Matt Sharp Breaks His Silence
By Chris Bruce
on his new album, his past, his friendships and more
Some may say it's easy to break away as a solo artist when you've got a built-in fan base. But Matt Sharp might beg to differ there. Sharp, who is well-known as both the former bass player for Weezer and frontman of The Rentals respectfully, is now ready to bare his soul as a solo artist with the release of his self-titled solo debut.
The album, released in May, comes on the heels of a like-minded EP, 2003’s Puckett's Versus The Country Boy which Sharp recorded after putting The Rentals on the backburner and enclosing himself in the one gas station town of Leipers Fork, Tennessee. The acoustic, heartfelt sound made it quite a departure from anything he has done before, which made the album’s completion quite an achievement despite the loose objectives behind the it’s creation.
"There weren't very many definitive goals with this record. At the beginning, I was just trying to find my voice," says Sharp. "We weren't considering, going into these recordings, that we were making a proper record. We were just trying to document ideas as they came, and then take a step back from it later and see what was there."
The 1999 Rentals album Seven More Minutes was a very upbeat new wave rock affair; much more busy than their 1995 debut The Return Of The Rentals, which is a considerable feat. After touring for the record, Sharp had to come to a decision of whether or not to construct another Rentals album.
"I was sort of faced with the question of whether I'm going to go make another record with The Rentals and carry on knowing what I know how to do, or just make a different choice and try to figure out how to approach a kind of music that I wasn't that experienced with recording," says Sharp.
"I was listening to a lot of music at the time was more of an individual sitting down and telling you a story with not a lot of production and those kinds of things. I didn't really know how to make that kind of a record, so I figured I should just cut myself off for a while and see if I could."
Somber and crafted songs are what listeners can expect to find here, with little to no trace of the Rentals synth-soaked pop/rock sound. "Goodbye West Coast", for instance, tells not of sweaters or quirky love stories, but rather a melodic tale of visiting an old friend's grave, while "Let Me Pass" is an insecure scribe of different obstacles that get in the way of life.
"The biggest differences are sonic," says Sharp. "The intent with the last Rentals record was to be as explosive and as celebratory as possible. It was constantly vying for your attention. But this record is quite a large step away from what I've done in the past. I don't think the music itself is that avant-garde, but considering where I've come from its not exactly a smooth transition from one record to the next."
The release of this album does not find Sharp as nervous as some might expect. Despite a relaxed creative pace and the album's numerous delays, Sharp has already taken many of the songs out on more than half a dozen tours of the U.S. in the past couple of years.
"It's a strange thing to have gone out and performed quite a few of these songs for people before the record has come out," says Sharp. "And it's been a very humbling experience in knowing that the people come to see me every night are open to hearing all these songs that they've never heard before."
Weezer fans were bewildered to hear about Sharp's reconciliation with the band's singer and creative power, Rivers Cuomo. Since Sharp and the band parted ways in 1998, there had been little to no communication between the once great friends, save a 2001 lawsuit in which Sharp sued the band for royalties and creative credit concerning songs he was said to be involved in writing for Weezer's first two albums, 1994's Weezer and 1996's Pinkerton. But then, at one of Sharp's shows in February, Rivers himself made a surprise appearance and played four songs with Sharp, making the end of hostilities official. Fans have been dying to know what the catalyst of this reunion was.
"A bunch of people have asked me that since we did that show, and I think I've answered it wrong each time I've given an answer," says Sharp. "But I realized recently that there was a person that I ran into at an art opening downtown in L.A., an old friend of mine from a long time ago and we hadn't seen each other in a years and years. I hadn't been the greatest person to him, and if anybody in the world had reason to be angry with me it was him. But he was really happy to see me and incredibly open and we've since become quite good friends again," says Sharp.
"That changed my mind about being close-minded with those kinds of relationships and I think that it was him being open to me that let me be sort of open to Rivers when he came and said we needed to talk, asking if there was some way we could be involved with each others' lives musically and just in general again."
Cuomo and Sharp played two of Sharp's songs followed by two Weezer standards for the roomful of fans, and Sharp remarks that despite all the delight and positivity, it was still a bit nerve-wracking.
"I was playing guitar, so it was a little bit different. When we did ‘The Sweater Song' I just kinda played the bass line from what I could remember," says Sharp. "I was really thrilled that I remembered where the solo modulates. The fact I guessed right made me get some stupid sense of pride that I could remember this really easy song."
Cuomo sang the high choruses and played backup to Sharp for the first two songs, before it switched around to the format that the fans knew and loved. For "Undone – The Sweater Song" and "Say It Ain't So", Sharp dusted off his trusty falsetto.
"I hadn't done that in a really long time and it was really an incredible thing," says Sharp. "Somewhere in there is that desire to want to be like Smokey Robinson, a part of me that never ceases to enjoy singing in sort of a Southern falsetto voice. It reminds me of an old Southern woman. It's always a joy."
Rumours about Sharp and Weezer have flown high and wide since his departure. Many fans were convinced that when Weezer's second bassist Mikey Welsh went missing just before they were ready to film a new video for the song "Island In The Sun," Sharp was called to replace him in the video, and perhaps even in the band.
Sharp, somewhat hesitant to answer, first described the complexities behind the entire situation. "There is no way ever to describe, unless you are in the group, how Weezer actually manages to function at all… how anything starts, or how anything works," says Sharp.
"And it's impossible to explain to anybody how the guys and I split. Something that is always told is that I quit the group or that I left the group or whatever, which couldn't be further from the truth. But to explain the real answer to it is almost impossible."
But there is some truth to the rumor, as unlikely as some thought it was. "I did get a call from them around the time of that video, but I couldn't explain to you that it meant one thing or the other. It did mean something I'm guessing, but since it never happened, it never happened." says Sharp.
Sharp's lawsuit against the band in 2001 was a change of pace from the silence that befell his separation from the band three years prior. The lawsuit is now no more, and it is still unclear as to what exactly took place, but it's not hard to draw a conclusion.
"Rivers and I, we've resumed our friendship, so make of that what you will," says Sharp. "The suit itself is something that was, for me, the absolute last resort. It was something that I was basically forced into doing, and it was the last thing I wanted to do because it was very important for me not to soil those memories that I have of those times. So it was really something that I really didn't want to be involved with but was an absolute necessity when the time came."
Some may note that the album credits on Weezer's recently released deluxe edition of their debut were not altered in any way; songs were still for the most part credited to Cuomo.
Sharp has now found a niche for himself, musically, and while fans may not know what to expect of him next, he can assure them that they can at least expect something. After promising Matt Sharp for a few years now, he got them used to waiting.
"What's nice is that I don't feel like that is going to be the case for the future for me," says Sharp. "Lots of really nice things seem to be going on, the plates been more full and I've been much more open to collaborating with people and just being out there."
Sharp recently finished recording keyboard parts for the upcoming album by Canadian rockers Tegan and Sara. The experience, he says, is beaten only by his excitement over the project. "Before [If It Was You, the pair's second record] I was listening to so many lone writers with downtrodden words and acoustic guitars and really just somber songs," says Sharp.
"Their record really knocked me out of that. I loved being on tour with them last year, then to be asked to be in any way involved with them coming into the new record was like being 18 years old and being asked to play on the new Smiths record or something."
So while fans may not find the same kind of Matt Sharp that they fell in love with over the years, the intentions behind his new album as well as the finished product is an interesting view of what Sharp is capable of.
"It was the most honest approach I could take," says Sharp. "I guess that in the end there was probably other choices I could have made that would have been more financially viable or commercially successful, but they just didn't feel like the most honest choices. I just didn't find a lot of honor in continuing on just because it would be the easiest path."
His album, he says, is probably the most comfortable when it's in the background, something you can have on and not necessarily have to focus on what you're listening to. Sharp may not be trying to grab people's attention much anymore, but that has made him that much more intriguing.