Hey guys, so I'm here in the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester because I've been invited down to interview the awesome Matt McJunkins,

who's bass player for a slew of awesome bands, the Eagles of Death Metal, Ash's Divide, he's here tonight with a perfect circle,

and we're going to be talking about how he got into the bass, his experience at Musicians Institute when he was there as a student, how he got

the gigs with all the awesome bands, his gear and a ton of other stuff as well. So without further

ado, let's get into the interview. Hey guys, so I'm here with the amazing Matt McJunkins, who has been cool enough to, amazing Matt, has been cool enough to come and hang out with this here in Manchester. He's on tour with a perfect circle, but you've obviously done Ashes Divor. True story. Ashes Divide, Eagles of Death Metal. You've got your own project that we're going to talk about later called the Batamacy. But before you even got into any of this, how did you even find the base? Was it always the bass? The bass?

Oh shit.

Was the bass like a second choice?

Were you like a guitar played start?

No, I wasn't a failed guitar player turning into.

I can joke about it, but I was.

But I could have. Well now I'm a shitty guitar player who started on bass and tries to learn how to play guitar.

I started on drums. My older brother, Eric, plays drums. And so when I was a kid, I don't know, just always had music around.

But your parents' musical, I know.

My parents didn't play music, but I had an uncle who was playing drums.

I think that's where my brother started, sort of messing around with his drums in the garage and stuff.

Or in the machine shop, actually.

Anyway, so yeah, so he kind of got a taste for it and then at some point he just i don't know he just started getting in playing drums yeah in school like in middle school maybe and uh so anyway he he was playing drum you know like all the all the band stuff so like marching band and yeah yeah Wind the symphonic, you know, orchestral band stuff, as well as all the marching stuff. And so, I don't know, I was kind of around it a lot through him. Yeah. I think it was like, maybe my, I don't know, like around 10 years old or something. I got like a drum pad, some sticks. So he was playing, they would just, like, give me some of the game. Yeah, yeah, that's fun. And did you do the marching band and all that as well? Yeah, so, yeah, I got into that. Obviously, I was able to get lessons from him, our buddy, Andy Fraga. He was an amazing drummer out in Palm Springs. So I grew up the Palm Springs.

So, yeah.

So just...

In Florida.

There is a Palm Springs of Florida.

My geography is terrible.

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