Before their show at the Irenic in San Diego, Matt and Eugene, lead members Summer Salt, sat down to discuss tour, their music careers, and Lord Of The Flies.
How has tour been so far?
Matt: It’s been a blast! The California shows have been a lot of fun. We had like a break in between the East Coast and West Coast, to kind of. . .go through what we feel we could do better ya know, and just the past three nights have been really locked in and great. East coast was really fun too, it was just like [a] 90 day difference though.
Eugene: Both coasts were great.
How’d you meet your two new [tour] members/ how’d that come about, and what’s that been like?
Eugene: Elliot, our bassist for this tour, has been like an old friend of ours…for like 10 — more than 10 years now, and Anthony is actually Matt’s cousin.
Matt: Yeah, so, Anthony is my younger cousin and I was just like ‘you wanna do this? It’d be cool’ and he was in school, and he was almost about to finish and [said] ‘I’m just gonna take one semester off, try to go back next semester, and just try it out and see how it goes.’ And it’s been great with the both of them, they’re both hard workers, so it’s nice.
Where were you guys before Summer Salt took off? With side careers/other plans, or was music always your main focus?
Matt: I feel like music has always been at the forefront of my mind, like even when I had my job I was like okay. . .when no one’s looking, let’s get out a guitar and listen on my headphones or something, and it was something I’d always be focusing on even when I was working, so I always was leading into that point.
Eugene: Yeah, we used to work like day jobs. Music was just always what we wanted to do.
What were your guys’ day jobs?
Matt: I worked for a group home. . .kind of CPS. . .yeah, direct care with kids.
Eugene: I worked at like different bars or restaurants.
Was there a like a “holy shit” moment when you realized your music was taking off?
Eugene: Yeah, definitely!. . .That run we did with The Walters a couple years ago, and just like seeing our Spotify numbers.
Matt: Yeah, I think that was like when it really hit us like okay, we’re playing with this band that is very. . .well loved. . .and just going on tour with them and people being like ‘We love y’all too!’ and I’m like ‘where did all these fans come from?’ ya know, it was really cool.
What’s your writing process like?
Eugene: A lot of times Matt will come up with a vocal melody and we’ll write to that, or we’ll either come up with a guitar part and come up with a little melody and write based off of that.
Are your lyrics personal to you or do you prefer to write fictionalized [lyrics]?
Eugene: Kind of both. There are a lot of songs where it’s like very personal, and there are some that are kind of just like. . .
Matt: I feel like I like writing things that are kind of like feeling based. It’s just like the sound of a line evokes a feeling rather than like. . .it makes sense or anything
Eugene: I definitely write the same. . .anytime I’m like sad, that’s when I write my songs.
Matt: I remember writing with someone that was. . .going to school for writing, and having them try to help me, they were like, ‘well this doesn’t make sense’ and I’m like ‘okay. . .well, dang maybe I should like really get into the fine details of how I’m writing’ ya know, but then I was like no, whatever I feel like I’m just gonna throw it out there even if it doesn’t make sense or if it’s not like. . .literally correct. It’s fun to have at least quirky expressions.
Are there any artists you want to collab with?
Eugene: There’re definitely artists we want to collab with, I just don’t know if I can name any off the top of my head.
Matt: It isn’t really anything I’ve like thought about, ya know, just to focus on the music writing that we’ve been currently doing, but in the future it would be wonderful to do that
Do you guys have any strange tour stories or weird things that have happened to you while on tour?
Eugene: This (laughs). . .but not really, it’s been a pretty smooth tour. I lost my AirPods, that was kind of crazy.
Matt: Yeah, Asbury Park was so much fun. . .The day off in New York just going and running around New York. . .Oh, Valentine’s Day in New York! That was fun!
Eugene: Oh yeah, that was cool.
Matt: That was the first time I’ve like ever like played on a holiday like that. . .
Eugene: Well, we played on Halloween before.
Matt: Yeah. . .but that like gave me a whole new appreciation for like Valentine’s Day. . .It’s like a holiday you don’t ever celebrate too crazy, but we had family, our friends. . .and fans and it was like really fun to celebrate that with them, and we got roses at the end and gave them all [out]. . .we had like personal Valentine’s day cards, so that was a lot of fun.
Do you guys have any advice for aspiring musicians?
Matt: As far as for aspiring musicians. . .if you love it, just like make it your everything ya know. And I think that with that, just putting things out there into the universe to come true. . .[inaudible]. . .but also, ya know, a lot of hard work. Don’t be lazy!
Eugene: I’d say like, if it’s really what you wanna do then just really go for it, don’t let anyone else tell you [what to lose]
Matt: Let people know, ya know. Let everyone know.
Bonus questions
You guys are from the Austin, TX correct?
Eugene: Well that’s where we’re based, but we’re both like kind of from the Dallas Area.
With that said, what really inspired your sound?
Eugene: We always liked bossa nova and surf music
Matt: We always loved surf music and oldies and. . .i don’t know. . .it’s always been a little tropical thing we like loved. [play] like six chords. . .and different chord progressions.
Favorite books/movies/songs or any that have inspired you?
Matt: I always say this every time I’m telling someone about a song, like, ‘oh, this is one of my favorite songs.’ I say that all the time, so my list of favorite songs is like. . .thousands ya know. As far as books go, there’s like many… Hobbit will always be one of my favorites. I like fictional/fantasy, stuff like that.
Eugene: I don’t really read too often, but there was this book in high school that I really liked. Lord of the Flies.
Matt: Lord Of The Flies was really good, the concept of that one was really fun.
*This interview was conducted in 2018. Summer Salt has since released singles, albums, and toured the world.
Ghost Alley Magazine 