What follows is a transcription of the over the phone interview I did for "Indie Wise's" January 2007 podcast. I'll try to get ahold of the audio file and post a link on this site when I can!
-Ryan

Indie Wise Music Mag. Podcast ..267
January 2007

GREG:
I am here with Ryan Matzen from one of my favorite indie bands, Fire On Your Sleeve. Thanks for
taking some time out to join us for the podcast today! How are you doing Ryan?

RYAN:
I am doing just fine. A little bit tired. I am not used to being up and alert at this time in the
morning! Thanks for having me.

GREG:
No problem, it's great to have you on the show today! You are calling in from Milwaukee is this
correct? You guys (Fire On Your Sleeve) are stationed out of Milwaukee right?

RYAN:
Yup, we are all basically from the "Brew City."

GREG:
How is the music scene in Milwaukee?

RYAN:
I think that as a whole it's on the up and up. Things seem to be going better for us here.
Hopefully people are starting to come out and listen to original music again. It's kind of hard when
your hometown is kind of blue collar. Not to mention one of the beer capitals of the world! A lot of
people here would rather spend their five bucks on a couple more beers then pay a cover charge to
see a band.

GREG:
I haven't been to Milwaukee in quite some time. The last time I was there "The Promise Ring" was
set to take over the music world.

RYAN:
Wow, that was a while ago. Yeah, I remember those days. We still had "The Globe" here. Which was a great all-ages venue. I kind of got my start playing bass there in a band called the
"Kill-A-Watts." Come to think of it, I think that's where I had first met our current drummer
Bill, who was holding down the time for a band called "Gwen."

GREG:
I don't want to get to far off the subject, but The Kill-A-Watts. I haven't heard much from them in quite a while. Are they still around? I know that they put out a bunch of records after you left.

RYAN:
In all honesty, I believe they put out all of their records after I had left! I don't think that
I'm on any of them! The last I heard, thru my brother Mechadrum (The Kill-A-Watts drummer), is
that they had started a new band called "The Monitors" with Ryan on guitar and vocals and his
wife on organ and vocals, and my brother on the drums.

GREG:
I'll have to check them out. Now lets get back to you guys! Can you tell me a bit about
"Obstructed View?"

RYAN:
You have that?

GREG:
Yeah, we've played a few of the songs off that C.D. on previous podcasts. I bunch of People have
emailed me asking where they could pick up mp3's of "My Friend" and "Jaded."

RYAN:
Really? Man, that album is old! Well, not really old, but we have totally changed our sound and
dropped two band members, and picked up two since then. Plus we put out the self titled EP.

GREG:
That brings me to my next question. Why the lineup and direction change? Sean, your original
guitar player, who originally sent me "Obstructed View" is no longer with you guys right? What
happened there?

RYAN:
Ha, that's a long story. To quickly sum things up... we were both going in different directions.
He really shines in a jam band setting, and I wanted to do things a little more bare-bones. Less
noodling and more to the point. We were bumping heads a bit and thought it best to part ways. I
think it's really worked out best for the both of us. He's found a home with "The Brian Cherry
Band." Where he is free to improvise 'till his heart's content, and I've picked up Misha on
guitar and Bill on the drums. Wow... I just had a brain freeze and can't think of our old
drummer's name... oh yeah,..Chad. Man I'm not even that old, where's my memory going! Anyway,
Chad left with Sean and now drums for Brian Cherry as well. I am very happy with our newer
members. I never thought that Misha would play with us. He's was so well known in the blues
circles. We went a while without a guitar player. I never even asked Misha 'cuz I was sure he'd
turn me down! When I did, he said that he'd give it a shot, and we haven't looked back. I can't
say enough how pleased I am to have him in the band. He and Bill are exactly what Sam and I were
looking for!

GREG:
So that's the new direction?

RYAN:
Well that, and the fact that my voice kind of gave out! I've had a lot of problems with my throat.
So I have had to change the way that I sing. I can't really even sing a lot of the older songs. We
still do play "Jaded" sometimes though... maybe I should look into playing "My Old Friend" again. I
also wrote most of "Obstructed View" while I was living in Europe off and on for a few years. I
am in a totally different frame of mind these days. That with the line up change and my vocal
chords are what dictated the new direction.

GREG:
Speaking of Europe, didn't you get a chance to play with Coldplay while living there?

RYAN:
Well, I got to jam with them a bit in Belgium. I then went with them to Amsterdam and got lost
after the show! It's a long story! I played harmonica along with guitar back then. That had to
have been like six years ago now.

GREG:
Cool non-the-less. So what's your guys plan for the future? Your last newsletter stated that you
are going to be doing a couple of talk shows, a few radio spots and going on tour soon?

RYAN:
Yeah, we have a great six song EP out now. Our new album should be out in a couple of months. As far as the talk shows go, we are going to be on WTMJ 4's "The Morning Blend" on February 22nd. I think that will be around 10AM in the morning. I think you can only get that in the Milwaukee area though... I'll try to post a link to a replay, so the out-of-towners can check it out. We will also be playing on UPN's channel 14 in Madison, Wisconsin. I don't know the date off the top of my head, but you can check out our MySpace site for details.

GREG:
What is you MySpace site?

RYAN:
It's www.myspace.com/fireonyoursleeve ...it's our main website nowadays. We will also be on WMSE 91.7 on February 21st sometime around 1PM. So check that out if your around Milwaukee. As far as the tour goes, I believe we will hit the road sometime in April. I think it's going to be a
Midwest kind of deal. Again, you can check our MySpace site for the dates.

GREG:
Great. I really dig your first album, but I have to say that your new EP really lit a fire under my butt!

RYAN:
Fire On Your Butt!

GREG:
Ha... I set you up for that one! You guys have a great sound! I am totally grooving on that swinging rhythm! I know from reading some of your press that you get pigeon holed as sounding like Tom Waits. What are your thoughts on that?

RYAN:
Well, after hearing that a few times, I picked up a couple Tom Waits albums. The funny thing is, that the first one I picked up was older Tom Waits. I couldn't figure out why people were saying what they were. I soon found out that his voice changed quite a bit later in his career. So I picked up a newer disk and I can see a little resemblance. Only because his voice is a little "growly" like mine. I don't think that I really sound exactly like him though?

GREG:
I agree, I can somewhat see what people are saying, but I don't think you really sound like Tom Waits... although you do have a kind of blues, jazz, lived a hard life kind of vocal thing going on! And your music doesn't sound like Tom Waits at all. I am a huge fan of Waits, but I have to say I think I like some of your tunes better...you know, the stranded on an island kind of thing. It would be hard for me to choose a favorite!

RYAN:
Well thanks!

GREG:
Thanks for being here with us. We wish you the best of luck with the tour and the new record!
Please send one our way when you get them pressed, and please keep us in the loop as to what you guys are up to!