The 1st time I saw Matt Xander perform a set I was blown away. We were doing a gig downstairs at the Agincourt Hotel in an event put together by the homie BC and Xander did a set standing on-stage on a chair, yelling into a megaphone.
It was really like that.
He had one of those old-school radio announcer mics for some of his set too. He had this incredible stage presence with dance moves and this energy shimmering off him. It was incredible.
It really is a pleasure to feature him in this special artist spotlight as Xander is not only a phenomenal emcee and performer, he is also a dear friend and a super-funny guy.
Enjoy!
Origins
“Some people think I’m putting on an act when I’m onstage. To me, it’s the rest of the time I’m pretending to be someone else.” – Matt Xander
Deep shit bro. Love it. Have you always loved performing?
“I’ve always been theatrical. I studied acting and wanted to be an actor or stand-up before I started making music. I made my way through Uni as a clown at children’s parties. I’m still convinced my performance as an extra in The Matrix 3 is what brought down the franchise.
My first time on stage was at the school talent contest where I sung The Loco-motion in my mum’s dress, using tennis-balls for fake boobs. I revisited using tennis-balls as props years later by tying them in stockings for fake testicles to accompany my song Gonads.”
What's the 1st band you really got into?
“The first band I got into was Rage Against The Machine. I had no idea what the lyrics meant, just loved their energy. My love for both sport and music meant that I found myself doing aerobics to Killing In The Name Of in my bedroom before school each morning. I only had the radio edit, so I didn’t even realise there was the sweary bit at the end until many years later.
The first song I ever wrote was for a school assignment. We were supposed to write a jingle, but I didn’t know what that was so I wrote a 6-minute ballad. I harnessed my lyrical style whilst at Uni. I was studying finance and couldn’t believe how brazenly we were being taught how to systematically gain wealth at the expense of individuals who entrust you with their money.
So they became my target, but at the same time I’m not brave enough to directly stand up to them, so I usually shroud my message in jokes and 90’s sitcom references.”
Matt Xander Absolute truth
“I’ve been making music for around 20 years now, under many different monikers from RiffMC to Spider (due to the awful dreadlocks I had at the time) to Equinsu Ocha (meaning White Devil from Ace Ventura), through to my first pseudonym MC Karntspel, which was designed to poke fun at rappers who intentionally (although sometimes I’m not so sure) placed spelling errors in their name, thus ensuring I wouldn’t sit well within the hip-hop community from the outset.
I eventually found some friends and I look to collaborate a lot more these days. I’ve learned it’s much less stressful to share the burden and work with other artists than to do everything yourself. I recently teamed up with BC and GhostAttacK for a single out very, very soon if not already by the time you read this. – (Single drops 9/10/20)
The stage is where I feel most comfortable. I enjoy having a microphone without being muzzled by society. I aim to shine a light on inequality, though I try to do it with a bit of pizazz and humour. I’m the sad clown but I’m doing jazz-hands.”
Big ups to Matt Xander for taking the time to share such rich, funny and honest insight and knowledge. What a legend!
I really enjoyed reading that and some of the hilarious stories were balanced with unflinching honesty. Love it!
Join me next time as I share my experience of self-marketing and the birth of beardcam.
As always, thanks for rocking with ya boi Prim.
Heaps awesome.. 09/10/20 can’t wait to jam to “I must be seeing a ghost”
Thanks for reading bro! Yeah can’t wait!
Awesome post!!! Both funny and captivating!! Matt Xander is a great guy and artist, maybe Primitive could collab with him?
What a great idea!
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