With Roadmap to Redemption, Mobile displays the same undeniable chemistry and deft songwriting chops that propelled them to prominence in their original career from 2002-2015. This time out, however, the original four-piece band (frontman Mat Joly, guitarists Christian Brais and Frank Williamson, and drummer Pierre-Marc Hamelin) have an entirely new perspective on their partnership and the music industry.
Montreal Rocks caught up with Mat Joly to talk about the new chapter in the Mobile story.
Congratulations on the record. How does it feel to be back?
I’ve been waiting for a long time, to be honest. I mean, it’s been in the process for a number of years. The thing is we got caught in the pandemic too, so it slowed things down. But I mean, it’s great. Finally, I never thought at some point I’d ever release another record in my life. So that’s a great accomplishment. And I’m proud of this album. It’s really cool.
And so you should be like, after all this time, a lot of people might be a little bit unsure of what to expect from you guys, but this album sounds massive. It sounds really vibrant and really current. It doesn’t sound like a band that’s lost its edge at all.
Well, thank you. I appreciate it.
Roadmap to Redemption – shall we say it’s been a long road?
It’s been a long road, indeed. I mean Well, you know, because we had different phases with the band. Obviously, when we started we were younger and we had a good ride. I mean, if you think about it, we won the show back in 2001. And that was a big thing for us. You know, that was probably the start of it all. And then after that, when we won that contest, we realized it was gonna be a lot tougher than we expected. You know, to reach the National League as far as being a professional band and make a career out of this.
We moved to Toronto in 2003 and then cuz we were told, listen, you guys are a good band, but you need a story. What’s Mobile? You know? And, fair enough, back then we had some good songs, but I think something was lacking. And when we moved to Toronto, we regrouped and we lived together in a two-bedroom apartment, and we had one goal, and obviously things were different back then, but we signed a record deal, a big worldwide record deal. And we were able to tour the world and have a great time. And we were part of the changes in the music industry so that was challenging, but I look at I look back fondly and I’m glad that we are able to do that. I’m glad we’re still here today.
So before we get onto this new chapter, when you look back, what are the standouts? What are the pinch-me moments from when you were touring?
Oh, there’s a few obviously, you know, the night we signed our record deal, cuz we did a lot of showcases in New York for record labels and back then we were living in our manager’s basement cuz we ran out of money when we used to live together in an apartment in Toronto. And then I called my manager and we were like, maybe we’re gonna have to move back to Montreal, but we needed to sign the deal, right?
And we were so close, and we had a lot of interest from major labels back then. That was really exciting cuz you know, that was my dream. I knew how the industry worked and it’s pretty impressive when you have Epic Records and Atlantic and all those guys interested in you.
When we signed the record deal, we were in Toronto, and we had like everybody from the label. We had our lawyer, and everybody was there, and we played that showcase. And we were sitting in a restaurant and the guy from Interscope Records walked into the restaurant, and my manager said like, man, that’s it. We’re signed with Interscope. And the guy said, “Welcome to Interscope Records.” And it was surreal, you know, it was like, oh my God, this is happening. And that was a great moment, but probably my favourite of all is when we toured with Chris Cornell in 2008.
We ended up touring with him and obviously, he was one of my musical heroes, you know, I always loved Soundgarden, huge fan. And we ended up touring with him and I ended up singing with him. That was even better. That was wow! Probably the best time ever, you know, because it’s a dream come true. You never know what’s gonna happen, right? We were touring with him, but he was not around a lot. He was there for the show but was never there for sound checks and stuff like that.
And I ended up sound-checking with this band. They were kind enough to let me sing a few songs and that was enough for me. But at some point the drummer, we became really good friends and he said listen, I’m gonna ask Chris. Chris likes your band and I’m gonna ask him if you could come and sing Hunger Strike with us. That Temple of the Dog track that I love. I ended up singing the song with him. To this day when I watch the video, it’s tough to realize that it’s me up there doing it. And it was incredible.
So did you sing Eddie Vedder’s part?
No, technically I was supposed to. I did the soundcheck, I did the parts which are not too hard to sing, and I knew the song, so I was like, ah, that’s good. But I think 15 minutes before we went on, the tour manager said, listen, I gotta talk to you. I’m like, oh, he’s not gonna blow this up. And he said well, Chris is not feeling too well. He was wondering, can you sing his track? His part, and I’m like, oh man, I don’t know. This is really high. You know, I know my range. But this was a bit of a challenge and so I went and tried the song with this band backstage, like 10 minutes before we went on, and it worked, but it was really on top of my range. So I was like, oh man, I can’t screw this up. You know?
And I did it in, I think it was Hamilton the first time. And then he told me after we sang the song, he’s like, man, it was incredible. We’re gonna do this for the rest of the tour. So it was just amazing. And night after night and waiting for my moment, they would call me and be like, Matt’s gonna join us on stage. That was incredible. And I did it also for my friends and the time when we grew up together watching those bands on TV.
Well, you’re talking to somebody who actually flew to Madison Square Garden to see Temple of the Dog.
They were pretty awesome when they did that comeback thing. And I saw they played a few cool covers. I mean, they were amazing. And that record, it stood the test of time and that album is solid. And that song, man, I’m so proud I had the chance to do it.
That’s amazing. So, Let’s get back to the new music because that’s what we’re here to talk about and to celebrate the fact that you guys are back. Where did this part of your story start?
Well, it started when I left the band. 2010 I think. And it was a bit hard that time cuz it was difficult for us. We had a grant to make another record and I walked away. I had enough. I think we were a bit burnt out by everything that happened to us in the touring and, and problems with certain record companies that we signed with in the US.
We remained friends, all of the guys in the band cuz we’ve known each other for like, 35 years, even more. So we remain friends through the years. But Christian had the idea of putting the band back together. So the guys started jamming and they asked me, do you wanna come back? And I was like I don’t know man. I wasn’t sure if I want to get back into the mainstream, into music again, cuz it was tough to just get past it.
The good times were good. The bad times were bad. And so Christian convinced me in a way, he said, listen man, you know, come home and we’ll play, I’ll play some tunes. And I went to his place and he played me some demos, and I was like, man, this is too good. You know, I gotta be involved naturally.
He convinced me with the music, to be honest. And it was great cuz I mean, we still live in the same town. When we grew up, we all moved from Montreal to this suburb and Christian’s bought the house from his parents and my parents still have the house. I would go see my parents and go to his place, and it’s like going back into the past, you know, going to his house that I used to go to when I was seven years old and listening to those tunes. He played me certain songs and it was just special cuz I was like, I’m not gonna go for this unless I have a strong feeling that I have to do it. And it happened. And so we started writing. We had no plans or no agenda as far as are we gonna sign a deal, or what are we gonna do?
We just said, let’s write some songs, and at some point, I suggested that we should celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tomorrow Starts Today, our first record. Let’s put a show together and see how it feels to rehearse and, you know, the chemistry and whatnot. And we did that, and we played Montreal, sold out that show. It was just great, and I was like, okay then let’s see if we can come up with some new music and we can carry on. So we kept writing. And we wrote a lot of songs, probably 50 to 60 ideas and certain songs that are on the record. I think they were probably the best stuff we ever wrote.
So I was like, let’s do it then. And then we got involved with the manager, and things started rolling, but it was really a question of I really wanted to satisfy myself and make sure if I ever put out another record, it has to be really good, and I’m super proud of this one. I think it sounds powerful. It sounds really true, you know, and it’s great. I’m super happy about it.
So what’s next for the band?
We wanna record the band in certain situations where we’re gonna film ourselves and do some cool stuff. The thing is that it’s gonna be a bit difficult to hit the road for a long time now that we all have families and stuff like that and jobs, but to be honest, I feel like I want to go with the flow, see what’s gonna happen and what kind of reaction we’ll get, what kind of buzz we gonna create with this album.
So you know, we’ll see, but definitely, we’re gonna play a gig in Montreal on October 13th at The National, with that band from Montreal called We Are Monroe. We’re gonna play with them and hopefully, you know, play more gigs.
Watch the full interview below:
Roadmap to Redemption is out now.
Photo credit – Dominic Gouin
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