Interviews

QRD, January 2001
In QRD #17 I said: "they don't know it yet, but Windsor for the Derby is gonna be the next QRD band." Well it took me longer than I expected to get this interview set up, but here it is. I don�t know how to describe the music in a way that doesn�t end up being slanderous. It�s guitar based & usually has picking patterns & a lot of times it simultaneously sounds minimalistic & massive & overall just good.

QRD � I assume Windsor for the Derby is normally referred to as post-rock, do you like this term &/or have a more accurate one?

Dan � I really can't stand the tags being placed on us or any other project. I�m not one to align myself with any "movement" or "genre" of art or music. Honestly, I wish that there was some sort of camaraderie amongst musicians these days. We�re simply just an american rock band.

QRD � Do the songs you have with vocals usually have vocals from the very beginning?

Dan � We never go into a song thinking � "this should not have vocals.� We just add whatever instrument is handy. The voice is the one instrument that is usually handy &, suprisingly to most, the majority of our songs do have vocals. You may not be able to hear them very well, but they are there.

QRD � So do you want people to be able to hear the lyrics? Do you want people to be able to sing the words to your songs?

Dan � With Windsor there is a certain obscurity that is sort of perpetuated. Lately, I've been more comfortable with vocals & been mixing them up a bit. On The Birdwatcher stuff (my solo project) & the newer Windsor stuff the vocals are fairly crisp & clear.

QRD � I heard you do minimal packaging because you want your music just judged as music, what would be your ideal method to deliver your music to your audience?

Dan � The cover of an album is as important as the music you put on the record. It should project what that record is about & how it feels. We try to do this with all of our record covers.

QRD � What are all the side projects of Windsor for the Derby these days & how are they different from Windsor for the Derby?

Dan � I'm involved with a couple of projects beside wftd. I�m doing a collaboration with Michael Gira (Swans, Angels of Light) called "Ourselves.� It�s sort of more pop based groove oriented songs with some McCartney-ish vocal arrangements. Very different for both of us. Also, I have a project called The Birdwatcher. We just had a record come out in the states called the darkest hour is just before dawn. It�s also kind of more pop based, with a slight, dark twist.

QRD � It seems to me like early Windsor for the Derby was less guitar oriented, is there a reason things have changed?

Dan � Actually the very early stuff, some of which will be on an upcoming rarities disc, was heavy guitar. We were listen to Breadwinner & Don Caballero's first record a lot. We had three guitars with drums & it was total formulated rock songs. When we recorded that first album (calm hades float) it redefined us & mellowed us.

QRD � But on Metropolitan then Poland they're keyboards right? Why did you change to that & why did you move back to guitars?

Dan � That's just an exercise we wanted to do. We were interested in it & wanted to explore that process. We still use those processes, just in more oblique ways.

QRD � What's your favorite silent film?

Dan � It would have to be something by Buster Keaton. That�s what I do to relax, watch Buster Keaton films.

QRD � What's your favorite Swans' song & what one would you most like to cover?

Dan � I have never really been a Swans fan. Never owned a record by them or anything. I�ve heard stuff peripherally through the years but it never really stuck with me. There�s a lot of music out there that while I do appreciate the concept & idea, I don't really go out & buy the record. I guess I would have to cover "love will tear us apart.� (ha-ha)

QRD � Are you currently signed to a label or working on a new album? I know the last album was on Young God, but recent singles haven't been.

Dan � We do things on a record to record basis. The next record will be either on Young God or Aesthetics.

QRD � It's my understanding that the members of Windsor for the Derby are scattered across the country at the moment, is this strictly detrimental to the band or does it end up helping some creatively?

Dan � Windsor is basically myself & Jason McNeely who lives in Texas. I live in Brooklyn which does add to the challenge of being in a band. We�ve known each other for about 17 years so there's a certain energy at work when we do get together. It allows us to work quickly. I think for Windsor it was a good time for us to be apart. It�s added to the already expansive sense of space we were trying to create with our music & it allows for a certain spontaneity that keeps things fresh.

QRD � What influence do you think location has on your music? Do you think you would've ended up with the same sound in New York as you found in Texas?

Dan � Texas is a very spacious, vast place. I think that added a lot to what we ended up with in Windsor. We'd also go out & see a lot of the local country players like Don Walser, Wayne Hancock, & Junior Brown. Those guys do lots of pickin' & tricky guitar work which completely effected us.

QRD � What would you most like to change about the way you tour?

Dan � We really don't tour much. I would like to play more, but not in the states.

QRD � Do you think you will or would like to break the 50,000 records sold range?

Dan � That's just unfathomable. We generally sell around 5,000. I�m sure I would like to sell that many records, but I don't think I�d enjoy what goes along with it.

QRD � What band do you think Windsor for the Derby would never have formed if you had never heard?

Dan � U2.

QRD � Do you think the american music scene is healthy?

Dan � In certain parts of america there are good supportive scenes that help, but overall the arts in america are in sad shape. There�s very little funding or support for the arts in america.

QRD � What music do you listen to that you don't think people would expect you to?

Dan � U2.

QRD � Any general advice for humans?

Dan � Don't forget to look up.




Article by by Julianne Shepherd, Copper Press, May 15, 2002
Windsor for the Derby | Relocation

introspective in scope and highly emotional in concept

Since its 1994 beginnings in Austin, Windsor for the Derby has made music for brooding and sleeping � introspective in scope and highly emotional in concept � primarily through guitars and the occasional sampler. As a result, they've been perched on the cusp of many musical arenas; the band's sound is uniquely organic, but at the same time, the ambience they make with guitars and patience often sounds electronic-based, or at least electronic-influenced. Perhaps it is their spaciousness, but when they want to, Windsor for the Derby closes the circle between atmospheric "post-rock" music and the newer, more music/less dance-oriented "intelligent Dance Music" (iDM).

After making several recordings of linear, spatial music, in 1999, Windsor for the Derby recorded Difference and Repetition, an album that was fully organic and intimate, complete with acoustic guitars and the occasional sweet, whispered vocals. The band waited two years to release their next record, The Awkwardness EP, on Aesthetics Records in late 2001; as if to further blur the line, the EP consists of remixes by such iDM luminaries as Pulseprogramming and I-Sound (and Windsor for the Derby themselves).

Daniel Matz and Jason McNeely have always been the band's core, along with a rotating cast of musicians that currently includes Karl Bauer and Ben Cissner. Past members have included Stars of the Lid's Adam Wiltzie and Bowery Electric/Calla's Wayne Magruder; it would appear that Windsor for the Derby's flirtation with a more electronic-based world is calcified by both history and association.

Surprisingly, however, Matz denies listening to current iDM; instead of staking a claim in an aesthetic crossover between Windsor for the Derby's music and electronics, he asserts, "I feel that we are playing an evolved form of rock music (as are our peers). Naturally, all the other music that we listen to is going to seep in to our projects. The important thing is to be able to combine them cohesively. I do not think it's only electronic music in this crossover. Personally, I don't actively listen to electronic music. I'm not sure about Jason."

But Matz doesn't deny that Windsor for the Derby has traveled on the path to electronic sound by way of organic instruments. " I think we were headed that way a while ago with the Metropolitan then Poland EP. We tried some experiments with samplers and sequencers for the first time� the Difference and Repetition LP turned that completely around. Difference is so stripped down, it's almost a folk record. Some songs were literally recorded on the front porch. With the Emotional Rescue LP, we have combined these two ideas. There are some spare acoustic songs and some great songs you can dance to. We go into each record wanting it to be totally different from the last. We constantly want to challenge ourselves," he explains.

One of the most important aspects of Windsor for the Derby's music is that they are a largely (though not exclusively) instrumental band that attains emotionalism through patience and repetition. For many bands, that combination is a death knell, or at least a straight shot to listener boredom. However, Windsor for the Derby has the ability to translate quietude to intensity; each of their songs has a carefulness about it, but their climatic intention is always clear. "You have to know to use space in music; how to let a song breathe," explains Matz. "It is nothing we do intentionally; it's just something we have always done naturally. For me, it's too much busyness that gets boring."

Because most non-musicians primarily relate to vocals in music, and their vocals are so few and far between, Windsor for the Derby has the difficult talks of engaging listeners without language. "I don't think (not having many vocals) makes it harder to communicate with people, but it makes it harder to reach out to people," says Matz. "A lot of people need upfront words and other familiar concepts in their music in order to make a connection. Even structurally, people want to know that the chorus is coming back again, then a verse."

They succeed because they aren't just making music for music's sake. As Matz explains it, "I think, in a very oblique way, we are expressing our own feelings about the most very basic things in life. One of those that seems to come up the most is the old standby: Love. Love for family, friends, lovers, music, et cetera, and its repercussions. We are getting more comfortable with this concept and you can tell as our vocals get louder in the mix."

As with many quiet bands that demand full attention, live performances are difficult for Windsor for the Derby, due to the universal scourge that is commonly known as the "annoying drunks in the back talking." Matz laments, "Those annoying drunks are why we don't get out much. It's only happened a couple of times. Once, before Adam (from Stars of the Lid) was playing with us, he threw a can of Lone Star Beer at some Texas redneck at one of our shows. Another time, someone punched out a girl right in front of the stage. The guy later said he didn't know it was a girl!? Some of the best shows we've had are in Europe; all sorts of people come out and they are here to see some music, not do drink or socialize."

For the past few years, Windsor for the Derby has been a long-distance project, with Matz living in New York, and McNeely still in Austin. It wasn't necessarily due to the drunks in the back talking; Matz's move was merely environmental: "I moved because it was too damn hot! Now, after a five-year stint in New York City, I live in the Arctic confines of Western New York. Austin is a great town and the folks there are very friendly to us. It's a big school town and I think people just naturally move after school. Rumor hast it, Paul Newman moved because we did."

Instead of hindering Windsor's musical output, however, Matz thinks that being a long-distance project has helped their diversity in some way. "I might really be getting into the new Destiny's Child record, while Jason's on the other side of the country listening to an African drum record. When we get together, we both bring in these opposite ideas and they gel."

Above all, beyond the organic or the atmospheric, Matz is concerned with the integrity of his music. "Personally, I just want to make real and honest music," he says. "I want to make music that I enjoy first, and if someone else connects with it, great."




Interview by Quentin D�ve, Soit dit en Passant, May 2002
A french interview... sort of...

Dan Matz de Windsor for the derby.

5 cult albums
1. electric 2. love 3. southern death cult anthology 4. dreamtime 5. wildflower 12"

Current favorite album
an early 70's release from tom tapp from pearls before swine called "stardancer." really strange psych tinged pop songs.

A song you wish you'd written
i never really wished i had written a song. it would be nice to be collecting the royalties for iggy pop's "lust for life." it's a great song and its on every other commmercial in america. the strokes have made a nice little career for themselves by covering this song again and again.

1 favourite movie
just yesterday i watched that john cusack movie, "say anything." wow, what a tearjerker.

1 painter
i've just completed reading a book on edward hopper. i love his work and his life story is just as interesting. there's a great love story between he and his wife.

1 book
just started re-reading rule of the bone by russel banks. also a book called "seeing like a state" which is a socio-political historical look at urban planning and development.

1 comics
don't know comics very well so i'll have to say "ziggy."

What is, for you, the french stereotype
i just did a tour thru france with my other project, the birdwatcher. by the end of the tour i had completely lost my voice from breathing in second hand cigarette smoke at every possible moment in france. so i'll have to say the french smoke like chimneys.

1 favorite gig
a few years back at a sold out great american music hall in san fran with the swans on their final tour.

1 weirdmoment of Yr life
i try to make every moment of my life a little weird.




Interview by Adrian Pannett, Delusions of Adequacy, fall 2002
Over the course of three hard-to-find albums and innumerable singles, Windsor For the Derby have cemented a reputation for awkward elongated soundscapes and introverted instrumental explorations. But with the release of The Emotional Rescue LP this summer just gone, the band has surprised everyone (perhaps even themselves) with a soothing balmy tour de force that goes even further to proving the theory that almost every American post-rock group has a beautifully skewed pop record within them.

In the same way that Jim O'Rourke stopped hiding behind his John Fahey guitar manual to make Bacharach-flavoured pop symphonies or when Quentin Stolzfus gave up beating the skins for ill-remembered post-psychedelic snoozers Asuza Plane to kick out jangling three-minute pop gems with Mazarin - Windsor For the Derby have made a record that fuses the arty with the accessible and that bridges the gap between the challenging and the comforting.

The core duo of Dan Matz (currently residing in upstate New York) and Jason McNeely (based in Austin, Texas), together with a revolving set of collaborators, have fashioned an amorphous array of impossibly lush, meticulously melodic, romantically saturated songs and cinematic interludes. From memorising minimalism (somewhere between Yo La Tengo and Gastr Del Sol), intelligent and emotionally-open guitar pop (think Grandaddy or Death Cab For Cutie), and rustic ruminations (pumping through the same artery as say M Ward, Will Oldham, or Pullman) The Emotional Rescue LP is full of wonderfully realised feel-good non-hits of the summer.

Clearly a little bemused by the notion of any radical reinvention, Windsor's Dan Matz was nevertheless a courteous e-mail correspondent, happy to help unfurl some of the mysteries behind one of 2002's most breathtaking albums.

Delusions of Adequacy: It's been about three years between your last proper album, Difference and Repetition, and The Emotional Rescue LP. What kept you occupied and away in the interim period?

Dan Matz: We've been busy with other projects. I've done a record with Michael Gira (The Swans, Angels of Light), which took about two of those years to record. I also have a project called The Birdwatcher (www.arenarockrecordingco.com), which has released a couple of LPs and keeps me busy touring and recording. Jason's been getting together his new project - I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness.

DOA: Do you think that moving to your new label Aesthetics will give you a better platform to operate from?

DM: We were very happy with our relationship with our previous label, Young God. It was understood that that record, Difference and Repetition, would be a one-off. Luckily we have hooked up with another good label with Aesthetics. They have a real solid work ethic and are helping us so much. I think this record, The Emotional Rescue LP, could open us up to a more receptive audience on its own, but with Aesthetics' hard work it could do really well.

DOA: I'll confess it now - this is the first Windsor For the Derby album that I've really heard. However from my research, I've been given the strong impression that this new album sees a subtly achieved but significant shift in your sound from predominantly dark instrumental work to lighter, more accessible song-based material. If you agree, did you make a deliberate decision to redefine your sound or did it just come from natural easy progression?

DM: Each of our records is a fairly radical departure from the last. We go into it like that. We've already discussed the conceptual aspects of our next record. We'll talk about what sort of record it should be - then write around those ideas. I'm not sure if I'd consider The Emotional Rescue LP very "light." I think it's one of the darkest records we've done. Musically, it's uplifted a bit, but the vocals work against that.

DOA: The new album feels like a really cohesive flowing piece. Did you put a lot consideration into the overall sound and production? Do the two recent EPs of remixes and new songs that precede the new album's release represent ideas and approaches that you preferred to keep separate from the entity of The Emotional Rescue LP?

DM: I think all of those records go together cohesively. The Emotional Rescue EP [of new songs and demos] works as a sort of sketch, while The Awkwardness EP [of remixes] deconstructs the final work. I think it was as important to make those records flow as it is a single LP. An LP should be considered a whole listening experience.

DOA: The opening track, "The Same," really seems to set the whole tone of the album from the start. It's ambient but rustic, epic yet intimate and romantic without being too sentimental. Is it a deliberate calling card for the rest of the record?

DM: I don't think it would have fit anyplace else. We're working on a live set right now and we're having trouble placing it. It does have all the elements of the LP as a whole, though.

DOA: That song and others on the album make me think of Gastr Del Sol's last two albums, Upgrade & Afterlife and Camoufleur. Would you ever credit them as an influence?

DM: For that song, and a couple of others on that LP, we were influenced by a Smithsonian release called Indonesian Guitars. I'm a fan of some of the Gastr Del Sol / Grubbs material, but I'd guess he's a fan of this Indonesian record as well.

DOA: "Emotional Rescue" is a really lovely direct, sincere, and simple love song; did you surprise even yourselves?

DM: We were about to go on a tour and we were practising with our founding drummer who we hadn't played with in years. We just decided to goof off for a bit and that came out. Again, we talk about music a lot so I think it just came out of the things we were talking about at the time.

DOA: Is it possible that in the past you've been guilty of over-complicating things? Is it hard to keep things simple and direct?

DM: I don't think we have ever over complicated anything. This record is far more complicated than any of the others. It's the same sort of ideas we were trying to get across before, just in a nicer suit of clothes.

DOA: Although the new album seems quite considered in its arrangement, I like the way that your use of instruments is quite loose. You appear to let the instrument that serves the song the best lead the way, whether it is the guitar, keyboards, or percussion. Would you agree?

DM: We had a lot of instruments at our disposal and wanted different sound for different things. The problem with having access to so much is being careful not to over do it. Less is generally more.

DOA: Is the space between the instruments also as important to you as the textures that come from layering-up and overlapping their sounds?

DM: The space between sounds is more important than layers.

DOA: Sticking around the same subject, I really like the drums that drive "Mythologies." Do people underestimate the expressive possibilities of live percussion? Has the clich� of the 'drum solo' made drummers too self-conscious about being inventive?

DM: Most drummers we have played with use a very basic kick/snare/hat set up. They have to be inventive in this case. I'm not a fan of the drum solo, or guitar solo for that matter. But it is important to be inventive. There's much more originality in restraint.

DOA: My favourite track is the gorgeous instrumental "Indonesian Guitars." It really conjures up an image of a group of people playing acoustic guitars on a back porch on a hot summer evening - is that where the piece originated? Its earthy strains remind me of both John Fahey and the early Palace Brothers records. Who do you think inspired you there, either overtly or subconsciously?

DM: You know, that's a weird one. We were just fooling around in the studio with it. One of our engineers is friends with the actress Ren�e Zellweger, and she happened to be in the studio. She loved the piece so much she went out and bought us all milkshakes. We figured at that point, we had to lay it down. Much of the way that was written, however, is much like the entire Difference and Repetition LP (www.younggodrecords.com). Just great front porch recordings. I'm a fan of both Palace and Fahey, but I think after being in studios, you sometimes just want to get some real and natural recordings.

DOA: How do you function as a band in general? Do you and Jason tend to work as duo on the basic song ideas and then present them to the collaborative team, or do you work them all out from scratch as a democratic ensemble?

DM: We live in different states so it's a bit odd for us. About 3/5 of the songs have become written by one of us and the other collaborates. The other 1/4 are on-the-spot collaborations. When we play the songs live, we tend to completely rewrite the songs as a band.

DOA: How important has the musical scene and artistic community in Austin, Texas been to the development of Windsor For the Derby since you put down your roots in the city back in 1994?

DM: I moved from there in about '96. The band lived in NYC for a while, and now Jason's back in Austin and I'm in upstate New York. We actually left Austin before our first LP came out. Austin was a great place for us to start out, though. I've found as I move around it affects my musical output and the distance has had its affects on our music as well. Fortunately, we always gel very well when we do get together.

DOA: How confident are you at converting the lush and detailed sounds of the current album into live performance?

DM: Again, we totally rewrite the songs for a live performance. For me, there's nothing worse than seeing a band live and they play the record note for note. We're actually just now rehearsing for a tour of the states, and it's looking to be a much more "rock" sort of set.

DOA: I hear that your planning to support �And You Will Know By The Trail of Dead this year - how do you think their fans will cope with your far less boisterous approach?!

DM: That's actually not happening. They're great guys and all, but I gotta say - back in the day in Austin those guys used to come to our much more aggressive shows. They copped everything they know from us. I've got the scars to prove it!

DOA: What do you do outside of Windsor For the Derby, to pass the time and pay the rent?

DM: I keep busy with other musical pursuits and my garden. Luckily I live in a fairly rural and inexpensive area and can just barely avoid work.

DOA: How motivated are you to keep on making music? If you had to stop being in a band or writing songs tomorrow, for one reason or another, would you be satisfied with what you have achieved to date?

DM: Certainly, I'm so happy with all of my output. I don't really feel "motivated" to keep making music. At this point it's just in me. It's not a drive; it's more like breathing.

DOA: What are your future hopes, plans and ambitions for Windsor For the Derby?

DM: Just to keep making quality records. It would be great if some sort of substantial financial windfall came of it, but I'm happy just doing it and scraping by.



Hinah, October 23, 2003
dan matz (windsor for the derby & the birdwatcher) | five digressions
we discovered windsor for the derby belatedly, with their latest album "the emotional rescue lp". but ever since, we've caught up with their discography, listened to their previous epileptic albums, vibrated to their impressive stage performance, and dug a little deeper to find out dan matz's fascinating project the birdwatcher!

these are the five words that dan matz picked:
marvin gaye's "inner city blues"
stillness
static
the clash "the magnificient 7"
dusk


marvin gaye's "inner city blues"
the first song i heard today. i live very far from any solid radio transmissions and this was barely popping through the a.m. radio. it is always such a joy when i find a good radio station to listen to. it's such a rarity. this canadian soul station eased me into the day.

stillness
the calm from calamity. i decided to get away from the project i was working on today and venture into the woods for a last walk before the winter snows bury the trails. when i am walking in the woods i try to make every move with non-associative intent and notice every leave tread upon.

static
this is what happens when you go for too long a walk in the woods. the peaceful sounds become a cacophony. you forget where are you are and why.

the clash "the magnificient 7"
i tried to reinvigorate myself after my long walk. unfortunately (fortunately?), i was reinspired to lock myself back in the studio after a couple of listens to this song. i dance in the kitchen so i can slide like james brown across the linoleum floor.

dusk
someone very close to me would always tell me dusk was there favorite time of day. hundreds of days upon days. every dusk i think of that person now. i realize that, in many ways, we do not share the same dusk.