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SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Matt Hopper is pleased to announce an artist endorsement and partnership with Breedlove Guitars in Bend, OR. Matt is playing an Oregon Series LTD made from Myrtlewood. He would like to thank Eric Tollefson, RA Beattie and Brittany Michael for welcoming him to the Breedlove Family.

MAR 17, 2019

Our new E.P. "ALL THE LOVE" is available today via our Bandcamp page, where you can stream it and also pay for it if you want to support us. We would also like to mention we have a PATREON page setup for supporting this band and would prefer it if you'd consider supporting us via this method. Check out the tunes and enjoy!

#ALLTHELOVE is 5 songs from our forthcoming full length record and is out today via our Bandcamp page. It will be out on streaming services soon. This record was primarily recorded at Strange Earth Studio in Seattle, WA while the title track was cut at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. Most of the album was written during winter stays in Phoenix and summers in Alaska. It features amazing vocalists like Tracey Holland, Chris Tye, Courtney Jaye, Brock Lindow (36 Crazyfists), Charity Rose Thielen, Matt Gervais and radical sax work from Eric DeWitt and Andrew Vait. Sultry pedal steel was provided by our longtime friend and oft time bandmate Bryan Daste. My muscle in the studio was John D. Fauller on bass and Funkmaster Swice on drums. Our engineer was Bradley Laina with additional engineering by Stevland McDowell and Mark Rains. Mixing by R Shawn E Simmons and mastering by Ed Brooks. Artwork by Chris Bigalke. Hope you like it. At this point in time, we will not be releasing this in any physical format.

NOV 8, 2018

So, apparently I suck at updating the news on this website. I'm not sure do people even go to websites anymore? LOL. I seem to make the most progress on INSTAGRAM with fliers and news tidbits and whatnot, so follow over there and also the Facebook. Since last September 2, we had a blast touring the west coast, including a couple gigs opening for Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band and an appearance at Rifflandia. Then we went into hibernation including stints in Alaska and Arizona and then I moved into a spot in Portland in March and spent most of the year working on the new album, very slowly. Happy to announce we have some amazing guest vocalists on it including Charity Rose & Matthew Gervais (The Head & The Heart), Courtney Jaye, Shelby Earl, Kathleen Grace, Jamie Drake, Brock Lindow (36crazyfists) and saxophone by Andrew Vait and Eric DeWitt. We also had Gary Sloan grace us with some soulful blues harp and our longtime collaborater/sometimes bandmate Bryan Daste on pedal steel. Still putting a few finishing touches on it with our man Brad Laina up in Seattle and then it will be time to mix. We don't think CDs are the way to go anymore, so the plan is to make a nice poster you might want to hang on your way to show your support and it will come with a download code for the entire record. Meanwhile we will roll out singles and whatnot over the course of 2019.

In addition to this album, I recently stopped in Brooklyn on my way back from an epic European vacation to record with my old bandmates and friends Erik Braund and Christian Woods. Erik owns a very nice studio and we collaborated for a few days on some old songs from the archives that were never recorded properly: Westchester Lagoon, Red Eyes, Boarding Pass and French Girls. We are all very happy with the results and hope to share those with you next year as well.

Our touring van was stolen off the streets of Portland last winter while I was in Alaska. It had a bunch of stuff in it and I had to "let it go" which was a good exercise in how to live a good life. BUT as luck (?) would have it the van was recovered by Portland PD about a month later and I had the extreme pleasure of getting to get it out of a tow yard, pay the fee and see that it was very messed up, including a giant pile of random stuff and my old stuff inside of it. Someone had been living in there, there was food remains, needles, etc. It was gross thing to clean up but I did it, and had it moved to my place of residence once I got back to Portland. My friend Andrew Stanfield gracisouly allowed the van to sit outside of his house in a giant heap until it warmed up. Still it took a long time for me to get it fixed up, and I just dropped $1500 getting the steering wheel column replaced, new tires, an alignment, fuel pump, etc. She's running pretty well now and will be taking the band all over the place next year to promote the new album.

My Alaskan bandmates Winston Monticello and Derek Mangrobang are both making the move out of Alaska to join me on the road so this year should be incredibly adventurous for all. We begin by playing the IDAHO POTATO DROP festivities on Dec 31 and then heading down to the southwest to begin playing shows where it's somewhat warm and then continuing all over the US as we release the album. I have so much work to do, gotta go, thank you for reading. Drop us a review on Facebook, say hello on Instagram. We're always looking for friends who want to set up a show and/or host us as we come through your town so reach out if you can help.

SEP 2, 2017

Last month was pretty fun - we had the opportunity to open up for The Head & The Heart in MT, ID and UT...as well as some of our own concerts. Took a fun crew out on the road and had some breakdowns, midhaps and what have you, but we somehow made it to all the gigs and had a blast performing to much bigger crowds than we are used to. Now a short break in Portland and then back out to Idaho, Washington, Victoria B.C. back to Idaho and Utah. Check out tour dates for more information.

FEB 27, 2017

Hi there. For some reason, I have been mega slacking on website updates and whatnot but am getting around to it today from my aunt's house in Phoenix, AZ. Seriously don't remember why I stopped doing "news" here but I am back. Will try to update at least at the top of the month.

Last year saw me move from Boise, ID to Portland, OR after spending a few months down in Arizona in the wintertime, where I was busy hiking and readying and writing. I lost 25 lbs working through injuries on the mountain, including a knee injury, ankle and both rotater cuffs in my shoulders. My Boise band was being pulled in so many different directions with members in other bands, having kids, buying houses, etc. and ultimately I knew that extended touring was out of the question...and it has never been my goal to stay in one spot and be a local band...so I started to think about "what's next"?

Portland, OR has always been a great city to visit and I have band mates that live there already, such as Bryan Garfinkel, who has engineered my last two records and played bass and drums for me live. Another perk to living in Portland is getting Bryan Daste on the pedal steel from time to time. He is currently on tour with Courtney Marie Andrews in the UK and also in about five other bands, so I am thankful for him when he can make it to the shows. I found a bass player who used to jam with my pal Justin Kunesh in Madison, WI...so we had that in common. We are also jamming with Phil Bronch (Esme Patterson, Quiet Life) when he isn't busy with his own project Hip Hatchet.

A few other reasons - flights are cheaper out of Portland - like about $80 cheaper every time I fly - living in a smaller community like Boise means having to hop on extra flight everytime you want to go somewhere. I also felt that I had spent enough time in the Boise music scene...almost 6 years, and being in Portland means I can still play there on a regular basis but don't need to live there anymore. We are excited to come back this year for Treefort Music Festival, which is easily the best week in Boise all year. I feel also that it's just time to work on playing the Portland and Seattle music scenes more often, so location is definitely key for that.

I know 2016 became a pretty rough year for many people, but I got some really good news that The Head and The Heart were going to cover my song "False Alarm" on their Warner Bros debut and 3rd album called "Signs of Light". As a songwriter it is your dream to be covered by a high profile band...and it happened! And if that wasn't enough they asked me to act in a music video which we shot in LA at Bob Baker Marionette Theater with Michael Reich at Normal TV. It was fun to watch a professional at work and see how a real music video is done while also getting to dance like a madman. Check it out on You Tube!

I spent the latter half of 2016 getting situated in Portland and putting the new band together. We picked up a gig last summer at Dixie Mattress Festival, did an Alaskan tour and then I did an epic journey through Idaho, Utah, Arizona California and Washington to catch some concerts by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and many more. The band transitioned during this period into the group we are today and we debuted the new band on NYE at Doug Fir Lounge opening for Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons to a sold out audience.

The new band has been working mostly on material for the next two albums - we have some rock and roll prepared and we are debuting new songs left and right. We have a Portland gig this Saturday at Ponderosa Lounge as part of a local music festival called MOGO FEST and later in the month of March we will be back in Boise at TREEFORT MUSIC FEST. Excited about both of those and many other gigs. We are playing all over the northwest in March and April so check out our tour dates.

Our goals as a band is to record in small chunks - not to focus on an entire album. It is such a daunting process to make an entire album and it is also very expensive. Getting my last release Grand Ole Hopry done took most of my $$$ and a lot of energy, organization and perseverence, and then when the recording was over, I really didn't have a band that could deliver the songs because two of the guys had gone back to Portland, one had joined another band and wanted to play drums with them more than bass with me, and also we just didn't have a violinist at all, so as a result I didn't really tour on that record...and the sales have been dismal.

It was probably mostly a matter of not touring on it and no marketing investment, but I haven't sold very many copies. People seem to be pretty content just streaming it live and not paying for it. I get that. I love music and I like being able to listen to all of it at a minimal cost now through services such as Spotify. BUT what is happening now is that I am not making any money off "the backend" as in selling albums to re-coup the money I invested. Now I am ready to record 30 new songs and I don't have very much $ to make it happen. It would be cool if a label came along and signed me, gave me an advance and helped us tour and market the music, but I don't haven't been offered that luxury and do for the most part do everything myself when it comes to my own success.

So, I am in a position where I wanted to ask my friends, fans and supporters for help making these next recordings a reality. I started a page at Patreon, which helps artists find support for their projects by connecting them with people who pledge a small amount per month to help the artist achieve their goals. My goal is $500 per month, which is about how much it costs to rent out a room with good gear and hire an engineer to run it for you for the day. I am hoping to record one song professionally per month and release them as a singles from this point forward. I might change my mind at the end of the process and release the collection - or it just might be streaming singles from here on out. Regardless, if you want to help us out, even if it's just a small amount, please visit our PATREON page and check out what we've written there!

Thank you for reading this and for caring about my/our music!