Born in the US and now based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Matt Steele blends Canadiana twang with seventies pop to form a richly nostalgic sound that nevertheless comes with a playful dimension too. New single ‘Falling Asleep at the Metal Show’ is the ideal example, where heartfelt emotion and tongue-in-cheek humour are presented side by side. But as legends like John Prine have shown, these two features need not clash, and can indeed accentuate one another. Both idiosyncratic and completely sincere, ‘Falling Asleep at the Metal Show’ is another example of this in action.
This is no doubt helped by the fact the song’s subject is taken right out of Steele’s own life. “Between 2010 and 2014, I worked as a sound technician, pushing faders for legends and locals alike,” he explains. The job included weekly punk and metal shows on Sunday nights, and by that stage things had a tendency to catch up with him. “After a week of working a day job, gigging, and doing sound on other nights, not even the loudest, most energetic punk show could stop me from nodding off at times.”
‘Falling Asleep at the Metal Show’ is therefore both an apology to a specific metal band and a celebration of a wider scene, and indeed the entire concept of a ‘scene’ and their ability to forge a sense of community. But also a country song in a more general sense. Picking up the pieces after hard work and dreams collide, and realising upon sifting through the rubble that there is only ever one winner in such a smash.
Well the stacks are pushing air
The head banging boys are swinging their hair
I’m still in my seat
The bands’ on fire but I just wanna leave
Going through the motions
When you can’t tap into the flow
Here I am
Falling asleep at the metal show