Having written with with some of the biggest names on the country music scene in his native country - Lee Kernaghan, Steve Forde and Jasmine Rae, to name but three, renowned singer-songwriter, Matt Scullion, is certainly no slouch when it comes to devising a good hook or penning a catchy lyric.
Some of the Sydney-born star's previous credits include Planet Country and Dirt (Lee Kernaghan), Hurricane and Drinking Things Over (Steve Forde), Hunky Country Boys (Jasmine Rae), Just the Excuse (Shea Fisher) and Darwin Love (Sara Storer).
Matt Scullion: Defining His Sound
"I’m very into lyrics," states the much in-demand tunesmith, who also had a cameo performing one of his songs in the Paul Hogan flick, Charlie & Boots, from his home near Sydney International Airport. "I’m very into trying to say it a little differently, but everything’s been written about, just about. It’s hard to come up with something new, although you can usually say it differently, if you see what I mean.
"It’s pretty hard to come up with something that’s absolutely totally original. You can every now and then because something could happen to you that’s very different, that’s never happened to anybody else before, but I guess the way to describe my music would be ‘modern country’, but then I also write traditional country too.
"When I write traditional country, the music is probably traditional, but the lyrics would be modern. I guess the thing with music is that you can stick to a formula that works, and it can still work, as long as it’s got a nice fresh lyrical approach to it. Then it doesn’t matter so much about the music, but if you can make the music different too, then it’s definitely a bonus."
Matt Scullion: Early Days
"I fell into it really when I was about 16 years old," recalls the affable musician, who turned professional in his early 20s, looking back on how he first got started playing and writing, after having moved from the big city to the seaside at the age of 12.
"I come from a small country town called Milton, which is on the New South Wales South Coast about three hours south of Sydney. There were some arty-type people that lived next door and the wife was an artist and the husband was a sax player from England.
"It was rumoured that he’d played with The Rolling Stones in the ‘60s... Anyway his whole family were musical and I was influenced by the son, who played bass and was a few years older than me, and it pretty much started from there. I fell in love with it and then bought my first guitar."
Matt Scullion: From Rock to Country
Suite101: And was country music always your main focus?
"No, it wasn’t. I started out being into hard rock. Bands like Van Halen and Iron Maiden and stuff like that. I was definitely into the hardcore, but I’ve always been in love with lyrics. I don’t know if there was really a point when I went to country...
"I always liked country, but I guess when I started writing songs, which was pretty much straight away -and when I started to get okay at it - I identified with country more than I did rock. But the rock side of me is still definitely there.
"A lot of the songs I wrote with Lee and a lot of the songs I write with a lot of the newer artists over here tend to have a real rock edge to them; a rock ‘n’ roll riff guitar edge and a country lyric. That’s sort of my rock ‘n’ roll side coming out in my music."
"I find country lyrics a real challenge because country fans are not really into abstract things usually. They’re not into arthouse movies or abstract ways of living or stuff like that, so your lyrics have to be blue collar, straight down-the-line and very understandable.
"They have to tell a story and that’s a challenge for me to say that and do it originally every time. With pop music you can tend to be a little bit more abstract in a way, but it’s still just as hard."
Matt Scullion: Country Influences
Suite101: Which country artists have had the biggest influence on you?
"One of my early country music influences was definitely John Hiatt, but I also love people like Kenny Rogers. Years ago, I think even if your parents weren’t into country music, they still had The Best of Kenny Rogers. He seemed to pop up in everybody’s record collection when I was growing up...
"I love Jason Aldean, absolutely love his music – I think he’s great. Apart from the country acts, I’m very much into Ryan Adams. There’s so many different people; it’s hard to name them off the top of my head! After I’ve been speaking to you, I’ll probably think of a stack!"
Matt Scullion: Restless Spirit
Matt Scullion has never been one to stay still for too long and over the years - along with regular trips to the US and holidays to far-flung destinations such as Europe and India - has lived in various towns and cities all over Australia, including one in the country's vast Nothern Territory.
Suite101: Have the different places where you've lived influenced your songwriting?
"Oh for sure, absolutely... I live in Sydney at the moment and that influences my writing and I haven’t lived here for a long time. I’ve been in Sydney now, on and off, for the last two and a half years. In that two and a half years, I’ve been to Nashville three times, but I swore that I’d never live in Sydney again.
"I lived in Sydney before and didn’t like it, but at the moment, for some reason, I’m really into it. So although I’m not specifically writing songs about Sydney, I’m really influenced by the city and everything that happens here and I actually write a lot with country artists here at my house."
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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