Matt Pryor is an accomplished musician, songwriter and father. Pryor certainly has his hands full with The New Amsterdams, his child-themed project called The Terrible Twos and his new solo album, Confidence Man.
Confidence Man is full of the brilliant song writing Pryor has crafted since his days fronting the seminal indie/pop-punk/emo band, The Get Up Kids. Pryor’s writing ability is second to none and has grown with the folk-inspired The New Amsterdams to Confidence Man, which is nothing short of patented Pryor. The album is full of smart, acoustic arrangements, passionate vocals and that campfire sound that is perfect for that long road trip. So what took so long for Pryor to do a solo album?
"I finally got around to doing it," Pryor said. "I’ve always been scared to do it, because I don’t like just having my name on something. It feels… very vulnerable. You have to confront your fears at some point."
"When The World Stops Turning" is Pryor at his best, but the track almost didn’t make the record.
"You can thank her (points to his wife) for that. I wasn’t going to put that on record. You hear that, hon?" Pryor said. "It is a love song about being broke, and it is a universal thing ‘I want to give you everything but I can’t afford it.’"
During the years of The Get Up Kids leading the era of the Vagrant Records sound, Pryor formed another project, The New Amsterdams, a band that leaned toward Pryor’s inner singer-songwriter.
"I wanted to do something other than The Get Up Kids at the time. I wanted to have another outlet since I write a lot." Pryor said.
Pryor also revealed The Get Up Kids have plans to re-release their most cherished album, Something To Write Home About in the form of a 10-year anniversary edition.
"It will come out sometime next year," Pryor said. "We have all this bootleg, backstage video footage, so we will do a DVD of it and a 10-year-anniversary edition with limited edition (stuff) like vinyl and t-shirts. The ideas being thrown around about it are cool and not hokey."
On his current tour, Pryor has at times been playing two shows in one day. In the daytime he has been playing select gigs fronting his kids-based project, The Terrible Twos.
"It’s not that much different from what I normally do, just the subject matter. I write the same style songs, try to keep them upbeat and write about what you like and try to write about goofy crap like dinosaurs and bugs.
"You get a lot of people, who are Get Up Kids fans who now have families, (coming) to those shows, and some who have kids and want to listen to music. There are several acts that make music for children. There are a few far in between. A lot of it is really bad," Pryor said. "Family-oriented music does exist. You just have to search it out a little bit."
Pryor is also a dedicated family man and proud father. His son’s name, Elliot, is tattooed on his arm, and he brings his wife and son with him on tour.
"Well, having kids changes your outlook on everything. It is the thing where people say, ‘Having kids changes everything,’ and you go, ‘Sure, whatever,’ and then when it happens you are like, ‘F yeah, it really does,’" Pryor said. "I’m a homemaker, stay-at-home dad. I cook, clean, change diapers, chill out, hang out with my kids, my parent friends at home, mellow, normal people stuff."
Pryor played at Warehouse Live on Sunday with Kevin Devine and local musician Arthur Yoria. His set consisted of songs from Confidence Man, as well as New Amsterdams’ songs and even played a few of The Get Up Kids songs. "Mass Pike" and "Out of Reach" were crowd favorites, and Pryor doesn’t shy away from his past musical ventures. He is aware of what fans want to hear, but he also has his own favorites.
"The last New Amsterdams record (At the Foot of My Rival), took a year and a half to make and I really like that record," Pryor said. "I really like Guilt Show (The Get Up Kids’ final record). We put a lot of ourselves into making that record, and (I’m) not sure if it will ever get as much attention as the other stuff, but I always knew that was the record we were going to go out on."
