With his new album 'Transpacific Blues Vol. 1', Perth blues guitarist Matty T Wall establishes his musical identity smack-bang in between the schools of traditional and modern blues.
Having steered towards more contemporary blues styles on his 2018 album 'Sidewinder', Matty says his 'Transpacific Blues' series was a way to strike a balance with his fans. “With 'Sidewinder' I went quite contemporary,” Matty explains.
“The blues industry and blues fans are quite interesting and two-sided – there's people who love the contemporary stuff and people who only love the traditional stuff, and trying to bring the two together can be quite a difficult thing.
"So this way, I can work on the two different things – I can stretch out on the original album series and I can really dig deep with the 'Transpacific' series.”
Matty had the opportunity to work with a gallery of his favourite guitarists for 'Transpacific Blues Vol. 1', including Walter Trout, Eric Gales, Dave Hole, Kirk Fletcher and Kid Ramos. “It's a really strange feeling working with some of your favourite artists in the whole world,” Matty says.
“Getting an email from Eric Gales – I consider him one of the best guitarists in the world right now and up there with some of the best of all time; when you've got Walter Trout saying he's been a fan of mine for a long time, that blows my mind. I might be doing some more work with Walter next year, so I'm really looking forward to that.”
Matty's urge to satisfy the traditional aspect of his blues musicality came about after experimenting with hard-rock sounds on 'Sidewinder', which he says didn't sit well with all of his fans, despite its overall popularity at live shows.
“That record was really put out to show some of the raw edginess that we have when we play live, so in that respect it was a success. The songs from that go down really well live,” he says.
“It has also pushed the audience more into the rock audience as well, stretching out from the standard blues audience, so in that respect it's gained more listeners and helped a lot. A couple of the tracks that were a bit hard rock probably alienated some blues fans, which is why I've gone in a new direction with this side project, to help bring that back in again.”
However, despite the success of 'Transpacific Blues Vol. 1' and what it may bode for Matty's career, the recording sessions were unfortunately marred by tragedy, in guitar terms that is. “At the start of the recording sessions for 'Transpacific', my '61 SG custom fell over on the floor and broke the headstock,” Matty says.
“It was horrible and disastrous, because that's a real '61 and I'm not happy about that, but on the same day I brought in this new Gibson 335 to show the engineers. So I had the guitar, I plugged it in and it was one of the best tones I've had in that studio, so we did the whole thing with that guitar and that's the one I've been playing live since then.”
'Transpacific Blues Vol. 1' is available now.
Matty T Wall 2019 Tour Dates
Fri 25 Oct - Ellington Jazz Club (Perth)Sat 26 - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
Fri 1 Nov - WAMFest at The Sewing Room (Perth)
Sun 3 Nov - The Basso (Perth)
Fri 8 Nov - Bendigo Blues & Roots Festival (VIC)
