Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Joe Matera
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Hearing the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album when I was four-years old.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
When I picked up the guitar at age 15. I taught myself to play by listening to vinyl records. It inspired me to create my own music, making up my own guitar melodies, and riffs and later writing my own songs.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
The Lone Runner is my current and more recent album, an all instrumental elctronica meets acoustic guitar ambient outing. It is something totally different to my usual pop-rock singer-songwriter material. This was an experimental outing and it’s proved very popular and successful, so much so, it earned my first ever Top 5 selling album on the Australian ARIA Jazz and Blues chart in 2023.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Apart from my instrumental album as above, my main sound is a guitar driven pop-rock sound with catchy melodies and introspective lyrical material.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Being able to have a home studio, allowed me the freedom to create music whenever I feel like creating.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
I use Cubase, and have so for more than 15 years. I know the software very well and it’s quick and easy to navigate around.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
There are so many great indie aritsts on the scene, and I think they’re all making inspiring music. It would not be fair for me to name just one, as they’re all making great music that i enjoy.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
My music is inspired by the things I observe in my everyday life and subject related to the bigger picture of life.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
I hope my music brings them joy and pleasure and soemthing that helps them through the daily grind of life. The Lone Runner album is aimed for people who want to relax, chill out, looking for healing, needing a sense of connection, and emotional support.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Just believe in yourself and your music and create music that you enjoy and want to share with others.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Glastonbury
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I think collaborating with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour would be something very interesting as he is a great guitarist who has good taste, a great sense of melody and emotive content in his playing.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
They can listen to my music on Spotify here:
I do have a website too that has officical videos etc: www.joematera.com
And they can find me on Facebook, You Tube etc.
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
I am working on some new material so hopefully new music will hit the streaming platforms at some point in the future.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
My intense passion for music and my melodic styled approach.
If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂
Link: ‘Only One’
This video best represents my singer-songwriter pop-rock material.
