We have been fans of Quebec native Matt Lang since we were first introduced to him back in 2020 at Berlin’s Country to Country Festival. Having be scheduled to perform at that years shows in London, his UK debuted was delayed until 2022 when he closed out the Sunday nigh on the main stage at Buckle and Boots. The French Canadian released his first English-language EP in 2018, before he could speak English, and this year he will return to release his fourth – All Night Longer. To kick start 2024, Matt has already released the title track from the album and we caught up with him this week from a snow covered Quebec to find out more of what we have to look forward to from him this year.
Good afternoon Matt, Hey
How are you this New Year? Perfect
First off, we need to get you back over here! I know, it’s been a long time!
But I guess you’ve been pretty busy lately as you already have new music out for 2024 Yeah, we just released All Night Longer and it’s going pretty well so far so I’m very happy with that.
What’s it like to start a New Year being out on tour and already you are releasing new music? We have fifty shows from here to May so it’s pretty massive. We are touring a lot around Quebec at the minute before going to the rest of Canada too. It’s going to be a huge year. Have you got to play some new music during your current run? My album will be released May 9th, so we are trying the new stuff – we need to!
What made you choose All Night Longer as the first release from this project? It’s a good question! It’s a song with a good hook and it’s only the first, as I think what I will release after this is going to be even better. This is a good song but just wait for what’s to come! You’ve had quite a few Spotify playlist adds from this one which must be a huge boost. Yeah, we are on so many! We’ve got a lot of streams and a good reaction which I’m very happy about. I think this release could be crazy as we have been added to some of the biggest American and Canadian playlists. Do you see this as a chance to build your fan base outside of Quebec and push into those Nashville markets? That’s what I want. I want to be heard in the US; I want to go everywhere. A year ago, was my second time in the UK and I want to keep building that and take my music everywhere. To get on massive worldwide playlists is perfect for me. Of course, I want to go to the US as that is the home of country music.
This track and the upcoming album has been produced by Danick Dupelle. Is it good to have him on board for the project? We wrote a lot of this album together and he even plays guitar a bit - he is a very good guitar player and a good producer too! He produced all the album. We are a good team together. It’s important for me to have Danick as he’s a good coach for me, not just my music but my English too as it’s not my first language. He’s doing a great job and has been there from the start so it’s important to me to have him by my side on this record and he’s going to be there in the future too.
At the minute you are playing local shows, but you are about to go on tour with Aaron Pritchett and Cory Marks. Which came first, the single together of the decision to tour? Liquored Up! Aaron pitched me the song to see if it would go well with the tour and I said I was his man. It’s a fun song and we’ve just filmed the video which was a lot of fun. It’s just a fun song and of course I said yes when he asked.
This tour sounds like it’s going to be a hell of a show! I’m gone for almost six weeks, so it’s going to be pretty cool. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be fun
Will these be some of your biggest shows in Western Canada I don’t know how big some of the venues are, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be some big shows. It’s good for me as there’ll be lots of people who don’t know will know me after that. It’s also good for Aaron and Cory as all have fans across the country that will be coming to the shows and maybe see one of us for the first time.
With 2024 looking set to be a huge year ahead, looking back to last year you even got a CCMA nomination and the chance to perform at the awards. How was it to get recognised? It’s always fun to have a nomination and it was pretty fun to play. I’m not doing the job for that kind of thing – I’m doing my job as I like doing it and know I’m pretty lucky that I get to do this. A lot of people I’m sure would want to be in my shoes and do the same job as me! Luckily for me I’m the guy who gets to do it! I was happy to get the nomination but I think I had more fun playing on the show as I like my job and I’m not doing it for trophies. That was super fun
Was watching the show something you did when you were younger? Of course. I had the chance to meet a lot of great artists. When I was young these were the people o looked to. For example, I met Steven Tyler and Bryan Adams! I couldn’t believe it as it was a dream come true. When you’re young you watch the show and can’t imagine that one day you will be there on the show. We work hard every day for this and feel so lucky to be there and doing what I’m doing.
We can’t wait to hear more from the album before May, the countdown begins now! Thank you. Right now, we have ten tracks done so maybe we will have more tracks done but I’m working hard, so we will see if any more get added between now and May You just need to find time to record with all these shows coming up! That’s the problem now!
Thank you so much for you time Matt Hopefully I’ll see you again soon in the UK, it’s always fun to be there.