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Bad Habit Records

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GOOD FOOD

There’s nothing quite like a serious injury to stop you in your tracks and force you to take a long hard look at your life. Liam Matsen knows the story all too well, after YOLO-ing his way to a broken spine and two cracked ribs a couple years back.

To his credit, Liam has since taken the time to refocus on creative pursuits, which lately has involved helping bands to release records and collaborating on video projects. We chatted to Liam about his endeavours.

BAD HABIT: Tell us about Good Food. From what I understand, it started as a record label, then you messed yourself up at a show and with all the down time, it morphed into a video/youtube project? Tell us about the label side of things first up.

LIAM: Yo Borg, thanks for having me. To trace it right back, the first thing I did under Good Food was a one-off little graff zine I put together back in 2019.

The name itself doesn’t really “mean” anything but I find it aesthetically pleasing (we’ll talk letters shortly ha) and it doesn’t sound boxed in to any specific niche. 

As for the label’s origin – you’re right. I started it in 2022 with the intention of just doing very small-run alternate versions of mates’ bands/things I like/want to see happen. I made a repairable write-off of my torso at a show stage diving (3 vertebrae/2 ribs) so that kind of put my whole world on hold and sent me broke and mad very quickly.

One release barely made it to fruition (Drudge - Kids of the Curb 7” with alternate cover/layout drawn by me) because of those circumstances (wouldn’t have happened without Ads and Jrod!) But I had to learn to accept my fate, and back to the drawing board it was. 

I was filming a lot of skating prior to the accident as well, so two and two went together and the lightbulb of basic addition flickered back on and I got my ass out of bed, metaphorically and physically ha.

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BH: I don’t want to put you on show here, but I know you can party pretty hard. You’ve been winding that back a little, as I understand, to have some more focus. I’ve been thinking about the role of drugs and drinking in underground music, and how they can hold people back sometimes. Maybe I’m turning into a massive square, idk, but wanted to see what your thoughts are on all that?

L: That’s no big secret anyway, no sweat dude haha. Without putting myself too on show either, life and loss took a major toll on me starting from 2020 for a 3-year cycle of shit after shart (on top of the virus-times fucking with the whole world too).

I leaned way too hard into drugs and alcohol as a textbook coping mechanism. The accident was the straw that literally broke the camel’s back and was my “finding god” moment or however the story usually goes. I still love the odd bender but I like myself a lot more again lately.

Filming/editing  and music naturally drew me in and has definitely given me a solid purpose again and I feel like I’m contributing to the community again, rather than just taking from it. I don’t view it as being square, just being smarter and realising when the party’s over.

A million people have said it better than me over the years, but these sorts of outcast safe-havens, such as hardcore and the likes, can be the best or worst influence on you when it comes to your sense of self control or sobriety – it’s up to you how you handle it. Enjoy your life and explore your mind – just don’t lose it!

BH: I want to talk about graffiti. There's a type of discipline that you can learn from doing graffiti. And that discipline is probably something that the sort of people who do graffiti wouldn’t pick up in school or work. I.e. graf heads are usually the naughty disruptive kids who are total knuckleheads. I wanted to ask what life lessons you’ve learnt from graffiti and how you’ve applied them to other aspects of your life?

L: It’s a universal type of person, I believe. Certain people are just attracted to it from a young age – that was the case for me. It’s part of your DNA if you truly appreciate the medium.

I don’t claim to be a writer these days, but I love doing the odd piece when I find the time. It’s a meditative practice to me (anything large scale aerosol-based really). Nothing matters other than focus and flow during a piece, and it’s serene. I get a lot of my deep thinking done during that time and conjure up a lot of ideas applied elsewhere.

The repetition and competitiveness of it definitely lays the foundations for a solid work ethic and drive. Graff and the punk umbrella taught me to be resourceful with whatever I had at my disposal (and how to get more ha). It’s no wonder it’s so present in music – a real symbiosis in a way.

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BH: I think there’s a sort of generation gap with younger heads being totally comfortable with video and being filmed etc and older heads being more awkward or self-conscious, maybe? In your experience, does this come into play much? Do you have any insight into how different ages approach and interact with the film medium, the youtubes and the internet?

L: I agree. I’ve heard mixed things on the subject from all brackets on the age spectrum of this sort of music. The kids go off for it and it’s a fast-paced, social media age and I accept that (I still refuse to do a tick-tock or whatever the next iteration will be).

I’ve had a few older dudes request to not be filmed and I respect their wishes too. Each to their own. For the most part, I think the masses are all adapting to the times and realising that’s sort of the best way to promote live music at the moment. 

I’m a big fan of the music video for any band of any genre, especially something out of the box and cinematic. Adds so much more to the feeling a song already gives when curated properly to suit.

It’s early days of growing my YouTube channel and to be honest, I wasn’t much of an ‘internet guy’ outside of Instagram until this, so it’s still fairly foreign ground to me. I just love making videos and pushing my craft to help shed more light on our cities’ resurrected scenes.

It was so much harder to access a lot of music or know what was happening in other chapters around the globe when I was younger, I know you understand that. It feels good to contribute to a new generation’s exposure to something that might appeal to them the way it did to me.

BH: What’s in the works for you? Any last words? Is Brisbane-Nambour-Gold Coast the best weekend tour route in Australia right now?

L: First of all, thanks for reaching out Borg and for all you do! I’m still working round the clock trying to catch up on all the backed-up editing from previous shows. Still a bunch more booked to document before the year is out too (a few really exciting ones that I can’t really say too much on yet).

Some pretty crazy opportunities with me and my camera’s presence being requested outside of Queensland (and Australia!) – more on that in time. From the other side of the lens, I may return to butcher the mic with some other heads again in the near future too. 

As for the SEQ tour route – damn right! Don’t take my word for it though, go to a show in those and your own towns, start a band, buy a camera, make a zine. Do something, everyone has their place!

Thanks to yourself (Bad Habit Records), Anti-Vision, Team Glasses Records, World Rot and Vinnie’s Dive/Records for always putting me on too!
Peace.
Liam.

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