Matthew Good is a bonafide Canadian rock star. I've seen him live three times and have two of his discs in my collection. While he was fronting the Matthew Good Band, our radios were inundated with hits like "Everything is Automatic", "Apparitions", "Indestructible", "Rico", "Hello Time Bomb", "Strange Days" and "Load Me Up". As a solo artist, there were further hits with "Weapon", "In a World Called Catastrophe" and "Alert Status Red".
Matthew Good was nice enough to agree to an interview and here it is for your enjoyment.
Q: MBLOG, your blog, is well maintained, intelligent and thoughtful. Is blogging the new crack?
A: For me blog design is the new crack. Filling in the other bits is just a hassle. Unfortunately my knowledge of Perl, and other ridiculous inter-language, is non existent. This deficiency stops me from exploiting truly tech-headed formats, such as Movable Type. I suppose I could learn, but when you're in your mid 30's you are gifted the right to claim yourself too 'stubborn' to bother. I can hardly wait until I'm 60 and am allowed to hate people outright for walking on my lawn.
Q: You're a part of my personal history. On a beautiful 1998 August day in Barrie I moshed to a wicked set by your band before Pearl Jam took the stage. It remains my favourite day of live music. Did you get to meet Eddie and is he a righteous dude?
A: Actually, I played two shows that day. One in the afternoon, which is the one you've mentioned, and then again that night in Kitchener. So after I got off stage I left immediately.
Q: Does a bright, political minded dude like yourself have political aspirations? Prime Minister Matthew Good sounds pretty cool...
A: Not particularly. If this country were actually a proper democracy I might entertain the idea, but I don't do well with plutocracies.
Q: Canadian rock fans were treated to a good ol' fashioned duel a few years back when you and the guys from Our Lady Peace exchanged jabs. Then, there was the crap Chad Kroeger was spilling about you to Rolling Stone. Is there anything you'd like to say about these feuds? This is a fine forum to do so.
A: Not really.
Q: Any chance we'll see you at Edgefest this year?
A: Is there one this year? I thought they did away with it?
Q: Most readers of this site are from the Great White North. Please share with us the details of your Canadian roots. We love CanCon.
A: I've traveled all over the world and been from coast to coast probably 50 plus times. We live in one of the greatest places in the world. We just need to work on strengthening our continental identity and stop endlessly entertaining the overwhelming American neocolonialist assault that is slowly but surely stripping us of our cultural uniqueness.
Q: Three of your singles have been selected by the esteemed Smells Like Sour committee for inclusion on three different editions of SLS. Is it fair to state this is your finest achievement to date?
A: Of course.
Q: When you're listening to tunes at home, who are you listening to these days?
A: I've been listening to a lot of Nina Simone.
Q: What's your favourite movie??
A: Brazil
Q: Is there anything you'd like to share with the torontomike.com faithful?
A: http://www.amnesty.ca
http://www.ceasefire.ca
http://www.getyourvoteon.ca
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca
http://www.oxfam.ca
