GenerationZ | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: The track is Seance, the band is Generations and we're

0:03 Speaker 1: gonna be talking with them in just a moment.

0:05 Speaker 2: Welcome everybody. We have entered our number three.

0:07 Speaker 1: New Marrow trace of Matt Connorton Unleashed and we are

0:10 Speaker 1: live from the studios of wm NH ninety five point

0:14 Speaker 1: three FM and Glorious Manchester, New Hampshire. And of course

0:16 Speaker 1: you can listen to the show from anywhere. Go to

0:18 Speaker 1: Matt connorton dot com slash live for all of your

0:21 Speaker 1: live streaming options, social media links, contact info, show archives,

0:25 Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. If you are listening live. It

0:28 Speaker 1: is Saturday January ten, twenty twenty six. Jenny is here,

0:31 Speaker 1: of course at the news table present and let's get

0:35 Speaker 1: the band in here. So I've got the level up here,

0:37 Speaker 1: I know we have we have Jen Are you there?

0:40 Speaker 2: Can you hear us?

0:42 Speaker 3: Yes, we can hear it.

0:43 Speaker 1: Oh excellent, let me I gotta boost the volume on

0:45 Speaker 1: this end. But so yeah, so welcome. So we have

0:48 Speaker 1: gen X from the band and you've got your cohorts

0:52 Speaker 1: with you. Because I can see I don't think you

0:53 Speaker 1: can see me, but I can see you on the

0:55 Speaker 1: on the screen. Why don't you go ahead and introduce

0:58 Speaker 1: everybody if you would, or they can introduce them elves,

1:00 Speaker 1: however you want to do it.

1:02 Speaker 4: Pricey playing guitar, Michael ever.

1:06 Speaker 5: And we're MIAs one because he's working today and he

1:08 Speaker 5: could make Anthony and he plays.

1:10 Speaker 4: Guitar as well.

1:11 Speaker 2: Gotcha? Gotcha?

1:12 Speaker 1: All right, So tell us about I'm curious to know

1:16 Speaker 1: how this band came together because you're you're in an

1:21 Speaker 1: area you're in?

1:22 Speaker 2: Is it Springfield, Missouri?

1:24 Speaker 4: Yes?

1:25 Speaker 1: So not exactly known as a hotbed for metal, shall

1:29 Speaker 1: we say? But I have no idea what the music

1:31 Speaker 1: scene is like there. How did this band come about?

1:33 Speaker 1: And are there I mean, is there a strong scene

1:36 Speaker 1: there where you are.

1:39 Speaker 4: Think it's not too bad? The story on how we

1:41 Speaker 4: get together is kind of funny.

1:42 Speaker 6: I actually know Daniel for a long time and hit

1:45 Speaker 6: him up and even playing music different bands for twenty

1:48 Speaker 6: something years.

1:49 Speaker 4: Now, and I was like, maybe why do we Why

1:50 Speaker 4: have we never jail?

1:52 Speaker 3: He's like, I don't know.

1:53 Speaker 6: We went ahead and got together to the Little Jamon

1:56 Speaker 6: and just turned into what we have.

2:00 Speaker 5: To go on?

2:00 Speaker 7: Then?

2:02 Speaker 2: So is this is this a relatively new project?

2:06 Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's been going for about three years.

2:08 Speaker 5: So when we formed it, we had an original singer

2:10 Speaker 5: and then we lost him for the health reasons, and

2:13 Speaker 5: then we went through about a year and a half

2:15 Speaker 5: of just going through different vocalists, you know, trying new

2:18 Speaker 5: things vocally, and then we blessed to run into this

2:22 Speaker 5: kick over here.

2:25 Speaker 4: That's the fun from there. I mean you hear amazing?

2:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely absolutely so. And having a you know, a

2:33 Speaker 1: female fronted band is still it's weird. It's it's you.

2:38 Speaker 1: You would almost think it'd be it wouldn't even be

2:41 Speaker 1: a big deal at this point, right, But it seems

2:43 Speaker 1: like in the industry when you have a female fronted

2:46 Speaker 1: metal band, it still kind of turns heads. People say, oh,

2:49 Speaker 1: isn't that interesting, even though there's been many many female

2:52 Speaker 1: fronted bands. But I mean, jen X, I'm curious how

2:55 Speaker 1: how you feel about that And is that something that

2:57 Speaker 1: you really kind of try to push to the fore

3:00 Speaker 1: in terms of how the band is marketed and perceived

3:03 Speaker 1: or do you think about that part or is it

3:06 Speaker 1: just this is what it is, or how do you

3:08 Speaker 1: approach that.

3:09 Speaker 3: So I've been doing this a long time. Springfield, you know,

3:13 Speaker 3: is probably not well known, but Branson is, oh yeah,

3:18 Speaker 3: well known. My parents were entertainers there for twenty years.

3:21 Speaker 3: I was a child.

3:22 Speaker 7: Entertainer there growing up. Oh wow, professionally performing since I

3:27 Speaker 7: was five. Okay, so classically because growing up there it's

3:33 Speaker 7: mostly country. I did a lot of country. But this

3:38 Speaker 7: is this is me. This is the music that I love.

3:42 Speaker 7: I remember screaming at the top of my lungs to

3:44 Speaker 7: Offspring when I was like nine years old.

3:48 Speaker 3: Does genuinely love it?

3:49 Speaker 7: But I didn't have that opportunity to express myself that

3:52 Speaker 7: way growing up. Yeah, so this is this is me

3:56 Speaker 7: taking that opportunity. I stepped away from performing for about

3:59 Speaker 7: twenty years. Oh wow, because I growng up with you know,

4:05 Speaker 7: entertainer parents. It's just a different lifestyle and I just

4:07 Speaker 7: wanted something different from my kids. And so this is

4:10 Speaker 7: this is me coming back out in my own way,

4:13 Speaker 7: authentically myself and.

4:16 Speaker 3: We are just having a blast.

4:18 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, absolutely. So, So for twenty years you didn't

4:22 Speaker 1: perform at all?

4:23 Speaker 2: Is that correct?

4:26 Speaker 7: Some some a little bit, but not a lot, and

4:28 Speaker 7: not a lot professionally.

4:29 Speaker 3: You know, I love karaoking. I do it all the time.

4:31 Speaker 3: It's just my little extra outlet.

4:33 Speaker 1: Sure yet, but was was it always kind of in

4:38 Speaker 1: the back of your mind that you would get back

4:40 Speaker 1: to it, or that you would be doing something like this,

4:42 Speaker 1: or has this been kind of a kind of a

4:44 Speaker 1: twist in your story that you didn't necessarily always think

4:47 Speaker 1: would happen.

4:48 Speaker 3: Oh, this is a huge twist.

4:51 Speaker 7: I was so nervous coming into this genre, I you know,

4:56 Speaker 7: but everybody has just welcomed me with open arms, which

4:59 Speaker 7: which is always been great about. You know, metal heads

5:02 Speaker 7: in general, I feel like they are like the most

5:06 Speaker 7: accepting and so it's yeah, I am truly blessed with

5:10 Speaker 7: this opportunity. I could not be more grateful. I'm so

5:13 Speaker 7: excited about it. These guys just had nothing but faith

5:17 Speaker 7: in me when I didn't have it in myself.

5:19 Speaker 1: So yeah, tell me too about the name, because so

5:25 Speaker 1: the name of the band is Generations, but the way

5:27 Speaker 1: that it's spelled and Jen, I even I even asked

5:30 Speaker 1: you in an email for clarification because it's spelled Generation

5:33 Speaker 1: but I'm sorry, generations but with a Z at the

5:36 Speaker 1: end and the Z is capitalized.

5:38 Speaker 2: So what is the significance of that? What does the

5:40 Speaker 2: name mean to you?

5:42 Speaker 5: Well, when we started it, we were kind of playing

5:45 Speaker 5: on our own music, like I had two other bands

5:47 Speaker 5: going a time. When we started this thing, we were

5:49 Speaker 5: playing metal covers, rock cover like, we were playing a

5:53 Speaker 5: kind of a broad spectrum of music. So I was like, okay,

5:56 Speaker 5: we just be called Generations. Well then when we looked

5:58 Speaker 5: up Generations as a band name, there was only one

6:01 Speaker 5: of them in Florida, and it was a cover band

6:03 Speaker 5: that played you know, from like fifties, did a middle

6:06 Speaker 5: two thousands cover band.

6:08 Speaker 4: So we just changed the name that.

6:09 Speaker 5: We changed the E to A and put a Z

6:12 Speaker 5: on the end of it and put the little the

6:14 Speaker 5: time capsule deal on the hourglass on the end of it.

6:17 Speaker 5: And yeah, we didn't think about it being called generation

6:20 Speaker 5: Z un tail. It got played on rock Rage Radio

6:23 Speaker 5: the first time and they were like Generation Z playing

6:26 Speaker 5: Salence and we were like, oh snack.

6:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, I can see you can see where that would happen.

6:32 Speaker 1: But now, so tell us about the first single, Seance.

6:37 Speaker 1: Uh A great, great track and it's very and I

6:40 Speaker 1: really like too by the way, the production choice with

6:45 Speaker 1: it becomes prominent at the end, uh, you know, with

6:49 Speaker 1: with the keyboard in there.

6:50 Speaker 2: I just really like the production of the song. But

6:53 Speaker 2: but tell us about.

6:53 Speaker 1: Seance and and where that song comes from and what

6:56 Speaker 1: the meaning is behind those lyrics.

7:00 Speaker 4: Well, uh, the the.

7:02 Speaker 8: Kind of the meeting behind it is more of like

7:04 Speaker 8: a sayos that you would kind of tell yourself to

7:06 Speaker 8: kind of keep yourself centered, keep yourself focused, motivated, to

7:12 Speaker 8: keep going and to push out all the the bs

7:15 Speaker 8: that goes on and live and just.

7:18 Speaker 4: Kind of kind of keep yourself self centered, you know.

7:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, And then like like, what's the so that song

7:26 Speaker 1: was played on they played that on Rock Rage radio?

7:29 Speaker 5: Is that.

7:31 Speaker 3: It's been on a lot of things?

7:34 Speaker 7: Yeah, Yeah, we've been on some online radios in the

7:37 Speaker 7: UK pretty much daily for a couple of months now

7:41 Speaker 7: with excellent. Yeah, so it's it's it's been it's been

7:45 Speaker 7: an amazing journey so far.

7:47 Speaker 1: Well, so you're you're off to a great start then,

7:49 Speaker 1: because you know, like like we were saying that the

7:52 Speaker 1: project in this iteration is is relatively new, right, that's

7:55 Speaker 1: your first single, So so yeah.

7:57 Speaker 2: You're you're you're off to a great start. That's got

8:00 Speaker 2: to feel good.

8:06 Speaker 4: Even don't even.

8:09 Speaker 1: No, that's wonderful. And then what's the live schedule, Like

8:13 Speaker 1: are you playing a lot of shows? Are you touring

8:15 Speaker 1: or or what's what's happening there?

8:19 Speaker 3: We do have a lot on the books.

8:21 Speaker 7: We we are actually have the opportunity to play in

8:26 Speaker 7: February in Saint Louis on the road.

8:29 Speaker 3: To Point Best.

8:30 Speaker 2: Excellent.

8:31 Speaker 7: It's like a battle of the bands to try to

8:33 Speaker 7: actually get to play Point Fest, which.

8:35 Speaker 4: Is one of the which we never heard of that

8:38 Speaker 4: looked at.

8:38 Speaker 5: Point Fast in Saint Louis, massive, massive festival.

8:43 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's yeah, geared.

8:45 Speaker 7: Up and excited for that. And we have another local

8:48 Speaker 7: show at Moontown Sound.

8:52 Speaker 4: And Springfield is really awesome. And then then we have

8:56 Speaker 4: a show in Columbia.

8:58 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we well we've got so further out.

9:00 Speaker 5: Yeah, out in the area, and we have stuff in

9:02 Speaker 5: August and Columbia and that's We've got Texas coming later

9:09 Speaker 5: in the year as well. Yeah, it's a it's getting

9:12 Speaker 5: pretty wild.

9:13 Speaker 3: We are geared up and ready to get out there.

9:15 Speaker 2: No, that's excellent.

9:16 Speaker 1: And then so in terms of the live show, because

9:19 Speaker 1: so far, I mean, do you have other material that

9:21 Speaker 1: you play live that you haven't recorded yet?

9:24 Speaker 3: Absolutely? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we got a lot of music.

9:28 Speaker 4: We have a lot of music given.

9:29 Speaker 1: The whole album, oh fantasy, So you're working on an

9:32 Speaker 1: album now, that's that's another thing. I was gonna ask you,

9:35 Speaker 1: because you know, there's so many different ways to release

9:39 Speaker 1: music now. A lot of artists will do an album,

9:41 Speaker 1: some will do an EP, some will just release singles

9:44 Speaker 1: that eventually coalesce into an EP or an album. But

9:47 Speaker 1: so you've got you're working on an album currently, yep, excellent, excellent.

9:57 Speaker 1: For the next song, yeah, okay, okay, fantastic, same same

10:03 Speaker 1: studio where you recorded, uh Seance and something Wicked or.

10:07 Speaker 5: Seance shot to my bud Kevin Dunn and Mercenary Studios.

10:11 Speaker 5: We tracked that song with him. The next batch of

10:15 Speaker 5: songs is done with Jess Smith at Studio twenty also

10:20 Speaker 5: amazing engineer.

10:21 Speaker 3: Okay, something Wicked studio. Oh yeah, because he's got.

10:29 Speaker 4: We just released that.

10:30 Speaker 3: Yeah, we we just released that yesterday.

10:32 Speaker 1: So yeah, so something Wicked that hasn't Is that not

10:36 Speaker 1: been heard? Is this the first time that will be

10:38 Speaker 1: on the radio that track?

10:40 Speaker 7: Yeah?

10:40 Speaker 4: Sure, we just released it last night.

10:43 Speaker 3: We just released it last night.

10:44 Speaker 2: I was gonna say, yeah, that's very new, hot off

10:46 Speaker 2: the press. Well that's one off.

10:47 Speaker 1: I'm glad we're going to be the first radio station

10:49 Speaker 1: to play it. That's very cool. I can I can

10:52 Speaker 1: play my uh, my world premiere bumper We Love We

10:57 Speaker 1: Love the World premieres around here.

10:58 Speaker 2: That's great. No, that's another great track, very very strong.

11:01 Speaker 2: I really like that a lot.

11:04 Speaker 1: And then what what's kind of the long term trajectory.

11:07 Speaker 1: I mean, you've got a lot going on, You're working

11:09 Speaker 1: on the album, you're you're, uh, you've got some some

11:12 Speaker 1: shows lined up. I mean, what what what do you

11:15 Speaker 1: feel is in the future for for generations. What's what's

11:18 Speaker 1: kind of the the big goal?

11:21 Speaker 5: Well, the goals is like any other band, you know,

11:23 Speaker 5: they're trying to do professionally, get it where we can

11:25 Speaker 5: financially swap over to make enough money making music and

11:30 Speaker 5: everything else that comes along with making music to you know,

11:32 Speaker 5: feed our families and all that fun stuff.

11:34 Speaker 7: Yeah, I love performing, Like I said, I mean, it's

11:38 Speaker 7: it's just it's it's my space.

11:41 Speaker 3: But for me, I'm just excited to perform. And then

11:44 Speaker 3: then when I realized I get to make money doing

11:46 Speaker 3: it as well, I'm like, oh yeah, that's cool. That's

11:48 Speaker 3: a bonus for me. But like just being able to

11:50 Speaker 3: perform and connect with people and just that's my favorite.

11:53 Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely, Now what should we know? So in

11:58 Speaker 2: a moment we're going.

11:59 Speaker 1: To play this act something Wicked will well when we

12:03 Speaker 1: wrap up our conversation, we'll play that to kind of

12:06 Speaker 1: end the segment. But I mean, what should we know

12:08 Speaker 1: about this before we play it? You know, we talked

12:10 Speaker 1: about Sunds, but again, people are gonna be hearing this

12:13 Speaker 1: for the very first time on the radio.

12:15 Speaker 2: What should we know about this song? Something Wicked?

12:18 Speaker 4: It was?

12:19 Speaker 8: It was actually kind of inspired. We were sitting around

12:23 Speaker 8: Darley Spring. We had some real nasty weather, tonic weather

12:26 Speaker 8: coming through, and we just sent in our group chat

12:29 Speaker 8: text and back and forth and I just probably said

12:31 Speaker 8: something wicked this like comes and jumpeditions like that one

12:34 Speaker 8: makes some.

12:34 Speaker 6: Really cool song lyrics. I'm like, bet so, I said, down,

12:37 Speaker 6: start jumping some stuff down And then it kind of

12:40 Speaker 6: morphed into what we got here. But it all started

12:42 Speaker 6: to get news feed about talking about the weather.

12:45 Speaker 5: Yeah, we really wrote these song's lyrics in our band chat.

12:48 Speaker 2: Oh no kidding, Oh that's cool.

12:51 Speaker 4: Yeah.

12:52 Speaker 3: Well, and I was telling Daniel earlier or something I

12:55 Speaker 3: really appreciate.

12:55 Speaker 7: About this project and this group of people is that

13:00 Speaker 7: we are just comfortable with each other. It's where we

13:03 Speaker 7: give each other the space to be ourselves individually creatively.

13:08 Speaker 3: And then we come together and it works.

13:11 Speaker 7: And so when it comes to some of the meetings

13:15 Speaker 7: for the songs also, I think that it resonates differently

13:18 Speaker 7: with each of us.

13:20 Speaker 3: I was for something wicked.

13:24 Speaker 7: I have also had some mental health struggles throughout my life,

13:27 Speaker 7: and I still struggle with PTSD.

13:30 Speaker 3: So I am having a PTSD episode sometimes.

13:35 Speaker 7: That turns into like inner rage that I have to cage.

13:42 Speaker 3: At the song there, and.

13:46 Speaker 7: So for me, that's the something wicked, and so this

13:50 Speaker 7: song particularly.

13:51 Speaker 3: Is kind of coping for me. Yeah, that breakdown is

13:56 Speaker 3: so special. I just love it.

13:58 Speaker 2: Anyways, No, I'm glad, I'm glad.

14:00 Speaker 1: I'm glad you explained that because something that comes up

14:03 Speaker 1: on the show a lot is you know, we talk

14:05 Speaker 1: about taking, taking trauma, taking PTSD, taking you know, anxiety, depression,

14:13 Speaker 1: whatever it is, all these things that we deal with

14:15 Speaker 1: from a mental health perspective. When you take something like

14:18 Speaker 1: that and you create something out of it, you know,

14:21 Speaker 1: you're taking something that's negative, but you're creating art, So

14:24 Speaker 1: you're creating something positive out of it that not only

14:27 Speaker 1: not only does that process help you to deal with it,

14:30 Speaker 1: but it potentially helps other people who also then hear

14:34 Speaker 1: the song or or look at the painting or whatever

14:36 Speaker 1: kind of art it is that you're creating, Right, if

14:38 Speaker 1: other people can also get something out of it, then

14:41 Speaker 1: you've not only you've not only helped yourself, but you've

14:43 Speaker 1: helped others and you've done so with something that comes

14:47 Speaker 1: from from pain and trauma. So I think that's I

14:50 Speaker 1: think that's always a wonderful thing when you can do that.

14:52 Speaker 1: So I'm glad you explain that well.

14:54 Speaker 7: And art I think is the greatest form of self expression. Yes,

15:00 Speaker 7: obviously is my favorite, but I also think that it's

15:02 Speaker 7: the greatest form of self expression. And of course it's

15:06 Speaker 7: something that all human beings relate to, and that's what

15:11 Speaker 7: I do it for. That's what I love so much

15:13 Speaker 7: about it, and these guys too.

15:15 Speaker 6: And so you know, while we're here, well, then you

15:18 Speaker 6: also get to make those connections with people that you

15:20 Speaker 6: might not have made any other way.

15:21 Speaker 1: So I mean, look here we are talking with you

15:24 Speaker 1: exactly exactly. Well, so I'm looking forward to playing that

15:29 Speaker 1: track and sharing it with everybody. But before we let

15:31 Speaker 1: you all go, so where's the best place to go

15:35 Speaker 1: online to keep up with everything that the band is doing.

15:37 Speaker 2: Where should people go online?

15:40 Speaker 7: Nope, pretty much everywhere. The band's on Instagram and Facebook.

15:45 Speaker 7: Of course, we have our YouTube page. I have personal

15:48 Speaker 7: pages on TikTok and Twitter or I guess it's x

15:53 Speaker 7: now and Facebook, Instagram.

15:56 Speaker 3: You'll just find us anywhere.

15:58 Speaker 6: Okay, we'll all go all the platform that for us,

16:01 Speaker 6: the YouTube music Spotify.

16:03 Speaker 4: Where do you get band or so?

16:04 Speaker 3: We do have a website too.

16:06 Speaker 2: Oh yes, I'm looking at that now. Yeah.

16:09 Speaker 1: Generations dotnoisyard dot com. You can find everything there. A

16:14 Speaker 1: lot of good information about the band there actually, so

16:16 Speaker 1: that's great, and your music is there too, outstanding.

16:21 Speaker 3: Our YouTube videos you can purchase Merge.

16:24 Speaker 7: Well, we haven't got it set fully yet, but eventually

16:27 Speaker 7: you'll see all our shows like everything Generation.

16:31 Speaker 2: Yeah, excellent, excellent.

16:33 Speaker 1: All right, So in a moment, so we'll let you

16:35 Speaker 1: go so we can hit this track again, the world

16:37 Speaker 1: radio premiere of Something Wicked, the brand new track from Generations.

16:41 Speaker 1: But I want to thank you all for joining us

16:42 Speaker 1: this morning. It's wonderful to talk with you, and uh,

16:45 Speaker 1: we'll definitely do this again in the future as you're

16:47 Speaker 1: releasing new music. We'd love to have you back on

16:51 Speaker 1: you absolutely you got it all right. We'll talk to

16:55 Speaker 1: you soon. Take care, bye.