Matt Axton | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: From the studios of w m n H ninety five

0:02 Speaker 1: point three FM and Glorious Manchester, New Hampshire.

0:05 Speaker 2: And Matt Axton is going to becoming a.

0:07 Speaker 1: Manchester on September twenty fourth at the Rex Theater.

0:11 Speaker 2: But uh, let's see if we have them on the line. Matt,

0:13 Speaker 2: are you.

0:13 Speaker 3: There, Yes, sir? Right here?

0:15 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome, So you are you are calling from the road. Correct,

0:19 Speaker 1: you're out on tour right now? Where where are you

0:20 Speaker 1: calling us from?

0:22 Speaker 3: We're out in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. We played at the

0:25 Speaker 3: guth three Center last night out here, the Rlogut Tree Center.

0:29 Speaker 2: Oh, very nice, very nice.

0:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, you're touring. Let's see, so you started this month

0:34 Speaker 1: and then you're touring into October as well. Correct, you're

0:37 Speaker 1: out for uh, you're out on the road for a

0:38 Speaker 1: couple months.

0:40 Speaker 3: Absolutely. This is the longest tour to date from US.

0:43 Speaker 3: We came all away from Los Angeles, California, started out

0:45 Speaker 3: in Oklahoma, I went down south and I've just been

0:49 Speaker 3: hitting our first ever Eastern Seaboard Northeast run of our

0:54 Speaker 3: of our existence, and we're very excited.

0:57 Speaker 2: Oh very cool.

0:57 Speaker 1: Well, welcome to New England. And I know you're gonna

1:00 Speaker 1: be h you're gonna be right here in Manchester on

1:02 Speaker 1: the twenty fourth. I want to so I want to

1:06 Speaker 1: start here because I so I played that song Crazy

1:08 Speaker 1: City you sent you send us a bunch of tracks

1:12 Speaker 1: to choose from. I opened with that one because selfishly,

1:15 Speaker 1: that is my favorite, and I want to tell you

1:17 Speaker 1: what I love about it, you know, because you sort

1:20 Speaker 1: of you sort of blend genres a little bit, you

1:23 Speaker 1: know you, I know it kind of falls under the

1:26 Speaker 1: Americana genre, a category of what you do. But but

1:30 Speaker 1: that but that tends to be a mix of things.

1:32 Speaker 1: Americana is kind of a broad term. It tends to

1:34 Speaker 1: be a mix of things. What I love about Crazy

1:37 Speaker 1: City is, you know, it's got that Americana, that folk

1:39 Speaker 1: sort of touch of country vibe, not not too countries.

1:43 Speaker 1: It's not overly twangy, but it's you know, just it's

1:45 Speaker 1: such a great song. But then you get to that

1:47 Speaker 1: point in the song too, where it kind of gets

1:49 Speaker 1: a little bit funky and a little bit of soul

1:53 Speaker 1: to it, And I really like the way you slip

1:55 Speaker 1: that into the song. It kind of changes a little bit,

1:58 Speaker 1: but it also fits in so seamlessly. But I noticed

2:01 Speaker 1: it the first time I listened to it when it

2:03 Speaker 1: gets to that part and you know the part of

2:05 Speaker 1: the song, I mean, obviously, I'm like, oh, I really

2:07 Speaker 1: like that. So I think that is such a great tune.

2:10 Speaker 1: That is my personal favorite of the ones that I

2:13 Speaker 1: listened to. And but you do you kind of you

2:15 Speaker 1: kind of blend genres a little bit, and I really

2:18 Speaker 1: like that, and I love that song. I wanted to

2:19 Speaker 1: tell you that right up front. I think that's such

2:21 Speaker 1: a great track.

2:23 Speaker 3: Oh well, thank you for mentioning that and listening. I'm

2:26 Speaker 3: glad that one struck you like that, because yeah, absolutely,

2:30 Speaker 3: you mentioned sort of Americana as a catch all term

2:32 Speaker 3: in the industry, and you know, some people think of

2:35 Speaker 3: that maybe, you know, sometimes it can be too broad

2:38 Speaker 3: of a genre. But I think that is its strength

2:41 Speaker 3: to me, is that you can mix, like you said,

2:43 Speaker 3: a little bit of country, a little a little folk,

2:45 Speaker 3: a little rock and roll. Sometimes you can get a

2:47 Speaker 3: little bluegrass, a little soul in there. And I come from,

2:51 Speaker 3: you know, legacy, My dad, Hoyd Axton, really never fit

2:54 Speaker 3: in one genre. He hopped all over. He just believed

2:57 Speaker 3: in writing a good song, no matter what kind it was,

3:00 Speaker 3: and I fell under that as well. I couldn't help

3:02 Speaker 3: but escape, you know, but embrace that mentality around songwriting.

3:06 Speaker 3: So in a show, we're gonna sort of take you

3:09 Speaker 3: on American a journey, is what I say. At the

3:11 Speaker 3: beginning of the show. We're going to mix it up

3:13 Speaker 3: a little bit and tell some good legacy stories and

3:15 Speaker 3: in the end, I just want you to tap your foot,

3:17 Speaker 3: get your mind moving a little bit, and give you

3:20 Speaker 3: a little escape if we can.

3:21 Speaker 1: So I'm curious to ask you about this, is is

3:24 Speaker 1: there a certain I've heard musicians who who have, you know,

3:29 Speaker 1: famous families, or that they have a famous mom or

3:32 Speaker 1: a famous dad, or talk about how there can be

3:36 Speaker 1: a certain weight to that. There's a certain pressure that

3:38 Speaker 1: comes with that, and I'm curious if that's how it

3:40 Speaker 1: is for you. Obviously you're very proud of your legacy.

3:45 Speaker 1: You embrace it, but you don't. But but you don't

3:49 Speaker 1: You embrace it, but you don't you know, kind of

3:53 Speaker 1: you have your own identity, I guess is what I'm

3:54 Speaker 1: trying to say. Like you are Matt Axton, and you

3:56 Speaker 1: have original music that you've created. You know you're not

3:59 Speaker 1: doing You're not doing a show that where you just

4:02 Speaker 1: go out and play your dad's music, for example. Maybe

4:04 Speaker 1: you have done that in the past.

4:05 Speaker 2: I don't know.

4:06 Speaker 1: But you have your own music, you have your own vibe,

4:07 Speaker 1: you have your own sound. But you also have this

4:10 Speaker 1: incredible legacy that you have to of your family that

4:14 Speaker 1: you have to carry around with you. Is there any

4:16 Speaker 1: kind of pressure with that or do you take that

4:17 Speaker 1: in stride or are you are you very comfortable with

4:20 Speaker 1: it or how do you how do you deal with that?

4:22 Speaker 2: I'm really curious about that.

4:24 Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, well, you know, I don't think of it

4:26 Speaker 3: as a pressure much. I think of it more as

4:29 Speaker 3: an honor. Yeah, they're both. My grandmother was an amazing

4:34 Speaker 3: you know, songwriter and curator of community through art, and

4:40 Speaker 3: she started a lot of musicians in the industry, mainly

4:42 Speaker 3: in Nashville in the in the sixties through the nineties,

4:46 Speaker 3: and so you know, it's an amazing legacy to keep alive.

4:51 Speaker 3: And it's so like the communal touch, so many different genres,

4:54 Speaker 3: different generations of musicians, and I feel like I'm more

4:59 Speaker 3: walking with them then, you know. It's like to have

5:02 Speaker 3: them on my shoulders weighing anything down. And I'm lucky

5:05 Speaker 3: in one way too that the legacy I get to

5:08 Speaker 3: keep alive is pretty dang fun. You know, my dad's

5:10 Speaker 3: biggest song was Joy to the World, and that was

5:12 Speaker 3: really his mantra around life is the joy of art

5:15 Speaker 3: and community that you can create through that. So, you know,

5:20 Speaker 3: every once in a while we'll do a white dedicated show.

5:22 Speaker 3: You know, I'll get grab his band and we'll do

5:25 Speaker 3: some some very very history leaden stuff. But for me,

5:29 Speaker 3: like I mentioned earlier, my dad was so eclectic. I

5:31 Speaker 3: can really mix in his songs in any way that

5:34 Speaker 3: we can, and that's a real challenge and a fun

5:38 Speaker 3: thing for me is to sort of like sort of

5:40 Speaker 3: weave in all the legacy stuff into our original songs

5:44 Speaker 3: as well. And then I have the accent curse of

5:46 Speaker 3: just way, way too many songs, hundreds of them. They

5:49 Speaker 3: keep pouring out of my brain all the time. It's

5:51 Speaker 3: a curse, like I said, but it's also a really

5:53 Speaker 3: fun adventure every time. And one other thing that's different

5:58 Speaker 3: with my legacy too is a lot of legacy kids

6:00 Speaker 3: have one parent who's the creative and then one parent

6:03 Speaker 3: who sort of stays home and keeps everything balanced. And

6:07 Speaker 3: sure I did not have that aspect. My mom was

6:09 Speaker 3: my dad's piano player and band manager and tour manager.

6:14 Speaker 3: So when it was time to go on the road,

6:15 Speaker 3: it was a musical. You know, we all went, the

6:17 Speaker 3: whole family. So I was just always sort of, you know,

6:20 Speaker 3: in wrapped in this this lifestyle growing up in.

6:22 Speaker 2: A family like that.

6:24 Speaker 1: Was it just kind of a foregone conclusion that this

6:26 Speaker 1: is what you were going to be doing? I mean,

6:28 Speaker 1: was there any was there or a moment growing up

6:30 Speaker 1: where you thought, you know, I might I might do

6:32 Speaker 1: this for a career, I might do that, I might

6:34 Speaker 1: do something else, or was it just always was this

6:36 Speaker 1: always the obvious path for you?

6:39 Speaker 3: I mean, truthfully, no, no it wasn't. I mean music

6:42 Speaker 3: was always around. Like people ask like, oh, you know,

6:44 Speaker 3: did you did you like it? Were you going to

6:46 Speaker 3: do it? And I'm like, well, it just was always there.

6:47 Speaker 3: It was just a thing that was constantly happening. But

6:50 Speaker 3: I know I was I was supposed to go. I

6:53 Speaker 3: got a scholarship to go play football at University of

6:55 Speaker 3: Oklahoma oh High school, and that was that was sort

6:58 Speaker 3: of my you know, my main direction. I was going

7:01 Speaker 3: to go do sports. And then I ended up hurting

7:03 Speaker 3: my knee really bad and had to get surgery, and

7:06 Speaker 3: as I was laid up for a few months, playing

7:08 Speaker 3: on the couch. I grabbed the guitar and I'll started

7:10 Speaker 3: drum and I was like, wow, this is sort of easy.

7:11 Speaker 3: Let me see if I can write a tune. Okay,

7:13 Speaker 3: that was fun, Let's keep going. And what the rest

7:15 Speaker 3: of history haven't put it down since you know, I'll

7:17 Speaker 3: be damned.

7:18 Speaker 2: That's wild.

7:18 Speaker 1: So if you hadn't gotten hurt, you know, you you

7:21 Speaker 1: you might have gone on to the NFL. Who knows, right,

7:23 Speaker 1: But but it's interesting, so and so obviously getting injured

7:26 Speaker 1: that's a terrible thing, but you know you took it,

7:30 Speaker 1: and you you did something positive with it, using that

7:33 Speaker 1: time to really, uh, to effectively start your music career

7:37 Speaker 1: right at that moment, you know, as your own, as

7:40 Speaker 1: your own entity, on your own path.

7:41 Speaker 2: That's that's fantastic, and uh, that's wild.

7:44 Speaker 1: Do you ever look back and think, I mean, do

7:46 Speaker 1: you still have thoughts about what would have happened if

7:50 Speaker 1: you had if you had been able to just continue

7:52 Speaker 1: to play football without the interruption of that injury? Do

7:55 Speaker 1: you ever do you ever have fantasies about playing in

7:56 Speaker 1: the NFL or anything like that?

7:58 Speaker 3: Or oh absolutely, especially when I go look at my

8:01 Speaker 3: bank statements and my guess, you know, like, what's wrong

8:05 Speaker 3: with me? No, But but you know, it's one of

8:08 Speaker 3: those things. Everybody has those moments in our life right

8:10 Speaker 3: where it's the fork in the road and you're like, hey,

8:12 Speaker 3: if I would have chose this, what would have happened?

8:15 Speaker 3: What would my life be like? And then that and

8:17 Speaker 3: the reality is, you know, as much fun as it

8:20 Speaker 3: would have been to do that and live that lifestyle,

8:22 Speaker 3: I love that. I actually coached high school basketball for

8:24 Speaker 3: ten years after that when I was still you know,

8:27 Speaker 3: I was still an active musician up in northern California

8:29 Speaker 3: where I'm from and was able to coach in sort

8:32 Speaker 3: of the slow seasons, and so I've always been able

8:34 Speaker 3: to stay active in sports that way. Yeah. But I think,

8:39 Speaker 3: you know, music is, like you mentioned, it's such a connector.

8:43 Speaker 3: It's an amazing thing. You know, It's the only the

8:46 Speaker 3: closest thing to magic I think we have in the world,

8:49 Speaker 3: like art and music in particular, and cross languages and

8:52 Speaker 3: oceans and generations, and the night people has done well

8:56 Speaker 3: and really inspire people if it's it's needed. I just think,

9:00 Speaker 3: you know, there's nothing more powerful than a really good

9:03 Speaker 3: good song sometimes, So that's that's an honor. And the

9:07 Speaker 3: up boy every shows that my soul is very full.

9:09 Speaker 3: It's just my wallet and gas tank empty.

9:13 Speaker 1: Understandable, Matt. I don't I don't know if something shifted

9:16 Speaker 1: on your end all of a sudden. The phone line

9:18 Speaker 1: is a little bit choppy. I don't know if you

9:19 Speaker 1: if you went to a different room or something.

9:24 Speaker 2: Something.

9:25 Speaker 3: I'm still here. I have not moved in the corner

9:27 Speaker 3: of this little room here.

9:28 Speaker 2: Okay.

9:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, it just sounds like that's okay, we'll we'll, we'll

9:32 Speaker 1: work with it though. And then so, uh, when you

9:37 Speaker 1: you said this, this is the longest store that you've

9:39 Speaker 1: been on so far, coming out, coming all the way

9:41 Speaker 1: out to the east coast.

9:43 Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely. So we usually go out to Nashville about

9:47 Speaker 3: every six months and sort of zig zag back to

9:50 Speaker 3: California and add some markets, and this is the first

9:54 Speaker 3: time we have decided to go east out of Nashville.

9:56 Speaker 3: We were there for Americana Fessor for about a week

9:58 Speaker 3: and we got this gig up here in Great Barrington

10:01 Speaker 3: at the gut three Center, and we wanted to build

10:03 Speaker 3: a tour around it. So my mom is actually from

10:06 Speaker 3: upstate New York. So I've spent a little time going,

10:08 Speaker 3: you know, as a kid coming out here, but we

10:10 Speaker 3: wanted to go full force and bring our music to

10:14 Speaker 3: new ears and hopefully make a bunch of new friends.

10:16 Speaker 2: Oh outstanding.

10:17 Speaker 1: By the way, whatever was wrong with the phone cleared up,

10:19 Speaker 1: so it's just probably something some kind of external issue.

10:22 Speaker 2: I can hear you great now.

10:23 Speaker 1: So, which is good because I'm I'm enjoying talking with you.

10:27 Speaker 1: You mentioned too, you've got a lot of songs. Did

10:30 Speaker 1: I read this correctly? You've have you recorded over three

10:33 Speaker 1: hundred songs already? Is that number correct?

10:36 Speaker 3: I've written over three hundred songs. I'm all recorded about

10:40 Speaker 3: thirty or forty. But like I said, it's a continual process,

10:42 Speaker 3: I think for the rest of my existence.

10:46 Speaker 1: So when you go to record an album or you're

10:49 Speaker 1: gonna be going into the studio, is it hard to pick?

10:51 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a good problem to have, I guess, right,

10:53 Speaker 1: to have so much material, But is it hard to

10:56 Speaker 1: make those decisions about what you're gonna record and what

10:59 Speaker 1: you're gonna maybe put on the back burner knowing that

11:02 Speaker 1: you some songs you might never get a chance to record,

11:04 Speaker 1: right because you've written so many. I mean, is that

11:06 Speaker 1: is that difficult to narrow that down?

11:10 Speaker 3: I mean a little bit. And like I said, it's

11:11 Speaker 3: a good problem to have a problem on the left. Yeah,

11:14 Speaker 3: And what I try to do, I always try to

11:16 Speaker 3: do one one Hoight cover song every album, you know,

11:19 Speaker 3: always pay homage to one of his tunes. Yeah, and

11:24 Speaker 3: so so that's going to add in, you know, a

11:26 Speaker 3: little bit more time to that process. But you know,

11:29 Speaker 3: right now, the group I'm bringing on tour, my main group,

11:32 Speaker 3: it's called you know, Mad Accident and Bad Moon, is

11:34 Speaker 3: sort of a more country leaning Americana outfit. Yeah, and

11:39 Speaker 3: we do a lot of we lean I tell for

11:43 Speaker 3: fans of Hoite. Accident and the Almond Brothers is basically

11:46 Speaker 3: what we meet. So there's a lot of what we

11:47 Speaker 3: call guitar mini's. There's two guitars sort of you know,

11:50 Speaker 3: singing together a lot, which brings you know, that that

11:54 Speaker 3: element of Almend Brothers, Grateful Dead, you know, the southern

11:57 Speaker 3: rock element to it with So when we started playing

12:01 Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, naturally my songwriting style will

12:04 Speaker 3: start adjusting to that. I'll go dig into the vault

12:07 Speaker 3: and I'm like, oh, I wrote this song a long

12:08 Speaker 3: time ago that would fit really well. So it's constantly

12:11 Speaker 3: sort of you know, unearthing stuff and then adding new

12:14 Speaker 3: things and adjusting. So it's like I said, it's a

12:17 Speaker 3: it's a challenge, but it's something that you know, I

12:20 Speaker 3: will run at full force.

12:22 Speaker 1: Have you always played with a full band or did

12:24 Speaker 1: you ever do solo shows just you on a guitar

12:26 Speaker 1: on a stool or anything like that, or is it

12:28 Speaker 1: always a full band?

12:30 Speaker 3: No? Absolutely, We sort of mix it up all the time.

12:33 Speaker 1: I do.

12:34 Speaker 3: I do a lot of solo you know, folks singer

12:36 Speaker 3: songwriter stuff. That's how my dad, you know, cut his teeth.

12:39 Speaker 3: He just grabbed a guitar and jumped in the car

12:41 Speaker 3: and travel over the country in the early sixties and

12:44 Speaker 3: went to every music mecca he could find and just

12:47 Speaker 3: absorbed as much as he could, you know, went up

12:49 Speaker 3: to New York, went to Chicago, went down south to

12:51 Speaker 3: the blues mecchas, and that really, you know, set them

12:55 Speaker 3: up on the path. Like I said, of me, hyper

12:57 Speaker 3: eclectic and just really wanting to write a good song.

13:00 Speaker 3: I couldn't help, but you know, sort of follow that

13:02 Speaker 3: path and there's something, you know, it's a different connection

13:06 Speaker 3: with just you and a guitar on the stage. There's

13:08 Speaker 3: nowhere to hide. With the band you can have, you know,

13:10 Speaker 3: there's much higher hives. You know, you can just get

13:13 Speaker 3: so much more sound. But I enjoy both the truthfully.

13:16 Speaker 3: You know, when I grew when I was born, my

13:18 Speaker 3: dad was I'm my dad's youngest kid, so he was

13:21 Speaker 3: a lot more settled and had a very consistent band

13:24 Speaker 3: by the time I came around. But what he would

13:26 Speaker 3: do every show, if he would start it with the

13:28 Speaker 3: full band and they'd send him off in the middle

13:30 Speaker 3: and he'd just come out with the guitar and do

13:32 Speaker 3: a lot of his early folk stuff. And that was

13:34 Speaker 3: always the moment that people sort of resonated with the

13:38 Speaker 3: most sort that resonated with them. And you know, so

13:41 Speaker 3: there's there's there's just something raw and really intimate about

13:44 Speaker 3: doing that, and I love it. I mean I write

13:46 Speaker 3: all my songs that way. Yeah, you know, just me

13:48 Speaker 3: and a guitar sort of. I was born and raised

13:50 Speaker 3: up in Lake Tahoe, California, up in the heis here

13:52 Speaker 3: in Nevada Mountains, and you know, I just go sit

13:55 Speaker 3: out there on the porch and stare out into the

13:57 Speaker 3: into nature and try and get inspired whenever I can.

13:59 Speaker 3: And now I live in Los Angeles and now I

14:01 Speaker 3: stare at traffic and get inspired.

14:03 Speaker 2: It's a lot of fun, a lot of traffic there,

14:05 Speaker 2: that's for sure. So you mentioned it.

14:08 Speaker 1: So you're the youngest, you said, you're the youngest child.

14:11 Speaker 2: Of your dad. Yeah, yeah, did your siblings.

14:14 Speaker 1: I don't know how many siblings you have, but have

14:17 Speaker 1: any of them also taken this path or just you

14:20 Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, your dad's legacy, following that

14:23 Speaker 1: is and becoming a musician and doing all that that

14:26 Speaker 1: you're doing.

14:26 Speaker 2: Are you the only one or.

14:29 Speaker 3: I'm the only one left doing it as a full

14:31 Speaker 3: time thing. All my siblings tried in some sort of form.

14:34 Speaker 3: My sister April tried to do She went more of

14:37 Speaker 3: the acting side of things. My oldest brother Mark went

14:40 Speaker 3: to the production side. He was the smart one, oh

14:42 Speaker 3: and stuff behind the scenes.

14:43 Speaker 2: Yeah.

14:44 Speaker 3: And then my middle brother Michael was tried to do

14:47 Speaker 3: the sort of the traveling troubadour thing. So they all

14:49 Speaker 3: they all gave it a good shot and all talented

14:52 Speaker 3: in their own right. But now it's you know, it's

14:55 Speaker 3: fallen on me. Like I said, I have They had

14:57 Speaker 3: a different mother. My mom is the one who sort

15:00 Speaker 3: of like sort of balanced everything out. I tell people, Oh,

15:03 Speaker 3: my mom is a classical piano master, like you know, maestro. Yeah,

15:07 Speaker 3: and my dad is a country bumpkin. So I land

15:09 Speaker 3: somewhere right in the.

15:09 Speaker 2: Middle of it too, I try so.

15:12 Speaker 1: Now, I'm not sure. You know, you mentioned you're the youngest.

15:15 Speaker 1: I'm not sure when exactly your dad passed away. But

15:17 Speaker 1: did he ever get to see you on a stage

15:21 Speaker 1: plane or I'm not sure the timeline.

15:24 Speaker 3: No, yeah, so he passed away actually in nineteen ninety nine.

15:27 Speaker 3: Oh that millennium. Wow, you know when I was sixteen

15:30 Speaker 3: years old when he did. So, you know, we we

15:32 Speaker 3: we connected enough to have some good moments. But no,

15:36 Speaker 3: that was he passed before I was ever ever able

15:39 Speaker 3: to find my own voice. Really okay, but what he

15:42 Speaker 3: would do, you know when we were on tour, he'd

15:44 Speaker 3: bring the kids up. Every show, he picked songs to

15:46 Speaker 3: bring the kids up. We always do joy the world

15:48 Speaker 3: as a big family group at the end. So well,

15:51 Speaker 3: I got to be on stage with him and share

15:53 Speaker 3: some musical moments, but never got to show him, you know,

15:57 Speaker 3: show him my own.

15:59 Speaker 1: Voice, like I said, Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Though that

16:00 Speaker 1: you got to be on stage with them, that's uh.

16:02 Speaker 1: And to do that, that's that's great. And and what

16:05 Speaker 1: about your mother is she Is she still with.

16:08 Speaker 2: Us or.

16:09 Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely? She actually came out for the show last night.

16:13 Speaker 3: On very special occasions they get to bring her out

16:15 Speaker 3: and she still plays in the band. And she's absolutely

16:18 Speaker 3: the highlight of the best person on the stage every time.

16:21 Speaker 3: And when I go back up to Lake Tahoe, I

16:25 Speaker 3: run a couple music festivals and nonprofit music, you know,

16:30 Speaker 3: music nonprofits up in my hometown, and she sort of

16:33 Speaker 3: leads that and we jump in, she jumps in the band,

16:36 Speaker 3: and I get to jump in her band all the time.

16:37 Speaker 3: So that part's still magical, keeping played alive with people.

16:41 Speaker 1: Oh, in his band, that's that's fantastic. That must be

16:45 Speaker 1: so much fun. That is so cool that you get

16:47 Speaker 1: to do that. And I'm sure she's very very proud

16:50 Speaker 1: of you. And that's that's great. That's that's awesome.

16:54 Speaker 3: And and you know, and she's really good too. That's

16:56 Speaker 3: the fun part. It's not just being like, oh, here's

16:57 Speaker 3: my mom. It's always do something amazing and she does it.

17:01 Speaker 2: Oh, that's outstanding.

17:03 Speaker 1: Oh, by the way, so the tour. So I was

17:04 Speaker 1: reading the tour is called Beast Goes East. Now, obviously

17:07 Speaker 1: the East I get because you're living on the West

17:11 Speaker 1: coast and we're on the East coast.

17:12 Speaker 2: But why beast Well, so one of the.

17:18 Speaker 3: People cannot tell from us talking about football and all

17:22 Speaker 3: that kind of good stuff. I'm a larger human being, okay.

17:26 Speaker 3: And one of our mascots, you'd say, is that people

17:30 Speaker 3: call me the last California and Grizzly. So there's a

17:33 Speaker 3: lot of bear influences and a lot of our artwork

17:36 Speaker 3: and all that kind of stuff. So it's more, you know,

17:38 Speaker 3: the beastly Bear is finally treading East type thing, and

17:42 Speaker 3: just rhymes, you know, as musicians like rhymes.

17:44 Speaker 2: Right right, that's true. Yeah.

17:46 Speaker 1: I'm looking at a picture on your website of you

17:50 Speaker 1: and three other guys who I assume are in your band,

17:52 Speaker 1: and you are kind of how tall are you because

17:55 Speaker 1: in this picture?

17:55 Speaker 2: But you can't tell from a picture.

17:57 Speaker 1: I mean, you could be standing on something I don't know,

17:58 Speaker 1: but it looks like you're towering over everybody else.

18:02 Speaker 3: Well, I make them do that, that's the ego thing. No,

18:09 Speaker 3: But so I'm about six four, Oh, you're a good day.

18:12 Speaker 2: Okay, you're a big guy.

18:13 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, and you know, two hundred and sixty pounds,

18:18 Speaker 3: but getting a little bigger every day on tour. I'll

18:20 Speaker 3: tell you what. But it's you know, Also, it's funny

18:24 Speaker 3: because I have a pretty tall band too, just to

18:27 Speaker 3: happen that way, and so most people don't notice until

18:30 Speaker 3: I get off stage, you know, then I start talking

18:32 Speaker 3: to like, oh my god, They're like, what happens, pecially

18:34 Speaker 3: with the cowboy boots on? Bang near eight feet tall?

18:37 Speaker 2: Right, you know?

18:37 Speaker 3: So, but yeah, that's the best the beef sleep part.

18:41 Speaker 1: Like I said, where does your height come from? Was

18:43 Speaker 1: your father tall?

18:45 Speaker 3: You know, he was about six feet tall, but he

18:48 Speaker 3: was he was as wide as the Mississippi type of thing,

18:51 Speaker 3: and he always wore cowboy boots and a big cowboy hat.

18:54 Speaker 3: So he just had one of those larger than life

18:56 Speaker 3: sort of personalities and statues. My mom's tall. My mom's

18:59 Speaker 3: six ft one. So oh, I think six one pus

19:01 Speaker 3: six feet equals six to four. That's just math.

19:03 Speaker 1: I think, Well, that's definitely yeah, there's definitely something genetic

19:06 Speaker 1: on your mom's side, because six to one that's very

19:08 Speaker 1: tall for a woman.

19:09 Speaker 2: That's very tall. Yeah right, oh yeah, that would that

19:12 Speaker 2: would that would definitely explain it.

19:13 Speaker 1: Whow So you're gonna be So what's your for our

19:16 Speaker 1: listeners who are in the area. Of course, you know

19:19 Speaker 1: online we have listeners all over, but for our local

19:21 Speaker 1: listeners who listen on FM here in Manchester, what what

19:24 Speaker 1: should they? What should they expect? Again, you're going to

19:26 Speaker 1: be at the Rex Theater on September twenty fourth. Looks

19:29 Speaker 1: like a shows at seven point thirty. Do you have

19:32 Speaker 1: a do you have an opener with you? Or or

19:34 Speaker 1: is it? Is it just you and your band or

19:36 Speaker 1: how does that? How does that work?

19:39 Speaker 3: No, this one is just us in our band. You know,

19:41 Speaker 3: when we were reaching out trying to figure out how

19:43 Speaker 3: to set this tour up, you know, the Palace Theater

19:45 Speaker 3: and the Rex Theater are like, hey, let's just give

19:47 Speaker 3: it a shot. Just come out here and see if

19:49 Speaker 3: we can, you know, give you a good a good

19:52 Speaker 3: spotlight to bring your music. And yeah, very grateful for that.

19:55 Speaker 3: Like I said, it's our first time in all these

19:56 Speaker 3: markets and we would love to sort of make this

19:59 Speaker 3: a routine. We've had a great tour so far, just

20:02 Speaker 3: like I said, meeting good people and telling good stories,

20:05 Speaker 3: and we sort of adjust the show to every different venue.

20:08 Speaker 3: You know, on this tour, we've done a couple of festivals.

20:11 Speaker 3: We do some late night hockey talks, some fun little

20:13 Speaker 3: divy bars, and we really changed the show to every place.

20:16 Speaker 3: And I know, like last night at the gut Wee Center,

20:19 Speaker 3: we did a little more intimate, a little a lot

20:22 Speaker 3: more history and storytelling and explaining the ins and outs

20:25 Speaker 3: and the whys of the artistic lifestyle and all that

20:28 Speaker 3: fun stuff. So the RECs will be similar to that.

20:31 Speaker 3: But at the same time, we like to we like

20:33 Speaker 3: to rock out and groove out and get people to

20:36 Speaker 3: sort of tap their feet and have a good time.

20:37 Speaker 3: So it's going to be a good mix of those.

20:39 Speaker 3: And that's my job is to figure out exactly how

20:43 Speaker 3: to give you guys the best experience for the people

20:45 Speaker 3: in the room.

20:46 Speaker 1: I'm curious, Sue, do you know do you know ahead

20:49 Speaker 1: of time before you arrive at the venue, do you

20:52 Speaker 1: know enough about that particular venue where you've already planned

20:55 Speaker 1: out what the show is or or are you going

20:58 Speaker 1: into that are you kind of reading the room? Like

21:00 Speaker 1: do you arrive at the venue and you kind of

21:02 Speaker 1: check the place out? And you think, Okay, now that

21:04 Speaker 1: I'm here, now that I'm physically here, and I can

21:06 Speaker 1: take this all in. Uh now I kind of know

21:10 Speaker 1: what the show is going to be tonight. I mean,

21:11 Speaker 1: is it Is it that spontaneous or do you already

21:13 Speaker 1: know before you arrive at the venue.

21:16 Speaker 3: No, it's a good mix, you know, especially for for

21:18 Speaker 3: new markets and new venues, right you sort of you know,

21:20 Speaker 3: we know this is more of a seated theater, so

21:22 Speaker 3: we'll treat that a little differently than we will, like

21:25 Speaker 3: a couple of days ago, we played at this you know,

21:27 Speaker 3: rockous honky Tonk in New York City, so we're gonna

21:29 Speaker 3: we know, we're going to treat those a little differently

21:32 Speaker 3: in general, right, but you know, we also adjust when

21:37 Speaker 3: we get in there. We want to fill the I

21:38 Speaker 3: mean this sounds so hippie dippy artists, but we're gonna

21:40 Speaker 3: like sort of fill the energy and yep and talk

21:42 Speaker 3: to the staff and talk to you know, see who's

21:44 Speaker 3: coming and showing up and sort of working around that.

21:47 Speaker 3: And it's really the challenge, but it's a really fun

21:49 Speaker 3: one and something that we're working really hard on and

21:52 Speaker 3: very proud of the ability to do that.

21:55 Speaker 2: And as I said, you play the style that you play.

21:59 Speaker 1: And the configuration of your band and everything that gives

22:01 Speaker 1: you some flexibility to kind of change that on the

22:03 Speaker 1: fly if you need to, which is which I'm sure

22:06 Speaker 1: is very nice.

22:06 Speaker 2: I'm always kind of jealous of that.

22:08 Speaker 1: I'm a musician and I've played in some bands, but

22:10 Speaker 1: none of the bands that I ever played in were

22:12 Speaker 1: the kind of band where we could show up at

22:13 Speaker 1: a venue and say, oh.

22:15 Speaker 2: Let's change the vibe a little bit, you know what

22:17 Speaker 2: I mean.

22:18 Speaker 1: It's like if you're playing in a you know, a

22:20 Speaker 1: hardcore metal band or something. It's, you know what, you're

22:24 Speaker 1: doing the same thing no matter where you're playing. But

22:27 Speaker 1: I've always been kind of envious of musicians who have

22:30 Speaker 1: that a scenario where they can kind of switch it

22:33 Speaker 1: up if they need to. But no, that's really cool.

22:35 Speaker 1: So that's gonna be uh yeah, September twenty fourth at

22:37 Speaker 1: the Seventh at seven thirty pm at the at the

22:41 Speaker 1: Rex Theater right in downtown Manchester and by the way

22:45 Speaker 1: too for our local listeners. If you've never been to

22:46 Speaker 1: the Rex, it's really beautiful, so you should definitely check

22:49 Speaker 1: it out. And this sounds like it's going to be

22:51 Speaker 1: a great show. So Matt, before we let you go,

22:55 Speaker 1: and we are going to play another track at the

22:57 Speaker 1: end of our conversation. I think I'm gonna play same

22:59 Speaker 1: Old Story because that's another one that I really like

23:01 Speaker 1: a lot. I think that's really cool. But anything else too.

23:04 Speaker 1: We should know about how people should find you online.

23:07 Speaker 1: Where's the best place to go to follow everything that

23:09 Speaker 1: you're doing. I know you've got a You've got a

23:10 Speaker 1: huge social media following, which is fantastic and such an

23:14 Speaker 1: important part too of you know, the times that we

23:17 Speaker 1: live in. Having that social media following, that's something your

23:20 Speaker 1: dad never had to worry about, certainly, but in twenty

23:22 Speaker 1: twenty five got to you gotta work with social media.

23:25 Speaker 1: But where's the best place for people to go online

23:27 Speaker 1: to follow everything that you're doing?

23:31 Speaker 3: Yes, or main site and a number one I cannot

23:33 Speaker 3: agree more. Like we just live in a digital social

23:37 Speaker 3: world now, and so that's what it's all about, right,

23:39 Speaker 3: I Mean, the power is in the independent artist's hands,

23:42 Speaker 3: and I'm fiercely, proudly independent when it comes to that stuff.

23:45 Speaker 3: So every every clap and every click really matters a

23:48 Speaker 3: lot to people in our in our realm yep. But

23:52 Speaker 3: so Mattaccident dot com is the main site, very simple,

23:55 Speaker 3: and then Matt acts and music on all the social

23:57 Speaker 3: media platforms on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all those things.

24:01 Speaker 3: And you know, it's something that social media is amazing

24:04 Speaker 3: because you can really connect with people that you wouldn't

24:07 Speaker 3: really have got any chance to in the past. It

24:09 Speaker 3: can be daunting and crazy at times, but in the end,

24:12 Speaker 3: it's that's what it's about with connecting with people. So

24:14 Speaker 3: please come say hi on any sort of way. Obviously

24:18 Speaker 3: in person is the best, so they can I can

24:20 Speaker 3: bilk you for all your all your bitcoins or whatever

24:24 Speaker 3: you know. But in the end, I said, it's just

24:27 Speaker 3: about connecting with people and spreading a little bit of joy.

24:29 Speaker 2: That's our job absolutely.

24:31 Speaker 1: And before before we let you go, and we're gonna

24:34 Speaker 1: play this track, same old story. Anything we should know

24:36 Speaker 1: about this song. I really like this song a lot too,

24:38 Speaker 1: Anything we should know about it?

24:41 Speaker 3: Yeah, So this is one I was talking about earlier

24:44 Speaker 3: where I've had it for quite a while. And when

24:46 Speaker 3: I got this band together, I've had my right hand

24:49 Speaker 3: man guitar player Taylor Kropp Slash Almond Brothers proteget sort

24:53 Speaker 3: of playing with him for about three years, two and

24:56 Speaker 3: a half years. He's the main other player in the band.

25:00 Speaker 3: Once he joined the band, I was like, Oh, I'm

25:02 Speaker 3: gonna go dig into my archives and pull this song on.

25:04 Speaker 3: It's become sort of a staple. It's the last single

25:06 Speaker 3: we just released. It's the one we're turning around right now.

25:09 Speaker 3: Very proud, very proud of it. And it's just a

25:12 Speaker 3: good old fashioned like sort of outlaw country vibe, but

25:15 Speaker 3: with the you know, the the the story of some

25:19 Speaker 3: common things, you know, some some some money, some heartbreak,

25:23 Speaker 3: some life experiences that we all sort of connect with

25:25 Speaker 3: at the end with a little uplift at the end,

25:28 Speaker 3: saying hey man, we can all, we can all figure

25:30 Speaker 3: this out. It's just the same old story. Let's go.

25:32 Speaker 2: Yeah.

25:32 Speaker 1: I love it, absolutely love it, very good. So we're

25:35 Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna end with that. So we'll let you

25:37 Speaker 1: go so we can hit that track. But Matt Axson,

25:39 Speaker 1: thank you so much. Have a great show, have a

25:41 Speaker 1: We'll have a great Where are you playing tonight, by

25:42 Speaker 1: the way.

25:45 Speaker 3: We're playing out in New Jersey somewhere. Oh, I don't

25:48 Speaker 3: even know where I what day.

25:49 Speaker 1: Is somewhere on these cost people can go to the

25:52 Speaker 1: website to find it. But so I have a great

25:54 Speaker 1: show tonight in New Jersey and and of course, uh

25:58 Speaker 1: sounds like the tour is going well. So we wish

25:59 Speaker 1: you could continued success with that and look forward to

26:02 Speaker 1: having you in Manchester on September twenty fourth. And thank

26:05 Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today. I really enjoyed

26:06 Speaker 1: the conversation. You've been generous with your time. It's great

26:09 Speaker 1: to speak with you and be safe on the road.

26:14 Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much for letting me talk. And

26:18 Speaker 3: you know a great name, by the way, mattsw Nite.

26:22 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, absolutely, Matt's to night. I like it.

26:27 Speaker 3: All right, thank you again, and yeah, thanks for playing

26:29 Speaker 3: our music out there.

26:30 Speaker 2: You got it, you got it, all right, Matt, Thank you,

26:31 Speaker 2: take care all right?

26:33 Speaker 3: Bye?

26:34 Speaker 2: All right. That was the great Matt Axton.

26:36 Speaker 1: And again he will be in Manchester at the Rex

26:39 Speaker 1: Theater on September twenty fourth, seven thirty pm. But let's

26:42 Speaker 1: play this again. I really really like this song a lot.

26:44 Speaker 1: This is called Same Old Story, and this is Matt

26:46 Speaker 1: Axton