adam_777

Oh wow that's unfortunate! It's pretty busy in the chat, I mean its been about a ten minute stream flashing introductions every time someone joins.

The site loads but the video is paused while they work out some technical difficulties, Matt said they'd be back in a minute.

Welcome back stranger!

Haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but just wanted to say thanks again for doing these interviews. Throughout the years we have as fans gotten a good deal of Matt's perspective mainly because in the MGB days Matt was a primary presence on MUCH and in print for interviews and quotes. Also because many of us here continue to follow his career we have heard subsequent interviews, comments made at concerts or in Matt's posts on social media or this site over the years. Many of Matt's recollections these days tend toward the negative side of things, which is fair if that's how he remembers those moments, it's certainly his history to write and retell. But during those years there were four other men on the stage as well who's stories we haven't usually heard from their mouths. Dave would be present at some of the MUCH interviews and he has done other interviews like the ones above that offer some insight, but certainly nothing really career spanning or in depth. We were fortunate to have Geoff here on the forums for a time before he passed and he was able to tell his side of things and answer some questions which lead to some hilarious back and forths and provided some interesting insights. But with Geoff and now Rich passing many of those stories will sadly remain untold. Because of that I think it's been incredible you and Ian have done these very indepth interviews over his time with MGB so that we can hear another perspective that hasn't been known to many in the fan community. Everyone in a band is going to remember different things and sometimes in different ways, so it all helps to create a kind of tapestry of memories of the band, their history and some of the best and worst moments. One thing I'll say is everyone involved has been very honest and forthcoming, there is no sugar coating and I appreciate that because you know you are hearing how they really feel. All in all it was an interesting time for us as fans and we relate to the music in almost a spiritual way, interviews like this help to ground us in the reality that for these guys this was also a job, a way of life, a form of expression and a way to provide for their families, candid interviews like this help us to appreciate the reality above the romanticizing we tend to do as fans. Very much looking forward to this Daniel and thanks for all the hard work!

Thanks Steve much obliged!

Grabbed one as well, these are quite a bit of fun, especially in times when there is just zero chances of concerts on the horizon. Nice just to be able to put a few bucks out there to support Matt as well, obviously artists are having a difficult time not really able to work in any capacity. Steve, where did you see the email for requests, Im not seeing it myself?

Thanks John, I really appreciate the extensive response to my inquiries, definitely clears up some things I was wondering. I have all of those releases of Ghetto and Raygun, just never really understood how they came about, or what brought about their order or release. Also thanks for the definitive listing of the songs from the Lost album and the songs that were outtakes from Last of the Ghetto Astronauts, clears up the confusion I had there and I appreciate your efforts to relate what the songs sounded like and give reference to similar sounding tunes. It may be material we never get to hear, but it's always tantalizing to get a bit of a feel for it anyways. Thanks again John!

John, really enjoyed your interview you did with Daniel and Ian, I posted my thoughts on that in a much more long winded form in that thread, but thank you you again for hanging around and answering some of our questions, it gives such a much appreciated insight into the creation of Last Of The Ghetto Astronauts and the timeline prior to that album that so many of us knew very little about previously. A few things I was wondering: 1. You've listed a number of songs from the Lost Album and Last of the Ghetto Astronauts that were outtakes, or just not released. I understand some of these were with the old band and some were with Ian, Geoff and Dave. Do you have a list of which ones were performed by which band? Obviously Revenge was by the Genn, Lloyd, Browne version of the band, but what about the others? Also in the interview you did with Daniel, Ian mentioned that he thought they performed "Leaving on a Hijacked Jetplane" (great title by the way) at some of their earliest shows. Since the band was writing, rehearsing, performing and recording at the same time, do you know if anyone taped any of those shows off the soundboard, or if any setlists survive? Those early days in concert are a complete mystery for us fans as the earliest live bootlegs we have are from 1998. Other than a couple TV performances on Demovision and MUCH we really have no confirmation of what their live sets were. 2. One thing I've always wondered, and you might not even know the answer to this, but there are several CD releases of both Last of the Ghetto Astronauts and Raygun. With Ghetto it seems like it was released originally with the cover that just says MGB and Last of the Ghetto Astronauts in white script on EMI which seem to be quite rare. It then was released again a second time by EMI with the updated cover with red block letters and then again by Darktown with the same cover. I'm assuming these three releases were because the first pressing with the original cover ran out and then a second pressing with the more common cover was released by EMI and finally when Matt signed with Darktown they rereleased the album in 1997 under their label. That seems pretty straight forward, but with Raygun it also has three releases: one in a cardboard sleeve with a black and white disc on the EMI label, one in a jewel case with a black and blue disc on no label and a third with a jewel case on a black and blue disc on Darktown. So what I'm wondering is what happened with the Raygun releases? Was the band originally still signed to EMI where they released Raygun, but then at some point broke off their deal with them and then while unsigned rereleased Raygun under no label before being signed to Darktown who rereleased it along with Ghetto Astronauts in 1997? Or was there a different order of events there to explain the 3 releases of Raygun on three different labels?

I put this on as I was going to bed last night figuring I'd listen to 15-20 minutes of it, wound up listening to the entire 2 hours and ten minutes. This was really incredibly well done and insightful. It was great to have both Ian and John in on this one to have two people who were there kind of going back and forth and jogging each others memories and so forth. It was really cool as well how this one mostly stayed on the subject of Last of The Ghetto Astronauts, reminded me a little of those old Classic Record documentaries that used to be on TV, except this was a lot more off the cuff which was great because it allowed the conversation to flow into some natural tangents it might not have otherwise. Also because John and Ian haven't seen each other really since those days, all the joint memories they have an instantly linked to that time period. Daniel, you are far too critical of yourself, I think this was incredibly well done and the intro was a nice touch as well. You knew enough to not interject when the conversation and memories were really flowing, but still took the time to get some direct questions across. I was looking forward to this interview, but I had no idea I would enjoy it and find it as informative as I did, so often, especially when you are dealing with a record that is a quarter of a century old, it can be easy to forget many of the details and just repeat the few things that have been in print over the years. What was amazing about this was just how much new information we learned. From how the band met up, to their influences to the way the record was actually constructed and recorded down to their thoughts on it's legacy. I'm one who was guilty of largely ignoring Last of the Ghetto Astronauts for years. I first got into MGB seeing the Apparitions video on MUCH and for the next 5-6 years I most of my listening to their music was hearing the new singles as they hit the radio or the videos hit much. In the mid 2000's I started to really get into the albums. I spent alot of time with the last three band records and Avalanche and then followed along with each new release, but never got around to listening to Ghetto often. I heard it a time or two and it just had such a different sound and it really didn't catch me at first. Add to the fact that by that time Matt had basically dropped all traces of Ghetto from his setlists and was openly very critical of it, it didn't give me much incentive to pull it back out, especially as his catalog grew larger and larger. It was also the only album Matt has ever released that I didn't experience some part of in real time. So unlike songs on the other albums, I had no personal memories linked to that music that could take me back to where I was in my own life when it was released, and often that can have a huge impact on the lasting appeal of a certain song or album for me. But about five years ago I was out driving on some mountain road and I had Ghetto on and I had to pull over and stop because I was continually air drumming along to "The War Is Over" and I was swerving all over the place. So I pulled over got through that and Omens and then ran through the whole album again. I don't know why it took so long to hit me, or why on that day it all of the sudden made an impact, but that's how it happened. It was really the drumming that drew me in and then of course the strangeness of the sound of that record which had once put me off of it became one of it's strongest features. You know, like you said in the interview Daniel, it's a unique album, but not just in the MGB catalog, it's unique among many albums at that time. It really is kind of a genre in and of itself. I own about a thousand albums on CD and vinyl and can confidently say nothing else in my collection sounds like that record. Of course the more I listened the more I began to appreciate so much more about the album. Matt's lyrics are for the most part really fantastic with some real dark edge to them pretty amazing that on the band's first album they were so fully formed, especially considering just how young they were. Also Dave of course is playing keys which adds a different dimension to the sound as well, and Geoff is really so rock solid back there, it is a solid combination of the guys talents and where they were at the time. And of course John deserves a great deal of credit for the sound as well. I love the rawness of it that you can tell this wasn't done just take after take with a bunch of punch ins, it really allows the music to keep that flow and feel that comes naturally in a moment and as Daniel said it really does feel like there is a great separation in the instruments. This is a beautiful listen on vinyl because of that, it feels like I'm back 25 years ago sitting in the studio with the band and with that great stereo separation you can almost picture each of the guys laying down their parts. I wanted to express a big thank you to Daniel for organizing this and doing the work to arrange, interview, edit and upload this, I understand the kind of work involved and it really is pretty amazing we have people like Daniel here who go through all that effort to help provide a platform for us to better our understanding and appreciation for some of the music that has made the biggest impacts in our lives. And also to John and Ian who I can't thank enough for taking the time to make this happen. Ghetto is an album that is really revered by the fans of MGB who have really given it a thorough listen, but it was also the one that as fans we knew just so little about. The band was just starting so it's not like there was tons of press coverage at the time it was recorded and there are so few fans around the community who were fans back in 1995/96 who can shed some light on that era. So to have two people so integrated in the creation of it come forward and share some stories really is something special and really helps increase my appreciation for this album. Often, especially at acoustic shows Matt will tell stories about songs or albums or whatever, but because he had ignored the Ghetto material for so long in his live sets, we didn't even have that as a source of information from those days. On his last acoustic tour though he really did embrace a few tracks from that album playing Fearless at nearly every show and Symbolistic White Walls and even Omissions of the Omen a few times. Some shows had all three in the set, which is probably the first time that much Ghetto material had featured in a set since the Underdogs era. Fearless was a real highlight of the tour for me, but it was at the final show in Vancouver where I really saw the impact of the songs from Ghetto when Matt did Symbolistic White Walls and the crowd just took over singing. It was obvious after 25 years that song had not lost one bit of it's appeal and Matt was clearly pretty touched by that. So there is no doubt the music from that album still resonates with many fans so it's really something special to get this kind of opportunity to have a member here discuss that album with Ian and John and reveal so many interesting stories from those days that helps piece together a much clearer picture about the genesis of the band and their earliest days in the recording studio. So a sincere thanks to you three! Also, No Omissions on vinyl is a killer, I get why it was left off, but with that fourth side something could have been done for sure! Actually i just looked at the track listing and side 2 is less than 14 mins long, they could have moved Havent Slept in Years(3:23) to side two which then would have definitely left room on side 3 for Omissions (3:30). Hopefully someday Matt will release a rarities set on vinyl with some of the outtake tracks like All Together, Pony Boy and Can't Get Shot in The Back and then Omissions can be included.

a pretty cool idea I think, gives the fans something interesting to look forward to and a chance to give Matt a little support in this difficult time for musicians and artists. Looking forward to the show!

Great to have you here John! Any time we can hear stories about any aspect of Matt's career from someone who was there first hand it is always greatly appreciated. As you can imagine over the years so many stories have gotten mixed up or details crossed and so any time someone can set the record straight so to speak it's of immense value to the group here. And of course there are I imagine so many stories and details that just simply haven't been made widely available to people outside the small group of people involved in the creation of the music, so I'm sure you have a great deal to share that would be a revelation to us here. Especially in the early days of the band so much remains unknown to the fanbase at large. Before the days where MGB were basically the MUCH MUSIC house band, there simply wasn't much ever discussed online about that era, leaving many of us fans (most of whom became fans during the Underdogs era and later) to speculate without much fact to base that speculation upon, even things as simple as release dates of the albums and EP's from that era aren't something set in stone. So welcome to the forums, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say it's great to have you here and I very much look forward to anything you share! Hard to believe Alabama Motel Room is 25 years old. I remember buying the In a Coma greatest hits compilation in 2005 and thinking the Ghetto tracks on it were 10 years old at that time and thinking it seemed like an entire lifetime ago haha.

That seemed to be the potential plan, I believe video for Load Me Up was also posted, but then nothing since unfortunately.

It depends, I imagine we will be in for a few stages of restriction lifting in the time to come, a Matthew Good show is a different world than a Rolling Stones show as far as pandemic spread is concerned. I could easily see these smaller style theater concert and movie theater type situations being on the reopen list in the next six months if the virus continues to be reasonably contained. Interesting that some shows seem to have not been rescheduled like the Nanaimo show, wonder if they will just cancel that outright or if they are waiting for a date to be confirmed.

Thanks for posting this Daniel. So often on forums like these members just vanish and you never know what became of them. Did they lose interest, or just have less spare time to devote to their interests. It's hard to believe Travis is gone since it seems like just the other day we were at his place meeting him for the first time. Travis was a member here for a short while, but left a big impact. When I found clips of the footage he shot on the tapes I transferred for Geoff Lloyd's sister Sue, I was surprised to find that there appeared to be very good footage of several points of the show, and since it wasn't filmed by MUCH there may be a chance it might be accessible. But I had no leads on how to track it down. Miraculously a short time later, Travis stumbled upon his original tapes and decided to do an internet search to try and find the date of the show. When he did he found our forum here and our discussion about it. There are times in life where coincidence is so bizarre. As I later recanted to Travis, Sue had held onto those tapes for nearly 25 years before I was able to transfer and upload them. If she had held on just 6 months longer, Travis would have found his tapes, did an internet search, not found any of our discussion or footage and in all likelihood would have missed getting in touch with us all together. Conversely if Travis not stumbled across his tapes when he did with his tragic passing they would have been most likely lost forever. Travis was a fan of MGB growing up, but his musical tastes had diverged into different areas in recent years. But when he found out how much seeing that footage meant to Daniel and I, he immediately set into motion a set of circumstances that would allow it. He spent countless hours editing and always trying to improve the footage, with some great results. He then offered if Daniel and I were willing to travel to his place he would show it to us in the theater room of his apartment complex. He even offered his couch to crash on, to complete strangers, just because we happened to share a common interest, such was the nature of the man. Daniel and I had a great time watching the MGB footage was incredible and then we just hung out, talked music, watched some South Park, Travis struck me as a very caring person with a great sense of humour. I had hope next time Matt came to town to buy Travis a ticket and convince him to come along, but unfortunately fate stepped in the way. I'll miss Travis and I'm thankful for the brief period I got to know him and for all the benefit that brief meeting has given me. It was Travis' hope to be able to share his footage with everyone, but he had some stipulations. Because he had shot it as part of his profession he was weary to share it without approval from the band members. He was able to reach out and get copies to Dave and Ian, but unfortunately we were unable to get in touch with Matt. He dedicated the footage to the memory of Geoff Lloyd, but I suppose now it serves as his epitaph as well. May he too rest in "Rawk Heaven."

From what I recall yes he was strictly acoustic for those two years. I had been a fan of his since 1998, but was too young to go to shows, then he played a a couple times at 19+ venues in my area for a couple years and so I still couldn't go, after high school I briefly lost track of him, this was during the 2005-2007 period. I missed the release of Hospital Music, but stumbled across it in a store about 6 months later and bought it, it rekindled my love of his music and I looked into seeing if he was touring at that time. I had just missed his show in Victoria in fall 2007, so I kept up with his touring news pretty vigorously after that. he did an acoustic tour of the states in the spring of 2008 and then did a full band electric tour, which was his first since 2005, in May/June of 2008. That was the tour Massey was recorded, I saw his Victoria and Nanaimo show. The Victoria show was at the Curling Club and he opened with Giant and literally five seconds in two guys got in a real ugly fist fight. I remember thinking "man Matt Good crowds are rowdy" But I've never seen that kind of overt violence at another of his shows since. I went to the next show and tour closer in Nanaimo, which was his 37th birthday, the crowd sang him happy birthday, he told us to keep our day jobs. I remember during the opener, the crew were running across the stage hazing the band, they were either in underwear or nude, but with paper or other object covering them, I can't remember, but it was quite hilarious. When he came back after that hiatus, his band was completely different than it had been before. This was Stu and Blake's first tour. Milos Angelov was on bass and he played bass with Matt for several years after up through the Arrows Tour. There was also a keyboard player on this tour, named Peter Nunn who I think only played with Matt on this tour. But ya, as far as I remember there weren't any electric shows in 2006 and 2007. Actually, it's funny because at the time I remember hearing fans who were saying "I'm so glad he's back to doing band shows." But for me having just missed the two years of acoustic shows for me it felt the other way, by 2012 I had seen about 20 full band shows and I was really hoping to get to experience an acoustic show. My first one ended up being the secret show he did in Vancouver that year, and it's still my favourite concert of his I've ever seen!

Thanks for turning a rather bleak time into something exciting Foats! really looking forward to anything you share! and thanks as always for offering to do this.

The promoter of the victoria shows insinuated the make up dates would take place in the late fall.

Really respect that you are out there performing amidst personal tragedy and some pretty uncertain times health wise, especially with your susceptibility to illness. Take care of yourself Matt, I'm sure under the circumstances people will understand things like a reluctance to shake hands with fans and so forth. Really looking forward to your west coast shows this year as always!

Wow that setlist is really heavy on the last two albums. 10/16 which i think is great especially since i never saw the OLP tour so i havent seen much of the SLAS stuff live and the two tracks on that set are my two favourites from that album. The other material is the crowd friendly warhorses which are inevitable and i still enjoy hearing. I still crave the odd deep cut from some of the albums often underrepresented like Avalanche and Vancouver, but i know the logistical problems Matt faces with rehearsing that stuff and ive accepted the reality that the solo acoustic shows are thr most likely landing platform for something like that. Looking forward to hearing the new songs live!

Having had about a week with this album now I figure I'd provide a review here, although I suspect it will continue to shift in my perception for some time. - I really enjoy the production on this album, on my vinyl album it sounds just fantastic, on the more stripped down songs it really feels like Matt is in my living room strumming gently and softly singing right in front of me. The balance of the instruments is perfectly executed and there is a noticeable and clear separation in them that allows me to single them out and listen to how each contributes to the song. Matt's vocals are dynamic and clear above it all, but mixed in well so as not to feel isolated from the music itself. These performances feel organic, I'm not sure if these tracks were recorded in isolation or if some are recorded with the band off the floor, but some of the performances like "Beauty" really feel almost like a live performance, there is a cohesion there that gives it an immediate feel, even if that isn't how it was in fact recorded. Also really enjoy the use of strings on some of these tracks to add some tension and drama. Kudos to Warne for an amazing job on the aspects of this ones sonics. - People have said this reminds them of a combination of Lights and Hospital Music, and I agree, but I'd also add the production itself definitely reminds me of Audio of Being in some parts too and the strings and arrangements on some songs recall Avalanche. This album to me seems to be a melting pot of many of the different styles he has employed throughout his solo career, and I think there is something very interesting in that. In one way it doesn't have a distinctness in and of itself, but in another way it feels both new and familiar, and the entire record flows pretty well together, these songs all blend more than say Chaotic Neutral which although I love that album, does seem to be a bit more of a haphazard collection of different distinct styles. - This one is clearly missing hard edged rock songs...but I feel those performances have been my least favourite on recent MG albums. In light of his comments on this thread it may be because he feels obligated to write them and maybe isn't as passionate for them, because they come off a bit more generic, a rock song for the sake of a rock song. That's not to say that I feel that way about all Matt's rock songs, in face he's one of my favourite writers of that format and he brought something really intriguing to that format, especially lyrically, but I've got to admit, I don't really miss those songs here, though it does give the album a more wholly somber feel, I feel like nothing feels forced about it. Imagine something like "Had It Coming" jammed into the middle of this album? It would be jarring and disrupt the mood the albums strains hard to create. - That brings me back to the flow of the album. There are some MG albums that just flow almost like one long theme, these are albums that I find nearly impossible to listen to on shuffle, or to cherry pick songs from. This is the first album since Lights that I have felt this way about. Obviously this style of record production isn't for everyone, but for me it's so key in Matt's music. It's almost cinematic in the way themes and atmosphere are carried over across the tracks. Arrows, Chaotic and SLAS all felt much more random and stitched together. On Chaotic I thought it surprisingly worked, but the other two not so much. -One of my criticism's is that the album feels maybe a little too long. I'm not the kind of person who thinks art should always be short, succinct and easily digestible. I always think it's bizarre when friends of mine chose what movie to watch based on length as I think it's ridiculous to judge something solely on length. Sometimes movies and albums need to run to longer lengths to encapsulate the story, mood or feelings they are trying to express. With that said there are plenty of examples of art that I felt actually accomplished what it was trying to without needing to extend, and that by that extension actually somewhat dilutes the strength and impact of that statement. Matt's two longest albums prior to this one were Beautiful Midnight and Avalanche. On the one hand, I wouldn't excise a second from Beautiful Midnight, with Avalanche though, there is a couple tracks that seem a bit redundant or out of place, and I truly believe if the album was less those two tracks it would be a more solid, thorough statement and would balance the album a bit more as I find it somewhat front loaded. On the other end of the spectrum you have Lights at 43 minutes, but I think additions would have only hurt it's strength, even though I do love some of the demos from that era that never made it on that album. Moving Walls is a bit more like Avalanche to me in that regard where I think it's length detracts from it's strengths. On the vinyl release, I find sides A and B to be pretty flawless actually, even though I'm not a big fan of Sicily, those two sides flow very well and it makes sense to have the lead single on side A. Side C is where I find the first songs that really aren't doing much for me, and Lumiere Noir, I actually love the musical aspects here, it's one of my favourites on the album in that regard, especially the well executed guitar solo, but something that really pulls me into Matt's music is my ability to connect lyrically to the concept of a song and to relate words and feelings to his vocal inflections. I don't have an issue with him signing a song in French, but my uncultured self is unable to relate to that song in the same capacity as the others, because even reading translated lyrics, I can't quite relate the way I usually am to his songs. Side D returns to pretty strong form to close the album out. For songs my favourites would be: One of Them Years - a perfect opener for this album Beauty Boobytrapped Radicals A Thousand Tons Selling You My Heart Thorn Bird When I first listened to the album I thought it was quite a bit front loaded, the second half wasn't resonating with me much, but on subsequent listens I've really come to enjoy most of that half too. There is only three songs on the record that I don't really care for: Your Rainy Sound Fingernails Parts - Matt's albums usually have incredible closers, and this one just isn't connecting much Overall I am very much enjoying this album, it has all the things I've come to enjoy about Matt's work and some very memorable songs. It's early still, but at this point I would actually put this as my third favourite of his solo albums, behind Avalanche and Vancouver. Obviously it won't be my first choice if I'm in the mood to rock out, but if I want that mellow, personal introspective feel it definitely will be near the top of the pile. One thing I'm excited about is how these songs will translate live, and which songs he'll choose to play. With 15 tracks I can't imagine he'll play them all with any regularity, so it will be interesting to see which choices are made. Also with these more mellow songs, often when performed live they take on a different kind of energy and intensity. Things like Empty's Theme Park and Non Populus were performed live with a much harder edge than on record and remain my definitive versions of those songs. Can't wait to see how these tracks are presented on stage!

Tough to say. Matt has expressed different sentiments at different times in regard to what he might do with future setlists. At times he has seemed to express a wish to do things like play complete albums like Lights, or to dip into more deeper cuts, other times he has talked about maybe just playing 4-5 new songs per show because he had more of an obligation to the average fan at the shows, and at other times he plays most of the new album at shows.It definitely keeps things interesting because even going to multiple shows on the same tour I legitimately have no idea what to expect and it makes the shows incredibly exciting!

I haven't sat down to review Moving Walls yet because I like to sit with Matt's releases a bit before seeing how I feel about them. Even then, sometimes it takes years before a song will hit me. I've always felt a personal connection to Matt\s music and sometimes certain song hit me at certain times because of certain circumstances in my life. An album like Beautiful Midnight I hold in high esteem because of the era it was released in. I was 12 that album became a complete summation of so much of what I was feeling at the time, going through significant changes in my life. That album will forever hold a special place to me because of just the time it came into my life and the moments I associate with it. Recently I made a post ranking Matt's solo albums, and while I was making the list I was wondering if some of those albums may have resonated more with me if they had come out at different points in my life. Once an album becomes so ingrained with personal experience for me it becomes nearly impossible for me to separate that and be fully objective about it. I appreciate you coming here to post some thoughts Matt, it's always very welcome to hear some of your insights. There is no doubt a tough situation for performing artists because part of your crowd respects the art, and part just want the entertainment, the night out, the show. I can imagine looking out and seeing disappointed faces during the lights tour would be somewhat disheartening, I really enjoyed those shows, one of my favourite tours since I started going to you shows in 2008. But I can understand that temptation to please the audience. But it's something all artists deal with largely because so many people fear change...they want the same, but different. It's an impossible standard. When Led Zeppelin release III, the fans were taken aback, acoustic music? Where is Whole Lotta Love 2.0? Now that album is generally regarded as a classic, but at the time many people derided it. Neil Young released Harvest to critcial and commercial success in 1972, and then in his own words he steered for the ditch. His next three albums and tours were influenced heavily with depressing music and boozy laments that alienated many fans expecting more country rock, they wanted him to be the Eagles, he didn't...those albums confounded many. Now many of his fans consider them the best music he ever released. I haven't lived or worked in the music industry, but the advice I'll give Matt is to do what makes sense to you. I think you have a fanbase that will support you through those changes, even if they themselves may not understand all of them, or relate to all of them themselves. Going the route of trying to please all the people all the time is not a rewarding path, in the end you'll be exhausted, unfulfilled and ultimately unsuccessful at achieving it. You mentioned ticket prices and I wanted to chime in on that because I am astonished people have any issue with these. When I started attending your shows in 2008, I was paying between $30-$40 a show, these days I'm about $40-$55, that increase is almost negligible in an industry where other artists playing the same venues are charging $150-$250 for good seats. $50 is the cost of dinner at a steakhouse. To me there is nothing that gives me more than a good concert, there is something truly unique about that experience. I'm happy the concerts are affordable, I'd pay more without question if it cost more. The reasonable prices allow me to usually attended 4-5 shows a tour. People just like to complain about things, but please understand these people are probably a vocal minority, most that I've spoken with are very much pleased with the fact that ticket prices have stayed very reasonable. Anyways I just wanted to address a couple of Matt's comments and I'll post an album review here in the coming weeks, but I'll say for sure right now that I love the sound and intimacy of the album, and also One Of Them Years is an immediate standout, the vocal delivery in that is incredible and the desperate urgency of it really hits the mark, a fantastic track!

I think that bang on nails my feelings on what I've heard so far. That is a great comparison to the sound so far, and definitely if that is the way the album plays out will be a very welcome approach on my end.

Vancouver, The Metropolitan Vancouver Hotel in one of the suites. I stayed there not long ago, different room, but recognized the view looking toward the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Really glad to see this song get a video. Wasn't a huge fan of Sicily although I did enjoy the video itself, But this song is everything I love about Matt's music. Can't wait for this new album! I've really liked most of what I've heard from it so far.