Evolfo: The Acid Cowboys Ride Again (Part 3 of 3)

Continued from Part Two…

Tell me about the thinking behind making a point of not streaming the new album on Spotify.

Matt: It’s pretty simple. For me, the scales just tipped; kissing their ass was hurting more and more. I don’t want to even care about them. They’re a tech company; they’re not a music company. They don’t give a shit. And the profits they’re making, they’re turning around and investing in artificial intelligence and items used for war.

It feels good to get away from them. I know I’m using all sorts of other things where the CEOs will take their profits and do things that I don’t want as well. But with Spotify, it’s like they’re out there saying that you’re endorsing them [by having] your music on their app. And I don’t want to endorse them.

If I’m forced by the circumstances to use Amazon and Google sometimes – and I hate them, too – that is what it is. I make music; my whole life is music. And I’m not gonna let Spotify misrepresent me. I don’t want to be part of that any more.

Maybe Rafferty can give a more concise answer…

Rafferty: It just got to a point where they’re actively devaluing music and art. And even though a band of our size removing our stuff might not be that large of an impact, I think that it’s important to draw a line in the sand. They’re the biggest streaming service, therefore they are the worst streaming service; I think that streaming in general is bad. If another company like Apple Music or something [displaced] them, they would probably start doing the same thing, but for right now, Spotify is the biggest target. And it’s time to start talking about it more publicly.

Not having our music on Spotify is also a great way to start discourse with people who might not be as aware of how evil of a company Spotify really is, and how much they don’t give a shit about music. They’re actively down with A.I. music; they pad playlists with music that’s not made by humans. The list goes on. And at the end of the day, for the sake of music itself, anyone who can do anything should be talking about this.

Like anything, it’s not about having the perfect solution. It’s about continuing to be critical and continuing to try to ask these questions, get the word out so that people who are more casual music consumers have a better understanding. Because the convenience factor is so strong that a lot of people are not even aware of how exploitative it really is.

Speaking of the business side of music, Evolfo’s first two albums were on Royal Potato Family. Of Love is self-released. Tell me about the circumstances and the thinking that led to you going the true indie route.

Matt: I’ve been talking forever about starting this record label. I’m sort of grassroots starting this label, Food of Love, and Royal Potato Family is still in the mix, helping me out. So it wasn’t some sort of divide there.

I’m very excited by all of the music around me. And it seems like the universe is telling me that starting a label and pushing this record out is the right move. It even plays into the Spotify thing; I’m gonna take a little ownership of what I like about music and I’m gonna build community and events and releases around quality and good taste. Whether or not it’s not some universal form of taste, it’s my taste.

And that’s fine; that’s what the label is anyway. I think it’s very significant; there’s something about it which is an incredibly artistic decision. It has nothing to do with business and connections and getting a leg up and getting discovered. It has everything to do with saying, “I want to push whatever it is about music that I like; I don’t want to have it decided by labels and algorithms and things like that.” And it’s time, I think.

What’s an important lesson that you have learned and internalized along the way in a life of music?

Matt: A lesson that I am currently vibing with in all areas of my life is how important it is being in a state of play. There’s the making of music; that’s the most obvious application of this lesson. It’s about being in that state of play and not involving your self-critical voice too early on in the process. That’s essential to me to making good music and keeping the pen to the paper. And it applies across the board.

For me, this state of play thing gets me through the tours, and it helps me have patience for other people. Realizing that gives me this universal sense of playfulness which makes life seem a little lighter.

Some things really are life-or-death; there’s a lot of suffering in this world, and you need to acknowledge that. But then there are a lot of times in our culture – and our music scene – where we’re making things seem life-or-death. You’ve been trained to see things that aren’t killing you as life-or-death. Nobody wants to watch a very self-serious band. And it really helps if you’re not too self-serious in other areas as well.

Rafferty: It might sound obvious or like something that people say all the time, but everything is connected; everything that you do, no matter how small. In fact, I think that the smaller gestures are maybe even more important than big gestures. And when it comes to music, everything you do in your artistic life is connected to everything else you do. It’s also connected to all the people around you. And the more in tune to that energetic exchange you are with yourself, with your band, with the sound person, with the audience, with whoever, with your equipment, whatever it is, the more aware you can be that it’s not just you. The more that you can be in touch with that and be at the service of something that is more unifying, the better your music will be, the better you will be, the more longevity you’ll have as a creative person.

And at the end of the day, I find that when you’re working in the studio on a song – whether it be your song or somebody else’s – it gets to a point where it’s about being in service of the song. It no longer becomes about one person, or the front person or the sound of the snare drum. It becomes about, “How do we make this song the most it can be?” It’s funny, because it doesn’t start out like that. Usually it starts out with individuals and egos. And as you’re getting closer and closer, in a good working environment that all goes away. Then it’s “How do we get this song to be born?” And once it’s born, you can celebrate and you can be yourself again. And that’s a lesson that you can apply anywhere else in your life.