I remember sitting in a hotel room with Matt Cullen and Peter Muller, on a mini-tour with Settie and the late Brian Fellows, playing Beatles tunes until three or four in the morning until the Portland, Maine constabulary showed up to shut us down, sniffing suspiciously at the smoke-laden air in our "non-smoking" room.
I was charmed on other occasions by Cullen's stories of brushes with many of my rock and roll heroes like Dickie Betts and Mick Ronson, and have nary a memory of a time when the humble, Plainfield-raised musician/songwriter/producer made me feel anything but happy and sane. I still have pictures of the three of us standing in our underwear outside the Kendall Café in Cambridge.
After decades of relatively seamless band-hopping, touring, recording and composing with artists like Ray Mason, Amy Fairchild, The Sighs, Ware River Club, Square One, Kevin Salem, Spookie Daly Pride and many others, Cullen has at last blessed us with his first-ever frontman/songwriter effort, The Humming Field.
The disc will surely please fans of Bowie, Simon and Garfunkel, XTC, Elliot Smith, Radiohead and of course, The Beatles; in fact, it plays very much like a modern-day, Americanized George Harrison solo album in a lot of ways. Matty lent us a little charm in the following Q&A, in-between the barley-pops he swills to try to get (Yuletime side project) Hot Buttered Elves Christmas songs out of his head.
Valley Advocate: Why did it take you so long to put out a record as frontman?
Matt Cullen: These things take time. I'd been in one band or another for a long time. If I wasn't doing band stuff, I was doing production work with Danny Bernini. If I wasn't in a band or studio situation, I was touring in a "hired gun" kind of way. If I wasn't doing any of those things I was probably drinking, and God knows that takes time.
What are your plans for The Humming Field?
At some point there will be a proper release party, but right now we are just slowly getting some songs together. We'll play a short set at The Basement opening for National Carpet [on Jan. 26]. The band right now is a trio with Don McAulay on drums and my girlfriend Kathranne Knight on bass, but I think it'll grow at some point. I love the studio and wind up tracking lots of parts; some songs translate well as a trio, others not so much. I'm hoping to explore the TV/film side of music and, who knows, maybe tour. At least I know who I'd be sleeping with.
Who do you think you've learned the most from musically?
That's tough. I've played with a bunch of great players. All have had some level of influence and I grew up on radio and records. Does that make me sound old? As far as people I know, I'd have to say Paul Rocha, because we were both into sitting down and figuring out how to play something that jazzed us. He's got a great ear for chord shapes and harmony and I've tried to absorb some of that.
Do you have a favorite guitar lick on anything you've recorded?
That's like asking which kid is your favorite. I couldn't possibly say. That being said, I like the opening line to "Oceansize" on the Ware River Club's Cathedral record. There are a couple of things from different bands that I liked because they seemed appropriate. I think that's important. You don't really want to do the stick out the tongue, crotch-thrusting kind of thing over a song that's sad and slow, nor do you want to weep a rocker. The Humming Field record isn't especially heavy on the riff/lick thing or the big guitar solo thing. The bass actually carries the main musical focus in a couple of songs. Playing bass was new territory for me and really a gas.?
Check out The Humming Field's music and gig schedule at www.thehummingfield.com.
