00:01 - Aaron (Host)
Matt, welcome back.
00:03 - Matt (Guest)
So good to be here guys.
00:04 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, man, yeah, a little bit different than last time.
00:07 - Mel (Host)
I don't hear anything in my headphones. Yet oh, uh-oh, let's do it. Be careful so you don't.
00:14 - Aaron (Host)
Oh, you got to plug it in.
00:16 - Apple (Host)
Oh, that happens. All right, they're testing. Hello, you hear him now? Nope, not yet.
00:22 - Matt (Guest)
Check, check. Oh, now I hear something, something.
00:24 - Mel (Host)
Are we good? Hello, hello Check check check.
00:28 - Aaron (Host)
Okay, yeah, man.
00:29 - Matt (Guest)
It just went away again. Oh yeah, there it is. It's like moving that around.
00:35 - Apple (Host)
I hear it now.
00:39 - Aaron (Host)
Yep.
00:41 - Apple (Host)
Oop stopped. That did it.
00:43 - Mel (Host)
That's so weird. Yeah, he's going to just plug it in.
00:45 - Apple (Host)
Take out the adapter.
00:47 - Mel (Host)
We don't need this right now. Watch this.
00:55 - Matt (Guest)
This is fancy.
00:56 - Apple (Host)
All right, there we go.
00:58 - Matt (Guest)
Sounds great. That looks like an APC type of unit. Is that what Is it? Is it it's?
01:04 - Aaron (Host)
with APC. Like like with apc like like no, no, no, no it does have some sound effects and stuff on the over on the side there, my favorite is this oh fuck that's my favorite.
01:17 - Apple (Host)
That's me. That's me. We don't know why. I did that in the middle of an interview, but he decided to pull that clip out.
01:22 - Matt (Guest)
I sound like my dad oh, that's good, actually that's really good yeah, that's the best one on there so so anyway, now that we have all that fixed, welcome back matt butler.
01:33 - Apple (Host)
This time we are in the house. Uh, last time we had matt over it was like 2021 yeah, it was deep right.
01:41 - Mel (Host)
yeah, thanks for doing that, matt, that was really awesome.
01:46 - Apple (Host)
We were outside doing social distancing like keeping apart from each other.
01:51 - Matt (Guest)
I don't know, I can't remember. It's all such a blur. Well, you got a lot Just shaking it off, just like it's so good to be here with you guys here inside the house on this beautiful, cold, wet, misty May day. It's so weird, it is so strange.
02:06 - Aaron (Host)
When matt came walking up the driveway just a minute before, apple's like, wow, the rain. It's like a. It's like a. Mister matt comes walking up, he's like, well, it's a really misty day. Yeah, it's. It's so weird living here after living in Vegas, man.
02:24 - Matt (Guest)
Oh, my goodness.
02:25 - Aaron (Host)
Yes.
02:26 - Matt (Guest)
This is dynamic. Eight years.
02:28 - Mel (Host)
Absolutely, that's an excellent word for it.
02:30 - Apple (Host)
And especially having just visited Vegas a couple weeks ago and it's already hot.
02:35 - Mel (Host)
But you want to know what it was. 98 that one day, vegas was really nice.
02:37 - Apple (Host)
It was 98, the one day we were walking on the strip.
02:39 - Aaron (Host)
It was great. Did you happen to see any of the fish?
02:45 - Matt (Guest)
I've watched videos. Yeah, I did not experience it in person.
02:50 - Aaron (Host)
I'm curious, as a musician, what's your take on what you saw?
02:56 - Matt (Guest)
It's a new art form is what it feels like. It's not about the music, it's not about the lights or the graphics, it's about the whole thing. It's not about the music, it's not about the lights or the graphics, it's about the whole thing and this group experience that is really just scratching the surface on the possibilities. You know, kind of scary, to be honest, and exciting.
03:14
You know, it's funny because I've seen the sphere from the outside. I haven't seen it from me, from the inside. And we were we're in Vegas with our family and my son basically said, oh yeah, in vegas with our family. And, um, my son basically said, oh yeah, that's kind of what the sky is going to be soon. You know the major cities, it'll just be all just be a big sky, like everything will just be digital. And he's yeah, he was, he's dark, like kind of mission, but he's not that far off.
03:37 - Apple (Host)
I don't know, dystopian future with with floating advertisements.
03:41 - Matt (Guest)
It's also, like you know, on the flip side, it just feels like feels like it's kind of an inevitable kind of evolution of humankind and human beings and technology kind of merging as one, like the singularity and this is part of our, like you know, the group experience in that kind of like a technologically manipulated artistic expression that is so organic and whole, like you know, the messaging could be really powerful, you know, and I feel like it was really great to see. You know, we've seen like rock stars do it now and Phish kind of did it in a new way. It's like it's just expanding. You know, who knows how the dead and company are going to approach it. It's like it's kind of wild and it's, I mean, I'm sure it's going to be fabulous.
04:29 - Mel (Host)
Matt, everything you said for not being there is right on.
04:33 - Apple (Host)
Are you sure you weren't there? Yeah, man.
04:35 - Mel (Host)
It's a new art form. It felt new. It was a new experience that gave me feelings that I couldn't describe because they weren't familiar to me, right. Of course it was like elation, excitement, all that stuff, but it was beyond that. It was like, like you said, with the group thing yeah, when you have this. Yeah, we talked about this on the show. But when you have all the people near you and that you don't know feeling the same excitement and focus, focus, focus, focus, focus, focus.
05:06
Exactly that's the focus, is undeniable it's like that has a potentiality that has not been, you know, attempted to.
05:09 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, this is a whole different way that that the focus of the meeting or whatever can be brought in a clear I mean clarity and and they can use the scent and stuff they did your memory, I mean, I mean smell is like palo santo triggers like this is like deep fucking psychological, emotional stuff dude you know you're getting endocrines from sex and death and everything throughout those things.
05:31 - Aaron (Host)
You know so it was, it was the.
05:33
I've been to I don't know hundreds a lot of shows a lot of shows after the first night I was like I don't know how to do this, like this thing. I don't know, I'm not sure what this is. And then, by the third night, it's funny what you said about the merging of technology and humanity because, like, as we were falling, we were laying in bed talking about still last night and I was like you know, I feel like what happened was the metaverse, or virtual reality and reality got, like Lego together and was stable and I could stand inside of it and be in VR without any mask or headset or anything.
06:15 - Mel (Host)
Right, it was fucking insane. They didn't even ask us to do anything. Do you know what I mean? Like if Trey would have been like guys like you with with EO if they were. If he would have been like guys like you with EO, if he would have been like hey guys anything, anything like that.
06:30 - Matt (Guest)
And also, what about a pastor or shit like that?
06:34 - Mel (Host)
Oh shit.
06:35 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. It's like the yin and the yang is all there Because it's a powerful tool and experience that can be used in many, many, many different ways and it's kind of overwhelming to think about that joe rogan was talking about doing.
06:49 - Mel (Host)
Um, they were doing a ufc. They're about to do something like that there.
06:52 - Aaron (Host)
So I can't even imagine the hitting and the impact not literally on the body, but like on you that it'll have we were talking yesterday about, like, who we would like to see play there, like apple's, like, oh, I'd love to see radiohead yeah, in, in and rider.
07:10
My nephew was like I'd really like to see tool and I was like you know you're saying that, but you don't know what you're saying. I don't know if I would want to see a band like that in there. Me personally, like, like sure it would be amazing, but I think the potentiality of that thing is scary in the wrong hands With the wrong images.
07:35 - Matt (Guest)
They're like casting stuff.
07:36 - Apple (Host)
This is a bad song.
07:39 - Matt (Guest)
Somebody made a bad decision. Yeah, we're going straight to hell tonight.
07:43 - Mel (Host)
Okay, how would you use it well?
07:46 - Matt (Guest)
I mean the whole idea of a conducted moment in there, because what I'm trying to do when I'm connecting, when I'm conducting the crowd or we're doing getting everybody in on the creation, it's trying to bring that focus to like a really to point yeah, and the dry erase board and the fucking hat and jacket is like my like you know, I'm just trying to wave my flag to try to get as many people there blatant as hell and you know it's like.
08:14
So you know, I immediately just thought, oh, I could really get people to experience things. But it might be too much, because I feel like seeing people's eyes, seeing the audience and them, seeing the musicians, like experience. What the musicians are experiencing is kind of, I think, the hook of it all, yeah, so but again it's like the potentiality is kind of mind boggling and it's, you know, I don't know.
08:41
Yeah, I mean we're all just, it's just the beginning, you know, I mean, you know I don't know. Yeah, I mean, we're all just, it's just the beginning, you know, I mean, you know it's. I love fireside jams, like people just picking around.
08:53 - Mel (Host)
No PA systems.
08:54 - Matt (Guest)
Right, this is like the core of where everything came from, you know.
08:58 - Mel (Host)
Yeah.
08:59 - Matt (Guest)
And that thing is so opposite of that. Yeah, antithesis. So it's a matter of like. I think that as long as there's good balance between all, those things.
09:09 - Mel (Host)
There's room for all kinds of creativity. That's well said.
09:11 - Aaron (Host)
We live in a really it's a great time to be a human being on planet earth like sure there. There's a lot of negativity out there. There's a lot of bullshit going on and it doesn't seem to ever let up. But there's balance and everything, and on the flip side of that, there's some really beautiful things going on in humanity, with us, with technology and us with each other, and so the potential for really beautiful stuff to happen is there too.
09:41
At the same time, and that's makes it exciting to be alive in the 2000 well, we saw that.
09:47 - Mel (Host)
Like I think my favorite part of what happened in that four-day weekend was people can't stop talking about it two, three weeks later. So this is like a really shared core memory for so many of us and it's a like it brings people together.
10:04 - Matt (Guest)
It brought us all together there and that's kind of what it's all about. Yep, so you know, I was just kind of curious. You know, it's like part of my, my favorite parts of the dead. I was more along in the dead time I didn't. I didn't follow fish or see them. I've seen them a lot, but it wasn't something that I was.
10:22 - Mel (Host)
I was always touring during that time, so you had your own stuff going on and the dead was like.
10:26 - Matt (Guest)
When I was seeing the dead, you know it was the time in between the set breaks, it was the the going before the show, after the show, a day, two days before, whatever. There's all these other times when we were building community. You know he's played volleyball on the court, on the floor of Kaiser Auditorium, you know in the set break. You know so fun and interesting. And like I was just wondering, at the Sphere and Vegas specifically, you know, because I think there'll be spheres all over the place, basically I think I think so too Right.
11:01
Is that time still being had or is the community all being connected? Is it all happening? It seemed like it was in a powerful way, because Vegas is kind of uniquely set up to just hospitality the shit out of it.
11:13 - Mel (Host)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was one of the hugest things. I grew up in the hospitality industry. We lived in Vegas. I've always worked in casinos, I always worked in that kind of industry. And when you add you know that technology, psychedelics, and now you've opened all this can of worms and you have these people that are experts at people intoxicated to any degree, that's what you go to Vegas for Everybody's either drunk or high or whatever they're, or just even on their addict side. You know gambling, so they're, they're on a high. And you've got these people that are so perfectly curating your experience that it really um, I think it elevated it.
11:55 - Aaron (Host)
There was all four nights. There was. We were on the floor in ga and there was cocktail waitresses going through the floor during the show and they were like digging the scene that was going on, Like the one cocktail waitress that was like in the part of the floor that we were in all four nights was like this is amazing. You guys are fucking awesome.
12:17 - Matt (Guest)
Like having so much fun.
12:20 - Aaron (Host)
But back to the question about set break, the answer, at least for us, our experience, was absolutely yes, and maybe a little more, actually, because we had all gone through a new experience, and so when the set break came, the level of astonishment was apparent for everybody that was there. And like I don't remember which night it was, but like I just started introducing myself to everybody around me, and by the end of the separate we had this huge circle of people sitting on the floor all playing dreidel together.
12:59 - Mel (Host)
Nice, yeah, it was crazy. Another thing to add to that was like usually when you get like go to fish or dead, you're with your posse. You know you sitting with them here. It was a lottery, you couldn't sit with. You sat with your boyfriend, husband or just one other person, maybe two, so you nobody. Everybody was there with their group, but not together in that, so you formed groups.
13:23 - Apple (Host)
That's interesting, that's a cool variable it was a very cool variable and it didn't really matter either, because you're so engrossed and everything it was going on. It was kind of fun being apart. I only got to make one night, sunday night, but it was fun then afterwards to all come back together and share the experience and just just mind-blowing and it didn't matter that we were scattered all over I I think that even now, afterwards, I think that the ripples of that thing are going to be felt all through the musical community, even, even with.
14:00 - Matt (Guest)
They're being felt right now in lots of ways and financially is one of them.
14:04 - Aaron (Host)
What do you mean by?
14:04 - Matt (Guest)
that Well, I think that a lot of people spent a lot of their budget going to the sphere. I mean seriously that's why these festivals are dying.
14:13 - Mel (Host)
What's going on? Matt, matt great point.
14:16 - Matt (Guest)
This is really connected. I really believe it is. I mean it's like it's. It's I mean experiencing from one perspective for myself. I think there's more offerings than ever before, yes, but I really believe that the time frame of this fear, I mean really it's like the markets of the jam band world and the music industry, like when the dead or fish weren't touring or something other shit was blowing up and it was becoming something different and then when they came back it was like it just kind of changed a little bit. But now, with this fear in it, it's like it's powerful and it's like people are. It's like the people are spending thousands and thousands of dollars, like they do when they go on jam cruise or musical sojourns or, you know, just go to summer camp or all these other festivals. So it's like it's not. I mean, money's not. You know, it's kind of finite right yeah, people say I think that that's.
15:02
That's the other thing. That's kind of wow a little bit concerning just I. I think that there's, there's and, but, but the thing is is like, and the conversation, it's like, my feed is full of it, it's full oh yeah, all that's all instagram is so, but so it's taking up the other parts of the airways, of everybody else, being like I'm playing a show, we're doing thing over here. What's's the key, you know so.
15:25 - Mel (Host)
I think you know, dang Matt, what a perspective to have.
15:30 - Aaron (Host)
It's kind of scary in that way, you know it's like and now we're going to have to put up with a month more. In a couple of weeks, a couple of months, oh yeah.
15:40 - Apple (Host)
They added two, they, they added two. They're doing eight weekends total.
15:43 - Matt (Guest)
Wow, that's kind of overwhelming to me, just like the possibility of what if the dead is just happening in Vegas all the time. I mean they might be able to sell it out for endless, endless, endless times. It could, and it's just bizarre. I mean you know, I mean.
16:10 - Aaron (Host)
It's so funny to me because back in the day my stepdad was Sieg roy's manager. Like, growing up, and in 90 I think it was 94, um jerry met with him about having the dead do a residency in vegas permanently because he wanted to get off the road and have a permanent place. And now it's happening.
16:26 - Matt (Guest)
It makes sense. I mean like for lifestyle sense.
16:29 - Mel (Host)
Yeah, it makes sense.
16:30 - Matt (Guest)
Longevity, like right, you know.
16:33 - Mel (Host)
Wow, matt, that's. You know, that is something that I don't think. Well, maybe a lot of people can realize that, because, like you said, okay, my feed was X, y, xyz, and now it's only a. That's it, and so I don't think that the fans realize that maybe they're not maybe the musicians and the festival throwers and go.
16:54
You know that. But, like you're right, we spent thousands of dollars to go there. Yeah, we didn't get nothing for free. We had to pay for our hotel room, we had like all of it and by the time that added up like I was like dang you know well. But then people are still steady, like, oh, I'm going to go to Dick's, I'm going to Mondo green, I'm going to you know what I mean? Like they're still going to go to their shows, yeah, yeah.
17:16 - Aaron (Host)
It's insane. Have you found it more difficult to get the word out on what you're doing?
17:22 - Matt (Guest)
Um, I don't know, I mean, I think I, I'm, I'm kind of in my own world. So I mean, you know, maybe that's not the main reason why it feels like it's been difficult to get the word out. I think the word's out, I think, I think that there's option paralysis out there, a little bit and and but. What I'm offering it's definitely a financial commitment and a time commitment. Um, and it's and it's uh, you know, so people are considering all the things that they're doing and it's like even just, you know, there's great events, there's great possibilities. Cheese and Mexico's sounds like a fucking blast.
17:56 - Mel (Host)
Right, I want to go.
17:57 - Matt (Guest)
you know it's like strings and soul. It's like all these events are amazing. I mean so appealing and so great, you know, and so I mean the one that just happened in Cabo San Lucas. You know Scotty's thing.
18:14 - Mel (Host)
Oh.
18:14 - Matt (Guest)
Baja.
18:15 - Aaron (Host)
Baja Wondergrass, Baja Wondergrass you know.
18:17 - Matt (Guest)
There's so many great things you know, so it's not just the sphere or anything like that no. But it's like I think that there's a lot of, there's a lot of new options, you know, and I think my coming forth with musical sojourns when I did is like it's part, it's part of the gestalt of what's going on, and like a lot of people think, how can we experience music differently?
18:40 - Mel (Host)
Yeah.
18:42 - Matt (Guest)
Expanding interesting ways, fun ways, unknown ways and unique ways and meaningful ways. You know so, because I think we're all from, we're all from that experience of of, or in my, in my world, the jam, funk, jazz, punk, pop, rock scene. You know it's like and festival scene. It's like you know, early 2000s, early in 95. It's like there just wasn't that many festivals and look how we've all practiced this muscle together festival everybody's got a role in it, you know, and it's like we can fucking rock that shit you know yeah why not, like, look at all the different ways we can do that?
19:19
so I feel like it's like it's kind of a perfect storm in some, in some ways. Um, but it I some ways, but I'm not sure what I'm saying there. There's just a lot of great options right now and essentially I didn't come thinking that I would talk about this fear at all, but this is kind of a recurring theme where this fear becomes what gets discussed, and I don't mind it because it's on my mind too.
19:42 - Apple (Host)
It's a trip. I didn't think like you were saying about that, like the algorithm. Now that you said that like, yeah, like normal, like eggy, everybody I follow they're not popping up as much. I have to go look at what they're doing. Wow, it's all sphere stuff popping up and then dead and company. Then that's going to, then that's going to be all the talk.
20:01 - Mel (Host)
It just never occurred to me, matt, we'll talk, I'll teach you how to work your algorithm. It's so simple but not easy. Matt, can you walk us through? Somebody books the musical sojourns. What now? What?
20:15 - Matt (Guest)
What is it? What is it? What is it?
20:17 - Mel (Host)
Yeah.
20:17 - Matt (Guest)
So I'll say this it's evolving. It's fundamentally it's a group of musicians that are my friends and really important, of some new friends and people that I haven't really played that much music with, but a group of musicians. It's kind of like an expanded everyone orchestra kind of lineup, because it usually doesn't have a whole band but there's cohorts and we have fruition trio and we've got new master sound. So there is like band elements that are that are kind of holding down both of our events. But but to remove all of us as a group, just the musicians to start with, and put us in a foreign country and with the invitation to everybody that what we're going to do is we're going to have a sojourn here and and become part of the local music community and celebrate our music by playing, our playing, our own performances and collaborating with each other um and um and collaborating and then having local musicians perform and then collaborating with them and then, kind of, you know, culminate in like an everyone orchestra with multiple countries represented on stage and for the musicians and the fans that come along to the experience, the invitation to get to know a city from inside of a number of different venues and experiences together. That are basically what I just described the music of some of our home US musicians, home us musicians, then some local musicians, thena, collaboration, you know, of some sort and uh it's, you know, just like any destination type of event that we've been a part of. Uh, when you remove yourself from your normal life, your normal routine, you become open to new experiences, friendships are built. It's just like it's kind of the foundation of a lot of things and this and and add the, the cultural element, um into it and the just the interesting being so far removed from your own element and and and exploring this incredibly beautiful place and having a really interesting, interesting host of people that are interested in in their locals, that are, that are there to be with us, to help uh nurture their event. It's like you get 200 people on this.
22:33
It's kind of like a retreat. It's kind of like it's it's, it's it's. You know it's not a festival, it has festival elements, but it's like a 200-person kind of musical retreat. You know where. You know the musicians are the performers and they're creating the music, the fans are creating the community and then we're bringing together like the local people to kind of mix in and it just it builds over the week, you know, and there's a lot of extra time for people to explore the city on their own.
23:02
But then come to the home base and have this like kind of um, really cool, curated home base in a really, you know, in argentina we have this amazing hotel in this amazing old neighborhood with just such amazing hosts and and and the venues right in this neighborhood is very walkable. It it's just like, so it's other, it's not going to the sphere. It's really about having like a once in a lifetime perhaps, cultural foreign group. You know, time capsule of a moment, because these musicians will probably never be able to be brought together like this in a foreign country again, so it's like it's like there's a lot of like once in a lifetime cosmic energy that comes together.
23:49
It's just super powerful. And you know, we did it in this past October in Porto and it was exactly that. It was un-fucking-believable and I really believe it just was it was. It was a proof of the concept and and you know, so I'm just really excited about learning how to do it better, because it's like a new art form, like this fear in a lot of ways for me, you know it's different than everyone orchestra and I'm involved from like a, a curation kind of promoter kind of perspective, but also on the, the musical level doing and everyone orchestra, or two, excuse me, playing drums yeah
24:33
but also, and mostly, creating space for these other artists to like do their thing, whatever they want, whatever they want to do with these, with these people that are there, and getting them into the space. What's the possibility? That's you, you know, maybe not their normal day in, day out kind of gig that they're doing, but so the musicians show up really inspired and ready to grow and do cool shit.
24:55 - Aaron (Host)
How many have you done so far?
24:57 - Matt (Guest)
I've done one musical sojourn.
24:59 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah.
25:00 - Matt (Guest)
In Porto. Yep, okay, okay.
25:02 - Mel (Host)
So my one question is In Porto, yep, okay, okay. So my one question is did you get a lot of musicians that were not part of like as a fan, like going as a fan?
25:11 - Matt (Guest)
to be there, Like I, a handful you know, it's interesting. It's like it's not designed for people to bring their instrument.
25:20 - Mel (Host)
Okay, jam along. That was my thought, okay.
25:23 - Matt (Guest)
Or it hasn't been designed that way. You know, I think that there is, there's a desire for that very thing and I think that, like you know doing I've been doing a little work with the masters camp from jam crews and just like participating, people want to participate yeah, and so I'm gonna do a little shaker right so I think that there's there's there there's a level of participation for everybody, especially in the eo moments where it's just obvious we're experiencing a once, once in a lifetime moment and everybody's super present and that's, they're part of the creation because they witness it.
25:55
Right. But to actually um, create space for musicians to come, maybe we could do lessons with I don't know that. That hasn't been totally designed yet Okay, and I think it's something that I'm deeply exploring actually.
26:07 - Mel (Host)
Yeah.
26:08 - Matt (Guest)
These particular sojourns are. They're more for friends and family, although, you know, musicians get inspiration. We had a couple, we had a few musicians come to Porto. They had their own jams after hours and were you know it was amazing.
26:23 - Aaron (Host)
Keeping it going yeah, where jams after hours and we're. You know it was amazing keeping it going yeah. Where'd the idea for this come from?
26:28 - Matt (Guest)
The idea came from a lot of different things. You know everyone orchestra has been involved in like positive legacy for years and and facilitating the, the outreach in the ports for jam crews. And I've been involved in like facilitating the musicians from the boat, getting some local musicians and creating some sort of musical celebration for Jam Cruise. And I've been involved in like facilitating the musicians from the boat, getting some local musicians and creating some sort of musical celebration for the day of service.
26:50
That's cool and you know, from that I started to do work for a nonprofit called Innovative Giving Enhancement.
26:59 - Aaron (Host)
Okay.
27:00 - Matt (Guest)
And they. We did events in Venice, italy, that were, like you know, smaller events, like 50 people, and then we did one in Barcelona.
27:09 - Aaron (Host)
This is what I remember.
27:11 - Matt (Guest)
This is like the IGE music and art immersion.
27:13 - Aaron (Host)
Yes, yes, yes.
27:13 - Matt (Guest)
And then we did one in Lisbon in 2019.
27:16 - Aaron (Host)
Right.
27:17 - Matt (Guest)
I left IGE in 2022.
27:20 - Aaron (Host)
Okay, Okay, yep, wow, so kind of came birth from that.
27:27 - Matt (Guest)
All those experiences yeah, my international, like you know, the, the international connections really flourished. You know, going to europe. I had never been to europe before, so that was a really great opportunity. Um, and just like just meeting great musicians, like I've been, I've made so many friends all around the world.
27:44 - Aaron (Host)
That's so cool.
27:45 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, it's just like this, this, this, this global, uh, musical conversation you know I feel so lucky and excited to be a part of, so that's really what kind of like, like anchored it for me to really want to do it again yeah, to keep going on my own.
27:59 - Mel (Host)
You know that's dope um did you have something?
28:02 - Matt (Guest)
well, I just can't say.
28:03 - Apple (Host)
I forget who it was. We were talking to and we talked to a musician that was talking about going on one of those other excursions. It was just talking about how amazing it was because they're they're described that like total language barrier, but that didn't matter, because the music. I think it was michael kirkpatrick, maybe maybe it was him that went over okay and was just talking about like, like, you didn't need to speak the same language because it was so much about the music and late night jams and going to pubs where, like europe, is a lot different.
28:33
You know that we have jazz clubs and stuff all over here, but it's not like the, the history that they have over there hundreds of years of going to this pub and everybody in there is playing an instrument and just having a jam. Yeah, and then plus the food. What a way to experience europe for the first time.
28:50 - Matt (Guest)
So how is the musician? Well, the food always comes to play. Portugal, argentina, it's all. It's all good. It's very different but it's all good. Um, I you know, uh, I've done everyone orchestra recording sessions in in both Buenos Aires and in Porto, portugal. Um, partly because doing everyone orchestra recording sessions is part of my next chapter when I'm doing a lot of building right now. But to experiment with the whole concept, working with the musicians that some sometimes don't speak English at all, like about both sessions had about half and half that spoke um english and didn't, and so fun to mix it up and meet people in that environment, you know, and those are a lot of the creative people that are kind of like. Again, the foundation of like. Oh so this guy's not just crazy, he's a great musician that was a fucking blast doing this thing.
29:44 - Mel (Host)
And who are these other musicians? I'm like, yeah, just wait till you meet my musician friends, cause they're amazing.
29:50 - Matt (Guest)
You know, and that's that's. That's what I'm, that's what I'm creating, like that's that's what I'm. I've. I've been, when I've been traveling internationally, taste of the the host of your, of your, of your international experience.
30:07 - Mel (Host)
I mean we should do this in portland and bring people here right. I mean it's like, oh, yeah, it's like. It's like, yeah, let's reverse that it.
30:11 - Matt (Guest)
There's no reason why it couldn't be and you know that's part of a bigger, bigger picture for me of like getting a facility here portland, to have everyone orchestra, have the eo worldwide, have a home base like production, jam, space, community center type of wow I have goosebumps about that we've been, that's we've been doing. We've been like I'm getting to know every nook and cranny of this city and just trying to manifest this thing that's gonna soon all right well, yeah, build it and we will.
30:41
Yeah, no kidding so I mean a lifelong career as a musician, and then this is like a fairly new right, this is new and you know, I feel like the the music is a universal language is something that has resonated with me ever since I was really, really, really young and this, really the everyone orchestras in doing the in the sessions, uh, abroad totally just solidified the purpose of why I'm doing this, you know, and it's like this is, this is my superpower of bringing people together through music and to do it internationally and create strong bonds there. Who knows what can come of that? But we need to know people from around the world, uh, in order for peace to prevail on this earth, and I just feel like this is my, at least my path of discovering how to best do that, and I feel like you know so, um, I think it just that that intent kind of comes out in how people arrive and what happens in the moment and, um, yeah, yeah, that's that's, that's, that's a stick I.
31:47 - Apple (Host)
I would say, music can change everything.
31:49 - Mel (Host)
Well, but it does, it does, it can and it does taking 200 people yeah that includes the musicians.
31:58 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah musicians like staff, and we have a lot of local staff in both, so if you think about, like, going to a music festival, um, um, there's thousands, sometimes thousands, of people there, tens of thousands depending on the festival, and everybody wants to know the musician, right? This actually gives people an opportunity to get to know the people that are creating the music that they love and be a part of something with them in a like very intimate kind of way yeah and I I've said this a million times on the show, so sorry for everybody that's going to hear me say it again, but doing no simple road.
32:40
One of the beautiful parts of doing this show is we've gotten to know people like you and other musicians and what now, when we go see them play, our experience of seeing them is deepened. The musical, the trip is completely different because your friend is up there doing the thing.
33:00 - Matt (Guest)
That's a really that's a huge gift to give to people so that's, that is the gift of this, and it's creating the reason why it's small and intimate, is so I my.
33:13
One of my main purposes, or my main focuses, is to create an environment where the musicians are just so happy and comfortable and taken care of and their families with them and their friends are with them and they're just they're, they're free to act and to speak with their instruments and to talk to the people that are there and you know, it's a six days that we're on this kind of adventure together and that in itself is a once in a lifetime moment just to be near that kind of you know and have that community be built around these musicians and it's just not that many people, so it's really cool it's up close and personal, you know, and I think that's the thing, it's like the vault, like as musicians it will.
33:55
You know, our musicians especially, they're always vulnerable because on stage, because that's that, that's that's the jam. That's like the improv, but this is like really, you know they're willing to be vulnerable in even a different way in this environment, and it's really fun, yeah, outside of their musical, you know.
34:12 - Aaron (Host)
Out of their comfort zone? Exactly, yeah. Are you guys like I know? You said that there's like time during the day for people to go walk around and explore and do all that. Are you having meals together and stuff like that too?
34:22 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, so there's a handful of meals together, like, for example, in Argentina, first night we have a dinner theater that's like two blocks from the hotel and it's like you know, sit down, dinner, five course, four course or something, and then a stage and we'll have, like you know, multiple acts and the food, everybody taking care of that, you know that night. So that's kind of like how how the event starts. That's awesome, you know that night. So that's kind of like how how the event starts. That's awesome, you know.
34:49
Um, and then the next day we'll do some, uh, pared down acoustic sets in the morning, like just short, 90 minutes, 75 minutes, kind of coffee hanging out, getting oriented to the day, and then, like after that, it's like, you know, you guys got like five hours to go walk around the neighborhood, go get a meal, whatever. We're gonna meet, you know, at the church, that's like, you know, a mile and a half away, you know. And then we're doing a 60 minute acoustic set there with another artist and or two, you know, locals and one of ours, whatever. And then, you know, we coalesce in this, you know. So they, everyone does their thing and they kind of meet up at this next place. It's like, wow, what is this place?
35:30 - Mel (Host)
this is cool, you know, and then it's like sightseeing meals, freaking entertainment, like and you're switching the venues.
35:37 - Apple (Host)
The venues change throughout.
35:38 - Mel (Host)
The venues move around, yeah and then like, and then and then, we'll be and then later that night, like we'll have.
35:44 - Matt (Guest)
Like you know, we'll have a long set from like nine to one or something, depending on time you know time zone we might go earlier, later it's different in portugal and then argentina, but then we'll have one more set where there's a couple, again like three acts, like a local one of ours, and then kind of a collab thing, and it's just kind of like that. That's day two, and like the next day maybe we'll take buses out of town to a farm or we'll get on a boat and, you know, have a grateful dead afternoon party, you know, on the boat, you know it's like there's a couple moments where we did dead on dead on the duro last year, which was we happened to have a wonderful day. We were set up on the top of a boat going down the duro river in porto, portugal, which is just like the scenic, it's just to eyes, it's one of the most beautiful things to watch and it was a really, you know, that was kind of like our own insider private moment. As you know, the American tourists.
36:38
Yeah, right, and it was a cool contrast to everything else, where it's just like it's different, it's more open, it's like culturally infused by the locals, and it was just like. The combination of those things all together I feel like is part of what makes it kind of magical too.
36:56 - Aaron (Host)
What's the reaction of the locals where you've been to our type of trip?
37:05 - Matt (Guest)
The locals are totally stoked on the energy, like they're stoked on the uniqueness of the community around the music. They're stoked on the community how much the people are listening to the music, and like I don't know, fans Like these are, like you know, these are top music fans.
37:26 - Mel (Host)
Yeah, these are diehards. Yeah, these are diehards.
37:27 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, these are diehards. They've done a lot. They've done a lot. A lot of them have been to the dead over the years. They've done everything, it's like what's next?
37:34
It's like oh, this is kind of and you know, yeah, this band, rettem Brar, is a band in Porto that just blew everybody away and then that half of them came back and played in everyone orchestra and just incredible people. And the uh, the manager and one of the lead singers just really just told me that they appreciated it was good for their creativity, it was good for their to think about their businesses. It was like they met some great musicians, they made friends and they're welcoming the next group of people to come back.
38:07
They're totally they're calling, they're they're contacting me with ideas and how, what we could do, and just like it's, just like it's just opening of hearts, so, um, so what's?
38:16 - Mel (Host)
the wow you opened a can of worms but that's a good can of worms.
38:23 - Aaron (Host)
What's in the works right now.
38:29 - Matt (Guest)
What's the next? What's?
38:29 - Aaron (Host)
the next.
38:29 - Matt (Guest)
Well, well, I mean. So I got two events coming up. Okay, I porto portugal in in october with. I feel like I should like almost bring up the fucking poster yeah, I was looking at it, it was.
38:38 - Aaron (Host)
It was a lot I I that we've done like fish, mexico, yep, and to be in another country and have like the opportunity to just kind of put everything else aside.
38:53 - Matt (Guest)
It really does put you in a different headspace yeah, and everyone's having this experience of wow, this food's amazing this is a genius, did you see that thing?
39:00
and it's just like it's. It's another. There's a lot of connecting points and, uh, we're doing a musical sojourn back in porto, portugal. It's the same location where we did it last October, but I'm bringing a whole different group of musicians out there. And it's in Porto, portugal, at a hotel. It's a hotel called Hotel Moku, which is this amazing facility. It's got a beautiful 400 seat kind of black box theater venue in the basement. That's super fun and the weed decorated and just created an awesome space in that. That's in the hotel. Everybody stays in that hotel and a hotel that's right next to it, and I'm bringing a whole group of musicians back there. New group let's see Friends of mine, the new master sounds, are going, which is so great because three of them live in Europe, you know.
39:47 - Mel (Host)
So you know it was.
39:49 - Matt (Guest)
I'm so excited their, their community, is coming out from Europe. So that'll be. That'll be really fun. Steve Kimok oh, I heard of him. Yeah Right, old friend, old friend, I mean, I've been playing with Steve since 95.
40:03 - Mel (Host)
Dang Wow, that's coming on 30 years almost, I know uh, steve pultz, who's just one of the most.
40:12 - Matt (Guest)
He's a champion, storyteller, performer, incredible person who, uh uh, actually my band in the 90s. This is probably 91 okay we played with his band. The rug burns at an open mic called drowsy maggies in san diego, and I remember him and we became friends with the other guy in the band back then and anyway, it's just a wild, what a long stream.
40:34 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah.
40:36 - Matt (Guest)
And the Rainbow Girls.
40:38 - Aaron (Host)
Okay.
40:38 - Matt (Guest)
Do you guys? Are you guys familiar with them?
40:39 - Mel (Host)
No, I don't no Check them out, I'm writing it down, they are so incredible they're so.
40:46 - Matt (Guest)
They're individually just amazing talents. Together they're just. They're super dialed in. They're multi-instrumentalists. They're incredible vocalists. They're all like, I mean, they're all kind of they can be comedians, even you know, what I mean Dang. It reminds me a little bit. Some of their stuff reminds me of John Craigie.
41:03 - Mel (Host)
Oh, okay.
41:04 - Matt (Guest)
Yes, like they, just just they'll have this banter in between. It's just fucking hilarious and brilliant. Anyway, where are they out of?
41:12
uh, they're out of bodega bay, california, so just northern like, okay, sonoma, I think norco, norco um, anyway, and they're collaborating with, like electronic dj artists or all kinds of people really, I mean the spectrum that they they're they're collaborating with. So super lucky and exciting to have those women joining me in Porto. Chris Jacobs oh yeah, so there's like a lot of guitar. There's like between Kimmock and Jacobs. We're already just we have incredible dimensions to cover. Ben Atkins, the drummer from Goose, the ex-drummer from Goose. Wow you know who, I'm super excited to have out there.
41:51
Uh, there's some incredible drums and percussion going on in Porto, portugal, um, and I'm totally looking forward to him doing some insane collaborations with this one particular dude that builds gongs and all this shit. So that's going to be super fun.
42:04 - Mel (Host)
That's dope. Oh my gosh.
42:06 - Matt (Guest)
Um handmade moments. Oh yeah, anna and Joel, they're going to be great. Uh, aaron Magner from disco biscuits oh, Jesus.
42:15 - Aaron (Host)
So there's your keys.
42:15 - Matt (Guest)
He's my keys. Uh, let's see Kanika more.
42:19 - Mel (Host)
Oh, my gosh, she's been. Yeah, you know.
42:23 - Matt (Guest)
I I feel so lucky to have been connected with Kanika and meet, meet her and perform with her. She's a she is an incredible talent, an incredible person, and like talk about vulnerability and just willingness to commit and just fucking execution that the woman she makes it happen Dang.
42:40 - Mel (Host)
So I'm super excited that's a good like all-star staff yeah.
42:46 - Matt (Guest)
And so I'm so excited to be have Kanika there. She's, it's gonna blow her mind and she's gonna blow everybody's oh yeah, oh yeah.
42:52 - Aaron (Host)
That's a powerful human being right there let's see laurie shook oh yeah
42:57 - Apple (Host)
shook twins.
42:59 - Matt (Guest)
Uh, let's see. Uh, scott law. Yeah, so scott law has been. You know, he was a part of the events that we did for IGE and he was in in Porto last year with the musical sojourn. And again, scott's an old, old buddy of mine, I believe 92, you know my band and his band played and that was like one of the reasons why I moved up to the Northwest from San Diego with my band is because Scott law you know, so to be taking it with my old buddy, scott, and so he's kind of he's the one person that we're that we're bringing, that is also going to be in argentina is scott still living here in portland?
43:35 - Aaron (Host)
yeah, okay, all right, yeah that wow uh, and then elliot peck, oh yeah yeah, right on no slouch no ell, no I mean she's great.
43:48 - Matt (Guest)
So you know, I've kind of built a few different cohorts and you know a few different kind of core bands. There's probably another couple people that are going to be added to this eventually, but that's what we got. Right now. A bivy of local musicians will be put together, similar to the ones we had last year, because they were just all so amazing and have many different projects. Um, and I'm also doing one in buenos aires, argentina, wow, in november dang what dude october and november?
44:20
yeah, okay, get back turn around and go out you're, when are you gonna sleep? I never, I never thought that I was designing something for people to do both. Really, you know what?
44:30 - Mel (Host)
I mean yeah, in my mind.
44:32 - Matt (Guest)
I was like, okay, it's going to be, you know, a group of people going to Porto and a group of people that's going to go to Argentina. Blah, blah, blah. There's definitely more crossover already than I was expecting. Wow, like you got some time on your hands, people.
44:46 - Mel (Host)
Or it's probably worth it.
44:47 - Matt (Guest)
You know there's a lot of reasons why. One reason, main reason, is November is the perfect time to be in Argentina. It's spring.
44:55 - Aaron (Host)
Oh, wow.
44:56 - Matt (Guest)
It's spring because in the middle of the summer it's too hot and too muggy. In the winter, less desirable, could be like just wet. You know, in the spring you want to be there for that moment. You're going gonna have that once in a lifetime experience in argentina. You want it to be the right time of year, so that's that's one of the reasons.
45:15
So november 4th through 10, I'm bringing another group of people let's hear it um down to um buenos aires, which is a town I've fallen in love with. Also, it's amazing the group of musicians locally there. It's the level of musicianship level of education there's incredible. So many people have studied you know way. Studied in their instruments is really inspiring and a level of creativity is unique and there's a whole world of conducted improv down there. Really, that blew my mind, that I'll tell you about after I tell you.
45:52 - Mel (Host)
Okay, okay.
45:53 - Matt (Guest)
But it's like yeah, there's the whole, it's, it's a mind fuck and and it's very much an inspiration for what I want to create here in Portland. You know Um but anyway I'm bringing. Uh, but anyway I'm bringing. This is the new location for everybody. I'm bringing some of the people that were in Porto last year with me, so I'm bringing Fruition Trio.
46:13 - Aaron (Host)
Okay.
46:15 - Matt (Guest)
Holly Bowling, todd Schaefer and Tim Carbone from Railroad Earth. Oh, I love that Dan Lebowitz, nikki Bloom, and then Ross James and Scott Law, oh yeah, and then Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman. Oh yes, nikki Bloom, and then Ross James and Scott Law, oh yeah, and then Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman oh my god and Ian Ficchini oh yeah. Takira Jackson. She's the drummer and one of the vocalists for Southern Avenue okay unbelievable talent, super stoked to be having her come down with us. Steve Berlin from Los Lobos of course, og.
46:51
Like it's interesting, when I was making, when I've been digging into the musician community in Buenos Aires, steve Berlin introduced me to some key people and he's just, he has friends all over the world from all of his travels and stuff and it's like it's been so cool to meet a whole community of musicians through Steve Berlin's contact.
47:13 - Aaron (Host)
Oh yeah, you have an in with the homies down there.
47:16 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, for sure, for sure. There's a lot of yeah, again, the same thing, open heart, welcoming kind of people like, yes, let's do this, let's see who else.
47:31 - Aaron (Host)
Steve.
47:31 - Matt (Guest)
Adams from AL alo bass player. I should have said steve dan lewis and steve adams from alo uh, and then joel cummins, oh wow dang so argentina about to be lit right you know, it's, uh, one of the.
47:45
you know Ian Goldberg from summer camp and and he is an amazing person, an amazing promoter. But he also has a deep connection with with Buenos Aires and has business partners down there, has a couple of apartments in this neighborhood where we're doing this event and he's been kind of integral in like helping me kind of get established down there and meet a bunch of people and it's been super cool.
48:11
So there's a lot of. He knows the complexities of bringing people to argentina. Argentina is in a very unique spot right now, with their economy and their presidents like the. The value of their dollars been like their, their, their wealth has kind of been stolen by inflation. I mean, imagine if your dollar just kind of became worth a hundredth of a dollar or something like that. It literally has been like that for them over the years.
48:40 - Aaron (Host)
Like you've got to bring a stack of money with you to buy a loaf of bread, kind of thing, kind of thing you know.
48:45 - Matt (Guest)
they keep on making bigger denominations. Oh geez, it's complex, complex, yeah, but it's worth it. And and I you know they've been in the situation for over 20 years. There's their, the culture, the way, the resilience of the communities, the black market, there's all these different ways that they have kind of survived through this thing, where there's these interesting systems that are in place and while they're being challenged again with this new president, um, it's, it's, it's. They have persevered in ways that I don't think we have, because we're dealing with different variables in our lives, right, and they create their own happiness, their own well-being, their own like purpose.
49:31
A lot of times you know that's, it's it, it's just powerful, it's like their culture and the way that, the way that music is appreciated, the way that they're they appreciate coming together and celebrating their own community, their own culture, is fucking awesome and it's just really inspiring. So you know, extra effort to bring a group of people down to Argentina right now and extra kind of like understanding of how to manage like the financial part.
49:59 - Aaron (Host)
Right.
49:59 - Matt (Guest)
It's like a different like monies. The prices are changing. You know, it's just like this wild. It's this wild ride, but the US dollar holds. It's like kind of like maybe they're going to become the US dollar. Anyway, these are details we don't have to go into too deeply.
50:15 - Mel (Host)
But it's like. But thank you, ian, for helping him out right.
50:32 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, you know, and it's just like I guess you know when I'm trying to sell somebody on why you should come on this, it's like it's a very unique opportunity. This is not coming up every year, this is not coming up all over. You know, it's like it's, it's a it's. I have cracked open a window of incredible talent and loving community in buenos aires ready to welcome us, us being this insane group of legendary fucking musician ninjas, you know, and it's like, all right, the stage is set let's see what happens this is crazy.
50:53
We've got incredible venues. It's just gonna be. It's gonna be.
50:56 - Mel (Host)
It's gonna be legendary so do you have a videographer and photographer on? Yeah, we're, yeah, yeah, well yes, it's not 100% confirmed.
51:05 - Matt (Guest)
You need three more.
51:07 - Mel (Host)
No, no, well, no, I was just asking like because, like you're, all these special things are happening. There's got to be some type of and of course you don't want everything captured, sometimes things are just personal and in the moment but at the same time you do kind of want like an idea of like what's going on, so that maybe even for not even for promotional, but for like looking back and being like wow, that is amazing.
51:29 - Apple (Host)
Yeah what I said, everything you just described too. I mean, like anything in life, the more you have to work for it, the more you have to put into it, and in a climate like that that's going down there, it's more rewarding to them and all of you in the end yeah like you're bringing more happiness to this.
51:46
This resilient community I mean so most of south america has always been like that the resilience they have in the face of everything that goes on down there, and their culture is so deep. I couldn't imagine like that was like goosebumps just hearing him describe all of this that's going on and you, you look like you're about to tear up too. Like describing it, I mean, this is that that's some heavy stuff going on and you said that there's an improvisational conducting.
52:16 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, what?
52:18 - Matt (Guest)
There's tango, there's all kinds of music, but I met this man named Santiago Vasquez, and Santiago has written a book and developed a thing called a rhythm with signs ritmo, ritmo consigne Um, and it's a. It's a, it's a methodology that's basically conducted improv, that has all these different signs to, to, and and ways, ways to conduct improv um, in a way um, without, in a way um without a whiteboard, without a whiteboard entirely, I'll, I'll, I'm gonna circle back to that, okay, but but so santiago, it's I mean, he's.
52:58
He's an amazing person, amazing talent and he's really created an easy way for people to to people can learn how to do this and then they can do it Right. It's like it's like he has a school there that teaches this, and now there's all these people that know this, this methodology, both as a player and a conductor Right, and it's fucking cool, it's really cool.
53:21
And um it's been going on for I think, 15 years, maybe 16 years. He created a band called la bomba de tiempo and um it's, it's all percussion. Um they now la bomba de tiempo, plays every monday night more or less, except for when they're touring the world to about 4 000 people. What?
53:42 - Mel (Host)
every monday night to 4 000 people in buenos aires wow, they have this like this venue.
53:47 - Matt (Guest)
That they, that they I don't know if they part own it, but they, they, they take the whole thing over. It's really well produced.
53:53
It reminds me of blue man group or something like that, like the intensity of it okay um, but you know, they all come out in jumpsuits but they take turns, conducting each other using the signs, and it's fucking mind-blowing. And then they have a like they, they have a special guest each week, like a famous, a famous Argentinian folk singer will come up and play a song, with all these drums backing them up and it's just riveting. So Santiago doesn't play with this band anymore, but they use his concept and it's an incredible thing. There's another band that's called Pan Percussion and this is Santiago's thing. It's about half the year, every Wednesday night he plays this gigantic warehouse to about 3,500 people. I don't know, I mean, tickets aren't really expensive, it's very much community-oriented.
54:38 - Mel (Host)
Like again people can't afford that much down there Still to get that many people.
54:41 - Matt (Guest)
That's incredible Weekly. I mean. I walked into this Pan Per and saw this guy conducting like an everyone orchestra, you know for all.
54:51
from my perspective it's like oh my God if somebody if so was to walk in and see me doing something and having these thousands of people there and everybody just flipping the shit out and it was. It was so amazing to me, santiago and to see because it it the participation value that's happening in there is like super unique and cool and I've never seen anything quite like it in my world coming back to that focused attention yeah, that's insane yeah, and you know, and also kind of like process, it's not about playing a cover song.
55:26
I mean, every now and again it's nice to hear and it works. But but everyone like this conducted improv thing. Just, it's like you know, it's a process to go into a musical, you know. Okay, we're gonna do this jam, you know, and everyone's like you know and they're, just they're in it, you know, and then they. You know, every jam's different because it's all being created in the moment, you know so, so it's very unique. Did your head?
55:48 - Aaron (Host)
just explode.
55:50 - Mel (Host)
Oh tell them oh my God, you're like what the fuck? But I in this I
55:55 - Apple (Host)
think I dreamed of something like this.
55:58 - Matt (Guest)
That was the first clue when I was down in Buenos Aires that I was. I just was connected. I had to come back.
56:07
You have another home there or something I had to like discover more about this and so and that doesn't stop there Like on Tuesday nights, santiago has a thing called La Grande and La Grande is kind of the epitome of it's almost the most like everyone orchestra in a lot of ways, because it's the instrumentation is more like everyone orchestra horn section, and you know know a couple drummers, percussionists and stuff, bass player, a couple guitars, um, and it's set up like. So every tuesday night this is like this is just, you know they're it's a big city so they can have things like weekly, like in new york but this is like another thing that happens weekly.
56:41
It blows my mind and, uh, the first set is like the all-stars and it it's like whoever Santiago, whoever's managing the night, puts together some of the best players that do this methodology right, and it's a dance party and they have ping pong and foosball and it's just this wild again. It's like 800 people like packed, raging. And then the second set if you know the methodology, if you know rhythm, with signs, you can sign up on a list to, to, to be a, to join you know, and then the producer of the night like gets you know, talks to you about you know the sign, whatever, okay, great, and then they'll keep some of the masters up there and mixing the people that are signed up and they'll do you know person conducting each time and what. It's really cool, it's really fucking cool and I just I want I, I really believe that part of this, like the lesson in all of this for me, specifically in everyone, orchestra is just like.
57:40
Like everyone, orchestra has been a really fun vehicle for my, for my touring lifestyle or whatever, for my performance outlet and a way for my musician friends to come experience this thing. But I really believe there's a way of giving kind of this concept to people to play, because it's an agreement between me and the musicians. That can be between anybody I mean it'll be different with other conductors, but I really believe that it's a profound kind of interactive, fun experience and I really want to take that in portland specifically to begin with, like to the next level and try to like use some of these lessons from what santiago has created and you know create some of that, you know teach other people how to do it and have you learned the signs and all that?
58:25
I'm not that good at yet. I've been busy putting these events on, yeah, but I have played in la grande on kit and and without knowing any of the signs and I I could follow, you know, but the depth that they can go, because the signs is really cool and I intend to learn them and I think somebody somebody should will be teaching them in portland anytime soon. I would definitely teach them or have get somebody to help be teaching them in portland anytime soon, I would definitely teach them or have, get somebody to help.
58:50 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, teach them in my place, you know okay, yeah, I'm sold, so if I want to go, what do I do? Like as a as a person that's listening to this show? What do they do if they want to go?
59:00 - Matt (Guest)
you make sure your passport is oh number one primero. Yeah, make sure your passport's good for like a year after the date. When you get back you know you sign up and that's it basically sign up, that's it.
59:14
I mean, you know, I pretty much get to know everybody that's coming on some level just to make sure that it's all capisce and it's a good group, but it's it's. You make the time, you commit the finances to do it and you come have an experience of your lifetime. You won't regret it. And specifically, if you're going to come to Buenos Aires in November, you mail in your ballot before you go because it starts on the 4th.
59:41
Okay, right on I haven't tried to sell you on. Like you could be out of the country during the election do you want to not be here?
59:52 - Aaron (Host)
that sounds really good, especially this year um again unique, unique setup for uniques.
01:00:00 - Apple (Host)
I'm curious. I've been wondering this since the beginning, not just these, the out of the country excursions and stuff, but like it's going to be super fun doing what you do. When you go to curate the musicians for any of these events and I would imagine especially Europe you probably have no problem getting people to do it, depending on schedules, touring and stuff. But do you have a lot of people coming at you like, hey, matt, I've never done one yet I'd like to do one?
01:00:30 - Matt (Guest)
There's a lot of musicians that want to do Evelin Orchestra and I don't play enough to include everybody.
01:00:32 - Mel (Host)
And I really want to.
01:00:33 - Matt (Guest)
I want that to change. That is like that's driving me nuts.
01:00:37 - Apple (Host)
Okay.
01:00:37 - Matt (Guest)
So that's one of the first most important pieces about getting this facility going in Portland is for that very thing. You know and I really believe it has. You know there's components of it that that just will bring creativity and inspiration and friendships together.
01:00:52 - Mel (Host)
If we just do it more and more and more.
01:00:55 - Matt (Guest)
It's, you know it's, it's more like the everyone works as a concept, right? So maybe there's another name for what that is or something, but it's definitely like conducted improv and all the levels that it could be, you know, shared and explored and used as a tool to compose. You know, I think that's, that's kind of my, that's kind of my trip well, there was, there was really.
01:01:16 - Aaron (Host)
If anybody listening has seen every one orchestra, you'll know what I'm talking about. But when the times that we've seen you play, it adds a dimension to improvisational music that's normally not there. It becomes less like spectator and more participatory for the crowd. You feel more involved in what's happening on the stage. You're a bridge as the conductor between us and them.
01:01:45
And so that thing, I think it only makes sense to do what you're saying, like to open it up and to have you know cause there there's and you said it a little while ago like the people that are going on the sojourns with you, these aren't casual fans, these are people that are deep listeners and so we have all spent years listening and practicing and you know what I mean.
01:02:15
So it just stands to reason, kind of natural progression kind of thing. It just makes sense. Progression kind of thing, it just makes sense. Yeah, um, what, how do you see that here? Like like a building here in?
01:02:29 - Matt (Guest)
portland or okay, really a building or you know a facility. I'm like it's, it's like the everyone orchestra headquarters, um, could be multi-dimensional, could have other studios in it with other writing rooms and stuff. I love being in those kinds of spaces in new york city super exciting to be just like a door down from karna Reichman writing some shit out. You know, I feel like there could be some really cool space set up like that, but really a place where I can have just a really great production facility to kind of do what you guys do here, but with everyone orchestra, and be able to bring in my rock star friends for some special events but also just to have regular different groups coming in and doing it Like different levels of education, different participatory levels, you know, maybe kids oh my gosh.
01:03:13
But be able to capture it and, you know, capture it for people and teach people how to do it and just help, you know. May it be like an inspiration for music to happen in many different directions. It doesn't have to all be conducted there by any means. It could be anything but really. But. But for me, I'm trying to get that place for everyone orchestra to kind of like I guess I'm trying to get the, but I don't know exactly how to articulate like getting it out, but opening it up. It's like opening it up, yeah, kind of opening up the concept in a way that gives it so the community can play with the idea and I can facilitate that. But I want to see what other people want to do with it.
01:03:51 - Apple (Host)
You know, it makes me think, though I think it was like a music incubator.
01:03:54 - Matt (Guest)
Sure.
01:04:04 - Aaron (Host)
Because that just covers so many avenues of like a school studio venue, all these things going on all the time under one roof. Well, and I know I'm partial to portland because I live here and and we're rooted here now. But like I was talking to um jack mcgrane from bode mojo a while back and I was telling him I said you know, I I lived in vegas all those years. I I lived up in Seattle in the 90s. I've been around. There's something special here. There definitely is, musically speaking, in this musical community here in this city, there's something special and I think having something like that would only elevate the experience of the people here. And having somewhere that that they could let loose, yeah, as a, as a community, not just as as a band but as a community, that that's special I don't think there's a place like that right now I really don't yeah, and I don't.
01:04:59 - Matt (Guest)
I'm just, you know, still visualizing how it all comes together, but this is, this is, this is like the musical sojourns and this are kind of like these interconnected things, cause I then I want to bring people here through that that kind of room.
01:05:14 - Aaron (Host)
Well, with all the extra time that you have, what's up with freedom? Yeah, what's up with Threedom?
01:05:21 - Mel (Host)
Threedom I mean we created enough albums in like the two years. We were super active, you know, for like a 15 year career.
01:05:32 - Matt (Guest)
You know, threedom is, you know. I think we were just kind of we're hanging out. We're just waiting for the next thing to, you know, the next kind of run of things to do. You know, both of us uh asher had a huge production project going on.
01:05:46
I've been really we've just been doing our own thing, yeah we haven't been pushing it too hard, um, but I love playing with freedom and I can't wait till we can. I know we have. We have some event in june that I can't remember any details on right now, but we should have some live stuff coming up.
01:06:04 - Aaron (Host)
One of my favorite memories from Cascade Equinox last year was standing in the rain watching you guys play. That was fucking awesome, man. So, yeah, please keep doing that. Oh, yeah, totally.
01:06:14 - Matt (Guest)
I mean I definitely want to period play more drums all across the board. I have some great Gr grateful dead drumming coming up on the east coast with like with andrews osborne, andrews osborne and steve kamak and reed math the one in pennsylvania and kanika. It's like, it's just like this. The lineup is insane. Yeah, I'm doing some sets with those people, but doing it here in portland and and giving freedom a place to play on a regular. We should be playing playing every Tuesday night, somewhere Like between 5 and 8.
01:06:42
Just like fuck, that band should just have a Yep.
01:06:46 - Aaron (Host)
Agreed.
01:06:46 - Matt (Guest)
It's like yoga. We should just.
01:06:48 - Mel (Host)
Come on, do it Dude, do a yoga freaking session I love that, okay.
01:06:55 - Aaron (Host)
So if somebody wants to get more information on going with you guys on a sojourn, where do they go?
01:07:00 - Matt (Guest)
musicalsojournscom.
01:07:02 - Aaron (Host)
and if you don't know how to spell the word sojourn, it's s-o-j-o-u-r-n or you could just click on the episode and it'll be in the show notes, so there'll be a link and I really invite people.
01:07:14 - Matt (Guest)
If anybody wants to talk to me about it, I like to talk about it because I feel like I'm you know again.
01:07:18
It's like I just I'm making it better with every conversation and with the musicians, with the participants and so, and it's all about getting to know people and if someone's like, I think I might like to go. You know, it's like just call me, like email me and say, hey, can we? I'm down, I'm totally down and I love to talk to friends about it is there anything that we didn't get to that you wanted to talk about?
01:07:40 - Aaron (Host)
did we miss anything?
01:07:42 - Mel (Host)
you know, let me take a water because we do that sometimes yeah, we can start talking about the sphere and then get off on tangents like how'd we get?
01:07:54 - Matt (Guest)
here? Um, I don't think so. I think I think it's pretty well covered, okay, yeah cool.
01:08:01 - Aaron (Host)
Well, everybody, I mean.
01:08:03 - Apple (Host)
If you're not enticed, then then what's wrong, then there's something wrong I was gonna say I'm gonna bring up one thing, because I know by the time this comes out, uh, yeah, this will be way before fair. What am I think? Uh, we're all gonna be at fair together, oh yeah yeah everyone orchestras fr Friday on main stage at fair. Second to last. You didn't know that, no.
01:08:29 - Aaron (Host)
We're running the bookstore this year Awesome. Last year was our first fair.
01:08:36 - Mel (Host)
Yeah.
01:08:37 - Matt (Guest)
I think we talked about that.
01:08:39 - Mel (Host)
I think we mentioned.
01:08:41 - Matt (Guest)
I mean like talk about a cultural phenomenon, right? I mean, can you imagine trying to start a fair oh my God, no, it would never work.
01:08:49 - Mel (Host)
No, never, no, no, no, no. Crypto and like yeah, maybe that's what they're doing anyway, yeah.
01:08:58 - Matt (Guest)
Anyway, it's a fucking cultural phenomenon it really.
01:09:05 - Aaron (Host)
having been around the Grateful Dead world forever and hearing about it so much, I had gotten almost jaded to the idea of it just from not going and people being like oh my God, you've never, been to fair and I was like shut up, who cares?
01:09:20 - Apple (Host)
whatever, I've heard that a million times.
01:09:23 - Aaron (Host)
And then Saturday night at the midnight show, the, this realization came over me of like, oh my God, I'm sitting in an acid test and it's. You know, it's been going on for 50 years and there there's nothing like that. And I also thought to myself and tell me what you think about this. It seems to me that that is where the idea of music festival kind of birthed, out of that. I mean, that's been going on for a long time.
01:09:57 - Matt (Guest)
I think there are definitely. I mean it's over 50 years, I don't know 60 years coming up, jesus Christ or something I mean it's over 50 years 55 years, I don't know.
01:10:03
Yeah, 60 is coming up, jesus christ, dang or something. I mean phil played the 50th, so right, um, yeah, I mean I think that that's. That was like the, the whole movement learning about it. I mean rain, it was like it was a rainbow gathering and then there was, like you know, woodstock, that yeah, yeah, right, and I mean I mean this was happening right in the early 60s, right, yeah it started in 68. I don't remember it was 68, 69.
01:10:31 - Apple (Host)
And then the first two years they had two.
01:10:33 - Mel (Host)
Oh yeah, that's right.
01:10:34 - Apple (Host)
Each years, which makes the makes the amount of more than the years it's ran. But then they were like this is impossible to do two a year Right.
01:10:43 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, you leave it to the hippies.
01:10:45 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, we'll do it twice, you know, and it's not about the music. I mean, the music is just part of the whole picture.
01:10:51 - Mel (Host)
Yeah so again.
01:10:53 - Matt (Guest)
It's almost like the sphere is an art form. I think the Oregon Country Fair is its own kind of art form because you know it's, it's all about participation if you don't participate. You're just part of the what are you doing?
01:11:05
you know and and or whatever, something that you know and there's like there's invitations to participate everywhere and that's you know. That same ethos is taken to a whole another level, on a different environment, at burning man. But it's a similar type of you know invitation, but theirs is like no commerce, so you take the commerce away, but it's like the craft fair element of like artisans and everybody bringing their creativity out is such a beautiful thing to celebrate that way too, so they're all valid but unique.
01:11:31
But it's a cool invitation. Have you been to burning man?
01:11:34 - Aaron (Host)
yes, what was your experience? It changed my life, so jul.
01:11:39 - Matt (Guest)
Julie and I went in 99 and 2000 and uh, always planned on going back Um, but haven't because of kids and because of life being in festivals and touring and blah, blah, blah, um, but it definitely like changed our life. We were super creative people and and having, um, you know, a ton of of jams. Everyone orchestra was being birthed at the time, similar to in right. In that time frame, with this big creative juggernaut I was involved with alo and um people, greg anton from zero and all these people out in marin and uh it. The idea for wanting to connect, to be inclusive about a performance or having an improv performance, have some sort of structure and have it be participatory definitely came partly from being involved in Burning man.
01:12:34
And just how all the creativity is bringing out participation.
01:12:40 - Mel (Host)
And Keezy.
01:12:40 - Matt (Guest)
Keezy was all about participating is bringing out participation, you know. And Keezy, you know, keezy was all about participating. He was trying to get the audience to do participatory stuff. When we worked with him in the 90s with Twister, the play God this is another chapter.
01:12:55 - Mel (Host)
Sorry, I don't know if we talked about that before.
01:12:58 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, so Jam Bay was the pit band for a play that Ken Kesey wrote and we were living with him off and on while we were touring all around in the 90s and the play was kind of a take on Wizard of Oz and kind of the end of the world and it was about a ritual for the end of the world.
01:13:19
Like hard times need strong rituals, this whole thing and he had all these parts for the audience to do, you know sound effects with different dances and stuff, and that was his. He was blatant with it, just like everyone in orchestra is kind of blatant. He was like, you know, had it in a program, like for this thing, do this, for this thing, do this. You know, it was like a little bit. It was kind of maybe before his time or something that's so cool yeah but anyway.
01:13:42
But I felt like you know my, my, when I was a burning man. The first epiphany I had was like, oh my god, this is like kisi's brain right here, wow, okay okay, yeah, I mean at least part of it.
01:13:52 - Aaron (Host)
the creative part. Yeah, we'll not talk about that. Uh, listening back to the tapes of the acid tests Like there's one of the acid tests graduation and you can hear like the dead I'm doing air quotes for everybody playing music in the background you could tell that they're out of their mind and just making noise and it's awesome. But then you can hear there's microphones placed all around the room and there's just random people picking up the mic and saying shit and and things happening on one side of the room and people talking to people on the other side, because it's all amplified he's, he loved to like just put speakers that were connected to a microphone in a different space.
01:14:40 - Matt (Guest)
Yeah, like just have another speaker near you that was connected to a microphone in a different space. Like, just have another speaker near you that was connected by a different microphone. So people are just like what.
01:14:48 - Aaron (Host)
But it somehow worked.
01:14:50 - Apple (Host)
So yeah, it's amazing, I think our favorite. We still say that all the time, at least weekly.
01:14:55 - Aaron (Host)
No, man is an island?
01:14:56 - Apple (Host)
It's not an island, it's a peninsula.
01:14:58 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, it's cool to see that it's still going on and that that whole thing is has birthed this entire like gigantic tree with all these branches it's precious.
01:15:16 - Matt (Guest)
I, like I give thanks to all the people that fucking toil to make that come about because, dude, you know it is so much work and a lot of it's thankless and no one's making money to all the people that fucking toil to make that come about.
01:15:28 - Apple (Host)
It's dude I. You know it is so much work and a lot of it's thankless and no one's making money. I had no one's getting rich.
01:15:32 - Mel (Host)
No, what they said, there's only six.
01:15:33 - Matt (Guest)
There's like six people that are paid six paid positions. All the rest is volunteer.
01:15:36 - Aaron (Host)
Yes, it's insane, just like just being involved with the Spoken Word crew, I've gotten a look behind the curtain at what goes into planning for FAIR In one baby camp, in one camp. And it's Herculean yeah.
01:15:50 - Matt (Guest)
And people have learned how to do it and they pass it on to their kids or whatever. It's kind of evolving and I think I'm really excited about it. I think the new people it is evolving kind of helping produce it right now, like they're, they've got their hearts in the right spot. They all just connected to it. I love LPGOB's connection to the film. Yeah, I'm just like thank God we've got a fucking star child I know it's been going since she was in the womb.
01:16:16
Yeah, and it's like you know. You know, I just saw she has this writing camp called yes, or the Label.
01:16:23 - Aaron (Host)
Yes, yes, yes.
01:16:25 - Matt (Guest)
I mean you know.
01:16:26 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah.
01:16:27 - Apple (Host)
It's like you know, I love that.
01:16:29 - Matt (Guest)
You know, I love that. Yes, yes, yes, we do know.
01:16:32 - Aaron (Host)
Yes, yes, yes, that was one of the first things that, like I saw when I walked into fair, I was like oh, there, that's where. Oh, okay, now I get it pretty much, you know she's, she's a amazing bright, shiny, love it star child.
01:16:51 - Apple (Host)
You meet her parents and you see what I mean.
01:16:54 - Matt (Guest)
Like the dopest parents ever like great people and just another thing of the thank, thank. Thank you, organ country fair, for your inspiration.
01:17:01 - Aaron (Host)
All right, so here's the deal, everybody. If you're interested in going to Porto with Matt and a bunch of really amazing people or you're interested in going to Buenos Aires in November, go to the show notes. The link to the website is there and, like I said before, if if this hasn't like, peiqued your interest and I'm sorry.
01:17:25 - Mel (Host)
I don't know what else I could say and if it has um, reach out to matt. He's willing to talk about it totally yep, all right.
01:17:31 - Apple (Host)
I just want to say one last thing, because this is a plug for matt, because I still go back and watch him. You brought something amazing to us during covid, which I mean what you do already on stage is amazing, but doing everyone orchestra over, zoom with musicians around the country in their houses. When I first heard about it, I was like how are you going to do that? And it was fucking amazing.
01:17:54 - Matt (Guest)
And it still is. We wrote some great songs.
01:17:57 - Aaron (Host)
You did.
01:17:57 - Matt (Guest)
It's crazy, man, which is like yeah, I have a studio project right now where I'm putting together groups of people in studios or a band going to do that. It's kind of doing that, but really enjoying that. We can just physically do it.
01:18:09 - Mel (Host)
Like this.
01:18:12 - Aaron (Host)
Right on man, all right, thank you so much Thanks, Matt, Thank you.
01:18:16 - Matt (Guest)
Matt Peace on earth. Yeah, yeah.