INTERVIEW: Matt Stell on ‘Man Made’

Matt Stell has recently released his new single ‘Man Made’ that has experienced huge success on country radio. Here, we interview Matt Stell about the track, his success over the past year and more, ahead of his tour with Elvie Shane later this year.

Hi Matt! The last time we spoke was back in May last year, and so much has happened for you since that time – how can you configure all that in your brain?

Yeah, it’s been great, we’ve been really busy, we’ve been running up and down roads with the new single, playing a bunch of shows. The way that I just keep everything straight is I don’t look too far ahead, I just see- where I’ve got to be in the next day or two, because calendars can get a little overwhelming at times. 

You’ve been to the UK in that time and everyone talks about how much they love it – but I feel that you took it to a whole new level – apart from the beer. How was that experience for you? 

Oh it was amazing, I enjoyed my time, probably the thing that I enjoyed the most was the people. I had a great time, I made some friends and got to play country music for a brand new crowd. Not only that, but I get to come back in October to do it again – we’re really excited about that. 

Super exciting, you’re going to be touring with Elvie Shane and I feel like you’re both part of this huge movement of artists who are really shaping the genre and pushing boundaries and playing with the sound in lots of different ways. 

I hope so, my favourite country music is stuff thats distinct and different and unique – that’s what we try to do for sure. I know I can probably speak for Elvie that he has the same thing and views it the same way. He’s got some unbelievable songs, he’s a great guy and a talented dude so we’re really excited to get over together and get to play some music.

It will be absolutely awesome, we’re really looking forward to it. I can’t not talk about the success of ‘Man Made,’ it’s still going up the charts – the way country music radio works I will never understand – but it’s doing all the right things. Can you talk about hearing that track for the first time, and why it spoke to you? 

When I heard it the first time, I was blown away because it’s not something that I would typically write. Besides a couple of songs, most of my songs are on the heavier side – subject matter-wise at least – and when I heard this song and heard the melody and the lyrics, it had this positive vibe to it and I thought ‘oh man, this is a special song, and I’d love to be the guy who gets to sing it for people.’ It’s been a lot of fun releasing it out into the world – as you say, country radio is it’s own beast, so you’ve got to jump through the hoops for certain things, but at the end of the day, that typically means that people will get to hear your songs, so that’s exciting for sure. 

Obviously this was an external cut and I know you’ve had amazing success with external cuts yourself – you’ve got a cut on Cody Johnson’s record –  so, when do you make the decision to keep a track for yourself and when to give it away? How do you work that thought process through in your head? 

Well a lot of it has to do with timing, because you’re cutting sometimes and sometimes you’re not, then fit for sure, I like to write a bunch of stuff that doesn’t necessarily fit what I do but it’s fun to get out and do unique and different stuff when you can. So I think fit and timing are a lot of the reasons why those things happen, and why they’re cut by other artists.

It’s awesome to kind of have even more of your voice floating around the country ether. 

Well I moved into town to be a songwriter and my motto has always been that the song is king, whoever writes it, it doesn’t really matter as long as the best songs are getting recorded – or the song that fits the best. I’ve just got to go by that, whether I’m cutting music or sending the music off for other people. 

I know for this track, you co-produced it with Ash Bowers, can you talk about how important it is for you to have a hand in the production. I know a lot of artists are not as heavily involved in that side of things. 

Yeah for sure, it’s such a big part of the song – how it comes off and how it gets recorded. That’s something that I’ve always enjoyed being a part of and then I feel like for the most part, I have a vision or a sound in my mind that I try to get out onto the track. It’s just another opportunity to be creative, I’m leaning on the taste and the talent of a lot of studio players, I can kind of tease out the sound that I want – certain songs can sound quite a bit different in how they’re recorded. It’s another creative sort of half of it.  

You brought the track to life with that really powerful music video, what was the process to record that music video. 

That was totally the brain child of the videographer and the director of the video and the treatment that he did. I think it’s so fun to collaborate visually with people, I really rely on the expertise and creativity of so many people to help give a song that third dimension and tell a story with it. It’s always a value add and a way to engage with the song in a different way. Dustin Heaney is someone I’ve worked with a lot and I really trusted him.

Now you’ve had a few number one hits, is there an increased pressure that something has got to go number one again?

I mean that’s always the goal, but there’s a lot of mitigating factors that have nothing to do with the music itself, which is a tough thing to learn. At the end of the day, you put the music out and know that you’ll have a team to support. It’s the reality of the music. 

What’s the plan for the releases for the rest of the year – obviously you’ve dropped a string of singles, ‘Boyfriend Season’ and ‘Man Made’?

I’ll release singles and give them their moment, it’s tough to say because music gets released so differently and plans change so much. I have a lot of new music in the hopper that I can’t wait to share. The good news is that there’ll be a bunch of new music out soon.

Well we can’t wait to hear it. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat today!