THIS WORLD WON’T LAST FOREVER, BUT TONIGHT WE CAN PRETEND
by Julianne Cassidy
Photo Credit: Reid Rolls
Tonight, Pop-Rock singer-songwriter with a twang of Folk, Matt Hires, is supporting Gold-certified five-piecer Parachute, at the Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. Two days into their two-month US tour, and two days after Hires sophomore album hit iTunes, Hires just wants you to “come to the show, and have a good time.” What more could an artist ask for?
With a set-list sticky-sweet of new songs, Hires is fresh on the tattered heels of his August 13th release, This World Won’t Last Forever But Tonight We Can Pretend. Teaming up with Eric Rosse (Sara Bareilles, Tori Amos), producer of his 2009 debut, Take Us to The Start, Hires found this recording a bit easier, than their first time around. “Now knowing Eric for five years, we’ve come to find each other on the same page,” says Hires. “In the end, we got the right songs for the record, and I’m really happy with how it came out.”
The only studio stumble was the cliché, yet genuinely dreaded, writer’s block. But, at an impasse, Hires with guitar-in-hand, sat down and asked himself, “what was it that made you want to start writing in the first place? And, why do you do what you do?” From that, “When I Was Young,” was penned. It’s deeply autobiographical, and “the most honest song,” that Hires has ever written.
Questioning if he’d ever make his childhood dream of becoming a musician a professional career, Hires held only one other job before being the first artist signed to Atlantic Records/F-Stop Music. “For seven and a half years, I worked at a cabinet shop,” says Hires. “And, when I was signed, I was able to stop working there.”
Cabinets may have had his doldrums days, but music reverberated his invigoratingly melodic nights. Hires stood as the frontman of Tampa-based, Brer, and released debut, Microwavable, with Will Denton (drummer for Steven Curtis Chapman.) “I played mostly Florida gigs, for about two or three years,” then “randomly, Atlantic heard one of my solo songs on MySpace in 2007.”
From MySpace, to featured tracks on hit television shows: Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, two full-records, and three EPs in between, Hires is not only becoming a seasoned artist, but a respectable live performer. “When I’d done my first EP, Live at Hotel Café, I’d never been on a national tour,” says Hires. “I’d just done weekends in Florida.” In harmonious days since, Hires has been an invited guest of the Mayercraft Carrier, appeared at SXSW, and toured with prominent acts: Dave Matthews, OAR, and Marc Broussard. “My first real tour was in 2008, with Eric Hutchinson,” says Hires. “And it definitely was impressionable, because I’d never done it before.”
The open road has richly taught Hires that, “there’s something special about playing every night, as it helps you hone your skill, in a way that you can’t get from just playing on the weekend.” And playing with Matchbox Twenty earlier this year, was even more of a prolific eye-opener. “They’ve been around forever, but are still killing it, every single show,” says Hires. “I definitely learned something from seeing that.”
In retrospect, Hires is proud of his evolution of musicianship. “I rarely listen to my own music, but I was recently listening to “You In The End” a co-write I did with Sara Bareilles, on the first record,” says Hires. “I really dug how we wrote it together, recorded, and just our voices on it.” With This World Won’t Last Forever But Tonight We Can Pretend , it is evident that Hires is further aesthetically maturing. His intricate arrangements are grandiose, and his storytelling-songwriting raw, with unabashed gritty integrity.
First single, “Restless Heart,” was fondly borrowed from Hires February EP, Forever. It’s irresistibly top-charted on Hot AC radio network, and featured as a coveted iTunes exclusive “Single of The Week.” Surprisingly composed by an artist who is mainly musically influenced by “old Folk greats, but in the end, writes Pop love songs,” it is an unexpected “anti-love song,” says Hires. “It was the first song I wrote with my friend, Alex Dezen (The Damnwells), and is collaboration of personal experiences that we’ve both had,” says Hires. “We used them to make a story, about a heartbreaker, a girl who goes from one guy to the next, and that pain (as a result.)” And, in the impeccable words of Billboard, “’Restless Heart’ hits that ‘Ho Hey’ sweet spot.”
“You say love is all that you need. Well, you’re not gonna get it from me.” Philadelphians, let’s bring the Brotherly Love to Matt Hires… and let’s pretend tonight.
