One Man Band: An interview with The Suitcase Junket, bringing raw rock art to Black Swamp Arts Fest

Listen Up Toledo  |  By Ryan A. Bunch  |  08/30/2016

There is something refreshingly honest about Matt Lorenz’s The Suitcase Junket project, even though the music sort of sounds as familiar as your bones.

Incorporating elements of traditional folk, blues, and new era garage rock, The Suitcase Junket comes across sincerely as one man’s art project about him finding himself in the world more than it does a strictly musical project. At least thats the way it feels. But, make no mistake, this is no heady experimental project, the music itself is damn good, well-crafted, and infinitely listenable. For a one man band, Lorenz makes a big sound, and with all four limbs simultaneously on drums, suitcase bass, and guitar, he’s in the running for one of the hardest-working men in show business as well.

Raw, gritty, sincere, and filled with heart, The Suitcase Junket makes his second appearance in Bowling Green at this year’s Black Swamp Arts Festival. On his last round through, back in January, Toledo.com caught up with Lorenz but wasn’t able to publish the interview in time. The results of that chat are included below. In the intervening time, The Suitcase Junket has released a stellar EP, DyingStar. Be sure to check out the promo video of the lead track and the interview below.

The Suitcase Junket plays the Black Swamp Arts Festival Main Stage (S.Prospect Street) in Bowling Green on Saturday, September 10 at 12:30pm. www.blackswampfest.org

Pulling off a one-man-band is no easy task, how'd you wind up deciding to take this on as a solo act instead of recruiting a band? 

The Suitcase Junket spun out of a band I have with my sister called Rusty Belle.  I very much enjoy making music with other people, but I've always wanted to do everything myself, so this is an attempt at that: the challenge to try to make as much sound come out of one person as possible without looping or effects.

You seem to present this act not so much as just a musician, but almost more as an art project. The incorporation of various objects as instruments, and the nature of the presentation, along with your physical presence and the sort of conceptual videos you've produced suggest that you're interested in more than just the music, that perhaps there's a deeper vision to the music incorporating the visual and conceptual experience of this project, is that accurate? Do you care to expand on that? 

Yeah, I'd say that's an accurate statement.  I've always been a tinkerer with the visual arts and this project presents an opportunity to combine some of my eyeball aesthetic with the sonic one.  From the crafting of the instruments to the album art, I'm trying to give it all a unified feel.

Having grown up in the northeast, do you feel like the environment you were raised in has shaped the sound and/or presentation of the Suitcase Junket, meaning, do you think your experience there has lent to any certain aspects or the uniqueness of the act? 

I think landscape and the culture of a place is an integral part of what makes us who we are, so it's definitely played a deeply significant role in the making of The Suitcase Junket.  That being said, I've traveled a fair amount too and I do pick up influences like a mockingbird.

The music itself seems to dip liberally into the well of American music, from blues to garage rock and folk to pop, where do you draw inspiration from when crafting your songs? 

I was raised on the 60s rock records of my parents and I feel very lucky to have grown up here in the states where the musical tradition is so rich.  I love listening to the Lomax field recordings and hearing some of those very early seeds of what we are now cultivating.

For up-and-coming touring acts such as yourself, music is the most accessible it has ever been, which can be a good or bad thing. On one hand you don't have to get signed to a label anymore to get booked or noticed, on the other, it's easy to get lost in the vast ocean of independent artists vying for attention. Is that something you think about? And how do you work to get and hold the attention of fans? 

I've been laboring under the assumption that doing good work with honesty and strength will pay off in the end.  As an independent musician you do have to look at your art as a business if you want it to sustain you financially.  This means you have less time for your art, so that's a trade you have to consider pretty carefully.  In terms of keeping people's attention, that seems like a bit of a crap shoot these days, so I just keep doing my thing and trying to make art that I find compelling and fun and hopefully other folks enjoy it too.

With that in mind, for those who haven't seen you, what can folks in Toledo and Bowling Green expect in going to the show? 

In terms of what to expect, the show will be a rowdy, heartfelt romp of good songs sung strong.