Matt Brookins (of Odin’s Court) - January 2010

Matt had a chance to catch up with lead vocalist/guitarist/founding member Matt Brookins from South Maryland-based progressive metal masters Odin’s Court. Many things have happened with Odin’s Court since we last chatted in 2006. In late 2006 the band released the live DVD …Court Is Now In Session (review is on this site). In 2007 the boys played the BAR Fest in San Francisco, California and in August 2007 opened up for Symphony X once again. In 2008, the band released the incredible concept album Deathanity (review also on this site). On the live front, in 2008 Odin’s Court opened for prog super group Circa and did a mini tour with Dark Empire and Suspyre. Told you it was a lot! Anyway, we chatted with Brookins about the album Deathanity, the merits of Trevor Rabin-era Yes, and the forthcoming new material that Odin’s Court has been laboring on in the recent months. Enjoy!

 Matt Brookins (lead vocals/guitar) of Odin’s Court rockin’ a packed Jaxx Nightclub in West Springfield, Virginia during the filming of the DVD …Court Is Now In Session.

Matthew Bankes: Matt, it's great to catch up with you again! It's been far too long. Anyway, let's get right to the heart of the matter. Your latest album Deathanity was released in 2008. Looking back in retrospect, how do you feel about the album? Anything you wish you could have done differently?

Matt Brookins: Definitely been too long, Matt! Good to talk again.

I’m very proud of Deathanity. We worked very hard on that album, as Driven by Fate was our previous release in 2003, and the improvement in musicianship and sound quality is so huge it is hard to quantify. But I think Deathanity was the first release we’ve done of which I’m truly 100 percent proud. As for what I would have done differently, I’d say spend more time tracking and working “outside of the box.” While I learned a ton since recording and mixing our previous releases, I think I was still stuck in the modern trap that many engineers fall into: working too much in the box. For the non-technical types, I’m saying that I spent a lot of time manipulating the overall sound in the computer – rather than trying to get it to sound [the way] I wanted coming out of our amps, or from the keyboard for example. But that is really minor compared to how strongly I feel about the album. For the next release, I’m spending more time recording things like I want.

Matthew Bankes: How has the critical response been to Deathanity from the fans and the press?

Matt Brookins: From the reviews in the press I’ve collected, we’ve averaged a 7.5 out of 10. Not bad for our first major release I guess. And the press, much like the fans, was often polarized. People either loved it or hated it; there was very little in between.

Matthew Bankes: What was it like to work with Tom England (Evergrey vocalist) and Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica vocalist)?

Matt Brookins: Great. Tom was very professional and punctual. He got stuff done when he said, and I was very pleased with his sultry voice on the final track.

Tony was very professional as well, and Tony REALLY got into things too. I sent him everything, including my suggested melodies, thinking he’d give me a single track back. He ended up layering things with about 7 different tracks doing all kinds of fun things. He really embraced the spirit and point of the album, that being a very artsy and dense album, but also unbalanced like the current state of our world.

Odin’s Court on stage at The Hook in Brooklyn, New York during their mini-tour with Zero Hour. 
From left to right: Savino Palumbo (keyboards), Matt Brookins, and Rick Pierpont (guitar).

Matthew Bankes: How would you rate the support ProgRock Records has given to Deathanity?

Matt Brookins: ProgRock Records is absolutely great. I truly cannot imagine working with anyone other than Shawn Gordon and PRR. Not only does he have a passion for the music, but he is very down to earth and works extremely hard. Something unusual too – he is very honest and up front with his artists. He tells us what is going on in the industry – both the positive and negative – whereas other labels tend to hide problems from their bands. I hope we can continue to work with PRR as our career goes forward.

Matthew Bankes: You were only able to perform a few live shows in support of Deathanity. Do you wish in retrospect that you could have done more?

Matt Brookins: Most definitely. It’s pretty difficult for us to do things in the traditional way of write, record, rehearse, tour, break, start over again. Mainly because we all have day jobs, and this band is a labor of love. Because of our day to day lives taking up so much time, combined with our logistical challenges of living up to 150 miles apart, we often don’t have the time to do everything we’d like. The plan was to record the album straight through then hit the road for support, but we had several cool live opportunities along the way that we didn’t want to pass up. By the time the album was done and we’d played a few shows, I was burned out. Since I do all the engineering and management for the band in addition to playing, writing, and performing, I needed a break. Though it was only a break from the road and practicing – Craig and I started writing immediately, and it actually worked out great. I’m sure you’ll ask about new material later though, so I’ll hold off on getting into that.

Matthew Bankes: One of your shows in the last couple years was opening up for Circa, which consists of former and current Yes members like Tony Kaye and Alan White. Being a Yes fan, I have to ask what was it like to open up for them.

Matt Brookins: It was great! They were very cool guys, as they watched our show, and commented to us about it afterwards! It’s a pretty cool feeling when Alan White (drummer for Circa and Yes) tells you how much he enjoyed your performance and music. I mean, it’s Alan White! And musically, they sounded fantastic. A very full sound and amazing talent as musicians.

Matthew Bankes: I just wanted to also let you know I have purchased the Yes discography in the last month or so...including Talk...some vocalist from a band called Odin's Court recommended it to me! (laughs)

Matt Brookins: (laughs) Yeah, that’s me. I know almost every Yes fan out there will say I’m not a real Yes fan for saying this, but to this day Talk is my favorite album. I know it isn’t “true Yes” – it’s more of a Trevor Rabin (former Yes guitarist) project with the members of Yes contributing, but I think it is a masterpiece. Sonically, it is amazing – the way the instruments all sound so full, crisp, and punchy with all that is going on in the layers. Plus the song writing is superb. But hey, glad you got to check it out.

Craig Jackson (bass guitar) and Rick Pierpont of Odin’s Court on stage at Jaxx during their mini-tour with Zero Hour.

Matthew Bankes: You have opened your own recording studio a few years ago. Have you received a good response from outside clientele?

Matt Brookins: Yeah, about two years ago, my wife said, “Hey, why don’t we put an addition on the house, and it can be your studio.” Didn’t take me long to agree to that! I secretly think she just wanted to reclaim the spare bedrooms from me (laughs). So anyway, I did some drawing and planned it out, got with a contractor and had it built. I did some of the work myself too. Since then, I’ve put some substantial investment into more outboard gear, so the next album is going to sound better than ever! Which I’ll get into more later – but back to your question, yes, I’ve had some good reception. I haven’t advertised – I just made a MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/d2cstudios) – and I’ve had a few local and regional acts in here. I charge dirt low prices too – to me, it’s more about helping out musicians who have great ideas and talents, but don’t have the assets or knowledge to see them to realization.

Matthew Bankes: You also have been working on new material! Can you tell us about it?

Matt Brookins: Yes! I am REALLY excited about it! We’ve written 14 new songs (one of which is 18 minutes long), plus we have alternates of a couple plus about 8 acoustic songs. We’re recording them all at once, so it’s about 2.5 albums worth of material. The songs are shorter, about an average of four minutes long – well except that one monster track – and more accessible. Whereas Deathanity was meant to be artsy, this album is meant to be a collection of self-contained songs with lots of hooks. Deathanity was also mostly instrumental-based with singing only on about half of the album. The new CD will have vocals on all the songs with all the layers like Deathanity, but hopefully with more hooks. Don’t fear though – there is still plenty of instrumental work and fun musicianship, it’s just often more transparent to the casual listener.

Matthew Bankes: When do you expect to have a new album out? Is it another concept album?

Matt Brookins: The hope is to release the main collection of songs this year, then a second CD of alternates, B-sides, and acoustics a year after that. It is a concept album in a way. Deathanity was a reflection on the human race’s impact on our world and balance – so it was more vast in scope. The new album is more of an introspective look within the individual mind. Each song started with a basic theme or emotion, and it is all in the first person. There is a loose story, so in that regard, it is conceptual; however, the songs are all self-contained, so that they could be broken apart from the whole and still work. I guess it is more thematic than conceptual. Though that is a can of worms with many people – what is a concept and what is a thematic album and where are the grey lines? So I’ll just stop there.

Matthew Bankes: Do you have any plans to perform live again soon? I'm looking forward to going to a show again!

Matt Brookins: Absolutely! The plan is to finish that first CD and release it, then hit the road for some shows. I’d like to start with a local show to get back into the live game, and then do a short tour of the US. We’d love to get to Europe one day too – I think the reception to us is stronger there than in the US. We will see how all that comes through. I know Rick is dying to get back out there – he’s in his element when on stage. I really enjoy playing live too – that connection with the audience while on stage is something one doesn’t feel elsewhere.

 Odin’s Court drummer John Abella wielding the sticks. Apart from Brookins, he is the longest serving member of the band and the foundation on which their unique prog metal is built.

Matthew Bankes: Thanks Matt! It's been a pleasure to catch up with you again! Do you have any closing thoughts for our readers?

Matt Brookins: It is always a pleasure to chat with you, Matt.

Final thoughts? Everyone should check out Devin Townsend’s new album Addicted. Devin is a musical genius (a term I use sparingly – only for Devin, Roger Waters, and Adam Duritz). It’s a sonic work of art, and the song writing is great. It’s been in constant rotation for me.

Other than that, I just want to thank our fans for their support, and hopefully they haven’t forgotten about us completely while we “pull a Boston” and take years to get the next release out. We look forward to everyone hearing it, and can’t wait to play some shows again!

Well, Matt…it’s always a pleasure chatting with you too! Odin’s Court was our first feature band on RFUSA and our enthusiasm for them has not dampened. Go to http://www.odinscourtband.com and go pick up all of their albums (especially Deathanity) and all of that good stuff. We look forward to the next album and their return to the stage!