Interview w/ Matt Longo of Mind Over Metal

I've always loved words. Spelling and grammar are important to me, regardless of what I write, so I try to make everything count—from transcriptions to text messages. I don't know exactly what  inspires me to write. Regardless of style or content, it all boils down to me trying to understand how I feel about something.

I never wrote about music much, until I became Metal Director at WRUV in 2005. I then needed to review music constantly, and I honed my writing for years. But it was back in 2009, when MindOverMetal.org started getting more press links, that I realized this shit was getting serious. So in the last few years I've become a better writer, between all that, editing the work of our contributing authors, and spending my life with a girl about to get her Master's degree in English.

It's hard to say. I never thought that deejaying live would appeal to me, but Mind over Metal Mondays has been at Nectar's since April of this year, we're doing our 16th week in a row tonight. Plus, now I'm six years deep in the radio gig, which is where I have the most experience. Writing simply came from the territory. I will likely always be involved with music in some way. Journalism became my most logical path. But if the big cities come calling, I might answer the right offer.

As far as folks who do what we do, I like Cosmo Lee (Invisible Oranges), autothrall (From the Dust Returned), John Haun (That's How Kids Die) and Angry Metal Guy. I often read the MetalSucks perspective, and appreciate the brevity of AllMusic and About.com (sometimes). Decibel is the only printed music magazine I subscribe to, and I would love to write for them.

I've recently read a couple of books that have helped me immensely: "The Elements of Style" by Strunk & White and "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. I also really like "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss.

I'm not really sure how to measure "takingoffness" (wish I did!), I've always just wanted to be good. But measuring year after year, readership has certainly increased—sometimes double, sometimes fivefold—but the change is always positive. Hardly anyone makes a living doing this, though. But it's a labor of love, ya know? I would like more money to roll in, at least enough to be sustainable.

Whatever's new, mainly. There is that perk: the free music. We're only able to formally cover half of what's sent, in one way or another (airplay, review, photos, interview), but all this boils down to some 90% of listening time dedicated to recent releases. Preference weighs heavily, though—it depends on what you're looking for. I really like where Gigan has gone on their latest; I'm really ambivalent to Morbid Angel's direction. It's been great to reacquaint with the Ozzy and Death reissues. HeadCat is lots of fun; Decapitated WILL take your head OFF (in the best way possible); if you need a mind-fuck, Anaal Nathrakh's "Passion"; and for a great live album, check out "Warriors of Ice" from Voivod.

Technically, it's been six years of radio domination; MindOverMetal.org wasn't online until 2008, and only really got good about two years back. Some of my older stuff from 2005 has made it online, so that may be where your math comes from.

But future plans, yes, there are many! We made acquisitions that I can't yet disclose, have potential new contributors, and now collaborate more deeply and broadly with artists, labels, promo companies, distributors. It's intense, and wading through the chaos is hard. More to your point (I think), all kinds of crazy shit comes up in the right setting with the right people: having my own radio station, putting all my past WRUV shows online, covering European metal festivals, possibly going to print. Timing is key. I hope these things happen someday, but none currently feel right, so I don't force the issues.

1) Believe in your product.
2) Surround yourself with talented people who share your vision.
3) Focus on your core strengths, branch out when necessary.

Meh, who's really in a position to claim accurate knowledge of something like that? All I know is that I've always been interested in opinion pieces—especially about music, which is a subjective experience projected from another perspective, condensing emotion and experience from vibrations to words. Fuck sakes! How do you even contain something like that? This has been quoted to death, but it's from one of my heroes—Frank Zappa—so I'm gonna say it again: "Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read.". All I wanted to do when I started MindOverMetal.org was communicate and make available everything I encountered from this ridiculous, awesome Metalverse. I never thought about whether it made sense, or if people would care—it just felt like the right thing to do at the time. Nobody has any real clue about the totality of existence, remember; we all guess about right and wrong, constantly.

My reviews have mutated from sparse descriptions to personal reflections, which are usually the kinds of reviews I like to read, too—as long as they're still informative. I battle with writer's block, and procrastination in general. True, I get overwhelmed at times, but it's so integral to my life that it never feels like a chore. My biggest challenge is getting stuff reviewed expediently, with music I review personally, and also from my contributing writers. But it's difficult to enforce, since this is largely volunteer-based, with relatively few fringe benefits and sparse accountability. I've been toying with the idea of an incentive program for faster turnaround and/or better quality, but that's still up in the air.

Yeah, film is high on my list of favorite things, for a number of reasons. I don't know what else to say about that, except my friend and I are making an iRiff. It's mostly for fun, but we may get it on RiffTrax. I can't disclose which movie yet.

"Clerks" is a longstanding favorite. I really enjoy the "Evil Dead" trilogy.. I've seen every MST3K/Film Crew/RiffTrax/Cinematic Titanic. "The Big Lebowski" hits a very comfortable spot for me. And Darren Aronofsky always impresses. I tend toward horror and comedy, but it really depends on my mood. Then animation is a whole other avenue to drive down… maybe another time.

Again, speaking only for my peers in blog, it seems like we need to be both insightful and informative, entertaining and earnest. Circumstances call for different levels of each.

As far as thanks go… well, you, for one. This is my first formal interview about MindOverMetal.org, so I appreciate the recognition! And of course, deepest gratitude to our great team of writers and loyal readers. This is where my life is pointed, and I'm glad we're all in for the ride.