About
Deathwatch Beetle Repairman
circa 1997 - circa 2010
Matthew Riley IS Deathwatch Beetle Repairman, and he does everything on this CD. There is one other musician on Drying in the Sun (track 2), who Matthew says is "this amazing guitar player named Don Siltanen". I felt this track had a "Beatles" influence, so I asked Matthew more about this track. Matthew says, "I was raised on the Beatles. I would have to say that they are a HUGE influence to me"; he continues, "Drying in the Sun sort of reminds me of 'Girl' from the Rubber Soul album."I asked Matthew to explain a few of his other influences, to which he replies, "From as far back as I can remember I always loved movie scores. That is one of my biggest influences. To name a few...Zbigniew Preisner(La Double Vie de Veronique, Bleu..) Wendy/Walter Carlos (The Shining, A Clockwork Orange) Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Last Emperor, Little Buddah) Ennio Morricone (The Goo)d, The Bad and the Ugly...Lolita) and many more. At the time I wrote Hollow Fishes my influences included The Beatles, The Cure, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, This Mortal Coil, Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, Dead can Dance and the like. Now my influences include Tom Waits (my idol...saw him in concert...WOW) Bob Wiseman, Portishead, and a few of the ones mentioned earlier." In addition to being an accomplished musician, Matthew also designs postcards and greeting cards "geared towards a more melancholy crowd", many of which can be seen at his website located at http://www.deathwatchbeetle.com. He uses the same beautiful darkness in his art as he does in his music - He has even incorporated images of a photo of the tree that he mentioned in "King of The Rooks" into his recent artwork.
Hollow Fishes is so much like a long twisting dream. Frightening at one moment; and ready to carry you off on fluffy clouds the next. I highly recommend this cd. ~ Sonya Brown (https://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/31e02.html
