Matt Gooch Pulls Back and Lets Loose by Jack Greaves
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Matt Gooch Pulls Back and Lets Loose by Jack Greaves Matt Gooch, who just walked into the Crossroads at BYU-Idaho, immediately started bouncing from table to table, chatting with everyone whose face he recognized. He’s tall, probably around 6’ 3” if he didn’t hunch. He keeps his arms stiff at his side as he walks about the room, as if to conserve his energy for when he goes behind the drum set. He wore a tight, short-billed hat that made it look like he could be a bike-messenger in Brooklyn. His swagger made it clear in an instant who he was: he’s the drummer. After listening to a piano and bass duet, Gooch set himself on the throne of the drum set. The set is simple, with a kick drum, snare, floor tom, hi hat, a ride and a crash cymbal. These are the basics. He plays a smooth piece, accompanied by a piano, upright bass, and brass trio. He leaps off the set once he’s finished, taking a meandering path filled with compliments from bystanders and quick hellos to people he missed earlier. He b-lines it for my table. “You’re Jack?” His voice was husky yet clear. We never formally met each other until this moment. Our communication started when I sent him a message a few days prior, but I’d already known about Matt Gooch for a few years. I first saw him play in 2014 at Sammie’s, an old pie shack that once was on College Avenue. Sammie’s had a dimly lit side room with a stage and speakers. There Matt and his band, the Clay Temples, shredded some tunes. They played a handful of originals and a few covers, the most memorable being Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.” At that time Matt was 22. My impression of him was raw talent. His excitement showed through his face in a variety of expressions, as if his energy couldn’t be contained or wasn’t properly transferring to his drums. What I saw now was a different Matt. This Matt is more refined, his emotions held close behind his loose T-shirt. As he drums you can tell something is holding him back, like he wants to play louder and quicker. But he knows his place in a jazz combo as a drummer, his objective is to keep rhythm, in style. ___ The majority of Matt’s life has featured him behind a drum set. He was born near Thousand Oaks, California, and started playing the drums at age 10, or “whatever age you are in fifth grade.” He remained self-taught until the summer before his freshman year of high school, where he started taking lessons from Al Velasquez. Velasquez has long, flowing black hair (similar to Weird Al Yankovic’s current style) but grey at the roots. He wears shirts that high fashion bowlers might wear to the lanes. A quick look at his Facebook page offers a variety of videos showcasing groups he’s played in, mostly Latin-influenced. Matt learned to play on a maple DW set, a manufacturer from near where he grew up. “Every drummer from my hometown had a DW kit.” He played percussion through high school, but always seemed to prefer the drum set. He’s played the marimba and vibraphone and other mallet instruments, but he doesn’t find them as exciting. “When you’re playing percussion in an orchestra or a concert band, most of what you’re doing is just garnish.” Playing wind chimes or triplet notes on a triangle just add fluff to a piece of music, in his eyes. Playing on a drum set nails himself down to the core of the music, where he can find a groove and ride it into the sunset. It was for this same reason he decided to become a jazz major at BYU-Idaho. He knew if he joined the orchestra, he would be doomed to play in pit bands in off-Broadway renditions of Wicked or sinking low enough for Shrek: The Musical. In the jazz major, he would only have to be behind the set, where he feels at home. Jazz also gives him a chance to play the genre which stirs his soul the most, bossa nova. This love of Latin music likely sparked from Velasquez. He quizzed me one time to see if I noticed he switch to a “bossa” rhythm mid-way through a song. I had not. When he moved away from California and started school at BYU-Idaho, he started taking lessons from Kobie Watkins, an adjunct professor who lives in North Carolina but makes the trip to Rexburg twice a semester. From the photos on his website, Kobie is clearly a jazz intellectual. He wears thin wire-frame glasses and his hair sprouts out neat and tidy in every direction. Watkins is very educated, receiving a masters from Northwestern University in Jazz Pedagogy, according to his website. He’s played with jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis and Sonny Rollins. Matt credits Watkins in helping him shape his own unique style. When I asked Matt about his influences, he had a long list of drummers and other musicians, with a lot of good reasons to choose them. First off was Elvin Jones, a jazz drummer of the post- bop era who would often play with John Coltrane (one of Matt’s favorite artists.) “Most of what I do and try to learn is to copy Elvin Jones.” Another big influence is Ginger Baker of Cream fame. “I related to him,” Matt told me. “He was just this skinny red-headed guy that looked like me.” Their resemblance is actually striking; you could describe at Matt as a less-grisly Ginger. “John Bonham, he’s the greatest rock and roll drummer of all time.” He said that as a fact, because to most drummers it is. “And Jimi Hendrix,” Matt said. “He changed my life. He’s probably the reason I’m playing music now. I don’t know why. The music speaks for itself.” For leisure he listens to artists like the Beatles, Peter Tosh, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. I asked him about his “guilty pleasures in music,” which stumped him for a while. He thought I was looking for a response like Ariana Grande. I broadened the question to artists he uses to give some variety to his music library. “The Clash,” he said pretty confidently. “I usually don’t listen to that kind of music, but London Calling is great.” .