28 MusicWeek 23.08.13 PROFILE MATT GOSS
Moving on to your live shows - are you going to finish your work in Las Vegas at any point or are you just going to keep going? I don’t want to stop in Vegas because I love having a regular show there - it’s part of my life. I love being a Caesars boy. I have my own bar called Gossy's Side Bar and next to that I have my own show room so its kind of like my baby. I don’t envisage leaving Caesars or Vegas anytime soon.
So you’ve got Vegas, you’ve got a series of UK shows coming up - are you going to do any live shows around Europe or the rest of the world? Can you fit them into your schedule? That’s why I’m recording this new record [Life You Imagine’s follow-up] for 2014 already. But it’s fucking beautiful, it’s ridiculous. I believe I’m going to be playing shows in Berlin and Paris. I want to get to Australia next year but we’re definitely playing a proper, full Britain and Ireland
tour next year. We’re trying to work out if I can get seven days holiday before I start the promotion but it isn’t looking likely.
Is there anything left that you feel you want to achieve music-wise? There’s way, way more I want to achieve musically. I want to concentrate on creating a catalogue. I have people that believe in my songwriting and my vocal ability and I feel blessed to have a genuine outlet now where I can connect with more people. I honestly cannot even explain to you the team that I have - it’s a big team but my god, there’s a genuine meeting of the minds every single day. I got a text from my GM at Virgin [Ashley Burns] today saying just ‘I’m so excited’. It’s such a nice thing. The music industry is such a tumultuous place to be. Making music and releasing music should be a wonderful experience and I tell you this team is really making it a wonderful experience for me.
THE MAN WHO ALWAYS BELIEVED: ‘MATT WILL GAIN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS UK POP ROYALTY’
Ron Fair, Chief Creative Officer / EVP Virgin (US) / producer
“The real twist in the plot of making Life You Imagine with Matt came when Steve Barnett brought me on at Virgin/new Capitol Music Group earlier this year; before that we had no idea how the project would shake out. In
one of my early meetings with Steve, I mentioned that I had produced an album with Matt Goss and played him the track Mustang. Halfway through the first chorus he stopped the music, looked at me straight in the eye and said ‘DO IT!’ “The story further unfolded with my old friend David
Joseph at Universal UK - who thought it would be a great fit for Decca in England - and the support was overwhelming. To be supported by the incredible team there - along with a chance to see Matt Goss gain his rightful place among British pop royalty – is nothing short of a dream come true.
CAA: ‘THIS ARTIST STILL HAS HUGE APPEAL IN THE UK’
Rob Light Head of Music, CAA
“Matt can, and should, be a worldwide artist, but we are going to first focus on the UK, given his history and huge appeal in that market. As with anything great, yet unique, it’s about the timing. If things line up right, and the album finds a window to really be heard, it can be really big. “His commitment to his craft is beyond reproach. He
is truly timeless. He has a swagger and a cool factor that works anywhere and with every generation. “When you see him live, his energy and passion are
contagious. He draws you in and you feel like you are a part of his music.”
“The recording sessions for the album were phenomenal.
Our MVP is one of the greatest talents in music today, the arranger and woodwind genius Dan Higgins. He wrote all the brass arrangements, and two of the string arrangements. I arranged the strings on ten of the songs, along with the overall song arrangements. Matt and I did all the vocal arrangements. The orchestra recordings had several of Los Angeles’ greatest session musicians from the movie scoring community. Our concertmaster was the esteemed Bruce Dukov. The orchestra recording was engineered by Frank Wolf. These characters populate all the major movie scores recorded today. The sessions took place at LA’s famous Record Plant studios. Peter Mokran mixed the album at Conway Studios – and Bernie Grundman did the final mastering. “Matt is simultaneously a perfectionist and a free-
flowing spirit when he is recording his vocals. He can be stubborn, and at the same time, change direction on a whim. He knows how he wants his voice to sound and feel, but is willing to roll with the punches I throw in order to make it the ‘best it can be’. He’s an experienced record- maker in his own right, a real ‘studio animal’ and fierce
PROPER ARTIST: ‘MATT’S AS GOOD AS ANY OTHER PERFORMER I KNOW’
Peter Rudge, CEO, Proper Artist Management
“I always believe the harder you work the luckier you get, and that’s Matt Goss. He’s learnt his trade, toughed it out in the hardest arena of all - Las Vegas - you don’t survive in a place like that unless you can deliver. And he’s done it. He’s coming back on his terms and he’s made a wonderful record too. “Some people you just know are a star, they walk in
there’s a charisma around them, an aura. I've been around a lot of great performers but he's as good as any of them. I can’t think of a better A-team in the business right now than all gathered around Matt and everyone believes in him. Everyone loves him.”
force in the control room. Once we cracked the formula, it became the basis of a musical partnership and personal friendship that will last forever. We frequently reversed roles as pitcher and catcher. His music has to be his own, it has to be honest, real, and truthful. We got to that point and parked there. We both had our share of hot tempers, of walk-outs, shout-downs, flare-ups. They all passed within a few minutes and we got back on the horse. Matt is a gentleman. He has my one-hundred per cent total respect. “I’ve been a major-label record man for 35 years.
What I can tell you is that I have done everything I could personally muster from all my experience, love of music, passion, fortitude, chutzpah and balls to give Matt and Life You Imagine the chance it deserves. “When Matt sold out the Royal Albert Hall with no
single, no radio, no video, no record company support, I saw it for myself: this incredible hero of pop – once again giving his fans his own brand of lazer-beam British soul. I knocked on more than a few doors in England with the project. Let’s just say, without jinxing it, nothing in the world would be sweeter than Life You Imagine and Matt Goss truly coming home to England.”
VECTOR MANAGEMENT: ‘THERE TRULY IS NO LIMIT FOR THIS RELEASE’
Jack Rovner, Co-President, Vector Management
“Two years ago I was invited to a Matt Goss recording session by Ron Fair and immediately blown away by Matt’s talent as a singer and performer. “Matt really does pour his heart and soul into
everything, both on and off the stage, and witnessing how special that connection is with his fans is what surprised me… in the best way. “The support we’ve received from Virgin in the US,
Decca in the UK as well as Caesars Palace, CAA, Peter Rudge and Meredith Plant really tells how much faith everyone has in Matt, and with everyone’s combined effort there truly is no limit for this release.”
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