Monster Cables interview with Matt Olson

When it comes to new music, music fans have a lot to choose from. With the deluge of new acts bombarding 
us daily from MTV, radio, the online community, and good 'ol fashion word of mouth, it's hard to pick a 
new favorite. 

Don't be surprised if Rear View Mirror, a new band hailing from Iowa, 
grabs the music world by the throat and wins our hearts and respect. They've got a lot going for them.
 An inventive mixture of melodic, memorable hooks and aggressive rhythms, a la Tool and Deftones. Their 
debut effort All Lights Off was produced by studio legend Steve Lillywhite, whose endless list of 
impressive credits include U2, The Stones and Dave Mathews. 

RVM's new album was recorded entirely with Monster Cable and the band is a proud new addition to our
elite roster of Famous Monsters. Recently, we caught up with guitarist Matt Olson to discuss all
things Rearview Mirror. Here's what went down…
 
  
Monster: So, you're a brand new band trying to reach the world's ear. What's the plan of attack?

Matt Olson: Well, it's going to be a slow climb but were are just looking forward to getting some real fans 
along the way. We're going to try to break it regionally and get people interested in places like Iowa and 
all over the Midwest first because that's were we are from and then slowly get radio to follow. It's going 
to be a lot of touring, hopefully. I think things are moving along pretty fast, though, and we are just 
excited to get working on it all. 

Monster: Do you think people will "get" Rear View Mirror just by listening to the album or is the live 
experience essential?

Matt Olson: Yeah I think that a lot of times, the songs are better live. We have more fun playing live 
and I think there is more energy in the songs, probably.

Monster: Getting Steve Lillywhite, whose production credits list the gods of rock and roll, is an incredible
break for a band. How'd it come about?

Matt Olson: It's all sort of a coincidence actually. He just happened to be starting his new label Gobstopper 
and wanted to sign a young band. We just happened to be doing a couple of showcases for interscope records and 
he sort heard of us through that. Then he got interested 

Monster: Steve mentioned he liked the fact that you all seem committed to sticking it out together, a trait 
he'd also noticed and admired when he first worked with U2 over 20 years ago. 

Matt Olson: Yeah, it's not like we've been doing the scene with anybody else. We've just been playing in this 
band since we were young and we've been friends since we were young. 

Monster: You seem to come from the "Melody is King" school of songwriting. 

Matt Olson: Yeah, I think so. When we create songs, we want to write a song with a good melody. If it comes 
out heavy metal or a bit poppier, we can't really control it; we just try and let it happen. But we still 
want to have rock songs, but also have singable melody to the songs, you know?
I mean, like bands we look up to, like Tool and Incubus and the Deftones. We all fit in a similar genre. 

Monster: Who is the band's chief lyricisit?

Matt Olson: Our singer Adam does all the lyrics. He just prefers to sing something he wrote, and it just works out 
a lot. I think his lyric writing has really progressed even from the latest songs he wrote on the album.
Plus, I can't sing nearly as well as he can, so it's fun to have him put the vocal that I imagined down on a 
particular song. 

Monster: The sound quality of your album is fantastic. A lot of clarity, definition and big, rich textures. 
Hopefully, using Monster Cable helped you guys dial in some killer tones!

Matt Olson: Definitely. Monster is all I used. I just ran straight into the amp with the Monster Cable for 
the whole session. I used the Monster Rock cable a lot. It sounds way better than any other cables I used.

Monster: Any advice for musicians out there who still don't think cable makes a difference?

Matt Olson: I didn't really think about it when I started playing either, but if I'd known how much better a 
great cable like Monster makes everything sound, I would've gotten Monster even starting out with a practice amp. 
Actually, using good cable really does make a difference. If the cable isn't good quality a lot of things will 
change, sound-wise-not for the better. 

Monster just seems to get my guitar tone to come alive more. Monster seems to really make the guitar sound like a guitar.