Today we’d like to introduce you to Mathias James.
Hi Mathias, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up surrounded by family and friends who loved music.
Lots of records in the house, lots of concerts – even at a very young age. I always knew I wanted to be in a band, just needed to figure out how. I took lessons on guitar, bass, violin, trombone, and trumpet, but nothing stuck so I shifted focus to what was always my strength – words and rhythms. Also, I’m a Leo, and we can only fight the need to be the center of attention for so long.
My first post-school musical performances were in 1994 with Howzwife – a West County punk band who graciously let me sing lead on a song we’d basically freestyle every time we played it. I was 18 and it was my crash course in being a frontman. It was the same time period when I started the first band I could claim as mine in a Webster Groves basement.
Depending on who you ask, we were either called Pistol Whip or William Paranoid. Stylistically, I’ll call it acid-punk. This experiment lasted less than a year and we disbanded shortly after our first show (at Bernard’s Pub on the Landing) was canceled. From there, I immediately started my next band Shotgun Lucy in 1995 – a much less aggressive, more groove-oriented brand of rock and roll that saw me introduce some rapping into my vocal approach for the first time.
Shotgun Lucy lasted a couple of years, and from there it was Jive Turkey, Art Thugs, a stint on the East Coast, my first coast-to-coast tour, and my first move to LA in 2003. I moved back home in 2004 and began a dizzying 16 year run of projects that really defined my place in the St. Louis music landscape. Core Project, Earthworms, Mathias and the Pirates, a solo record. Affiliations with The Frozen Food Section, F5 Records, Indyground, FarFetched.
Tours of the US and Europe, festivals, and stages were shared with all of my heroes – both local and otherwise. A three-year stint as co-program director and host at Riverfront Radio. It’s been a lucky life so far. I’ve seen a lot. During a great majority of that time, I was paying my bills via restaurant and bar jobs. I have done everything one can do in that world, some of which I am particularly proud of.
Maybe most of all, I am proud to have served as GM at the Shaved Duck in South City for seven years during a wild time that included an appearance on the Food Network. I transitioned into the world of craft beer in 2015 and have worked for Stone, Brooklyn Brewery, Perennial, Charleville, and 4 Hands at various times.
In early 2020, I accepted a job managing the Los Angeles market with an up-and-coming organic Hard Kombucha brewery – Flying Embers. Three weeks later, my girlfriend Sarah and I were residents of West Hollywood. What a blur. Meanwhile, Earthworms got back together (minus one), played a few shows, and started writing a new album with producer Doug Surreal.
That’ll come out on vinyl later this year so stay tuned! I also reconnected with some old friends and we (re)started a record label and music publishing company called Breakfast Music Group – with “offices” in LA, St. Louis, and Maryland. Two years and a global pandemic later, here we are.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
This road is not for the faint of heart. It is especially difficult to make a living in the music biz, and because of the flexibility a service industry schedule typically provides, many of us go that route while we try to build our creative output into something sustainable. Late nights, hard-living, takes a toll after a while!
This road is not for the faint of heart. It is especially difficult to make a living in the music biz, and because of the flexibility a service industry schedule typically provides, many of us go that route while we try to build our creative output into something sustainable. Late nights, hard-living, takes a toll after a while!
However, I wouldn’t change a thing. What a time it’s been. I think the biggest struggle is having enough time to devote to the thing you love the most, in order for it to bloom in a way that has the potential to put food on your table. We don’t make art to make money when we start, we do it because we kind of HAVE to. The universe sees to it. But if you want to “make it,” you have to really push unless you get needle-in-a-haystack lucky – a rarity indeed.
As both my music career and my beer career were advancing, it became a challenge to find the energy needed to be good at both things. I am constantly learning and I fail all the time. I’m definitely in a transitional space. I have slid into my mid 40’s all of the sudden, and one starts to wonder what he has to offer creatively that the younger generation wants – because that’s who is driving the train now.
To answer that question, I have started learning what it is to be an A&R and to help build a label while focusing my creative efforts on writing material that adapts modern energies and stylistic choices. I am also interested in writing for and with other artists. Transition is always a tricky road to travel. Mine is no exception.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a writer, a rapper, a sometimes singer, an exec producer, a kombucha rep, and a budding A&R. I am very proud of everything I have been a part of artistically, but I’m especially proud of the longevity I’ve been able to conjure without ever having a major record deal or many long stretches of total financial sustainability through art. I think the two things I am most known for are Earthworms and Mathias and the Pirates. Those two projects alone have accounted for most of the past 18 years of creative output – including eight albums, a bunch of singles, and a European tour documentary. Soon, I hope I am also known for helping other artists write great songs and win in this topsy-turvy industry.
I am a writer, a rapper, a sometimes singer, an exec producer, a kombucha rep, and a budding A&R. I am very proud of everything I have been a part of artistically, but I’m especially proud of the longevity I’ve been able to conjure without ever having a major record deal or many long stretches of total financial sustainability through art. I think the two things I am most known for are Earthworms and Mathias and the Pirates. Those two projects alone have accounted for most of the past 18 years of creative output – including eight albums, a bunch of singles, and a European tour documentary. Soon, I hope I am also known for helping other artists write great songs and win in this topsy-turvy industry.
The pandemic forced us all to take a big, thousand-yard look at things. I took the opportunity to write a blog (mathiasjames.com), make a few beats, do a lot of hiking around LA and focus on developing a new path with my cohorts at Breakfast Music Group. I wouldn’t want to be going through the fire with anyone else at this exact moment in time.
I see my career as a brand builder in the alcohol space and my career in the music industry as one thing now. They are going hand in hand as a fluid, breathing entity and they are helping each other progress. It’s extremely special to be a part of the machine propelling Flying Embers to the insane heights we’re already reaching.
The growth I’ve been party to in the past two years is staggering. It’s the honor of a lifetime to be trusted to handle the largest and most competitive market in the country – which happens to be the brewery’s backyard. This experience will only make me a better A&R and producer.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Well, I’m stubborn as all get out – a double-edged sword to be sure. It’s the reason I push and succeed, and it’s often the reason I don’t succeed. I’m just trying to be real here. Sometimes you’ll work extremely hard on something and not nearly the amount of people who you thought would care actually do – or a thing you poured over endlessly didn’t bring with it the new standard of artistic expression you thought you’d nailed.As stinging as these experiences can be, I always try to take something from them and leave with my power intact and my best intentions forward. I’ve played to crowds of 25 and 25,000 in the same month. I’ve had weeks where it feels like I can’t get anything tangible accomplished in the beverage trade, followed by weeks where I feel like a sorcerer out here. It’s about keeping a level head and not letting emotional extremes be the rule.
Well, I’m stubborn as all get out – a double-edged sword to be sure. It’s the reason I push and succeed, and it’s often the reason I don’t succeed. I’m just trying to be real here. Sometimes you’ll work extremely hard on something and not nearly the amount of people who you thought would care actually do – or a thing you poured over endlessly didn’t bring with it the new standard of artistic expression you thought you’d nailed.As stinging as these experiences can be, I always try to take something from them and leave with my power intact and my best intentions forward. I’ve played to crowds of 25 and 25,000 in the same month. I’ve had weeks where it feels like I can’t get anything tangible accomplished in the beverage trade, followed by weeks where I feel like a sorcerer out here. It’s about keeping a level head and not letting emotional extremes be the rule.
Eyes on the prize and such. Truly, it’s about following the oldest pieces of advice in your grandfather’s arsenal and being your genuine, unabashed self. If anything sets me apart from others, it’s my unwillingness to quit when a lot of people do, and my determination (for better or worse) to crack the f*cking code.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://breakfastmusicgroup.com — https://www.flyingembers.com
- Instagram: @stlpirate, @earthwrms, @mathiasandthepirates, @flyingembersbrew, and @breakfastkilla
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthwormsSTL — https://www.facebook.com/piratesstl — https://www.facebook.com/breakfastrecords
- Twitter: @mathiasjamez, @earthwrms, and @mathiasandthepirates
- Other: https://ewms.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
Ed Aller, Sarah Stallmann, Eric Nemens, Matthew Fournier, Jim Mahfood, and Sam McConnell
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