At the tail end of their summer tour, Matt Singer and Great Elk stopped by Club Passim’s Campfire festival a little over a month ago and wowed us with their hilarious lyrics, earnest guitar playing and gypsy-infused folk rock.  Their intimate set onstage at Club Passim seemed a fitting closer to their summer, as Paul and Pat played songs of their own and Matt joined later to share selections from his EP, The Drought, and earlier work off of his critically acclaimed full-length release, All These Heathens.After touring the country and playing to rowdy house parties and subdued listening rooms alike, it ’s no surprise that Matt Singer, Paul Basile and Patrick Hay are all happy to be back in a New York state of mind after their adventures on the road: Though enthusiastic, constantly cracking jokes and effortlessly charming throughout our conversation, it was clear to us that these guys were tired and were looking forward to getting back to home base in order to start working on new projects.

As Great Elk continues to write and record material for their forthcoming release, Matt Singer will be hosting a live recording session at the Galuminum Foil Studio in Brooklyn tonight, October 17, at 7:30pm. All who’ll be in the general vicinity of the land of cheesecake and general hipsterdom are welcome to attend, and we encourage that you do: Matt’s donating 10% of the proceeds of the new album are going to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in memory of Singer’s good friend, Nikki Garcia, who recently passed away after suffering from the disease.  The opportunity to catch a passionate artist on the rise at work in the studio is not a common one, so if you’re in Brooklyn tonight, take some time to stop by Galuminum Foil in Williamsburg to hear some great music and contribute to a great cause.

-Hilary Hughes

OPENING ACT: MATT SINGER, GREAT ELK AND THE TEAPARTY TEN

What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

PH: Grapenuts.

PB: Homemade granola.

M: Cheerios, plain. No milk.

Who would you rather punch in the face: Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles, or we have Mouth from The Goonies.

PB: I’d rather punch Sean Astin, is that an option for me?

You want to punch Mikey?

PB: I want to punch Mikey. (Laughs)

PH: I don’t know either of those characters so…

M: Probably Long Duk Dong.

If you were a kitchen appliance, what kind of kitchen appliance would you be?

M: I think I’d be a spatula.  Actually, I want to be an egg slicer.

PB: I think I would want to be an electric can opener.  They’re so… so overlooked now. I feel like I could do a lot to bring the electric can opener back.

PH: (Sighs) I don’t know.  I’d be, like, an old-style mixer.

You go to bed, you wake up the next morning, look in the mirror, go to brush your teeth, and you realize that you have morphed into one of Jim Henson’s Muppets overnight. Which Muppet are you?

PB: Grover.  I love Grover.  That’s easy.

M: What’s the Grover of Fraggle?  Gobo! I think that’s his name, right?

PH: I want to be Guy Smiley.

You go out, you get high on life, aka you get plastered in some capacity – pick your poison, I don’t care – you black out and you wake up the next morning, at some point, and you realize you were tattooed in the hours in which you cannot remember. What did you get tattooed?

PH: I know the only possible answer for this question for me is the 1835 Texas Flag.  I have a friend who lives in Texas.  He’s an interesting guy, and one night he was in a similar state as that you described.  He did that and has since convinced two other people to do that.

M: I’m kind of thinking, like my own face-

On your back? Like Steve-O?

M: Yeah, probably. Or maybe on my ass. We got mooned in Toronto, by some school kids. I feel like having your face on your ass would like … You’d really be like the best mooner ever. I really do. I mean, I’m not that kind of guy, but …

M: Like have it sticking a tongue at you, making a face at you.

PB: This would be a pain to execute, but I’d like a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs on my butt.  Definitely my butt.  Or maybe a dumpling, which is also hard to execute.  I just love food

Would you rather be a rodeo clown, or a sumo wrestler?

PB: I don’t like clowns. I’ve got to be a wrestler.

PH: Yeah, I figure I’d be a sumo wrester, just because it’s safer that way.

M: I’d be a rodeo clown.  I could never gain enough weight to be a sumo wrestler.

If you were a particular style of facial hair – note that you don’t have to be rocking said style of facial hair – what would you be?

PB: A pencil thin mustache.

PH: Give me a break! (Laughs)

M: I would go with a super, like Rip van Winkle thing if I could grow it.

PB: That’s such a good answer.

M: I win.

PH: I don’t have a name for it, but I have a very hairy friend and when he grows a full beard, it’s like all the way up under his eyes like it’s holding him.  And he has a big nasty beard too, his whole cheeks are covered, and his eyebrows and sideburns get connected. And it’s just like this big hair … thing.

If you were a particular kind of cheese, what kind of cheese would you be?

PH: Aged Gouda.

PB: Gorgonzola?

M: Buffalo mozzarella.

Okay, everyone has got a Risky Business-style, dance-around-in-your-underpants song. Think Tom Cruise. “Old Time Rock and Roll”, whatever. What is that song for you?

M: I’d probably go “Chonkyfire” by Outkast.

PH: I’m going to go for Wolf Parade, “Shine the Light”. That’s just like my…

PB: “I Turn My Camera On” that Spoon song. It’s a very good song to listen to very loud and jump around to.

What’s your favorite word?

M: I love words… Whatever I say is not going to be satisfying to me.  Actually, I’m going to go with “biscuit.”

PB: I really like the word “facetious.” It’s the only word in the whole language – the whole English language to use all five vowels, and in alphabetical order.

PH: I’m so hungry. I’m going to say food.

THE MAIN EVENT: THE MATT SINGER & GREAT ELK TPB INTERVIEW

Let’s start with the basics. Can we get names where you guys are from for the record?

Paul: I’m Paul Basile. I live in Brooklyn.

Patrick: I’m Patrick Hay. I’m from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and I live in Brooklyn.

Matt: What was the question? Matt Singer -

- And where you’re from.

M: Montclair, New Jersey, originally. This is originally, right? Not where we live?

Right. Well, you all live in Brooklyn now, so that’s good.

PB: I’m originally from Long Island. I don’t like to admit that usually.

Well, you haven’t said anything with the Lon-Gisland accent -

PB: Yeah, thank God.

– so that’s a plus. How did you guys all come to make music together? How did today’s show come to be?

PB: Patrick and I met outside a club in New York three years ago through mutual friends. We had another band together for a while. We both have similar musical tastes.

PH: I went to school with her, our friend in common, at the New England Conservatory here in Boston and she kinda knew Paul from this singer/songwriter scene.   It was kind of her idea that we might have some musical chemistry.

PB: She said, “Paul, Patrick, you both wear plaid and you both like Wilco! You should make music”. (laughs)

And then how do you, Matt, factor into this equation?

M: Well, I met Paul through the open mike scene in Brooklyn. We actually originally met temping together at the same company, and just randomly – like, we never worked together, but we saw each other and he knew that I had been songwriting at time. I think Paul started songwriting a little later.  We became friends, and we live like, you know, 8 blocks away from each other and I met Patrick through him too and Patrick’s played in my band a bunch too, so…

In terms of creative influences, who would you credit for kind of helping to cultivate your creativity and sound?

PB: Umm, that’s always a hard question for me – you know -

Well, your band essentially formed out of a love of Wilco, right?

PB: Yeah, and I mean, you know, a lot of country rock and like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and earlier stuff. Certainly a lot of older American folk music, but then I listen to a lot of indie rock and stuff now. I think that influences what I’m doing too.

What about you, Matt and Pat?

M: Want me to go next?

PH: Go ahead.

M: I guess I would say Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Jonathan Richmond.  And Kimya Dawson, definitely.

PH: As a guitar player, I’m influenced by Clarence White of The Birds a lot. He’s kind of a bridge between straight up country playing and more-produced-sounding rock stuff.  I guess probably hear some Django Reinhardt when I play with Matt, that kind of gypsy-jazz kind of stuff. So, that’s it. I’m into the same stuff as Paul too; we’re birds of a feather.

In terms of your own music and stuff that you feel particularly connected to, are there songs that stick out? Songs that you really enjoy sharing with people live, or ones that you’re really happy about, that you’re currently working on now that you consider to be favorites?

M: Yeah, I think that “The Poet” is probably one that is closest to my heart.. It’s the closest thing to a title track with the last record I put out.  That’s a big one. I think “Stacy J” too, the one that I played earlier today, but for different reasons.  I had so much fun writing “Stacy J”, and I’d pick “The Poet” because it captures a very real emotional moment and the words grew from a powerful experience.  The experience also happened to be a sucky one, but I can reflect on the sucky experience and say, “Hey, I got a song out of it”. (Laughs)

PB: For me, it’s usually the newest Great Elk songs that are the ones that I’m most excited about, feel like I’m connected to so much more intimately.  So, the first few songs we played today are too new just as songs. I just always feel closer to the newest songs and feel like I’m presenting the most emotional or connecting performance with the audience…. But also, on this tour, I’ve really enjoyed playing some older songs that we don’t usually play much anymore, like “Falls”.

PH: Yeah, I guess I would probably differ from Paul a little bit. He’s really like the writer of the group, and my role is more like arranging the stuff and then filling it out. So, for me, I feel more comfortable with the stuff we’ve been playing longer and I’ve had more time to stretch out in a lot of different ways. Like “Falls”, and stuff like “Walk Down Your Own [Road]”. That’s one of my favorite songs and I can definitely slide on that, and I always feel like I am connecting with people when I play slide. I get to try out a bunch of different texturings and stuff.

Can you guys to talk me through the creative processes that are behind both the songs of Matt Singer and the songs of Great Elk?

PB: The three of us together haven’t collaborated that much, except Matt plays on the side and things like that, and I’ve done that for Matt a few times here and there -

M: I won’t allow him to sing.

Sorry?

M: I won’t allow him to sing with me. (Laughs)

PB: (Laughs) I guess we have written stuff together.  When it comes to songwriting for me, it can be really different from one song to the next,. Sometimes I’ll have a progression, and sometimes Pat will have a progression; I’ll have a melody, and we’ll build a song on that. Other times, I have a story I want to tell or a few couplets that I think need to be part of the song. (Laughs)  Typically, I’ll come to Patrick with an element of a song. We sit together and build it into a something for a whole band.

M: For my songs, I think typically I’ll be walking down the street, I’ll be in the process of doing something, eating a meal, and hear something that someone says and it will stand out to me. And I’ll just kind of hold on to a phrase and sort of just toy with it.  Melodies kind of just grow in my brain. I’ll typically will be walking down the street, writing a song. Most of my creative process doesn’t happen like in a studio.

How has touring affected your writing? And how has touring kind of affected the way you play, especially this time around?

M: I mean I would say it’s affected the way I play; I don’t know about the writing.  In terms of my performance, I just feel like a lot more comfortable on stage.  It becomes like a regular thing to just walk on stage, it feels like walking into a kitchen, or going to the bathroom. That’s a metaphor.

P: And correct, this is what your performance sounds like.  (Laughs)

How has your experience on tour been this time around?  You mentioned that you were in New York, and then Philly – you’re based in New York anyways so – now you’re in Boston, you’re going home. How have the past couple of weeks gone for you? Do you have any crazy stories for us from the tour bus?

PB: Crazy stories….

We love crazy stories.

PB: The tour itself has been really great. I think it’s exceeded my expectations, in terms of how much fun the shows have been and how we’ve actually made some money. It’s been a great combination of like house concerts and little things like this, and playing with other bands that are just local to an area and just walking into a venue in the (inaudible) playing a show.

M: I think the experience has been like totally varied.  The first show that we played outside of New York was in Philadelphia.  All the guys living there were moving out, and it was a house show. It was like kind of this raucous affair with people face painting. It was just like, kind of nuts. And then like other days, we’re at like a very clean-cut lounge. Like in Toronto, we played in a really beautiful restaurant, with great food, and like … that kind of thing.

No face painting in this other restaurant?

M: No face paint.  A funny experience was a little detour where we spent three days in Rhinebeck, New York where we stayed at the Omega Institute, which is this wellness compound, and we basically like tented out and we were very granola-y and ate a lot of tofu and it was…

Very crunchy?

M: Very crunchy.

PH: Pro is getting a lot of varied experiences like he was talking about. For me, I guess what I think about more is just the act of me like getting up every day and driving. I’m the driver and these guys are navigating where – Matt’s got his iPhone and Paul’s got his Blackberry, and they’ve had kind of an ongoing duel for who can get directions faster and like … who’s 3G comes up quicker, you know. (Laughs)

PH: You have to factor in some you know some speeding tickets, hospital visits, whatever. You’re going out for two weeks, it’s just part of the overhead, you know, of the running of the machine that is our tour.

PB: It’s very dramatic-

Wait, was there a hospital situation?

PH: I think Paul put a Band-Aid on his thumb at one point…

PB: It was really sore.

Occupational hazard, I guess?

PB: The worst is when you’re playing and you get the cuticle – you know what I mean- if you’re playing steel string and it’s just like – during the down stroke – it’s like … It’s gross.  We’ve had some tummy aches, some McDonalds induced tummy aches.

When it comes to stuff you’re working on now, how is it a departure from material you’ve previously released?

PB: This is certainly going to be the first legitimate recording process that I’ve been a part of. That CD that I have here, I mean, it’s just me … in Alaska, playing songs. This is a full band. But I wouldn’t say it’s a departure, it’s just us trying to capture what we’ve been doing for the last couple years. This is really just going to be the point to that it’s evolved right now.

M: I’ve made two records, and with this next one I’m thinking about it in a context that is different from the record.  Like, I want to do stuff that incorporates visual art, maybe film, puppetry… you know, storytelling, like all sorts of stuff.  I’d love to send it the other direction.

PH: I guess this thing that we’re doing now – doing this EP, and doing a tour, and really hunkering down and going for it – is kind of a departure for me because I’ve always been kind of a guitarist for hire, like a jack-of-all-trades kind of thing. It’s what I’ve been trying to do, play with a lot people, and just try to do a lot of stuff. And I guess over the past year, I’ve made the conscious decision to switch into just being in one band and really going for quality in one thing, rather than quantity. So, that’s kind of a new thing for me.  So, this is a new thing, just really getting into the down and dirty of just one, one set of songs, one… and making it the best we can and just focusing on that.

With your connection to Boston, how was it coming up as a musician and studying music here? I feel like it’s a really unique hotbed of creativity, with New England Conservatory and Berklee and a bunch of other places.

PH: Yeah, definitely.  Well, I kind of just went to music school by default. I didn’t really think about it, I just did it. I was good at music when I was in high school and I just decided to try out for some music schools and I got in to the best one I could have possibly gotten into and I just went for it.  I was just kind of here and studying a lot of different things, and trying a lot of different things, and kind of blissfully unaware that when I got out, the world might be difficult or that I might have to decide what I’m going to do.  I just tried a lot of things and met a lot of people.  It was really valuable time to have like four years where you don’t have to worry about making the rent so much or worry about your career direction. So, that’s what Boston was for me, a time to explore. And then I got to New York, and, you know, had to make some choices about what I was going to do with myself and … yeah.

In terms of Boston as a destination on tour as compared to other cities, how has that been for you guys? How is Boston different as a place to play? And how is your audience different, in comparison with that in other cities?

M: There’s some solid active listening happening in Boston. But also, the crowd is a lot more relaxed, or, you know, a lot less rowdy than I feel like it could potentially be. It’s nice; it’s kind of strange to be like every single eye on you, not background music or anybody.

PB: We’re used to mosh pits and it’s really distracting.  (Laughs)

M: I played the Campfire like, probably four times, and I played as like the Monday night feature, or Tuesday night feature at their open mic, so…

Awesome, and how is that? Can you kind of talk about your experience performing in Boston, and how that’s been for you? Maybe in comparison with New York?

M: Sure!  I’ve played here and Lizard Lounge and All Asia, and all those places were super fun. I wouldn’t know how to say anything that would distinguish between the New York crowd and the Boston crowd, except the people in New York just know me better. But I would say that all three places that I’ve played have been awesome, just awesome venues. I like all three of them.  I loved the Lizard Lounge because it was super dark and pretty looking. There was a sort of warm amber glow in the room, so it was just a very nice place to sit and the sound was really good.

PH: I would also say about Boston, it’s different from New York.  I feel like there is a really more of a scene for acoustic music here, and folk music here. When I was in school, it seemed like the bluegrass and folk scenes were really strong, and also, they kind of cross-pollinated with Klezmer scene and – there’s a Middle Eastern music scene – there was a house band at the Middle East when I was in college.  And it seems like a lot people from these different scenes knew each other and the one thing that a lot of these musics had in common was just being purely acoustic. So when I come to Boston, I feel like there’s a potential for that, that the audience might have been exposed to the more acoustic, or folk, kind of scene, whereas in New York it’s maybe a little more varied.

Are there any artists, or acts, or bands from Boston that you’re currently following?

PB: I like Buffalo Tom, and The Lemonheads, too.

PH: Oh! Apollo Sunshine, too.

M: My first campfire festival, I shared the stage, in the round, with Chris O’Brien. I’m pretty he’s from Boston; I’m pretty sure he’s centered here.  He’s a really nice guy, and he makes great songs. And then – I don’t know- she’s all over the place, I’m not sure Boston is her home – but I also shared a stage once with Natalia Zuckerman, who’s an awesome guitarist and beautiful voice, pretty songstress.

Great! What are you guys currently listening to? Like, if we were to pick up your iPod and take it and listen to your “Recently Added” playlist, what would we find?

All: Frightened Rabbit.

PB: Yeah, it’s been playing in the car for the last week. We listen to Frightened Rabbit a lot.

PH: Tallest Man on Earth?

PB: Tallest Man on Earth. Bov Iver. I let Bon Iver into my life in the last year or so.

PH: Handsome Furs is a band I’m really into – that’s the guy, Dan Boeckner, of Wolf Parade – that’s just his own project. It’s like – it’s kind of like technorock. What else? What else have I been listening to?

PB: The Walkmen.

So, I guess, what’s next? You’re about to head home to New York.  What’s up next on the horizon for Matt Singer and Great Elk?

M: Detox.

Really?

M: Detox from fast food. Detox from booze.  Detox from cigarettes… Lie down.

PB: Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of laying around.

M: Rest.

M: My next recording is going to be a live album. I’m going to record it in a beautiful studio in Brooklyn. I’m going to pack an audience in there and have live experience on October 17^th.

Now, Paul and Patrick, you’ve mentioned that you have a CD that you’re finishing up recording. What can we expect from Great Elk?

PB: With the tour and the preparation for it, it’s been like four or five weeks since we’ve done any recording.  So, yeah that’ll be it. More recording. Rehearsing. More recording. That’s our next couple months.