The Songwriter Speaks: Máty
Interview by Bennett Kelly
Samantha Máty Rodriguez is a Philadelphia-based alt rocker by way of New Brunswick and Jersey City’s St. Peter’s University. She releases music out of Mt. Moon Recording in Philadelphia, a studio run by her best friends, who all moved there together from Central Jersey. Here Máty talks of her songwriting process, performing vulnerable songs on stage, and her latest tracks, with “Ghost” out last month ahead of a fall EP release.
What was the first song you ever wrote?
Oh, my god. I’ve been writing songs since I was like ten, and it was always me just belting in the shower. And my sister telling me to shut up because they were just endless words on the spot.
But the first official song I ever wrote, I was 17 or 16, and it was called “Next to You.” And it was so just melancholy and yearning, like every single song I write now almost ten years later [laughs]. And I played it for my dad and he was like, This is great! You should keep doing this.
Is that published anywhere?
No, it's not out anywhere. It's not very good [laughs].
From then to now, do you have a process or is it more spontaneous?
When I feel stunted lyrically, I’ll start playing guitar and just playing with chords. And then it'll come that way. Most of the time, a lot of these songs would come out in like ten minutes, fifteen minutes.
Lately, I've been taking my time and coming back to them. I think they're more mature in that way, and creatively they're more structured, and stickier. I'm putting down what feels best instead of just writing everything on the spot, which is cool. Different, for me.
The songs lately have a heavier guitar tone. Are you starting with electric or acoustic more often?
The ones that are on Spotify, I started with electric. But they have these really, more raw tones, that are more crunchy if anything. I like to think about it the way that fuckin’ Coldplay writes their stuff [laughs]. Really kind of reverbed, and soft and slower. That's how a lot of these songs come about. Besides the song “Guess I'll Die.” That one I did write on acoustic, just playing with some open tunings.
But I’ll listen back to the demos that I do in my bedroom and be like, this could be bigger, and more fun. And so I'll put that in the studio with Justin [Calaycay], my best friend, who owns Mt. Moon Recording here in Philly, and we work on doing that, while keeping the integrity of how sad and brooding most of it is [laughs].
I first knew of Mt. Moon when they were up in Highland Park.
Yes dude! Yeah.
Do you go back with them that far?
Yes, so, all these songs that are out right now, I actually recorded at the Highland Park location. They’re all like two or three years old, it's just a matter of, you know, putting them out, and that's a whole process. But we recorded them there, and this latest EP that I've been working on, we finished up and polished in Philly.
But yeah Justin owns Mt. Moon and is the head engineer, and I was kind of session musician-ing there. And we collectively were just like, Let’s move to Philly. So he and I and our best friend Ali [Allocco], who manages Mt. Moon, all moved to Philly together, which is cool.
You have a very consistent visual aesthetic on those tracks: black and white, you're in motion, the film strips on the side. What drives your artistic inspiration for the album art?
There was a lot of back and forth within myself about the art for all the singles we did. My friend Anthony, his photography is just unreal. He is so good at bringing out just an absolute rawness to his photography. He was so good at seeing that it's moody and it's fun. I told him the concept of these songs and the EP, and he said, I think we should shoot black and white. And I also did.
And we knew it was important to keep a theme going. Especially with the music video for my last single “Ghost,” we were like, black and white's the way to go. And it's been great. I love the black and white. I think it's timeless, you know?
Throughout your songs, your lyrics are emotionally rich and introspective. How does that play out for you on stage when you're performing?
When I was first starting to play these songs live, there were times when I would choke up. Rehearsals, it's all gravy, but I guess the vulnerability would sometimes get to me. Because the songs are fully a part of myself and something I don't really, you know, I just don't really talk about ever. That's kind of my way of doing it. And doing it live, it was a little hard emotionally to do.
But now, it's so cool to see people are singing back the words sometimes and it's resonating with them. And then suddenly it's just not even about me anymore, it's about people relating. And it becomes this thing that comes out from me and is now an energy in the room. And it's like damn, dude, this is what it's about. It’s sick [laughs].
A question about “Virgo in September.” What makes September a bad month to be a Virgo? And who is the Virgo? Is it yourself?
No, I am not the Virgo. Virgo is a person that I was seeing many, many years ago. But it was a recurring theme. I always end up dating a Virgo that was born in September, and they'd always just like, fuck me over. And I was like, dude, these Virgos… Which is funny because I'm actually dating a Virgo that was born in September again, officially.
Oh no.
Yeah, I did it again. I did it again. You know, hoping the third time’s the charm and things go well [laughs]. But, yeah, I met this person in September and they inspired that one. It was very interesting. Interesting times. Virgos in September, they're a dangerous kryptonite of mine, I don't know [laughs].
Noted. “Ghost” is a little heavier. It's even got some screamo backing vocals in the chorus. Where does this one fit in your catalog? Is that a direction you’re going, a little extra heaviness, or more as something in your toolkit?
It's definitely one of the heaviest ones I’ve put out. But screaming's been a part of me for a long time now. I was really inspired by women that scream, like Scowl, and Jinjer, and Spiritbox. They’re just such incredible vocalists, and I was like, dude, girls can do it too. So I started incorporating it in my music. There was a little screaming in “Virgo in September,” but it's so tucked in at the end, you gotta really listen for it. It's definitely a sound that is resonating with me a lot.
I don't want to think about it as it’s like a direction I'm going. I like playing with different genres. I feel like every song I have out right now is pretty different. It's fun to play with music, and put out what feels right, and somehow make everything cohesive.
I think that's what we're trying to accomplish with this next project, having them all sound a little different, but somehow tying into each other, even if genre-wise they're hard to stick in a box.
I was wondering about the former scene up in New Brunswick. Were you playing locally then, any basements or other venues?
I was not. You know, born and raised in New Brunswick, I actually never broke into the basement scene. I was just way too intimidated. It was, it's very band-dominated, and I wasn't in a band or anything like that.
I wish I had started going forward with music earlier because I think it would have been an insanely awesome experience. I didn't record my first song until I was 19 or 20, something like that. And I didn't play my first show until my literal 21st birthday, at the Litterbox in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But yeah, never did the basement scene. I did some venues up there, like Pino’s, but never the basements. I wish I did.
What do you have up next?
We have a festival here in Philly that's going to be really incredible, called the Iris Music Festival [July 19 at Wonderland Fishtown]. It's going to be really fun, hanging out with some really cool femme artists, which is so, so, so incredible and such an honor to do. Those tickets are live on my website..
We have one more song in the studio right now. And then we put a bow on this and start recording the next project, which is already written. But we're really pushing singles right now, pushing “Ghost” and then we have one more, which is exciting. “Ghost” is doing so well right now that we want to keep pushing.
Check out Máty’s music via her website or Spotify. You can also follow her on Instagram.
