Interview: Manhattan Murder Mystery

At this month’s Let’s Independent! event at Boardner’s on Tuesday, September 16th, we’re spotlighting three great local groups who have been almost criminally under-covered by this site and others: Manhattan Murder Mystery, Tenlons Fort, and The Poor Excuses.

To help further rectify that, we caught up with Manhattan Murder Mystery’s Matthew Teardrop yesterday about the origins of the smart, thoughtful, plus loud act… and about practically everything save his favorite Woody Allen movie (which might obvious).

RFSL (7:03:57 PM): Hey! How are you doing tonight?
matthew teardrop (7:04:15 PM): I’m ok I was just watching the end of the Redskins game.
matthew teardrop (7:04:18 PM): How are you?
RFSL (7:04:57 PM): Good. My family is originally from Maryland then Chicago, so I grew up with a constant Bears vs. Redskins dialogue going on.
RFSL (7:05:16 PM): I wasn't into sports though, so got kicked out of the midwest.
RFSL (7:05:20 PM): You from out in Maryland?
matthew teardrop (7:05:40 PM): I’m from Virginia right outside DC.
matthew teardrop (7:05:46 PM): Our sports teams always lose.
RFSL (7:06:15 PM): Ahh, I remember that old town... Charleston? Where everything is fakey oldy?
matthew teardrop (7:07:08 PM): I think so.
matthew teardrop (7:07:54 PM): In high school we went on a field trip to like some old battlefield where the civil war was fought.
RFSL (7:08:16 PM): Williamsburg, maybe?
matthew teardrop (7:08:18 PM): I didn’t know why you would want to take kids to a battlefield.
matthew teardrop (7:08:22 PM): That was it.
matthew teardrop (7:08:54 PM): Williamsburg is pretty cool if you're really into gift shops.
RFSL (7:09:46 PM): Part of the Chuck Palanhiuk book/movie Choke is set in a sort of Williamsburg town.
RFSL (7:09:52 PM): Comedy gold.
RFSL (7:09:55 PM): What made you move out here?
matthew teardrop (7:10:29 PM): I moved to San Francisco first mostly just because I was sick of DC.
matthew teardrop (7:10:37 PM): And I had a bunch of friends who were moving there.
matthew teardrop (7:11:01 PM): But I couldn’t really get a job together there and my living situation kind of fell apart
matthew teardrop (7:11:21 PM): And one weekend, I drove to LA to see The Movies and I had a pretty awesome time.
matthew teardrop (7:11:28 PM): So I decided to stay here.
matthew teardrop (7:11:38 PM): The rest is history.
matthew teardrop (7:12:09 PM): It was at Boardner's. I think I mentioned it to you before.
matthew teardrop (7:12:15 PM): I forget who they played with.
matthew teardrop (7:12:21 PM): Maybe Great Northern?
RFSL (7:12:39 PM): Yeah, that was our first Let’s Independent! show. With Great Northern and The Western States Motel.
matthew teardrop (7:12:48 PM): That was a wild night.
RFSL(7:12:48 PM):
RFSL (7:12:54 PM): When did you start the band?
matthew teardrop (7:13:14 PM): It was like two or three months after that.
matthew teardrop (7:13:41 PM): I played with a bunch of random people off craigslist for awhile.
matthew teardrop (7:14:04 PM): And everyone I met was kind of crazy and didn’t get what I was doing at all.
matthew teardrop p (7:14:29 PM): then i met laura our drummer and thinks pretty much clicked right away
matthew teardrop (7:14:54 PM): and we met sol our bass player right like a week before our first show
matthew teardrop (7:16:41 PM): We could pretty much just tell right away.
RFSL (7:17:04 PM): Where was your first show at?
matthew teardrop (7:17:37 PM): Our first real show was at the relax bar in Hollywood.
matthew teardrop (7:18:10 PM): There was like nobody there.
matthew teardrop (7:18:40 PM): But like there was this old timer sitting at the bar and he came up to me after and said, "You guys sound like The Sunset Strip before it got all commercial."
matthew teardrop (7:18:59 PM): I don’t know if that’s accurate but it’s a nice thing to hear I guess.
RFSL (7:34:23 PM): That must have been a good thing to hear at your first show.
matthew teardrop (7:36:22 PM): Yes. Especially from somebody who seemed like they'd seen it all.
RFSL (7:36:44 PM): When was that show?
matthew teardrop (7:37:15 PM): I think it was around March or April last year.
RFSL (7:38:19 PM): What have been the high and low points since then?
matthew teardrop (7:39:23 PM): I don't think we've had any real band lowpoints.
RFSL (7:39:36 PM): Yeah?
matthew teardrop (7:39:37 PM): We've played so many shows.
matthew teardrop (7:39:47 PM): And we're pretty happy playing anywhere.
matthew teardrop (7:40:07 PM): And we've been getting higher quality shows lately.
RFSL (7:41:34 PM): What's a recent favorite?
matthew teardrop (7:41:39 PM): I think playing Let’s Independent! this month and our show at Death To Anders residency are going to be real high points.
RFSL (7:41:58 PM): And you have a residency at Mr T's Bowl coming up, too.
matthew teardrop (7:42:10 PM): Yes, we're pretty excited about it.
matthew teardrop (7:42:48 PM): We're gonna be playing with like a bunch of our favorites like The Health Club and Seasons and The Guppies.
matthew teardrop (7:43:21 PM): It's going to be a wild month.
matthew teardrop (7:43:42 PM): we've probably played like fifty percent of our shows at Mr T's.
RFSL (7:43:53 PM): There's something kind of special about that place and Pehrspace.
matthew teardrop (7:44:26 PM): I try to stick to the b.y.o.b spots.
RFSL (7:44:29 PM): Like you can just feel that the people putting things on there really care about what they're doing.
RFSL (7:44:40 PM): Echo Curio, too.
matthew teardrop (7:44:56 PM): I go to Pehrspace pretty much every weekend these days.
RFSL (7:45:15 PM): Yeah, it's like my living room away from my living room.
RFSL (7:46:12 PM): You guys recording?
matthew teardrop (7:46:32 PM): I think we might start recording some new stuff hopefully in October.
matthew teardrop (7:46:41 PM): The recordings we have now are kind of old.
matthew teardrop (7:46:56 PM): We recorded them for free at this recording class in like four hours.
RFSL (7:47:06 PM): Where at?
matthew teardrop (7:47:56 PM): I think it was out in Whittier somewhere. Laura was taking the class and they asked if anybody knew any bands that wanted to come in that they could practice on.
matthew teardrop (7:48:24 PM): It turned out pretty well I think for the time we had to put into it.
matthew teardrop (7:48:44 PM): Hopefully we'll be able to take things up a notch and record like a real EP soon.
matthew teardrop (7:49:19 PM): We started to record like at a real studio in Burbank with dude I know who had just moved to town.
matthew teardrop (7:49:50 PM): And he was trying to get his name out there in the local scene or whatever so he wanted to record like this amazing demo for us .
matthew teardrop (7:50:12 PM): But then his career really took off right after and now he's like working with Ashlee Simpson and Kanye West.
RFSL (7:50:58 PM): That happens.
matthew teardrop (7:51:15 PM): So if anybody is interested in making us a great demo.
matthew teardrop (7:51:20 PM): We're like a good luck charm.
RFSL (7:51:26 PM): You guys are kingmakers.
RFSL (7:52:39 PM): So I'm not going to ask you about your influences, but what do you like? Art, books, movies, music... What's grabbed you?
matthew teardrop (7:54:31 PM): I pretty much only listen to my friends bands these days.
matthew teardrop (7:54:59 PM): There's so many good ones in LA like in walking distance from my apartment.
RFSL (7:55:27 PM): It makes it hard to motivate to hunt down anything else, doesn't it?
matthew teardrop (7:55:43 PM): Like i've gotten a lot of mileage out of the new Death to Anders cd.
RFSL (7:55:56 PM): Shit, yeah.
RFSL (7:56:17 PM): That residency is going to be great.
matthew teardrop (7:56:25 PM): My ipod is pretty much filled up with people I know.
matthew teardrop (7:57:06 PM): Every once in a while I'll see some like big band or something.
matthew teardrop (7:57:28 PM): And they just play and then they go off backstage or whatever and that’s it.
RFSL (7:57:58 PM): Yeah, here they come out in the audience and watch the other bands and are interesting to talk to.
matthew teardrop (7:58:20 PM): I'm not really interested in any bands I can't get drunk with.
RFSL (7:59:20 PM): You think there's, by and large, less theatre with bands out here right now?
RFSL (8:00:42 PM): I mean, even a more theatrical local band like The Movies comes off pretty personable at the same time.
matthew teardrop (8:01:25 PM): I like a band that puts on a show.
matthew teardrop (8:01:50 PM): Just like it seems to me when some bands hit a certain level there's no more soul.
RFSL (8:02:10 PM): What do you think causes that?
RFSL (8:02:35 PM): Does the ego set in? Do they run out of creativity or stop feeding it well? Or what?
matthew teardrop (8:03:12 PM): Maybe it's just the wrong bands are getting popular.
RFSL (8:03:37 PM): Yeah, Big Black said that once. Or something similar. That mostly the wrong bands break up.
matthew teardrop (8:03:52 PM): I don't know about them but when I get onstage I have to rock out one hundred percent.
matthew teardrop (8:04:03 PM): And you can quote me on that.
RFSL (8:04:37 PM): Noted.
RFSL (8:04:53 PM): Where did you pick up the name Matthew Teardrop?
matthew teardrop (8:05:20 PM): One of my first bands in DC was called The Teardrops.
matthew teardrop (8:05:39 PM): And we all made that our last name like The Ramones.
matthew teardrop (8:05:49 PM): And it stuck with me because I think it sounds cool.
RFSL (8:06:13 PM): How were The Teardrops?
matthew teardrop (8:07:04 PM): It was kind of the same as Manhattan Murder Mystery.
matthew teardrop (8:08:08 PM): Hopefully in thirty years or so people will discover The Teardrops as forgotten geniuses.
matthew teardrop (8:09:13 PM): The DC area was kind of harder to have a band in.
matthew teardrop (8:09:32 PM): There aren’t as many good places to play.
RFSL (8:09:42 PM): My friend Matt is in a band out there. Plays The Black Cat?
matthew teardrop (8:09:53 PM): The Black Cat is pretty cool.
matthew teardrop (8:09:57 PM): What band is he in?
RFSL (8:10:03 PM): The Whips.
RFSL (8:10:11 PM): Used to be in Worlds Collide way back when.
RFSL (8:10:40 PM): Not my thing per se, but a very good guy.
matthew teardrop (8:11:07 PM): It’s kind of a tough town to have a band in.
matthew teardrop (8:11:16 PM): In my experience.
matthew teardrop (8:12:02 PM): There's like three or four good places to play.
RFSL (8:12:27 PM): Yeah, seemed a little bleak in my visits.
RFSL (8:12:54 PM): I would have a hard time living in a town w/o a good music scene.
RFSL (8:13:10 PM): In SF, you had to rely on a lot of out-of-town acts.
matthew teardrop (8:13:19 PM): There's plenty of good bands in DC.
RFSL (8:13:33 PM): Yeah?
matthew teardrop (8:13:34 PM): But it's kind of harder to get good shows.
matthew teardrop (8:13:48 PM): And a lot of bands kind of just fizzle out and don't play anymore.
RFSL (8:15:26 PM): What are the best and worst parts of having a band here in LA?
matthew teardrop (8:16:46 PM): I think the best thing is like the "community."
matthew teardrop (8:16:59 PM): We've made friends with a lot of awesome bands
RFSL (8:18:12 PM): Worst?
RFSL (8:18:20 PM): Or "not best" part?
matthew teardrop (8:18:56 PM): I don’t know if we really have any big complaints.
matthew teardrop (8:19:12 PM): We try to stay away from stuff we don’t like.
RFSL (8:54:51 PM): Did I mention that I'm addicted to your song Tired of Being a Man?
matthew teardrop (1:55:38 PM): Thank you.
RFSL (8:56:02 PM): I think my girlfriend Amber is getting tired of me singing the Pablo Neruda line around the house.
matthew teardrop (8:57:33 PM): Awesome.
matthew teardrop (8:57:50 PM): The title is stolen from a Pablo Neruda poem.
RFSL (8:58:35 PM): Stealing is the mark of a good author.
RFSL (8:59:29 PM): Burroughs used to write G.E.T.S. in the side columns of sci-books.
RFSL (8:59:34 PM): When he saw something he liked.
RFSL (8:59:40 PM): "Good Enough To Steal."
matthew teardrop (2:00:33 PM): What a character.
RFSL (9:00:58 PM): Yeah, his biography is as fun to read as his best book.
RFSL (9:01:37 PM): So, you guys seem like you're having a really good time.
RFSL (9:01:46 PM): You get along well...
matthew teardrop (9:02:02 PM): I can’t complain.
RFSL (9:02:06 PM): Don't have any big complaints...
matthew teardrop (9:02:11 PM): We love playing shows.
matthew teardrop (9:02:38 PM): Even if a show isn't great we still get to play.
matthew teardrop (9:03:07 PM): It’s just nice to get out.

DOWNLOAD:
- I'm Tired of Being a Man MP3

Rad poster by Christine Hale.