Bio

New Brunswick's Matt Andersen has a larger than life showmanship that has been earning him a fervent and steadfast audience wherever he graces the stage. Matt's sprawling blues, roots and rock musical hybrid with his sorrowing and soulful voice has sparked a phenomenal buzz on Canada’s East Coast and that grass roots word of mouth cannot be contained any longer!

In the past couple of years, Matt has released an introductory EP along with two critically-acclaimed live fans’ favorite’s and the full length release “Second time around”. Along with a very busy touring schedule as a headliner at major festivals, clubs and theatres throughout North America, Matt has also shared the stage and toured with America, Randy Bachman, the late Bo Diddley, Little Feat and a host of others.

Matt has just finished his second successful UK Tour along with airplay on the BBC and opening dates for Mississippi Delta Blues Icon “HoneyBoy” Edwards. Matt’s hectic touring schedule includes over 200 live dates a year that encompass North America and the rest of the world. Matt’s new release “Something In-Between”slated for July 2008 is on Canada’s Busted Flat Records (Distribution – Sonic Unyon/Universal) and is one the most anticipated original studio releases this year.

Matt Andersen is a very real, rare, raw talent and career artist,- vital to our musical landscape. For more info on Matt and the new studio release go to www.bustedflatrecords.com.

CD Review

Review of Something In Between

Bob Mersereau, for The Telegraph-Journal.

Matt Andersen is a well-known and established part of the East Coast music landscape, a favourite live performer at clubs and festivals. So it may come as a bit of surprise to fans and followers, that apart from live discs, he has never released a studio CD showcasing his own material. That is, until now, with Something In Between out this week.

It's not like he was slacking off, or even putting it off. He simply has had little time to concentrate on a project with a schedule that included almost daily live shows for the last seven years.

It's 4 p.m. on a Sunday, and Andersen has just wrapped up one full show, a corporate gig in Halifax. Live shows are the bread and butter of the Bairdsville-born, now Halifax-based guitarman. He first captured attention fronting the band Flattop, with his big girth and bigger energy, pounding out folk-blues and classic covers from his beaten acoustic. Even playing solo, he fills any room with his personality, voice and rapid fingers. That has led to lots of work, but created another problem.

"For me, writing, I can't do it on the road, I'm too busy," he said. "Last year, I did 200 shows. When I was getting ready to go into the studio, I had maybe five songs, but I took a week to write at (producer) Paul Milner's cottage in P.E.I. and cranked 'em out. I had a lot of ideas bottled up, waiting to come out - bits and pieces, melodies lying around. And when I cut out all the distractions, they just came out."

For a guy who made his name playing classic covers and famous blues numbers, the stakes were high when it came to songwriting. Andersen knew he had to come up with material that would match the rest of his repertoire and stir the same excitement his fans expect. He could have played it safe, splitting the disc between covers and original songs, but Something In Between has only one cover. "That was the big thing," he said. "This is my first album to focus on my songwriting. A lot of people think blues is covers, but I want to show people I'm a singer-songwriter."

For this all-important album, Andersen pulled out all the stops. It's a night-and-day difference from his previous concert discs. "It's the first time I've gone in and worked with other people. In the past we've just thrown mics up to catch the live sound."

First, he hooked up with the British-born, Canadian-based producer Milner, who has worked with Eddy Grant, Luba, Chucky Danger Band and Sass Jordan. Some recording took place at Milner's P.E.I. set-up, but they upped the ante and headed for the renowned Chapel Recording Studios in Lincoln, England, three hours north of London. Milner put together a crack band of studio pros to help Matt flesh out his new songs.

"I pretty much just took the demos into the studio and worked on it with those guys. I stretched my writing legs a bit, there's more than just straight blues. There's some old country stuff on there, stuff I grew up with, some straight blues and a couple of tunes where it's just me and my guitar, the way most people know me."

Those guys, Andersen discovered, told interesting stories. The drummer mentioned getting a phone call from Paul McCartney, who wanted to tell him about the sound he was getting on a new snare drum. It seems this drummer used to play for McCartney. His name is Henry Spinetti, and his credits also include work for George Harrison, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. With Spinetti was Dave Markee, who has played bass for Frank Zappa, Charlie Watts, Townshend, Clapton, and even Bing Crosby. The pair are best-known for anchoring Clapton's live and studio band in the late '70s and early '80s, including the best-selling Another Ticket album.

The album finds a great groove right away, with this solid, classic band providing a brilliant backing for Andersen's country-infused blues. It's timeless in its tales and impeccable in its playing. Shuffles, slide licks, tasty picking and full background vocals pillow Andersen's sweet singing.

Wisely, he let the players add their own ideas to the tunes.

"I had rough arrangements, but they had so much experience, I wasn't going to turn that down. They did stuff with it that I wasn't hearing. It was more of a collaboration in that way. Sometimes, they'd said it was too generic, why don't we slow it down, or they'd come up with a different groove."

The result is one of the best productions a Maritime artist has ever had.

England has been especially good to Andersen of late. Last fall, he toured there on a Maritime package show also featuring Saint John's Jessica Rhaye and Nova Scotia's Dave Gunning. All unknowns when they arrived, the shows ended up gaining the trio lots of attention.

"We got a fantastic review out of the London Times, which was great, people said that was a really heavy thing," said Andersen.

The secret to Andersen's success may be the initial reaction he gets from first-time viewers. "I kind of got that on my side. I don't know what I'm doing, but it works."

Andersen will go to the U.K. in a couple of weeks for more CD release shows. "Then I'll be back, I've got all the festivals lined up here in the summer."

It will be business as usual for Andersen with hundreds more gigs lined up. But now, fans get a different show, filled with his strong new originals. He's looking to spread out, make that great first impression with more new fans

With the Something In Between, Andersen is making the biggest move of his career.