The folk-rock band just released “On the Northline,” its first release since 2017, with several Michigan shows on tap. The revealing Local Spins interview with songwriter Matthew Milia.
Playing Grand Rapids, Three Oaks, Ann Arbor, Lansing: Frontier Ruckus is on the road this spring. (Courtesy Photo)
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Formed in 2003, Metro Detroit’s Frontier Ruckus just released its seventh studio album, “On the Northline,” once again building on its eclectic blend of jangly pop, folk, alt-country, Americana and rock.
RootsnRevelry.com wrote that the new recording “satisfies fans’ expectations, reminiscent of classic Frontier Ruckus,” while Americana Highways notes the album features “a lot of relatable nostalgia … accompanied with intriguing and innovative instrumental arrangements.”
Frontier Ruckus is promoting the new album during a spring Michigan tour that plays The Acorn in Three Oaks at 8 p.m. Friday (March 29) with tickets — $30-$55 — available online here.
The band then plays The Ark in Ann Arbor on April 13, Midtown in Grand Rapids on April 19 and Grewal Hall at 224 in Lansing on April 27. Following that, the band tours the United Kingdom in May.
Local Spins writer Enrique Olmos recently interviewed frontman and songwriter Matthew Milia about his dramatic life changes over the past seven years, the band’s new music and touring, and the special relationship with his longtime bandmates.
Enrique Olmos: Matthew, how have you been? Saw that y’all recently bought a house.
Matthew Milia: We did. We bought our dream house in northwest Detroit.
Enrique: You have one of those universally coveted, mid-century-modern reclining chairs with the matching door rest, right?
Matthew: Yes, an authentic 1976 Teamster Eames chair, that I spent way too much money on.
The New Album
Enrique: I bet you did.
Matthew: I bought it from a friend’s dad who had it in his basement. They were made on the west side of the state in Grand Grand Rapids by Herman Miller. I paid half of what it’s worth but it was still a lot of money.
Enrique: Consider it an investment. They’re beautiful chairs. How’s the advertising game these days?
Matthew: I’m at Leo Burnett now and I exclusively work on Cadillac. So if you see a Cadillac commercial on TV, there’s a very good chance that I wrote it.
Enrique: You were in L.A. for work recently and posted an Instagram story of this wild looking soundstage with an LED wall. How was that experience?
Matthew: That was my first time working on a set with an LED wall, which is what they use to shoot blockbuster productions like Marvel movies. You can literally make the background whatever you imagine. And by the time it hits the TV screen, you can’t tell. I mean, if it’s done really well and looks very photorealistic.
Enrique: Tell me about the new full length record that Frontier Ruckus is releasing this year. It’s been seven years since the last one.
Matthew: Yeah, it’s been a long time in the making. I think for a lot of people, the last seven years are an amorphous blob of time where I’m now in my late 30s and my priorities are shifting drastically. I wrote half of the songs before I met Lauren, the love of my life. They had that classic lonesome, existential, Frontier Ruckus feel.
VIDEO: Frontier Ruckus, “Magdalene (That’s Not Your Name)”
Enrique: Then you met Lauren and things changed?
Matthew: I was a different person before. That’s what real love is. It transforms you. I started writing the truest, most unadulterated love songs I’d ever written. I had just met Laura and was trying to put into words how lucky I felt. Trying to capture my disbelief. So yeah, looking back, there’s a diaristic element for the record, that documents that pivot in my life beautifully.
Enrique: How would you describe real love?
Matthew: So many things have to be firing on all cylinders. I didn’t have any doubt in my mind when I met Lauren. Our first date was in February 2017, the same month that our last record came out. Our third date was our record-release show at The Loving Touch (in Ferndale). But then I left for a three-month tour in Europe and I was freaking out about how much I missed this person. Which was different than anything I’ve ever felt before. By the time I hit Scotland, we made it official. I was like, I can’t f–k around with this. I was really anxious about the whole thing.
Enrique: So you just knew. There were no reservations in your mind?
Matthew: Yeah, I knew immediately. Maybe it’s some kind of biochemical compatibility or something. I had a pretty robust bachelorship in my 20s. By the time I met Lauren, I was like, I’ve never had anything even resembling this feeling.
Boasting Their Own Coffee Roast: Frontier Ruckus (Courtesy Photo)
Enrique: Noticed you’ve been playing more piano.
Matthew: Lately, I find myself sitting at that piano in our home. I’m not a very good piano player. So I’m leaning into the simplicity and innocence of those restrictions.
Sometimes I think restrictions are freeing. I wrote different songs on piano than I would ever write on guitar. And they’re simpler by nature.
Enrique: You’re also a new father. In what ways has that experience shaped your life?
Matthew: My son is the second true love of my life. It’s everything everyone says it is. I mean, it’s full of challenges. Lauren’s like the best mom in the world. We’re both learning how hard it is. And I mean, that’s what makes it worth it.
Enrique: Has fatherhood changed the way you see the world?
Matthew: Definitely. It’s continued my mellowing out. I don’t know. I can be neurotic. So to care about someone else more than myself has been the biggest change. nRegarding my own being now, I’m almost incidental. I care about this little guy more than myself and I tell him that every day. He doesn’t really understand words. But I say things like, “You’re the light of my life.” I think that there’s a sacrificial kind of element to parenthood. That is the purest form of love.
Enrique: That’s absolutely beautiful. So, Frontier Ruckus has an official coffee roast now. Why get into the coffee game as a band?
Matthew: Nothing signals middle age like coffee brands. But we’re very stoked to do it. I love their coffee.
Enrique: What else do you have planned in support of the record?
Matthew: (After a late February release show at The Loving Touch), we’re playing in Traverse City, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor. (Following those dates, the band tours the United Kingdom in May.) But touring is not our priority at this point. I mean, now when I go to Los Angeles, I’m in a nice hotel on someone else’s dime. Not crashing on a friend’s floor. So it’s hard to go back.
Enrique: So what is the priority for Frontier Ruckus these days?
Matthew: Writing songs and recording them continues to be my favorite part of the process. And I’m so grateful for the balance I have in my life now that allows me those channels. My songs are often these diaristic checkpoints in my life. They say journaling every day is really healthy, that it gives some structure to the nebulous nature of consciousness. It’s like that, tenfold looking back on each record. I know exactly where I was and what I was feeling and who I was.
Enrique: Musicians typically take a lot of pride in expressing themselves in what they were and how they wear it. You’re a stylish fella and I suspect you choose your clothes with intention. What do you look for when shopping for a new wardrobe piece?
Matthew: I definitely think I air towards this Ivy League, kind of prep school classic American look. I like British shoes, like Park Wallabies or desert boots or rugby shirts. I did go to an all male Catholic school. So I can’t really veer too far from that aesthetically. We’re doing a photo shoot for the cover of Metro Times tomorrow. And tweed is always a standby.
Enrique: What’s your relationship with your bandmates like after all these years?
Matthew: Well, I mean, I love them as people. They’re the closest brothers that I have. So if I didn’t have that, they could be the best musicians in the world and they wouldn’t get very far. They know me, they respect me as a songwriter. For me, that’s really reciprocal mutual love. There’s like a telepathic kind of chemistry.
Enrique: If you could put anything on a billboard what would it be?
Matthew: My mantra, which is: “The universal resides within the particular thing like specificity, specificity, specificity.” I feel like the more particularly specific you are, the more somehow that universal comes across.
Enrique: What was the last movie you watched?
Matthew: I saw the new Indiana Jones movie on the plane to Los Angeles. And then that night, I was taken out to dinner at a really fancy restaurant. And guess what? We’re getting dinner, and Harrison Ford was having dinner a couple tables away.
VIDEO: Frontier Ruckus, “I’m Not the Boy”
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