Interview with Matt Cusson

JazzandSoul : First of all tell us … who is Matt Cusson and does he spend his days ?

Matt Cusson : Matt Cusson is pretty much, just a dude, haha. However, music is my life, my air, my food, my soul, my brain, and my heart. I hear music constantly, even as I write this I have it ricocheting through my skull. It's been an unbelievably beautiful distraction in my life. I spend my days usually dealing somehow with the fact the music has consumed me in every way. Most of my time is spent touring the world, or if I'm home, writing and recording. But don't get me wrong, when there's an opportunity to play some basketball, I jump at it, and dribble down the court with beats and melodies in my head. It's hard for me to relax, to sleep, to "party". I'm a very shy person, until you put a piano or guitar in front of me.

JazzandSoul : How come that an extremely talented musician as yourself, decides to bring ‘vocal orientated’ music. Not the style for immediate stardom if you ask me.

Matt Cusson : The last thing i wanted to do was make music that is already out there, aka the fad's or industry standard "hits". After playing my music for a lot of different audiences, I realized that there is a need for "musical music", a need for a passionate voice, deeper chord structures and harmonies. I could have easily put out an R&B album, or a jazz album, but justin timberlake and michael buble are already there. Here's an album that literally started in my heart, and came out my fingers and vocal chords. I had a lot to say musically and lyrically, I didnt want to dumb it down for anyone, including industry folk, or labels. I wanted people to see Matt Cusson, not the record label's version of Matt Cusson. And at this point, I have too many friends and fans to move away from what I do.

JazzandSoul : As an independent artist, which are the most frequent problems and difficulties you bump into most ?

Matt Cusson : Well the obvious reason is money. Not having the money to market and promote the way a label can, or having all the talk and whisper and buzz factors of being with a label. Also a lot of radio stations and music companies tend to lean towards artists on major labels, and if you dont have one, they dont take you seriously or want to deal with you. They make it very hard to keep your musical integrity, but one of my goals is to always keep that.

JazzandSoul : How are things going with the album … you have any indication on that one ?

Matt Cusson : So far so great. A whole lot of illegal downloads, but there's not much an artist can do to prevent that. But even more than the sales of the album, are the reviews, and the way people have been responding to it. It gives me a sense of awe, but the end result is me just wanting to put out a 2nd album that is superior to the first.


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