For this month’s Stay Tuned, PATTERN had the opportunity to sit down with The Matriarch, an up-and-coming band based out of Bloomington, Indiana. The Matriarch consists of four talented individuals overflowing with passion and talent in the music industry. Jo Hockemeyer (bass), Mal Babcock (drums), Mal Benoit (guitar) and Al Erftenbeck (lead vocalist) recently dropped their first EP, Welcome to The Matriarch. We took the time to learn about each member and their passions, but also what it was like to create their first-ever EP! From songwriting to recording, marketing the release, and everything in between, they are over the moon about their release and excited to share it with the community.
Erin Holler: I’d love to learn more about each of you. What are all of your musical backgrounds and connections to each other?
Jo Hockemeyer: I’m Jo, the bassist. I am a student at IU and the youngest in the band. I am studying biology and hope I don’t have to use my degree post-grad. I met my bandmates through a music club we did together when I was a freshman. It was a fairly new club and once I met them, we played some fun little summer gigs together. Then we decided to make the band and quit the music club and focus on our band. So that’s how I met all of them, but they knew each other before I came into the group. As for music; I have been playing for a while. I picked up the bass in March 2020 during covid and taught myself how to play. I had also taken lessons for different instruments.
Mal Babcock: My name is Mal, I am the drummer for The Matriarch and I also handle a lot of management stuff as well. I am from the Northwest region of Indiana and I went to IU for my undergrad and graduated this past May. I am currently studying environmental policy and natural resource management in my second year of grad school. It’s been challenging balancing that and a band, so I am excited to be done. Mal and I actually grew up in the same hometown but never really knew each other or played together until college. I actually just picked up the drums about a year and a half ago. Al and I were roommates our freshman year in the dorms and then we just kept living together ever since. Once we all became friends, Mal convinced us to learn a song together and play for fun. We knew Al could sing so we convinced her and once we met Jo we just kinda ran with it!
Mal Benoit: My name is Mal and I play guitar. I am not in school anymore. I am an engineer. I didn’t go to school with any of my bandmates, but I needed a place to live when I was doing an internship in Bloomington, so I sublet from Al to live with Mal and then we just kept doing it again and became really close. Then I injured my knee and couldn’t do anything, so I was playing a lot more music. They [Mal & Al] were taking care of me with my hurt knee, and so we decided to do a Christmas cover.
Al Erftenbeck: My name is Al Roeft and I am the singer. I have always really loved to sing. Mal was my roommate, and she and our other roommate would come up to my bedroom door and listen to me sing when I was in the shower. I would never sing in front of people, but then they finally convinced me to sing for our friend’s birthday. Afterward, they said “See? That wasn’t so scary was it!” I said, “Yeah, scary.” But in reality, I do love to sing and I think that people should not be afraid to share things with the world. They got me out of my shell a bit and we were making videos to post online. Then, we brought Jo in, started playing in Bloomington, and started writing our own songs.
EH: How would you describe your music?
JH: It’s technically indie rock, but only by the fact that we are an independent group and we play rock instruments. The four of us have drastically different music backgrounds, as far as what we listen to. Because of that we are not really sucked into something that has already been done. I think we have a very unique sound.
AE: I come from a lot of R&B and that is where I get a lot of my inspiration from. I’ll bring a more R&B tone into something that might be a little more unexpected, which has been cool.
EH: Let’s talk about the playlist you created. What is the mood and what should people be doing if they are listening to the playlist?
MBa: When we made it we added mostly local artists and some things we play live. It is about ninety-five percent local.
AE: The vibe for what to do when listening would be just to hang out with friends. That is the vibe of The Matriarch.
JH: A lot of these songs have great background music, they are fun to listen to when you are hanging out with your friends. A lot of them also have really cool deeper meanings, and stories behind them. Listening to the different stories that these local artists have to say is a very different vibe than a Top 100 Billboard song.
EH: What artists in Indiana, and beyond, are you excited about right now?
MBa: Definitely Secret Mezzanine, they are also from Bloomington and have a new single that came out November 4th.
AE: I am going to go with Moon Kissed. They are a Brooklyn-based band and we opened up for their show at The Bishop, which is a local bar in Bloomington. They are definitely a smaller band, but that was one of the biggest shows that we have opened up for. They put on an amazing show. We definitely take inspiration from them.
JH: I am going to shout out Kid Sistr, they are the other band we played with that night. They are almost full-time musicians. They are definitely my biggest inspiration as far as what we are doing, and where we would like to be three years down the line.
EH: What projects are you proud of?
MBe: I would say our EP. We put out a single before that, but this is really the first project that we all truly worked on. Not to mention it is the first music we’ve ever written and completed. We are hoping to make an album!
MBa: I’m particularly proud of us for not only the songwriting and recording of our EP, but we put a lot of work into promoting it all. We put a lot of work into producing everything, but we put more work into social media, photoshoots, cover art, and stuff like that. It’s really particular, but I am really proud of us for how much effort we devoted to that.
JH: The EP is something I’m so proud of. This is exactly what I want our brand to be and this is what I want to show people. It seems like everything came together so well, and it was a lot of work that paid off. But it is also one hundred percent authentic.
AE: People are saying they have listened to the EP and it is super sick. People are saying it sounds really professional and we are proud of that. There are imperfections in it, but we want to embrace those imperfections to show that music isn’t perfect. Trying to make it perfect takes creativity away and makes it less fun for us. This whole project has been a great learning experience for us—from writing to recording to performing—we definitely came out a lot better.
MBe: We have already been writing more music and we have two songs that are demoed out now. IU has a studio where students can record songs for free, so we’re getting excited about writing more and finishing all the songs.
EH: What are your interests outside of music?
MBe: I’ve always done random art. I never was super serious about it, but I have always found myself drawing or painting. When we started the band, I started taking on graphic design projects, so that has been really fun. I love listening to podcasts about artists and producers and talking about songwriting.
AE: Another cool thing is that we have found a way to relate our music in a way to promote activism, so the big theme of The Matriarch is making sure there is equality and that there is a safe space for everyone. That has been our main goal and general theme when creating music. We’ve gotten to explore what it means to be a female in the music scene, and so we try to write songs about that. Getting to explore this emotion in different ways has been really interesting. We also got to do benefits for organizations with Girls Rock Bloomington, where we have hosted fundraisers. We also played at a local bar with two other local bands and raised over nine hundred dollars for abortion resources. We like to use our platform to raise other voices because we have felt oppressed and ignored. If we have a platform we feel that we need to use it.
MBa: I really love to write. When I was little, I would always write stories about the most random things. I still like to journal every day, but I think I never knew creative writing took place in my life until I started songwriting. I also love fashion. I like being able to perform and have a place to be creative with my outfits, try new things, step out of my comfort zone, and feel empowered. There are some pieces I have nowhere to wear these outfits to, and performing gives me an answer.
JH: I identify myself as a multi-passionate individual. Something I like to do is support people in having multiple things that they enjoy. I play sports for the club teams at school. I play ultimate frisbee, and I just started playing rugby. It’s cool because music is my priority, and I am able to fill the rest of my life with other things until this is my main thing. I am intrigued about when it will become my main thing.
The Matriarch has three upcoming shows! Join them on the following dates:
November 15 at The Bishop
Tickets: http://www.thebishopbar.com/events/bloomsday
December 3 at The Bishop
Tickets: http://www.thebishopbar.com/events/2022-12
December 9 at The Bishop
