Welcome to In Conversation, a special interview column on the site where we sit down with artists and dive deep into everything music. This week, Dean spoke with Kublai Khan member Matt Honeycutt to discuss the band’s upcoming EP, touring and Soft White Underbelly.
Dean: For the new EP, what were the biggest inspirations for each track?
Matt: For this EP, each song has been a sort of reflection of myself and also a reflection of the world we’re living in right now. This has come from our surroundings and also an extensive amount of isolation where you really are forced to look at yourself. I think there’s a wide range of topic for such a short EP but it’s what’s on our minds right now.
Dean: If I’m not mistaken, I noticed you guys utilized some segments from Soft White Underbelly’s YouTube videos (or at the very least on Dynasty, with the Charlie Jones video). With the plentiful amount of videos on that channel, why choose the quotes from the videos chosen?
Matt: The channel is extremely moving and there are an incredible amount of quotes in every single video. For “Swan Song“, it’s about our nationwide epidemic of the sex trade industry that works up and down the highways we travel every tour. The song ends with a message of hope that no matter how difficult things may seem. You have to find strength and you have to move forward. I found that quote extremely inspiring and wanted to shine light to it with the song. The EP is filled with moving lines like this to emphasise the topic of what is being talked about in the songs.
Dean: When beginning to write new tracks, do you start with an idea in mind for what you want a track to sound like and be about lyrically?
Matt: There’s usually a handful of topics in mind when it comes time to apply them to a song. It comes very organically and there’s not really a structure to how it comes out. Just what we’re feeling at that time and how we can service the song and meaning behind it in the best way possible.
Dean: Which song was the most difficult to track, and why?
Matt: We have been working together for a long time now and I don’t think there were any songs that were harder than the others here. With this being a shorter release and only a handful of songs, it all blended together and came out very organically.
Dean: I know you guys are soon to embark on a tour with Knocked Loose, and then one with Terror. What goes into picking the setlist for each tour?
Matt: It’s going to be a little mix of everything for both tours. We have plenty of room to fill our setlist with older songs and ones from Lowest Form of Animal. For these tours we definitely want to play those new songs. The EP is coming out right at the beginning of the Knocked Loose tour so you’ll just have to see what we throw in there.
Many thanks to Matt for sitting down for a chat with us, you can find a review of Kublai Khan’s EP Lowest Form of Animal here.