Artist
Information
Instrumentation
Matt - Lead Vocals, guitar; Shawn Rios
- drums & percussion; Larry Schroeder - lead guitar,
backing vox; Andy Titchenal - bass, backing vox
Biography
Clinging to the familiar is a very comfortable
way to live, and it usually insures one can avoid the obvious
fear of loss, rejection and pain if you make the wrong decision.
Perhaps the greatest emotional devastation, however, comes
from the unforeseen and often unvoiced fear of regret, especially
from missed opportunities. It can eat you from the inside
like cancer, but it is often not apparent until it is too
late.
After
several years in corporate America, Matt had considerable
success at a young age. He was well liked by his peers and
lived a comfortable lifestyle. Despite what most people
would call success, Matt had the overwhelming feeling that
he was wasting away in an office and not fulfilling himself
or his potential. It was fear that made him cling to his
acceptable lifestyle despite reinforcement from countless
friends, strangers, fans and other musicians who held his
skills as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist in high regard.
On
the stage or writing and rehearsing music was the only thing
that kept Matt’s mind from wandering and his anxiety at
bay. Simply put, everything else besides friends and family
was merely window dressing. The life he had was so acceptable
and easy that it distracted from his gut telling him to
play music. It was quite a battle for the uncertainty of
the life of a musician to overrule the status quo.
Matt
finally left his job in white collar America in 2005 to
become a blue-collar musician. In order to capture his vision,
Matt spent three weeks in March 2005 going through preproduction
and tracking the five song Never Comfortable EP with up-and-coming
producer, Mike Shimshack in Brooklyn, New York. Playing
with musicians of incredible caliber such as Nir Z (session
drummer for John Mayer, Genesis, Jason Mraz) elevated the
songs to a new level, and the end result is a very professional
effort; an infectious pop/alternative record without the
over-the top hooks and gimmicks that are often heard on
the radio today.
And
everything, so far, has been going according to plan. After
hearing the EP, Matt was able to recruit some of the finest
musicians in Chicago, including members of ex-major label
bands, to accompany him on his musical journey. Matt has
recently opened for Vertical Horizon, and Roy Langdon of
Spacehog, adding to his resume that includes appearances
at Double Door, House of Blues, the Tweeter Center, and
regular dates at Schuba’s in Chicago opening for Jump Little
Children, The Features, Will Hoge, Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens,
Rod Stewart and members of the Polyphonic Spree (as well
as college gigs throughout the U.S.).
Now
armed with the work ethic and left-brained smarts of the
work-a-day world, combined with his inherent creative nature
and strong catalogue of songs, there is nothing that can
stop Matt from getting what he wants. Matt not only hopes
to fulfill his own musical vision, however, but hopes to
inspire those have let the feeling of familiarity and comfort
of the status quo squander their true selves. No regrets,
no excuses…..
Please
visit www.matthoffer.com,
and look for Matt to be performing in Chicago and throughout
the U.S.
1. Your story of leaving the corporate
world to seek out your dreams is not an uncommon one, however,
what is intriguing is how a leap like that affects the individual,
such as yourself. How long ago did you take this leap?
---I left my job in July of 2005. I agree that it's not
uncommon, but there are many, many more people that want
to break away from an unfullfilling career, or talk about
leaving their job, but they are too afraid or too burdened
with responsibility or debt to leave. I talk to people often
that think I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and I haven't
even made it to the "big stage" yet. I am extremely
fortunate, and although I worked hard, I have the people
at The Staubach Company, my old employers, to thank for
helping to put me in a postion to fulfill my life long dream.
Hopefully, my mission is successful and I can inspire others
to pursue their true passion, whatever it may be.
2. How would you say things have been progressing
since then?
--- Very well. There are some big opportunities on the horizon
that will accelerate things very quickly and put me much
closer to realizing what I set out to do if they come to
fruition. If these bigger opportunities do not pan out,
I have still made some good contacts and will continue to
play the local and national scene and slowly build a following.
Honestly, I am just happy to be able to work every day to
improve my skills as a singer, songwriter, engineer and
overall musician without spending the time at a 9 to 5 job.
I finally feel like I'm 100% myself.
3.
What was your day job? (if you don't mind me asking)
--- I was a commercial real estate broker...basically I
helped my clients find and negotiate office space leases.
4.
What was the final straw that made you decide to leave the
corporate world?
---I had been planning and saving for quite a while, and
it was more of a feeling that I felt I had matured enough
as a performer and songwriter and finally believed that
I could be successful. There was nothing wrong with my corporate
job, and I enjoyed it for the most part. It was more of
a case of better vs. best. My true passion was playing music,
and working 50 hours a week in the corporate world made
it extremely difficult to pursue a career in music.
5.
What made you decide to record your EP "Never Comfortable"
in New York?
---My good friend Garen from the band Granian (www.granian.com)
had recorded his "My Own Two Feet" LP with a producer
named Mike Shimshack. I had recorded in the past, but never
with a producer, and when Garen put me in contact with Mike,
I really hit it off with him and thought he understood what
I wanted to achieve. Mike Shimshack works closely with a
drummer named Nir Z, who is an incredible session drummer
who has played on John Mayer's "Room for Squares"
record and has also recorded and/or toured with Jason Mraz,
Genesis and Alana Davis. Nir Z ended up playing on the EP,
and he absolutely blew my mind with his skills....he was
like a machine in the studio. Kyle Kelso mixed the record
and added some great guitar work on the EP. He'll actually
be producing, engineering and mixing my next EP, which we
will start tracking in May. I'm very excited to record some
more material and see what new doors it opens.
6. What was your work ethic and do you apply it
your music?
---I was a top producer for two years in my company, outproducing
brokers who had been in the business for 20 years or more.
Sales is a "reap what you sow" kind of business.
The more doors you knock on, so to speak, the more sales
you are going to close. While music is a bit less definite
than that, it's an interdependent business that requires
you to go out and actively seek out people who can help
you. It's sad, but making music is usually the easy part
of the business. It's the administrative and networking
that you need to work the hardest on to make a career out
of your art, and fortunately, my prior job prepared me for
the business end of music.
7. Who is the top three of the list of people that
you wish to work with? Please elaborate.
---I would love to watch Ryan Adams work for a day. He is
unbelievable diverse and prolific in his writing style.
He's the real deal..I'd put him up there with Jeff Buckley
and Rufus Wainwright in terms of true artists. In music,
the best songs usually translate a feeling so transparently,
that you feel the artist is speaking directly to you. You
feel all the subtle victories, defeats, lonliness, happiness
and the whole gamut of emotions the artist portrays in their
songs. If I don't feel something when I write, I trash it
or shelf it, no matter how much the left side of my brain
appreciates the technical side of what I've done. It's taken
me a while to recognize that in my writing.
Other than that, I think that Tony Hoffer (no relation)
would be very interesting to work with as he's more of an
indie-type producer, and my past efforts have been more
polished. For those of you who aren't familiar, Tony has
worked with Beck, Supergrass, Idlewild, Belle & Sebastian
and more fringe-type artists. "Breacon Beacons"
off of Supergrass' "Life on Other Planets" is
one of my favorite tunes of all time. It would be really
interesting to see what Tony would bring out of me.
Finally, I would love to sit down with Sting for lunch and
just b.s....he's probably seen it all, and has reached success,
largely on his own terms.
8. As you were growing up, who was the person that
you looked up to and wanted to be when you were older? Has
it changed since you have gotten older?
--- When I was younger, I used to worship Metallica like
a lot of the disillusioned youth of my day. Their early
work is amazingly technical and raw and powerful at the
same time. I used to fantasize that I could travel back
in time and somehow meet up with James Hetfield about the
time they kicked Dave Mustaine and play him some of the
shredder licks, and, of course, James would be blown away
and I'd be the new lead guitarist in Metallica.
I still love early Metallica, but it's hard to write the
ballads and incorporate any other instruments other than
guitars in the mix without it being true to that genre.
Nowadays, I'm more attracted to bands like The Police, Duran
Duran, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Doves who have
a wide variety of tunes but still are undeniably themselves.
Metallica was a huge influence and that influence adds an
edge to even the slower tunes I write, and am thankful for
finding them early in my music development, especially for
the technical challenges it takes to play on the guitar.
Anyone who thinks metal sucks should try playing it, and
you'll be humbled....
9.
How do you approach making music? Lyrics first or writing
music.
--- I almost always write the music first, but occassionally
there will be a phrase that I build the song around. I always
try to match the lyrics and vocal delivery with the mood
of the music so it delivers a meaningful message. I also
write with my band mates, Shawn Rios (drums), Larry Schroeder
(guitar/backup vox) and Andy Titchenal (bass) who are all
amazing and have very much their own style of playing. I'll
usually bring in a skeleton of a song or a riff or two,
and we'll fully realize the song together in rehearsal or
my home studio.
10.
Is any of your music inspired by life experiences or experienced
by someone else that you know?
---Most are either autobiographical or written from experiences
of my friends or family. I'm just beginning to try and write
in the third person now, and be a bit of a story teller
like Johnny Cash or Springsteen or Dylan. I'm finding it
quite difficult to do that in the context of a three verse
song that I'm used to writing....I've got a new appreciation
for those types of writers, especially Dylan.
11. In your music career what was your highlight,
so far?
--- Opening for Vertical Horizon was fantastic as I was
a big fan of theirs during my college years. Opening for
the Smithereens at the House of Blues in Chicago in 2002
with my old band, Holding Mercury was amazing as well.
12. Have you made mistakes that you regret, and have you
learned from them?
--- Of course, everyone makes mistakes. There's no growth
without failure. I'm sure I'll fall on my face a few times
during this whole journey, but if I stay persistent, I know
I can succeed.
13. When you were in the corporate world did you envision
all the good and bad of the music industry? Or did you only
envision the good?
--- I didn't have rose colored glasses. Larry was actually
signed to Warner Brothers with his old band, ExtraVery,
produced an amazing, almost revolutionary album and got
dropped due to label politics...it had nothing to do with
the music. I've heard first hand or read about hundreds
of other horror stories, so I know I'm chasing something
that is like winning the lottery, except you can also lose
as much as well. It's not about the destination however,
it's about the journey, and I'm in this because, 1- I love
music and find fullfillment out of trying to become a better
and better musician and 2-I do not want regrets later in
life that I did not try my best or fully realize my potential.
I know that getting signed does not solve all of your problems
and it takes consistent effort over a long period of time
to be successful. I'm prepared to make the sacrifice, and
hopefully with work and a little luck, people will begin
to know my name.
Website
http://www.matthoffer.com
Discography
Recent release of the Never Comfortable EP.
The album was released to a packed house at Double Door
on July 8th. Matt has received radio play on 105.9 WXRT,
101.9 The Mix, 104.3 Jack FM, 93.1 WXRT and has been part
of numerous podcasts since the release