Matt Tarka - “Good Morning, Sympathy” - An Exclusive Premiere
When I decided to start up Music Meds By Mel, one of my visions was to create a place to help independent musicians introduce their music to a larger audience. Obviously, this isn’t Rolling Stone or Pitchfork, but I’ve always said that as long as I can help a musician’s fan base grow by one more fan, follow, like, or share, then I’d consider this website a success.
Another rewarding part of this young, new website, is when I receive a submission from a musician’s publicist asking if I’d like to premiere a new single. To say I’m honored is an understatement. What makes this situation even better is when I find out that a good friend recommended my website to this musician as a great outlet to trust with premiering their music. This is exactly what happened when my friend, Kerriann Curtis (who I worked with at Indie Music Reviewer and Wordkrapht), referred Music Meds by Mel to Matt Tarka as the perfect site to premiere his newest single, “Good Morning, Sympathy.”
In the first few seconds of “Good Morning, Sympathy,” (“GMS”) you’ll immediately gravitate toward the drums. It’s evident this will be a track with a great beat to tap your toes to. As the rest of the music kicks in a couple seconds later, it won’t just be your toes moving, but your whole body will join in. As Tarka joins in with his vocals, the listener may hear a slight resemblance to R.E.M. (might have a bit to do with the fact “GMS” was mixed by the legendary Mitch Easter, who has worked with R.E.M.).
As you listen for the third or fourth time (because you will listen more than once), you may start to really dive into the thought provoking lyrics of “GMS.” In the first half of the song, lyrics like, “Question your surroundings, is there a master plan? Oh yes, my friend, there is, you better take command,” will really have you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out the meaning behind this track. Near the end of the song, Tarka sings a similar, but slightly different lyric, “Question your surroundings, every day you can. Oh yes, my friend, believe you understand.”
Matt Tarka’s, “Good Morning, Sympathy” is well-produced with each player contributing to this masterpiece that will have the listener doing some questioning of their own like, “when will I be hearing this song through my radio waves?” After listening to “GMS” over and over and thinking I finally had an idea of what this brilliant song is about, I realized I had to go straight to the source. Not only did I yearn to know the background behind “GMS,” but I was also intrigued to get to know the musician behind this gem. Read below to learn more about Matt Tarka and “Good Morning, Sympathy” with Music Meds By Mel’s presents the website’s first premiere and interview.
Tell me the background story behind “Good Morning, Sympathy.” What inspired you to write it?
“Good Morning, Sympathy" was one of these songs that revealed itself the morning after the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. I was living just outside of DC at the time - that day as a whole was gloomy and full of drizzling rain. I was taking my car to a mechanic for some service before walking to work. After leaving the shop, I was feeling generally downtrodden and off balance. At the time, it could have been about the verdict on my car, the election, or some combination of both. Suddenly, a stranger caught my attention, saying, "It's going to be alright." I mumbled something back like, "I sure hope so..." That brief exchange wound up inspiring the title, this burst of unexpected "sympathy." We've all been left to wonder at some points in our life about what the future holds, and in this case, a little sympathy when I least expected it hung around to be the title.
GMS has been a regular in my live shows for a few years. I cut a demo of it before going to link up with Ted (Comerford) at Low Watt in Savannah, GA to record my EP, Vision Hazy (2017). Ultimately, we decided to leave it off the record. Rich Stine from Fighting Gravity played some wonderful arpeggiated guitar parts that remind me of that drizzling rain and Steve Julian from Colourslide drove up from Gainesville, FL to lay down some tasty drums. Their parts are just so enjoyable and locked in with one other.
The music of “Good Morning, Sympathy” has a very uplifting vibe. What’s the message you’re hoping listeners will get from the song?
Thank you! This may sound a bit altruistic, but there are so many ways of staying educated, informed and engaged in order to hold those in power accountable at the local, state and national levels of government.
Was this track produced before or during COVID times? If during COVID times, what was the production process like?
GMS was produced in January 2020, right before COVID started to take hold in the U.S. in March 2020. Ted and I fleshed out the demo and recorded some scratch guitar and vocals and used them as a guide for Steve's drum parts.
A few months later when COVID brought everything to a stop, Rich (Stine) recorded some electric guitar, organ and bass at his studio in Richmond. So it was a true hybrid type of process - half in-person, half remote between Savannah and Richmond before mixing and mastering could happen.
Is “Good Morning, Sympathy” going to be a part of an upcoming album you have in the works?
It's going to be released a single and listeners can find it anywhere people stream or download music. I'm taking this approach with a few releases on the horizon, rather than release a four or five song EP. The musical landscape and the relationship people have with music is constantly evolving! Though in many ways, it's similar to the way people listened to and purchased 7" singles in the 1950's and early 60's! The more things change... (laughs)
Oh! I should also mention that artist Kerriann Curtis designed the cover art for "Good Morning, Sympathy" using acrylics and newspaper on canvas. We're going to chat on Instagram Live as part of a 'virtual art gallery' of sorts on Feb 19th, where she'll talk about the cover art.
As an independent musician and the lack of live shows in the last year, how have you been dealing with the pandemic? Have you continued to write new music? Have you done any virtual shows (Facebook Live, Zoom, or other platforms)?
WOW. That's a great question. I admire musicians who have adapted to performing more stripped down sets in front of a camera in their home studios or living rooms, and connect with fans in that way. Instagram LIVE has been my primary source of streaming shows. I put together two of them during COVID times in March and April 2020, and 50% of proceeds from those shows went to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. These are difficult and isolating times as we all know, and I wanted to do something to help draw some attention to mental health awareness during this global health pandemic.
I do have one virtual show coming up on Facebook Live on March 26th that typically happens in Atlantic City, NJ. It's the Elephants for Autism online music festival which is for a great cause founded by Jerry Ryan. Perhaps some other virtual live performances will show up on my calendar from time to time. Hopefully when life resembles something close to normal, I'll be back out playing shows in front of an audience again. But for now, I'm going through notebooks and memos, parsing out ideas for new material. So, I'm keeping busy and my mind open to new musical territory.
