The Exorcism of Matthew

An acquaintance called me ‘Matthew’ the other day. It made me realize that it’s been exactly 30 years since I started calling myself ‘Matt’. 

 And 1987 hit me hard. In that year I recognized the fallacy of religion, first felt the bullying of authority figures (CDCI West administration), stopped giving a damn about impressing others, and felt the confidence of believing in my own opinions. It’s also the year I stopped writing ‘hew’ at the end of my name because it was 3 letters too many.

As importantly, 1987 was the year that I discovered The Rolling Stones (Paint It Black) and David Bowie (Rebel Rebel).  Keith Richards inspired me to play the guitar, Bowie inspired me to actually PRESENT myself in a somewhat (misguided at times) stylish manner.  This musical wake-up shouldn’t be dismissed.  These musicians inspired me to write my own music, to give a voice to my inner demon, and to perform.  It also connected me to other local musicians, which has given me 30 years of incredible friendship, comfort, entertainment, support, and drama.  In other words, A LIFE!

“Sweet little Matthew” was abducted by reality, and replaced with “Matt.” And damn, it happened quickly!  And I couldn’t be more thankful that it did.

Saxophones!

This weekend we were overdubbing the saxophone on 3 of the upcoming songs.  Kristen Prince did an AMAZING job!

I found her through my engineer, John Jamieson.  John and I had been listening to the demos I recorded for the album, and I had programmed a sampler to play the saxophone lines on Gravedigging, You’re A Star, and My Clown.  There was something ‘strange’ about those tracks, something we couldn’t put our finger on.  John works with Kristen pretty frequently, and recommended her.

She got the lead sheets and a rough-mix MP3 a week beforehand, and then on ‘recording’ day we just went over what worked best for the songs, and hit the RECORD button!  It wasn't quite a "1-take wonder," but she knew what we wanted and laid down some beautiful work.

Our next mixing session is booked for over a month from now, but I’m anxious to get these last songs finished.  I couldn’t be prouder of how this album is coming.  Having another musician play on it is a huge leap for me – even more so because she was a stranger!