Interviews (259)

• October 13, 2026
• Colleen Johnson
• 25
• 0

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As the weather gets a little chillier here in New England, one of my favorite ways to see a show is in a cozy, smaller club. A more intimate show will always be the ones that stand out to me, and luckily for Boston, The Suitcase Junket, aka Matt Lorenz, will be making a long-awaited return this week. Fresh off the release of his first album in six years, To Go On, Lorenz will be bringing the album to life at Lizard Lounge in Cambridge both Thursday night and Friday night this week. In my interview you can find below with Lorenz, Lorenz spoke about how so many venues have been closing down. And since our chat, Lizard Lounge has announced it will be ending its run as one of the city’s favorite venues in May of next year. The venue couldn’t be a better fit for the performance Lorenz and his selected ensemble for these shows will be sure to grace it with. It gives black box theater, but in a more relaxed, bohemian space that you are sure to love, if you haven’t had the chance to get there yet.

In our chat below, Matt shared about the loss of his sister, Kate Lorenz, in 2022, who, while The Suitcase Junket is a solo project,  sang on every one of the multitude of albums he has released, as well as performing in Rusty Belle for several years together up until 2014. He had another album ready to go, but wrote this new record while going through the grieving process of losing his late sister. It’s filled with beautiful dedications and reflections about her throughout the record. We chatted about the album, his plans for these upcoming shows, and much more!

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New England Sounds: To start it off, this is obviously a really important record for you, and you have the first release shows next week. Maybe how are the emotions these first few days of having the new record out? 

Matt Lorenz: Big feelings, as we say with the kids. When I first started making this record, I sort of wrote all the sad songs first. The hopeful ones came after. Grieving is funny like that; you know, you get all of the feelings. It’s been great to get out and share the songs, and feeling really close to Katie when I play the music has been a thing that I’ve experienced since she died. And there’s sort of two sides to that. When you’re in the songs and in the music, feeling good and connected. And then, the sort of emotional hangover after the show, that’s like, “Oh, things are still the same.” 

But the shows have been great. These sort of few shows leading up to it, where I’ve been practicing some of the new songs. The people are awesome; they go on the ride with me, and it’s not a total pity party or anything like that (laughs). I’m trying to stay away from that, but yeah, it’s been really good. 

NES: Yeah, you definitely see those moments where you try to be a little lighter on the album, like with “Silver Linings,” “Afterparty,” that kind of thing. 

Matt: Yeah, just trying to stay honest to the creator that I am. And I can’t stay in one emotion for long. 

NES: Then, you’re open about it, obviously. I know you had another record pretty much ready to go when your sister passed away. Kind of shelved that record, but I’ve talked to a lot of artists in the past who have gone through a similar thing. One was actually someone who lost his brother and didn’t know if he was going to go on and keep playing and keep writing music. When did you kind of sit down and start writing most of the songs for this record? How did that start for you? 

Matt: That’s a good question. I think it was probably a couple of months after Kate died. I had a similar moment to him. I canceled, I think, one or two shows that were just sort of right after the news. And then there was one that was,  I mean, it was less than a month; it was just a few weeks after, but it was sort of up in Vermont around where we grew up. And it felt like, if I didn’t play that show, that I might stop or something. It was definitely that feeling, and who knows if that was real. But playing that show, and having it be this sort of outpouring in the community. Like everyone came out and supported, it was really nice. And then yeah, probably a couple months after that, is when I started it. You know, I never really stop coming up with ideas. I go into sort of little voice memos, or little ideas in a notebook. And then the real work for me is going back and refining and working on the songs. The seeds of the ideas are kind of constantly coming through, so I’d have to actually ask my notebook when I started writing again. But there wasn’t a huge break. I mean, my daughter was born a month after Kate died, so it was sort of this insane, like whoo, so many things all at once

NES: You had to go into dad mode. I mean, I know it was your second, but you had to be in dad mode. 

Matt: Yeah, it honestly really helped to have that kind of focus, purpose, of just sort of this joyful, innocent little creature all of a sudden enter your life. In general, the kids, you know, Kate’s daughter, my son, and my daughter, they really made a huge difference (laughs) in the grieving process. I hope we weren’t leaning too hard on them that they noticed it. I hope they were just like, oh, wow, people are kind of leaky this time of year. 

NES: I’m sure you get, just from speaking to a few Americana artists, I’m sure you get put in groups with them, but if you know, like Augustana, i.e., Dan Layus at all, and he’s been doing it on his own for about the same amount of time, twenty years. And like Kris Allen, and all parents, all kind of balancing this. How do you kind of balance that creative process? They all pretty much do it, all DIY, just like you. Or like what’s maintained that drive, like that motivation, if that makes sense? 

Matt: I mean, there’s a certain element of feeling like you’re called. You’re just sort of like, well, as long as these ideas keep asking to be made real (laughs), I’ll keep doing it. There is an element of when it comes time to share the music; that’s the heavy lifting part. When you have to put the record together, take new pictures of yourself and all these things (laughs). The sort of crappy parts of the job that feel trickier than the actual creative part. I try to tie it in and make the visual part related to the music as well. And try to stay creative throughout, because if I don’t, I know myself. I will get frustrated or lose interest. If there’s too much stuff, I’m like a child basically. And I think that is actually a good way of summing it up. Retaining the sort of, like, childlike wonder of the work that we get to do. Just like, oh, there’s an idea for a song. I wonder where that came from. Let’s see how it goes! 

NES: You talked about the creative side. I know you did a lot of artwork for this record, which will be featured at your shows at Lizard Lounge. I don’t know if you have played there before, but I feel like that’s the perfect room for this album and the kind of music that you’re putting out. You said you’ve played a few shows, but you have the Lizard Lounge shows, you have Northampton, and you’re going on tour this November. How have you been kind of curating these shows? Is it going to be a full album play-through, with all the artwork happening? You probably can’t share much, or you don’t want to, just yet. 

Matt: The plan is, at least for the local shows, to bring a couple of really large pieces. I was kind of obsessed with these cyanotypes, these blueprints, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger. And I was like, how big can you go? Like, how big do they make paper? So, I found this roll of paper that was 52 inches wide, this nice watercolor paper, by 30 feet long. And I cut it into three ten-foot segments. Made those into these sort of backdrops, and so I realized afterwards, I was like, how many of these rooms are ten feet tall? Like Lizard Lounge is probably eight. So, I’m going to be bringing those out; those will be sort of backdrops for the Northampton and Boston, or Cambridge, New York City shows. I put a little ensemble together, so there’s a little band with a bunch of great players. Kris Delmhorst, Ciarra Fragale, Julia Read, and Louisa Stancioff are all going to sort of be in the band. And Caitlin Canty is going to be on one as well. So, we’re going to play right through the record. 

Yeah, it will be interesting. I don’t usually do it that way, and I’m excited to try it out. 

NES: How did you kind of curate this group? Were they all people that you know from the area, your past? I know you’re based in Mass.

Matt: Yeah, they’re all either friends from the city or people I’ve had open for me and have become friends with afterwards. And it’s great; I’m not like a natural band leader, or I haven’t given myself much practice anyway (laughs). I’ve been on my own for a long time, but it’s been really fun. Because the one thing I really do miss about playing with other people is singing harmony. Everything else I can kind of cover myself, but I can’t harmonize. 

NES: It’s weird how that works. 

Matt: Yeah, right? 

NES: Then, to not keep going into it, I know I’m sure it’s still hard to visit. I can think of people I’ve lost over the past few years that are family too, and I still think about them a lot and get in my feels about it. But you did so much music with your sister, and she sang on all your records, and you had your band together. Maybe how was it to be in the studio and just kind of be on your own, unfortunately. But how was that in the recording process for you?
Matt: Yeah, it sucked. It was just like having a missing limb or something. But I like talking about Kate; it’s hard to talk about people that we’ve lost. But it’s hard not to, also. And I think keeping those stories alive is kind of the main thing. There’s a part of me that was tempted to do all these sort of grief-processing songs privately. Because I worried about doing this in a certain public way. But what I like about it is that I get to keep talking about Kate. And keep her front of mind. And yeah, during the process, I definitely found myself, especially when I was doing the overdubs, the vocal harmonies, it was just like, Kate, you know, this would be a lot easier if you didn’t leave us. But yeah, these moments of, like, laughter that turned to tears, you know, that sort of thing, just joking around. It’s interesting how close those emotions are (laughs); joy and grief are really closely related to each other. 

NES: Well, it was just the two of you, right, like the two of you, sibling-wise. 

Matt: Yeah, just the two of us, and we were only two years apart. We were homeschooled together for a bunch of years, a lot of family vacations. We were tight. And Kate was one of those people; I bet there’s probably twenty of her friends who count her as a best friend. I don’t know how she did it (laughs); she was one of those people who just really was good at keeping in touch and being there for folks. 

NES: Then to kind of wrap things together, I know you have a lot going on these next few weeks. It’s been a pleasure, but you have the show in Northampton at Iron Horse, you have the Lizard Lounge shows, you have that first tour in November. Not even like hopes or anything, but like goals for these next few months? Is it just to kind of play these songs live and bring them to people? Just to be playing again. 

Matt: Yeah, it’s to get people into the room (laughs). That’s always the thing. Because, like with the ensemble shows, that will be sort of these special couple of shows. And then, after that, I’ll be going back to doing them solo, and as a solo performer, the people who are in the room with you are really important (laughs). Even if they’re not playing. So yeah, for me it’s just about getting these songs out there. Going out, reminding people that I’m still around, since it has been six years since I’ve put out a record. And yeah, kind of getting on the horse again, and trying to do that thing. Create that sort of magic alchemy in the room. Of people feeling things together. That’s what we’re in it for, really. It’s great to write the songs, it’s great to record the albums, but doing the performances, AI can’t take that away (laughs). And they try! Like, no, stay with me, near the computer. So the trick is to get people into the rooms these days for sure. Playing the shows is really what it’s all about. 

NES: And then you talked about how it’s been six years since the last album. You used to do 200 shows a year; obviously COVID changed touring. Touring is now fully back. Maybe something, if anything, that you like about the changed touring climate. Maybe not to be out as much, on the road for as much time, like the environment. 

Matt: For me, it was like COVID, and then it was also raising kids. So those kind of coincided. And I’m a homebody when I’m home. I’m inertia-based. It’s hard to get me to leave if I’m in a place. It’s hard to get me to come back (laughs) from tour once I’m out. So for me, touring now, it used to be a grind. Doing 200, 250 shows a year, it was amazing, but it was crazy. And so now, touring is a little bit like a vacation from home life. I’m doing it less, but the exchange for that is that it sort of counts for more. It’s a tricky time for the business; a lot of venues are having trouble and that sort of thing, bad economy and all that. But when people come out, they don’t regret it (laughs). Everyone else is getting inertia-based too; it’s hard to get them out of their house. But once they’re out, maybe it was time away, or maybe it’s something to do with the songs or something to do with where people are at, but the depth of emotion that people express after the shows, when I’m sort of hanging out at merchandise or whatever, it’s noticeable. It feels like a marked difference from the before times.

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The Suitcase Junket will have two nights at Lizard Lounge this upcoming Thursday and Friday night. Limited tickets to those shows can be currently be picked up here!