In conversation with us Matt from Zero 9:36 explains the origins of the project’s distinctive name, and a transformation from a solo project to a full band identity.
Interviewed by: Marta Antosz
How did you come with the name for your music project? Because it’s very distinctive.
Matt: The first half Zero was my nickname when I was a kid. And then 9:36 is the time I was born and it was a solo project for a long time until it turned into a full band project. So now I feel like it’s more like a how Bon Jovi is just his name, but it’s the band’s name kind of thing.
Since your solo project evolved into the band as you said, how does that differ for you as a musician?
Matt: It’s still kind of the same creative process. I can just lean on my drummer, bass player, and guitar player now for the things we know work better live or for the things we see people reacting to more in general. They can write parts and do their own thing, too. Creatively, it’s a lot easier for me now because I know I’m moving in the right direction, and then they can kind of reel it back in, since I tend to go pretty far out. But yeah, it’s definitely a lot easier now.
Tell me about your creative process. How does it look for you? What’s inspiring you? How do you come up with new ideas?
Matt: Usually it starts with me and one of our producers — either Jonathan Delise or No Love. If we’re working with No Love, we’ll usually start with some kind of piano idea since he’s classically trained. Sometimes we’ll start with something else instead, like if we want him to play cello on the song. Those are usually the main ideas we build from — just figuring out the mood we want to go for. So, we usually start with the vibe we want to go for or how we imagine the song ending — like whether we want a big orchestral bridge or something like that. Honestly, it’s different every time. It really just depends on the day. Whatever feels right for the ending of the song usually sets the tone for the beginning, so in a way, we kind of work backwards.
And how people react to the music? How does playing live differ for you?
Matt: We love playing live. Our sets are usually really high energy, though, so after about 45 minutes we can get a little tired. But there are probably around 10 songs in our set that we know are super high energy and fun the whole time. Whenever we are making a song that fits into that world, I will send it to my band and ask, “What needs to change here to make this hit the same way those other songs do live?” That’s usually the main thing we focus on. I would say the only thing I really don’t enjoy is playing slower songs live. We love playing the high-energy stuff, so it really just depends on the song.
So tell me about They Were Always Here. How did that album come together? And I have to admit, one of the things that really stuck with me — aside from the music, of course — was the visual side of it.
Matt: Thank you. I guess that project came about because everything before it had only been made by me and our producer, No Love. Then we started working with Jonathan Delise. Like I mentioned before, around the time that project started, No Love began working on all the recent Machine Gun Kelly albums. He worked on „Mainstream Sellout” and a lot of the singles after that. So while he was in LA and I was in Nashville, Jonathan Delise and I started working together. We put a bunch of songs together and sent a lot of them to No Love so we could keep working remotely. Pretty quickly, we ended up with a collection of songs that really felt like they fit with the „None of Us Are Getting Out” project, so we decided to tie the two together. It was originally supposed to be a two-part album.
And the visuals — especially the album cover — was that mainly your idea, or did you collaborate with someone on it? Because it’s really unique, in a very good way.
Matt: Thank you. Have you seen the „None of Us Are Getting Out” cover? That one was shot by a photographer from Pennsylvania, which is where I’m from. I reached out to him and asked if he’d shoot the album cover, and he ended up doing that one. So, when it came time to make the next album, I told him I wanted to continue with the same kind of character and storytelling from the previous cover. He ended up shooting that cover as well. All of the music videos, though, were shot by our friend Eric Easterday, who’s based in Louisville, Kentucky, which isn’t too far from me. So we were able to just drive up there for a few days and shoot everything. Everybody we work with on the visual side is really aligned creatively. Even if they don’t directly work with each other, their overall vibe is very similar. So it makes it pretty easy for me to give input and explain the kind of story we want to tell with the people we choose to work with creatively.
What is your favorite song of this album?
Matt: I would probably say either „System” or „Make a Mess„. Those are my two favourite songs. They’re completely opposite ends of the spectrum, but those would probably be my picks.
Could you tell us a little bit about why those are your favourites?
Matt: I think „Make a Mess” is one of my favourites because it has No Love singing on it. He’s my best friend, and I love making music with him, so it always feels more special when he’s actually part of the song rather than just producing it. And then „System” has become one of my favourites, especially after playing it live so many times. It’s probably the most fun song we have to perform live. It’s the heaviest song in our set, it has the most energy, and I think it’s also the most unique heavy song we have. They’re basically complete opposites on the album, but those are definitely my two favs.
Tell me about the fourth coming European tour.I bet you’re excited.
Matt: This is actually our third tour in Europe in the last 18 months. We did our first headlining tour last February, and it went way better than we expected, especially since we’d never been there before. We really didn’t know what to expect, but it was amazing.Then we came back with Atreyu, and now we’re super excited to play festivals like Rock for People, Summer Breeze Open Air, and Download Festival. I honestly never thought we’d get the chance to play festivals like those, so we’re really excited about it.
And yeah, we’ve also got a handful of headlining shows around those dates. We love being in Europe — we love being in Germany, honestly we just love being anywhere in Europe.
You live in Nashville.Does that scene, because I know it’s a pretty driving, you know, musical. What is your musical inspiration considered? Or maybe you have other musical inspirations?
Matt: Honestly, I don’t really have a lot of musical inspirations anymore. Over the last five or six years, ever since I started making music seriously, I’ve kind of stopped listening to a ton of music myself. The main artist I still listen to is probably Ethel Cain. I think I get influenced too easily when I listen to music, and I don’t even do it on purpose. I’ll just really love what I’m hearing, and then it starts creeping into what I make. Suddenly, my music starts sounding too much like whoever I’ve been listening to. So most of the stuff I listen to now isn’t really related to the kind of music I make. But yeah, I’d say Ethel Cain is probably the main artist I listen to these days. As far as influences go, though, The Plot in You is probably my favorite band. But yeah, it’s tough — like I said, I get too influenced when I listen to too much music.
What about new material? Are you guys already working on something new, or has it been difficult with all the touring and going back and forth?
Matt: No, not really. The way I’ve always made music is in small chunks of time. I’ve never really sat down for a month or two and created a project completely front to back. Right now, we probably have around 15 songs started already — some are demos, some are close to finished. We’ll probably work on another five or six by the end of the year. But for the first time, I actually do want to sit down with both of my producers and the band and really focus on building a full project together from start to finish, because we’ve never really done that before. We’ve always kind of pieced albums together over time. And technically, we’ve never even released a proper full album yet, which is kind of crazy to think about. So yeah, hopefully that changes soon.
Really exciting. What drives you outside music?
Matt: Pretty much, yeah. I do a lot of graphic design work outside of music. I’ve designed stuff for bands like Slipknot and I Prevail, along with a bunch of other bigger bands, so I really enjoy doing that. I also buy way too many clothes. I need to stop spending money on clothing and jewellery. But honestly, anything related to graphic design or fashion is probably what I spend the most time doing when I’m not making music.
How do you approach collaborations? Is there anyone in particular you’d love to work with — like a dream collaboration for you? With a musician, producer, a studio collaborator, or anyone else you have in mind creatively.
Matt: Yeah, producers too, for sure. I mean, obviously I’d love to have Rick Rubin in the room at some point. I just want to know what’s actually going on in there, because he’s obviously doing something right, and I’d love to see that process firsthand. And then as far as artists go, I’d love to have Corey Taylor on a song someday. I mean, I feel like everybody would want that, but that would probably be my number one dream collaboration. Other than that, yeah, Corey Taylor would probably be the big one for me.
Lyrics are also a part of your resonating identity?
Matt: That’s pretty much just me — I don’t really let many people touch the lyrics. The only people I’ll usually bring in for lyric writing are Brandon from Atreyu or Cody from Wage War. Those are probably the only two I really trust to help in that space, along with No Love — he’s incredible. And then I’d also add grandson. Those are basically the only four people who have ever helped me write lyrics on songs at all. That’s it. Those are the only people I really feel comfortable having in the room for lyric stuff.
And going back to touring — what do you think is the most challenging part for you on tour?
Matt: The only thing that really gets me is I love playing shows — I could honestly play a million in a row — but the hardest part of touring for me is that I get sick so easily. I don’t know what it is. I don’t think I’m built for touring in that sense, even though I do love it. I just don’t think I’m really supposed to be, but it is what it is — this is how it ended up happening.
What are you most excited about for this upcoming tour? I know you mentioned you’re really looking forward to playing in Europe again, but are there any special surprises you’ve prepared for fans, or anything new you’re planning to try out — if you’re able to talk about it?
Matt: We’ve got a few new songs in the set that we haven’t really had the chance to play much yet, so that’s exciting. We just did an Australia headline tour, and we had all of our production and everything, so I kind of wish we could bring all of that over to Europe too. Hopefully, if we keep growing a bit, we’ll be able to. But, we’ve got a few new songs going into the setlist, and we actually have a new song coming out this Friday that we’re going to be playing on this tour as well — so that should be really fun.
Can you tell us a little bit about the song as a preview, or are you keeping it a secret?
Matt: It’s pretty crazy — it’s mainly just rap, screaming, and energy the whole way through. There’s no singing on it at all, but it’s probably the heaviest rap song we’ve ever released for sure. It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how people react to it because it’s very different from what we’ve done before. I’m hoping people are into it — I think they will be, but yeah, it’s a bit of a wildcard.
I am pretty sure they will.
Matt: I think we have kind of reached a place where people don’t really expect just one specific thing from whatever we put out. So I feel like we’re in a good spot where we can just do whatever we want creatively, and people are pretty accepting of it.
Do you have any favourite memories so far from your interactions with fans at shows — before or after sets — or anything in particular that’s really stuck with you?
Matt: There’s so many. Honestly, there are a lot of moments like that. I think recently in Colorado Springs, there was someone who had some kind of condition where they couldn’t stand for longer than about 30 minutes. But they were up front at our show for the entire set, just leaning on the stage the whole time. They told us it was their first concert ever, and normally they’re not able to stand that long at all. Seeing that was probably one of the coolest things recently — it was a lot for me and my bass player to take in, but it was really special. Yeah, it’s a crazy story — but that kind of thing really stays with you.
Do you have any message for the Polish fans ahead of the Warsaw concert?
Matt: That was a really special one for us — we did a headline show in Poland last February. So I just want to say thank you to everyone who showed up, because that’s actually part of how we ended up getting this Summer Punch show. That night went over so well for us, so yeah — thank you. I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Matt. It was a pleasure.
Matt: Thank you.