Interview with Matt Rossino:

 

1. How long have you been writing? “About 5 years”

2. What are the top three things that inspire you to write? “Girls, funny situations, and whatever is on my mind at the time”

3. Have you always written lyrics to be songs or were they for poetry/therapy? “Songs”

4. Does writing help you escape from the real world? How? “It helps me escape the troubles in my life.”

5. What other kinds of things influence your writing? “Other bands”

6. Who is one of your favorite and most respected songwriters? “Dave Jay Matthews”

7. Why do you appreciate their writing and has it influenced you as a songwriter? “Well,  I personally think that Dave's lyrics are mind blowing in a spiritual sense. Yeah, DMB (Dave Matthew’s Band) has influenced me because of their creativity and the style of writing that they bring to the table of music.”

8. Do you think when people listen to music, they should dwell on the actual meaning the lyricist intended or should they relate it to their own life and have their own interpretation? Or both? Why? “Well, what hooks the people (or at least me) the most is the meaning... and how it relates. I’ll go with both because you got Phish whose lyrics sound totally crazy at first, but once u listen more closely, you could actually understand the meaning of life. For other bands like Dispatch and DMB, you can relate to the lyrics with a love or hate and having a fun dance jamboree.”

9. When composing a song, do you derive the melody first, or the words? Or does it depend? “I work on melody first to set the mood of the song I will write.”

10. When comparing 2 songs by other artists, what makes one piece stand out from the other in terms of lyrics? “I’ll compare Phish's song "Lizards" to DMB's "Stay". “Lizards” is a story that has rules and boundaries to it. You have to follow that basic pattern of a story and can’t go outside or then it wouldn’t really be a story at all. "Stay" is a feeling of emotion . It is about having a good time and partying the day away and having to "stay for a while". I think that’s why “Lizards” stands out. There are very few people who will go into actual stories for like 30 minute long songs.”