Getting to Know Matthew Edwards
Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates recently released their new longplayer, The Fates, and are poised to launch the record at London’s Servant Jazz Quarters. We asked Matthew to tell us more:
Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates are a state of mind. A cult. Friends. A pop group based in Birmingham UK and San Francisco CA. I have separate bands in each with the UK one currently playing and recording.
“The Fates” is our first record. Recorded at night on borrowed studio time in Emeryville, California. Eleven formidable little songs written by me, Matthew and molested by the Unfortunates… beautifully. Produced by our friends Eric Drew Feldman (Cpt Beefheart, PJ Harvey) and Gabriel Shepard (Cake). All the songs are literal and quite true to me. For every song on the record 2 more were recorded and discarded. It grows on you, like roses.
Our launch party at Servant Jazz Quarters on 27th November will be an orgy of pop bacchanalia, supremely melancholic and by turns sexy and cynical. The most glorious night of your life? Akin to meeting the devil at the crossroads. Or, simply a smashing night out in a lovely club surrounded by delightful people with great taste listening to sad pop songs.
We spend too much time talking rather than rehearsing. Drinking tea. Worrying. Swearing.
We’re currently listening to the rain. Conversations on buses and in bars. La Dusseldorf, Black Bombers, Laura Nyro, Michael Chapman, Slapp Happy, The Front Line Box Set, The Go-Betweens, and Lana Del Rey.
It might surprise people to learn that Derrick was formerly Coolio’s drummer. Tim Roth bought our record. I lived in a shed at Ocean Beach in San Francisco for seven years as a semi-recluse. Fred Frith from Henry Cow, Eno etc plays guitar on our record. I now live the life of a suburban housewife… who sings. We are available for weddings, bah mitzvahs, wakes etc but we don’t come cheap.
In the future we’ll continue recording the follow up to The Fates. I’d like to play as much as possible in 2015. It keeps us alive.
You can catch Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates live at the following venues later this month:
22nd Nov – Birmingham – The Sun At The Station
27th Nov – London – Servant Jazz Quarters – Launch Party. Details and tickets here.
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
