Rob:�When did High on Fire start?
Matt:�Oh about 2 years ago...right after Sleep broke up, I had like a six month period where I just got depressed man...I just wanted to shoot myself and ahh... I just started going out to the garage and playing guitar dude and like I was `no way...it`s not over...`there`s no way it`s over...so I started fuckin` calling people dude...and asking them if they wanted to jam...I started with this friend of mine Carl...he was another guitar player...stated working some stuff out you know. He helped me on a couple of the songs on the first record...I found a bass player...which was not George at the time, it was this other guy. I got Dez`s number from my friend Jenna and I called him up and I`m like `dude if you want to jam, just like call me and cruise down man...I`m looking for a drummer and that`s the main thing I need more than anything...I need a solid rhythm section you know?` He came down and just punished...right off the bat...I knew he was staying...
Rob:�yeah...
Matt:�...and George came down to really try to sing...
Rob:�Really?
Matt:�And of course, George being one of the better guitar players I know...He`s picking up my bass in the space...and he starts playing my bass...(laughing...)
Rob:�Your like ` I need that! I need that!
Matt:�Yeah, I was like hmmm... I think things are starting to come together here...and me and the guitar player ended up parting too...he was hella good, we just had different ways you know? And it`s been together ever since. I just volunteered to do vocals...you know what? I have enough ideas and I`m gonna try it you know?
Rob:�How did it work with Sleep? I mean did you write the music or Al.
Matt:�Al wrote most of the lyrics...
Rob:�No, I mean the music itself...?
Matt:�Oh, collectively...
Rob:�So did you write all these songs when you ask Dez to come over and the other guitar player...
Matt:�Oh yeah... I had all these ideas...
Rob:�...what was his name?
Matt:�Oh Carl...Carl Larson...actually I thank him on the second album for arrangements on `Blood from Zion` he helped write that song...
Rob:�12th records? Joel sent me that...I won the Green amp...I won the Toaster...
Matt:�OH! DID you? You won the Toaster?? You Motherfucker...
Rob:�I named the planet...
Matt:�What was the planet?
Rob:�Green Mathias...
Matt:�Ooohhh!!!! Yeah....
Rob:�I`m a vintage amp buff...I figured you name a green planet, you name it after Matt Mathias...Green Mathias...
Matt:�Dude...you won it...bastard...
Rob:�Oh come on, if you love that stuff...
Matt:�Dude!!! I know!!! Mathias is the greatest!!!
Rob:�Or Cliff Cooper...
Matt:�Dude! I have the last amps he ever worked on...you know that?
Rob:�Whoa...I didn`t know that...
Matt:�I got this combo amp...and that the guys at Green were like `dude, that`s probably the last amp that Mathew Mathias ever touched...
Rob:�Really?
Matt:�Before he died...and that was one of the last amps that guy ever touched...that is what I was told...
Rob:�You have a combo? Is it a two 12" or...
Matt:�Two- 10"...
Rob:�100 watt?
Matt:�160 watt...
Rob:�So it`s 6550`s?
Matt:�It`s amazing...no it`s EL34`s...it`s just hot-rodded...
Rob:�Do you have some amps that aren`t Green...are you a vintage amp buff...
Matt:�I know about them...I worked at Black Market Music for a long time... I had to know them it was part of my job...they closed down...their closed down now and I lost my job...I had to know about everything vintage,,,I learned so much at that place...
Rob:�Oh I bet... I did the same thing...wierd...
Matt:�Next summer I am thinking about going to Luthier school...
Rob:�Nice!
Matt:�I need to know all aspects of everything, and I need to be able to carve ...That`s all I did for days... made unworkable guitars workable...
Rob:�Do you tune down in High on Fire?
Matt:�yeah...
Rob:�What do you tune down to?
Matt:�Just to C...I always tune to C. It makes the most sense to me...
Rob:�Because it`s the concert Key?
Matt:�It`s the middle note of everything and I`m one down...
Rob:�hundreds and hundreds of years of research...
Matt:�It makes more sense that way...and the tone has more of an effect on you...
Rob:�...you use a 13-56 set of strings or...
Matt:�I use a 12-54...
Rob:�Kinda what I use, but I use a plain G, like a 20 or 22...
Matt:�My third is wound...which is a weird one, and it took a lot of getting used to, I just don`t bend on that string all that much...
Rob:�That`s why I like the plain, or I`ll just break them...and they don`t bend that easy...
Matt:�Oh yeah...you can`t bend a whole step out of it, you can just get a half...
Rob:�So your a Gibson person...
Matt:�I play Gibson and it`s weird...it took a long time to adjust...but then it made me a weird player dude, like if I play on other guitars I don`t play the same...
Rob:�you are a fuckin` awesome player dude...I was totally blown away when I saw you guys play...your solos are so...it`s like the position of your hand, the changing of the positions were just so accurate and precise...bam bam! bam! 10,000 years, that long solo at the end, your solo-ing and doing that run up the neck...every single not and bend that you did was just so perfectly executed...you know the double bends...every time you hit those, it sounded just like the record...perfect.
Matt:�Oh, it doesn`t seem like it to me because a lot of the time that solo is totally improvised dude...sometimes longer sometimes shorter...they are cool like that, the band is open about the solo`s it`s awesome they`re like `well do it as close as you can but- or if you feel like going longer, or shorter, or you feel like cutting it off, just make it clear...they know when I`m gonna come back in, you know what I mean? they like hear it...
Rob:�Oh yeah...
Matt:�...we know what comes next, right after...
Rob:�Do you do like a little lower thing or...
Matt:�I have a little weird thing like I`ll go...doo-dod-d-d-dood-odd-doo...you know...
Rob:�Dude...you trippin` me out right now...
Matt:�It`s total little signs and they are like `we know, we know...`
Rob:�I know the signs you speak of...
Matt:�I`m a weirdo too...
Rob:�You guys got telepathy goin` where your like...we know what`s going on you know...?
Matt:�At this point? Yeah...If I fuck up the songs, it`s out of ignorance, or I`m mad at it or something...it`s hard to like screw up real bad...the ones we are playing, and then we got new ones though...and we can screw up...it`s like, Matt we aint got those down...man it`s a trip...you know...
Rob:�they`re not nailed nearly as hard...
Matt:�yeah...we got a new one tonight that is so fuckin...
Rob:�Sick?
Matt:�It`s hardcore punk dude...it`s amazing...
Rob:�Do you ever think about playing with Sleep again, you ever think about those guys?
Matt:�Not right now... I love them and I think about them all the time as friends...but at this point I am happy with the band I have...I could, I feel like I`ve stepped up, to a new platform and took a stand on it, and I`m staying with it until I`m satisfied with it...and if that happens to someday not get me off anymore, I`d consider it...and it`s not like I wouldn`t jam with them or something...but man...Sleep to me was all that I had in my life at that time and dude it was just a weird thing ...and I was the last remaining member after everyone quit, and I was like `OK...whatever`...I love those guys to death, they are my best friends and they`re very talented people, it`s a shame they don`t play more music then they do...
Rob:�They don`t do anything huh?
Matt:�Chris does actually...Chris is playing with Justin who was the guitar player on...
Rob:�Sleep Volume one...
Matt:�Yeah! Dude...I talk to Al, and he`s just like my brother dude...
Rob:�I heard he doesn`t do anything...
Matt:�No. And he doesn`t wasn`t to, but when he does, he`s gonna punish everything...I swear to God...he`s so fucking smart, he`s too smart for his own good. And it makes him weird dude...His approach is so simple but so fucking wise...it`s like ` How the fuck did you do that? How the fuck did you think of that?` Whatever... I`m progressive, and so are the other guys in HOF...and Al was always simplifying things...then I didn`t understand why until I heard it and then...I would throw all these ideas and riffs and stuff out...then Al would go with Chris and like put them together with the Lyrics, right? and I`d come back in and learn it to the drums and I`d be like...Whoa! Dude, fuckin weird he would turn it al around and change the beat so it would be like...(making thumping noise...)
Rob:�whoa...
Matt:�I would have to learn this weird progression of it, I would be like` Goddamn...you`re a weird Genius...you know?
Rob:�So he did most of the arrangements of it...
Matt:�Jerusalem...Holy Mountain I did kind of more of the responsibility of arranging...But Jerusalem was Al`s idea...mostly Al.
Rob:�Is Al religious?
Matt:�Oh he�s very religious, and I am too, and so is Chris...
Rob:�What kind of religion do you believe in?
Matt:�It`s an un-orthodox version of Christianity...very one God, one Sun belief, and very different than what you would call, like what you would turn a fucking preacher on the TV and listen to...
Rob:�uh-huh...
Matt:�It`s not the same beliefs...We agree about having wisdom about what we know we`re Gnostics (?) in the sense of that...we need to know, on our own exactly what it says is what we believe...you can sit there and listen to some other guy tell you about the way it is or you just figure it out...put pieces together...read ten different books on it and take the truths out of it and throw away the rest...and it actually it`s like Tao-ism...just take what makes sense, and take the rest that man has put on it and throw it away...shave it down to what the basic truth is and it figure it out as the truth and when you break it down to where there is no form, or system...then it`s pure...natural it`s more, it makes more sense...this world is cursed with that...you got to think for yourself, you gotta find it out for yourself and you can`t let other people constantly make decisions for you...I swear that 98% of this worlds population lets other people make decisions for they`re own heads...that`s what Jerusalem is all about...`Drop out of life with bong in hand, follow the smoke to the rift filled lands`...it`s about thinking for yourself, dude...it`s not just about pot it`s about using fucking think about it and let go of what everybody is telling you...and be your fucking self...having some spiritual being with wisdom...not some blind faith...have wisdom about your faith...have wisdom about it...it`s not that hard to do...I swear that there are people more retarded then real retarded people in the world who have more of a connection with things around them than people with out any abnormalities...
Rob:�What do you think is going to happen?
Matt:�I do believe in an Anti-Christ...I don`t know when he`s going to come though... There is going to be a vast correction of the atmosphere of the people and a lot of things...and those who accept it will, and go with it... and those who tend to be evil, and hate, or don`t give a fuck...who would rather go down dying than to accept anything, those people are not going to receive life...I believe in a certain weird prophecy...
Rob:�What do you think happens with your energy?
Matt:�You go to the Fathers throne room and it re-creates you and you go directly in to the ball of energy that he uses to expand...everything expands in this universe...Black holes...it`s endless...it eats things, but on the other side it expands. Dude God is a big Mystery, and the only people who have come to tell us about it are the Prophets and Jesus...it`s the only thing we have to go on, and it`s so mis-interpreted by whatever...it just didn`t come down the generations exactly like it really was...
Rob:�Are you talking about Christianity?
Matt:�I`m talking about the words of the prophets that came through them and spoke the words of the creator...you can tell the difference because when you read their words...you feel it. It`s wisdom about my faith...I can`t go on blind faith. I have to prove to myself that I believe what I believe...so I constantly re-examine and constantly read about it. I can`t just accept what one guy says.
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