Type beat interview
BA. Introduce us to “type beat”
Matt: type beat at the moment is the two of us, Matt Magnell and Alec Doyle. We're a rock group from a southeastern town in Massachusetts. Currently we're writing songs that combine punk and progressive genres with a more of a sing along pop twist.
Alec: We used to write songs with a more heavy style but as we got older started appreciating melody and songwriting more and more, which brought us to the style you hear in "Great". the name "type beat" came from our love of hip hop and luckily no one had thought to use it as a band name yet!
BA. How old are you guys? How did you two meet?
Matt: We're both going to be 24 this year, Alec in April, and July for me. We met about 10 years ago now in middle school when a mutual friend of ours wanted to start a band to play the talent show. We were both primarily guitarists when we met, but I was starting to learn drums due to not knowing anyone else who played and I had stopped playing with the only drummer I knew right at that time. Two of my friends from class, Jorge and Luc played bass and guitar respectively, Luc said he had a friend who also played guitar, that was Alec. I didn't own a set at the time, but Luc did, so we went and stayed over his house that weekend and practiced.
Alec: Then on a very rainy march afternoon, i burst into our friend Luc's house & matt's knocked out asleep. I just say something stupid like "it's fuckin' nice out lets go skate" then he wakes up, starts shredding guitar and I'm like "woah this guy is serious. let's jam!" ten years later we've recorded over 50 songs together. But now I play the drums after discovering that it's my true passion alongside singing, and matt handles the strings. we both write for all of the instruments though!
BA. That’s very awesome! What do you guys normally do in a day? Do you live together?
Matt: We do not live together at the moment. I've lived up in the Worcester for the last few years. But from when we were 13 til just a few years ago, Alec was at my house every weekend and every day of every vacation.
At the moment, even though I live a bit far we are doing what we can to make it work and do something with music. Generally I'll go down to Wareham sometime durning the week to practice with drums, and on his days off, he'll come up to me and we'll work acoustically.
Durning the time we're not together I am on the computer working on demos, covers, or just generally practicing. I've been really focusing on trying to be a better overall singer and become more knowledgeable with music theory and songwriting.
Alec: As matt said we don't live together but the distance hasnt been an issue since we both have cars, and the ten year relationship makes songwriting as easy as sitting around doing nothing. Personally on days where we dont meet up, I practice drums/vocals for an average of 4 hours a day when im not resting, recently started skateboarding again to stay active and have a break from music. Taking drum lessons within the past year has been a massive help in growing into new ideas of playing too. I can't say it enough how much it helps.
BA. Finding your videos I love the simplicity of them. It’s a diy style that Very much shows your friendship, do you guys specifically film for “music videos” or are they more compilations of your life?
Alec: I can handle this answer! Well with "Great" we went out filming with the intention of making it into a music video. I personally really wanted to show off what our lives are like around our hometown, the places we go every day, and we went in with the vision of the song being the soundtrack to our roots, to always hold it down for home. I think we'll make more videos like that one, but we also wanna work with directors and make more serious high-budget visuals as well.
BA. I really enjoyed watching that.
Who do you guys listen to? And what did you used to listen to that maybe inspired what you guys are now?
Matt: As far as past influences go, I'd say The Fall of Troy has always stuck with us and embedded the progressive style. There are tons of bands that we grew up listening to, blink-182 and Avenged Sevenfold were the big ones when we met. Avenged really influenced our guitar style at the time.
My older brother's friends introduced us to a lot of different bands that had influenced our past projects. The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In, Man Man, Number 12 Looks Like You, and Dillinger among others.
Before I started playing music I listened to mostly contemporary mainstream hip hop and only bands I listened to were Green Day and System of a Down. I was really into metal when I started playing and wasn't open to much else, started getting into pop punk after I met Alec.
Now I try to keep an open mind to music now and listen to whatever I can. At the moment we're delving back and drawing inspiration from some older bands. The Beatles and the Beach Boys I'd say are influencing how we sing and write melodies. I'd also cite Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and The Wonder Years as influences on us right now as well.
Alec: Digging into the oldies has been huge for us. from Sam Cooke to Thin Lizzy to Billy Joel, there's a lot to take from the people who built entire careers without the internet to help or hinder them. Contemporary emo/punk has definitely become a favorite for me, PUP, The Menzingers, Jeff Rosenstock, Joyce Manor, The Hotelier etc. We still listen to other heavier bands like Every Time I Die, Vein, The Blood Brothers & La Dispute are two huge favorites, i could go forever! And we still listen to the radio for whatever it can give to us, the biggest lesson we've learned is to respect everyone's hustle and find the good in any kind of music. We're all doing the same thing!
BA. Do you guys have something you are trying to reach with music?
Matt: Our goal has always been to take music as far as we can. It's our passion and we want to make and play music everyday for the rest of our lives, we want it to be the thing that pays the bills. In ten years, I want us to be selling out stadiums, but we have a lot of work before then. We're just gonna keep working hard and knocking off our goals to work our way up the ladder and see how far we go.
Alec: We're definitely at the point of no return, i don't think there's a single friend of ours who wouldn't smack us silly if we ever gave up the dream of making a living through music with all the years we've already put in. we just have to stay focused, not look too far ahead, stay true to ourselves and be empathetic to everyone around us, and then hopefully we can give something for the world to take away from in a constructive way!
BA. I’m so happy to hear you guys are determined. In December you guys performed a show! Have you done any others? And how was it?
Matt: We've played a handful of shows over the last year as type beat. Now that we have transportation we're planning on touring as soon as we release our upcoming album. In our prior project we played locally and around other parts of MA and RI a good amount. The December show was with our friends from The Morgana Phase at the Fete in Prov, they put together a great show and we had a really awesome time there.
Alec: as type beat, so far we've played MA, RI, NH & NJ, hoping to multiply that a few times in the months following our album release. finally getting a van this past autumn was a huge step, and a load off our minds to focus on practicing. The shows we've played so far have been amazing, we've made some great friends over the years in our old bands and they all seem to appreciate the direction we're going in now, excited to get back on the road for sure!
BA. As “type beat” or even before who have been some people that you have befriended?
Alec: Aw dang well I'm gonna have to give a big shout out to Basement Beers, Heavenward, and Groomers all from New Jersey, definitely the closest friendships we've made with bands outside New England. & the bands huo & Destination Dimension from Connecticut. I also played one of my first solo sets with type beat songs alongside Remo Drive from Minnesota on their first MA show, and they slept in my basement. very nice boys! Not to mention everyone from home, Newfield, Deficiency, Barren, Brain Habits, Full Body Shot, Keep Well., Funeral Attire, Dreamwell, Anyone Anyway, Rainsound, Rocket Ship, Royal Street, The Morgana Phase, Sock Lops, Professor Caffeine & The Insecurities, THE WORKOUT, Degrader, Regime, In Good Nature, Robinwood, Frantic Endeavor, Sunsinger, Defret, Treatment, When All We Love Is Lost, the list doesnt end! it's humbling being part of a scene with a ridiculous amount of talent, definitely keeps us inspired. Our producer John Dello Iacono has become a dear friend of ours, has engineered/mixed/mastered most of our old bands' music and hes very comfortable to work with. We're lucky to have him!
BA. Sounds like you guys are liked! Well it was great having you on and getting to know “type beat” more. Anything you want to say before we finish?
Matt: We're gonna be heading into the studio soon to record our album entitled "Pipe Dream" and the plan is just to head out and get that to as many people as we can. In the mean time we've been thinking about posting more content of us, whether it be originals or covers. Definitely keep a look out for us!
Alec: Big shout out to our best friends we spend every day with, we luv u
Thank you for having us, we very much appreciate you taking the time to do this with us!
SUPPORT US
TYPE BEAT:
https://typebeat.bandcamp.com/releases
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCW8bKrXak8wqM3i_8nOvGuw
BURIED ALIVE:
https://twitter.com/_buried_alive?s=17