www.mattmayhall.com

08.22.08 | groundwork plays the hits...
Yo! I have a new favorite breakfast meal. It is called the Egg McLovin, which is not unlike the famed McMuffin, only it is made with prosciutto and havarti cheese. Scandalous, I know. But it's f'n tasty.

Anyhoo, what a fun-filled month it has been. Been doing a lot of touring around with Lenka's band. We made two trips to NYC, played at a candy store and a swanky nite clurb. Also played on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic." Click the link below to go hear that... We'll be doing a Hotel Cafe residency on Thursday nights in September, then we're heading back to NYC to play at the Mercury Lounge and on Late Night with Conan! That's on September 24th, so mark up your calendar.

07.09.08 | an update.
Woo! Made it back from Spain in one piece. Spain (the band) played at the Tanned Tin Sur Festival in Cadiz. We had a blast. Not a lot of sightseeing or tourist-y stuff to be done, considering we were only there for three days and the jet lag was kickin' ass. But we played a great show at a really nice theater, had some amazing seafood at El Yaky (quite possibly the greatest restaurant I have ever been to), heard some great bands and met some wonderful people. We hung quite a bit with a band from the UK called The Clientele (that's pronounced clee-un-tell) and they sounded psychedelic and rad. Also got a chance to reconnect with the guys in Dolorean, a great band from Portland, OR. There are a few photos from the journey on the home page slide show.

Let's see, what else... Ah yes, Patrick Park. Played a few shows in SF, LA, SD supporting Sea Wolf. My favorite was the Casbah in San Diego. All the shows were packed for Sea Wolf and I danced to "You're A Wolf" every night.

At the beginning of June I did a record with my close friend and amazing saxophonist Peter Epstein. The band was Peter, myself, my bestest buddy Sam Minaie on bass, and my new good friend Andy Barbera on guitar. Other great friends Gavin Templeton and Brian Walsh also played woodwinds on some tracks. The band is going to be called Abstract Realism. All the music is super loose and free, lots of improvisation, reminds me of late 60s/early 70s Miles stuff, Bill Frisell's music in the late 80s, and newer stuff like the band Lan Xang all at the same time. It turned out really well. Looking for a label to put it out now. I'll keep you posted!

This month I'm teaching at the Academy of Creative Education in North Hollywood, doing a few gigs in L.A., and starting to play with a wonderful Australian singer named Lenka. I'll post performance dates with her as they're confirmed.

See you out there!

05.26.08 | Another degree.
Hey -

Newest development: I have an MFA now! Now I'll probably never play jazz or creative music again... kidding. But tomorrow I head out to Texas with Patrick Park's band for three shows in Dallas, Austin, and Houston. All three gigs are supporting Big Head Todd and the Monsters. See the gigs page for more info. We have also resumed working in the studio for Patrick's new album. Last week we recorded a tune that called for a 30-something inch bass drum, so that was fun. We are also doing a few California dates in June supporting the band Sea Wolf.

I've also been hard at work with Spain, putting together material for a new record. We demoed four songs back in April and just put one of them up on our myspace page for your listening pleasure. It's called "I'm Still Free" and we've been getting some positive feedback on it. Click the link to check it out. Spain is also heading back to Spain at the end of June to play another Tanned Tin Festival, this time in the town of Cadiz. Looking forward to that one as well...

Also, my composition "Heavy Manners" was recorded for the Cal Arts Jazz 2008 CD at Capitol Records. I've posted that in the 'listen' section. Check it.

Thanks for visiting, and feel free to drop a line.

M

02.12.08 | Sesh!
Hey Everybody-

Been awhile since I've even touched the website controls. Sorry about that. The past few months have been good. I'll start with the most recent activity... This past weekend I was at Dave Trumfio's Kingsize Soundlabs recording two of Patrick Park's new songs! I'm incredibly excited and proud to be a part of Patrick's new album, which will hopefully be out some time in the summer or next fall. The songs sound great and Dave got some really great drum sounds. In pursuit of that super 70s Neil Young-y sound we took all the bottom heads off my Sonor lite kit and taped up the top heads something fierce. They sounded dope.

I've also been pretty active with the band Spain. We started gigging last fall with shows in Spain, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. All were very well-received. We have begun writing material for a new Spain album, but no word yet on when that might come to fruition. Right now I'm just having fun playing all the great Spain songs I use to listen to over and over again when I discovered their records years ago. This is another project that I'm incredibly excited and proud to be a part of.

Back in December I also did some recording for singer Kathleen Grace's new record. Kathleen's band is also very active these days. We had a great time on our east coast tour back in October/November. Looking forward to more of that kind of stuff once the new record comes out!

Right now I'm also focusing on finishing up my last semester at Cal Arts. What a great experience that place has been. More in the weeks to come...

I need to update my 'gigs' page, but I'm not going to right now cuz it takes kind of a long time and it is past my bed time. You can always check my myspace page for a more up to date schedule, although I've been slacking on that one lately as well! Check back soon.

09.04.07 | giggies
Hi-

Just posted some more upcoming gigs for the fall... Check the 'performances' page, and please come out and say hi.