WIDOWSPEAK ​Widowers' Rock and Roll Outlaw Matt Sigur lays it down.

from Feb 2015

WIDOWSPEAK

​Widowers' Rock and Roll Outlaw Matt Sigur lays it down.
by Sam Terito

 

The Widowers' new record Mint Grizz looks to be the bands'biggest yet. BRR satdown with frontman/songwriter Matt Sigur and asked him a bunch of questions about stuff. Here's what came out of it.

 

BRR:

When you started the Widowers, was it sort intended to be a solo project, or more evolving thing. We've talked about my buddy Neil and Elsah, and how it had its origins in St. Louis, and he just basically reloaded it and started here in Baton Rouge when he moved here. Is that kind of how this project for you has sorta morphed? 

Matthew Duke Sigur:

I had been writing stuff since I was 16... maybe earlier. I was in some high school bands that were influenced by everything from Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes to System Of A Down. I did the college thing, and during then I would just record relentlessly. Sometimes, I would do three or four songs a day. I met Will (Burdette) from The Tomatoes and gave him a CD... A very fucking rough CD, haha... Like stuff not in tune then he and I started collaborating and recording songs in tune. It was never supposed to be just me, but at the same time I've always been super hyper and self conscious, so it took a couple of years for me to just talk to people and ask if they were interested. Since then, the band has grown into something that's less about me, but more ABOUT these really cool people I know, It's kind of become, "Hey, can you play? Cool. If you can't, that's cool too." The main thing is I would just have experiences and needed to write something about it. Just to get it out, not release it, but just for my sake. I hoard songs. I guess. I just keep fucking writing because it keeps me sane. I literally didn't release all those albums from college because I knew this is rough. I probably should have but it's better because now I can treat them properly or say, "god this is a dumb song."

 

BRR:

There's something interesting about your stage presence. It reels you in. I remember talking to somebody who didn't know you at one of your shows, while you were playing, and they said "I like this guy." Listening to your records, that style kind of projects across all the instruments. It's interesting, but I haven't
heard something come across like that.

 

Matthew Duke Sigur:

I guess I'm a drummer and I'm not really trained in guitar. I saw guitar as math really, then got into Sonic Youth, hahaha...

 

BRR:
What's your favorite song on Mint Grizz?

 

Matthew Duke Sigur:

My favorite song is "Tanker" probably. Or "You're With Me". They're the most honest and recent things I wrote. And my buddy Jacques plays the fuck out of that guitar solo.

 

BRR:

Yeah man, that's a good one.

 

Matthew Duke Sigur:

Thanks dude.

 

BRR:

Your video for "Giant" was killer. How'd you get that idea? Who made it, and why don't other bands do more things like that?

 

Matthew Duke Sigur:

Haha that was all Chris Craine. He and I had been batting around ideas but I just didn't have the money to do what we wanted to do, which was some really creepy shit for "Tanker". So Chris and his brother went and shot this and he was like I had to do it man, and I want to use "Giant". I wasn't gonna tell him no. He's like me in that creating and art are therapy, and what he creates is top notch. Seriously... it's all him.

 

BRR:

It was good. You used it as a jump off for the single before you put out the record, and I thought it was a great idea. More bands should use other mediums, rather than just put a song on bandcamp and say "Why doesn't more people come to my shows?"

 

Matthew Duke Sigur

I can't speak for other bands but making a music video requires a lot of people. Really, anything requires a lot of people on the same page and giving a shit about something. In music and film, I think it's easy to give in to the difficulty level and it's much harder to just calm the nerves and create something. It's weird, man. Negative thoughts are so easy to think, that but it's like I said when we did that show at Spanish Moon. I'd rather play to 75 people who give a fuck than 200 people who are drunk and talking about who they fucked last night.

 

BRR:

When's the next show?

 

Matthew Duke Sigur:
February. And I'm probably gonna release a Krautrock EP in January, because fuck it.

 

BRR:

That's what I'm talking about man. I'm gonna give you a call when it's time to start that black metal doom band.

 

Widower's Mint Grizz is available on bandcamp HERE and you should visit them on Facebook when you get a chance.