A Chat with The Figurants (09.07.2020)
The Figurants is a two-piece band made up of Matt McClure (vocals, guitar, bass, keys) and Erik Sahd (drums). The pair met in high school, but only started working together more than 20 years later. Now, they have released their fourth album Indoor Words featuring singles ‘Magic Magazine’ and ‘Horrible Horses’. We sat down with Matt McClure (MM) to talk about their latest album, their music and much more!
OSR: Why did you choose to become a musician?
MM: When I was in high school my parents moved from the New Jersey shore to Amish country in Pennsylvania and once there, I found myself hanging out with local weirdos who all played the guitar. A few of them taught me how to play bass out of logistical necessity. Shortly after graduating high school Erik and I got jobs as costume character dinosaurs in a travelling kids show and during all of the downtime, he taught me the basics of playing the guitar while we were on the road.
OSR: Is there a theme or meaning to Indoor Words?
MM: The plot of this album continues an ongoing story I’ve been writing for the past several years that follows an elderly man in the late stages of dementia trying to remember his life. While also watching a lot of TV for the first real time. For example, the song ‘Buster’ follows him at a doctor’s visit as he tries to remember the purpose of the sun. Conversely, ‘Hey Amos’ is a theme for a sitcom he watches that he imagines is about a torture victim due to the physical nature of the comedy. A lot of things get blended together due to these two powerful forces of memory and television.
OSR: What challenges do you face recording from different coasts?
MM: The primary challenge we face is that we can’t or haven’t practised any of the songs together before we record them as after I write and record the music, I send it over to Erik who then mixes and adds the drums.
Now that I think about it, even though we’ve recorded over 100 songs together, Erik and I haven’t played music in the same room since just after high school. We’ve done aspects of the recording together, especially on our previous album Vicarious Victims, but it’s primarily compartmentalized, for better or worse.
OSR: What instruments do you play?
MM: I play guitar, bass, keyboards and sing. Erik Sahd does a little bit of everything including all the drums, some banjo, bass and guitar. He also does all of the producing, mixing and mastering.
OSR: What is your creative process?
MM: Almost entirely I will write all of the music first and then slowly add the lyrics and melody over about a week’s time. I stick to a pretty strict writing schedule and practice schedule these days, especially with this COVID-19 disaster. Since I’m older now (46) I really do enjoy putting in the work and figuring out how I even feel about something through the process.
OSR: Have you considered doing online shows?
MM: Most absolutely. I’ve recorded a bunch of acoustic performances for our Instagram page (@thefigurants) and have played a bunch of live shows locally here in Seattle but I’m still figuring out the online performance space to be honest and it’s overwhelming to me. That said, I can’t imagine turning down an invitation to perform (hint, hint) in any sort of venue.
OSR: What is your favourite song from Indoor Words?
MM: If I had to pick a favourite, I’ve been partial to ‘Horrible Horses’. It’s straight-up pop but it’s more confessional than it appears and it is very easy to play well in an acoustic setting. I have limited vocal range and this one is right in my end zone.
OSR: Do you think you could get any better as a musician? If so, how would you go about doing that?
MM: For the past year, I’ve been learning to play the guitar without a pick which has really opened up a ton of phrasing possibilities and growth opportunities. I do sort of feel that I’m getting close to my talent cap as a musician but as long as the writing evolves, it’s easy to keep on growing overall since they don’t seem to be mutually exclusive.
OSR: If you were a snail, what type of decal would you want on your shell?
MM: I’d put a slug disguise put on my shell so I’d effectively be partially invisible.
OSR: What are your plans for any future releases?
MM: We have an EP called Dave that we are working on and Erik’s been helping me with an acoustic project but our next album Goodbye Felons is nearly completed and should be released this year. This awful, awful year.
Thanks to Matt McClure for chatting with us! You can find more about The Figurants on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
