Hello, and welcome to the Phile, kids. How are you? I am sore, very sore. I had my surgery on my shoulder to manipulate the scar tissue last Tuesday and have to move my arm quite a bit. I also have to go to physical therapy again for the next six weeks. Gentlemen, we have the technology, we can rebuild him. LOL. I do have good news... guess who is gonna go see Paul McCartney in concert in May? This guy. Alright, enough about me... for now. What is going on in the world? Here’s something I didn’t know. When Vice President Biden and President Obama meet for lunch at the White House, the chef goes out of his way to personalize their meals. For example, Biden’s lunch always comes with a toy. Little is known about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un other than the fact that he is ruthless, he supports torture, and he is a huge basketball fan. I’m sorry, that's not Kim Jong Un. That's Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice. I had them confused. Stockton, California has become the most populous city in the nation to go to bankruptcy. Stockton is so broke, the 99 Cent Store has been accused of price gouging. You know what they call "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," in Stockton? "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". I mentioned this last entry, and received some email's expecting me to say more... Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away. It was all over social media. But the Twitter hashtag confused some people into thinking that Cher died. There was panic in the gay community. Don't worry. Cher did not die. An update on Justin Bieber's monkey. When Bieber got to Munich he didn't have the proper paperwork so it was quarantined in an animal shelter. The director of the shelter said a monkey is not suitable to be on a world tour. He should be out in the wild so he doesn't have serious psychological problems later in life. It is kind of hard to tell if the director was talking about the monkey or Justin Bieber. To make sure the monkey gets released, I issued an ultimatum. If they do not return the monkey to Justin Bieber by Thursday at midnight, we are going to kill David Hasselhoff. Germany takes something we love. We take something they love. It is as simple as that. There's this trend now of politicians cutting their salaries by 5 percent because of budget cuts... except for Vice President Joe Biden. He won't do it. Though in fairness, it’ll take Biden at least a month to figure out what 5 percent of his salary is. This is scary. Scientists have discovered a new type of tarantula that is eight inches wide. Even environmentalists were like, “You killed that thing, right?” Over the weekend, a rare baseball card was sold at an auction for $2 million. It turns out that it’s an A-Rod card that actually shows him playing. I just mentioned Bieber and his monkey... well, it seems Bieber is loosing it, and I am not talking about his monkey. Take a look at this recent photo of JB.
There's a lot of concert festivals taking place, I think one is going on right now in California. I saw a poster for one I might be interested in going to though.
It looks cool. So, my right arm is hurting really bad. If you feel sorry for me, can you get me this?
It's a TARDIS trash can and would really cool in the office here. Did you hear this? Disgraced and embarrassed ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner is hinting he’ll run for Mayor of New York City. He even has a new campaign poster out.
I have to mention this as well, everybody seems on edge about North Korea attacking America. I saw a rare photo of the North Korean Air Force and I think we have nothing to worry about.
A week ago today at Disney's Hollywood Studios, where I work, they took out the parade. Well, I was thinking, what kinda parade can go in it's place. I thought of the World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. But then I found out, that has been done. New York City may have the first and most famous St. Patty's Day Parade (it began there in 1762) but Hot Springs Arkansas has the… shortest? That's right, this St. Patrick's Day Parade is only 98 ft. long, across what Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not once dubbed the shortest street in everyday use. The idea for the parade started in a bar (surprise, surprise) in 2003 and the first official parade was 2004. Here's a photo of that parade.
This is the dumbest thing ever on the Phile. Coming up with a new parade for Disney. Oh, well... Alright, now let's see... shit, I just lost power. Hang on, don't worry, everybody. There's not even a storm. Okay, we're back on. Where were we? Oh, let's see who bought a condo in the sky...
Jonathan Winters
Nov 11, 1925 - April 11, 2013
In the dead of Winters.
Annette Funicello
Oct 22, 1942 - April 8, 2013
M-I-C... see you in the afterlife! K-E-Y... Why? Because you had MS!
Look out the window of the office... no storm. It's not even raining. Weird. At least we have power now. Alright, moving on...
The 29th artist to be pheatured in The Peverett Phile Art Gallery is a different kinda artist. She's a Needlepoint artist, and this is one of her pieces... or four of her pieces.
Not only does she do Needlepoint, she provides backing vocals and keyboards for the Canadian group Crash Test Dummies. Ellen Reid will be on the Phile next Monday I think.
Alright, today's guest is the lead singer for the Canadian band, not English band, Old English, whose new album "Prose & Kahns" is available on iTunes. Please welcome to the Phile... Matt Henderson.
Me: Hello, Matt, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Matt: I am quite all right, thanks!
Me: You're the lead singer in Old English, right? Are you the founder of the band?
Matt: Yep to both. The band actually grew out of my solo project as I got tired of playing alone and started adding people to the live show and to the record.
Me: How many people in the band? There's quite a few of you guys, right, judging from the publicity photo?
Matt: Yeah there's a lot, we kind of have a set group of 6 or 7 people for live shows that we often augment with other people when they're available. I think between the album and our live shows there's between 25 and 30 people who have been a part of this band or contributed musically.
Me: I thought you were from England like me, with the band name being Old English. But you're from Canada, right?
Matt: Haha... yeah sorry to be misleading. We are Canadian although our producer who played a massive part in shaping the album is British.
Me: So, no one in the band from England or old?
Matt: No, I'm afraid not! Sorry for the confusion. We probably should have called ourselves The Ontario 20-Somethings.
Me: Yes, you should have. LOL. Anyway, I always ask my guests from Canada if they are fans of one of my favorite bands Barenaked Ladies. Are you fans of theirs?
Matt: Can't say I am to be honest, there have been a few songs I've liked but I never really got into them. Although I did grow up at a church that used to sing "If I Had a Million Dollars" during the offering, for what it's worth.
Me: That's a great song for church. What about the great Canadian band The Rest? Wildlife? I am trying to think of other Canadian bands I pheatured on the Phile. Crash Test Dummies?
Matt: LOVE The Rest! The played with us for our single release party last fall, and Adam has been a massive resource and helped us out a lot. He's kind of our guru at this point, he certainly has the hair for it.
Me: Matt, what part of Canada are you from?
Matt: I'm from Toronto. The majority of the band is from the Toronto area.
Me: Alright, let's talk about your new album "Prose & Kahns". That's a clever name, Matt. Did you come up with it?
Matt: Thanks! I did come up with it.
Me: Where did that name come from?
Matt: I'm not sure exactly. I think they idea of pros and cons and weighing things out when it comes to relationships really ties up the predominant themes of the album so that's where the idea started at least. It's all very rock and roll, I know.
Me: It sounds like the name of a Dwayne Johnson movie, or a TV show from the 80s. Were there a lot of pros and cons in making the album?
Matt: Certainly more pros than cons! I recorded a solo album about four years ago and spent most of that process stressing and losing sleep over it, and wondering whether it was any good, whether it was worthwhile, what people would think and so on. The experience of making this album was almost the exact opposite and I personally really enjoyed it from start to finish. I think that's mostly because personally I was feeling more confident and always really felt that the songs and arrangements were strong, even from the start, but it also has a lot to do with how many incredible people worked on it and contributed. In a way it always felt like there was a safety net in case I had terrible ideas and also just having different people give different input always kept it exciting for me.
Me: How long did it take to record?
Matt: A long, long time. Part of that is because for me writing and recording happen more or less simultaneously, so it wasn't like we had 11 songs ready from the get-go. But it was three years between the time I first started working on it and the time it was released. Part of that was to accommodate schedules for myself, the band and the people we were working with, but part of it is because we really just wanted to make this as good an album as possible so things were constantly being added, edited, changed, etc.
Me: The album was recorded in six cities, and three countries. Maybe that's why it took so long to make, with all that traveling. Why did you move around so much?
Matt: Haha, yeah, that probably contributed to it. I didn't move around much at all to be honest but we sort of recorded just whenever and wherever we could. We didn't have much of a budget at all for this so it's not like we hopped from one studio to the next, we really recorded it all in bedrooms and basements and didn't get to a proper studio until the mastering phase. So some was done in my apartment in Toronto, some in my friend's basement, some in my family's cabin in Moffat and so on. Our producer/mixer Mark Underdown was living in Bristol until about a year and a half ago so he did some work on it while he was there.
Me: What cities and what countries was the album recorded in?
Matt: Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville and Moffat, Ontario, all in Canada. Some of "Lotteries and Tents" was done in Bristol, England, and then the mastering was done in Brooklyn, New York.
Me: Matt, did you do all the song writing for the band?
Matt: Yep!
Me: Who are your influences, Matt? Who did you listen to growing up?
Matt: Gosh, so many really. Since the album took so long my influences really changed a lot over the course of the recording. At the beginning I was obsessed with the Bowerbirds, which I think really comes across in "Anchors" and "Older Things." I was really influenced by the Animal Collective for this album and we actually got to work with their mastering engineer, which was a real treat for me. When we got to the mixing stage I was really only listening to M83 and Blur so I think that comes through a lot. I think the first album I bought was "What's the Story Morning Glory" and then all through high school I loved Brit Rock, like Radiohead, Blur and the Super Furry Animals especially.
Me: Your single is "We've Been Here Before". How did you guys choose that song to be the single?
Matt: I think it just made the most sense. I think we've made an album where the songs all fit together well and are made better by the context they're in, if that makes sense. It's something we're really proud of and something we worked hard to achieve. The downside of that is that not many of the songs are obvious singles, I don't think. "We've Been Here Before" though is pretty peppy and catchy in a way that I think made it an obvious choice for a lead single.
Me: And you've been where before?
Matt: Oh, you know. Here and there...
Me: Alright, if you go to iTunes there's three albums listed under Old English on the same page. The other two are rap albums with songs like "Fuck the Radio" and "Where'd the Dildo" or whatever it is. iTunes has it censored. Anyway, that's not you, right?
Matt: Haha, yeah, that's not us. It's one of those things I guess. I haven't heard their music but I'm sure they're great.
Me: If it was you, it's a lot different then your new album. Are you into rap?
Matt: Haha, yeah, can you imagine? That would have been a pretty dramatic transformation! I am into rap though for sure. I've always loved the Roots and Kanye West is one of my favourite artists. I also finally just got into the Kendrick Lamar album and I think it's fantastic.
Me: Okay, Matt, on the Phile I like to ask random questions thanks to the game Tabletopics. So, here's yours... What has been the most spiritual experience of your life?
Matt: Oh, wow... that's a tough one... well I've really enjoyed this interview... does that count?
Me: Yeah, I guess so, but if this interview is the most spiritual experience of your life, you need serious help. LOL. Anyway, thanks for being here on the Phile. Go ahead and plug your website and I wish you lots of luck. Take care and continued success.
Matt: Thanks so much! Really appreciate it! Our website is oldenglishtheband.com and you can get our music on Bandcamp or on iTunes (just don't get us confused with that rap group). You can connect with us on Twitter (twitter.com/oldenglishband) and Facebook (facebook.com/oldenglishtheband) as well.
Me: Good job, Matt. Take care.
That's about it for this entry. Thanks to Matt for a great interview. The Phile will be back tomorrow with the husband and wife team who make up the band Spark & Echo, then on Monday it's Phile Alum Alexis Babini. So, spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Strawberry Blondes Forever!
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