Matt Fishel
Matt Fishel is a British singer, songwriter, musician, music producer and record label owner. He plays guitar, piano, bass and keyboards. He grew up in Nottingham in the East Midlands in the late 1990s, going on to study Music and Performing Arts at Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in the early 2000s, before moving to London, UK, where he currently lives.
Music and style
Fishel's music spans several genres including rock, punk rock and pop punk and draws on influences from modern American rock, college rock, alternative rock, indie rock and pop music. He grew up listening to Prince and Madonna and, as a teenager, discovered punk and hardcore, which inspired him to want to write songs. Fishel has cited a range of musical influences including American rock bands Jimmy Eat World, Boysetsfire, Green Day, UK rock acts Skunk Anansie. and Funeral for a Friend, as well as pop artists Prince, Madonna, Björk, Seal, Annie Lennox and Pet Shop Boys.Fishel is openly gay and he is candid and open about his sexuality in the lyrics of his songs. Themes of love, lust, sexuality and education run through his work. His songs and lyrics frequently deal with the "joys, pains and experiences of growing up as a gay teenager and young man".
British actor and writer Stephen Fry has described Fishel's music as "gloriously gay, sweetly romantic, wonderfully touching".
Career
2010–2012
In 2010, Fishel launched his own record label, Young Lust Records, which he runs from his London studio. Tired of being advised by major labels to remove all the references to other men from his songs, Fishel set up his own record label to retain artistic freedom so he would not have to compromise on his music and lyrics.Fishel's debut single "Football Song" was released worldwide by Young Lust Records on 7 June 2010, with artwork by Italian comic book illustrator Jacopo Camagni. The official music video for "Football Song" is directed by Dan Shipton and features a teenage Fishel reminiscing about a crush on the captain of the school football team, with a present-day Fishel performing the song alongside a team of dancing footballers. Although the single was officially released in June 2010, the music video was uploaded to Fishel's YouTube channel 8 months earlier in October 2009. The fictional football team in the video comprises both professional dancers and members of Stonewall F.C., Britain's first and top-ranking gay football team. Attitude magazine called the song "our 2010 World Cup Anthem" and Fishel's fan base started to grow further after Stephen Fry publicly praised the song and video on Twitter. The video for "Football Song" won the Best Video So Far award at the 2012 RightOut TV Music & Video Awards.
Fishel's second single "The First Time" was released on 7 November 2011. It was released as a three-track single, including two club remixes from Amsterdam remixer and producer Matt Pop. The official music video for "The First Time" was shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is directed by Argentinian film director Alexis Dos Santos. The video was filmed on location in Argentina and tells the story of the first kiss between two teenage boys. The boys are played by Argentinian actors Juan Gabriel Miño and Ronan Nuñez. Fishel does not appear in the video in person, but his image is displayed on one of the boys' T-shirts. Reviews for the song and its accompanying video were positive. Instinct Magazine called it "one of the most adorable music videos we've seen in a long time" and Out magazine's Jon Roth referred to the song as "an empowering soundtrack" and "A music video that will make you want to be a teenager all over again". The Sydney Star Observer called the video "stunning".
In 2012, Fishel released two further singles. The first was "Behind Closed Doors", a "driving pop-rock song" that deals with themes of homophobia and hypocrisy. Released on 9 April 2012, the song went on to win the 2012 Song of the Year award at the 2012 RightOutTV Music & Video Awards.
"Testament" was Fishel's fourth single, released on 28 May 2012. It is a fast-paced punk rock song. The official music video for "Testament" was directed by portrait photographer and visual artist Arno. The video is a mixture of live and archive footage which includes themes of "repression, tradition, marriage, religion and celebration". Fishel can be seen kissing another man in the video. Accidental Bear described "Testament" as "a song of empowerment, encourages you to raise freedom flags and celebrates falling in love...How refreshing to hear something that is more rocking and less clubby." Leo Kristoffersson of So So Gay said: "what we love about Fishel is that he is out and proud...but that he doesn't feel the need to pigeon hole himself as a 'gay singer.' 'Testament' could easily be a Green Day song, with frantic guitars, frenetic beats and a style of vocal delivery usually associated with the lead singers of the best indie bands."
2013
On 10 March 2013, Fishel released a new Lyric video for his fifth single "Radio-Friendly Pop Song". The single was officially released worldwide on 18 March 2013. The song is a comment on Fishel's experiences of the entertainment industry and of being repeatedly advised to remove any openly gay content from his work. In an interview with Blair Martin on Brisbane's Queer Radio 4ZZZ in May 2013, Fishel said that the song was a "fun, tongue-in-cheek response to certain A&R guys in major labels". The song contains elements of pop, rock and punk and includes an a cappella breakdown section. LGBT entertainment blog "The G-List Society" called "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" "our favourite track of 2013" and "the most buzz-worthy song of discography." They wrote of the song: "This catchy tune serves as a confrontational truth to mainstream music industry's hesitation to allow same-sex love songs to be promoted to the masses. The lyrics blasting status-quo are genius and the choruses are spot on. We have lived to hear many hit singles pushing the buttons of controversy; yet, we have never heard a delectable tune challenging the seemingly homophobic practices of the music industry." Jeremy Feist of Canadian magazine Xtra! said "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was "really good" and "super catchy". Rebecca Eisenberg of viral content website Upworthy called the song "pitch perfect", saying "when fires back at 2:44, I was grinning like a fool. So good!" Cate Matthews from The Huffington Post called "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" "ridiculously catchy", and said "we're supremely happy that Fishel is standing up and singing his heart out – with one caveat. We don't know how we're ever going to get his songs out of our heads."Fishel's debut album Not Thinking Straight was released internationally by Young Lust Records on 8 April 2013. The album was produced by both Fishel and UK music producer Mark Crew and contains thirteen tracks that deal with "themes and issues surrounding young gay life, relationships and experiences." Musically, it has been described as "a blend of heavy guitars, big vocal harmonies and anthemic choruses". Not Thinking Straight was released as both a physical CD and a digital download. The track listing includes the six singles "Football Song", "The First Time", "Behind Closed Doors", "Testament", "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" and "When Boy Meets Boy" plus album-only tracks "Maybe...", "Nottingham", "Seventeen Again", "Armitage Shanks ", "Alastair", "Boxer Shorts & Razor Blades" and "Boys". In the album's sleeve notes, Fishel is credited as performing 'all lead and background vocals, piano, guitars, keyboards and programming' and as the sole composer and lyricist for all 13 tracks. The artwork for Not Thinking Straight was created by San Diego comic book artist and illustrator Joe Phillips. The album cover depicts Fishel as a superhero in cartoon form, with a guitar on his back and piano keys around his hands. The words 'Superfishel Comics' and '#1 First Issue' are also written on the cover. The booklet and CD art contain eighteen original illustrations by Joe Phillips, each representing a different song and its lyrics.
On 2 June 2013, an official music video for "When Boy Meets Boy", Fishel's sixth single from Not Thinking Straight, was released on Fishel's YouTube channel. The video is an animation music video, directed and animated by Joe Phillips. Described by Out Magazine as a "cute " love story "with a superhero twist", it shows an animated version of Fishel meeting a mysterious skater boy in a bar and concludes with a superhero fight and rescue sequence. British magazine The Gay UK called it "one of the best music videos we've seen in a long time." "When Boy Meets Boy" was released internationally as a digital single the following day on 3 June 2013. The three-track bundle includes another club remix by Matt Pop and an acoustic version of the song. The single's artwork is another illustration by Joe Phillips, featuring the two lead cartoon characters from the accompanying music video.
On 30 October 2013, Fishel won another two awards at the annual RightOutTV Music & Video Awards. He picked up the 2013 award for Best Pop/Rock Video for "When Boy Meets Boy" and, for the second year running, he won the Song of the Year award, this time for "Radio-Friendly Pop Song".
In November 2013, Fishel released a cover version of Mariah Carey's 2010 Christmas hit "Oh Santa!", written by Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. The single was released worldwide via digital download on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play on 18 November 2013 as a one-track, non-album single. The artwork for the "Oh Santa!" single is another illustration by Joe Phillips. The cartoon image depicts a Christmas scene in a living room into which Santa Claus is carrying a male character, wrapped up in a bow, while another male character is asleep in a chair. A simple promo video for the song was released on Fishel's YouTube channel. While the original Mariah Carey version of the song incorporates the musical genres of urban, R&B and dance-pop, Fishel's reworking of the song is guitar-led and contains elements of pop punk, rock and pop and incorporates Christmas bells and chimes. Fishel's version keeps the same lyrics from the original version, giving the song a gay male perspective. JD Doyle of Queer Music Heritage wrote of Fishel's version: "I think it's wonderful...he wraps around it his usual perfect power pop arrangement, and of course, lyrics now become male-on-male ones…love, Love!"
In December 2013, Fishel won both the Album of the Year award and the Song of the Year award at the 2013 Co-operative Respect 'Loved By You' Awards. The awards were voted for by the public.