Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Lasserre
Hi Matt, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have been playing music in bands since somewhere around 2005. I formed Pale Cremation around 2019 with a doom metal sound that was in continuation of my previous band Mournful Cries, who released the album ‘Bad Taste” in 2018. ‘Bad Taste’ was a pretty pivotal moment for me since I found out how much I enjoyed working in a professional music studio. Leaving that band was extremely hard for me and I think about the ‘what ifs’ often.
The “early” Pale Cremation sound was very grounded in Doom Metal. Two releases in particular, “Grimoire” and “Masquerade In the Violet Theatre” were very much in the vein of bands like Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Electric Wizard etc. A pummeling sound of thick slow guitar riffs with plenty of references to the darker side of life. Inspired by horror movies, darkness and death. However, I started to feel very limited with just sticking to the doom metal genre. I felt like there are so many colors and flavors that I can play around with as an artist. And there is so much more that I have to say, particularly about the world and society we live in.
Pale Cremation needed to grow. And on a personal level I had to grow and evolve as well. My journey through my music and its progression into something that I feel is always new and unique propels me to do this. I started embracing progressive, jazz, synthesizer, post-punk and new wave music a bit more than heavy metal. I asked myself “what else is out there? What can inject into my music to make it as unique as possible?” I don’t want to be complacent.
Personally, I was born in Ventura, California in 1991. While I’m not a native to Ohio I fully embrace myself as an Ohioan. It feels like home out here, the weather absolutely sucks though.
I’m currently Married to my Wife, Shaina and we have been together since 2013. We have two cats that are like our children and I live a relatively simple life. I’m a homebody at heart and prefer solitude. Solitude and isolation can sometimes be my downfall and sometimes I struggle to get out of my comfort zone.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In my 33 (almost 34) years of life I can’t say any road has been smooth. But life wouldn’t be interesting if it was.
Around 13 years old I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Managing it and living with it has been extremely challenging . And now 20 years later I am dealing with a lot of complications from the disease such as Kidney disease, vision problems, neuropathy etc. Most days are a struggle. Most days I just feel plain awful. There was a good chunk of times in my 20’s where I flat out put my disease on the back burner. I didn’t want to deal with it, I didn’t want to even think about having it. I felt that having diabetes was an absolute detriment to the very fiber of my being and who I am supposed to be as person. Being so young and having something so serious was an absolute whirlwind for me and I just was not equipped to deal with it.
Couple that with the fact that our health care system is atrocious. The amount of hoops I had to jump through just to have health insurance. The constant phone calls from medical debt collectors. The jobs that I had to work that I absolutely HATED just so I can get on their absolutely mediocre insurance. All so I could get my insulin. And there were times that I couldn’t and it would send me straight to the hospital.
From a very young age I have been keenly aware that our society, our world, is extremely messed up. I’ve often asked myself “Do I belong here? Was I even born on the right planet?” I don’t like authority, I don’t like religion, I don’t like politics, government and I especially hate money. I believe these things are an absolute detriment to the true human experience and a lot of my life has been spent shunning those things like the plague. Music has been a saving grace in world that has never made sense to me. What comforts me is that I know many people feel the same way. Many know that something isn’t right at all.
So smooth road? No. Will it ever be a smooth road? Probably not. But I’m much more equipped to deal with it than I was in the past. And when I realize many things are just simply out of our control it helps bring you into a more positive perspective.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I guess I could say I specialize and am known for playing Music. A few bands I have played in are Sleeping Sun, Scrape The Earth and Mournful Cries. Pale Cremation is the current project which I do with my friend and drummer Anders (who currently lives in Sweden as a ski instructor) we met on the internet years ago and decided to start a recording project together.
I consider myself more of a creative rather than someone who has technical musical ability. I wasn’t born with a musical ear and I had to work and learn for many years just to get where I’m at today. I can’t read music, I know some scales and chords but that is really about it. Music is just the tool that I happened to want to do art with. It could have easily been a paint brush or pencil if I applied myself in that direction. I think what clicked with me was being fortunate to have parents that listened to rock music of the 70’s and 80s’. Once my Dad showed me Kiss and Black Sabbath and my Mom played me Led Zeppelin and Van Halen it was over. Something in my brain clicked that never clicked before. A confused and conflicted kid finally found his purpose. That was absolutely huge for me.
I’m most proud of the recent Pale Cremation album “Communion [Soviet Tapes 1984]” its been by far my most successful critically and growing to be my most successful sales wise. But more importantly, its an album that I poured my heart into and I did everything I could to make a worthy piece of art. I’m not interested in making easily digestible “content” for someone to listen to for 30 seconds. But my quest for my art and being committed to doing my own thing has hurt some opportunities in the past, especially with music industry types. I rarely see eye to eye with those kind of people and have made it abundantly clear that it is my way or the highway. Nearly every aspect of Pale Cremation is DIY and I aim to keep it that way.
‘Communion’ and more importantly the title track of the album is loosely based on the Whitley Strieber book of the same name. In the book in claimed that he was abducted by extraterrestrial beings many times in his life. The book is one of the most terrifying I have ever read and it really got me thinking about strange things I have experienced in the past. But that’s a story for another time.
I don’t think anything really sets me apart from anyone else who plays music. Many people like me find solace in playing music and choose to release their art to the masses. Its a release, its a drug, its therapy and just feels like something that I have to do. My brain doesn’t shut up and music constantly plays in my head. I have to get it out.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Some people may think “oh music must be the end all be all for you” or “This must be the thing in life you love the most” and that’s not the case at all. My favorite thing in the world is hanging out with my Wife and two cats (Waffle and Doughnut, they’re my children) that’s the thing that brings me the most joy in life. Music pales in comparison to the joy that they bring me in life. In fact nearly everything pales in comparison.
Another thing would be the injection of humor I put into the music. Some songs that seem serious at first glance are actually intended to be humorous. People who know me personally know that I’m just a massive dork and I embrace it and don’t care. I’m a big video gamer and a lot of sound ideas for Pale Cremation come from video games. One of my hopes is that I can do soundtracks for video games someday.
I also enjoy cooking, yard work and building computers.
Pricing:
- My new album Communion is only $1 on bandcamp.com
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pale_cremation_music/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/palecremation543
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DoomWizard543
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/palecremation
- Other: https://palecremation.bandcamp.com
