Matthew Winters
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Matthew Winters

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"Music Spotlight: Matthew Winters"

You can count on both hands the number of Spokane musicians currently making tracks in the touring scene, but you can also now add to that ultra-tiny list Matthew Winters, a local performer with charm, talent and sparkle in his eyes to spare. Winters has been performing for the latter half of his 23 years, and, as he says, "I've always had a notebook handy." He just completed his first real round of touring alongside pals Paper Mache, including a stop at Austin's legendary South by Southwest music festival.
"We've had a great time," Winters says of the tour. "South By was so rad. This was my first time going. I got lucky enough to be able to play at a bar on 6th and Trinity, which is right about where the mass droves of people meander and try to comprehend everything that is going on. South By is a great place to meet great people." And all this facilitated by a Jeep Laredo that Winters says "sounds like an old lady climbing a set of stairs."
Winters has been playing around Spokane for the last few years and has found a sincere, real following. "Luckily for me I have the most supportive fans anyone could ask for. That's not just saying that these kids will be at all my shows. They totally will be they'll also hang out with me afterwards. They've let me sleep on their couches. They're more like my best friends." For this reason, he's resoundingly positive about the burgeoning Spokane music scene. "Spokane is a fickle town, but it's my fickle town. You deal with the good and the bad." Now back from touring, Winters will no doubt be playing his fickle town again soon, but in the meantime can be found online, www.myspace.com/matthewwintersmusic. - Spokane/CDA Living Magazine June 2007


"Live Review: Matthew Winters"

Matthew Winters
June 9, 2007 - CenterStage - Spokane, WA
by Ashley Graham
06.11.07

It’s irritating that Matthew Winters’ pants don’t reach his waist (we’re pretty sure they’re even too short). It’s irritating that he has multiple pictures of prepubescent girls holding signs of adoration on his MySpace page (really irritating). It’s irritating that he feels the need to be cutesy in any moment (balloons and stuffed animals are overkill, homeboy). These are all things, though, that we can rest assured he’ll look back on later and realize were unimportant.

Because in the end, Winters will probably win. In a music scene that really (really really fucking) excels at being a smidge above mediocrity (we love Spokane, but things are slipping back to crappy again on the quality side), Winters is an overachiever. He’s undoubtedly got the market on the weepy-boy-with-tight-pants-and-soulful-words shtick (at least partial shtick it’ll remain in these eyes because of those damn pants). “The Drunk Hounds”--and others--channel the Honorary Title catalog, with so much potential and just a twig or two too much Warped Tour-friendliness in the vocals. Winters has clearly got a loyal pack of followers. Is it outside-Spokane good? We’ll see what the future holds. In the here and now is Winters, guitar attached at hip, coy words and undeniable talent in tow.

More on Matthew Winters: www.myspace.com/matthewwintersmusic. - Ashley Graham: http://www.thewigfitsallheads.com/


"Lullaby for a Good Night"

There's really just one Matthew Winters song I want to tell you about. It's not that there's anything wrong with the rest of the songs on his 2007 album …Under Your Skin Like Splinters; they're confessional, slightly frantic midnight tirades that sound less like Winters wears his heart on his sleeve than like he has it in his fist and is holding it out for you to examine. Press material says "It's been said that if Alkaline Trio and Conor Oberst had a child it would be Matthew Winters," and on tracks like "Ridgely," which falls all over itself with bitter enthusiasm, there's some truth to that (at least if we're talking early Oberst). Later, the summery, spring-in-your-step "Sun Beats Moon" sounds like The Good Life, exposed and wry, surprised at the appearance of happiness. Sometimes Winters' self-deprecating lyrics and muted strumming veer into Dashboard Confessional territory, but without the slickness of a Dashboard ditty.

But this one song. It's called "Miercoles (The Lullaby Song)," and you can listen to it on Winters' MySpace page. It's the kind of song that's thick with magic and potential, the possibility settled between the simple, repetitive guitar melody and the percussive tones that sound like a broken music box or sticking keys on a tiny toy piano. At just over the two minute mark, the song stretches and thickens, shifts and turns — but just for a moment, as a resonant bass note appears, patiently pacing upwards, and Winters sings what sounds like "I cling to you like a sock to a sweater / and I don't mind admitting I can think of nothing better."

Then back to the sweet lullaby Winters goes, his voice hidden behind an effect that makes it sound as if the song is coming through a tinny little radio. It's this song you need to hear. — Molly Templeton



- The Eugene Weekly, Eugene, OR July 12, 2007


Discography

...Under Your Skin Like Splinters (2007)

The Six Track (2006)

The Piss Sessions (2005)

Photos

Bio

Matthew Winters has been labeled an "indie/acoustic rogue."

It's been said that he has "more balls than a bowling alley."

It's been said that if Alkaline Trio and Conor Oberst had a child it would be Matthew Winters.

Let it be said here that Winters has been and always will be his own entity.

Rooted in the dregs of Spokane, WA, Winters has had short stints in bands ranging from metal to hardcore to political, Propagandhi-esque punk rock, even a bit of hip hop. All the while he wrote and maintained his own emotions on the sidelines.

These emotions eventually surfaced and boiled over into demos and CD's that are collectively known as The Piss Sessions.

Winters' latest effort, appropriately titled ...Under Your Skin Like Splinters (2007) has been a giant leap from his folky roots.

Veering from the abrasive, anti-click track, solely acoustic sound that has acted as the groundwork for all his music, Winters employed a drummer for ...Under Your Skin. He layered and added other instruments to the record, thusly defining his style with more sound and a cleaner, more produced tone.

For the fans that remember him for his drunken, campfire like stage presence, ...Under Your Skin Like Splinters was something of a mindfuck.

However, still flying solo with just his guitar, Winters has been able to maintain the original feel of the songs that he wrote alone, tipsy, and in the dark. Winters' style appeals to both sides of the tracks.