Vancouver’s Justin Mattock Returns With “Where I Come To Drink”
Vancouver, BC-based country/pop singer, Justin Mattock has unveiled his single, “Where I Come To Drink.”
Produced in Vancouver, BC by Dan Botch and Garrett Ward of The Renaissance, “Where I Come To Drink” is a massive step forward in the career of an artist who has so much to offer. For fans of Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Russell Dickerson, and Dan & Shay; “Where I Come To Drink” is a bitter-sweet uplifting piece that guides the audience through a story reminiscing on loss and what could have been. The crisp modern production entails everything you’d want in a country song, featuring a petal steel guitar pulling the track together. Layered and harmonized vocals carry the first verse straight through until a huge and open chorus, riding into a petal steel solo that’ll be recognized as an instant classic. Session players include Travis Joy on steel guitar (Luke Byran), Grady Saxman on drums (Luke Combs), and Adam Grover mastering the track (Zach Bryan).
“Where I Come To Drink” is a story as old as time, bringing the listener to a place where they can just get away for a bit. The opening line “We had stories in this bottle, never time to take a sip” sets the tone perfectly for the nostalgic and sad, yet hopeful feeling of the song. The imagery and storytelling in the lyrics are Mattock’s strongest yet, painting a picture supported by the dense and complimentary range of instruments. Starting off tame, the song presents as a soft acoustic ballad but steadily rises into a powerful and very memorable chorus. Picture standing on top of a mountain staring out onto a lake being being showered in golden hour sun – that is what this song is. “Where I Come To Drink” follows up his previous two singles “First Time” and “Seventeen” – both of which saw great radio success across Canada, US, and UK markets.
First off care to introduce yourself to our readers?
For sure! I’m Justin Mattock – a country singer/songwriter from Vancouver. I’ve been in the local scene for the past 10 years or so, some people may know me from a while ago in Fighting For Ithaca, Woke Up Waiting, or Chase Your Words.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
Yeah, this one is a very special one to me. I took an extended leave of absence from music due to some pretty rough health problems that made it pretty much impossible to play anything for upwards of two years. This is the first song I was able to write as I started to get better and I knew it was going to be my favourite I’ve written so far. It started off as an acoustic demo, then kind of flourished into this huge, evolving piece that keeps building up from start to finish. I worked with Dan Botch and Garrett Ward of The Renaissance and I can’t believe how well it turned out. It was my first time using real session players as well, so the guys down south who played on this just took it to another level. I’m a huge fan of the steel guitar and that really pulled the track together.
How do you typically go about the songwriting process? Do you have a specific method or creative routine that you follow?
There’s no set routine or process that I follow, but it will usually start with either a chorus vocal hook or a guitar riff. Sometimes that will become the staple of the song, sometimes it won’t even be used in the final product. From there, I like to hash out at least 4 lines of the chorus and figure out the theme and direction of the song. The verses will usually come last, but with this particular one, the verse was the first thing I wrote. As soon as I have at least a verse and chorus, I’ll record an acoustic demo and shoot it off to my producers. From there we’ll put together a more polished track and finish off the structure & lyrics, making any adjustments we see that fit. They’ll pretty much do the entire instrumental, then I’ll track some guitars and do the vocals.
Looking ahead, what are your plans for supporting this new release? Are there any upcoming tours, music videos, or additional content that fans can look forward to in connection with this project?
I’d really like to start playing live soon, but it really depends on how recovery from this injury goes. Playing summer festivals is the main goal but I’ll have to start off a bit smaller and build myself up to that. I am planning on releasing an acoustic version of this one too as I think it’d be a really neat one to hear stripped down with just an acoustic, banjo, and steel guitar. There is a live performance video in the works right now but I’ll see how the plans for that one turn out.
Looking back on your musical career, is there a particular moment or accomplishment that you consider a turning point or a highlight?
I think when my last song hit #4 on the UK charts is what really opened my eyes to the potential. My last two have done very well on independent radio, “Seventeen” being in the top 30 for the entire year of 2023. I’m hoping this one lives up to those two and does even better.
Last but not least, it’s time to pay it forward, what upcoming band or artist would you recommend your fans check out?
Gotta shout out my guys in GANG! They’re absolutely killing it in the punk scene right now and it’s been amazing seeing how much they’ve grown in the past 3 years as artists and producers. I was one of the first artists they produced, and now they’re pretty much the go-to guys in Canada for production, but their band is no doubt about to take off as well.