Thursday 29 July 2010

What is the best guitar you have ever played and what is the guitar of your dreams? (They can be the same)

My favorite guitar is my broken Ibanez acoustic that I use and the only guitar I want because it sounds exactly how I want it to! I would quite like an Twin Neck Gibson like Mclaughlin used with the Mahavishnu Orchestra although since I did my back in its not really an option. I was looking at a headless Steinberger the other day, would be very cool for back pain friendly guitar playing. Would i look a prat playing it thou? (yes!)

Ask me anything

Tuesday 27 July 2010

A new EP, a new video and a message from the Dead

For the last few weeks I've been thinking about putting out an EP of some of the "non album tracks". Some of the ambient tracks, demos, remixes,live and lost tracks from the Ghost sessions - some from the Sunday Free Noodle and some not. What do you think? I will make it Pay What You Want(so no one has to pay if they don't want to) and any money from it is would used to fund the 3rd album.

Ghost has recouped but funding another one is still some way off, so this offers you the opportunity to be a patron of the arts and fund more odd esoteric guitar music :). If there any of the sunday free noodles you think should be on there please let me know. Mr Kevin Feazey is on board to master the project(if you need any mastering give him a shout hes awesome).

I asked team Twitter and they seemed quite keen on the idea.

This is the sort of thing I'm thinking of putting out - a video i mixed and made today using live looping and some stock creative commons footage from archive.org :


These sounds were produced by editing 4 concurrent live looping performances.

Kev Feazey Posted This Today


Listen!

Could it have something to do with the Fierce And The Dead?

Speak soon


MS

What scares you the most?

Not being able to do what I want due to ill health or people close to me not being well. I never realized how important and wonderful good heath is until recently.

Ask me anything

Do you have a favourite smell?

New guitars.

Ask me anything

Sunday 25 July 2010

Sunday Free Noodle 25

Sunday Free Noodle 25 is:

Big Sky - Matt Stevens Dementio 13 Remix

This is off my album Ghost remixed by Dementio 13 - i really like this remix - top work. I posted the stems the other week and I’m amazed at the quality of stuff made with it - I’ve heard three amazing remixes of this track this week already. I will post some more remixes of this in a few weeks.


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Please let me know what you think of this and if you would like to do a remix or collaborate give me a shout.

More noodles next week

Subscribe to my podcast feed here and get the Sunday Free Noodle every week: subscribe_itunes_a

If you like this you get get my albums as a "pay what you want" download here

About The Sunday Free Noodle

The Sunday Free Noodle project is a free MP3 ever week - remixes, collaborations, live stuff, spoken word stuff and other odd things - for the next year. 52 MP3’s (thats alot). I think it will be a challenge to keep this going and I’m really looking forward to doing it - please subscribe to the podcast feed on itunes to get it free every week and tell me what you think(yes you can say if you think if its crap). I hope you enjoy it.

This project has only really come about because i have injured my back and have had a chance to go through my hard drives whilst lying on the floor with the laptop on my chest. Odd how things happen.

I really it want to be a collaborative process. Let me know - if you are a remixer, cellist, vocalist, percussionist, film maker,trumpet player or visual artist or anything else let me know(although I draw the line at juggling) . Perhaps i could send you some stuff(loops and noodles) to add something to?

Speak soon


Matt
Speak Soon
www.mattstevensguitar.com
mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com

Thursday 22 July 2010

Post Ghost/1K/Remixes

So....

Ghost has been out for nearly 2 months, I'm really pleased with how its been rec'd and its had over 1000 downloads if you include all sites, plus torrents(which you can't measure). We've covered all the recording costs and are looking to fund the next album. The CD's are nearly sold out now, which is amazing. If you want one of the last few CD's you can get them here.

So thanks very much to everyone for listening and telling people. The success of the album is purely down to listeners telling their friends,podcasters and bloggers.

Pay what you want seems work if you have a supportive audience. Thank you, amazing.

A week ago I posted remix stems for the song Big Sky - this is the first remix I've had in from Dementio 13.
Matt Stevens - Big Sky (Dementio13 Remix) by Dementio13 Remixes

I really like it - here is the original version:






If you would like to remix it the stems are here.


Speak soon

MS

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Jammy dodgers or Jaffa Cakes?

Genius - Jaffa Cakes every time, amazing. I am occasionally partial to the big Costa dodgers but really i'm a Jaffa loyalist :)

Ask me anything

What is your favourite key?

Dm - I hear its the saddest of all keys :)

Ask me anything

Spinal Tap or Bad News?

Bad News every time - amazing. Thats what its REALLY like to be in a rubbish heavy metal band, at least on the UK unsigned scene.

Ask me anything

Sunday 18 July 2010

Sunday Free Noodle 24

Sunday Free Noodle 24 is:

Sand Part 2 - Matt Stevens - Live-looped direct to tape using a line 6 DL4 and an acoustic guitar - no sequencers.

This is Sand Part 2, some of you may remember I posted Sand Part 4 a few weeks back. This is Part 2 of the same thing, I’m not sure I’ll ever finish the project to be honest, although I may redo this part for my next “proper” album. For this one I worked out the chords Am Am maj7/6,F9,E7 then recorded the whole progression backwards into my line 6 DL4 looper pedel then reversed the whole thing. I then added the solo and melody, this is an edit of a 6 minute plus long track.


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Please let me know what you think of this and if you would like to do a remix or collaborate give me a shout.

More noodles next week

Subscribe to my podcast feed here and get the Sunday Free Noodle every week: subscribe_itunes_a

If you like this you get get my albums as a "pay what you want" download here

About The Sunday Free Noodle

The Sunday Free Noodle project is a free MP3 ever week - remixes, collaborations, live stuff, spoken word stuff and other odd things - for the next year. 52 MP3’s (thats alot). I think it will be a challenge to keep this going and I’m really looking forward to doing it - please subscribe to the podcast feed on itunes to get it free every week and tell me what you think(yes you can say if you think if its crap). I hope you enjoy it.

This project has only really come about because i have injured my back and have had a chance to go through my hard drives whilst lying on the floor with the laptop on my chest. Odd how things happen.

I really it want to be a collaborative process. Let me know - if you are a remixer, cellist, vocalist, percussionist, film maker,trumpet player or visual artist or anything else let me know(although I draw the line at juggling) . Perhaps i could send you some stuff(loops and noodles) to add something to?

Speak soon


Matt
Speak Soon
www.mattstevensguitar.com
mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com

Saturday 17 July 2010

Bandcamp Vs Record Deals and Grans 91st

Hello!

Yesterday Bandcamp announced they were going to take a %15 fee for sales. I think this is fine for the opportunity to use such a great site. However some people were complaining, see this blog here. This fails to acknowledge the price it costs to host and develop a site like Bandcamp.

These people are not living in the real world. Recently we were approached by a few labels to put out a project I've been working on. The reality of the deals we were offered was that we'd end up with around 10% of the retail price - the equivalent of the label charging a 90% fee!! After speaking to a few friends in the industry this is a fairly average deal (this was for one of the biggest indie labels in the UK).

Also the label wanted control over artwork and the final mix (all of which could be charged back to us!!!). Also we would have to pay for recordings ourselves upfront. This is insane, really most bands can't afford to work with labels.

The labels are only interested in bands that already have a following(even indies) - there just isn't the cash around to develop bands. I was talking to Steve Lawson on Twitter the other day he said "Being offered a deal is the surest proof you don't need one".

Says it all!!!

You can get my album free/pay what you want here from bandcamp.

This is my Gran she was 91 yesterday.


SAM_0339


My back still hurts after the trip to hospital yesterday, lets see how things pan out in the next few days.

Speak soon


MS

Friday 16 July 2010

Big Sky Stems and a hospital visit

Hi All

Hope you're good.

This is exciting my friend, production genius Kevin Feazey has sorted out the stems for Big Sky - 155bpm Wavs OK remixers do your stuff click here to download the zip! I can't wait to hear what you've done and we can play them on the podcast(Which BTW has 900 plus listeners!!).

Yesterday I was in hospital having an epidural injection, it hurt, been given lots of painkillers but I'm hoping it will sort my back out and get me back to work. In the short term its worse, really painful but hopefully in the next couple of weeks it will be better.

Some photos from the hospital(I was reading the Zappa book!):




IMG_0005IMG_0002IMG_0003


Speak soon



Matt

Monday 12 July 2010

A video made by a friend for "Big Sky"


A Twitter friend made a cool video for my song Big Sky - thanks mate.

I love it when people make new stuff with my music.

Sunday 11 July 2010

Sunday Free Noodle 23

Sunday Free Noodle 23 is:

Sonny - Friendly Fires/A Story about the Publishing Industry - Vocals/Acoustic Guitars - Written by Sonny - Electric Guitars/Spoken Word - M.Stevens Drums - Stuart Marshall Bass - Dan Wilson Produced and Mastered by Sonny - Mixed and Recorded by Sonny/K Feazey

Another song by my friend Sonny which I played guitar on about 5 years ago and a little story about the publishing industry from me.


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Please let me know what you think of this and if you would like to do a remix or collaborate give me a shout.

More noodles next week

Subscribe to my podcast feed here and get the Sunday Free Noodle every week: subscribe_itunes_a

If you like this you get get my albums as a "pay what you want" download here

About The Sunday Free Noodle

The Sunday Free Noodle project is a free MP3 ever week - remixes, collaborations, live stuff, spoken word stuff and other odd things - for the next year. 52 MP3’s (thats alot). I think it will be a challenge to keep this going and I’m really looking forward to doing it - please subscribe to the podcast feed on itunes to get it free every week and tell me what you think(yes you can say if you think if its crap). I hope you enjoy it.

This project has only really come about because i have injured my back and have had a chance to go through my hard drives whilst lying on the floor with the laptop on my chest. Odd how things happen.

I really it want to be a collaborative process. Let me know - if you are a remixer, cellist, vocalist, percussionist, film maker,trumpet player or visual artist or anything else let me know(although I draw the line at juggling) . Perhaps i could send you some stuff(loops and noodles) to add something to?

Speak soon


Matt
Speak Soon
www.mattstevensguitar.com
mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com

Would you let your music be used in a car advert? What do you think of artists who let their music be used in ads?

Yes I would. Its always difficult, the ethics of these things and its obvious i wouldn't allow my music to be used in a BNP advertisement or something that promotes smoking etc. A lot of great music has been used in adverts over the years and if it gives me the opportunity to make more music that is OK with me.

Ask me anything

Saturday 10 July 2010

A midi cover of Burning Bandstands

Hi all

Here is a cool midi version of my song Burning Bandstands by René Andrade-M off my first album Echo - midi link here - or listen here - it reminds me of the Sega Master System game Out Run(one of my favorites!!):


Burning Bandstands Cover by by mattstevensprojects

Cool - thanks mate :)

This is the original version
.

Hope you're having a good weekend

Matt

Monday 5 July 2010

Free Backing Track

Hello

I like to provide useful STUFF - that's the plan anyway. This is the backing track for a song called Flies In The Basement off my first album Echo - The Chords are Em D Am B sharp 5 - if you want something to solo over (or recite poetry over) I hope its useful.
Flies Backing Track MP3 by mattstevensprojects

Also on my website you can get my first 2 albums on CD for £8 plus postage order them here.

I'm currently obsessing over Kate Bush and Peter Gabriels 80's album - interesting stuff.

Speak soon

Matt

Sunday 4 July 2010

Sunday Free Noodle 22

Sunday Free Noodle 22 is:

Matt Stevens - 8.19(Rough Demo Psyche Transcend Mix),Distorted Mustang Guitar - Feazey/Stevens K Feazey Programming Recorded by K Feazey Not mixed or mastered.

This weeks noodle is a very early/demo version of 8.19 from Ghost.

WARNING!!! Do not attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery while listening to this.



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IMG_0792
Please let me know what you think of this and if you would like to do a remix or collaborate give me a shout.

More noodles next week

Subscribe to my podcast feed here and get the Sunday Free Noodle every week: subscribe_itunes_a

If you like this you get get my albums as a "pay what you want" download here

About The Sunday Free Noodle

The Sunday Free Noodle project is a free MP3 ever week - remixes, collaborations, live stuff, spoken word stuff and other odd things - for the next year. 52 MP3’s (thats alot). I think it will be a challenge to keep this going and I’m really looking forward to doing it - please subscribe to the podcast feed on itunes to get it free every week and tell me what you think(yes you can say if you think if its crap). I hope you enjoy it.

This project has only really come about because i have injured my back and have had a chance to go through my hard drives whilst lying on the floor with the laptop on my chest. Odd how things happen.

I really it want to be a collaborative process. Let me know - if you are a remixer, cellist, vocalist, percussionist, film maker,trumpet player or visual artist or anything else let me know(although I draw the line at juggling) . Perhaps i could send you some stuff(loops and noodles) to add something to?

Speak soon


Matt
Speak Soon
www.mattstevensguitar.com
mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com

Saturday 3 July 2010

3 New Videos That Feature My Music

Here is a video I made using photos by my friend Kevin Feazey for my song Eleven from the album Ghost





This is a video by Puppetgov.com that uses my music(the song Glide) and has some interesting thoughts:



And this video features lots of Pizza and my song Burning Bandstands:) by my twitter friend Darren Landrum




If anyone want to make a video for any of my songs or use my music on your video please do and I'll tell people on my blog.

Thanks


Matt

Friday 2 July 2010

21 Noodles and some thoughts on Free

Afternoon

Today the Times in the UK are going to start charging for access to the news on their site. Good idea? Not really - I asked my Twitter followers what they thought. No one thought it was a good idea apart from one person who said they would pay a couple of quid for specific writers.

I think the only way to get people to pay for online content is to try and make great stuff (music/podcasts/blogs) that people like enough that they want to pay for it. Really if you have people's attention these days with the amount of content out there you're doing well. You have to create enough good will for people to want to support you.

I've been really lucky to have an audience and I believe giving away lots of free/pay what you want content is a great way to build an audience.

For the last 21 weeks I've been giving away a song a week on my website on a podcast feed. I hope you enjoy the music and if you want to pay for the music you can here. Or buy an album here. (or download for for free and tell a friend- that's also very cool!!)




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What do you think?

(and thanks for your attention!!)


Matt

Thursday 1 July 2010

Listening to this week....

This is a photo from my walk today:


IMG_0011 So this is what I'm listening to at the moment:

Aphex Twin - DrukQs
LFO - Pathfinder(single)
Fierce And The Dead - New Stuff
Frank Zappa - The Grand Wazoo
Radiohead - Kid A(again)
Nick Tann - Is This Thing On (podcast)
Zoe Keating - Into The Trees



The Zoe Keating album is amazing - she is a massive inspiration to me.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Sepulcros De Miel

All Good

Speak soon

Matt

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