How to Grow a Moustache Feature Interview with The Suitcase Junket

For this Weekend Feature Interview we will be visiting Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst, home to the likes of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and…Matt Lorenz: The Suitcase Junket. To try and describe what Matt creates in words one can only fail, but let me try in single, simple adjectives: mesmerizing, beautiful, inspiring, physical and lyrical poetry…and he has a great moustache taboot! Please enjoy this interview with my old moustachioed friend and a wonderfully talented and innovative musician Matt Lorenz, The Suitcase Junket.

[youtube]wSuN6OKeJTk[/youtube]

How to Grow a Moustache Feature Interview with The Suitcase Junket

HTGAM: Please tell us a little about yourself for the readers who have not yet been lucky enough to experience the magic of “Suitcase Junket”.

Matt Lorenz: The Suitcase Junket is a one-man-band that I, Matt Lorenz, have been developing over the past 3 years or so. I wanted to make as big a sound as I could without using loop pedals or effects. I sit on a suitcase and play it as a bass-drum with my right heel, play a hi-hat with my right toe, then I’ve got these three little drums I built out of broken chairs that I play with my left foot: a tea kettle, a gas-can and a circular saw-blade. The guitar I play was found in a dumpster. It looks like an old Silvertone or Kay mail-order job from the 50s but it’s actually a japanese knock-off from that same era. I put in a finish nail as a bridge and a steel rod as the nut which gave it a wild buzzing sitar sort of sound. On top of that pile of trash, I have taught myself how to overtone sing. Figured it out by accident in the car and practiced it for about 6 years before working it into the music. I’ve self-released 2 full-length albums and tour The Suitcase Junket around the country. Hoping to take it overseas soon.

HTGAM: How does your “signature” moustache fit into all this? How long have you been “wearing” one?

Matt Lorenz: As of now, the mustache is a think-piece. I don’t mean that it’s a piece of art on my face for other people to ponder, it’s that I actually use it to think with. The twirling of a moustache really draws out different thoughts and lyrics than, say, the stroking of a beard.

HTGAM: What has been the evolution of your ‘tache been like and does it coincide with the evolution of your sound?

Matt Lorenz: As for the evolution of the ‘stache, I’ve always wanted one and have tried to pull it off on occasion over the years, though always with awful and disturbing results. It usually resembled a dirty upper lip or brought to mind a fascist dictator. However, about 3 years ago, just after starting The Junket, I was having my springtime shave and realized that somehow my moustache had become a real thing over the winter. I shaved my cheeks and jowls and haven’t even trimmed it since. As for the ‘stache coinciding with my sound, I’d have to say that as it grows longer, I get better. It could just be lots of practice and the passing of time, but I don’t think I’ll be testing that hypothesis any time soon.

HTGAM: Does a moustache play a crucial role in throat singing? If not in a traditional sense, does it in your own special brand?

Matt Lorenz: I wish I could answer yes to this, but sadly the answer is no. All of the throat-singing happens farther back in the mouth. I suppose the moustache serves as a frame of sorts, visually, but sonically I have found it to be rather useless. I do play a bit of invisible trumpet with my lips and when I do the moustache dances and bounces around quite comically. But again, it’s all for the eyes.

How to Grow a Moustache Feature Interview with The Suitcase Junket

HTGAM: Any tricks or pointers for maintaining a handlebar while on the road?

Matt Lorenz: In terms of maintenance I am rather lax. Like I mentioned earlier, a good twirl sets the mind at ease and when I am driving I almost always have a finger twisting away at it. I have found that after a shower it is very straight and dignified and as the days pass it starts to angle and curve in unpredictable ways. The daily shower on tour is a luxury that is not always available. However, I enjoy crookedness, so I let each side of the moustache go its own way, sometimes resulting in a sine wave on my face.

HTGAM: Do you have any special moustache memories from the road that you can share with our readers?

Matt Lorenz: As for moustache road memories, there are plenty. They range from the benign to the grotesque. But my favorite has to be this: It’s the middle of a long drive and I’m gassing up somewhere in North Carolina. There’s a big beefy dude a few pumps away with one of those jacked up trucks that’s splattered in mud, confederate flag sticker, calvin pissing on something, you know, no fear, the whole nine. He keeps giving me the eye in a none too friendly kind of way. So I try to mind my own, but I’m all flat-faced from the road so my eyes are swimming and just kind of wandering wherever they want. He’s got the meanest look on his face and I’m just trying to seem small; too small to mess with. So I finish pumping and get in line with a bottle of water or something like that and as I get up to the counter I hear this huge voice say “HEY! HEY!” In that way that people usually yell when you cut them in line. I turn around and here’s this big dude all puffed up and barrel-chested glaring down at me. I’m ready to just step aside and let him through when he says, “I’m’unna git that water for this guy. Damn fine moustache, son.”

HTGAM: What is your preferred wax of choice? Have you improvised with anything else when you have run out and are about to perform?

Matt Lorenz: I have tried wax on one tour. I believe it was Conk’s. Colonel Conk’s maybe…picked it up in Knoxville, TN. Hated it. It was petroleum based and did nothing but give a greasy shine. Didn’t even hold the ends together. I made an olive-oil and beeswax blend that worked alright but I’ve since given up on wax and just twist it when I feel like it.

[youtube]Vecs2wqyLIA[/youtube]

HTGAM: Moustache May is right around the corner, might you have any special plans for the month?

Matt Lorenz: May is a good month for moustaches. My plans are more or less the same though: Play music, live life, etc. I do have a hair on one side that is a good inch or two longer than on the other, maybe I’ll fertilize the short side this month.

<br?

HTGAM: Who are some of your moustache heroes?

Matt Lorenz: Salvador Dalí, Burt Reynolds, Cliff from Cheers, Hulk Hogan, Yosemite Sam, Edgar A. Poe, Catfish Hunter, just to name a few.

How to Grow a Moustache Feature Interview with The Suitcase Junket

HTGAM: Any advice or operating instructions for the first time stache growers?

Matt Lorenz: My advice would be to wait for it, then go for it. If you shave it, it will come, when it comes, don’t shave it. Also, if you’re going for a long twisty one, don’t trim, unless you’re always going to trim. Those little buggers that keep wanting to go in your mouth can be twisted up with the rest once they get long enough.

HTGAM: Any big events coming up this Spring and Summer where our readers can catch a glimpse of the wondrous “Suitcase Junket”?

Matt Lorenz: The Suitcase Junket has a bit of light schedule this summer. I’ve been putting in a bunch of time with my other band Rusty Belle getting ready to put out a new record. But here are the upcoming dates: (the rest of the summer schedule can be seen at www.thesuitcasejunket.com/calendar.html

Interview by Douglas Smythe

A big thanks to Matt for taking time to sit and share with us! Learn more about The Suitcase Junket by visiting the official site HERE and also visit Matt and “The Junket” on Facebook HERE follow him on twitter @suitcasejunket

Don’t forget to enter our Monthly Giveaway for a chance to win a Vintage Gillette and More! For more info visit Monthly Giveaway

(Entry form located in Right sidebar)

How to Grow a Moustache Feature Interview with The Suitcase Junket

How to Grow a Moustache Feature Interview with The Suitcase Junket

Search How to Grow a Moustache

Wet Shaving & Moustache Tips, Tricks & Hacks SUBSCRIBE!