Feature
Matti Roots: Neccessity is the mother of invention
“I play the piano, clarinet and sax and I play those well, and then I can play the guitar and the drums on a more basic level but I never perform them. On my first track from my album I am playing bass, sax, playing keys and I am singing”
There is something interesting about a creative person who wishes to stay behind the scenes, only for that person to end up in the forefront of that particular scene - due to some form of hidden, or indeed, very apparent duress. Matti Roots is just such an artist and parallels with stars like Neyo or indeed Peven Everett are hard to resist. Matti Roots is an absolutely brilliant and talented artist who has penned some huge tracks for US and UK artists alike and he seamlessly seems to be juggling his behind the scenes role with his burgeoning solo career perfectly.
He is indeed the musicians’ musician being a multi-instrumentalist “I play the piano, clarinet and sax and I play those well and then I can play the guitar and the drums on a more basic level but I never perform them. On my first track from my album in fact I am playing bass, sax, playing keys and I am singing but other tracks on my album I have got other bass players in for instance because I want someone to come with all the other extras.”
As a producer and a singer/songwriter his love of music is purely a volition all of his own making, “Music has always been my focus from an early age I went to orchestra and went to places for composing. When I got to about fifteen sixteen, I really started to develop my own tastes and I bought a sampler when I was seventeen and I started buying records and I developed this liking for Jazz , Soul Reggae and Blues and stuff. I was into experimental music.” he adds, “There was no one in the family that was bothered about music my mum was a fitness teacher and so I made tapes for her to use in her sessions so she was quite into music. My family were encouraging particularly my mum my dad was more worried about me making a living from it.”
Matti (who also teaches) has been making a living from his musical flair for a long time now with his input coming on the tracks of some of the biggest UK names like Ms Dynamite (check the interview with her), So Solid and Wiley (the tip of a rather large iceberg). His inspirations throw up some of the usual protagonists like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and James Brown. His album evidently draws from these artists and others that have influenced him. “The album is a musical catharsis and it is me making music that suited my style and represented my musical influences.”
The album swirls around mainly subjects of relationships from the positive to the not so positive and downright destructive relationships in the brilliant 'OCD' for example. “I do not suffer from OCD” he laughs “that song was about a girl that I got caught up about. It was a relationship gone wrong, it was a very messy and destructive relationship which I was pretty cut up about it. It was an emotionally led relationship which was very intense and then ended quite quickly.” His soulful distinctive voice emits all the rawness of the emotions in the album which as he states “charts five years of my life”.
I am obviously interested how a man so used to being behind the scenes for some fifteen years would eventual take to the mic? “Necessity is the mother of invention” he states during our rather engaging chat, “It just felt right. I started to get into production when I was working with So Solid and Ms Dynamite, writing backing tracks, working with a lot of R'n'B singers - I was doing that for a long time.” He adds, “I am not sure what it was but after about three or four years of doing that - I was sitting in the studio one day and I just thought, I wonder what a certain song would sound like with vocals, so I sung it down a mic and that was the beginning because people would hear my voice and say it sounds fresh. When you have so many unreliable vocalists it’s better to just do it yourself”! It has been a slow progression he readily admits “tracks on the album they span a certain period in my life. It took a long time because I was doing a lot of other things as well. I actually put out a track in 2007, which was one of five or six tracks back then and I got some love. I got some radio play and a management company came along, so I started to build more tracks and perform more as a singer.”
Indeed while it has been slow, an analogy of the slow cooked food is apt. His album is a great debut and a labour of love but the time I honestly believe has paid off. Matti as an industry savvy veteran is well aware that obviously once you get the musical fans noticing you, you need to make hay while the sun shines! And as fire my last question at the likeable Matti his answer clearly shows a man with a plan.
“I want people to be able to hear my music and I really just want to get out there and perform around. I also have another body of work so I really want to be on the second album for maybe next year, once this album has been pushed properly. It is just a matter of what kind of package I will want to push and indeed timing”
Words Semper Azeez-Harris
