Marianas Trench are high-school friends who got their start in the early 2000s, and have now been producing music together for decades. Fast forward to 2019, the Vancouver-based band just dropped their fifth studio album, Phantoms, on March 1st. We chatted with lead guitarist, Matt Webb, about the album and their tour, ahead of their show in Ottawa on March 16th at TD Place.
Tell us about the creative process that went into composing your new album, Phantoms. What is the vibe you were going for with this album and what was the inspiration behind the music?
Josh is the song-writer, brilliant guy behind the music. This time around, we had just been on tour and were very influenced by an interesting culture in New Orleans, so Josh suggested the haunted, voodoo theme for a new album. When you have the theme, you can base the writing styles, the record, the artwork, the titles, the lyrical content, the production of the show and the clothes, all around this general theme which makes it much more cohesive. It’s about descending into madness as a person inhabits a haunted house. It’s still going to sound like us but it’s nice to have that general theme to base the album cycle around.
You guys are headed out on tour across Canada in March. What are you most looking forward to?
We haven’t been out in Canada in a while, so I’m really just looking forward to seeing a lot of our fans that we haven’t seen. People have been so loyal, patient and supportive waiting for us to come out with new music. We operate more old school…lots of people are producing new content all the time; we really like to take our time to be organic with our recording process which is time consuming, so we’ve appreciated the patience of our fans.
You’re bringing the Suspending Gravity tour to Ottawa with special guests and locals, Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine. How did you guys choose them to open for you?
We heard about them from The Launch, and we heard that they were great people so it just worked out that way. I met them for the first time on Instagram Live a few weeks ago, and they are really cool people. It’s so nice to go out on tour with people who are friendly. The tour vibe is a big family, not only with our band and crew, but anyone we happen to be playing with, so the more positive energy, the better. And the more talented the other bands, the better, because it really inspires us to take it up a couple of notches.
What is your favourite part about visiting Ottawa?
I love Ottawa. I love to go down to the market, and the last time I was there I found a little hidden gem of a restaurant where I sat on a patio drinking margaritas. It was such a lovely time and Ottawa is a great city. I have family there, so I spend some time with them. It’s the Nation’s Capital, it’s beautiful, so I’m looking forward to being back.
You can find the full length interview with Matt in our upcoming May & June issue, with details on the story behind Marianas Trench, how they’ve grown over the past few decades together, and what their plans are for the future.
