Matt O'Ree Interview 4/28/25

From touring with Bon Jovi to recording with Bruce Springsteen, Matt O' Ree has been a steadfast rock & roll warrior fighting to keep the real music scene alive!  An incredibly accomplished and celebrated rock guitarist, band leader and singer/songwriter who has navigated the myriad  peaks and valleys of a life in music with persistence, grace and humility.  In this extensive interview, Matt shares many deep personal insights and recollections about his amazing journey thus far and among other things his plan to release a live Dolby Atmos recording engineered by James Sleeman and Tom Ruff for Asbury Media.  For more information please visit: http://mattoree.com

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Matt, thank you for this opportunity to talk to you
about your career, your continuing aspirations, your existing achievements. I
was fortunate enough to be involved with a recording of
your band last month at the basement in the Bond
Street Bar, and that's great, Park. I was absolutely blown
away and thank you for joining me today.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
My pleasure.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Thanks for having us on that great show, and we
had so much fun. You know, the Bond Street basement
sounds good, like surprising, you'd think it'd be a basement
kind of you know, you know, sound quality, but it
really sounds great down there, and we were just thrilled
to do a show with you guys.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
It's actually so much shocking, right because you go down
there and you see all that cement and you're like,
I'm going to feel like a fifteen year old practicing
for a Battle of the Bands, and then somehow all
those weird angles and stuff, it just it works.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
It does.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I mean the audio that we've heard thus far with
the rough mixes, it's like, wow, this is pretty incredible.
You know.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yeah, we're hoping that you guys, when you're done reviewing
those rough mixes, we're hoping can I say yeah, that
there's a potential here that absolutely that you may be
doing Adobe at most released with some of this repertoire.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Absolutely love to And I know a lot of our
fans that showed up that night have already been texting
me man ones that coming out.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's like, we're working on it.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
So you got some great fans because people saw me,
you know, working some of the audio gear and stuff,
and a lot of them are tapers themselves. And I
was really well, I gotta tell you, there was the
one gentleman up front.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I guess he was. Was he a veteran? Yes? He was, yes,
and he is well right.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
I was really touched by the deference and respect that
you you gave to him and that extra attention. Sure
you know you don't. You don't see that every day.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
It was. It was really classy.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
And it was a touching thing to bear witness too.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
That was really cool.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
It's that's all my pleasure. I grew up in a
household of military people. Was in the Air Force, and
my grandfather was in World War Two. He was in
Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombed and and he lived
through it thankfully and went on to fight in World
War Two, and his brother, my great uncle, I believe
he was in Korea. And then my brother is a marine,

(02:17):
and my nephew now his son is a marine. So
it's you know, I was surrounded by military you know, uh,
you know people, and so it means a lot to me.
You know, I know those guys have a tough job.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Marines are no joke. Yes, they're they're I know, they
just your basic marine.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
What they go through compared to other branches of the service,
it's sure like if they've made it through their basic training,
don't mess with them.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yes, no formidable human beings there they are, you know.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
And I've hung with some of my brothers, you know,
uh uh marine buddies, and and you know, they're they're
just great people. You know, they's just you know, it's
just it's great to know any of them, you know.
So we actually did a song on our last record,
Hand and Glove called Tore Up from the floor up.
And speaking of my buddy that was there the other

(03:08):
night staff, Sergeant Kenny. He actually helps me with some
of the words for the song. So I wanted I
wanted to write something for the military that was more
I guess badass would be the right word, of course,
with the job that some of them have to do.
So nothing wrong with a great patriotic song. And of
course I love our country as much as anybody else,

(03:31):
So but I wanted to do something that wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Seem like to have any apology for that either.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
No, mean, because.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
We do seem to be enduring an era of great
political divide, sadly, and it's not always fashionable to be patriotic.
And you know, I don't care what side of the
ali you're on. We should all be loving this country.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Of course.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
We all live here and we're all in it together,
you know, and you know, we should all be getting along.
I mean, there's nothing you know, we have differences obviously.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, so let's steer clear of that.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
But yeah, because I have a feeling we might have
personal inclinations that are similar, but we could discuss that offline.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, it's all good.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Tell me about the band today. What's what's the next gig,
What's what? What's the current state of the metal revent.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
We are constantly obviously looking for more touring and more
performance action. Of course, the way that the industry is nowadays,
it's the only place to make money too, so, but
we are definitely we're about eighty percent dome with recording
a new record and then of course the at most

(04:37):
thing that we're what we want to put out as well.
We're excited about that too, so and we'll be back,
you know, on tour this summer as well.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
As a touring artist, have you found it's become more competitive,
Like some of the bigger legacy acts are kind of
fighting for some of the more mid level stuff, and
the mid level guys are kind of fight like it
just seems like it's harder.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Than it all.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
It definitely feels that way, and you know, for us
being you know, independent artists and we don't have a
big finance year behind us. You know, we're doing this
on shoe string budget most of the time. But the
positive side of that is that we get to play
exactly the music that we want to play. There's nobody
in a suit and tie telling us that we should
be doing it more like this. Not that there's anything

(05:23):
wrong with that either, but it's it is nice to
have the artistic freedom, but it's it's difficult, you know,
when we roll out in our motor coach with a trailer.
It's like, I pray that we don't break down, because
we did break down once and it costs US seven
thousand dollars to get back on the road. We were
stuck in the middle of Kansas for three days waiting
for the mechanic because you know, working on a bus

(05:45):
is not something that is very easy to do, and
we were stuck and you know, and I didn't I
don't have the mechanical knowledge to fix what was wrong,
you know. Unfortunately, so we were stuck and it was
seven grand and there goes the tour budget and there
goes the profit, you know, and we have to get home.
We got to get our equipment home, so we got
to finish. We only missed one show, which was great.

(06:07):
But you know, like I pray nothing like that happens,
but it does happen.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
So you gotta you gotta take out account for that.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Still a very cool rock star problem to have your
four bus is broken down in the middle of Kansas.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
I mean there, you should at least get a song
out of that, you know. I'm something about Cornfield, yes,
and I.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Hope that those that memory comes up and when we're
when we are sitting down to write a song because
it was still I mean, we still had a great time.
We always have a good time together, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
But it's ironic that you broke down Kansas.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
The first time I went across the country with a
band when I was a kid, we had a U
haul with an old Dodge car and it broke down
in freaking cancer.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
And I think Kansas is a beautiful state. If you
haven't driven through it, it is beautiful to see it.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
But the first three hours of seeing the same thing
when you're there, the other ten of going through Iowa
to and seeing all the same thing again, it gets rough.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
When you're still there for three days and you know
how much money it's gonna take to you know, to
put that put that coach back on the road.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
So when you were a kid first starting off, let
let's let's go all the way back, I want to
did you ever even imagine that you'd have such a problem,
like like, where did this start? Where did your passion
for being a guitarist start? Take me all the way back?

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Wow? Okay.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
I started playing guitar because my dad played guitar, and
and he took me to my first concert, which was
Les Paul and I remember people asking Les Paul questions
from the audience that was probably five or six, I guess,
maybe maybe seven, and I just remember how cool Les
Paul was like answering these questions, saying, yeah, I built

(07:46):
the pickups in my kitchen, you know, and people were laughing,
and it was it was really just inspiring, you know
that that and and definitely my mom's influence because she
was such a huge Elvis Presley fan, and that rubbed
off on me. I think Elvis Presley's birthday should be
in national holiday.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
I'm with, you know, and he's the King.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
For a reason, absolutely, you know.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
And anyway, so having that influence of my dad playing
and then he he started teaching me when I was nine,
but at nine I didn't have enough patience to really
stick with it. You know, maybe a month went by
and oh, my finger's hurt. And you know, it wasn't
until I was thirteen when I had I had a
really close friend named Mark and Mark Mark's dad was

(08:30):
the vice president of Kramer Guitars, which I didn't know.
And this is, you know, nineteen eighty four, right, so
Kramer is kind of like the new upcoming thing.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Eddie Van Hamlin's now playing.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
I remember the guitar player ad for the Focus six hundred.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, yep.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
So I was friends with my friend Mark for about
a year and I had no idea that he that
his dad did that. I had no idea that my
friend Mark even played guitar. So when he came to
school with the guitar and all the girls were.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Like, oh my god, I knew there was a girl.
Oh yeah, then you know. And I was like, wait,
why didn't you tell me that you played guitar?

Speaker 3 (09:07):
And Mark was like he never asked, Like, I didn't
know I was supposed to ask that question. I thought
we were talking about Rambo, the latest movie that just
came out.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
So you caught the fever I did. Getting that adulation.
You're like, damn, I want to get in on that.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Yeah, yeah, that seems like some good action. So anyway,
so watching Mark play and I'm.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Like, we're talking about fred action. Yeah, of course, yes.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Anyway, So it was Mark's inspiration that was like, wow,
I want I tried to play guitar and I still have,
you know, a real passion for it. And seeing my
friend play led Zeppelin songs in the WHO that was
way more inspiring than mel Bay's book one of Mary
had a little lamb.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Which is what I was on. And where did you
grow up?

Speaker 3 (09:50):
I grew up in uh Well, when I was up
till I was six, we lived in Leonardo, but after
that we were in Home del Yeah, when Home Dell
was nothing but farm lands at that point. Yeah, our
neighborhood was pretty pretty new brand.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
So what was your first guitar? It was a Guild
That's not a bad first guitar, No, it wasn't.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
It was a Guild Moderra, which I guess was their
sort of import line, like Gibson has epiphone. Right, there
was a double cutaway with P nineties. I had no
idea what any of that meant, you know, now I
do now I know I don't like that. Nothing wrong
with that setup, but it's just not my thing anyway.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
That was the first guitar I had. But was that
electric guitar? You know?

Speaker 4 (10:34):
And so did you get into like a period where
you like, like how many hours a day did you practice?

Speaker 2 (10:39):
For how many years? Oh?

Speaker 3 (10:41):
As much as absolutely possible, you know? And it was
that determination of again my friend Mark and still my dad, right,
my dad was still playing had he had a Gibson
still has a Gibson list Paul, And it was just like,
for whatever reason at that age, like I got that
bug of determination, like I want to do this, I
don't care what it takes, which is kind.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Of burned in your soul.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
You felt an immediate connection, like there's nothing else for me.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yes, correct.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
And I was thirteen at the time, so twelve thirteen
somewhere that crossover of that.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
But yeah, that was it.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
I was just I went back to Book one, I
went through the whole thing. I'm like, I know there's
something to learn here, and there was, but I wanted
to know how to play those those songs my friend
Mark was playing.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
So what was the first band?

Speaker 3 (11:28):
I was desperate to join a band, and my friend
Mark already had a band and didn't need me, and I.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Wasn't really up to that level yet. So I played
with a couple of people.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
But my first band was a band called Fortress Ow.
Oh yeah, great name, and I think I was probably
a fifteen or sixteen I think of this pause. I
was like only two years later that I was playing
with people, and it was it was great. I had
so much fun with the guys in that band, and
I've recently reconnected with the drummer who is now a

(12:00):
big time sound guy down down in Florida. Oh cool,
And we were able to reconnect and become friends again.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
So you played through high school, you got your chops
up in your young line, jumping into the scene. What
what was that like in going into the early origins
of your professional endeavors as a musician.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
I mean, definitely, I had such a great upbringing. I
mean even just when my parents alone, but the friends
that I hung out with in high school being into music,
and of course the connection to Kramer Guitar Factory and
got a chance to go there as a kid and
hang out and think, wow, is Eddie van Halen gonna
come walking through the door right? Because he was endorsed
at Yeah, and he was always popping by the factory

(12:41):
anytime he was in town. So I think he I
think even ed invested in the company.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
I think it.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
I think you're right, which led him I think getting
into that market, developing his own line. I think he's yeah,
which so Wolfgang inherited all.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
That, I believe, so so being able to you know,
to hang there, it was like it was such an inspiration,
you know, and and then you know, coming out of
high school, I was still playing with my friends from
high school for quite some time.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
Telling me something since you since you brought up Eddie,
I mean, he's been in influenced on just about every
guitar player. I know. Curious on your perspective of Wolfgang,
what you think of him.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
He's a great musician, He's I mean, you know, I
think so too. He was raised obviously in a household
of music, you know, and having shoes like your dad.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
He's got certain genetics absolutely, and you know, I mean,
I mean, this is a kid that could have easily
just been like, you know what, I'm just going to
go tour Van Hallington's the rest of my life and
make you know, million dollar guarantees. Yeah, and he's like, no,
I want to do the music. I want to do
the way I want to do it. I respect him,
I mean, I know, obviously he's privileged. Not everyone gets
to have like, oh guns n' roses is going to

(13:54):
let me open up because a Medie Van Hills.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
But he owns it. Yeah, he gets those opportunities.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
But whenever he gets him he seems like he's you know,
on point.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Absolutely, yeah, he's he's you know, I wish him all
the best, you know, and he's making great music. So
it's he's doing what he's supposed to be doing.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
You know. There's a cool little snippet of.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
His dad, Ed and it was not long before he passed,
I think, and it's it's it's all over internet. And
Eddie looks at the camera. He goes, man, you gotta
keep playing.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Have you seen that? I have it?

Speaker 4 (14:28):
That's man, it's great. It's just puts chills down your spine,
doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
It does.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
And it's like, you know, I never was fortunate enough
to meet Eddie and my friend Mark from high school,
you know, met Ed and hung with him a bunch
of times.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Being of course who his dad was.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
And Mark broke his arm once in high school, and
he came to school the next day and Ed and
Michael and Alex all signed his cast. And he had
the cast, which was disgusting, by the way, for many years,
like in his room, hees, how could you throw that away?

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Van Halen? Behind your cast?

Speaker 3 (15:01):
You know when when you were in you know, when
you're a freshman in high school.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Fresh he must have milked that. Oh my god, yes,
of course he did. Oh my yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
That was like around that was like pre nineteen eighty
four album, wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
It was he that they signed that.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
You know, they're like diver it Down era, and they
were all so cool.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh my god, so freaking cool. It's just just awesome.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
So it's like now having you know, being around that,
and was like wow, so so close to Ed but
seeing Ed's little clip of the video saying, man, you
gotta keep playing.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
What else is there to do? That's the only thing
to do.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
And then at the end of the head goes and
I just started cracking up, and I was like, even,
you know, on days where I don't maybe want to
do my career anymore, and we all have those days.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
I mean, it's a you know, it's it's.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
A tireless he'll climb being a lifer musician.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
It is.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
And so at the end of Ed's a little video,
he goes, you gotta keep playing and if you don't,
I'm gonna come find you.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
And it was like, yeah, Edie, Edie van.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Halen just threatened us if we don't keep playing, So
I guess we're gonna have to keep playing.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Amen.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
So what were some of your other early influences. I
mean you've mentioned Zeppelin obviously, Jimmy Page is a standard bearer,
and so many. Oh I'm gonna draw you into the
age old conflict here, Beck, Clapton or Page.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Oh my god, yes, well played.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's it because I was just listening to Jeff Beck
yesterday and it's like, it's still mind blowing. I had
a student, which I've been teaching guitar for many years,
and he asked me, He's like, what Beck should I
listen to? Because I haven't really listened to him. So
I give him a few things to chew on, and
I went back myself and listened to it, and it's like,
how do you make it sound like that? You know,

(16:46):
only Jeff can do that.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Well.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
One of the things that's I think amazing about Jeff
Beck is he was one of those musicians I don't
think he had He didn't have the same level of
success as Page or Clapton, and I think he had
a certain amount of fire and hunger that he just
never stopped experimenting, exploring and learning. Like he he was
still pushing himself, you know. And I think Paige Jimmy Page,

(17:13):
You've had the most amazing guitarist producer career of all time.
You've written the most iconic songs the risk of all time. Well,
you know what, I can't even say that either, because
remember that movie with the Jack White and the Edge
was in it. Yeah, I gotta tell you, man, when
he spanked them with Kashmir, Oh my god, I was

(17:33):
screaming up and down and Joy I was like yes, and.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
It's like they're they're all great musicians, and the Edge
is such a great songwriter, right.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
And you know, and you know, mind blowing.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
What he did with the effects and everything, right, Like
it's just incredible and just kind of like.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
An impressionist painter with textural kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Sure, you know on Jack White's a phenomenal musician. I
saw him do this whole vaudeville thing that was blew
my mind. But when Page starts playing cash, it's just
like there's no.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
Plaice left to go. No, that's it.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Like you just got to stand in awe when he plays,
and it's like.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
Wow, Okay, so we're not going to debate about Beck.
In the Page.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
It's you know, and with claps and it's like.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
You know.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Of course everybody loves Clapton's playing in the Cream days
because he was on fire, you know. And I still
think he was on fire. It was just in a
different way in the years later. But what blows me
away about Clapton is is he never quit singing. And
now look how good of a singer he's become. He's unbelievable.
Like he's singing Ray Charles tunes like like like and

(18:35):
doing it.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
He had to sing with his guitar before he learned
how to sing with his voice.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, there is an evolution.

Speaker 4 (18:41):
There's an evolution in your vocals too. I've been following
you since I don't know, probably early two thousands. I
remember you playing the Crossroads.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, you know, I remember I missed that place.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
But your vocals have gotten stronger. I find with vocals,
like the more you can kind of like work through
your personal stuff and live more in your personal authentics authenticity,
the better you can sing.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Definitely.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
And I mean I always say I'll be the first
person to tell you I wasn't born to be a singer.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
My wife was.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yes, I was born to play guitar, but out of necessity,
which is back to those high school days of getting
frustrated with having to deal with a lead singer. That's
why I started singing, because I knew the music I
wanted to play, and I knew that it was in
that Hendrix vibe. So that was another massive influence to me.
Hendricks is my favorite guitar player of all okay, and

(19:37):
it's just because he touched me. You know, his music
touched me at such an early age of magic, you know,
like it's just magical, like what is how was he
doing that? You know, much like Jeff Beck obviously, so
knowing that I wanted to do that kind of thing,
it's like, well, Hendrix sang, and you know, he wasn't
Paparatti no, you know, and he didn't need to be

(19:57):
so to you know.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
To portray his music. So that's why I started doing it.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
And it was literally it was one less you know,
person that have to wait on the show up to
pay them, you know.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
Or share the fifty dollars with you got from the
Sweet sixteen parties.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Exactly. Oh I hear you man, you know, but there
was something.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Magical obviously, yet again with a lead singer when he
or she is out there, you know, capturing the audience,
you know. And I learned that watching, you know, playing
with bon Jovi and being on a stage with him
and watching him be out on the runway, you know,
and there's sixty thousand people staring at him, watching him

(20:36):
entertain the show. And it's incredible that education I got
watching John and standing next to him, and I'm like,
holy crap, what am I doing here? How did I
get here? I'm finally on the big stage and I'm
playing with bon Jovi. Like it's not like I'm there
with my own band, Like I'm there with the biggest
artist in the world. And this is an education that

(20:58):
holy crap. Soak in every section of this because I'm
learning right now.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
I'm in school. Well, since you brought it up, how
did that all go down? It was unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
I mean, the greatest time of my life next to
getting married to Aaron.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
You know.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
It's like, what again, what an education? You know? And
but how did it come to be? What?

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (21:17):
How did you get that gig?

Speaker 3 (21:18):
I so through teaching guitar, you know, a private guitar
instruction for years, which was another influence from the guy
we talked about before, Bernie Browsweater from Bebie and the Stingers.
That was also a huge catalyst when I saw Bernie
and his band play for the first time, probably ninety
four or five, and Bernie doing that Hendrix thing and wow,

(21:40):
he only has to get a bass player and drummer,
and that was the light bulb for me. I'm like,
all right, I gotta start singing for better or for worse.
I'm going to do this because I want to do
what he's doing.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Of Bernie, I first saw him with the Slaves.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Of New brunsw Oh sure, yeah, yeah, he was a.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
Very well, he was an amazing He was one of
those guys that was like, you know, he's dialed into
the like you know certain players they play with like
almost like a liquid electricity.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
That's him. He was just he was always in the pocket. Yep.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
There was never a time that I saw that guy
play where he got the nod from whoever was the
band leader at whatever gig it was. It was just
it was just in Yeah, it was his band when
he was playing whoever.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
He was playing with, Oh sure, definitely. But he was
a huge influence on here.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Massive, you know, and I wound up studying with him
I lived with his drummer, Bob Butterfield at his house.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Requireob Butterfield was in Phantoms of.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
Opera at one point, so living at his house, you know,
be being the Stingers. Rehearsed there every Monday night and
they would come hang out in my room and I'd
sit in the basement and watch him play.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
It was like an education. Again.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
It was just you know, world's biggest sponge is what
I am.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
And it was real life.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
I mean, yeah, page he was on his pedestal, Oh
my god, but here was a real dude in real life.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
And seeing Bernie and just how humble he was and
how nice he was to people. It was like there
was a whole lesson just that of just being a
better person, which then influences the music that you play.
When the ego gets in the way, and unfortunately it's
in every place in the world, yes, and it's like
another day that goes by that you don't have an

(23:16):
ego for that day is a successful day, you know,
and that's hard to do well.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
Speaking of ego, So so you know, we're as very
short musicians, you know, there's there's definitely some ego wounds.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, of course, you know, to be expected.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
How do you navigate being on stage with bon Jovi?

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Arguably?

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yeah, I mean they could easily lay claim to being,
if not the most successful recording art certainly in that conversation.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
How do you adjust?

Speaker 4 (23:45):
How do you come down from that altitude and then
go play your next like local gig.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
That was hard because I was like, wow, I finally
did this.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, I'm like there, like like your whole life of
what you've been dreaming about and looking at the posters
on your wall stars and holy crap, I got I'm
actually there.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, And then it was like and we came home.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
We did a killer you know, the mattter Reed band
did a whole show at the Pony and we sold
it out for the first time ever, which was like
just the greatest time.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
You know. It was such a roller coaster ride.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
And when the roller coaster comes to the end, you know,
it's like, all right, well now we got to move
on to the next chapter. And that's a hard thing
to do, you know. And Aaron was a huge help
with that, you know, emotionally and everything else, because it
was like, all right, well, John doesn't need me for
another tour now, what we have to go back to
playing bars?

Speaker 2 (24:37):
What do we do?

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Like?

Speaker 2 (24:40):
It was, it was a hard thing, but you know
the other side, alwast the gig itself as a player.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Oh wasn't it was the most greatest thing on earth,
you know. But the other thing I want to say
it was I was just so thankful that I got
a chance to do something that very few people get
a chance to do.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
So how lucky am I? So?

Speaker 4 (24:59):
Okay, it's every Jersey boys fantasy. Yeah to be you know.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
So like when I got home, I noticed that the
people around me and fans treated me differently, and I'm like, guys,
don't I'm the same person I was when I left
for the tour. I didn't change. I'm never gonna change.
I'm always the same person, you know. I'll always be
the humble person that I try to be every day.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
So you're friends with David Brian, that is how I
got the gig? Correct? Yes, I'm sorry. Back to that question.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
I met David through a student who I hadn't seen
in a long time. And we're playing a gig at
Jamians in Red Bank and my student, former student walks
in the door and I'm like, wow, I haven't seen
Brad in a couple of years.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
And then right behind him was David and I'm like,
I didn't know Brad knew David Brian. Of course, how
could you not know who David Brian was. And then
so anyway, we take a break and I you know,
big hugs and you know, handshakes with Brad and my god,
I'm so good to see you. And he's like, yeah, Brad,
Brad's like, I want you to meet David Brian and
I'm like, oh, dude, I would love to meet David.
And which I had previously met David at a wedding anyway,

(26:04):
so I was like, David, man, you know, if you
want to come up and play a song, dude, you're
more than welcome to you know, our stage is your stage.
And he was like, yeah, man, it was. And it
was that moment of like we had we been friends
for the last forty years. You know, that's how music
brings people together.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
You just had a camaraderie.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, and when you speak the same language on a
musical level and have fun together, it's just like, holy crap,
this was the coolest. This was such a great night.
I was I could barely sleep that night. I was
so just excited to have, you know, a new friend
of that level.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
You know, Can I interject for a moment and tell
you why David Bryan's the coolest guy in bon Jovi.
So I went to Sarahvil High School. My first dummer,
my first bands kid, Bobby Bogan, he was friends with
John and the early origins of bon Jovi. We went
to see them open for Rat at the Spectrum one night,
well sixteen years old. Backstage with bon Jovi, feeling pretty

(26:57):
good about life. I just like met Sambora, who was
like a living god to me. Sure, and they're partying
back there, and then when we all left, David Brian
took me and Bobby and so the guys come out
with us, and they had their tour bus outside the gates,
and they all walked up and David Brian made sure
that we were seen by all the girls waiting outside

(27:19):
the gate, cool that we were hanging with bon Jovi.
And then like we like hugged all the guys and like,
you know, got a bear hug from David Brian and
he like I just looked at him, like, thank you man.
Then I went back to my seventy three Dodge Dart.
Life went on, but for that moment.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
It was like all these girls like who are those guys?

Speaker 4 (27:40):
Why are they with John and Ritchie and David and
Tico and Alec, Like what who are they? And like
we walked out the bus leaves and we're just walking
up the ramps and.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
All these girls like who are you?

Speaker 4 (27:53):
Like it didn't take a more than ten minutes to
figure out where nobody when I got into my old
Dodge Dart. But for that moment, it was just like,
and that's why David Ryan's a cool sky in Bojovi.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
That was such a sweet kind thing to do, you know.
Now he's got David's got a heart of gold.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
And I saw him at the Broadway Barn Girl a
couple of years ago at a gig, and I was
gonna thank him for that store, but he was like
ten people in deep trying to shut his attention. I
was like, maybe maybe I'll have a chance to thank him.
So if you see him, tell him thank you. That
was such a cool thing to do.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
That was really cool.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
And yeah, I think everybody in bon Jovi in my
you know, for my experience, obviously, who are they just
as nice. You know. John was cool as it can be,
and you know, I still chat with him any chance
I can, you know, And it's just it was the
experience of a lifetime, you know, and I can't be
more thankful than hey, you know, if nothing ever else

(28:48):
happens in my career that comes close to that. But
I got a chance to climb the flagpole and I
rang the bell.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Man, you know, even again, I shouldn't be complaining about
bad days in the music industry, but there are.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
You know.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
It's just the reality of life. And like some days
it's like, man, why am I still? What am I doing?

Speaker 4 (29:06):
But at that level, you're like, all right, well, yeah,
where's It's.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Got to be an adjustment psychologically too. Definitely, it's like Gulliver's.

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Travels though being a musician, like you go to one
village and you're a giant, and then the next like
now you're dodging giants. Would you say a music career
similar to that, where you have these highs and you
have these valleys, but you just you have to move forward.
But do you think you'd be the player you are
and have the emotion and expression and the psychic connection

(29:43):
to the blues and the melodies, if you hadn't gone
through some of these trials and tribulations, it's.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
All part of it. That's that is.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
One of my dear friends is Gordon Brown. We went
to high school together.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Another guy who's been up and down.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
Oh my god, you know, and anytime I get bummed
out and like you guys went to high school together.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
We went to high school together.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
So I copy it off of Gordon in Spanish class
because I had a hard time Spanish. And we still
joke about it, or at least I joke about it
with Gordon. So every once in a while I text Gordon.
I'm like, man, helped me out here because I'm you know,
on emotional, you know, low whatever, and Gordon always gives
me the greatest advice, you know. And I look up
to Gordon like my like an older brother, because to me,

(30:25):
he was in music. He was he was off playing
gigs when we were in high school, and I'm like, wow,
he's actually doing the real reality.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
I remember, I guess Brian Nelson managed him for a
while and he used to run the fast Lane yep.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
So I used to play there a lot, and.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
You'd go to back then you had to like drive
to go get the tickets from the promoter. And then
I remember mister Reality was first getting together and I
was like, wow, this is smart. Everyone's like getting bigger, louder.
And then they're like nah, acoustic twelve string bass.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
And then three part harmony.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Oh, and their harmonies were just unbelievable. It's like listening
to the Eagles, you know. So anyway, so Gordon would
be like, he would say this about our previous conversation.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Gordon, now what do I do? And He's like, it's
supposed to be like this. I'm like why, well, what
does it have to be like this?

Speaker 3 (31:13):
And he's like, because to all those feelings of emotion
that you're going through is gonna go into your next song.
It's gonna go into your next riff. You're never gonna
forget that when you're on a bigger stage or a
smaller stage, or any place or just in the studio.
All these things add up to be they create the
musician that you are, and you're never you know, you're

(31:34):
never not learning, You're always you know, growing.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
But you've had the double jersey boy tease because you've
worked with Springsteen too thankfully.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yes, and another Monster obviously musician, you know, but it's
Bruce's is a wealth of history, knowledge and history and
knowledge of music. The guy's unbelievable, unbelievable. Like just hanging
and chatting with him about music, it's just like, wow,
that's another education.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
There it is again. I'm back in school now. You
wrote a song with him or he or he added
to a song you wrote. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
So John Leedersdorf runs lake House Music. He and I
wrote a bunch of songs together and always loved writing
with John. And John and I wrote this song called
black Boots, and it was actually about my old drummer,
Bob Pantella, who's the.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Drummer of Monster Magnet.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
Okay, and Bob always wore these black sort of not
combat boots, but you know kind of you know, hiking boots,
and we always it's kind of made a joke. It
was like, you know, every time Bob puts his boots on,
you know, like you know, and starts, you know, we
start drinking and having a good time. You know, Bob
becomes Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde. But we all kind
of had that in us and me say me just

(32:46):
telling that story to John Leadersdorf. He wind up, you know,
penning some lyrics and that turned into Black Boots and
that's what the song was about. So long story short,
I was teaching Bruce's son, Sam, and Sam and I
became really great friends. You know, He's like a little
brother kind of thing, you know, and such a great,
great kid guy. Now this is many years ago. So

(33:09):
Sam had asked me if I had anything new I
was working on, and that happened to be the song.
I was like, actually, you know what, I like a
rough mix of the song, you know, called Black Boots.
I would love to hear your opinion of it, because
you grew up in a house of music, you know,
and you have a younger perspective.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
And his mother has her own talent. Oh my god,
of course. And then he got Neil's Lofgan hanging around.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Like, yeah, it's a lot of unbelievable right, So, and
you know, me being stuck like I'm in the seventies,
you know.

Speaker 4 (33:37):
By the way, was there some intimidation factor when you're
instructing Springsteen's kid how to play guitar?

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (33:43):
Absolutely, I mean it's like it's it's freaking Bruce I
mean he can play a little bit guitar, like.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
And Bruce would come in sometimes and you know, hang
with this and pick up a guitar, and I'm like,
this is the greatest moment. Like I'm playing, you know
with Bruce and we're playing on a Dylan tune, trying
to help his son be more inspired, you know.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
To keep practicing. And it was just cool. It was
cool as gonna be. It was just so nonsulation and
fear all that once. That was just like wow.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
I can't believe, you know, I'm just you know, elated
that you know, I'm on cloud nine and and seeing
Bruce just play in front of you and you know,
and it was just the coolest thing it was.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
And it was so no, no, there's no pressure.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
It's just hanging hanging with your friend Bruce, you know,
like like that and that's how he is.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
So it's more like you thought about it after it happened.
Oh you're you're in the moment and you're like, whoa.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah that just happened. Yep, exactly.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
So Sam was like I said, I would love to hear,
you know, the opinion of a teenager because I'm not
connected to anything that's going on at that time in
younger generation of music. I checked out after seventy eight, right,
so right, and you know it, and I really wanted
his opinion. It wasn't a solicited thing. He asked me

(34:54):
if I you know, so it was like reluctantly gave
him a copy of it. Anyway, So I guess he
and his dad were going to Jack's music, is what
I was told. And Sam put the song on in
the car and Bruce started listening to it and he
liked it. So I've seen Sam for his lesson the
next week and Sam was like, man, Matt, you know,

(35:14):
I really liked the song black Boots. I think it's great.
It's like, oh cool, any constructive criticism. Then he goes,
I don't know, but you know, my dad even liked it.
And he goes, Matt, my dad doesn't say he likes anything. Wow,
And I was like, holy crap.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
I'm a little taller that day. I did write so
so as.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
I was leaving, you know, you can play guitar, but
it must feel really nurturing. Well, you get a song
writing acknowledgment from from the boss. Yes, that's like a
blessing from the Pope.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
It really was.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
You had to feel like, did you feel like ordained
in that moment that was had a tongue of fire
come down on the crown.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
I'm like, I'm a made man. I'm in the mafia now.
And that was Yeah, That's exactly how I felt. So
leaving that house that day, I had seen Bruce and
Bruce mentioned it and he goes, man, man, I really
like that song Black Boots. I was like, dude, I'm
elated that you that you did get that, Thanks so much.
And and then it was like every ounce of energy

(36:13):
of courage that I had in me, you know, from
the boots I had on. I was like, hey, do
you ever have any thoughts of maybe, you know, playing
on it be honored you know understatement? Yeah yeah, and
like and you know, Bruce kind of like stopped and
thought about it for a second and he's like, yeah, man,
let's let's do something with it.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
And I was like, Okay, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
You know, and it's like and I wasn't sure Bruce's
you know, stepping back for a minute, was like, I
can't believe this kid just asked me this, you know,
But it wasn't It was It was him thinking about.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Can I make a legitimate contribution?

Speaker 4 (36:47):
Yes, And that wasn't He was thinking, as a fellow musician,
can I add value?

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Which was the coolest thing. And I didn't realize it
at the moment that that's what that was. It wasn't
until like later on when he did his contribution and
I was like, holy crap, his parts are so good.
Not that I wouldn't think that they would be wouldn't
be right that I had to go.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
I went back and.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Redid my vocals because his was so damn good right
that mine didn't look so good anymore. And I'm like,
we're gonna recut my vocals.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
Absolutely, you know, there would have been a tangible value
to him having a presence on the song no matter what.
But the fact that he wanted to deliver an authentic,
best contribution he could elevated the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Absolutely. I absolutely did with that song.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
And you know, and looking back to the Steel Mills stuff,
like when Bruce was doing sort of the blues rock thing,
but Bruce like transformed himself into the performance that's on
Black Boots, and he sounds like he's supposed to be
there singing that song.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
It doesn't sound.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Any e Street song. Obviously different thing. And that was
the most unbelievable part. When I first heard Bruce's track,
I was like, holy crap, he sounds like great Almond
or anybody else on that.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
I got inter with you because I just remembered something
Vinny Lopez years ago. He was doing a steel mill
retro thing. He invited me over to his house and
Jackson when I was first do an area, we're thinking
about putting out the stuff. I guess Bruce is like, yeah,
re record it to whatever you want with it or whatever.

(38:19):
So first of all, you know he's knots. He's a
wonderfully nutty gullat. But he lives like right next to
the lion cage is a great adventure.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
I've been there once and I think I remember that.
Oh I'll never forget it.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
Because we're there and he's like slamming me with rum
and cokes and we're smoking a couple of joints and
he's grilling up cheeseburkers, and all of a sudden you
hear this like deep guttural roar, and I'm like, what
the hell. It's like, Oh yeah, I didn't mention I
live next to the Lions at the Safari Park.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Of course you do, time, of course you do.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
He played me some of that San Francisco era stuff
with Bruce. As a guitar he could have had a
whole other world as a psychedelic guitar player, Like I
didn't know, because now he plays he's more of a
statesman soloist. Kind of seems like he did. He gets in,
he gets out, He's got his like obviously he can play,

(39:17):
but it's not indulgent in meandering. Yeah, this ship was
like kind of competed with Garcia Santana.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
It was like he played a lot of guitar back then. Yeah,
I was astonished.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
I was like, I had no idea he had this.
So I'm just supporting what you're saying, Like I had
no idea he had this whole other persona musically of
the guitar hero archetype.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
No, he's he did a great solo on Black Boots
and you know, and his vocal performance it's just it's incredible,
you know, and he's singing high b notes in the
harm and the chorus of what Aaron sings.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
Right, and you know it's been in his sixties yeah,
and it's like it's not like he hasn't like put
a little mileage on this vocal courts.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
And when we got the tracks back, I'm like, who's
singing that? Holy crap, it's Bruce singing a high b
and it's like, you know, and from the story that
I was told was that Bruce was was having a
really good time, great mood, dancing around the studio singing
black boots when he when he cut the track, that
he was and he said it reminded him of the

(40:21):
steel Mill days, and you know, which I thought was
such a you know, an honor to even be and
you know, even have him just listen to the song,
let alone play on it. You know, that was like
his contribution to that song.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
You know.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
So having worked with John and Bruce, were there any
uniform insights? And he'd like they're both alpha dogs. Sure,
and then like did you see some kind of like
what did you get out of that? Was there any
kind of like observational lesson? Like, I mean, they both
seem like they're incredibly They're the kind of guy that
would go to football practice and then go home and
work out like they're they have that extra whatever it.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Is they workaholics?

Speaker 4 (41:00):
You know cost do you find them similar kind of
archetype or what was the distinction between working with them if?
I mean, if there's anything that you could share.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
Uh, I mean, you know, like I said, they're both
you know, perfectionists, you know, die hard, you know workaholics.
You know, they just work, work, work, work, work, and
that I have a lot of that in myself too.
It's like you got to kill me to get me
to quit, you know.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
So it was like just.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Seeing that in them was like, all right, I'm on
the right track here. I just gotta I gotta keep
going right.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
No, Well, I don't know what your spiritual thoughts are
about universal manifestation and stuff like that, but I mean,
like the universe is like giving you some pretty big
like names affirmations here. It's like, yeah, no, you're on
a level like keep going yes.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
And you know, again seeing them work, like after the consent,
you know, the concert, John would go back to his
room and review the videotape.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Wow, And I'm like that many years in two oh
my god. And me.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
It's like when we finished the at most recording, when
you sent it, I was like, even though it was
a few days later. I always have that cringe factor
of like, ah, we screwed this up and screwed that up. Right,
It's like, but like to sit there and watch yourself
right after the concert when you did, I don't know
how it does.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
That was how soon? How recent had Sambora left the band?

Speaker 3 (42:19):
I think he was I'd left the year before, so
it was still fresh, I think, you know, or it
was a year or at.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Least a year and a half.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Yeah, so you think John was energized to prove, like,
as much as we love Richie, this band will go like.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
And that's incredible in itself right there, that John again,
you know, the workaholic that he is, and he is
just you know, he's he's the quarterback man. He's running
he's running it, you know, and it's incredible again for me,
a kid from home Dell standing next to him, seeing
the white mic stand that I saw back in the

(42:56):
videos and when I was hanging out with my friend
from Kramer right and now I'm playing with him, you know,
was like and watching him command an audience, that's how
his life is like, he's you know, it's it's incredible.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
You know. He's also a big Elvis fan. I didn't
know that. I never talked to him about that.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
I actually was one of the kids that helped pick
out the songs on Slippery When Wet.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Oh no kidding.

Speaker 4 (43:19):
Yeah, they had recorded all the demos at a place
called Century Sound right on Washington Road.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
So funny because that one of those early bands you
asked me about, the first time I ever recorded in
Mickeydiot was with Mickey.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
And No Shumm from Megaton. Yep.

Speaker 4 (43:35):
Yes, I used to sit in with him and Connie's
on Route thirty.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Five and John mul rennan was was Oh my goodness, Yes,
they did some great work. They did.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
They did some great what they had a sixteen track, yes,
two inch date, Yeah, the good sixteen track.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah. Yeah, that's so funny. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
So they did the pre production there and actually the
original version of I'll Be There for You had sam
Boran lead vocals. Oh, no kidding, And because you know,
I guess if you could call it John King Arthur
Sambori was like his Lancelot was like his number one
night at the table.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, so that had to be a big blow.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
So he must have been somewhat energized to like just
show the fan basic like, hey, we're still strong, sure
of course, so that had to be some pressure on
the guitar team. Oh absolutely, you were playing with Phil X.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
Yeah, so essentially, you know, Bobby Bandiera was there for
nine ten years, I guess, playing with Ritchie and filling
out the sound of the band. It's like, you know,
as we all get older, it's you know, it's harder
to keep doing all the work, you know, on your instrument,
so having some extra hands around really helps.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Plus that stuff was quadruple tracked. Oh my god, yees.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
Having an extra fiddle player is And especially Bobby, who's
a phenomenal musician, and his his list of song knowledge
that he could just pull out of nowhere is insane.
I don't know how many songs he's got in his head.
A thousand, two thousand. Who knows. Every time you see Bobby,
it's like, I can't believe he even knows that song,

(45:09):
you know, but he's that That's just Bobby, right.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
So Bobby decided to sit.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
One out because he had some other things going on
in his life, and that's where I came in, got
the gig to fill in for it, you know, And
I even I remember calling Bobby saying, hey man, I'm
I'm so thrilled to fill in for you. You know,
it's your gig, it's not mine, you know, and he
was appreciative of that.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
So yeah, that was it.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
So it was myself and Phil and we had such
a blast playing together. And Phils a monster guitar player.
You know, he's plays his rear end off and a
very positive person he is, and he's always like, you know,
he's always wide awake, you know, like ready to go,
and I'm like, i don't know how you do it
to it.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
I'm like I'm ready for a nap, you know. And
he's just just you know, on fire. You know. He's
such a great guitar player and a great guy.

Speaker 4 (45:59):
I'm so happy for you have that experience.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
That's amazing. Yeah, it was wonderful, you know.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
And it was like Phil and I had a couple
of moments where it was like we were the little
kids in the candy store because we're playing some solos
back and forth on this one too, we were doing
and we did that nightly, and it was like looking
at the audience and like everybody's like on just in
it with us, and it's like you know, I can't
believe we're here doing this.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
You know, it's like what we did? You have to
learn any parts?

Speaker 3 (46:26):
I had to learn mostly the parts that Bobby was doing,
so but I tried to learn as much as I
possibly could. It was a lot of information, you know,
to try to catch up to, you know, it was
it was fun.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
We had a last because he's a great player too,
and he's done some really.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
You know, Richie's parts and his vocals were so incredible.
That's the scary stuff. That's scary stuff.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
It is replacing Samborn's vocal I would imagine, very daunting.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah, and it's you know, he's he was such a
great singer.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
So if you could win the musical live hurry, how
would you spend your ticket? What?

Speaker 2 (47:02):
What?

Speaker 4 (47:03):
What would what would the ultimate thing look for you?
If you could matter or we could have what he
wants the way he wants to, how how would that look?

Speaker 3 (47:11):
I I mean, and this is a great thing to say.
I have the band of my dreams. You know where
you've got a great freaking band. I mean, everybody's on
the same page.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
We're family.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
We hang out with each other all the time, you know,
we are family.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
Do you feel trussed though, because you have the band
your dreams. And I know when I've led bands before,
like I always felt pressure to keep them busy, keep
them active, keep them happy, like keep bringing raw chunks
of antelope to put on the table so someone doesn't
steal them, or you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Sure, and you know, but it's we've been playing together
for a long time. Family. Yeah, we're absolute family.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
But what if I won the lottery. I would love
for the world to see this band because it's you know,
because it is that it's that vibe of the seventies
of you know, of a family of musicians, you know,
and everybody's so great, you know, singularly, but then collectively,
like the band is just it's just it's a great

(48:09):
time at every time we play, you know, and it's
just a great vibe. It's never it's never a sad
moment really, even when there are sad moments you know
that we might be singing about. But you know, if
the world could see that, you know, on the big stage,
that would make me the happiest.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
One thing that's always puzzled me, and particularly like when
I started my label, like a long time ago, it's
always been a frustration to me that because I feel
like in our area there's such a wealth of musical
talent it's insane.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
In this state.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
Yeah, oh yeah, and especially the shore, there's just something
there is there's just something magical here that's the pizza.
But I never it's always been a frustration to me
seeing generation after generation you see like really good bands
or solo artists just dying on the vine, and like,
no disrespect to Bonjovia or Spain, but like you'll have

(49:01):
people that'll spend five hundred dollars a night to go
see them five nights in a row at the stadium,
and it's hard to get them to spend like ten
bucks to go to the Saint to see somebody, Like
I know, how where are we failing to inspire like
music fans to like expand their diet?

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Like yeah, Like, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (49:21):
I've always been so confused by them. Like it's not
that I begrudge anyone their success, but wouldn't it be
great if we like lived in a world where like
a mid level artist that could fill the paramount, like
every night, every night of the week, there should be
someone playing there. Yep, you know, like I'd like to
see more people having a share of the success. And
because it's just music, fans are missing.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Out, I know.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
And there are so many talented people around here and
that have been for years and they should be. We
just talked about it earlier with Billy Hector, you know,
one of the greatest blues guys.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
You know around you know, and the whole world should
know about.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
Billy and for not for like the past couple of
years either round. Of course, you know, still tearing it up.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yes he is, you know, but it's yeah, it's it's tough,
and it's.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
It's a thing.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
You know, it's a tough world obviously, But I mean,
the most we can do is keep playing like Sede
van Halen.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
See now, it's the only thing we can do.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
I was in like my CD baby account the other
day and one of my tunes got used by Instagram
video and there's like five thousand plays on the on
the tune.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
I don't even know whose video.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
It was some awesome well you'd like to think so, right,
but it was like less than a penny, I know,
And I'm like, come on, man, like ye, why can't
we get fair compensation like anybody else, Like a musician
deserves to make a living the same as anybody else.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Of course, especially if your song was used in something.

Speaker 4 (50:49):
You know, like you don't want to have like delusions
of grandeur, but like no, but something when things start
happening in thousands or hundreds of thousands.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Yeah, because I remember back in the day.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
Like if you sold a song on iTunes, you'd get
fifty nine cents your iTunes well even like a nobody
if you if you sell a couple thousand, like.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
I remember Brian Amsterdam.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
Yes, okay, me and him we jammed one night and
I just made a twelve bar blues out of the
Batman theme and so for the hell of it, and
it was just me and him just going back and
forth for the hell of it. I just edited and
I threw it on iTunes. Now, it wasn't because I
was particularly popular, but Batman fans are freaks. Oh yes,

(51:33):
So I sold tens of thousands of copies of this itune. Again,
not because of me or my as much as as
much at the time I probably wanted to be like, wow,
they must really like my play. No, it was just
because Batman fans are such they're like trekkies.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
So there was a certain percentage of the brothers come back.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
No now that Neil Dusty composition or whatever. I guess yeah, yeah, no,
I never it stayed under the radar. But I was
just like it was it's amazing because you realize that,
uh well, first of all, it's not necessarily about the music.
It can just be about It was about Batman, sure,
but it was just like found money because it was
like got lucky. But like if that happened now, like

(52:13):
back then, I made I don't know, probably a couple
grand off of a stupid goofy Hasbury Park jan one
night right.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Well, now it'd be like two dollars, not even Yeah.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
So it's like, how does music continue to survive if
there's not a way for like a lifeer like you
or like other people that are just doing everything they
can balls to the wall, Like it's like the only
thing left is playing live. It's like it's like you're
a night and you have to go into the town
and challenge.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
For bat like you know, it's like there's like you know.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
And it gets really hard the more you're touring too,
because you know, you go play in Ohio and nobody
knows who you are because you don't live there and
there's no radio, right, so it's it's it's a really
tough thing, you know.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
Right, So I guess tour schedule must be like real perilous,
Like all right, well, we know we might have a
few hundred people may here, we hope. So if we
can get here where we know we're gonna do all right,
we can afford to have a not as successful night
somewhere else, yes, and limp to the next thing where
we'll get a little honeypot.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
That's exactly.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
So we you know, when we book our cross country
tours that we've been doing, and we we decided this
year as opposed to the last year, and it was
a major anchor gig that we had out in New Mexico,
a big biker rally we do and it's such a
fun time and it's near in the mountains. It's just beautiful.
But you know, that would be the anchor for our tour.

Speaker 4 (53:34):
So you get the newer gig, yes, and that allows
you to do a marketing effort and other ancillary markets,
hoping next time you come around they're going to bring.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
A friend exactly and that's tough, man. It's it's my
friend John Guinty said it is. It's a thankless job.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
The keyboard player.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Yeah, yeah, great guy, Oh my god, monster and so,
and he's right, it's a thankless job because it's like
you're playing to nobody.

Speaker 4 (53:57):
But it's like, but meanwhile, every day people think you're
this magical elf that just exists on love and vibes,
and you have to project.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
That until yeah, when you're sleeping in a Walmart parking
lot eating a frozen pizza, it's still frozen.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Generator is not working exactly.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
Yeah, But then again, you get to the next gig,
you don't want to project that. No, you got to
be like, hey, I'm so grateful, I'm so happy to
be here. Like you got to just put on your
makeup and it's like your stage mask and you just
got to own it.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
It's like an acting, you know, actors to some degree.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
I mean, I'm sure the music itself always summons. Yeah,
you're like, all right, this is why I'm going through this.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
For this moment.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
But it has to be tough when you're demoralized from
an arduous tour or break down or whatever, and then
like you know, people want a small talk here, right,
and then if you're like a dick once it's on Instagram,
there's all that now too.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
It's like a gotcha moment.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
And when we were stuck in Kansas Wichita and it
was like, I think we had like three gigs or
four gigs to get home, which is not a whole
lot of gigs that go that many miles, but that's
all we were able to get.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
So now it's like, all.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Right, it's mostly drive, and but we're on our way
home and I can't wait to get home.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
And now we missed a gig.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
And now it's like to just throw a couple of
plane tickets on my credit card to get the guys home.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
And right, and the rest of my losses here.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
Yeah, and everybody and well and my wife and I
will just drive the bus and trailer home.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
And you know, it's like what do you do at
that point?

Speaker 3 (55:32):
Well again, without you know, deep pockets behind you, you know,
financing this, and and they'd be paying for all these
you know, mishaps, but you had you got to pay
them back, you know, plus interest.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
No, And it's like I guess it was always like that,
you know, but it's just it's it's difficult, you know,
and what what person really wants to put their money
behind a band. It's not really like you're probably not
going to make much.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
You hope you do as an investor.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
There's still people out there that believe in rock and
roll that want to do that.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
You know.

Speaker 4 (56:04):
Well, we were talking before about guitars. I mean there's
people will almost spend fifty grand on a guitar.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
It's true, so you never know, that's true, that's definitely true.
So but it's you know, but the other side of it,
all right, So we're out there in the middle, middle
of nowhere and there's ten people at the show. Hey,
we're someplace not at home playing and that's great too.
You know, you got to you got to count your
blessings there.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
Plus, I guess you never know when in a given night,
you could be in anywhere USA, but someone might be
having an evangelical experience about your You might be turning
on a kid, yeah to really like that might be
someone's gateway drug to really having a lifetime of loving music.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
It's you know, and I can't tell you how many
times we've been in the middle of nowhere and there's
you know, a new fan is like, you know, their
last five bucks or ten bucks and they're buying your
CD and you can you know they got no more money.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
And it's like because you've been that kid, Oh my.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
God, yeah, I mean see it.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
You know, it's like wow, that's like you almost want
to give them record, but you got to put fuel
in the tank too, and it's you know, but it's
it's you know, it's very humbling.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
To see that, you know, and like stains you.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
It does, yeah, and it puts a smile on your
face that like, wow, this person really liked what you
do and they're they're gonna spend their last five bucks
instead of buying a beer on your music, you know,
which which is cool? Or your T shirt or hat.
You know, that's another thing to touring and merchandise sales.
It's like that's a whole nother silent partner that's you

(57:29):
know you got and it's such a pain in the butt.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
It's got to be such a personal discipline. You gotta
put that money up front.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
And then you didn't start playing guitar because you want
to sell T shirts. Wow, but you got to keep
count of inventory.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
You have to. You gotta put the money in the bank.

Speaker 4 (57:43):
You can't be like, all right, we You're like you're
starving and all of a sudden you got six hundred
dollars in merchant money. You're like, let's go to freaking
crack a barrel, like just go ape shit. But you can't,
you know, can't know. We gotta go back to the bus.
So we gotta eat raym of noodles, eggs and mixed vegtivals.
We got to put that into things so it can
buy more T shirts. So hopefully six shows down the line,
I can we can do that.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
I've gotten really accustomed and happy with And I just
said this before sleeping in a Walmart parking lot with
a frozen pizza, some hot sauce.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Gotta have hot sauce.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
And at a beer and it's like and that's the
end of our day, and like throw out a stupid
movie on the bus and everybody's having a good time,
and it's it's.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
You know, it's a slumber. Music does have to be
its own reward. It does.

Speaker 4 (58:25):
Yeah, anything else is gravy yep.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Yep, exactly, But you know, it's it's it's a tough road,
but it's you know, I'd rather be doing that still
than than punching a time clock, you know, even though
it feels like we are doing that to some degree,
you know, with other pitfalls that you.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Know could be even worse.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
And hey, at least you go to work five days
a week. You know, you get a paycheck at the
end of the week. It's predictable, you know, our lives.
It's like, I don't know what's gonna happen next week.
But that's kind of cool too. So it depends on
how you look at it.

Speaker 4 (58:55):
You know, Well, you could like have a long, safe
life with a very limited range of experience, or you
could swing the bad hard.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (59:03):
I think you seem like you've proven to yourself you're
the person you'd rather leave it all in the field.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Sure, absolutely, And when all else else fails and you're
really down, just call Gordon Brown.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
I'll be able to talk off the ledge. Thank you, Gordon.
That sounds like a good place to wrap it.

Speaker 4 (59:21):
If there's some kid that was listening to this right
now and he wanted to or she wanted to get started,
do you have any kind of words of wisdom for
the next generation.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
I hope I really hope in my heart that there's
enough kids of the next generation that do want to
do this, as difficult as it is and everything that
we've covered today, because it's still at the end of
the day when they put you in the box and
in the ground. You know, do you want to live
with regrets that you should have done this or should

(59:53):
have done that. You could always go back to something else,
you know, chances are you won't, you know, but it's
like you know, you know, seeing us, you know, people
smile and having a great time and loving your music.
There's there's nothing better reward than that. You know, bon job,
he said to himself. He goes, money doesn't change anything.

(01:00:13):
It makes things easier.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
But that bus breaks down, yes it does.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
But you know, I just saw a recent interview with
John and he said some John is an incredible speaker,
way better than I'll ever be. And he did an
interview and what he said it was like wow. Even still,
you know, I'm not even playing with him anymore, and
I'm still learning from that guy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
It's like everything he said, I I completely got it,
you know, And he's right, you know, go out there
and leave it on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
It's better to strike out than be afraid to leave
the dugout. Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Absolutely, I'm so grateful for your time. I wish you
the best of luck and all the success that you
and your band deserve. Your you have my utmost respect.
I really admire the tenacity, I mean, the talents that
given your your godly gifted guitarist and writer and singer,
and thank you, and I envy you in that you've

(01:01:08):
found the band that really communicates your vision.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
Because that's that's a whole other that's another podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
That that is, you know, like that back to that wish,
you know, if I had one wish, I really I
hope you know, come out and see us, because I
hope the world gets to see this iteration of the band.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Now we we have a.

Speaker 4 (01:01:27):
Particular date on the coming up that you'd like to
tell people about.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
I don't know what's on the podcast Get Back. We
find us obviously on our website. But you know, we've
had so many people in the in the Matt Ore
Band over the years, and every single one that's ever
been and played with me and played with us, you know,
always has a special place in my heart always will

(01:01:53):
you know, And it's been a journey, you know. My
favorite you know at this point obviously is the current thing,
because that's what's happening now.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
It's not that. I right, you always want to be
present with what.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
Is sure, and I really think what we have right
now is so special, not that the last configuration wasn't special.
We covered many miles together me, Eric Safka, you know,
Scott Benner.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
And John Hommel.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
We drove so many miles across the country and we
had so much fun together. That was another thing too,
that you know, even when the chips are down, we
always have fun together.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
Well, I guess Africa was good to have on the
road because he probably could fix the bus.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
He could, yes, well, the part that blew up on
the bus the last time that that needed a shop.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
There was no way we were fixing that on the
side of the road. Oh yeah. Unfortunately, so awesome having
this time with you. Thank you for your Thank you,
my friend, thank you, and then thank you. To talk
again soon.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
And I can't wait to hear how that at most
release comes out. And I can't wait for you to
finish your next record.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
You have a working title on that or anything.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
We don't know We're still you know, we're still right
now you're taking suggestions, of course, we're always all right.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
Thanks again and I will talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Thank you,