Spring/Summer 2012 Part 2

Have you ever been in the middle of telling someone a story when you suddenly got distracted by something shiny?  I mean like completely lost your train of thought, started telling different stories about things that don’t even matter kind of distracted?  Then after an extended off topic session you return to your original conversation, trying to pick up exactly where you left off?  Come on, I can’t be the only one right?  Well consider this blog my return to the conversation we started several weeks ago.

So last we left off I was telling you all about my new album.  How we released it in July, and how it’s available all over the place and how you should all go out and buy it right now.  And I’m sure you all did go buy it online, which is mighty awesome of you.  Now I’ll just sit back and wait for that check from iTunes to come rolling in so I can put milk in my kids cereal (using your kids to guilt people into supporting you is a great example of both parenting and marketing, or as I like to call it parketing!).  So let’s quickly knock out a few of the other things that happened this summer so we can get to all the cool things going on right now!

After releasing “Give It All Away” (which did I mention is available now on iTunes, Google Play, etc…?) we pretty much hit the road for a month!  Our tour started in Michigan at the first annual Rock The Island Festival in Saginaw, MI.  We got to share the stage with some amazing artists including Scarlet White, Grits, Press Play and the incredible Thousand Foot Krutch!  After the show we packed up the van and headed west.  Our tour would take us through Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Iowa and back to the fabulous Mitten State known as Michigan.  We got to play at some awesome churches, festivals, youth events, and one of our very favorite summer camps nestled in the foothills of Rapid City, SD.  The tour went really well, we made a lot of new friends, got to see some new places and learned a lot of new things!  Important things like driving through the Rocky Mountain National Park is really hard on your fully loaded with equipment little minivan!!  We made it home safe and sound, and even took a nice little vacation with our families to reconnect.

Over the course of the summer we had a couple of changes with our live band members.  Our longtime drummer and close friend Josh Minor got accepted to Bible College in Redding, CA.  Even though we are all bummed to see Josh go and miss him like crazy, it is very obvious to all of us that God is doing some seriously cool things in his life and really opened the doors for him and his wife to move across the country.  But I can promise you this isn’t the last you will be seeing or hearing from Josh as the drummer of this band though, as we intend to keep him involved as much as possible.  We have been very blessed to have some new folks come in and jam with us recently, and we are very excited to be taking some fresh new faces on the road with us this fall.  Among these new rockers are Mr. Don Zuker on lead guitar, and the fabulous Brian Histed (drummer for A King At Heart).  You may even see our good buddy Evan Profant playing drums on some upcoming dates.  Some of the names might be different, but these guys are amazing musicians and we are stoked to have them on board!

So what’s on the horizon here at Matt Moore Industries you might ask.  Lots of stuff!!  Here is a list of just a few of the things you can expect this fall/winter.

* Lots of new tour dates!
* A new radio single
* An official music video or two
* A new cover song series on YouTube
* Lots of new contests, merchandise, and other goodies
* A new remix project featuring a number of Christian rappers/DJs/and other artists
* And of course plenty of shenanigans along the way!

So that’s a bit of what’s going on here.  Thank you all so much for your love and support.  I know I don’t tell you all enough how much I really appreciate you guys.  Please help spread the word and we hope to see you all at a gig real soon!  God bless.

Spring/Summer 2012 Part 1

There is no denying it, I am an old man.  “But Matt…” you might interject, “How can that be?  You look so youthful and hunky!”  That’s very nice of you to say, but the truth is I’m getting older, and there seems to be nothing I can do about it.  I have apparently reached the age where I can hurt myself simply by sleeping wrong.  I have reached the age where youthful phrases like “YOLO” spin me into a fit of disdain for popular culture.  I have reached the age where I enjoy eating dinner around 4:30PM, and I find comfort in a nice cup of Ensure while watching Murder She Wrote.  Ok, so that last one isn’t true, but I have reached the age where not even a paragraph into this blog I have already been interrupted twice by my children coming down from their bedrooms and asking for a drink of water.  It’s tough getting old!  I find myself making old man noises when I sit down in a chair, and even more terrible noises when I try to get up.  I’m noticing aches and pains from old injuries, and more cracking and popping sensations when I walk around in the morning.  I’ll give you a perfect example of what I’m talking about.

Last weekend I was playing out in the backyard with my three children.  We were wrestling around in the grass, chasing after one another and playing tackle football (I guess they were inspired by the Lions last second victory or something).  Now my children are seven, five and three years old respectively, and they never seem to run out of energy.  Even when their elderly father is about to die from being run all over the place they just keep on coming!  No mercy!!  So after about an hour of nonstop running, jumping, tackling, etc… I decided to gracefully walk away from the game while I was still able to walk.  As I settled onto the couch to rest my weary bones I noticed a tightness starting to develop in my back.  Within about an hour I was barely able to move, lying motionless on the floor with terrible back spasms.  My kids thought this was hilarious, and took turns seeing how far they could jump over me.  Talk about feeling like an old man!!  And the worst thing about it all was that I didn’t do any one thing to hurt myself.  It’s not like I pulled something in my back while throwing a football over a nearby mountain, or possibly slipped a disc in my back while uprooting a mighty oak tree.  Nope, instead it was just another example of old age catching up with me.

Another fine example of old age catching up with me is when I tell pointless stories like the one you just read (or maybe just skimmed over, it’s alright.  I found myself checking out while reading it too).  So let me reclaim my youth one last time and get right to the point.  A lot of stuff has happened since my last blog post…way too much to mention everything in depth.  It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite lines from the movie The Princess Bride.  The swashbuckling Spaniard Ingo Montoya is trying to recap the story for our paralyzed hero Wesley when he says “Lemme splain.  No, there is too much.  Lemme sum up.”  Man I love that movie…wait, that’s yet another old man distraction isn’t it?!?  Sorry, on to the good stuff!!

The last time I blogged it was the middle of winter and we were just heading into the studio to begin work on a new album, so let’s start there.  We wrapped up recording for the new album entitled “Give It All Away” sometime around the middle of March.  Once again I recorded with world class producer Jake Rye (Newsboys/Shine Bright Baby) at the newly revamped Sonus Clarus Studios in Adrian, MI.  This time around I had the opportunity to bring in both Josh THO and Josh Minor from the live band to put their mark on the new songs, as well as some amazing studio musicians (Scott Gentry, Seth Huff, Jeremy Blaska, and Jake Rye).  I’m really excited with the way the new songs turned out, and thrilled to finally have some new music to share with you guys (can you believe it’s been three years since “No Place Left to Hide”?!?).  We released the first single “Fading” to radio in May of 2012 and we have been very blessed by its success so far.  To date the song can be heard on over 140 radio stations around the USA and Canada, as well as numerous online stations on podcasts.  Check out www.MattMooreMusic.com/Radio to see where you can hear the song in your area.  And as of this writing the song is currently #2 on the Christianrock.net charts.  Needless to say it is very exciting and humbling to see your name listed with musical legends such as Project 86, POD, Thousand Foot Krutch, etc… 

After several minor delays we released “Give It All Away” on July 17^th, does everyone have their copy?  I see some hands raised, that’s good.  For those of you who don’t have it yet what are you waiting for?!?  You can find just about anywhere you purchase music.  It is of course available for download on iTunes, Google Play, Rhapsody, Amazon, Spotify, etc…  Or for those of you who prefer the feel of a real CD in your hand you can pick up a copy either at a live show or from our online merch store www.MattMooreMusic.com/Store, where you can also find a whole bunch of spiffy new Matt Moore shirts, guaranteed to make you look absolutely fabulous and help you make new friends (not that you have a hard time making friends or anything, but these rad threads certainly won’t hurt your chances!).  Or you can simply follow me on Twitter @MattMooreMusic to be automatically entered in our weekly “Free Autographed CD” giveaway.  With so many ways to get your hands on the new tunes you really don’t have a good excuse not to own it now do you mister?!?

Well this blog is getting pretty crazy long and we’ve barely scratched the surface.  How about next week we dive into part 2 of our Summer 2012 wrap up?  Crazy stories from the road, new band members and a look at what’s to come…you’re not going to want to miss it!!  Now, it’s time for me to retire to the couch with my cup of Ensure in hand.  Maybe getting old isn’t so bad after all.