By Will Sprott

Photos by Joe Brook

Ray Barbee is well known as one of smoothest rippers to ever shred the plank. He’s been pro for twenty years and is still going strong. Perhaps less known is his growing reputation as fleet-fingered guitar wizard. Between his solo records and his collaborations he’s amassed quite a catalog of instrumental goodness. His jazzy sound is hard to pigeonhole and evolves with each release, but much like his skating it seems to flow from him with an effortless grace and will always put a smile on your grill piece.

His latest release is a collaboration between himself and the Mattson 2 appropriately titled Ray Barbee Meets the Mattson 2. The Mattson 2 are a guitar-and-drums duo consisting of the immensely talented twin brothers Jared and Jonathan Mattson. At the young age of twenty-three the Mattsons have already accomplished a great deal on their own, from touring the world many times over to releasing their own debut solo effort earlier this year Introducing the Mattson 2. Produced by Galaxia records co-owner/painter/photographer/filmmaker Thomas Campbell and performed together with the help of a flock of other musicians including Money Mark of the Beastie Boys and label mate Tommy Guerrero, Ray and the Mattsons have created a beautiful record well worth treating your eardrums to.

Part I: Ray Barbee

Will: So Ray, you’ve released a lot of music now: Two solo records, and two records with Tommy Guerrero, Matt Rodriguez and Chuck Treece as the BLKtop Project, but this is the first one you’ve done with the Mattson 2. Tell me about the Mattson 2.

Ray: We’re both on the same label, Galaxia, and when I first met those guys through Thomas Campbell we started playing art shows where we were both on the bill doing our separate things. We always said it’d be fun to get together and play some music. A few years later I had an opportunity to play two nights with my friend Ikey Owens who has his own band called Free Moral Agents. He had lined up two shows at a bookstore down in Long Beach. I didn’t want to do the same thing both nights so I called the twins and asked them if they wanted to do something⎯you know, maybe put a set together and play the second night. So they came out. I had a practice place down in San Pedro. They came out on a Saturday and we spent about four hours or so and put a set together. We just had so much fun, both that initial time practicing and then after the show. I remember calling Thomas Campbell after and saying how excited we were and just saying, “Man, let’s record this!” It’s one thing to say, “We should get together and play some time.” It’s another thing when you do get together and it feels like you’ve always played together.

Will: On your earlier records you did a lot of multi-track recording where you recorded most of the instrumentation yourself but this one was more of a live situation. How was that for you?

Ray: Great! I had done my first two albums⎯there was an EP called Triumphant Procession and then a full length called In Full View⎯and really the EP, which came first, that all came about because of how busy I was skateboarding and also where I lived at the time. I lived inland in Corona, CA and a lot of my friends that I played music with were closer to the water, living in Huntington. We used to be in a band called Cold Water Crane but the skateboard schedule got really busy and those guys were starting to get more serious so it just made sense for me to not be in the band so they could keep pressing on and I could be traveling. But I still had a desire to play music and I had a friend, her name is Monet, and she used to be married to the Arabian Prince from N.W.A. They had gotten a divorce, but from that relationship she had a lot of ‘80s recording equipment. She used to sing also so they had a little home recording set up.
She let me borrow a little Tascam 4-track. When I got that I started noodling around with guitar ideas and then adding things to them. I remember I’d borrow a drum machine from a friend or a drum kit or a xylophone or a bass and kind of start adding to it. Before I knew I had a few songs that I’d mix down to a tape and then send them to friends⎯just kind of like, “Hey, look what I’ve been messing around doing.” I sent one to Tommy Guerrero and he passed it on to Thomas [Campbell] and that’s kind of how that got started.

Will: You’ve mentioned Thomas Campbell a few times. He’s the co-owner of Galaxia and also the producer of this record. What kind of role did he play as producer?

Ray: He played a huge role and a role that I welcome with open arms. You know, I’ve never worked with a producer. It’s always been just me, so I think it was really healthy to have an outside opinion. When I say outside I mean outside from us three⎯the guys that are doing it⎯because you can get caught up in the excitement of what your doing and a lot of times not be able to listen to it from an outside, judgmental kind of way. So it was really neat to have Thomas’ input⎯especially him not being a musician, but being such a music lover. I feel like musicians are plagued because no matter what, we’ll never hear music the same. We’ll never hear it like we did before we picked up an instrument. Once you pick up an instrument, just by the very nature of doing that, you start hearing things differently. It’s really hard to just go back and listen to the whole thing for what it’s doing so it’s neat to have somebody who can do that.

Will: What attracts you to instrumental music?

Ray: A voice is such a… you either have it or you don’t. Even if you can sing on pitch it doesn’t mean that the tonality of your voice will be pleasing and I just didn’t have it. I went through a period where I was just over lyrics. There were so many cool songs that I dug but lyrics would just kind of annoy me. I went through a period where I just listened to a lot of instrumental music. I got turned onto Tortoise around that time and listened to a lot of jazz around then. For me it felt natural. When I recorded music I wasn’t even thinking about putting vocals on it. I was more thinking about what’s going to create interest with the arrangements. So I just kind of gravitated out of necessity.

Will: One thing you were mentioning earlier, before we started this interview, was that since the economy is all messed up you’re happy to be sort of landlocked at

home and get some things done around there and be with your family. There’s not as much travel budget money in the skate industry right now so people are staying home more. A lot of musicians, when they’re starting out, they really want to get out at the road- but you’ve had a lifetime of traveling already as a pro skater. I was just wondering what your take on traveling as a musician is.

Ray: Man I still love to travel. But I’m married and I have two kids so those long tours and things⎯I try to not be on the road for more than a couple weeks now. Now I enjoy it in more bite-size portions, rather than the full feast kind of thing. I think one positive thing with the bad economy is the opportunity to get a lot of stuff done at home and not have too many trips required of you. I’ve definitely been enjoying that because I feel like the last three years have been really, really busy. Especially in the summer, the summers just really get heavy with the skate camps and the various things that I’m a part of.

Will: You’ve gone to Japan I don’t know how many times to play music, and you’re just about to go again. What do you think the particular attraction Japanese people have to your music is?

Ray: I have no idea man [laughs]. One thing I do really enjoy about Japan⎯and a lot of Europe for that matter⎯they don’t need the radio to dictate to them what to like. I think they’re way more open to just listening to things and really just being able to decide for themselves what they like. I feel like here if it’s not hyped⎯if it’s not on the radio stations or MTV or whatever then I think people kind of disregard it as not legit or something. Japan doesn’t really have those kind of hang-ups.
I realize too, that there’s a big interest towards the culture that I come from⎯that being skateboarding⎯and all of the different things that come from the community of skateboarders, whether it be the art, or whether it be Thomas doing the film making. I think they just dig it all so it’s kind of by association also, you know? It’s all part of a bigger community, whether it be the Beautiful Losers, or Tommy Guerrero’s music, or the twins’ music, or what you guys are doing with the Mumlers. I don’t know, I’m just proud of this community and this culture. Everybody’s so talented and creative and the cool thing is Japan gets it.

Will: Are your kids old enough to be interested in music yet?

Ray: Yeah. My oldest, Nolan, he’s seven, and my youngest, Maxwell, he’s going to be three in September. Nolan’s taking piano lessons and Guitar Hero, oddly enough, has really helped him to get his coordination and rhythm in his hands. I’m psyched on Guitar Hero for that reason. It’s kind of a glorified air guitar. So yeah, he’s into music and Max, yeah, he loves music. If the keyboard’s on he’s banging on it or sometimes I’ll have the drum kit set up in the house and they have a great time.

Part II: The Mattson 2

Will: Do you guys skate?

Jonathan: Yeah. I grew up really into skating. We were super into the Zero team. Jamie Thomas actually lived across the street from us. That’s what got our brother Micah’s skate career going. So we were kind of raised by skateboarding.

Will: Your brother being a skateboarder has played a big part in where your musical path has gone…

Jonathan: Definitely. Through Micah is how we met Thomas [Campbell].

Jared: Thomas was shooting photos of Micah for skateboard magazines. And now we’re doing all this work with Thomas.

Will: You’re twin brothers. At some point in their lives a lot of musicians have this idea that runs through their mind: I wish I had a twin brother so he could go play drums right now while I figure out this guitar part… Do you guys ever wish you were quadruplets?

[Both laugh]Jared: Hell yeah! I never actually thought of quadruplets. I’ve thought of triplets though.

Jonathan: How rad would that be to have a bass player? A triplet bass player.

Jared: We’d probably call ourselves Super Mattson.

Will: There have been a lot of bands through the years with twins in them. What are some of your favorites?

Jonathan: Well, they’re not really a band but Nels Cline from Wilco⎯he and his brother Alex Cline. Nels plays guitar and his brother plays drums. For some reason they’ve never recorded a duo record together. I saw them play a show in San Diego and it was incredible. They’re just total identical twins like us. That was a super big inspiration for me.

Will: What’s on the horizon for you guys?

Jared: We’re planning to record a new record by the end of the year. Next year we’re going to record with our friends from Japan, Chocolat & Akito, back with John McEntire in Chicago. It’s not set in stone but we’re also going to record either an EP or a full-length with Tommy Guerrero. We’re super stoked about that.

Will: You guys are slowly, one by one, making records with all the legendary street skaters.

Jared: [Laughs] Yeah.

How Did: Ray Barbee Meet The Mattson 2 And Other Historical Galaxia Dribble
A film by Tyler Manson