Next week Alabama (by way of Water Valley, Mississippi) band Model Citizen hits the road for four shows across the Midwest. The band dates back over two decades by now, and pops in & out of guitarist Matt Patton’s calendar when time permits. Get out and see them in Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Chicago!

Matt’s got a studio and label in Water Valley called Dialed Back Sound that’s churning out the next generation of killer Southern rock, punk, and whatever else comes through the door. Fans of the Drive-By Truckers might best know Matt as their smiling, bobbing bassist since 2012, helping to make their latest five albums some of the best they’ve done. Fans of southern-indie rock might also remember him from The Dexateens, who still play together occasionally today, and are a damn fine outfit themselves. Fellow Trucker Jay Gonzales along with Craig Gates and Mike Gaut round out the current Model Citizen lineup.

Fans of any of those bands should show up and dig these shows, but don’t expect exactly that sound coming from the stage. MC is LOUD, aggressive, and groovy, in a more garage-punk kinda way. Matt’s into The Lyres, The Real Kids, and BBC/Peel Sessions recordings in that vein. It still feels southern – cut from the same cloth that embraces Lee Bains III + The Glory Fires, Centro-Matic, Slobberbone, and the like, but every bit as or more rambunctious.

Matt took a few minutes to share some thoughts about what he’s been up to, what to expect on this tour, and some good times in Detroit over the years.  

Hey Matt! Always great to chat with you and thanks for taking the time to do Five Questions!

Tell me about Dial Back Sound - your studio/label in Water Valley, no? Talk about the history and what's going on. Current bands/roster/projects etc.

Dial Back Sound is a studio and label in Water Valley, MS. The studio space was built into an old house in town by Bruce Watson of the Fat Possum, Big Legal Mess and Bible & Tire labels. It was mainly a project studio for his BLM label until I bought it from him in 2016. He moved up to Memphis and started a studio there called Delta Sonic. 

Engineer and producer Bronson Tew worked there for Bruce and we continued to work on projects together. He’s run his own projects there as well. The label was started reluctantly in 2018 and has been a slow ball gaining momentum. It’s been a passion project for me in particular and something I’ve come to fully embrace.

Model Citizen is going on tour! Please give a little history/background on this band.

Model Citizen is a band I started when I was much younger. I waffled around on the name and it had different personnel and sounds until drummer Mike Gaut and I came together in 2000. That’s when this nebulous thing became this furious rock band. All of the things it tried to be at first kinda hung on for dear life to help make it unique. 

You've got a long history yourself with The Dexateens and more recently as the bassist for the Drive-By Truckers. You're also a family man and have your hands full at DBS. How do you fit it all in?

It does sound like a lot when you say it all together. But, I’m putting my 40 plus in just like everyone else. I try to have a recording project or two going on while I’m off the road. The studio is very close to my house. The label can be done while my wife is at work and the girls are at school. Lots can be done sitting on a tour bus or in a green room while I’d otherwise have nothing to do. It keeps me from going and out spending money. 

The Dexateens play once in a while as an excuse to see each other and knock the dust off. They are family. We love to bring our families together whenever possible. As far as family goes I try to put my work down when they come in. After 5 I’m generally cooking dinner and being dad. It’s great. 

Your tour takes you through St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit. We'll see you at the Outer Limits! What can people expect at these shows? You're supporting Eyelids? Do you have history with them?

Folks should check out our Live at Dial Back Sound release at Bandcamp. This will completely inform listeners about what we do. It’s all reliable set material from our years together. 

I haven’t completed a new Model Citizen record since 2006. I have a couple of songs and many pieces of songs. Our bassist Craig is helping me sort through unreleased and unfinished material from the archives as well. I really feel a personal need to make another one for whatever reason. Perhaps it’s selfish, or a feeling of unfinished business. But, I really need to do it and tour it some. 

We are supporting Eyelids on the Detroit and Milwaukee dates. Wish we had more, but perhaps another time! I met the Eyelids bunch when DBT toured Europe with them on American Band. It’s interesting how their sound contrasts from ours, but essentially comes from the same influences. It’s all about presentation, but I immediately identified with what they do when I saw them play. Get the new album if you haven’t. It’s awesome! 

This website is based in Columbus, Ohio, but I'm in Detroit, as you know, so this is always #5. Can you share any fond memories, crazy stories, or anything poignant about any visits to Detroit over the years?

I remember coming to Detroit in 2004 to record with Matthew Smith of Outrageous Cherry. Dexateens drummer Craig Pickering and I were with Paul Wine Jones who was making a blues record for Fat Possum. Craig has always been a deep diver when it comes to music. He always had a new band or artist or session player he’d be obsessing over who you’d never heard of. 

One of the bands he was talking about around this time was a heavy funk Detroit band called Black Merda. I think he had a couple MP3’s he’d burned to a CD he got off Napster and he really liked saying their name a lot. It was freezing cold when we got to town with a couple feet of snow on the ground. We met up with Matthew to talk game plan at his house for a while. I shit you not, he asked if we wanted to go out and see a Black Merda reunion show with him that night. Like the first show these cats had done together in like 25 years or something. So we went and it was really cool. I’d hardly ever seen Craig so fucking excited. At least I knew then he wasn’t making all this shit up. 

Thanks and we'll see ya in Detroit!

Jeremy Porter is a Co-Editor in Chief at Pencil Storm. He lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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