Local Berwyn musician and Columbia College student Mateo Suarez has debuted his brand new band Mateo Suarez and The Public Ear with a Grand lineup of 14 live shows all around Illinois and the Chicagoland Area. I wanted to get a chance to talk to him before his first show of the tour at Reggies Bar.

Mateo Suarez is no stranger to the local music scene, having a popular psychedelic indie rock band called The Phonecall from 2017-2024 before abruptly ending the band and going on hiatus for a few months, teasing things in the meantime. Than in late 2024 he announced Mateo Suarez and The Public Ear, a self described “Chicago music group built on the ashes of a former-” , with pictures of a new lineup, entirely new songs, and new performances coming your way. On January 23 he released the Spring 2025 set of shows which entirely one upped the venues of his previous shows and began with Reggie’s Bar. I conducted an interview with Mateo on Thursday, January 30th 2024, 3 days before his first Show at Reggie’s bar. Two days after this interview on Saturday, Mateo was hospitalized for severe cellulitis, 1 day before his show. This is the interview.

Q: How has college influenced your process?

Mateo: “It’s a lot more people there that know what their doing, people with the same ideas as you, and people who are there for all different kinds of reasons … The equipment, the resources, and the culture of being in the middle of the city changes the musical dynamic greatly. It’s a lot different than back here (in Berwyn), where a lot of it is very DIY, where over there its very much were trying to be the scene instead of apart of the scene. Its pretty great.”

Q:And Would you say that being around these new environments and creative minds has allowed you to expand your sound musically?

Mateo: “I think it allowed me to be more open about what I wanted things to sound like. They get it, they understand the sound I want. They understand something like late era Dylan, The Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, or Frank Zappa, They all understand it, they respect it as well. They all know the Language, they don’t say things are too hard for them they really go at it, the best way.

Q:How do you think this project differs musically from previous projects?

Mateo: “I’m really trying to do something that calls back to the past pretty nicely. I think the sound differs in the performances. Musically I think whats different is that you see a lot more embrace of simpler genres like country, blues, folk, the simpler genres you can see are very prominent in the songs, but you can also see its totally unique and something different. Theres a lot of people who don’t really understand the significance of the records of the past and I think its important to go back and say ‘No they were right.’ Its just a bigger ensemble for sure, and I have them at my disposal a lot more than I did with previous projects.”

Q: What should we look forward too next when it comes to The Public Ear?

Mateo: “Well there’s a lot of theatrics that may come on with it, and to think back to it, we spend most of our time listening to music and cooking and we just found that a big part of the show is not only the music but the delivery of everything, keeping the show going. I mean if you want people to dance you play something they can dance to, if you want them to sit there and watch in awe, you play the song you’ve had in your head for the last few years and finally got onto the paper. Really what to expect is good performances, memorable performances, and great time. Really the first big glimpse of what ‘ve had on my mind and couldn’t get out in the right way. Its just going to be a great regional tour that should hopefully launch us into a bigger tour this summer, and the difference really is that this couldn’t really happen with the previous band.”

Q: How do you feel about the transition from previous projects to this?

Mateo: “It was quite easy. I think when I ended The Phonecall, it was just very easy to move and say ‘I want a clean slate’ and really I spent the first month of college just scoping out who I would have in this group, who would end up sticking around, changes that would happen throughout this first semester, … We have a new drummer now and this ones here to stick, which is important being able to find that out early on instead of halfway down the road losing all the chemistry you’ve had for the past couple of months. The transition was quite soft, it was great, we really started to come together as a band really late November early December at our first rehearsals, first shows, radio session at WCRX, all those things played into us saying ‘Okay, were an individual unit, we know how to do this correctly.’ And it gave us a lot of confidence when we started getting the gigs and saying ‘Yes absolutely.’”

Q: Was the booking process different than previous booking processes?

Mateo: “Everything really changes when you are in a environment where finding gigs is a lot easier, and it all comes from searching and knowing where certain places are, where the hotspots are, what kind of crowds do you want, do you want to make money or not. A lot of restaurants have live music and its important to ask them about potential performances, I remember it was me and another Public Ear member Benecio, we basically spent time out on the road taking the trains and buses everywhere going to venues in person asking ourselves for contact information. The booking process began in October and began getting emails back in November and the last booking emails I’ve received were three days ago about gigs in May, we are definitely going to have more shows down the road and Even thinking about going to Purdue and Urbana at the end of this local run of shows.”

Q: What are you personally looking forward to when it comes to these gigs?

Mateo: “I’m looking forward to getting the exposure, being able to play these songs and let them flesh out over time, its never really happened with the music I did before. We did the last run of Phonecall shows in pairs of twos and that’s not enough time to let songs spawn and evolve and become something totally different live, and I think even through playing some songs coming back to Columbia after a month long break, there is a different flavor to them and its going to be a different flavor live. The records going to be great, the live performances are going to be great, and there will be a lot of reason to listen to us on record and experience us live. I’m excited for all the experiences, the fun, the stories, the getting home late and having class in the morning and running on fumes for a little. Very excited to play on WZRD and WHPK, two great radio stations out of great colleges, just a lot of great opportunities and experiences.”