What is your names?
Matt Lang
What is your genre of music?
Country
Give us a little bio about you.
It’s hard to believe that less than 3 years ago when Matt Lang made his way to Nashville to record his first English-language album, he didn’t speak a word of English. Produced by Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive) that debut EP Matt Lang stayed at #1 on the Canadian Country Albums chart for multiple weeks in the fall of 2019. By that time, Matt was mastering the English language at a rapid rate and is now all but fluent. The self-titled EP has now exceeded 9.1 million streams to date. Proudly from Maniwaki, Québec, Lang has always wanted to bring Nashville to Québec, as well as making his mark across Canada and around the world. From 2018 to 2021, he has performed hundreds of live shows in English to ever-growing crowds, now often sold-out. Matt and his band opened for Tebey on ‘The Good Ones’ tour in Ontario and Western Canada early last year, and they performed their first European shows in March 2020 at the prestigious C2C Festival in Berlin. He was also due to perform four shows at C2C London at the O2 Arena, before COVID-19 forced him and his band to return home early. In 2019 shortly after signing to the newly formed label Jayward Artist Group, Matt won the national SiriusXM Top of the Country competition, leading to two showcase performances including at Canada’s largest country festival Boots & Hearts, in Ontario, and an appearance on the live CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association) Awards national TV Broadcast. 2019 also saw Matt taking home three awards at Québec’s Country Gala, SOCAN’s Country Music Prize and his first prestigious ADISQ nomination for English album of the year. Lang delivered his second English album, More, in June 2020 to the excitement of fans and industry alike. Upon release, the album debuted at #1 on both the iTunes all genre chart and the iTunes country album chart, and became the #1 selling album in Québec, and the #3 selling album in Canada (Nielsen). More has already yielded three hit singles and videos to date. The first, ‘Water Down The Whiskey,’ achieved Top 20 at Canadian country radio, and soared past 2.3 million streams. ‘Getcha,’ was Lang’s first Top 5 radio single in the fall of 2020 and has over 2 million streams to date. Third single ‘Only a Woman,’ also secured a Top 15 peak on Canadian country radio charts as well as a Top 10 position on the Billboard Emerging Canadian Artist chart this spring and pulled in another 2 million streams. In all, More has totalled over 10 million streams worldwide to date, and is continuing to reach new listeners every day. Accolades for Matt’s music continued in 2020 with another Gala Country award for Live Show of the Year (English) and a nomination for a 2020 ADISQ award in the same category. He also received his first national CCMA Nomination for Rising Star of the Year. Matt Lang is signed to Jayward Artist Group Inc, a partnership with The Orchard and Sony Music Canada. He is represented by Preste Agency in Canada and United Talent Agency internationally.
What made you go into music?
I started playing drums and guitar as a kid. I come from a musical family so music has always been part of my life. I then worked at a radio station in my hometown Maniwaki and it made me want to pursue it professionally.
Who are your influences?
I’m very inspired by old school country such as Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Cash and Buck Owens.
You released your new single ‘In A Bar’, tell us more about the single. / What is the meaning behind the single?
We released this song when bars were opening up again, so it took a different meaning than when we recorded it. To me this song is about getting together with your friends at the bar and having a good time. It’s been a long year and it feels good to get back out there.
What was the writing and recording process like?
I wrote this song with Danick Dupelle and Tebey in Nashville 2 years ago. We wanted a feel good, party song. The album is very festive and I wanted songs that people could sing along to at our concerts so we’re super happy to finally be able to perform it live.
Describe the track in two words.
Party anthem
Who did you work with on the song?
Danick Dupelle produced the track as well as my 2 albums and we wrote this one with Tebey.
For the music video, we included the band and some of my buddies and my dad. It makes it even more special to have them all in it.
What else can we expect in 2021?
Shows are coming back so our goal is to perform as much as we can, at as many places possible. We’ve missed it so much.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
I want to keep touring, travel the world with my music, release another album. My biggest dream would be to play the Grand Ole Opry one day.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
In French, we use the phrase Rien n’arrive pour rien, which means everything happens for a reason.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
I never forget to introduce my band… I always take a shot of whiskey with the staff from the venue…I always make time to go see the fans after the show…I always have a piece of jewellery from my grandmother on me… and I never forget to have a good time and live in the moment.
Do you have social media for fans to follow you?
Yes, below
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter