Artist Interviews

Q&A: MV & EE

By | Published on Friday 29 January 2010

MV & EE

MV & EE, aka Matt Valentine and his partner Erika Elder, spend their time in the Vermont countryside making psychedelic blues music. Which sounds like a nice way to pass the time. They regularly collaborate with other local musicians, including Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis, and have released more records than I can reasonably list here. Their most recent album, ‘Barn Nova’, was released last year by Ecstatic Peace. Next week they’re heading in the direction of the UK for a tour, which includes a headline show at The Borderline in London on 7 Feb. Ahead of that, we caught up with Matt to find out more.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I was born, my parents taught me how to flip over their Pentangle singles, then they taught me how to use a tube reel-to-reel tape deck. My ma got a Europe 72 t-shirt, I saw Neil Young with The Bluenotes at The World in NYC, I met Mark E Smith, then I bought a Rickenbacker bass. I couldn’t strum it and get the right sound, so I got a musicman bass, refinished it green and tried the same approach. It still didn’t work, so I sold it to Colin from Radiohead and then I started playing acoustic guitar more seriously. Then I discovered psychedelics and my life changed for the better.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?

Rural jams, the mountain hideway I live in with Erika and our dog, guitar music for the synapses / melodies, burning one for the past, sweeping the fire aside and looking forward to the “white light” Rudy Rucker-style.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
We like to record the basics at our home studio, which we’ve called Maximum Arousal Farm, so we get the right feel and mood without the pressure of being on the clock. Then we’ll take em down to our friend Justin’s studio, which, amazingly, is remarkably close to our house by rural standards. He is set up in an old New England bank, which has a mellow vibe and a cool sound with a lot of different old rustic rooms. We also go a bit further down into the Pioneer Valley and work at J Mascis’ home studio, Bisquiteen. He has my favourite plate reverb; it takes up a massive part of his basement.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Alan Wilson, Skip James, Michael Hurley, Jerry Garcia, Neil Young, Ali Akbar Khan. Oh yeah, Help Yourself.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Come on out.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
We’re not really that ambitious, we just have a strong work ethic and are constantly playing music. Erika and I have already begun working on a follow up to ‘Barn Nova’ and have some deep releases coming out on our own cottage label, Child Of Microtones, and its subsidiary that EE runs, Heroine Celestial Agriculture. We started COM in 1999 and it’s still going strong – we produce art editions manufactured by hand of the highest quality form. The new material that we’ve been writing emphasises a more modal sound and it is preserving the duo exchange a bit more clearly. Expect a number to possibly bless the heads at some of the UK shows this Aquarius.

MORE>> www.myspace.com/mveebummerroad



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