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Friday, Mar 19, 2010
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| Matt Costa is easy on the eyes, smooth to the ears | |
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by Albert Rodriguez -
SGN A&E Writer When I caught up with Matt Costa in Los Angeles last weekend, minutes before going onstage for a sold-out show, he had just sheared his own hair and was being ogled by a pair of eavesdropping females seated behind us on an outdoor bar patio. I don't blame them; at 6 foot 3, broad-shouldered, trimly-figured, and with a face that screams "hot dude in a razor commercial," this touted singer-songwriter is dessert for anyone's eyes. But Costa has no clue that women and Gay men find him attractive, perhaps because he's more interested in penning that next great pop song. In person, he's as quirky and eclectic as his music sets him up to be - from sarcastically answering my questions to showing me a scar from a years-ago skating accident to admitting that life as a touring musician can be intimately depriving - he's all over the place. "Mr. Pitiful," the leadoff single from his sophomore effort Unfamiliar Faces, is one of 2008's coolest singles and he'll perform it Monday afternoon on the Sasquatch Festival's main stage. By the way, as promised, Costa's feet are a boastful size 11. Fortunately, his heart is just as big. Over cocktails from a cantina on Wilshire Boulevard, here's what Matt Costa got off his chest inside "The Music Lounge." Albert Rodriguez: You being a resident of California, how do feel about Gay marriage getting greenlighted by the California Supreme Court? Matt Costa: I think it's great, as it should be. It's silly that it happened right now, that it took so long to renounce. Hopefully more and more states will follow. How do you feel about it? Rodriguez: It's great, but it creates this political and social firestorm. L.A. and San Francisco might be cool with it, but outside these areas people get all riled up about it. Costa: I'm always surprised when people make comments or remarks that are racial or related to sexual preference because there's so much more knowledge out there about all of it, as it being more accepting and there being more openness to it. I guess some people can't help but retain knowledge that's been passed down from generation to generation - it's strange that people hold onto that. Rodriguez: Who's your BGF [Best Gay Friend]? Costa: I would say my cousin Nicki. She lived with us when I was a kid, when I was maybe 3 to 8 or so. I talk to her a lot, and she gives a lot of advice, in general on life and things. I've known her for so long, and she's always been one to help me out with situations. She's really fun, really smart, and she's always given me some perspective on all sorts of different stuff. Rodriguez: Have you ever come across Gay groupies? Costa: I have, actually. Not a lot, but there's been a couple. Rodriguez: Trying to offer you free beers? Costa: (laughs) Yeah, uh...this, that or the other. Rodriguez: Do you prefer a good buzz or getting stoned? Costa: Oh wow, that depends if I'm in public or if I'm at home. Actually, I prefer maybe two glasses of wine. I like Merlot and I also like a Pinot. But I can't do it before I play because it's a histamine, so it clogs up your sinuses. Rodriguez: What happens on the tour bus? Costa: What happens on the tour bus? Stays on the tour bus! Rodriguez: Okay, what do you load your tour bus with? Costa: Like I say, we've got Merlot and Pinot - basically the pretty cheap stuff, we stick to the $10 kind. We've got regular stuff, not just alcohol, and we've got a refrigerator - so there's mayonnaise, cold cuts and veggies. We've gotta do the veggie thing because we have a couple of vegetarians on the bus, veggie patties and veggie frickin tofu burgers. We've got bread, and I've got some Dijon mustard. I like those blue chips. And we've got some yogurt, and probably some weed floating around somewhere until we hit the border - that's always good to have on there. And there's supplies belonging to all the band members on there. Rodriguez: I'm picturing Girls Gone Wild DVDs. Costa: (laughs) Oh yeah - we try to make our own videos, in every city. No, we try to balance it out with arty French and Italian films, like Truffaut and Godard. Then we've got John Candy in The Great Outdoors, and this last time we had DVDs with classic performances by Little Feat and Led Zeppelin, and whatever we can acquire on the road. Rodriguez: I'm assuming no Brokeback Mountain. Costa: You know, this time we'll bring it on there because I actually haven't seen it. Rodriguez: People comment on YouTube and MySpace about how hot you are, so do you ever think about looking a certain way to please them before going onstage? Maybe a tighter shirt or sprucing things up a little? Costa: Like cutting my hair? Well, basically everything that I wear onstage is what I'd wear normally. The way I present myself is the way people I looked up to would want to present themselves. Like you see old footage of Otis Redding, The Beatles or The Kinks, or even my favorite author John Steinbeck - these people were definitely putting across something that other people could look up to for inspiration. Rodriguez: I liked the '70s era when rock bands wore tight leather pants. Costa: I put thought into not wearing tight leather pants! But in every city we go to, I stop and go into thrift stores and buy stuff you can't find anywhere else. A lot of times I stumble across something, like in a gutter. Rodriguez: If you weren't doing music, what would you be doing? Costa: I'd do a lot of other art, like painting and drawing, something like that. It's crazy to think about it because I've been doing it [music] my whole life, so I can't think about doing something else. Rodriguez: Do you have any ambitions besides music? Costa: I like to write, and music has helped my writing ability. My only goal would probably be to write short stories. Here's what I would do: I wouldn't play music, I would take my time and get a part-time job somewhere and then learn Spanish really well, and then I would go live in different countries and teach English. I feel like your knowledge doesn't mean anything if you can't pass it on. Rodriguez: Does it get lonely on the road? Costa: Of course - well, I mean, yes and no. You get lonely because you meet someone that you connect with and you leave them the next day. You connect with people and then they're gone. Traveling so much makes any sort of natural connection with somebody, or natural growth in a relationship, tough; it either has to be really quick or be prolonged longer than it would normally take because you have to let whatever happens happen. Rodriguez: Do you see yourself as a family guy someday? Costa: (thinks intently) Yeah, definitely. I've pictured aspects of it. I can't see it as a whole. I definitely know that I'd like, as far as a family goes - having kids and things. I want it vaguely right now, to be a father. But that's a big deal to me, to be a father. |
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| picture top: Matt Costa |
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