Triple Take 26: Matthew Mayfield

It’s easy to make the case that Matthew Mayfield is a darling of the Birmingham music scene. He’s certainly paid his dues, with The Stewart Mayfield Project, Moses Mayfield, on his own and with his side project, Blue Cut Robbery. The decade-plus he’s spent as part of and a champion of the local music scene has seen Mayfield … Continue reading Triple Take 26: Matthew Mayfield

It’s easy to make the case that Matthew Mayfield is a darling of the Birmingham music scene. He’s certainly paid his dues, with The Stewart Mayfield Project, Moses Mayfield, on his own and with his side project, Blue Cut Robbery.

The decade-plus he’s spent as part of and a champion of the local music scene has seen Mayfield release a lot of music–more than 150 tracks, he says–and cover a lot of musical territory. But Mayfield has always pointed to Guns N’ Roses as an influence–and he shares why on the latest episode of Triple Take.

On each episode, we talk about the books, albums and films that shape us. Mayfield traced rock ‘n’ roll through each of his picks: “Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in North Dakota” by Chuck Klosterman, GNR’s “Appetite for Destruction” and the modern-day western “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” Listen to Mayfield’s explanation for each pick, then see if you can pick up on the influences on his latest album, “Recoil.”

On “Fargo Rock City” by Chuck Klosterman:

“Klosterman has a really interesting perspective. He can admit how much of a nerd he is, and that really helped me be like, dude, all of us who are rock and roll fans, especially when you’re a diehard, you’re a nerd, man. There’s nothing cool about being a fan boy or a fan girl. There’s nothing cool about that. But everybody’s got something like that. Even the coolest people in the world would geek out around certain people.”

Read the article we mention by a woman geeking out about Klosterman at Minnesota Daily.

On Guns N’ Roses “Appetite for Destruction”:

“They also had a danger to them that no other band had, and the danger was what sucked all of us in. You could see straight through Poison and you could see straight through some of even the older Motley Crue stuff. You didn’t see a band that was living the songs.”

On “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”:

“I definitely related to Jesse’s character in the movie because he’s the frontman of his operation. He sort of has to be in charge of the James boys. He has to be in charge of his new little clan, with Robert being part of that. Being a leader of a band, there is a similarity, and having been a leader of a band and everything I’ve done, at times you do have to be harsh, and there’s scenes when he’s super harsh. At times you have to be gentle. At times you have to navigate your family and your friends. You have to figure out all these pieces to the puzzle. I think all of that is essentially what drove him insane.”

Like what you hear? Open iTunes or the podcast app on your iPhone and search Triple Take to subscribe, or do the same in the podcast subscription service of your choice. We’ll release new episodes every week. We also love suggestions for future guests, which you can make in the comments below.