I met Matt when I was a freshman in high school. I’ve always thought he was one of the most mellow people I’ve known. Thanks to Facebook, we reconnected a few years back. When he posted a video for a song he had written it led me to his album. I bought it because when friends do any kind of art the best support is to buy it. I really love the music and I reached out and talked to Matt about it.

Jon: Matt, what is your musical background as a player?

Matt: I started playing bass guitar at age 13. A classmate friend of mine had a band and their bass player wasn’t working out. He informed me of this one day and said “you should play bass”. I went home and asked my parents, they were supportive and the journey began. We played together all through high school, and various line-ups would get back together during the summers when we were in college. I attended music school after college and continued to play in various bands. During this period I also started playing guitar simply for the challenge and enjoyment. I stopped playing professionally in my early thirties. I was honestly kind of burned out and had other opportunities and interests that I wanted to pursue. I continued to play guitar and bass, albeit strictly for fun. Long story short. I have been playing an instrument for forty plus years.

Jon: How has your taste in music evolved over the years?

Matt:  Mainly by expansion honestly. Music has evolved a lot from when I first picked up an instrument. While my blues/rock foundation and influence will never change, I think it is natural for anyone who plays an instrument to be interested in new sounds and influences. When I say “new” I don’t necessarily mean current, just exposure to something you haven’t heard before, no matter when it was created.  I also feel that it is somewhat inevitable because people can change over time as well. I think that musical growth is a natural evolution of personal growth.

Jon: The music on Self Medication sounds like it comes from a person who is happy and at peace with himself, would that be an accurate statement?

Matt: This project was therapy honestly. These last few years have been the most difficult of my life. I went through a period of tremendous personal loss. Parents, pets, and friends. I was searching for joy. After the loss of a close childhood friend who was influential in my musical beginning, I decided to pen a song about him. The process I found to be cathartic. That’s really when I decided to do this project. If writing one song about the loss of a good friend helped, maybe completing a CD would do even more for my mental health…and it did. I had about three or four titles on a list, but settled on “Self Medication” because that is what it was.

Jon: Each of the songs has a different inspiration as noted on the liner notes. I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit on them?

Matt: Music to me is about emotion. The topics I chose to write about are all ones that have affected my life immensely. I am not an experienced songwriter, so it seemed natural to want to write about familiarity. As I stated in the previous answer, this was therapy for me, so I wanted to create something uplifting and positive. I figured that if it helped me, maybe it could pay forward and bring some joy to someone else.

Jon: I’ve found that music is a great way for me to deal with things I’m going through, good and bad.  It can enhance the mood I’m in or change it. I would imagine playing and creating music would do that tenfold. Do you find it to be somewhat therapeutic?

Matt: Absolutely. I feel so fortunate to be able to play an instrument. It is one of the most challengingly satisfying experiences in my life. It is true honesty defined to me. If you give a little, it will give you a little. If you give a lot, it will give you way more in return.

Jon: How long did it take to record the album?

Matt: It took about two months to do the music, and about a month to add some harmony vocals and perform the mix down.

Jon: Many of the authors I know say that writing the first draft is pretty quick but the editing is what takes the time and work. How much went into the post production? And am I right that you did this in a home studio?

Matt: You are correct. I don’t know if I would call it a “studio”, it’s just a bedroom/man cave. I did some research and acquired the basic equipment that would allow me to complete this project. Since I had never done this before, the entire process was a learning experience. I learned a lot, and still know very little if that makes any sense. As far as post production work, that was another learning experience as well. Luckily, I have a wonderful partner more skilled than I is this area. She deserves the credit for most of it.

Jon: Being a fan of music for so long how satisfying is it to see this out in the world and to be getting feedback on it?

Matt: So far it has been a really neat experience. I’ve always known the power of music and the effect it can have on people. But creating something myself and seeing it bring some joy to someone else is very gratifying. Especially since it started as a way toward self healing. To have it affect others positively, pretty cool.  

Jon: What do you do with your time when you don’t have a guitar in your hand?

Matt: I think about the fact that I should be playing more guitar. Actually, not a whole lot. As I have gotten older my life seems to have simplified. I enjoy hanging with my girl (soon to be wife…if she ever picks a date), my dogs, skiing of course, golfing, grilling out, hiking, camping those kind of things.

Jon: I know this just came out, but do you have plans to do more recording?

Matt: Short answer, yes. It was such a great experience in every way that I would like to continue to grow and learn by doing more of it. To be honest, when I first listened to my finished mix I liked it more than I thought I would. I wasn’t really thinking about a finished product during the experience because I was doing it for therapeutic reasons. Upon completion I thought it was pretty good. So then I started thinking that maybe like most things in life, the more you do it the better you get at it. We’ll see.

Jon: If you could go back in time and give 13 year old Matt some advice what would it be?

Matt: Start writing songs and study voice training. I was fortunate to be in a musical situation in high school that had some incredible talent. Unfortunately, we never ventured outside of performing cover songs. That has always been a “what if” situation in the back of my mind. Along those lines I would add diversification. Take in as much information as possible from all genres of music. There will always be someone better, the key in my mind is to develop skills that allow you to please yourself when you create.  

Jon: Any advice for someone who has been thinking about recording some music?

Matt: My advice would be to do it…absolutely. It is a pretty special thing to create music. As I said before it was and will continue to be a learning process for me. There is a lot of work that goes into a finished product, but I enjoyed every step of the way. There is an endless amount of information available as far as how to get started with equipment and other essentials. I went old school and used an 8 channel porta-studio instead of computer software. There are many recording software programs available and they do offer more sounds and effects, but I didn’t feel my project required that. It doesn’t take much capital to get started…you just have to start.

Jon: Where can people order the CD andiIs there a way for people to keep up to date on possible new music?

Matt: ‘Self Medication” is available for digital download as well as physical CD’s at matthewjmiller.bandcamp.com

I have started writing for my next project and my goal is to try and have it completed by the end of the year. It seems ambitious because I will have some time constraints but its always good to have a goal. I may release a song to two early to my Bandcamp account stated above. Stay tuned!