I met songwriter Bill Wickham during the Glendale Folk & Heritage Festival in Arizona. I was immediately impressed with his songwriting and casual nature. We played together a few times in Arizona but now Bill is coming to California.. and so…

The “Roots and Roll” Tour

Okay, tour might be ambitious but Bill and I are playing 3 shows together (as of this writing).  The show dates and locations are below the posters. Click the posters to get a full-sized version and feel free to pass the poster or this page to your friends.

Thursday, September 1st, Butler’s Coffee, Palmdale

Time: 7-9PM
Address: 40125 10th Street West, Palmdale, CA 93551

Friday, September 2nd, Rusty’s Pizza, Ventura

Time: 7-9PM
Address: 444 Santa Clara St., Ventura, CA 93001

Saturday, September 3rd, The Talking Stick, Venice

Time: 6-8PM
Address: 1411-C Lincoln Blvd., Venice Beach, CA 90291

The 1st and 2nd will be acoustic shows. Tom, our drummer, should be back by the 3rd and so most of the band should be at that one.

I look forward to seeing you there.

I used to hate recording. The truth is I find it tedious although it has become more pleasurable. First, having the guys at Easy Street Studio in Simi Valley, CA handle all the technical details is nice.

But anyway you cut it, the studio is NOT the stage. The stage provides immediate gratification. It also allows for “stylistic flexibility” – aka: mistakes. They are there and then gone – you move on, you perform, no one is any wiser. It is energy.

The studio, not so much and that is a critical component. A recent vocal professionally gave me this suggestion.. “Start performing in the studio – capture that energy. Don’t worry as much about pitch and performance. You can do as many takes as possible and you will get pitch but if you don’t perform you won’t get the energy.”

Okay.. that is sort of a paraphrase of a longer and more scattered conversation but the point is well-made and well-taken.

Other Observations & News

Backing Vocals/Harmonies

We are going back to the studio to finalize 8 songs we’ve tracked and start on at least 2 more. First, however, I’m taking some time to work on the backing vocals on those 10 songs and several more.

The same vocal pro referenced above, worked with Melinda and I. (Melinda is new to the band and a beautiful vocalist.. We’ll introduce her soon.) During that time, he encouraged me to stop worrying about the technical harmony – the 3rd – and simply find a new melody line to my song – and test it over my melody line. Practice with several – above and below my line. Of course.. that worked and great headway has been made.

Merchandise & Gigs

We are working hard to create some new t-shirts and book more gigs. The focus on recording took me off this activity but I am back to it again.

Also, we have a couple new t-shirt ideas in the works. Look for announcements.

For current gigs – look here. We are planning a combination of band, solo, and semi-band (me and Elliot, me and Melinda, me and some of the other band members) – NOTE, I AM IN ALL THOSE COMBOS. 

If you get a chance, come on out!

Friday, May 20th, at The Red Cove. We are playing with two heavy funk jam bands – The Hours Before & Jam Stain. I’m not exactly sure what heavy jam funk is but we plan to rock with them in Ventura.

Thursday, June 23rd, we are playing in Santa Barbara at The Creekside Inn.

Monday, June 27th, we are closing the night for Rena Wren at The Talking Stick in Los Angeles.

Check out the poster’s below for details or see the show page.

The Deer Lodge is located at:
2261 Maricopa Hwy
Ojai, CA 93023
(click here for a map)

Two weeks later, on February 19th, a semi-acoustic set [ no Tom   ] will take place in Oak View – just outside of Ojai, at The Big Buddha Lounge – 6PM-8PM – roughly.

Upcoming shows at Butler’s Coffee in Palmdale, CA and with the band at Yankee Doodle’s in Simi Valley, CA.
My latest musical obsession – Paul Thorn.
And FREE CD update.

A few other items to let you know about…

The Band:
I’ve auditioned a couple guitar players and have one rehearsing with us tonight.

I am tentatively looking for a keyboard player and a backing vocalists. I say tentatively because I am not adding anyone to the band unless the fit is really ideal.

House Concerts:
We continue to reach out and get new house concert hosts. If you’ve wondered about house concerts – what they are, how they work, check out my house concert information page, the simple guide to house concerts, and the one page house concert guide.

Everyday Lies – with lyrics

and..

Little Bit of Everything – with lyrics

I hope to read and process more of this but it looks like we’ll be playing tonight – a band open mic in Simi Valley. We’ll try to get some video from those performances. We should have a lead guitarist too.

WHAT’S INSIDE: Upcoming shows – 9/23 – Ventura, CA – 10/16 – Palmdale, CA Jim Pipkin’s upcoming show Demo CD’s being sent out

Thursday, September 23, 2010 – Ventura, CA (8:00PM)
The Red Cove
1809 East Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001 – Map
I’m performing with my band. 1 hour (plus a couple minutes of music).
FREE! – 21+ and over…

Saturday, October 16, 2010 – Palmdale, CA (7:00PM)
Butler’s Coffee – 7:00PM
40125 10th Street West, Palmdale, CA 93551- Map
This is a coffeehouse with a commitment to promoting and showcasing live music. I’ll be one of two performers. The other will be Shay Astar.

http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1410384995

In it I announce tour dates and workshops for The Songwriter & Social Media Tour, plus a video to an old song, redone, Wait For Me. I’ve included the YouTube videos to that song and 2 others I recorded below.

Live Video Streaming

I also announced 2 live-streaming videos I’ll be doing. One is Tip-Stream – Tuesday and Thursdays. Technology, Strategy, Tools and Q & A for musicians.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thesongwriteronline

And Song-Stream – where I will perform 2 songs and discuss songwriting and whatever else you might want to know about:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/matthewmoranmusic

YouTube Songs

Wait For Me: a song written in 1986 or 1987. Recently redone.

American Dream: a song from 2009, Girls, Songs, and Other Delusions

Everyday Lies: a song we are recording for the new CD.

Enjoy, send to others, and leave me a comment.

Thanks.

I really want a new video camera. The external mic on mine – as with many camcorders – filters audio based on the most prominent noise. So.. conversations closer to the camera can filter out louder noises further away and more distinct sounds – like my lead guitarist’s tones – jump out more clearly.

The Band:
Tom Galella – Drums
Leif Pedersen – Bass
Jack Hale – Lead Guitar
(Jack’s first time to play any of my songs was Wednesday, 2 day prior)
Matt Moran – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

Dangerous Girl

She’s a Little Bit of Everything

I, in turn contacted the band and said let’s do it. We are planning on STREAMING IT LIVE as well.

We had rehearsed the weekend prior and I had gotten together earlier that day with two of the guys to cover some of the songs. Our first performance is supposed to be June 11th but I felt, “no time like the present!” and decided whether we just did 3 songs – or a couple more, I want the band to make an appearance.

We rehearsed Wednesday, picking 6 songs that were “close”. They played well. We added a 7th – and here we go!

songwriter promo postcard

(my quickie postcard for email)

Where to see the show:

View Larger Map

Hope to see you there or online…