. When I am writing for myself, it is emotions you know? So I let it flow and let it out. It is therapy. Forcing it is probably the worst thing you can do. When I get in a rut I try to learn new chords, tunings or instruments hence the amount of piano folk are seeing. I think I had just reached a bit of a stale mate with guitar and needed to freshen things up.
• On a similar note, do you tend to demo a song at home before you record proper, or are you just going in with an arrangement loosely mapped out in your head?
I always demo everything. Most of the demos end up being pretty much badly recorded versions of the final arrangement. I love producing tracks, easier for others than yourself because when you have an emotional attachment to the music you can get tunnel vision so I am not too precious, or at least I try not to be.
• Does your process change when you write for somebody else and, if so, how? I’m also interested in what happens if you’re writing something with somebody else in mind and you become attached to the song. Do you ever think ‘nah, that one’s too good to give away‘?
Haha, I have thought that many times but honestly as you get older I think you know what is right. I probably think the opposite now, “I can’t do this justice”. I am not a natural singer and honestly I think my songs probably would be done better by most anyone. That’s the beauty of music, I think I carry some songs because they are unique to me or my emotion behind them. I have written a few songs as well and though “this would suit X person” but it is not always easy to talk people into taking on songs. If anyone wrote a song they thought I could do justice, I would be honoured. I’ve written two albums now and for countless others so that feeling of having to prove I can write is passing and now I just want to make the best possible song.
• You’ve toured a lot. Speaking as somebody that’s never really managed to get anything together in a live setting, I know I’ve missed out on a great deal of stuff. What’s a better feeling for you – hearing the songs you’ve written being sung back at you, or the process of building something in the studio?
Every process in music has its own joys. When I write I love to sing back a song and I almost hate the day you put it out to others. Then you get in the studio and hear it come to life, then comes the worry of giving that to the world. Obviously videos are big for us and I love the process of being able to further tell stories and see those ideas come to life on screen, that is my favourite part at the moment probably because it is freshest to me. Then comes live, what a feeling. To be honest I am not sure if anything quite matches that feeling of a good gig. When you know it’s busy and you can feel electricity in the room before you even go in. When you hear songs that got you through bad times being sung back to you, it’s not just the ego thing of being like or appreciated, it is knowing that the words meant something to the people in that room too, and for a moment you feel like you weren’t alone. You weren’t crazy.
• What’s the plan for the rest of the year? Are you planning on getting back to recording anytime soon?
The rest of this year feels like a write off, however album 2 is has been written and demo’d fully during lockdown. The pre-production for the next few videos and singles are well under way. The next single and some surprise material are ready to go. Working on some other projects too. I guess we need to think outside the box now. Album 2 recording is on hold due to restrictions. As for live, who knows but listen we love to be creative so I am very sure we will make something special happen next year. One thing to remember is artists want to work, they want to create but sadly the financial support is not always there. That isn’t just aimed at the government, the industry has a lot to answer for. Covid is quick becoming a scapegoat for the decline of the business which has been happening for arguably decades now.
Onwards and upwards though. Let’s sing, let’s create and let’s beat the odds.
I stood up & I said yeah 
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