{"id":140377763,"date":"2024-05-01T12:30:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T12:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=140377763"},"modified":"2024-05-01T12:30:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T12:30:58","slug":"lets-meditate-on-art-with-matt-freeman-from-rancid-not-an-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=140377763","title":{"rendered":"Let&#039;s Meditate On Art With Matt Freeman From Rancid (Not An Interview)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;If you wanna get the feeling and you wanna get it right \/ then the music&#8217;s got to be loud&#8221; &#8211; Rancid, &#8220;Radio&#8221;<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2024 is an album release year for <a href=\"https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/p\/presenting-lazy-and-entitled?utm_source=publication-search\">Lazy &amp; Entitled<\/a>. Brendan and I are hard at work on at least two Shipwrecked Sailor records\u2014one faster and more punk-influenced than <a href=\"https:\/\/bandtheshipwreckedsailor.bandcamp.com\/album\/weight-of-an-anchor\">this one<\/a> and one a little more like <a href=\"https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.bandcamp.com\/\">these<\/a>, but evolved. <a href=\"https:\/\/bandthenothingness.bandcamp.com\/\">B &amp; The Nothingness<\/a> songs are being written, but I don\u2019t want to commit Brendan to rushing to finish anything just by writing a blog. Point is, the two of us are making music. Since this blog is at least partially a record of my thought processes while these projects gestate, I want to talk about someone I\u2019ve rediscovered as a hero in the last year: Rancid and Operation Ivy bassist Matt Freeman.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a delightful short interview he did with Fender. Let\u2019s unpack some of it.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spotlight: Matt Freeman | American Professional II Series | Fender\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yZ5OwtwxOgY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cYou hear it and you just become enthralled with it. I just wanna be a bass player.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hell yeah dude. If you have the kind of ear that allows you to appreciate bass, if you have the musical sophistication enough to listen to what\u2019s happening <em>under<\/em> the solo, congratulations! Life is that much richer for you. You are not a person swept away by flashiness, you are not overly wowed by shiny objects. You are a person who <em>feels<\/em> music, and your sensory perception of the world is a blessing. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Personally, I have almost no sense of smell. I light candles all the time and sort of notice them. My tasting is fine, and I notice when, say, Mal is baking focaccia. But I can\u2019t smell, and am aware that my life is lesser for it. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you listen to music but don\u2019t pay attention to the bass, try it out. Put on a record you love and listen beneath the lead parts\u2014vocals, guitars, horns, strings, keys, whatever. Especially try it with jazz\u2014Coltrane\u2019s <em>Giant Steps<\/em> or Charles Mingus\u2019s <em>Mingus Ah Um<\/em> are good ones. Coltrane\u2019s because his sax playing is so dominant that listening to the bass allows you to understand the music as more than noodly sax. Mingus\u2019s because, well, he\u2019s <em>the <\/em>jazz bass player. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Haitian Fight Song\" width=\"790\" height=\"593\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N3xfIB3BUL8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cI\u2019ve been told that my left handed technique is kind of terrible.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hey, Matt Freeman, my fingers are tiny, too. I can barely reach six frets if I strain. My technique? Eh, it\u2019s passable. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne for me, one for them\u201d is an eternal push-pull for artists. You can think of it as George Clooney doing the <em>Oceans<\/em> movies so he can finance <em>Good Night and Good Luck<\/em>, but it can get even more micro. Not every bass line can be \u201cJourney To The End Of East Bay.\u201d Sometimes you gotta play the roots, maybe a fifth here and there.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This applies to technique, in my view. My parents and brother are classical musicians, which means they play extraordinarily difficult music that demands precision on fretless instruments that are unforgiving to anything but precision. I\u2019m not <em>not<\/em> a classical musician, but my main genres are punk and jazz\u2014punk being one of the sloppier genres, jazz being the genre famous for no wrong notes. My point is, there\u2019s more to music than technique: there\u2019s <em>emotion<\/em> in hauling off and rake-slapping all six strings on your guitar even when you\u2019re playing a two-note chord. There\u2019s a spirit that gets summoned when you bend into a note while also closing your eyes. <em>It\u2019s cool in a way that I shouldn\u2019t have to explain<\/em> when your half-note trill is slightly out of tune because you\u2019re holding your guitar three feet off your body and giving the audience Satan horns with your right hand. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You think Hendrix played with his teeth to audition for<em> Amadeus<\/em>?<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watch Matt rip this \u201cMaxwell Murder\u201d solo in Japan. That part when he drops his left hand and just motors the open G while wiping his face with that \u201cy\u2019all get ready\u201d look on his face? Doesn\u2019t matter that he\u2019s only playing one note, the solo gets cooler, you know? And yeah, his left hand technique is not what you\u2019d teach. So?<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rancid - Maxwell Murder Live\" width=\"790\" height=\"593\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VFwt97z_S0U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cWhat the hell does that mean? Who knows, but it looks cool and it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is an important and underrated aspect of evaluating art. Are you having fun? Do you look cool? Sometimes you\u2019re not having fun\u2014I love <em>Beloved <\/em>or <em>City of God<\/em> or <em>Saving Private Ryan<\/em>, but those aren\u2019t exactly water-skiing on Center Hill Lake. Sometimes I\u2019ll see a poet perform a poem and go absolutely wild for the performance, for the special interior miracles that happen at every good poetry reading, but also think \u201cI wonder if I\u2019d like that poem if I <em>only <\/em>read it on the page.\u201d Feels like answering my own question, though. A poem should sing on the page and in performance\u2014but to love a performance is still to love a poem. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yeah, sometimes you don\u2019t know what it means. Here\u2019s my favorite piece of piano music, sound off in the comments if you know <em>what it means<\/em> (yes, I can translate the title). <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Maurice Ravel - Maurice Ravel: Jeux d&#039;eau\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v-QmwrhO3ec?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cI always played it the way I thought I heard it\u2026that\u2019s how you get your technique or your style or whatever.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You are never going to be exactly your heroes, and no one wants you to be (would you want Jaco Pastorius in Rancid?) There\u2019s a difference between \u201cyou can tell <a href=\"https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/p\/the-poem-i-recommend-if-you-dont?utm_source=publication-search\">Zachary Schomburg<\/a> read a lot of James Tate\u201d and \u201cKobe just straight-up copied MJ.\u201d Too much copying and people notice\/are put off, plus you\u2019re setting yourself up for endless mental anguish. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every single riff I write, I always think \u201cnot as good as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KBeXirDzd7s\">Mario and Erick<\/a>.\u201d True<em> or not<\/em>, if I let those thoughts hang around too long, I\u2019d never release any music. I don\u2019t know about you, but when I don\u2019t finish a project, it languishes in my brain, atrophying and rotting and tugging at me. <a href=\"https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/p\/friday-links-celebrating-indie-art?utm_source=publication-search\">It\u2019s better to finish stuff than not<\/a>. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cif that floats your boat, fuck yeah, then I\u2019m down\u2026there\u2019s other people\u2026that just wanna play\u2026and that\u2019s cool too I mean it\u2019s art you know? You should just do what the fuck you wanna do and make music and just, you know, play as much as you can.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here we have Matt extolling the virtues of a lot of people making as much music as they can. I\u2019m not gonna disagree. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will tell a slightly personal story: as a young 2000s punk who got to Rancid by way of NOFX and got to NOFX by way of Blink 182, I ran into my share of glued-haired, spike-jacketed, and strap-pantsed punks who would draw \u201creal\u201d and \u201cfake\u201d distinctions between bands like Rancid, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, etc., and bands like Blink 182 or New Found Glory. The merits of this debate are silly, its usefulness dubious. But I was intimidated by those I felt knew more than me (I\u2019m intimidated by just about everyone), so it\u2019s nice to see Matt Freeman\u2019s kicker be \u201chey just go play some bass dude.\u201d Go play some bass, dudes. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/faf830aa-1eef-46ad-b507-b38d0fa95d4c_300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"And Out Come the Wolves - Wikipedia\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorry you got an email, <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris<\/p><div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\"><div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\"><div class=\"preamble\"><p class=\"cta-caption\">Thanks for reading shipwrecked sailor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/p><\/div><form class=\"subscription-widget-subscribe\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Type your email\u2026\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/><input type=\"submit\" class=\"button primary\" value=\"Subscribe\"\/><div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\"><div class=\"fake-input\"\/><div class=\"fake-button\"\/><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If you wanna get the feeling and you wanna get it right \/ then the music&#8217;s got to be loud&#8221; &#8211; Rancid, &#8220;Radio&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140377763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140377763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140377763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140377763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140377763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140377763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140377763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}