#like when i broke the first elo album i ever owned and just BROKE down crying about it because of how important it was to me

[1980ssunflower]

**KISSES THEM BOTH AND PICKS THEM BOTH UP OFF THE GROUND

[daggerzine]

Invisible Gold: Matt Rendon of The Resonars open up....

I first discovered the music of The Resonars (the brainchild of Matt Rendon, the band is basically him and whomever he feels like playing with) in the early 2000’s when the Get Hip Records label out of Pittsburgh sent me a package of stuff to review.  I believe it was 2002’s Lunar Kit and then , five years later, they sent me another one that had Nonetheless Blue in it, which I liked even more I did some digging and found out that the band had been around releasing singles since the late 90’s. Since those Get Hip releases the band has released material on both the Burger label (including their most recent studio record, Crummy Desert Sound) plus the Trouble in Mind label (who did a single in 2012 and a best of in 2013). The band’s sound is a real righteous mix of pop, garage rock, bubblegum and psychedelic all whipped into one tasty stew with truly superb songwriting. Going in mostly blind I sent Rendon some questions via email and he was more than happy to fill me in on the Resonars, other bands he’s been in and the music scene in Tucson in general (plus his Midtown Island Sound recording studio).

  Did you grow up in Tucson? Is there much to do there as a kid growing up?

 I was born and raised here.  My mom was one of 13 children so there were tons of cousins to hang out with.The rest of the time was spent collecting baseball cards, playing sports and listening to records/tapes.

 How did the music bug hit you? Older siblings? Were your parents into music?

 At my parents house there is a guest house where the oldest sibling stayed. When I was a kid my brother Mark had the room and he and his friends would hang out listening to Beatles, Beatles solo, Badfinger, ELO, the Cars, etc. My sister Chipper was a true blue Beatlemaniac. She was 13 when they arrived in the states and left behind a scrapbook she made from 1964. I would read the news articles again and again and got swept up in the excitement of that time. My parents didn't listen to music at all - not even a radio in the house as I remember. Mark made me a c-60 tape with The Beatles blue album on one side and Herman's Hermits Greatest Hits on the other - that's where my obsession with music started.

 Do you remember the first record you ever bought?

I really don't My brother made me mix tapes and lent me his tapes so it's all kind of a blur. I would have to guess probably a Rolling Stones tape - and likely either Between The Buttons or Aftermath. Those weird Abkco releases where the sides are reversed. The Rolling Stones is the first band I remember getting in to on my own so that's the safe bet. As far as actual records - I inherited The Kinks Greatest Hits, The Byrds Mr. Tambourine Man and Eric Burdon & the Animals Winds Of Change from Mark when he moved out. He left them behind in his closet when I was 9.

 When did you first pick up a guitar? Or did you learn a different instrument first?

 I played drums before the guitar. My parents gave me a ramshackle kit on Christmas 1979. I played it until it fell apart, then started becoming interested in the guitar. My Uncle Joe found a solid-body electric in the trash and gave it to me. I stuck a Realistic tape recorder microphone in the groove where the pickups had been torn out, plugged it in to the stereo and voila - electric guitar! That one fell apart but then Uncle Joe found an acoustic in the trash - I should mention that he worked for City Of Tucson. My folks finally realized that I wasn't gonna quit so they got me an Alvarez acoustic for Christmas 1982. That was right around the time I discovered the Who, so I found a chord book for Odds And Sods at a music shop and started seriously learning the guitar.

  What was your first concert?

 Beatlemania in 1978. My sister took me to that one. First one on my own was Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Del Fuegos and Georgia Satellites.

  What was your first band? Did you play out much?

 My first band's name I cannot recall - we played R&B covers and a handful of originals, It was pretty bad - I played through a Crate stack. Never played out.

  How did the idea for The Resonars come about? Did you plan from the beginning for it to be just you?

 The name cam from a business card that fell out of my brother's closet one day. My other brother Rick drummed in a band called the Resonars in the late 1960s. I asked my sister about them and they never recorded, only played a handful of gigs, and were terrible. I decided - well, fine - I'm taking that name. It started out as a full performing band - Eric Royer, Dustin Moyer, Mario Cordova (later replaced by Forest Dunn) and myself. We played from late 1991 to 1996. We never gained any ground in the Tucson clubs so I decided to call it quits and started playing backup in some local bands - Al Perry & the Cattle, Batteries, Knotts, Cheap Shots. 

The whole time the Resonars were playing shows I always made demos for our songs - Scott Moody from Star Time Records heard them and asked if he could put out an LP - that's where the second phase of the Resonars began wherein I start playing and singing all the parts.

 When did things for The Resonars become more serious?

 I don't know if it's ever gotten serious. I suppose the awareness that people were listening came around 2011-12, and that corresponded with a new live version of the band. Up until then I held down jobs by day and recorded for pleasure at night.

  Do you still play music with Eric Royer? How has he fit into your musical adventures?

 I don't - he's far across the country in Cambridge, MA. We keep in contact though and I follow his music. Eric taught me how to fingerpick - I can not overstate how important that was. Also - he was the first guy that knew the world of DIY and punk rock that I'd met. Turned me on to Stiff Little Fingers and Mission Of Burma.

 Tell me about your tenure in The Knockout Pills and The Vultures?

I moved to Seattle to play with the Vultures with Heath Heemsbergen, Matt Rempel, & Matt Mayo. It was straight up garage rock - maybe a little late for Seattle at that time(2000). The band lasted a year - pretty much broke up on tour in Texas. All in all it was a great experience - We all lived in the same house - Heath and Rempel were maniacal record collectors and Mayo was always upstairs practicing and was my NFL buddy. We stay in touch - he's an educator in the Houston area. After the Vultures broke up I decided to come back home - Seattle was getting really expensive and I didn't have the patience to get another band going.

 The Knockout Pills was the band formed upon my arrival back in Tucson with Jason Willis, Gerard Schumacher, and Travis Spillers. Musically, it was the most educational period of my life. All three of those guys are remarkably bright and thoughtful and turned me on to tons of bands. We were compared to the Saints quite a bit and put out two fine records. The band lasted from 2001-2006. Lots of drunkenness, lots of fun touring, we felt we were destroying everybody every night.

 That Butterscotch Cathedral record was terrific. How did that one come about? Will there be another one?

 It's doubtful - it was a one-off record. I was working in a thrift store, and we made a stop at a kitchen cabinet door manufacturer, there were two display models sitting next to each other, one had a tag that said Butterscotch, and the other Cathedral. I jokingly told Bill and Lisa from Trouble In Mind about it and they said - great, record it - we'll put it out! I had absolutely nothing! I had my friend Chris Ayers write lyrics for Side A because I wanted to concentrate on the music and how it was going to flow together. After we cut all the tracks - we took it to Waterworks Studio in Tucson so Jim Waters could add some effects, band it all together and set levels.

 Tell us about some terrific Tucson bands we might not know about.

The Exbats - a two piece band from Bisbee. They're a father/daughter unit - Kenny and Inez McLain. Best songwriters in Tucson along with Travis Spillers of Freezing Hands. Influenced by the Monkees and Ramones with poignant, intelligent lyrics.

The Rifle  - Nelene, Kevin and Randy. All three are melodic instrumentalists and they have a sound that winds and wraps around each other - just bass, drums and guitar. Burger is doing their next tape. Regal songs.

The thing you should know about the great Tucson bands is that they all share members -  Lenguas Largas, Free Machines, Whispering Wires, Golden Boots, Krab Legz, Sea Wren, Freezing Hands, Harsh Mistress, Carbon Canyon, Anchorbaby, Flight Thirteen. The reason is that we're all lifers and we've stuck together. Through the years it's filtered down to where there is a wealth of great songwriters but not enough players to go around - so we all play in each others bands. It's a pretty great, creative environment in which to work.

   What are your top 10 desert island discs?

 Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Joe Henderson - Mode For Joe

Beatles - Beatles VI

Byrds - Fifth Dimension

John Coltrane - Giant Steps

Who - My Generation

Mamas & Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears

Saints - (I'm) Stranded

The Kinks Greatest Hits

Otis Rush - The Classic Recordings 

  Is Midtown Island studio your own? When did it open? Do you stay busy recording bands?

 Midtown Island is my studio that I built in the backyard of my home. The building was completed in late 2013 and became legitimate in early 2014. It's my full time job now - some months are good - some not so much. There's only so many bands in Tucson, but in the last years There have been bands coming in from Phoenix and LA - Nanami Ozone, Tracy Bryant, Shovel, Broken Hearts - stellar stuff all!

  Will there be a new Resonars record in the near future? If not what’s next in the musical world of Matt Rendon?

 I'm trying to get a Resonars album done for Trouble In Mind by the end of the year - it's over half done. The goings been really slow - I had a songwriting slump due to the amount of business in the studio. but

I've figured out better ways to use my time and not abuse my ears. As soon as I did that the songs started coming. Lately I've been writing songs just to write and not making it specifically a Resonars song. I had a thing called Gotta Get Out - kind of a Stax influenced song - but I wrote it in such a high key that I couldn't sing it. My friend Travis from Freezing Hands has a beautiful soaring voice so he wrote new lyrics and sang lead. It was refreshing, liberating way to go about it, now I feel I can write any kind of song and if I can't get it across the way I want - one of my friends can.

 Any final thoughts?  Closing comments? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask?

 I think we got it unless you want to respond to any of the answers.

 This was fun!

https://theresonars1.bandcamp.com/

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