The O.C. Supertones, along with a few other bands, really fueled me to become the huge music fan that I am today. I remember the first time I heard the Supertones, I was hanging out after Church in the youth center when I first heard "Loud and Clear". I remember looking at my buddy Trey and saying "Who in the world is this?" That week I spent $18(worth it) on that amazing album. For four years if you asked me what the best song in the world was, I would tell you "Wilderness" without hesitating. The Supertones bring back some amazing memories like Alive Fest 2003, where I saw Ethan Luck chowing down on a funnel cake but I couldn't get up the nerves to talk to him. Or when I tried to go see them play their last show in ATL with Tatum, but the girl I was dating at the time dropped the ball and drove us to the wrong venue. What made matters worse, my buddy Rob's PARENT's even went to that show. Lastly, that one time I walked in on Dave Thomas playing a"Little Man" trombone solo shirtless, with long flowing hair. He honored them well. The Supertones' album catalog is truly one of my favorite, so check out all of their albums... Alright....It brings me great pleasure to present to you my interview with the front man of the Supertones, Matt "Mojo" Morginsky...A while ago I heard that you were studying to become a pastor?Yes I am in seminary to become a pastor, the Lord is calling my family and I to be missionaries overseas.
How did you come upon your newest project Mojo and the info? I heard that you and Ethan made it together?Ethan and I did make that CD together at his house. I wrote it and played it and Ethan produced. I just decided to write and record some songs, just 'cause. Is it true that the Supertones are getting back together? If so, who will be involved and how did this come together?It is true that the Supertones are getting temporarily back together to play some shows this summer. It will be the founding four Jason, Tony, Darren and myself. Dan couldn't do it but his brother is, and we have Jesse Craig from Pax 217 on guitar. The watt it came together is that the guys nagged me until I gave in. It should be fun though.
Any plans for a new album?Yes we are about to print and post to I tunes a new record that I mad with my friends in a band called October Light, its called "everything will be made right" by Mojo & October Light. Its a pretty rockin' record and I'm proud of it. I'm also working on a solo project called "slings and arrows" its a departure from my usual style, its an album of songs based on the plays of Shakespeare, who is probably the greatest Christian writer of all time.
What normally inspires you to write a new song?Well I think that what normally inspires me is struggle and bringing truth to the struggle. That's partly why I am enjoying writing "slings and arrows" is that the characters in Shakespeare are in the most extraordinary circumstances, so their struggle is especially compelling to write about.
How do you approach a song from a musical standpoint?Well I typically need something interesting going on with either the groove, melody, or chord progression. Those are typically the things that I go for when arranging a song. There are some songs that I've done that are just really standard sounding rock songs and those are the songs I'm least satisfied with typically. I will usually rework a song with different chords, tempo, rhythmic feels until I feel good about it. Sometimes I just don't have the time to mess with it until I'm totally happy though.
You have always been known for your amazing live performances, who in the past have you looked up to/modeled yourself after in that right?I'm having trouble thinking of who we modeled our live shows after....... I think that in the So Cal scene when we were coming up if you weren't scintillating live then no one would notice you, so we just did whatever we had to to get the crowd to respond...... Now that I think about it maybe the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they were one of my favorite groups for most of my childhood, and a lot of the hardcore bands that we played shows with like Focused, and Unashamed, their music wasn't my taste but they sure did rock out.
You have always been a snazzy dresser, how many suits have you worn out?I'm not sure how many suits I've gone through, but yeah they get pretty disgusting after a tour. I'm a sweater, I sweat right through those suckers, it can't be good for the fabric.
In all of your years on the road, what was the funniest prank or story you were apart of?
I don't think it would be appropriate for me to talk about the very funniest prank, so here's a less funny prank. Kutless was with us for their first tour, we loved those guys but resented them because their first tour was riding on our tour bus and a first tour should be miserable and uncomfortable in some smelly van. We decided we had to balance things out. We tortured those boys whenever possible, we would sabotage their gear so that their guitars wouldn't tune, we would play Creed songs through the monitors (because they were basically a Creed cover band at that point). So that was fun. I'm not really much of a prankster myself, I prefer to read a good book.
What are your top five albums that have influenced you as a musician? When writing the Supertones records: Public Enemy It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Operation Ivy collected works, The Decendents All, Run DMC Tougher Than Leather, the Clash London Caling, All time: PE is still up there, Elvis Costello Armed forces, Eliot Smith XO, Everything that Marvin Gaye ever did, I'm not sure who else but I know I'm forgetting some.
Any good spiritual advice or verse that the Lord has put on your heart recently that you would be willing to share?Spiritual Advice? The answer is yes I do but I'm not sure I could do it justice in this format. Well I guess I'll phrase it like this,
Pray for people who you don't like and who have hurt you. We can really poison ourselves when we gossip about people who have wronged us, when we rehearse in our minds hurtful things that were said to us or done to us by others, and it doesn't have to be something big usually we dwell on minor slights. We can make ourselves bitter and angry by doing that. The best way I've found is Jesus' command to "pray for your enemies" few of us would think of a friend or family member whom we have a grudge against as an "enemy" but I still think it applies. When you find yourself hating someone in your heart and storing up bitterness toward them, don't just pray that they would repent, but pray that they could experience God's blessing today, pray that they would have a glimpse of His glory. Remember that any of us who have the privilege of knowing God have it as a gift we did not merit, in fact it was given to us even though we had wronged God, therefore we need to bless people who don't deserve it too.
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