Matty x paradise fell.
I recently had the pleasure of recording an episode for my podcast with Matty from the band paradise fell. Our conversation was incredibly beautiful, vulnerable, and honest - I was thrilled to dive deeper into his latest project with the band. Released earlier this year, Songs for ur Head is a mixtape that invites listeners to immerse themselves in their own beautiful world of chaos. This mixtape is a must-listen not only for fans of grungecore and pop metal but also for anyone who appreciates authentic lyricism and raw emotion.
My episode with Matty will be released in two weeks, but for now, enjoy our candid conversation! And be sure to stream Songs for ur Head - out now !
Hi, how are you? What's your story?
Hey, I’m Matty from paradise fell. We’re a grungecore / pop metal band from London that launched a couple years ago. I’ve been on a mission to figure out this beautiful chaos in my head ever since.
Could you tell us about your latest EP Songs for ur Head ? What's the inspiration behind this whole project?
This EP started as a concept in my mind years ago. That I should write a sorta time capsule to myself, an audio diary to my noisy head trying to explain the dark days and the noises to myself. Not so much trying to explain it away but instead come to grips with it and embrace it all. The flaws, my broken bits and all.
It turned out to be a real special journey of discovery for me. I went on a serious trip getting these lyrics and personal stories out of me. Digging out some dark parts of me that I wanted to bring to light in these songs. Really, as I just tried to understand myself and who I was a little better.
Could you describe us the songwriting/production process for this Mixtape ? Who helped you create it?
It’s been amazing seeing people even resonate at all with any of it, because making it was such a personal inward experience for me.
It’s all produced in my living room, and the songs were written as scratch thoughts from my diary. So I feel like I left every last little bit of me in the process.
For some of the songs like NADIYA and (honest. which became a standalone single before the Mixtape), they actually started as rough musical demos from a few years ago that Harry (guitarist) had been sat on, not using.
One day he sent me over a folder of probably 10-20 songs and just said “tear em apart and make something, enjoy” and those two tracks were in there.
So that was such a collaborative experience. Getting hold of these tracks where Harry had put all of himself into em, and then seeing them as a blank canvas with my own eyes for the first time years later and re invigorating them. That felt special. Honestly, putting the writing and production together for the whole Mixtape was a kind of blur- it all kinda felt like it was just happening through me sometimes and I’d sit back and think, “oh that’s turned out alright ya know!”. But I do remember specifically with ‘overdose.’ we needed a fourth single for the mixtape and we had tried other demos but nothing felt the right fit or flowed right at the end of the record. So, I decided we needed something that felt super raw and messy and chaotic (like our live show did). I thought we hadn’t quite captured that aggressive, loud energy yet that we bring to our live shows.
So I sat down and very literally just plugged a guitar into my amp dead loud and tried to find something that gave me that energy that we have live. That’s how the riff for ‘overdose.’ was born.
We had to chuck that together very last minute for the whole record so we didn’t have much time to think at all. Which I think helped the process be super authentic.
What's the story behind each song?
In a brief summary:
“fall in // fall out” was me exercising my anxiety and bipolar demons. Putting a lead on them and seeing where they take me. Writing the whole experience down.
“NADIYA.” was the pinnacle of a collaborative experience between two people feeling something very similar all at once. It came together so quickly and easily. That huge chorus melody came to me straight away and was a shower melody, that was stuck in my head. So I knew that was gonna be a good’un, haha.
“Beautiful life” was more of a slow burner, but from the off- that chorus and the idea about feeling on the outside of a beautiful life looking in on everyone else having the perfect situation was exactly what I knew needed to be said. The lyrics came quickly after that. It felt like a TV episode in my head. And that inspired a lot of the music video.
“overdose” as I said before was just very much about me embracing a very chaotic messy part of this beautiful project and our live show. Trying to capture that energy in a bottle. It feels amazing live too, because of that reason. The London headline show on tour was electric.
What message do you want to deliver through this project? What do you want people to feel when listening to it?
I want this to be a blank canvas record. People to put their own meaning on the songs and feel what feels natural as you listen. I honestly think that it will change every time you listen to the songs. The meaning evolves. It really did with me. So the only message that matters to me with it is whatever madness you are feeling, really feel it. Embrace that world of beautiful chaos. It’s yours.
What can you tell us about your song "honest"? How did people respond to this song so far?
This really was probably the deepest song we’ve written. The hardest to write for me emotionally but the quickest and most natural any of our music has ever shaped up.
I won’t spoil the meaning too much but I was going through a very dark time with a friend very close to me, one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever had with someone that close to me.
‘honest’ I think was born from the confusion in me around what he was going through. Me trying to process those feelings and question how the hell we got here. Ultimately landing at the realisation that nobody is ever truly honest with each other at their darkest moments, always tryna protect the people around them. But maybe we really need to open up more in the dark days and feel it together.
The timing was perfect, I remember hearing that melody idea from Harry and thinking immediately- I know the words already. I know EXACTLY how this goes. The whole song. Before even having started working on it.
What is your goal as an artist?
Honestly, to find myself a little bit more. To put more of me in the music and hope that it makes people feel something real and help them with their messy parts just a little bit. My main goal is to be able to do this forever, making noisy noise on stage to lots of beautiful faces each night.
What's the best part about being in a band?
Getting in a van with your friends and doing stupid stuff for days on end and getting to call it a “job”. But we do always say we can’t quite believe it when there’s a room full of people in a city screaming your words back to you. That feeling is something I’ll never quite get over.
What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?
To be patient with yourself. That it’s ok to get it all wrong. And that to be honest, no one is sitting there waiting to do favours for you, sometimes you gotta rip up the rule book and say fuck it, I’m doing it my way.
In your opinion, what would make the world a BETTER place?
A whole lot more compassion. People trying to be more understanding of others’ situation. We’re all quite bad at it, I’m tryna work on it too. But I think that’d be the place to start.
I also think we should start taking rules a lot less seriously ;) start challenging these sociatal rules we are told are so so important all the time. There’s a lot more joy in the flexibility. In creating your own world. x
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