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When Matt Good says, "Don't get me started," it's a sure sign a rant is not far behind. Pick almost any topic, he'll tee off like a champ. Tweak up his humour a bit and he could host Canadian Politically Incorrect.
Playing a sold-out three nighter at the Starlite Room starting tomorrow - no, he doesn't know what he's going as for Halloween - the Vancouver rock singer was in a jovial mood during a recent phone interview. In a way, this is more frightening than his usual self, described variously as "dour" and "famously cantankerous." He's just kind of keyed up, that's all.
A variety of topics are explored before we get into the "rock 'n' roll" part of the interview: The grumpiness of Kurt Vonnegut, the oil industry's effect on food production, international human rights, the war on terror, foreign debt relief, privatization, globalization and the "Iranian affair," to name a few. Makes your head spin.
With his vast knowledge of world and domestic affairs - thoroughly blogged on his website - Good laughs that he's been asked more times than he can count if he's been thinking about entering politics. But is it so outrageous? Is it any crazier than an actor in the White House or an action hero as the governor of California? This time Good says, "Aw, I don't know," which is an improvement over his response a few years ago: "No way," with a colourful modifier between the "no" and "way."
He says the main problem with a "celebristocracy" - a Spy magazine word for "rule by celebrity," the new paradigm being greased by people like Arnold Schwarzenegger - is twofold: 1. Most celebrities don't know what the hell they're talking about. 2: Even if they do, people think they don't.
"So many people in my profession back certain causes and have very little knowledge of what they're talking about," Good says. "Even if you do, you have to be prepared to face that perception - and you have to - and that ends up taking away from the job you do for your constituents."
But maybe the public is beginning to accept the idea of an entertainer in a position of political power. Maybe Bono would make a great president of the world. The U2 singer met with George W. Bush and everything.
"Don't get me started," Good guffaws, then gets started. "I wouldn't meet with George Bush if you paid me. Hell no. Because all that George Bush is doing is using that as a photo opportunity. He's not going to listen to Bono! Not only that, but how do you listen to a man whose administration illegally invaded a country? It's ridiculous."
Good would probably have to run in the Liberal party. Maybe in another few years it'll go from "aw, I dunno" to "well, maybe." Politics could use a guy like Good.
For now, though, we must turn to the thing that still pays the bills and talk about rock 'n' roll for a bit. Good's on tour behind his new greatest hits CD, In a Coma, 1995-2005, meant to signal the end of an era with the defunct Matthew Good Band, the title seen as a subtle shot - at himself? Hard to know.
He owes one more album to Universal Music. Then he's free - and fans can expect a drastic departure. He says he finds the idea of writing another radio hit "boring."
"I can't do it anymore. I can't play the game that I have to play in the painted corner I'm in, the FM rock radio game," Good says. "I look at a lot of bands in this country that I like who have had great success and they don't have to deal with that. You don't hear Metric on the radio, not to a saturated extent, but that's going well, and Broken Social Scene, Feist, Arcade Fire, the rest of it, all of it does well and it has the ability to do it without adhering to those same boring standard marketing templates. Ever since Avalanche came out, I've tried to fight against that, to move away from the Matthew Good Band perception, and I think so far that it's failed.
"Looking back, I probably could've gone a little further and been a little more creative about it. So I can't say what my next album is going to be, but I've got some pretty cool ideas of what I'm going to do."
Perhaps it will be along the lines of the two new songs on In a Coma? Oh Be Joyful especially is a fun little song.
Good admits, "I just wrote those two songs to fit the package."
Oops, he's honest. Maybe he wouldn't be such a good politician after all.