25 Years Of Vertical Horizon's 'Everything You Want'

Matt Scannell is best known as guitarist, vocalist and frontman of the alternative rock group Vertical Horizon. Established in 1991, while Scannell was still a student at Georgetown University, Vertical Horizon has seen several iterations over the years, each with Matt at the helm as it’s leader and chief songwriter. The band saw its biggest hit with the title track from their third album Everything You Want. That song, which celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary on October 19th, spent forty-one weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the most played single throughout the year 2000. Matt and the rest of the band including fellow PRS Artist John Wesley currently have tour dates scheduled through April of next year, don’t miss your opportunity to see them live!

Q&A WITH MATT

PRS: Congrats on the 25^th anniversary of "Everything You Want", could you give us some insight into the origins if this iconic track?

Matt: I was living in Chelsea in New York City at the time, and it was a fairly desperate time all the way around for me. We were trying to bring ourselves to the next level, which at the time meant signing with a major label, and although we had interest, we didn’t have a deal. We needed better songs, that was the feedback we were getting. So, I took it very seriously and tried to up my game. “Everything You Want” came to me in the middle of the night. I heard what I call the mantra, the intro reverse guitar figure, in my head while I was sleeping and although I rolled over and went back to sleep the first time, I heard it I soon thereafter heard the chords that would go underneath it and even the lyrics for the chorus. I sat bolt upright in bed and wrote the song fairly quickly. I think it was a combination of all the preparation I was doing at that point and the beauty of some inspiration that came to me from the ether somewhere. I’m so lucky to have written it.

PRS: Prior to its release, did you know at the time that you had such a massive hit on your hands?

Matt: I know we thought it was a good song and that it had been recorded well by the band and Ben Grosse, our producer. But I don’t think we had any idea or even dared to dream that it would do what it did.

PRS: You’ve been a loyal player of PRS Guitars for quite some time. Can you recall your first experience with one of our instruments?

Matt: As we were getting ready to record, David Bendeth, our A&R person at RCA, had encouraged me to get a guitar with humbuckers to use on the recording in addition to the single-coil guitars that I was using at the time. I went up to 48th St. in New York City and played a bunch of guitars, and the Paul Reed Smith McCarty that I played was just leaps and bounds better than anything else in the shop in terms of playability and quality of construction. There was really no comparison. I cold-called the factory and spoke with the amazing Marc Quigley, who arranged for me to purchase a B-stock McCarty which wound up appearing on every song on the album. Your guitars have been with me on every record and live show since then.

PRS: What do you love the most about your PRS guitars?

Matt: I love that my PRS guitars are not divas. They don’t have “bad hair days.” I almost never need to make adjustments to them in the studio or on the road going from cold environments to hot environments daily, even hourly. They’re dependable and rock solid. The only downside I’ve found with my PRS guitars is that if I have a bad night, I can’t blame the instrument!

PRS: Vertical Horizon is currently on the road, but are three any plans to hit the studio in the near future?

Matt: we are currently working on two records, two separate releases, but it’s too soon to say when they will come out. I’m just really enjoying being in the studio and trying to harness all the sounds I hear in my head.