{"id":4656,"date":"2022-05-23T14:47:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T14:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/?p=4656"},"modified":"2022-05-23T14:51:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T14:51:00","slug":"blog-interview-matt-and-the-zeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/2022\/05\/23\/blog-interview-matt-and-the-zeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog interview: Matt And The Zeal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spotify Embed: Take it Slow\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/2xKWPmZm0IWcln9DmSr594?si=6a0e9876a39144a3&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Take it Slow - Matt and the Zeal (Official Video)\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h0drcTZ9y1o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">Hello Matt how are you?&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">Hey! I&#8217;m really good thank you!!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">Congratulations on the release of \u201cTake It Slow\u201d how does it feel?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">Thank you so much! It feels amazing for it to finally be out! It&#8217;s been such a long time waiting and preparing everything for it so it feels so amazing to finally be able to share something with the world!<\/span>&nbsp;<br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">What\u2019s the story behind she song?&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">The story of the song is basically about being different. It&#8217;s about when everyone is telling you to do one thing, and that thing doesn&#8217;t feel right for you, it&#8217;s OK not to do it, which is put as taking it slow getting over a girl thats broken my heart.&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">You even have a gospel choir on it, what was it like recording with them?&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">It was such an amazing experience being able to record with them, especially because we recorded the whole thing in the church that I go to! It was a real moment of favour from God because we managed to do it all virtually for free which was something that I feel so so lucky and blessed for.<\/span>&nbsp;<br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">The video looked like fun to make, what was your favourite moment from it?&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">The video for it was so much fun! We had 3 different locations to shoot, and they were all so so much fun, but my favourite bit about it is that there&#8217;s so many little inside jokes and hidden meanings in the video, in one of the scenes there&#8217;s a poster that we&#8217;ve edited so that it&#8217;s a picture of my dad which is amazing!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">Tell us about Matt And The Zeal how did it begin?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">So Matt and the Zeal is a solo project that I am just really super excited about, and the whole purpose and meaning behind it is that 1. Its my music, but everyone that enjoys it is part of the Zeal and I really want to build a community with my music and then 2. The word Zeal means &#8220;to work towards a goal with great enthusiasm&#8221; and so I really want it to be clear that I&#8217;ve got so much passion and enthusiasm for music and God and how they work together!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">What did you listen to growing up?&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong>&nbsp;<br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">The thing I listened to the most growing up was my parents music, which was basically Christian music! But as I got older I really started loving gospel, hip-hop and Soul music as well!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">You have a gospel infused flavour in your music, what inspired this?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">This is inspired by my love for God basically! I love gospel music and Christian music! And so I listen to it so much and I&#8217;m so inspired and influenced by gospel music because it has so much passion and soul!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">You have lived in different parts of the world, what\u2019s been your favourite place to stay?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">My home is Zimbabwe! That&#8217;s where I was born and thats where a massive piece of my heart is! Even if I don&#8217;t get to go there very much anymore!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">You live in Manchester, what are your three favourite things about the city?&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">The people are amazing in this city!! There&#8217;s always something to do! And I get to wind up Man utd fans &#8211; YNWA!!<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">COVID impacted the creative industry in a big way what kept you motivated?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">For me covid was actually really good for my music! Music gave me something to do during the pandemic and I fell back in love with it! So I never really needed to stay motivated because I will always create music just for the love of it!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">The last couple of years have been a time to reflect what have you learned about yourself?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">I&#8217;ve learnt what I love doing most! Which is making music!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">What new skills have you picked up?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">I think not so many new skills because I&#8217;ve been really tryna develop skills I already had which has been amazing and I think its been really useful actually, and seen alot of improvement!&nbsp;<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">What are you listening to at the moment?&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">I&#8217;m absolutely loving Samm Henshaw&#8217;s album &#8220;Untidy Soul&#8221; right now! It&#8217;s so so amazing! The lyrics and songwriting in it are some of the best I&#8217;ve heard in a long time!!<\/span><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><strong><span class=\"\">What are you looking forward to next?<\/span>&nbsp;<\/strong><br class=\"\"><br class=\"\"><span class=\"\">More music!!! More releases, more gigs, more videos! I love creating and performing and can&#8217;t wait to be doing more of it!!&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4658\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3-40x60.jpg 40w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Press-Shot-3.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Special thanks to Andy Kettle @ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.steamingkettlpr.com\">Steaming Kettle PR<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello Matt how are you?&nbsp;&nbsp;Hey! I&#8217;m really good thank you!!&nbsp;Congratulations on the release of \u201cTake It Slow\u201d how does it feel?&nbsp;Thank you so much! It feels amazing for it to finally be out! It&#8217;s been such a long time waiting and preparing everything for it so it feels so amazing to finally be able to &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191,42,118,219,129,247,176,30,185,153,142,73,150,175,162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative","category-band","category-bass","category-choir","category-drums","category-interview","category-manchester","category-music","category-neo-soul","category-percussion","category-producer","category-singer-songwriter","category-songwriter","category-soul","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4661,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4656\/revisions\/4661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}