The Rentals
Interview with Matt Sharp
Words: Shawn Kyle
Photo: Wendy Lynch

Appearing:
September 2, 2007
Freebird Live, Jacksonville

September 4, 2007
House of Blues, Orlando

September 5, 2007
Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale

September 6, 2007
Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg

September 7, 2007
The Beta Bar, Tallahassee

As a founding member and songwriter in Weezer and then forming The Rentals, the 1990s found Matt Sharp spending half of the decade in constant motion and sudden explosion turning quirky garage rock into multi platinum worldwide success and notoriety.  After several years of self-imposed exile, Matt Sharp was either retiring from music, opening a tobacco shop in Spain, rejoining Weezer, or continuing on as a folk musician, depending on who you got your gossip from.  Now in 2007, to great surprise and excitement, a new EP from The Rentals is being released and a world tour is already booked.  As I pick up the phone, I picture Matt Sharp with the short disheveled blonde hair and horn rimmed Buddy Holly prescription glasses.  His speaking voice is both nervous and excited.

REAX:  The new EP has a warmer and more organic feel in comparison with the past Rentals recordings.  What caused this development?
Matt Sharp:  Well it's been a long evolution between the two.  It's kind of an odd thing having that much space between the recordings.  It's coming from a very different place than the last Rentals record came from. The last one was an epic whirlwind sort of experience.   We were moving from studio to studio all over the planet, being rather hedonistic and excessive about how you can go about the making of a record. This is very different than what the new EP is like.

REAX:  When the first Rentals record “Return of the Rentals” was released, it was so startlingly different from any other music available at the time.  It influenced tons of bands overnight to run out and buy a Moog Analog Synthesizer.  What influenced you to get that unique sound for your band?
MS:  I think it's just an organic thing for us to arrive at because of the first album was just made up of the people that were involved.  The first album was made in the midst of finishing the first Weezer record and touring with a band called That Dog.  Rachel was in that band is the bassist in the Rentals and her sister Petra Hayden is the violinist and singer. The Hayden sisters and how they produce harmonies had a lot to do with where we came from.  Pat (Weezer) played drums and I played bass.  It has quite a similarity in how we played when we made the Weezer records, those things and sitting around and playing with analog synthesizers. We got a little crazy, a little punch drunk and we had a good time.

REAX:  There has been eight years in between the last record from The Rentals and this new release. In that time you have been touring solo as Matt Sharp, just your voice and a guitar. What made you decide to take that time and reinvent yourself as an acoustic singer songwriter?
MS:  Part of it was juggling two groups at the same time, doing a full time schedule with Weezer, and then recording and touring with The Rentals. They were really back-to-back, the lines between the two groups were very blurred at the time when something started and something ended. I was going at that pace for four years where everything was nonstop.  It didn’t seem like a long time when you're running that race constantly... but I just hit a wall.  After the dramatic experience of making the last Rentals record, I came out of it needing to take a long drive through the countryside and start over.   I needed to reassess where I was at and how I wanted to approach music again. That was really just a nice way to pull the plug on everything, cut ties with everyone I knew, get away for a while, write music, and figure out what I wanted to make when it was just me.

REAX:  At what point did it feel right for you put The Rentals back together?
MS:  What everyone seems to ask is why it took so long between our last record and this EP.  I knew if we were ever going to attempt what we are doing now I didn't want to approach it the same way the first two records were approached. The first two records were either done in total chaos or done with the good fortune to have some really nice friends around that happened to be around on those days.  There's a little process that we ended up getting ourselves into where you just record what you need to record or go where you feel like it should go and just figure the rest out later.  Figuring the rest out later was always the art that was not an enjoyable process for me. It was important to me that if we made a new Rentals album then it would have to be more of a traditional group.  The people that are going to be involved are going to have the group be the central part of their lives. They feel that strong connection that "...ok I am rehearsing this now, then I am going to record it, and then I'm going to have to perform...” They have that real sense that they are connected to the songs in a deeper way than just doing it casually.

REAX:  I have one last question for you, as someone that has written so many identifiable and successful songs, where do you get your inspiration?
MS:  Oh... lord that's a more difficult question than ... I don't know if I have a quick answer... I think essentially my thought of it... is the best songs that I have been able to contribute to are like composites of different things that all make up a overall feeling… not necessarily so autobiographical that they are word for word, but have a general sense that they convey a feeling. The things that seem to work best for us are those songs that come out of multiple experiences, that have little bits and pieces from different times in your life.