4/1/2023 0 Comments A story about my uncle meta![]() That's young, and in essence we both found our path in life at an early age. “ We both started our respective bands when we were 13,” he says. In all extreme genres there’s always a very small stereotypical framework of what you're supposed to do.”Īs Ihsahn further explains, the creative interactions between Matt and himself are down to a deep trust borne of a commonality in their stories that isn’t immediately obvious. We talked about that and it was very obvious for me that he could extend his talents to a wider range. He has such a wide range of musical influences. I’ve always been on the artist's side, but Matt made it so easy for me because there’s no ego and he’s so open to new perspectives and he isn’t afraid of changing directions. We hit it off, and it’s been really rewarding to me. Matt is a very, very positive energetic and passionate music fan – we have similar attitudes to music and open mindedness. ![]() It was a new way of working, but it was like he was there on the other side of the glass. “ We just had rough demos for a very long time because we’re arguably pretty busy people, but suddenly everything was cancelled and we had time on our hands for the first time, so it was like, ‘OK, let’s do this.’ We never got to work in the same room he’d track guitars and send them to me, I’d run them through my studio and send them back. While much of the material for IBARAKI was assembled over those months and years – as much a songwriting process as an exchange of ideas between friends – it wasn’t until the pandemic that the space was created and the idea could really flourish. It was also the beginning of a friendship and creative collaboration that would eventually compel Ihsahn to take a leap of his own into a newfound role as producer on the project. It was Matt’s exposure to Ihsahn’s solo work that would inspire the gradual craftsmanship that would eventually become IBARAKI. So I started writing in a totally different way.” He’d just released his own solo record and I’d never heard anything like it – saxophones, clean singing, jazz chords. It was so cool to get that nod and it inspired me to start checking some of his solo stuff. Then I get this email from Ihsahn and I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he was like, ‘good work’. I said, ‘hey what do you think? Would you mind passing this onto Ihsahn ?’ He was one of my heroes – I’d never met him. ‘Matt’s commercial, he knows nothing, he’s not allowed in.’ So I thought about making it under an alias and I wrote something and I sent it to Darren Toms from Candlelight Records who’d seen me in magazines wearing EMPEROR shirts. We parted ways, TRIVIUM happened, and fast-forward to maybe 2009, and I said, ‘screw it, I want to make a black metal project.’ But I knew what metalheads would think. “ Black metal was always big for me – before TRIVIUM I’d been in a band called MINDSCAR, and I’d been so drawn into that world – the lore of it all, where it came from: pagan cultures, the old gods. Like the artist behind it, there is much to the story of IBARAKI and it began with a timid email to one of black metal’s most revered and influential figures. ![]() It’s a reflection of his multifaceted interests as well as a profound affirmation of his Japanese-American identity, and one that led him to confront one of his family’s most tragic moments. It’s personal, it’s deep, and as he explains, its inspirations include everything from an adoration for the extremes of black metal, to the exuberant storytelling of Gerard Way, to the adventuresome worldliness of tragic bon viveur Anthony Bourdain. As he tells it, it’s the end-result of a journey to find his voice. Given the close intertwining of Matt and TRIVIUM’s stories, you’d have thought the two would be inseparable, but not so, because IBARAKI – the name for a terrifying Japanese demon taken from feudal legend – is more than a solo record. ![]()
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