Moving Matter

MOVING MATTER INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What made you guys decide to move from Ft. Collins to Austin and how has that move benefited the band?

Austin at the time appreared to be a mecca of live music and new opportunity for the band. The move has benefited in several ways, probably the most notable is the actual move in itself of giving up all our goods and friends and starting over from scratch was a tough challenge as we still continue to become "recognized" in this sea of music and musicians.
2. Which artists are you most influenced by as you continue to evolve as a band?

As a drummer, I have heavy jazz, rock, funk influences. In fourth grade I was riding my bike around with a tape deck taped to the handle bars listening to tower of power and lots of led zeppelin. Nowadays I am constantly influenced by what the other guys in the band listen to for the most part and I try and catch new influences around town at shows. I would say our band is evolving more into a more original rock style yet still maintaining a jam sort of sense in our music.
3. Where is your favorite place to play in Austin right now?

I would have to say outdoor soundboard festivals and Stubbs and the Vibe. Although most don't prefer the vibe's bathrooms and acoustics, I feel comfortable there as we have played there upwards of 60 times in the last 1.5 years.

4. Your website is chuck full of videos, pictures, and other great content. How has your online presence helped increase attendance at shows / awareness in general?

Although all our answers might differ, I feel that the webiste has definitely generated some good, but could be more functional for our users. It helps our fans keep in touch with show dates but it needs improvement in some areas as we are working on making it more functional so that users can download and save music and maybe interact with one another (bulletin board etc). Streaming audio is great as we get people that email and like the streaming feed so that is a big plus.
5. If you could open for any national touring act right now, who would it be and what would you want to say to them backstage?

I would have to say Ween. Backstage, I would have to say where's the horse tranquilizers, but I don't think we are funny enough to hang out/play music with them. So I guess I would have to go with Niel Diamond or Tower of Power. For them I would ask "where are the diapers!" .. In all seriousness I would have to talk music with them and try and learn as much as possible.

6. Can each of you describe your current onstage gear setup?

My gear is currently very basic, although I have enough drums to open up a small drum shop. I am in the process of re-acquiring electronic drum device(s) as I had in the past, but for now I try and focus on the basic food groups of drums and focus more on my natural sound vs having pedals and loops eqs etc. In Austin, it's hard as a drummer to have a gigantic rig when you get a 20 minute slot at a gas station parking lot on a tuesday. Sometimes, it's just not worth luggin all the loot to a gig like that. If we were on tour, things would be largely diffferent and I Would have my cage with gong, cowbells, blocks, noisemakers etc.
7. If you could have your own Moving Matter festival here in central Texas, where would it be and what would you call it?

I would like to play a gig at a water venue. Somewhere the audience could be in the water listening to the music. Maybe even have the band floating as we have often talked about having a houseboat gig but it hasn't been very practical unfortunately and costs $$$. I would call it "BargleBot 2005"
8. What do you guys have planned as a band for the summer?

We are (of course subject to change...) hoping to work on getting our business matters and merchandising in line along with composing new material and polishing our act up entirely.

Mike Hanley
V.P. & Director of Technical Services
Austin Soundboard
www.austinsoundboard.org
512.697.9856
Music that Deserves to be Heard. - Austin Soundboard (.com)

I found some good roadtrip music for anyone that gets down on Phish/Panic type stuff. Their name is Moving Matter, a three piece band that plays The Vibe Thursday night.

I listened to their CD, and instantly liked it. The album, "Miles Away," has a real upbeat, jam band kind of sound to it. I could definitely see myself listening to these guys on a spring break road trip to some "dirty hippie" Colorado ski resort.

The album didn't have any "ultra long jam session" type songs, which can be good or bad depending on your music taste. I personally like a few of those "zone out" numbers on jam band albums. The longest song on this album was an eight minute instrumental, but it didn't do it for me.

Unlike a lot of jambands I have heard, Moving Matter has some really good lyrics. The song "Trodden Street" really puts the vocals and instrumentals together well. I actually wanted to hear what they had to sing about, unlike OAR who ruins perfectly good songs with retarded lyrics.

The band consists of three guys-- Josh Pearson on guitar, Dan McGreevy on drums and Chris Holland on Bass. When this trio gets going, you can really tell they have spent a lot of time bringing their sound together, with more than 250 concerts, which is probably why they have opened for some amazing headliners such as Particle-- one of my absolute favorites in this genre of music.

Pearson, the only member of the band I met personally, comes across as the type of guy who has spent his fair share of time "a mile high in the Colorado mountains," which is a state they have played extensively. Toting a scruffy beard, a laid back attitude and a soft-spoken voice, the border line hippie lets his music do most of the talking. And for the most part, it made a damned strong statement.

I first got to the show just as the band was setting up-- around 10pm. After getting a beer, which was around $2, I made a round to see what the crowd looked like. If I had to guess I would say it was about 30 people, and steadily rising as they began to play. The ratio was a bit sad. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a weenie roast, but the ladies were definitely outnumbered.

The first few songs were a bit rough as the band tried to get in the groove of things, causing me to lose some interest. I decided to do some more "random bar roaming" while the trio worked the bugs out. Eventually, I ended up outside on the back deck, which was empty (it was wicked cold) except for one circle of people. In friendly Texas fashion, the group asked me if I would like to join them in a smoke. As we passed around a cigar, the two girls in the group explained to me that they had seen the band several times and always enjoyed coming to the show.

Eventually I worked my way back into the crowd, which had grown considerably since I wandered off. After spending some time with my new and generous friends, the music completely sucked me in. It seemed that the band had now "worked the kinks out" and were playing like one collective unit on the stage.

From where I stood in the crowd, I could see the entrance to the club. On several occasions I noticed people walk by, then stop to listen, and then turn around and enter the bar. By 11:30, the chairs and barstools had been abandoned, and the crowd, which was around 60 people, began to push together and do that, "I'm white and this is the best I can do" type of dance. By midnight several people had moved on to the completely connected and lost in the music gyration, which in jamband terms, means the guys were getting the job done.

To add to the music, which really worked the crowd up, the guys had an amazing lighting system, which was controlled by a hippie who sat at the bar and tried to pick up chicks with his cool laptop.

By the end of the night I was excited about everything except my tab. The crowd seemed to leave satisfied and pumped. Other than their rocky start, which may have caused some skeptical listeners to bar hop, I would say these guys are definitely worth a shot. Not to mention that it's free for anyone 21 and up, so you have absolutely nothing to lose. To learn more about the band, and for showtimes, go to www.movingmatter.com.

By: Andy Jordan
December 3, 2006
The Independent Texas Student Newspaper
Vol. 1, No. 18.
- The Austin Student

It's 4:17 and I'm still a bit hungover. So it goes when you dance and drink until 1:30 in the morning, courtesy of the best concert I've been to in over two years. I went to Stubbs last night with jimmer and MMHorns to catch Green Lemon for the first time.

We arrived at Stubbs at 9:00, thinking we'd catch the last bit of the opening band - Moving Matter (MySpace page here) - and get settled in to a good spot for when Green Lemon took the stage. As it turned out, Moving Matter was just starting their set, and we were damn lucky it worked out that way. After opening with some reggae sounding slower stuff, the band erupted into some of the most completely hypnotizing jams I've heard in a long time. Captivated, we positioned ourselves at the top of the balcony (inside stage) and let ourselves go with the music. The band wonderfully integrates synthesized sounds into the music to create a rich, diverse, and unpredictable sound. After a solid hour of jamming (couldn't tell you the names of the songs; we were Moving Matter virgins), Moving Matter opened a song with a riff that sounded to MMHorns and I a hell of lot like Phish's "Tweezer". As they continued, it became clear that it was Tweezer. And then, it was time for the lyrics and. . .

It wasn't Tweezer. Moving Matter had their own lyrics for the song, and we were totally caught by surprise - in a very good way. (As an aside, MMHorns swears the lyrics were from a Beatles song, but I don't recall that. I think I may have been too lost in the music to notice.) Now even more captivated, we listened (and danced), waiting to see where they'd take the big jam after the second verse. I couldn't put the jam into words (I'm a lousy music critic), but I'll tell you that it was one of the five best jams I've ever heard - and I've heard a lot of them over the years. Twenty minutes later, they returned to Tweezer, rounded out the song and wrapped it up. All told, it was one of the best concert songs I've heard to date, so much so that getting a tape of Moving Matter's set is a high priority for me. (If you're interested in checking them out yourselves, they'll be at Troubador on Tuesday, March 13th for SXSW. Entry to the show is $5.00 and MM takes the stage around midnight. Count me in.)

After Moving Matter finished up, I raced downstairs to chat with the lead guitarist briefly, asked him about the band's influences and what not, and congratulated them on a great show. Returning upstairs, I pretty much felt like the concert had to have peaked. I wasn't sure Green Lemon could match that kind of jamming that we'd heard over the last forty-five minutes.

And I was thrilled to be dead wrong. Green Lemon more or less rocked out Stubbs for two hours straight with an impressively clean sound. They hit a number of songs from the album I own (including a rockin' version of Whitecap) and had the entire audience dancing about Stubbs gleefully. - Burnt Orange Nation