Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Matt Brewster
179 Plays4 years ago
There are many great bass players in the world, and many that reside in the Pacific Northwest. One bass player that stands out in particular is Portland, Oregon’s Matt Brewster. Sometimes known as Phunky Brewster, he has been called for countless studio sessions and has played for many bands throughout his time in PDX with no end in sight. He has toured through several states and has taken stages both big and small. While perhaps not being known for exceptional technicality, he is known for exceptional feel, pocket, time, and groove that are woven together to create melodic and thoughtful bass lines. If his playing isn’t enough, consider that he plays with a handicap on both hands! Matt’s fretting hand has 2 fingers that have fused knuckles while his plucking hand is missing four fingers, leaving only his thumb! He is living proof that through love and dedication to your craft, anything is achievable.
Brewster also plays the cajon in a very unique way, making the Peruvian percussion instrument at home with multiple genres from folk to hip-hop, pop, and soul. In addition, he is also a capable producer. While mostly producing for his own projects, he sometimes will be found creating songs for other artists. Brewster’s current main affiliations are Laryssa Birdseye and Hiroki which can both be heard wherever you consume your music.
https://www.tiktok.com/@phunky.brewster
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Vellante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
00:00:18
Speaker
This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. And I have Matt Brewster here, who I've heard about through other guests like Larissa Birdseye. He's all about town. He's Funky Brewster, and that's with a pH. So no F. I had to take advantage of that when, you know, my last name is Brewster. I had to do it.
00:00:39
Speaker
Damn, Funky Brewster, we got Funky Brewster, Matt Brewster here on something rather than nothing. Welcome to the show, brother. Hey, thank you so much, Ken. I'm very glad to be here.
Artistic Beginnings and Societal Influence
00:00:49
Speaker
Really excited to, a little nervous. This is my first solo podcast interview. Yeah, well, you know.
00:00:56
Speaker
You know, it's fun. It'll be a good fun conversation. And a lot of people, you know, like in your tracks and the licks and all the musical work that you do. But I got to ask you first, Matt, going back to the beginning, were you an artist when you were born? Hmm, I would say so. I believe that everyone is an artist when they're born, I think.
00:01:26
Speaker
Also, unfortunately, societal structures can sometimes maybe cause people to forget that fact. And maybe the artistry is dulled, but I don't think it's really ever extinguished. I think that, yeah, I mean, when we're born, we all have a little bit of art, a little bit of magic within us. I mean, wouldn't you say?
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, I um, it's it's it's it's a it's a big it's a big question like developmentally has come up because I don't know it's put it in simple terms. It's like I think people got it when they began and then part of their life story ends up being whether The people who are around them jump in and say yeah, you do that crazy shit that you're doing right, right Or they be like or whether they look at it. Hey, that's a sign of the devil I know
00:02:13
Speaker
I grew up in a very religious family and did the whole church thing pretty solidly. So I sort of get that a little bit. But yeah, I mean, I agree with you. The craziness is the art too. I mean, it's what makes us all individuals and separates us from one another. And I think that, yeah, sometimes that can get a little lost and a little bit dulled. And that's unfortunate.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah.
Music Projects and Pacific Northwest Scene
00:02:40
Speaker
Hey, Matt, I wanted to bring the listeners into the music work that you do. I had mentioned at a recent guest, Larissa Bird's Eye, who's fantastic and fun. She's great, isn't she? Yeah, she's super. I'm sure.
00:03:01
Speaker
We'll give our props to Larissa as we go along. But one of the things that I want to know, and if you could let listeners know, you pop around town, you're in different projects. We're going to have a track by Hiroki that will be playing in just a little bit. You work with various artists. So tell the listeners what you do and where you pop around in the Portland Pacific Northwest and wherever.
00:03:31
Speaker
Sure. Well, I have two main projects that I'm a part of. One is with Larissa Birdseye. And I've been doing that music with her ever since we met. And funny thing about that is I met her at an open mic and she was just playing some music there. And I was in a hip-hop funk band at the time. This was like maybe eight years ago or so. We were looking for a female vocalist and
00:03:55
Speaker
just so happened to randomly be like, hey, like, really liked your singing, do you maybe want to be a part of this band? Like, you know, what's your number? She's like, yeah, okay, buddy. Whatever. So when I went on about it, we exchanged information, like maybe a month or so later, she finally listens to some of the tracks I sent her and she's like, Oh,
00:04:11
Speaker
Oh, shit. Yeah, okay. And, you know, so we did that whole thing for like about another year, and then that band died off because we couldn't keep a drummer locked down. Drummers are sneakily hard to keep locked down. Drummers are tough to keep locked down. Yeah, man. So yeah, and then after that, she just, you know, kind of wanted to do her own music and asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. I said, Yeah, and so we've been
00:04:39
Speaker
doing that ever since then, and
Formation and Evolution of Hiroki
00:04:41
Speaker
we're still doing it. We actually were just in New York. She's still in New York, but I just got back a couple days ago. We played a couple shows out there. She's released a couple singles since the last EP, which is Wildfire, and that Wildfire EP I had a heavy hand in co-producing and playing some instruments on as well.
00:05:02
Speaker
And yeah, we've gotten to tour up and down the west coast. We've gotten to go to the east coast a couple times. We're playing shows all over the northwest as well. But yeah, so Larissa is one of the projects. The other project is Hiroki. That's more of a recent one, I would say. It was kind of
00:05:22
Speaker
So it's with my, Hiroki is me and my friend Salvatore Manalo, which I don't know if you've heard his name before. He is one of the slickest singers and slickest guitar players around. Also one of the hardest workers I've ever seen too. But yeah, he was doing his solo project and he had a band and his bassist ended up moving to LA and he asked me if I wanted to join up and I said yeah.
00:05:46
Speaker
And then after we had been playing for a while, um, you know, a couple of few months, I was like, Hey, you know, would you be interested in like, you know, doing like a co like, uh, you know, uh, co thing, you know, where we write the songs together, you know, and like perform together.
00:06:01
Speaker
under the same banner, and he was like, yeah, sure. So we birthed Heroki, and that was kind of made official pretty much close to the start of the pandemic, actually, which was interesting because we didn't really get to play out. But what we did get to do was, since we live five minutes away from each other, we got to hunker down.
00:06:21
Speaker
write a bunch of songs while drinking a ton of alcohol. And yeah, we just recorded them one by one. And so what we've done is instead of like releasing an album or an EP, we've been going about it by releasing it single by single. And we released our first one last October, so almost a year, about a year ago almost. And
00:06:46
Speaker
We've been releasing one a month ever since up until like maybe last month, I think was the last time we put one out, but we'll be releasing an EP. I mean, I was kind of hoping that we'd have it out like this month, but it might not be until early November or something like that.
00:07:01
Speaker
But we're just now finally starting to play back out and it's really cool too because even though it's just me and Sal that are kind of spearheading the project, we got a drummer on board and we got a duo keys player and our keys player is also, he's using his laptop to trigger auxiliary sounds and using all of the MIDI sounds. We sent him all the MIDI patches that we use on the recording so he's able to just do all that live and it's starting to sound really, really good and I'm really, really excited about it.
00:07:32
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so that's Larissa bird's eye and Hiroki. And those are the two major projects that I work with. Um, I just do a lot of freelance to around town.
Post-Pandemic Musical Ventures
00:07:40
Speaker
Um, September was a really crazy month for me. I think I played with nine different groups in September. Wow. It's that's a, I mean, I mean, I'm used to playing with multiple groups, you know, in any given month, but nine, nine was kind of a lot for me. That, that was, um.
00:07:57
Speaker
I think I was just really chomping at the bit and like really anxious to get back to playing music again, you know, since things were opening up and I just kind of said yes to everything. And I'm really glad that I did because it challenged me and made me like really focus up and get back to like pre-pandemic Matt, you know.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Doing the art, maybe the way you want to do it, or at least moving in that direction. Yeah, and just being busy again, and making sure that I got my chops back up to speed and just my ability to learn songs by ear really, really quickly. It was exciting to write out charts again, which I had to use charts because there's no way that I can remember nine different set lists in the same one.
00:08:41
Speaker
No way, not possible. I have a famously bad memory. But yeah, so I got to play with, let's see, this month I played with like Toxic. And she's a sweetheart and a super high energy. And you know, we did that at the Star Theater. And then I played with Rain Ezra.
00:08:59
Speaker
who's ridiculously talented. She's a young woman here in Portland that's just a wonderful soul singer, really good ear for harmony and music and orchestration. I played with Will Kinky. I'm sure that you've heard his name thrown out around. This dude literally plays everywhere all of the time.
00:09:18
Speaker
My friend Wim Grace, she just came into town and did a studio session for her and then I went out to Goldendale, Washington, out to this beautiful place that my buddy E-Wing Jones has. It's like this compound out in
00:09:33
Speaker
you know, just in the middle of nowhere, but it's like this beautiful, like tall vault-style ceilinged room that we recorded in with huge bay windows with a gorgeous view. And I was out there recording for Liam St. John, if you know that guy. Man, what a voice Liam's got. He's just so intense. And you would never know just by talking to him, because he's so gentle. He starts singing, he's like Howlin' Wolf all of a sudden, like he's got the thing.
00:10:02
Speaker
Oh, you know, he was on, I think, what was it, the voice he was on recently? Oh, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, so I don't know. I play with a bunch of
Hip-Hop Collaborations and Influences
00:10:11
Speaker
people. And anybody that calls me up and says, hey, I'm looking for a bass player, I'm looking for a cajon player, or I need a collab on something, if I'm able to do it, I will. I think one of my favorite things that I got to do last year was I worked, I haven't done hip hop in a very long time.
00:10:31
Speaker
But I got to work with this rapper, producer, Mike Bars. He hit me up and asked me if I wanted to do a bassline on one of his songs. And it was a song called Million Deaths, which you can find everywhere. Man, Mike is so talented. It's one of the best raps I've ever heard in my life, honestly. I was just astonished to hear the final product. I was like, wow, man, I can't believe that you just had me on that track. That is so dope. I was so excited.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, I look forward to hearing that. I've had hip-hop guests on. I grew up, it's funny, I grew up out at Out East in Rhode Island.
00:11:12
Speaker
Right when like rap and hip-hop, that's all I listen to so it's like, you know mid 80s I was like 12 13 Breakdancer, you know Yeah definite definite definite b-boy and um, I've listened I've listened listen to true throughout and I was just checking out the new NAS album, I didn't realize he had one so And it it's like I
00:11:40
Speaker
somebody had mentioned to me is like, he's always on top. And like, he listened to it. I'm like, this guy's still on top, man. It's not so. Yeah. And I mean, not as a killer. We all know that man. So, hey, let's go. Listeners, we're going to go to
00:11:58
Speaker
to Matt's work with Hiroki, we're gonna play a track, a recently released called Light Em Up. Hey Matt, we're gonna play this right now and afterwards we're gonna find out what the heck art is. That sound good? Sounds great to me. Alrighty, here we go. Imagine cruising in Cali Raising in glass in the air Light em up if you got em, baby
00:12:53
Speaker
Keepin' inside
00:13:46
Speaker
I want to hold you close and make a night of mistakes But I'm taking it slow till you say we should know So are we staying, your lips are saying
Unpredictability in Live Performances
00:15:41
Speaker
Hell yeah. Yes, sir. All right. Yeah, man, that song is so much fun. I love that song. I realized after listening to that song, there's a big gap in my music listening that's cool grooves, man. Dude, it's the bassist that targets the booty and just, you know, makes you want to kind of take the whole about the groove.
00:16:07
Speaker
I love it. I love it. The sun's out today, you know, if you can open up the sunroof and, you know. Yeah, man, that was the whole vibe of the song. You know, we just wanted a nice summertime slapper. And, man, we just ended up with like a weird disco trap gospel-y sort of fusion song.
00:16:26
Speaker
We had Paul Parisa, a guest with a piano on it, man, and he killed it on that. Oh, it's beautiful. Okay, so I got a couple quick fill-in stories for you before we ask you about what is art. So one of the funny things I mentioned in my B-Boy period, my tag at the time was Sphinx, right? Sphinx? Okay.
00:16:50
Speaker
And in my head, my 12-year-old white boy head, I was like, my moves are so mysterious that they're riddles, right? Like the riddles of the sphinx. So there was a lot of mystery, a lot of riddles. That's what I did with it, right? So if the move was wrong, if I blew the move, it's a riddle.
00:17:16
Speaker
Nice cover, man. Nice cover. I like it. The other one has to do with drummers, strangely enough. I was at a weed eater show. I'm a big sludge, doom metal guy.
00:17:31
Speaker
the weed eater drummer didn't make it to the show because he was in the hospital oh don't don't don't know why he was still intact but um so they showed up to the show without a without a drummer the three three-piece band and i've never seen this before they were the you know they were the the lead band
00:17:51
Speaker
They pulled out the drummer from the first three opening bands to play three songs on each of their songs. So I saw them play with three drummers, none of which they expected to have.
00:18:08
Speaker
how fun is that though you know like uh just not knowing like especially for the drummer too like not really knowing the tunes it's like all right here we go let's all gas no breaks let's find out the drummers were universally excited oh hell yeah and did it sound good did they do a good job it sounded good it sounded good you know uh what a way to recover like can you imagine showing up to a show and then like something so essential like drums is like
00:18:37
Speaker
Not able to make it. Oh my god. What a nightmare. And this is that's making something out of nothing right there. That's something out of nothing And the funny thing is to The final piece on weed eater I just the third time I had seen him and each time they've completely blown up equipment because of how loud it just completely blown it up. So not only Each time I've seen them they've dealt with personnel issues. They've dealt with equipment issues. It's like actually blowing up
00:19:07
Speaker
up. I've never seen or actually like heard a real life story about that. That's insane. Well, next time weed eater runs through town. Well, I'll see I'll see you there. I might have to go just for that. For sure. I'm bringing earplugs guaranteed. I mean, this this I might have to see.
00:19:27
Speaker
All right, so we got we got Matt, the funky Brewster, and this is the first big first big fastball at you.
Defining Art Beyond Traditional Mediums
00:19:37
Speaker
What is art, Matt? Yo, that's kind of an easy one, I think any form of creative expression to me is art. And I think like people typically have like they tend to view art as things like music, singing, film, painting, drawing, dancing, you know, things like that.
00:19:56
Speaker
But I think art really extends to other things and other aspects in life like, I don't know, cooking, architecture, interior design, different forms of massage, acupuncture, healing. Even being a mental therapist can be a form of art, landscaping, wine making, brewing, distilling.
00:20:18
Speaker
I mean, even sports. You ever watch Michael Jordan play basketball? But that is art. Man, I had a big Michael Jordan phase when I was younger, too. But yeah, video games, parenting even, I think can be a form of art. Man, that is an art. Hats off to all the parents out there. Props to you. Y'all are doing it. And we see it, and we're all the better world for it.
00:20:45
Speaker
But yeah, I think that anything that takes creativity to me is art because we get to do it our own way on our terms, you know.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I really appreciate that. Now, I have a question that's connected to it, and it's in
The Pandemic's Impact on Artistic Expression
00:21:02
Speaker
general, too. The question is, what is the role of art? And I ask that in the sense of two ways. In general, for human beings creating art, what's the role? But also, if you wish, is it different now during tough times, during a pandemic? Has the role of art changed? So what is the role of art?
00:21:25
Speaker
um wow that is that is a deep question there um for whatever reason i kind of want to start on how it's changed during the pandemic because i think it certainly has mostly because we're dealing with with things and feelings and situations that you know our generation hasn't ever had to deal with before and there's no right or wrong way to feel about it i don't think and
00:21:53
Speaker
any way that you can creatively express the way that you feel about it, I think is beautiful. And I think that a lot of people that are artists have taken to that and really, I mean, one of two things have happened. They've either let it stifle them or it's completely made them bloom as artists and transform. As far as like what the role of art is, I believe that it exists to feed the soul.
00:22:20
Speaker
And if art is any form of creative expression, like I said earlier, what would we even be without that? It not only nurtures us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, but it also sets forth examples for future artists to draw and expand upon.
00:22:37
Speaker
Like it's really exciting to think about the evolution of art as the years have passed. Like since I'm a musician, I'll speak on that. Music likely probably began as, I don't actually know this, but probably likely began as like just singing or humming and like
00:22:53
Speaker
maybe beating on a drum or like a rock or something, you know, some form of rhythm. But, you know, lots of time has passed and instruments of all kinds have been created now. And we've obviously even transcended the realm of only using acoustic instruments. We have electric instruments. And as an electric bass player, I'm really grateful to companies like Fender, for instance, who
00:23:15
Speaker
made massive innovations in the electric bass in 1951 with putting out the P-Bass. But yeah, now we have like synths of all kinds, like talk boxes and things that can make crazy noises. We have computers with DAWs, which are digital audio workstations, like the programs that allow you to record music. And we have virtual instruments that can be controlled through MIDI, which MIDI is insane.
00:23:43
Speaker
On pretty much all the Hiroki tracks, and a lot of the Larissa tracks, we don't even have a real drummer. We just program all the drums in through MIDI. And all the synths that we're using are all controlled through MIDI, just all on the same keyboard. I think that's incredible. And instead of having to have an actual studio with real hardware and consoles, you now can just use an arsenal of plugins to
00:24:11
Speaker
like achieve an incredible quality of sound and that goes for movies too not just for music and I mean shoot speaking of we make alien music you've heard dubstep right like yeah yeah right but all of this to say that it only serves to inspire create and further innovate this form of art which is music and I can't wait to see what happens in the future but yeah I think music just really exists as a whole to feed the soul we need that I mean
00:24:40
Speaker
People love art galleries, people love film, people define who they are at an early age based on what kind of music they listen to. It's such a fundamental part of our society and I think I'm just really grateful to be a part of it, man. I'm here for it. That's what art is to me, I suppose, if I'm summing it up. Yeah, I appreciate that energy. I feel about it the same way as like the
00:25:09
Speaker
the sense and I've just had a bunch of recent conversations about if you think about music too, as you know, healing and medicine, right? Like expelling emotion or, or, you know, the singer expresses your emotion and then you share it like in that way. It's so powerful. And a lot of times too, with things like that, I don't even have to know what they're saying or like understand the lyrics necessarily so much is like hear the way they're singing it and just
00:25:37
Speaker
be engrossed and encompassed by the melody. Stevie Wonder said it. Music is a world within itself. It's a language we all understand. And that's true. Music is a language. And everybody understands it. It's beautiful. It's the world language.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, Stevie Wonder and inner visions and the funk of the city, you know? Definitely, definitely. So I want to ask like a little bit more of another origin, just going back a little bit, but the general big question has to do about influences upon you.
Personal Origins and Overcoming Challenges
00:26:17
Speaker
And the question around that is, what or who made you who you are, Matt?
00:26:24
Speaker
Ooh, I can go like really deep with the origin story or I can just like talk about influence. Where do you want to start? The show is a collaboration, brother. Rock and roll. Okay. I guess maybe we'll start just like with the origin story, I suppose, but everything made me who I am. So I was born in Seoul, Korea. I was adopted at a very, very early age, like before I had memories. And I came to California. I was raised in California.
00:26:53
Speaker
Like I said, I grew up in the church, which I think really honestly nurtured my musicianship. I actually wanted, so I wanted to become a musician bass player specifically because when I was in fifth grade, there was this girl named Samantha Betancourt and she wanted to play the guitar and the school band had just decided that it wasn't just going to do like the traditional band instruments.
00:27:18
Speaker
you know, that was going to start incorporating some jazz instruments too. So I was like, okay, you want to play guitar? I'll play bass and we can play music together. Yes. Sixth grade came around, you know, it was in the summer between fifth and sixth. Sixth grade came around and she did not join the band, but I did still. But it was really cool for me because before that, the first instrument I think I tried to play was the trombone and I was like back in fourth grade.
00:27:41
Speaker
And I ended up doing, I sucked so bad at the trombone. Like they tried to teach me how to read music. I still can't read music to this day, by the way. But I had to learn the trombone because that's the only thing my parents would let me play because I'm actually, I don't know if you knew this, but I'm disabled. I'm missing fingers and a leg. And so since I was missing fingers, they didn't think that I would be able to play like the clarinet sax or anything like that.
00:28:10
Speaker
But the funny thing is, I'm playing stringed instruments, missing these fingers now. And, you know, dad, eat your heart out. But, you know, my parents were really cool. They gave me all the encouragement in the world. They just decided they didn't want me to try to, you know, maybe be embarrassed in the musical realm. But they told me that I could probably, you know, pretty much do anything that I wanted to do in almost every sense.
00:28:40
Speaker
You know, I told you that I had like a huge Michael Jordan phase, right? I'm one. Yeah. Yeah. A professional basketball player. Yeah. This one legged, six fingered, five foot nothing kid thinking that I was going to maybe make it to the NBA one day. Well, I bet there was something there. I bet you there was something you could do that nobody else could do. I don't know what it is, but I'd lose every single time. That's that's what it was. That's what it was.
00:29:06
Speaker
Not so much of an inspirational story, right? No, not there, not there. In fact, you know, Larissa will still try to get me to go out and play basketball sometimes, and she just whooped the dog shit out of me. She looks like a hoopster. She is a fierce competitor. She gets this, like, look in her eyes, like Kobe Bryant used to get back when he was like, you know, it's my time now. Yeah, she'll take it to you, man. She'll put the shoulder down and come at you. Is she out in New York for the Brooklyn Nets, or is she playing music?
00:29:35
Speaker
She's playing music, but I would think that she's moonlighting with the nets, you know? But yeah, so even just being disabled had a huge impact on the way that I've grown up to play music, because I have influences for sure. Those influences, as far as base goes, I would say Victor Wooten was a huge catalyst. I mean, every bass player loves Victor Wooten. I mean, how could you not? He's one of the greatest to ever do it.
00:30:04
Speaker
James Jamerson played on all the Motown hits, like half of the Motown hits you've ever heard Jamerson was on. I played with the Monk Brothers.
00:30:13
Speaker
Those those two are probably my my two biggest influences, but I could never really emulate the way That they play through my own playing because of my hands So I've had to learn how to do it on my own terms. I used to play with a pick actually Because that was the only way that I thought I can do it and then I had a good friend that was like, come on, man Why are you putting limits on yourself like that? And he's like, I'm just thinking to myself shit. All right
00:30:41
Speaker
you know pants me in the schoolyard call me out you got me like let me let me try this thing yeah put in the work put in the hours and the time in the shed and i'm not i haven't used a pic for so many years and i'm slapping i do slap bass a lot that's one of my specialties i do a lot of double thumb technique um do a lot of palm muting but yeah it's uh that that's really been a the disability thing has been a big factor on forming me into who i am especially as a musician
Recovery Through Music
00:31:10
Speaker
Um, I think my past, my past, I, I used to struggle a lot with substance abuse many years ago. I was like wildly addicted to drugs. And I think coming out of that music had a big, big role in me stepping out of that, which is kind of ironic because I feel like a lot of people might get into drugs because of music and you know, but yeah, it was actually the opposite for me. And, um,
00:31:36
Speaker
You know, I owe a lot to my friends and my family and my bandmates and, you know, just honestly, the whole music community for keeping me on the straight and narrow, you know, since then. And quite honestly, you know what? The more I think about it, everyone that I meet in life in general, not just in the music community, I think changes me on some sort of level, you know, maybe not much, sometimes maybe a lot.
00:32:02
Speaker
But I think that everybody that I meet changes me in some sort of way. And I'm grateful for that. And it's helped form me and who I am. Yeah. And thanks, Matt. And the thing around with the art and what it does for you, I mean, I think it's so powerful. And I know you pointed towards it. But I'm talking artists, there's a sensitivity to,
00:32:31
Speaker
you know, the human condition, right, and like feeling things. And, um, you know, I think you pointed to it of like, sometimes the culture around art tends to be problematic or like, uh, escapism, or it can be tied up to other like drugs and things that could be problematic for the person. But
00:32:53
Speaker
It's a complicated dynamic because within there is like the way that sensitive people or artists or people in general hold on to songs or hold on to that riff to kind of like, it's how does, you know, the question of like, how does music express what we can't express in other ways? Not only that, but it can take you back to places too. You know, you hear a certain song and you can remember times in your life when
00:33:21
Speaker
you know, you heard that song and I don't know, that's just another way of speaking to how powerful I think music really is. Yeah. All right, Matt, we've been warming up. We've been warming up a bit. There is the big question, you know, that your answer about, you know, is going to basically guide folks about why is there something rather than
Philosophical Musings on Existence
00:33:46
Speaker
nothing? I
00:33:49
Speaker
don't know I don't know but I'm going for the funk here I'm going to the funky rooster I'm saying it like what's what's going on why is there something rather than nothing man that is a broad question right there um you know I would I
00:34:09
Speaker
I would say because there's got to be something. Because if there's only nothing, what are we even doing it for? All right, like, there's got to be something in your life, in my life, in our lives, we have to have a purpose. And I think that's really going to be the only thing that's ever going to continually cause us to keep pushing, you know, and keep keep trying to take the next step to get to the next level to get to the next day, hour, minute, whatever, you know, shoot even
00:34:38
Speaker
Even just deep breathing sometimes is something rather than nothing, you know, if that's what you gotta do to keep on pushing. And I think that on another manner of speaking of this topic, I think it's really exciting to go from an empty blank canvas of whatever sorts and create with it, you know, like just get to put your own mark on whatever form of art, you know, that you want.
00:35:07
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. You just got to make something out of nothing. That's just the way life is. Life puts us here. We didn't necessarily ask to be here, but here we are. Make something of it. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, man. I wanted to ask one question related to you speaking about your disability.
Overcoming Disabilities Through Music
00:35:33
Speaker
Sure.
00:35:37
Speaker
You're making adaptations, trying to figure out, like, how is it that I learned this? How did I do it? I mean, did you struggle at times being like, just fuck this shit. It wasn't created for me. I mean, you get to that point where you're like, you know, why am I trying this? Absolutely. That has been a thing. I've been, you know, I've been doing this for over 20 years and you bet your sweet ass that I have thought that on more than one occasion.
00:36:03
Speaker
But you know what? I don't think that just because I have disabilities that I'm the only one that ever thinks that. I think that pretty much every musician that I've ever met at one point has been like, what? Like, should I be doing this? Like, is this for me? Like, you know, so I don't think I'm alone. But as far as the disability goes, you know, I have wondered that specifically about the disability. That is true.
00:36:31
Speaker
The thing is it's the only thing that I've ever known that I've wanted to do since almost as far back as I can remember. And it's one of the few things that I've gotten really, really good at and that I've wanted to stick with. And it's one of the only things that when I'm not doing it, I miss it terribly. And I feel like part of me is missing, you know, that I'm not being myself and not being true to myself. Um,
00:36:58
Speaker
And when I think about not doing it, and like, maybe, like, I don't know, in times past when I thought about just getting a regular nine to five and submitting to the, the man, you know, so
00:37:11
Speaker
I mean, there's a certain sense of security that might come along with it financially, but it's just such a soul-sucking thought that I mean, this is what I'm doing. I've made the decision. This is it for me. And even if later on down the road, music financially doesn't pan out somehow, I'm still going to be playing music. That's never going to stop. I just have to. It's just such a fundamental part of who I am at this point.
00:37:37
Speaker
Um, yeah, thank you. Thanks. Uh, uh, for, for, for, you know, personal indulgence and for the listeners. Yeah. Keep, keep, keep, keep playing it. I want to say like, if you're thinking that you can't learn an instrument because man, I can't tell you how many times I've heard motherfuckers come up to me and be like, Oh yeah, I can't play the guitar. I can't play the bass because I have such, you know, fat fingers or whatever. It's like motherfucker, you got all 10 of them. Don't even give me that. I want to hear it.
00:38:07
Speaker
Um, but yeah, man, like if, if you want to do it, if you want a bad enough, you want, if you want to do it, you will put in the work. You will put in the time. You will deal with the frustrations and guess what? You're going to probably end up pretty good if you stick with it. Um,
00:38:23
Speaker
Yeah, I hear you. No, thanks. Thanks for that. Listeners, we're talking with Matt, Matt Brewster. And before we let Matt go, I want to I want to find out, Matt, can you let the listeners know? I know you mentioned the bands who played, you know, Hiroki track there. And can you can you lead listeners to to where to find your stuff, whether it's live in person or kind of like
00:38:50
Speaker
Absolutely. As far as Heroku goes, you can find us anywhere that you consume your music, be it Spotify, iTunes, Title, Amazon, SoundCloud, wherever. We're there. You can find it on our website, which is HerokuTheBand.com.
00:39:13
Speaker
We have links to all of our stuff on our Instagram, which is just at Heroki the band. Please follow us there. We'd love the support. It means more than you know.
00:39:23
Speaker
Um, and yeah, I mean, as far as when we're playing out, we're going to be doing like our first official live show at the end of this month. It'll be October 29th in Portland at the Atlantis lounge and we'll be kind of doing double duty with disco Montana, which is, um, Haley Lynn and James Vias duo, but we're kind of going to be backing each other up, you know, and each other's projects. It's going to be, it's going to make for a good funky Halloween night, man.
00:39:51
Speaker
If y'all can make it out to that, you absolutely should. And you can find the ticket link. If you go to our Heroki Instagram page, click that link in our bio, you'll find the ticket link right there.
00:40:04
Speaker
Um, and then as far as Larissa goes, you, she is, like I said, currently in New York. And I don't think we have since she's going to be there till November, the early November or like end of October, we don't really have any shows lined up for the rest of the year. However, our next show that we do have on the books is at the crystal ballroom on January 15th. And, uh, looking, looking forward to that one a lot. I mean, it's the crystal ball from, you know,
00:40:33
Speaker
Yeah, man, that's so great to hear and thanks for sharing that because as listeners you heard, Matt has a lot of different projects and I've really enjoyed going deeper into them and following them. Oh, I also got to say, because Larissa will murder me if I don't, I forgot to tell you where you can find that music too, which is also everywhere that you consume music, which is Spotify, Apple Music, all that.
00:40:59
Speaker
Um, and her website is lorissa birdseye.com and you can follow her at lorissa birdseye on instagram Thank you. Yeah, and and thanks. Thanks for that. We love uh, lorissa had her recently on the show And i'll put out a i'll put I won't put out a strong challenge right now But i'll put out a light challenge i'll put a lot of light challenge. So lorissa birdseye for a one-on-one uh up to 11 points
00:41:26
Speaker
And so my idea is this, if she can't beat the 49-year-old white guy who's been off the court for 20 years, Larissa?
00:41:42
Speaker
But there's got to be some sort of stakes here. Like we've got to come up with like, you know, some sort of some sort of prize. I'm like speaking for her here. Like I'm setting the terms of their field. That's why the light challenge was there. I'm trying to establish whether there's any management, whether you're the promoter, whether you're the player.
00:41:59
Speaker
I have been a booker and I've done some promoting and a little bit of managing for her in the past. She's mainly spearheading all of that now these days. However, I think that maybe I can help orchestrate this basketball one-on-one challenge. I would love to see this go down. And Larissa, when you hear this, if you shy away from a basketball one-on-one challenge, I'm just never going to look at you the same. You will just be forever shamed on the court.
00:42:27
Speaker
This is all this is now is now recorded. I will enter final point. I will enter the court as She's gonna probably show up as Larry Bird if I'm being honest
00:42:45
Speaker
The Sphinx versus Larry Bird. Let's go. I will even let her borrow my Larry Bird Jersey 33 white classic. Wow, that's okay. Now she's gotta do it. She doesn't have an option anymore.
00:43:00
Speaker
All right. Thank you. Thank you. Matt, I got to tell you, ever since coming in contact with you, it's really been a pleasure of mine to hear your music, to kind of connect with your spirit and what you have to say. And this is an opportunity for me right here. Well, thank you so much for reaching out to me in the first place. It's an honor to
00:43:25
Speaker
to be contacted and to get to know you and to be a part of your show. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, absolutely. Just a wonderful full time. Matt, Bruce, everybody, check out his music. You need the funk. If you need the booty shaking, you need the, you know. We also got the emotional tracks too, though. You know, the ones that put you in your feelings.
00:43:50
Speaker
as well. There's a certain popularity. I got a lead with the booty shaking and then the fall. That's how I always start, too. I don't blame you there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Matt. Great chatting with you. And I'm sure I'll get to see you playing some music soon and encourage everybody, listeners, to the best of your ability. Check out Matt's music, Larissa Bird's eye music, Hiroki. And thanks again, Matt. Thank you so much. See you soon. Take care, brother.