Tonight’s guest is singer/songwriter/ghosthunter Matt Lande from the band Heaven Is Where.
Matt Lande
“Heaven Is Where” has caused quite the stir since bursting onto the Los Angeles music scene in early 2009. Whether performing an epic, full production band show or a dramatically touching acoustic concert, this band is quickly growing their roots around the globe, gaining recognition and praise from industry, media and fans alike. With a texture of paint splattered musical influences all the way from Annie Lennox and Savage Garden to The Killers, Skillet, HIM, Muse and 30 Seconds To Mars, Heaven Is Where’s audience is quite diverse. Blending the trials of life into his songwriting, front man Matt Lande bleeds for the song and never takes for granted the impact a single line or musical movement can have on a person’s emotions. Partnering intimate, personal lyrics and passionate melodies along with guitar and keyboard driven music causes an interaction between happiness and sadness, love and hate, gain and loss…heaven and hell. The meaning behind the name of the band is simple. It’s about finding your own heaven…taking hold of the moments in life that evoke happiness and living in them. We want to get to heaven when its all said and done but what’s this life worth without finding your heaven on earth? (from Matt’s website)
ANTHONY: Hi, Matt! Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. You’re in the process of putting together an acoustic solo album. So what does that mean for the future of the band?
MATT: The future of the band is actually unknown right now. I’m not sure if I will record another album as “Heaven Is Where” or not. I had put the band together after recording “Stories From Yesterday” to play live since it was a full production album. We’ve all kinda gone our separate ways at this point. We’ll see how the acoustic record goes and if I tour off of it. After that though, I’ve also started writing for another full production and it’s got some exciting, artistic, edgy tunes that I can’t wait to get recorded.
ANTHONY: How does the music on the solo album differ from the band’s music? Are there stylistic or thematic differences? Production differences?
MATT: The solo acoustic album will be more raw and of course scaled down. The style is still similar because I actually did the writing, arrangement, and co-produced the band album.
ANTHONY: What is your song-writing process like? How do you take a song from concept to completion? And how does that process differ when you’re working on music for Heaven Is Where rather than solo?
MATT: It all starts in the same place. I sit on my acoustic guitar and hash out musical ideas that are running through my head. It magically comes together to form some form of coherent arrangement somehow. I write what comes to me and then sort it out later as to if it will be full production or stay as an acoustic song. Some work well as both and some get tossed out or forgotten.
ANTHONY: You’re fundraising/crowdsourcing for the new album. What’s the goal and where can people help out? Is there anything they can do to help other than financial?
MATT: Always by word of mouth…Telling family and friends in person and online through social networks. There isn’t really a set goal. It takes a lot of money to record, distribute, market and tour off of a record so I just continue to have different campaigns for people to get involved in if they’d like. The best way to keep up is by my personal twitter at www.twitter.com/mattlande or www.mattlande.com
ANTHONY: I have to ask at least one question about your ghost-hunting activities. Tell me a bit about how you got into it and what you do. (I’ve had a few interesting experiences myself, so I am not a skeptic!)
MATT: It’s something that has interested me since I was a child. I experienced a few things then and decided to get into exploring the paranormal in depth a few years ago. Conducting an investigation basically consists of hearing the claims on a location, researching the history, going in there with equipment such as EMF detectors, digital recorders, various cameras and whatever interesting gear I can get my hands on. It’s a thrill sometimes. Ya never know what your gonna get.
ANTHONY: And my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who has not read it to convince them that they should?
MATT: I’m not a big reader but I’ll tell you that right now I’m halfway through a great novel called “DarkStar” by Carol J. Hansen. It incorporates love, magic, fantasy, mystery, suspense, life and death, good and evil. Definitely pick it up on Amazon. You’ll be happy you did.
Thanks again Anthony.
ANTHONY: You’re welcome, Matt. Let’s do this again when the solo album comes out!
You can follow Matt on Twitter as MattLande, find him on Facebook, and of course check out his own website.
You can help Matt fundraise for his solo project by going to his IndieGoGo page. Any amount will help!
And here’s “Walking With Ghosts” by Heaven Is Where: