Mgb Reunion: How Likely Is This?

[James]

eh I dunno about a reunion.. it's been what 10 years? Matt doesn't weigh 115 pounds anymore and his sound has changed well..majorly.

 

ah what the hell sure one night show PNE 2012.

[foats]

Bimbly, the majority of White Light Rock And Roll Review had a heavier feel to it. It was pretty much a straight up rock album. He still played Carmelina and other "heavy songs" during the 2004-2005 tours

[Gomo]

I wouldn't be embarrassed if I knew at one time in my life I ROCKED like that. Haha.

 

But I think of songs like Vancouver National Anthem, Fought to Fight it, Great Whales...hey he's still got it in him. The live Massey Hall album also had some hard rocking moments. I don't think that kind of enthusiasm ever comes out of an artist.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Gomo

[adam_777]

That’s just utter nonsense. We toured that summer. The last show we played as a band was in Vancouver and there was never any massive offer to do anything after that.

 

The most we ever received for a performance was for a corporate gig, not a public gig, and I’ll not disclose for how much.

 

The most successful tour of my career, band or solo, was for avalanche. It was entirely sold out before I stepped out my front door. That would be followed by the acoustic tour for Hospital Music. In contrast, the last MGB tour played to half empty hockey rinks where the stages were pushed forward. We weren’t selling out arenas by any means.

 

The ‘band’ made 4 records. The first I wrote and recorded primarily with just Ian and Geoff. The reason why there’s a fixation with the ‘group’ is because of the sales of the next two albums. Those sales, many forget, were reflective of a time when sales were still substantial at retail. Were Beautiful Midnight to come out today it would never, in a million years, sell 30,000 copies in its first week. Not a chance. What that record had at the right time was four great singles that capitalized on the success of one song – that being Apparitions. Had Apparitions not been the success that it was, I wouldn’t be here writing this. It took Underdogs from relative obscurity to the platinum sales level in a matter of months, and a great deal of that success is owed the video and the fact that Much Music still played videos at the time.

 

As for writing credits, certain people’s egos were stroked with what one might call the ‘gifting’ of too much credit given the highly political nature of the band. Also, on every album one song that was thought to be a single would be automatically divided credit-wise between all the members.

 

As I said, the band made four records. Since that time I have released five studio albums and a live album. The most successful ‘single’ of my career as far as widespread play was In A World Called Catastrophe, which garnered far more play than anything before it. That said, times had changed by then.

 

There isn’t a band out there that isn’t in the upper echelon of stadium bands that hasn’t seen a drop in touring revenue or ticket and merchandise sales. Economically, people do not have the money to spend compared to two years ago, let alone seven years ago. Further, downloading is now the norm, which would be why the platinum and gold standards have been decreased. Had CRIA not dropped them, few would be attaining gold status, let alone platinum status – and very, very few Canadian bands achieve platinum status anymore. Compared to the 90’s, I’d waged that the discrepancy is easily 85% less.

 

As for a band reunion – Ian and I joked about it on the last tour. I don’t think the problem is that Rich and Dave wouldn’t consider it were there substantial money to be made – I’ve never know two people more inclined to do things for money – but that there isn’t significant money to be made, nor, despite what some might believe, are there secret masses just waiting for it to happen that would pay through the nose for tickets en mass. First and foremost it would be a lie. Second, it would be nothing more than an obvious cash grab were there money to be made – and there isn’t. Lastly, I would have a very hard time seriously considering it without Geoff – and that’s an obvious impossibility now.

 

I realize it’s fun to speculate on these things. I know that disusing the perception of who did what and how that impacted what happened at the time can also be fun. There’s no question that the ugliness and tension that existed produced what it did. But having said that – make no mistake, ugliness and tension and backstabbing and conniving were constant realities.

 

This is why I have alot of respect for Matt's openness with his fans, blunt and honest and from the horses mouth. I can't tell you how many times I've sat on message boards from other bands and heard all the speculation, rumour and he said she said without anyone in the know ever clearing the air. There is a little red phone sitting on John Paul Jones keyboard in the footage from MSG that is found in Led Zeppelins The Song Remains the Same and I've seen people swear up and down this thing was used for different purposes from communicating with the sounddesk to ordering pizza and everyone has an inside source, what a breath of fresh air to come here and have Matt address some of these questions without jerking us around.

 

I too think hardcore fans are exaggerating the demand for a Matthew Good Band reunion, no doubt I would see it if it happened, But would it be enough of a draw to significantly raise ticket sales from where they are now? Most of my friends are casual listeners who have no idea there ever was a "band" or that that "band" had broken up, they just assume Matt Good and Matthew Good Band are one and the same.

 

One thing I've wondered is were any Matthew Good Band shows recorded in a quality that could be released? And is it something you might consider releasing in the future if they were?

[Guest Bimbly]

Bimbly, the majority of White Light Rock And Roll Review had a heavier feel to it. It was pretty much a straight up rock album. He still played Carmelina and other "heavy songs" during the 2004-2005 tours

 

I don't hear it re: White Light. It rocks, but it wasn't "heavy". Wasn't aware that he's played Carmelina live since the MGB breakup.

 

By the way, I'm not saying MG should feel embarrassed, or that the songs themselves are embarrassing.

[c0micb0y]

Off-topic, but I'm going to take this opportunity to reaffirm my opinion that WLRRR is one of Matt's better albums, and my personal favourite. A brilliant recording that captures a certain 'spirit of the day', and yet felt like a classic from the moment of its release.

[Guest Bimbly]

Off-topic, but I'm going to take this opportunity to reaffirm my opinion that WLRRR is one of Matt's better albums, and my personal favourite. A brilliant recording that captures a certain 'spirit of the day', and yet felt like a classic from the moment of its release.

 

Yeah, White is great. I think White Light and Endangered are two of my favs, probably just under Loser Anthems and Underdogs.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Bimbly

[Guest Bimbly]

LOL Big Wreck is back together too.

[Guest jjazz]

Yup, I agree. Thanks very much for sharing that.

 

I have one little question: You said before that you would have no problem touring one of your past records given there was a demand for it that would be in favour of paying for a more expensive ticket. Would you know if that is closer to a reality than say, 2 years ago when you first commented on that topic? What about even touring one of your past solo albums?

 

And for the record, even if you decided not to nail a flashy gimmick to one of your tours, that'd still be just fine for pretty much everyone here. There's just a lot of feelings that stir up when you throw in a bit of nostalgia. I caught Rush's Time Machine Tour a few times last year, and they played their Moving Pictures album front to back. It was one of the most amazing things to be heard considering how old the album is, and how much their sound has changed since it was recorded. Same with the Pixies. They've still got it after all these years, and if it wasn't for their recent touring I would have never gotten to hear how well those tracks translate live since I was reletively young when they were originally together.

[James]

I'm not sure Matt could still really pull off stuff from lotga.

 

May just be me.. think his voice has really changed a great deal.

[Guest girl]

That would be so cool if Matt played at my corporate Christmas party. I guess one can only wish. They always try to appeal to the masses. Great Big Sea played at Shell Canada's big corporate party a few years ago in Calgary. Too bad that band sucks. I heard that party was extravagant and a big splash. I wonder how much they got paid.

 

Hmm... I wonder if Matt does weddings. That would probably be interesting and fun. I bet he would be a good wedding singer, probably 10 times better than Adam Sandler in that movie. I listened to footage from his last Edmonton concert. He sounded exactly like a stand-up comedian and interacted well with the crowd. Funny stuff.

[eclipse]

Bit of a bump but I wanted to ask: is the demand (or I should say, interest) in a MGB reunion based primarily on late 90s/early 00s nostalgia + the whole 'everyone else is doing it' and the interest in seeing Matt play with Ian and Rich again or is it really rooted in the interest in seeing Matt play some pre-Avalanche tunes?

 

I mean, starting around '08, his full band setlists have been pretty much based on his solo material (with a few tracks from Underdogs/BM for good measure), and people seem to go nuts every time he pulls out a rarity (Rabbits and Omen, for instance). Could that really be it?

[foats]

It is for me. I wouldn't mind seeing the band as a whole but if Matt played more Beautiful Midnight, Underdogs, Audio of Being I think that would be a solution that everyone is happy with.

[adam_777]

I'm not sure where I sit on this. I just went to see 54-40 mainly because I've always loved Dave Genn's guitar playing and I think his style added alot to those songs that I find missing with newer live renditions. However I think a big part of what people want is just to hear some of those old songs again. Hearing Running for Home was the highlight of the last tour for me, its my favourite song and one I never thought I'd hear. But when you think about a Matthew Good Band reunion you start to think well does that mean we'll get to hear "Fall of Man" "Born to Kill" "Enjoy the Silence" "Suburbia" and a ton of others that were mainstays in the bands set in their last few years?

 

Matt pulls out a pretty good selection of songs when he tours, I think it was about 50 before he set out on his acoustic tour. Thats more than most artists I know will commit to possibly playing on any given tour. The unfortunate part is with a couple of exceptions its usually the same 50 songs, swap out a couple of songs from the last album for ones on the newest album and thats the set. More than half of the Matthew Good Band catalogue hasn't been on the potentials list for years, so maybe people are just yearning to hear some of those old songs.

 

I'll go to ever show I can because Matt is one of the few artists who I enjoy everything they've put out, But it'd definitely be special to me to see the chance of hearing "Born to Kill" or "Let's Get it On" once in awhile, similar to how he just randomly busted out "Running for Home" at the end of last tour.