When band members can sing, play instruments (and play them well, at that) and have a riotous sense of humor, it doesn’t go unnoticed. Matt Dowling (bass, keys) of DC-based band Deleted Scenes is one of those triple threats. Not to mention he also started his own company aimed at helping others. Helping people. Plenty of decent people don’t volunteer ever, and this guy is dressing the wounds of the bleeding whilst struggling to make a name for himself music-wise.
Deleted Scenes’ Sophomore LP Young People’s Church of the Air, released last fall includes intricate, circuitous songs such as the melancholy “Nassau” and eerily haunting “A Bunch of People Who Love You Like Crazy.” We caught up with Dowling to find out what the DC songster thinks of Texas, and about the hypothetical outcome of a Deleted Scenes vs Deleted Scenes flag football game.
On your Sophomore album, Young People’s Church of the Air, which song was the most rewarding to record?
I think the start-to-finish process within the studio for the recording of “English as a Second Language” was pretty amazing to be a part of. That song was the least developed going into the studio and the initial takes of it were pretty abysmal. We had to try a number of different experiments, such as recording the vocals to tape and messing around with tape speeds, in order to get it right. To see how bad the initial takes were and then see how good (at least we think) the final product was, it made that song particularly rewarding to record.
What terrifies you most about Texas?
If one state could secede from the Union right now and self-sustain is would have to be Texas. In some sense, that is the most terrifying about Texas. Texas could secede and start a war against the rest of the US and probably fare pretty well. Also, the whole Waco – David Koresh thing was pretty freaky…..but also kinda awesome. (more…)
