Matty Trash & the Horrorbles is an up and coming shock rock band from Perth, Australia. Incorporate music and makeup to bring back the flash and theatrics of acts like Rob Zombie, Slipknot, and Ozzy Osborne. Recently, Drift N Die Press interviewed frontman Matty Trash, where we discussed the past, present, and future of the MTATH.
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DND: What’s the general concept & mission of your group?
Matty: Our mission from day one has always been to bring something new and exciting to the music scene and dare to be different at all costs. The concepts of the band may change, but our mission always remains.
DND: How’d you all meet & become a band?
Matty: We have all known each other one way or another for a few years before forming the band. I guess it all just came together from a few small conversations, a couple of ideas that were agreed on and we all wanted in.
DND: How’d you decide you wanted to be a theatrical act?
Matty: The main reason for the theatrics was because we would go to local shows, and each band would be 4-5 guys up there playing just looking like everyone else so we felt the need to do something very different for the fans that would go to shows. We wanted for people that hadn’t heard or seen us before to blown away by an explosive live show and intense visual element, even if they weren’t a fan of our music.
DND: A lot of war paint bands, such as Mötley Crüe or Black Veil Brides, end up taking off the makeup by the third album. Do you guys think you’ll ever become sick of it and do the same?
Matty: I don’t think the makeup will ever come off, the image and style of our paint may change with what themes we are going for on each album but the visual will always play a huge part of what message we are trying to get across.
DND: Have you ever gotten yourself into a rough situation because of the way you look?
Matty: There has been times when people in the crowd have jumped up onstage and taken offence to our look and style for sure. That just comes with the territory of pushing the boundaries of what people perceive to be normal or not.
DND: Kids tend to follow bands closely, to the point they adapt the image of the band. What would you say to any young fans getting bullied or discriminated against due to the way they dress?
Matty: Bullying is unfortunately one of those parts of life that is never going to be avoided. 1000’s of teens are thrown into schools around the world, growing up, not knowing who they are, trying to find themselves, scared of being outcasts and wanting to be accepted. Unfortunately for the few that DO find themselves earlier than the rest, and find they are goths, punks or even gay. They will always be the targets for the majority that are still scared and trying to find who they are. The strength that it takes for these kids to walk out of their homes knowing they are different to the norm is incredible. And as hard as it is at the time, just remember kids…. at school the majority of kids try so desperately to fit in and be cool, yet in the adult world everyone is so desperate to be different. You’re just one step ahead of the game.
DND: Over the summer you released a new EP. Tell me a little about the story behind it?
Matty: Our first EP (2011’s “Part 1: The Infection”) we used a lot of silly horror themes to tell our stories, from then to the time we started writing “Part 2: The Decay” we realized the amount of horror that is in the real world. Turn on any news channel and the things that are happening right around the world today is disgusting. We used this as the basis for the themes for “Part 2: The Decay.” Drug Addiction, religious wars, aggression, violence, murder… these things are dominating our world right now, these are the horrors happening everywhere we look, so we felt the need to drop the tongue-in cheek horror lyrics from our first EP, and really touch on the topics of the horrible things that mankind is doing to itself as we speak.
DND: Of all the songs you’ve written as a musician, which meant the most to you & why?
Matty: On my last day of high school, one of my closest friends passed away. We were only 17, and we were just about to go out into the big wide world but his journey was cut short. I wrote an acoustic song called “Precious Gift” the following day, and was in the studio the next day to record it. It was never made to be released, but I had to write it as I had no other way to express myself. As soon as I had recorded I went and gave it to his parents as my way of saying sorry. It’s just for my personal collection and one song and experience that will forever be close to me.
DND: Any humbling fan experiences?
Matty: Anything that comes from a fan is humbling, from the smallest comment of “hey that song’s cool” to people making fan art. Just knowing that people are digging our music is the most humbling feeling that we can feel.
DND: Any crazy or strange fan experiences?
HAHA thankfully not, if anyone out there is doing something crazy, we don’t know about it.
DND: What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had w/ your band?
Matty: The Launch of our first EP “Part 1: The Infection” was an awesome experience. Huge huge crowd, had our video for the song “Afraid Of the Dark” playing up on a huge screen as we started our set, had blood covered dancing girls all over the stage. Think at one stage we had 12 people squashed onto the stage for the last song of our set, blood was absolutely everywhere and hearing the crowd roar at the end was pretty intense.
DND: You all have personal influences, but as a whole, who is your biggest inspiration as a band?
Matty: We all have VERY different tastes in music, which is probably why our music comes out so different to everything else that’s going around at the moment, but I guess we can all agree on people like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie who have carried the torch for this style of music so consistently for such a long time.
DND: On an individual basis, who inspires you?
It’s so hard to nail down one inspiration. I listen to A LOT of music across a lot of different genres. As a kid it was bands like Guns N Roses and Nirvana that really made me want to become a musician. The power and passion I felt from their music was just intense. Now days I’m inspired by any bands that come out and do something very different with each album they release and really try to push the boundaries of creativity instead of just releasing the same sounding album time after time. Music is always evolving, and bands that are constantly evolving their sound as well is what inspires and interests me.
DND: What’s it like to know you inspire others?
Matty: Pretty crazy to be honest. We are just a few guys writing music and expressing ourselves, the fact that there are people out there that draws inspiration from what we do is an amazing feeling.
DND: Obviously music is a language everyone speaks, and you guys have shown that in the way you’ve reached out across the globe so much. Any advice for aspiring musicians on going global?
Matty: Today’s world is so connected. If you use it right, social media can be your best friend to gaining new fans across the globe. Don’t limit yourself to getting your music played on your local radio station. Send your music out to every damn radio station across the planet. Get it out to anyone and everyone. With the Internet there is no excuses for not making a name for yourself outside of you home town. And TOUR TOUR TOUR!!!
DND: Finally, what’s down the road for the band, and where would you like to be in your career by this time next year?
Matty: Well right now we have begun writing and demoing out songs for a full length album “Part 3.” So the aim is to get that recorded and released, and hopefully get over to America for our first US tour.
Information & Links:
Twitter.com/MattyTrash
Facebook.com/MattyTrashAndTheHorrorbles
Instagram.com/MTATHOfficial
BandsInTown.com/MattyTrashAndTheHorrorbles
“Zero to Hero” –
“Afraid of the Dark” –
Article by Drift N Die Press
Twitter.com/DifteNDie
Interview conducted by Meryl DeWitt
Twitter.com/Martyrs_Cross
Instragram.com/Martyrs_Cross
Edited by Jacky Cabe
Twitter.com/RWBYRockett
Revised by Jackie Cameron
Twitter.com/lhcam
Instagram.com/lhcam
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