Paper Mill is the brand new trio featuring former Lower Than Atlantis guitarist/founding member Ben Sansom, bassist Luke Sansom and vocalist/guitarist Matt Rider. With the recent release of their debut EP, Past The West Way, the band have already been turning heads and are proving they are a force to be reckoned with. We recently caught up with Matt to find out more, including the his first musical memory, how Paper Mill formed, their influences and more.
Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your band.
Hello, my name is Matt and I play guitar, sing and write songs in Paper Mill. Do you want to know an interesting fact? On 26th June, the day our EP came out, Will Ferrell’s Eurovision film also came out, in which I am the bass player in Moon Fang (basically Lordi). True story, I’ve got pictures to prove it.
Paper Mill is something that me and the guys spoke about for a long time, but due to Ben’s LTA commitments never really happened. It’s good to finally be releasing stuff, but I just want to play some shows.
How did the band form and how long have you been together?
It’s sort of been bubbling away for a few years, but we only really took it seriously after LTA broke up last year. I’ve known Ben for years. His and Luke’s old band supported my old band The Holiday Plan back in about 2004 I think? Then Ben produced The Holiday Plan’s last EP in 2010 and we’ve been mates ever since.
Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?
Not really, because I think it’s always been there. I know I was telling people I was going to be a rock star in primary school though! We used to have cello lessons and I got kicked out for turning the cello round and playing Come As You Are on it. I was a cool kid.
Who and what are the band’s main influences?
I guess this depends on who you ask because I think we all bring different stuff. But for me it’s a lot of 80’s and 90’s American punk, indie rock and alternative rock sort of stuff like the Replacements, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr sort of thing, through to more classic singer songwriters like Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne through to 90’s and early 2000’s emo and hardcore from like Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral, to Planes Mistaken For Stars and Small Brown Bike. Those are the influences, but in terms of what I normally listen to, we don’t really have time to go in to that haha!
What do you aim to achieve as a band?
To have a good time, all of the time.
For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from a Paper Mill show?
Which is everyone haha! We haven’t played a gig yet! So to be honest, who knows?! From my end I always really go for it, so it’ll be sweaty, red-faced, slightly chaotic, very energetic and fun. I hope.
What’s next for Paper Mill?
Again, who knows at the moment?! Our EP has just been released and we’ve just finished recording the second EP, so I guess just putting out more music! And playing gigs as soon as we can. That was always the idea, just play fun shows as soon as we could but COVID-19 is a bastard, so yeah.
Paper Mill‘s debut EP Past The West Way is out now, available to stream on Spotify HERE.
