Podcasts

Matt Berninger: Midnight Chats – Episode 97

Family, The National and watching fishing videos on YouTube in bed

With COVID and quarantine stopping pretty much everything, like the rest of us, Matt Berninger has found himself finding time for some of life’s great fundamentals: that means riding his bike, hanging out with his family and returning to a teenage passion – fishing.

It was early on the August bank holiday when I dialled up The National‘s frontman from his California garage/studio to chat about his bandmates’ work on Taylor Swift’s Folklore album, hear stories about mildly embarrassing himself when meeting Barack Obama and his therapeutic playlist-making during lockdown.

And of course his debut solo album, Serpentine Prison, out on 16 October – an album made with the legendary Booker T. Jones, made with a dream list of collaborators and dedicated to his Dad – who, from his loving descriptions, sounds like just as great company as Matt himself.