Blue Light Effect | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: There.

0:00 Speaker 2: It is from the ground up by the band Blue

0:02 Speaker 2: Light Effect, and we're gonna be talking with one of

0:05 Speaker 2: the guys from the band in just a moment. Welcome everybody.

0:08 Speaker 2: We have entered our number two New Marrow dose of

0:11 Speaker 2: Matt Connorton Unleashed and we are live from the studios

0:14 Speaker 2: of w m n H ninety five point three FM

0:16 Speaker 2: and Glorious Manchester, New Hampshire. Of course, you can stream

0:19 Speaker 2: the show from anywhere. Go to Matt connorton dot com,

0:21 Speaker 2: slash live for all of your live streaming options, social

0:24 Speaker 2: media links, contact and Fosho archives, et cetera, et cetera.

0:28 Speaker 2: Today is Saturday May second, twoenty twenty six, and we

0:33 Speaker 2: have joined us via WhatsApp Craig Siegel Bomb from the

0:36 Speaker 2: band Blue Light Effect.

0:38 Speaker 1: Hello, Craig, Hey, Matt Holloya, can you hear me?

0:40 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you sound great. Thank you for joining us.

0:43 Speaker 2: I really like this project a lot, and absolutely I

0:47 Speaker 2: like the positivity too of songs like that and Wreckage

0:50 Speaker 2: is another another really great song. You guys got a

0:53 Speaker 2: bunch of great tunes, but so I obviously will we'll

0:57 Speaker 2: cut right to the really interesting same thing about this

1:00 Speaker 2: project that that kind of hooked. I know Jenny made

1:03 Speaker 2: a comment too when she saw the email because she

1:05 Speaker 2: she's a former EMT, so she really likes first responders.

1:10 Speaker 2: This band has made up are all four of you

1:12 Speaker 2: guys first responders.

1:14 Speaker 1: I'm a former first respondent. I recently retired.

1:17 Speaker 2: Okay.

1:18 Speaker 1: The singer Vinnie is a nurse, and our bass player

1:22 Speaker 1: Justin and our drummer Joe are both teachers.

1:25 Speaker 2: Oh wow, okay, excellent, Yeah, excellent. So how did this

1:29 Speaker 2: band start? Because I was reading something about it. It

1:32 Speaker 2: kind of the pandemic sort of sparked this project.

1:36 Speaker 1: Yeah. So Vinnie and I have been trying to work

1:39 Speaker 1: together on and off for years, and for whatever reason,

1:42 Speaker 1: it just didn't didn't work out. And finally I was

1:45 Speaker 1: working on some music and getting reached out to various

1:49 Speaker 1: singers and I sent some tracks to Vinnie and immediately

1:55 Speaker 1: he had he had, you know, lyrics and melties work

2:00 Speaker 1: that for the songs, and he connected with them immediately.

2:03 Speaker 1: So we started this project, like like you said, during

2:06 Speaker 1: the pandemic, and we finally we did a record. It

2:11 Speaker 1: came out at the end of twenty twenty two, so

2:12 Speaker 1: it took us a year and a half to two

2:14 Speaker 1: years to do it between Vinny and I and Gina Catillo,

2:19 Speaker 1: who was a singer songwriter. She helped us with some

2:22 Speaker 1: writing and producing, and so the three of us wrote

2:25 Speaker 1: the record and we released it in twenty twenty two,

2:29 Speaker 1: and yeah, it just it's been great. We just we

2:35 Speaker 1: haven't stopped since we've We've have so many ideas. We

2:40 Speaker 1: have enough material for another record, but we just wanted

2:43 Speaker 1: to get a song out that it's been so long.

2:45 Speaker 1: We just put From the ground Up out back in

2:48 Speaker 1: March and the March, so it was good. It was

2:50 Speaker 1: a good. It was a long while since we released something,

2:52 Speaker 1: so yeah, but we have we have a ton more

2:54 Speaker 1: stuff coming. So we're just gonna probably do some singles,

2:58 Speaker 1: you know, every couple of months at out singles.

3:01 Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent. And you guys are all are you guys

3:03 Speaker 2: all from the New York area?

3:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, we're all. We're all Long Island based.

3:06 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, okay, some real New Yorkers here, and you've

3:09 Speaker 2: got I was noticing too, So is this uh is

3:13 Speaker 2: this accurate? Your song wreckage did really well in Australia.

3:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, actually From the ground Up is doing well there too.

3:21 Speaker 2: Good.

3:21 Speaker 1: But does it does a show there in Australia that

3:24 Speaker 1: that's really back in the band and I've been playing us. Yeah.

3:27 Speaker 1: It was went to number one on the on one

3:28 Speaker 1: of the shows there.

3:29 Speaker 2: Oh excellent.

3:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, and records just went to number five last week.

3:33 Speaker 2: There, so oh congratulations, thank you.

3:36 Speaker 1: Yeah. So it's been going really well and you know,

3:38 Speaker 1: we're trying to get some shows. But we're playing actually

3:41 Speaker 1: our first show in about two and a half years.

3:44 Speaker 1: We haven't that's how long its been since we played.

3:46 Speaker 1: We're playing at Montwalk on May fifteenth. We're doing the

3:48 Speaker 1: Montwalk Music Festival. We're doing two shows in one night,

3:52 Speaker 1: oh nok, two different venues, so it's going to be

3:54 Speaker 1: an adventure, but we're looking forward to it.

3:56 Speaker 2: That's great that you're doing a festival though, because something

3:58 Speaker 2: I always tell I say this everybody. Festivals are such

4:01 Speaker 2: a tremendous opportunity because not only does it get you

4:04 Speaker 2: in front of an audience that might not otherwise see

4:06 Speaker 2: you and might not be familiar with you, and you

4:07 Speaker 2: have a chance to really exponentially and very quickly build

4:11 Speaker 2: that fan base up, but also to just the people

4:13 Speaker 2: you meet, you know, the the industry people that you'll

4:17 Speaker 2: you'll meet and the new connections that you can make

4:19 Speaker 2: and uh, there's there's nothing better than a festival. But

4:23 Speaker 2: it sounds like, but you're you've already been working with

4:25 Speaker 2: a heavy hitter, like you mentioned Gina Catillo. Am I

4:29 Speaker 2: saying her name correctly? Now she's uh, how did you

4:32 Speaker 2: come to work with her?

4:34 Speaker 1: Well, she's actually my wife.

4:35 Speaker 2: Oh I'll be okay, Well that's easy then. Yeah.

4:39 Speaker 1: No, she actually she heard Vinnie and I working on

4:41 Speaker 1: the songs when we started the project, and she's like, oh,

4:45 Speaker 1: what's going on here? And as we're working in my

4:48 Speaker 1: studio when she heard us, and she's just like, I

4:50 Speaker 1: want to get involved in this, and she did like

4:53 Speaker 1: and it just went from there.

4:55 Speaker 2: Oh fantastic. So so was she also part of what? Uh? Well,

5:01 Speaker 2: I guess let me ask the question this way. If

5:03 Speaker 2: she wasn't your wife, do you think you'd be doing this?

5:06 Speaker 2: Because I get the impression. I mean she's probably obviously

5:10 Speaker 2: she's very encouraging. You know, she got involved in the

5:12 Speaker 2: project with writing and producing and so forth. But I mean,

5:15 Speaker 2: if it were not for her, do you think you

5:16 Speaker 2: would have pursued this?

5:18 Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, Vinie and I we were definitely going to

5:21 Speaker 1: do this either way, but yeah, but I think her

5:25 Speaker 1: involvement brought it to another level.

5:26 Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh that's fantastic. Yeah yeah. And then do you guys,

5:32 Speaker 2: I mean this is probably this would be a challenging

5:35 Speaker 2: to do, but do you have any plans to travel

5:37 Speaker 2: to Australia to do any touring?

5:41 Speaker 1: It would, like you said, it would be it would

5:43 Speaker 1: take a lot, be a lot, Yeah, it would, it

5:47 Speaker 1: would it would. I mean we would love to do

5:49 Speaker 1: it obviously, but would it would? You know, if everything

5:51 Speaker 1: worked worked out right, we would definitely definitely want to

5:54 Speaker 1: do it.

5:54 Speaker 2: Yeah, traveling is a little expensive these days.

5:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that goes for anyway. I mean even anywhere,

6:00 Speaker 1: even in the States, anywhere, you know, Oh yeah, anywhere,

6:02 Speaker 1: as long as it's worthwhile for us to do it,

6:04 Speaker 1: you know what I mean.

6:04 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And in terms of the songs I've noticed,

6:09 Speaker 2: I mean there's definitely I use this word a lot,

6:13 Speaker 2: uh in my you know, I'm hypnotherapist and when I'm

6:16 Speaker 2: working with clients, I use this word a lot. But

6:17 Speaker 2: I also find this, this word applies to your music.

6:19 Speaker 2: There's a sense of empowerment, whether whether it's a song

6:22 Speaker 2: like from the ground up, or Wreckage. There's there's really, uh,

6:26 Speaker 2: a very empowering message, and I mean is that important

6:30 Speaker 2: to you? Is that? Is that? Uh? I mean obviously

6:33 Speaker 2: not every song is is like that necessarily right, Well,

6:36 Speaker 2: none of it's I mean not nothing that I listened

6:38 Speaker 2: to is negative. But you know, but there's a song actually,

6:40 Speaker 2: I think there's a duet that you do with Gina

6:42 Speaker 2: if I'm not mistaken where it's kind.

6:43 Speaker 1: Of yeah, there's two on the record, save Us for

6:46 Speaker 1: Another Life and Tempered Yeah.

6:48 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but but but the overarching theme seems to

6:51 Speaker 2: be one of positivity and empowerment.

6:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's definitely that's I mean that Viny writes all

6:57 Speaker 1: his lyrics, but he's yeah, that's that's definitely a conscious thing. Yeah,

7:02 Speaker 1: because there's a lot of you know, hard rock and

7:06 Speaker 1: heavy metal music out there, that's a lot of negative stuff.

7:09 Speaker 1: And I mean we we definitely feel that stuff obviously

7:12 Speaker 1: sometimes sure, we're just trying to go about it a

7:14 Speaker 1: different way. And you know, I think it's it's connecting

7:17 Speaker 1: with people.

7:19 Speaker 2: How do you think, uh, I mean, did your job

7:22 Speaker 2: I mean obviously you know you mentioned you're retired now,

7:25 Speaker 2: but I mean, how does how does your experience professionally

7:28 Speaker 2: influence your music. Do you think i'd because it must

7:30 Speaker 2: in some way, right.

7:34 Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess so, I mean I not consciously, but

7:36 Speaker 1: I guess. Yeah. You know, when I was when I

7:39 Speaker 1: was on the job, I was a police officer. I

7:40 Speaker 1: don't know if I had mentioned that, but I was

7:41 Speaker 1: a police officer. Yeah for uh, but it definitely, you know,

7:46 Speaker 1: like I'd have my days and I would and I

7:48 Speaker 1: don't don't write lyrics anymore. I just write music. So yeah,

7:51 Speaker 1: if I had a rough day, you know, it would

7:53 Speaker 1: take it out of my you know, would write some

7:54 Speaker 1: aggressive music, you know what I mean, or sure or

7:57 Speaker 1: you know, or the other way around, you know, something

7:59 Speaker 1: good weapons and I'll write something pretty and and nice.

8:02 Speaker 1: So right, I guess, you know, I guess it's not

8:05 Speaker 1: it's not a conscious thing, but I guess yeah, now

8:07 Speaker 1: that you're saying that, it probably did.

8:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, because I feel like, you know, what we

8:12 Speaker 2: do professionally, uh, you know, in a quote unquote day job.

8:16 Speaker 2: You know, ultimately it shapes so much of who we are,

8:19 Speaker 2: which then of course shapes the music that we make.

8:22 Speaker 2: And and you know, and that's why again I think

8:25 Speaker 2: it's it's great you know that you're the music of

8:28 Speaker 2: the band. Blue light effect is so is so positive.

8:32 Speaker 2: So where does the name come from? I mean, I

8:34 Speaker 2: I assume you know the the but I could be wrong.

8:36 Speaker 2: So you know, my assumption is that blue light has

8:38 Speaker 2: to do with uh with police, but but maybe not.

8:42 Speaker 1: That's it has a lot of meaning to us. Okay,

8:45 Speaker 1: the first was the first waspond or part of it obviously. Yeah.

8:49 Speaker 1: But also the effects of blue light, like on your phones. Yes,

8:52 Speaker 1: that's what it does to your mind. I don't know

8:54 Speaker 1: if you're aware of that, if you've researched that at all,

8:56 Speaker 1: But do a search on what blue light effect can

8:59 Speaker 1: do to your your mind just from your electronic devices

9:03 Speaker 1: and that. And when I when I was on my

9:08 Speaker 1: previous job, I worked for the I worked for a

9:15 Speaker 1: railroad police department, so they would have they still have

9:19 Speaker 1: Longlan Road has blue lights on the platforms and the

9:22 Speaker 1: station platform Oh okay, and it's supposed to prevent somebody's

9:29 Speaker 1: thinking about committing suicide from doing it. Like it does

9:33 Speaker 1: something to your mind. Really, yeah, that's that's I don't know,

9:36 Speaker 1: it's it's just there's a lot of if you look

9:38 Speaker 1: into blue it's it's a very interesting thing. So I

9:41 Speaker 1: we just we just thought that'd be a cool name

9:43 Speaker 1: for the band.

9:44 Speaker 2: Yeah. I like that. No, that's very interesting. I'm gonna

9:46 Speaker 2: have to look that up. I've heard over the years,

9:49 Speaker 2: I've heard things about that, about you know, the blue

9:51 Speaker 2: light and the effect that it has on the brain,

9:52 Speaker 2: but I've never really I've never really read up on it.

9:55 Speaker 2: But you've got me, Uh, I'm gonna have to do

9:57 Speaker 2: that because you've got me very very curious about that now. Yeah,

10:02 Speaker 2: absolutely absolutely so. You so you're gonna be you think

10:07 Speaker 2: for now, you're just going to release release more singles.

10:10 Speaker 2: Will those eventually coalesce into an album perhaps or maybe?

10:15 Speaker 1: Yeah? Maybe, because it just it takes us so long

10:18 Speaker 1: to do stuff. If we did a record right now,

10:20 Speaker 1: we'd be looking at another at least another year okay

10:23 Speaker 1: before it came out. So we just want to put

10:24 Speaker 1: good stuff out there because it's been so long. Yeah,

10:27 Speaker 1: it seems like be the way the businesses these days, singles. Unfortunately.

10:31 Speaker 1: I love the album format, but yeah, the business doesn't

10:35 Speaker 1: seem to anymore.

10:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so many different ways to do it now too.

10:39 Speaker 2: You know a lot of because when I was growing up,

10:41 Speaker 2: it was you know, a band's released albums, maybe occasionally

10:45 Speaker 2: an EP, but mostly albums, and you know, first single

10:48 Speaker 2: would go to radio six to eight weeks before the

10:50 Speaker 2: album comes out. Then the album comes out, and then

10:52 Speaker 2: if if all goes well, maybe there's a second single.

10:55 Speaker 2: But now there's so many different ways to do it.

10:58 Speaker 2: And I've noticed in the last couple of years to

11:00 Speaker 2: a lot of the guests that we have on the show,

11:02 Speaker 2: you know, they they've kind of inverted it where they'll

11:04 Speaker 2: they'll release a series of singles that eventually become an album,

11:07 Speaker 2: but but they want to you know, feed that algorithm

11:10 Speaker 2: and and uh, you know, stay relevant on social media

11:14 Speaker 2: and all the streaming platforms. And it's it's a challenge,

11:16 Speaker 2: but it is really is. But the flip side of

11:19 Speaker 2: that is amazing things can happen, like you could have

11:23 Speaker 2: a lot of success on the radio in Australia, you know,

11:26 Speaker 2: so exactly exactly, So it's it's a remarkable times that

11:30 Speaker 2: we live in that sense. And then is is everything

11:35 Speaker 2: is everything that this band has? Are you the you

11:38 Speaker 2: said you don't write lyrics anymore, but you write all

11:40 Speaker 2: the music.

11:41 Speaker 1: I write the music and Vinnie writes his lyrics and

11:43 Speaker 1: then you know, do you know, come in and throw

11:45 Speaker 1: her two cents in. Yeah, and then uh, that's pretty

11:49 Speaker 1: much you know the other guys that have involved in

11:52 Speaker 1: it too. Yeah, but it's for the most part, it's

11:55 Speaker 1: it's Vinnie and I are the foundation. I'll send him

11:57 Speaker 1: my ideas and then he and then we take it

11:59 Speaker 1: from there.

11:59 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, no, that makes sense. And then what's the

12:02 Speaker 2: live situation, like you guys playing a lot of shows

12:05 Speaker 2: or how's that going on?

12:06 Speaker 1: Like I said, we haven't played a show in Oh wow,

12:10 Speaker 1: this motook gig is going to be cool because we're

12:13 Speaker 1: doing two shows and who knows, it could be our

12:15 Speaker 1: only two shows of the year.

12:16 Speaker 2: Okay.

12:17 Speaker 1: Just unfortunately, I don't know how it is by you,

12:19 Speaker 1: but our our original music scene here is not very good. Okay,

12:23 Speaker 1: So there's not many places. It's a lot of cover bands,

12:26 Speaker 1: which nothing against those guys. I have a lot of

12:28 Speaker 1: friends in those bands. But yeah, it's just it's just

12:31 Speaker 1: infiltrated with cover bands here. There's not a lot of

12:34 Speaker 1: original bands that are able to play shows. There's no event.

12:37 Speaker 1: It's not really the bands, it's the venues.

12:38 Speaker 2: Honestly, Oh yeah, yeah, of course, Yeah, that could be

12:42 Speaker 2: a challenge anywhere. I can tell you that where I

12:44 Speaker 2: am in Manchester, New Hampshire, it seems to there seems

12:48 Speaker 2: to be a cycle. You know, they'll they'll be a

12:49 Speaker 2: period where it seems like there's a lot of great

12:52 Speaker 2: places to play for original music, and then it kind

12:55 Speaker 2: of shifts and you know, the originals kind of get

12:58 Speaker 2: locked out a little bit by all the cover bands,

13:00 Speaker 2: but then it kind of comes around again and it

13:02 Speaker 2: just it's just kind of this endless cycle. I feel

13:05 Speaker 2: like right now there's a lot of places here that

13:07 Speaker 2: are very friendly to uh hosting original music. But you know,

13:11 Speaker 2: but it can change at any moment as as the

13:13 Speaker 2: business exactly as the business often does. But yeah, so

13:18 Speaker 2: listeners that you know, obviously we have a lot of

13:20 Speaker 2: listeners locally, but a lot of people online who and

13:22 Speaker 2: we do have listeners in New York. So I hope

13:24 Speaker 2: that anyone listening who hears this, I hope they come

13:26 Speaker 2: see you.

13:27 Speaker 1: Now.

13:27 Speaker 2: When when is that again? When is that festival?

13:30 Speaker 1: It's a it's a It starts May fourteenth and it

13:32 Speaker 1: goes through the seventeenth. We're gonna be playing on the fifteenth,

13:35 Speaker 1: we're doing two shows. We're playing the mon Talk Project

13:40 Speaker 1: at seven o'clock that the same of the venue, okay,

13:43 Speaker 1: and then and then the other venue is at nine o'clock.

13:45 Speaker 1: It's called Talk ta Uk. So we're gonna have to hustle.

13:49 Speaker 1: We're doing the one show at seven, head over to

13:52 Speaker 1: the other place at nine, bring all of stuff. So

13:54 Speaker 1: that's gonna be interesting. But we're looking forward to it.

13:56 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I find situations like that to be excited.

14:00 Speaker 2: You know, when it's like you've got to, like you said,

14:02 Speaker 2: you're gonna have to hustle, you know, but it's but

14:04 Speaker 2: it's all gonna be worth it. So that's that's fantastic.

14:06 Speaker 2: Good good for you you guys. Are you guys are

14:08 Speaker 2: gonna be working hard that night? That's great? Yeah, absolutely

14:12 Speaker 2: absolutely so, Craig, any idea on when the next single

14:15 Speaker 2: will be.

14:18 Speaker 1: Well, we know what it's gonna be, and it's it's

14:21 Speaker 1: almost fully tracked. Okay, a few more things to do,

14:26 Speaker 1: I would say, hopefully hopefully by the summer. Okay, great, yeah,

14:33 Speaker 1: and then we have like we we record, I record

14:36 Speaker 1: everything in my studio and then we have our wonderful mixer,

14:39 Speaker 1: David Cagiano mixes everything does an amazing job. Okay, and

14:44 Speaker 1: uh and we'll get it out as soon as we can.

14:46 Speaker 1: But you know, I right, we just we're right now.

14:49 Speaker 1: We've been focusing on this gig, so yeah, rehearsing, so

14:52 Speaker 1: once the once the show is done, we're gonna finish

14:54 Speaker 1: up the song and then hopefully have that ready for

14:57 Speaker 1: early summer release.

14:58 Speaker 2: Oh fantastic. Well, and it's ready to go. You know

15:01 Speaker 2: we we'd love to feature it here and it'll give

15:03 Speaker 2: us an excuse to have you back on and talk

15:05 Speaker 2: about it. So yeah, absolutely, absolutely absolutely, Craig, Where should

15:09 Speaker 2: people go online? Where's the best place for people to

15:11 Speaker 2: go online to keep up with everything that you guys

15:13 Speaker 2: are doing? Blue Light Effect.

15:15 Speaker 1: Everything, pretty much everything, blue light Effect, YouTube, blue light Effects, Facebook, Instagram,

15:22 Speaker 1: TikTok all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, all the usual places

15:26 Speaker 1: app you know, Apple Music, Spotify.

15:29 Speaker 2: Well yeah, absolutely, yeah. You guys have got it covered,

15:31 Speaker 2: which is which is good. That's what you need to do,

15:33 Speaker 2: that's for sure.

15:34 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.

15:36 Speaker 2: I'd like to I will close our conversation with another

15:39 Speaker 2: one of your tracks. I want to play Wreckage again.

15:40 Speaker 2: I really love this song. Anything we should know about this,

15:43 Speaker 2: about this track.

15:46 Speaker 1: Like you said, it's it has a positive message. I

15:49 Speaker 1: just I like people that just interpret things the way

15:53 Speaker 1: that they want to, yes, get you know, get what

15:55 Speaker 1: they want out of it and without giving away too much.

15:57 Speaker 1: And I want to say, like from the ground up

15:59 Speaker 1: is to me is part two of Wreckage, right, this

16:02 Speaker 1: is it's like a two part song in my opinion,

16:05 Speaker 1: that makes sense.

16:06 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, no, that that makes a lot of sense

16:08 Speaker 2: to me. And I'll just say that absolutely absolutely well.

16:12 Speaker 2: Craig Siegelebomb of Course Blue Light Effect. Thank you so

16:15 Speaker 2: much for joining us this morning. We will do it

16:16 Speaker 2: again in the future when you've got the when you've

16:18 Speaker 2: got the next single. We'd love to have you back on.

16:20 Speaker 2: I'm gonna go ahead and hit this track, so we'll

16:22 Speaker 2: let you go for now. But but again, thank you

16:24 Speaker 2: so much and I'm sure we'll talk again soon.

16:27 Speaker 1: Thanks Matt, all right, you got it man.

16:29 Speaker 2: Bye bye. All right. That was Craig Siegele Bomb from

16:33 Speaker 2: of Course a Blue Light Effect. And we will close

16:35 Speaker 2: out this segment with another great track from this band.

16:39 Speaker 2: I really like these guys a lot, and again I

16:41 Speaker 2: do like the positivity. This is called Wreckage. Check this out.

16:44 Speaker 2: This is really good,