Matthew Houck is something of an indie-folk phenom. In fact, you can cut the indie-prefix and just enjoy him as a folkie of the highest caliber, enchantingly quiet and deeply felt songs alone and backed with his current band. He's played everywhere you've ever been and been reviewed favorably everywhere you could possibly read about it. Chief sat down with Houck and co. recently to talk about the move from Athens to Brooklyn, upcoming tours, and whether or not the band has a "problem" with the homeless.

Chief Magazine: I’ll let you say who you are, first and last name, and what Phosphoresent is.

Matthew: Um, is this gonna be transcribed or is this actually gonna play somewhere?

Transcribed.

Okay, Mathew Houck, I sing and play guitar.

Should we get everyone or should it just be you?

Just me.

So, Mathew Ault.

Houck.

Houck.  So, where, how, and with whom did this project start?

Um, 2003, was the first… I guess we got our first record release in 2003.  It’s just me.  Back then it was a bunch of people.  Anybody.  Kinda just me and friends.

So, you wrote all the songs by yourself and then taught people and then they played shows with you?

Correct.

Were you in any bands prior?  Did this evolve from something or was it just something that you had worked on alone?

I had, I had, yeah, just alone.  Yeah, it didn’t evolve from nothing. [Laughs]

Well, what about your band history?  Had you done anything before this?

Um, no.

No.  Phosphorecent is the only musical project so far?

Well, I put out a solo record as myself in like 2000, no, 1999, no 2000. But I was a teenager and, um, it wasn’t really released so I don’t really count it.

Listenting to you on your myspace, your sound is kind of folky, kind of mellow, acoustic guitar driven.  Where does this come from, the influence?

I like records that are quieter when I listen to records.  So the records are generally – at least this last record, this last record was a specific idea that I wanted to make for the whole record.  Not all our records are like that, but this last one was.

Okay, like we talked about earlier, you’re going on a big tour.  All through the U.S. and Europe.  So is this Phosphorecent’s biggest outing, so far?

Um, no.  In terms of time, the length of time?

Time, where you’re going....

No, no, we’ve been around the country a couple times.  The U.S. tour is about the same.  It’s our first really big European tour; we’ve been to Europe 3 or 4 times, maybe 5, but I think on a smaller scale than now.

Are you the headlining act this whole tour?

No, we’re the headlining act in the states, but in Europe I think we’re co-headlining with a couple different bands: Jana Hunter, Black Mountain, and someone else.  That might be it.

As far as shows go, what’s the craziest, wildest show story you have?

[Asks bandmates] Whats the craziest show story we have?

Ben McConnel: Rock island?

No, that story’s too long

Scott Stapleton: What about the band fiasco?

Which one?

[Unintelligible]

We have a keyboard player at the moment that is sort of legendary for causing a major trouble.  We had lots of homeless fights nightly on the last tour.

That’s kind of intense.  Alright, so homeless fights nightly…

Homeless?  No no no.  You said homeless fights?

I thought you said that.

No, our keyboard player is “famous for.”  Please don’t say we have homeless fights.

Alright, so no homeless fights, sorry about that.

Our keyboard player is really wild.

Will he be here tonight?

Yes,

Oh man, I’m excited, I might just say something so we have a wild and crazy story tonight!  So how many records do you have out?  How many have you put out since 2003?

Four

And the newest one is…?

Dead Oceans.

I’ve noticed you’ve gotten a lot of reviews from quite a few legitimate publications.  Are they positive?

Yeah, they’re real positive.  I don’t know any bands that get better reviews than us, honestly.

Wow, that’s good.  What publication have you been in that you’re kinda surprised that you got into, or does nothing come as a shock?

Scott, Ben, Jeff: USA today!  The New York Times!  Men’s Health!

None of it comes as a shock; I think we should have been reviewed in any of those.

Brooklyn has been kind of ground zero for almost everything musical and cultural for the past couple years.  What do you think of the music scene?  Since you’ve been here since 2000, at the least?

No, I’ve only been here for 2 years.

Only 2 years?  So where did Phosphorescent start?

Athens, Georgia.

Since you’ve been here what do you think of the Brooklyn scene compared to Athens?

Oh, it’s great.  Brooklyn’s great.

Do you feel like Phosphorecent is riding a wave of Brooklyn music and culture or are you making your own way?

No, not at all.  I don’t think we have really anything to do with what’s going on in Brooklyn.  I just met these guys here.  I don’t actually know a lot of the Brooklyn bands.  I don’t know that we have all that much to do with it, honestly.

Are there any Brooklyn-based bands – or not – that you want to give a little recognition to?

Barghest; Scott, the keyboard player, his band is Virgin Forest.  Used to be Women, Grand Mal, Emergency Party.

After this, what is next for Phosphorescent?  After this big tour, you got a new record?

Yea, I get back from the Europe tour in June.  I’m definitely going to record another record.    I started a little bit of a record probably these past couple of weeks while I was here, but I was only here for 3 weeks, so I’ll just finish when I get back.

The line up... is it going to always stay ever evolving or are the some plans for a permanent line-up?

It’s definitely going to always change.  There’s always room.







Interviewer: Dylan Houle

Images courtesy of: Daniel Arnold