Although he has experienced a high level of respect and recognition as a recording artist, it is as a much in-demand songwriter for some of Australia's best-known country acts that Matt Scullion, who grew up in the small town of Milton, New South Wales, is perhaps best known.
Matt Scullion: Hit Songwriter
"I have been an artist for many years here in Australia," explains the man himself in his friendly Aussie tones, "and I’ve had some success as a singer, but recently, probably in the last couple of years, I’ve really focused my energies more on songwriting and that’s been going fantastically well for me.
"I’ve been getting lots of co-writes with people that I want to write with, which has been fantastic. I've been working with people like Lee Kernaghan, Luke Austin, Sara Storer, Markus Meier, McAllister Kemp, Jasmine Rae… Just a few people that are doing quite well at the moment here in Australia."
Matt Scullion: Lee Kernaghan's Newest Collaborator
"I wrote seven songs on Lee’s last album," continues the three-time Golden Guitar nominee, discussing his association with the 2008 Australian of the Year, "which was great because it’s the first time I’d worked with him and Garth Porter. It was great to be able to get into that circle of writers because they pretty much hold it close.
"If something works, they tend to stick with what they do, which is totally understandable. If it’s not broken, why fix it? So I was very honoured to be asked into that circle and work with Lee. It went really well and recently I’ve been working with Lee and Garth on Lee’s new album, which he’s started to write tracks for."
Suite101: What's it like collaborating with Lee?
"Fantastic. He’s a great bloke and he’s got some great ideas. I’ve been going up to Queensland a fair bit and working in his house. He’s got a little studio downstairs and I go up there and hang with him and his wife and kids.
"I stay in the guest room and usually spend two or three days up there at a time. We just go hard on working on ideas that Lee’s got and I do a lot of the musical work as well, the arrangements and the guitar parts, and then I also work on the lyrics with him.
"It’s fantastic. He’s a great bloke and he’s successful for a reason because he knows what he wants and he goes hard at it."
Matt Scullion: A Collection of Modern Country Classics
As well as co-writing Planet Country, Dirt and the Dierks Bentley duet, Scars (all of which were monster hits for the ever-reliable Kernaghan), the talented Sydney-based musician has had a total of eight number ones on the CMC video chart, including the three mentioned above.
Others include: Hunky Country Boys by Jasmine Rae, Drinking Things Over and Hurricane by long-time buddy, Steve Forde, Shea Fisher's Just the Excuse, Darwin Love by Sara Storer and Anthony Snape's Daylight.
Suite101: Was it conscious decision on your part to focus more on writing for other people?
"It’s always been part of what I do. I’ve always been an artist because I do it full-time here in Australia for a living. I go out on the road every weekend and play pubs and clubs and sing a variety of my own songs, and other people’s songs, depending on the venue.
"I’ve always been a songwriter pitching songs to other artists. I’ve been going to Nashville since 1998; going over there and just learning my trade a lot better – just the dos and don’ts and the pros and cons of being a songwriter. But I’ve always wanted to be a full-time songwriter."
"I see myself as the kind of artist who is a writer and a singer. I love all the aspects of the music business and I’d also love to get into producing one day. I will do another album too, but at this stage, I’m quite happy just doing the writing."
Matt Scullion: Put it Down to Experience
During his 20-plus year career, Matt Scullion has recorded two well-received albums, with the second, Put it Down to Experience, making the bigger impression and yielding a number of radio-friendly singles.
"I released that in 2007 and was living in Tamworth at the time," he recalls. "It was a self-funded album and all the songs were written by myself, or co-written by myself and other writers. I brought the album out and put out the first single, Hard-Earned Money, which went really well.
"From that single being put out, I created a bit of interest and was signed to a record deal with a company called Destra Entertainment here in Australia and I spent a couple of years with them. During the course of those two years, I released three other singles.
"The second one was Giddy Up and we did a film clip for that, which went really well. The third was Feels like Sunday, which is the first track on the album, and the fourth single we didn’t do a video clip for. We just did a radio release for that and that was Luckiest Man Alive.
"Then my contract was up for renewal and I decided not to renew it. I took a publishing deal with a friend of mine by the name of Steve Forde. Steve now lives in Nashville and I’m signed to his company. I spend a lot of time over there writing and I’m just about to head back over there in April..."
Matt Scullion: Proudest Achievements and Future Goals
Suite101: Finally, what would you say have been you proudest achievements in your career to date and what ambitions do you still hope to fulfill?
"I would have to say my proudest moment would be probably a couple of years back when I had my song in a Paul Hogan movie called Charlie & Boots. The song was Giddy Up and it got a lot of airplay in it and I got asked to be in the movie.
"So I put together a band and we played in the barroom scene and the video director made a special video clip for me that he put to the song. I’d already had my run of luck with Giddy Up and then a year and a half down the track, it gets a second breath of air and off it goes... again!
"I’ve had so many proud moments and I guess my short-term goal is to be able to make a half-decent living out of being a full-time writer and I guess my long-term goal is to make some good money out of it!"
Adrian Peel - Adrian is an English freelance writer and journalist currently living in Mexico. Over the past eight years, he has had articles, features ...
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