Inside Matt Nathanson

Inside Matt Nathanson

Aidin Vaziri | Ask anyone who has seen one of his spirited live shows or heard his lovely, confessional songs playing in the background of a prime-time teen drama - Matt Nathanson is the kind of guy you want to get to know better. On the occasion of the San Francisco singer-songwriter's new album, "Some Mad Hope," due out Tuesday on Vanguard, we decided we would do just that. We asked him to tell us about his deepest, darkest secrets. Nathanson, who starts a major national tour next month, did not disappoint.


Inside Matt Nathanson
-- "Ever since seeing 'Jaws' as a kid, I won't swim in deep water. Or with my eyes open."
-- "The best pairs of underwear I own are from Burberry and they were something like $30 a pair. They're boxer briefs, and I have yet to find anything that fits quite like them. I have two pairs, which were a gift. I can't bring myself to spend the money to buy more, so I only wear them on special occasions so they don't wear out."
-- "When I was 15, I pierced my nose and wore a chain connecting it to my ear because I wanted to look like the bass player in Skid Row."
-- "I once spoke with Bret Michaels on the phone about writing songs together. Someone at my record label set it up. But I never followed through because I figured talking to the singer of Poison about writing songs was probably way cooler than the actual songs would ever be."
-- "I love some teen-girl dramedies. The Olsen twins, Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, pre-booze Lindsay Lohan - if it's a movie skewed toward 13-year-old girls, it's probably for me."
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