Matt Farren Interview

Conducted by Bethany M

Hi! I am Matt Farren.I'm from a small town in Northern California called Rohnert Park and have loved art all my life, but especially movies! I got my degree in Screenwriting and was a VIP Tour Guide at Universal Studios for 3 years. But I've been writing music since I was 10 and through my filmmaking realized that it was a passion I needed to pursue. Now I do it every day :)

Who or what inspired you to start pursuing a career in the industry?

It was a really roundabout way of doing it. I went to Loyola Marymount for screenwriting. My whole life I have worked on film, movies, and acting specifically. That was the first thing that I knew I wanted to do. I found myself writing music all the time. When I was young, I found a piano at my house and I really loved writing. The person who made me realize I didn't have to choose was Childish Gambino. He started off as a screenwriter working on the show 30 Rock. We all know his music and have seen him writing and directing TV shows. At an early age, to see that was possible, it felt like something I could very comfortably pursue.

What has been your favorite memory?

Something that I'll always remember was on my birthday in 2023, I did a concert for my first album and during one of the songs (which had only been released the day before) people were singing louder than my in-ears. That hit me hard (partially because it was in a small room), but now I'm just doing what I can to chase down feeling that way again.

What is/has been your favorite part about working in the industry?

Definitely the community of it. Again, I am still working independently, but I am working with a lot of cool people making music and music videos. It is so much fun. I get to pull my favorite people together to make something we are all really excited about. In any art, I love getting to work with people you love. With music specifically, I really like that you can work with a community, but have something to show by the end of the day. When you work on film it can take a while. The quickest you might have something in 48 hours, but with music you can discover something in a moment. In 3 minutes you could have created something you are so excited about. That is just so cool.

Which artists have you worked with?

The first professional experience I had was with Anthony Meyer. I love this guy. I was a VIP tour guide at Universal Studios. This was way before I started doing this professionally. He was on the tour and I was leading him around. We followed each other on Instagram. It was at least half a year later, I posted about the first songs I was releasing. He listened to them and commented "These sound great. If you want me to mix any of them for you for free, let me know." That's how I found out he did music. We didn't talk about it, we just were friends. I got to fly out to his studio in Northern California and just seeing plaques and records with people he worked with on the walls was so eye opening.

What is your artistic process while making music?

It continues to change, but when it comes to the beginning of the song, usually it's a lyric. I usually sing the lyrics as they come. If I don't hear the musicality to them initially, they usually end up in a screenplay instead. If I think of something that rhythmically sonically feels like something that should be sung, I build a song around it. There are a couple of exceptions like the song "Clyde and Bonnie." The guitar part first then crafted the lyrics and music around that. The song I put out yesterday is "Now She's Married." That was the biggest exception. I sat down with a guitar the night I found out the first person I loved got married. I didn't even know she was dating someone. When I found that out, I sat down and wanted to write a song about how I was feeling. I was writing the guitar at the same time I was writing the lyrics and music. Knowing my process, I don't think I should have been able to create something. Feeling that very specific emotion brought something out of me.

Have you faced any challenges in the industry and if so, how did you overcome them?

This also ties back to my favorite thing about it: the community element. I love working with others and pulling other people into the project I'm doing. I don't feel satisfied when I have written a good song, produced the track, and have something that sounds good. That's not enough for me. I want someone else to bring something to it, whether it's a baseline, a verse, or anything. At the end of the day, if an artist creates something on their own someone else could do the same thing. There are 8 billion people, statistically it's hard to come up with something one of a kind. The more you combine with other people and mix and match, that's even more exceptional and unique. It's also more fun! The biggest obstacle would be when I am excited about working with someone or a good opportunity and they disappear. When the ghosting happens or they take so long and never get to it, those are the times I question if I even want to do it. At a certain point you have to realize it's a reflection of them and not a reflection of you. When you work on this specifically a lot of focus is on the individual, so it is really easy to get caught up in your own experience and things that you're doing you forget the joy in it is that you get to do it with and for other people. When that's forgotten that's when it becomes a hard thing to work on, when you or your community forget it.

If you had one piece of advice for your younger self or other aspiring workers, what would it be?

I would tell them to start working now and to finish the piece and share it as quickly as you can. I made a future length movie when I graduated from college. The biggest thing I learned from it is when I finished it and showed it to people, it was the first time I didnt think about other things to do with it. I was able to let it go. I was able to work on it and let it go. It will enable you to move on to the next best thing. An artist will never run out of ideas, if you're concerned about that you should not do it or you're overthinking it. I don't think anyone can stop creating if they are inclined to create.

The other side of that is why you should work quickly is that you will never find an artist at the beginning of their journey. You can discover them before they've done something. You're discovering them, because of what they've done. Van Gough had terrible art that I have never gotten to see. There is going to be a point where he puts something out that we recognize as a classic and say "wow that's amazing!" From this point on we were locked in. Maybe he started making terrible things and we stopped carrying. Now we're going into the modern music comparison when people develop their craft, make something incredible, you listen to the next few projects of theirs then you realize it's not for me. There is that one that will bring you an audience who wants to hear what you do next. If you don't put things out, nobody will ever discover you.

The other piece of that is something I learned by reading the Creative Act by Rick Rubin. He was saying that an artist's work is equivalent to a fisherman. A fisherman can never fish in the same place twice. Even if they go back to the same plot of land the water has moved and changed and so has the fisherman. When you're working on art if you don't do it quickly and release things you're never going to want to, because when you approach the work the art has changed and your mind cares about different things. You have to keep going so your fans discover you and you can sleep at night.