A U of I graduate and a Canopy Club regular, Matt Wagemann started off as one of us. His catchy, acoustic-driven tunes off of his first full-length album, Matter of Time, brought an enthusiastic crowd to the Canopy Club just last week. Now that his album is finally here, he’s excited to share it with the world.
buzz: What is the most difficult part of writing music for you?
Matt Wagemann: Probably coming up with the words that I want to explain a certain emotion. Sometimes you want to say something in a song and it takes a while to come up with. Sometimes I’ll write, and I’ll think, ‘No, that’s not how I want to say it.’ And I’ll just have to leave it for a few weeks, and then I’ll come back and be like ‘Oh yeah, that’s how I want to say it.’
buzz: What’s your No. 1 goal for this next year as an artist?
Matt: I would really like to just play as many shows as I can and meet as many people as I can. One of my goals would be, in a year or two, to be able to do music more on a full-time basis.
buzz: What is your favorite song off the album, and why?
Matt: I’d probably say “Long Way Home.” I like the guitar riff on it, and I like the song because it kind of explains where I was at the time writing the CD. Basically, the song is about how it felt every time I went back home after being at college for so long. It’s just weird going home. Everything is so much different.
buzz: Where do you get your lyric inspiration?
Matt: I guess you could call me a dreamer. A lot of lyrics come just from overcoming doubt. The CD’s called Matter of Time because, obviously, it took me a lot of time to get through it. A lot of times, I wanted to give up and be like, ‘I’m not putting anymore money into this.’ A lot of my songs were about overcoming doubt or just having something you’re meant to do. There are a few love songs on there. I’m actually married — I got married like two months ago. I wrote a few songs about her.
buzz: What are you most excited for as a result of releasing this first album?
Matt: I just really hope that people get something out of the songs. A lot of the lyrics are pretty open, so I hope in some way, people will be able to relate the lyrics to their own life. I hope people just enjoy listening to it.
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