the dotmatrix project

As far back as most people can remember, Greensboro has been a cover band town, so for the past 16 months, we at DMP have been trying to expose great original acts from our town and the surrounding area.

But when you have a showman like Matt Hill fronting a band with the likes of Max Drake on guitar/mandolin, Chuck Cotton on the drums and FJ Ventre on upright bass, playing a style of music — Rhythm and Blues — that is dying a bit more each year as the legends fade away, well, sometimes you have to make an exception to the rule.

MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Blake Faucette
Camera: Blake Faucette
Camera: Micah Moore
Camera: David Bradley
Sound: Danny Bayer
Sound: Don Ravon

Once we clear the covers, look for the album to drop on Last.fm and Amie Street.

Read this list of folks right here, and see if “singer/songwriter” comes to mind:

Johnny Cash
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
John Denver
James Hetfield
Joni Mitchell
Carly Simon
Tori Amos
Ray LaMontagne
Laurelyn Dossett
Matty Sheets
Conor Oberst
Ani Defranco
Amy Winehouse
Harry Chapin
James Marshall Owen
Scott Avett
Lily Allen
Ryan Adams
Jeff Tweedy
Dan Fogelberg
Dolly Parton

For me, there’s a few in there where the phrase singer/songwriter sticks out to me like a black turtleneck sweater.

John Denver. Joni Mitchell. Cat Stevens.

The others, not so much. But I found most on a wiki list of singer/songwriters.

Johnny Cash? Come on. Singer/songwriters don’t flip the bird at Columbia Records.

They whine about it.

And that’s the basically the idea I’ve been carrying around about the singer/songwriter genre for a few years now.

The switch flipped a few years back. Precisely the moment when, sitting in the home studio office of an LA-based music producer, the man said in a very kind, very matter-of-fact way, something like, “We’ll try and make your songs sound a little less singer/songwriter.”

My brain did something like:

Singer/Songwriter: Bad
Metallica: Good (for your reference)

And for the last two years, I’ve tried shaking the term off like, well, a tight black turtleneck, throwing as many musicians and arrangements and Garage Band beats as I could at songs to take them out of the coffee shop and into the coliseum.

I wanted my songs to flip you the bird. Not sing about them.

Dammit.

Recorded a bunch of songs in a studio with some fine musicians. And when I heard the playback the first few times, realized the songs I’d worked so hard to write, were now so far away from the original purpose, far from anything I could ever duplicate live.

Far from tunes that literally stood naked in front of you. Not the first blush of love, naked, when everything sounds like a pop song, new, and not yet overplayed. The naked-in-the-bright-light, when every thing about the person is real with flaws and missteps and wrong notes. That kind of naked.

Being naked in front of people takes a lot more courage than flipping somebody the bird.

So I took the term, singer/songwriter, back.

Took off the black turtleneck.

Realized again it takes a kind of unordinary courage to be a singer/songwriter.

Where you have to sing the notes - not scream - into the mic.

Where melody can’t hide inside some refrigerator-sized amplifier.

Where the singer, songwriter alone has to fill the room.

That unordinary courage is what you’ll see this week at the dotmatrix project with the singer songwriter performances of Kristen Leigh, Morgan McPherson and Randy Furches.

Authentic, real and naked.

Dress appropriately.

Live at the dotmatrix project
Thursday, June 25
at the Green Burro

The sci-fi sound of ETI’s name gets a boost from this photo…

…where James Marshall Owen appears to be transported by the music.

A different perspective on ETI, as Alex has Matty Sheets apparently getting ready to go right through the camera.

For more of Alex’s work, you can go to Alex’s web site or check out his other shots in the DMP photostream.

Michael McQueen is the music video director for next week’s DMP show, featuring Kristen Leigh, Morgan McPherson and Randy Furches.

Over the past year, we’ve crossed paths on Facebook and at local film screenings, so I was excited when he showed interest in contributing to our project, but I still didn’t know much about his story.

That changes today.

DMP: So, Michael, what got you started with shooting? Was it a life long passion or a particular director that got you hooked?
MM: I got into doing video through riding BMX bikes. Basically, I started filming my friends riding and doing tricks. Eventually, I started filming professional riders and got gigs working in the BMX industry as a videographer.

DMP: Is BMX now your primary focus?
MM: I’ve done work for a lot of the independent BMX companies, but also larger companies like Red Bull, Target, Levis and Fuel TV. All of that led me to doing commercial video production, which led to my current job as video producer for the News & Record. I still do a little bit of freelance work in the BMX industry, mostly with Eastern Bikes doing web videos. I’m currently in production of a full length video of their team, due out in September.

DMP: Sounds like a handful. How do you manage it all by yourself?
MM: I don’t. For my freelance commercial production, I work with Matthew B. Moore. Together, we own and operate King Coyote Productions.

DMP: You’re participating in the 48 Hour Film Festival this weekend, as you have in the past with your work on Good Morning Mr. Brown. What gets you juiced about the festival? Is it the time based production challenge? The intense competition within the local film community?
MM: The 48hrff is always a fun time. In the past I’ve always worked with the Good As A Mugg team. The director, Matt Moore, and I have been friends and business partners for a long time. We work well together and have an awesome crew. But this year the stars didn’t align and the team couldn’t play as a whole. So you’ll see us scattered amongst different teams, kicking ass as usual! I’ll be on Ike Quigley’s team: 10lb Hammer. It is crazy that Greensboro has such a large independent film community. To have ~30 teams enter a contest and compete on that level is amazing. And each year the films just get better and better.

DMP: Do you have the itch to direct a feature film? It seems like that’s the dream of every filmmaker we’ve come across on the project.
MM: My involvement in film has always been just one of the players. So movie wise, no, not directing. That’s not my thing. If i’m doing anything on a film it’s going to be sound. That’s my passion as far as film making goes. Now maybe a documentary… I just haven’t found a good one to go long form on. Maybe one day.

DMP: With everything going on in your life right now — the full-time gig, your marriage, your freelance work, the 48 FF, I’m sure I’m missing something else — what drew you to collaborate on a DMP shoot? Are you that much of a music fan?
MM: While filming BMX, I was going to a lot of hardcore shows in the Winston area. So naturally, I’d take my camera with me and film bands. That led to me working with Blake Faucette on his Series DVD video magazine. I have a strong passion for music and I suck at playing an instrument, so I use my camera as my way to connect. I’m always looking for a way to stay close to the music scene and DMP is an amazing way to keep doing that.

DMP: Thanks for your time, Michael. Catch you next week at the show.
MM: You got it.

Another local talent ready to document local talent.

I really dig how Don has classified The Leeves — Punk jazz. Fits, doesn’t it?

MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Blake Faucette
Camera: Blake Faucette
Camera: Micah Moore
Camera: Ashley Panzera
Sound: Danny Bayer
Sound: Don Ravon
Producer: Matt “Beard” Williams

If you’d like to hear more from The Leeves’ set that night, the live album is currently available for the low, low price of $1.53. If you’re new to the Amie Street process, be sure to use our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to buy albums and support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.

Enjoy!

In December of 2008, we put on the ninth DMP show. That evening, two local punk bands set the DMP “stage” on fire! The evening started with The Leeves.

Photo by Stephen Charles

With a little help from their friends, they put on a fantastic performance! You can listen to (and buy) a copy of that performance at Amie Street, or Last.FM.*

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Kevin Belton

After their fellow rockers finished warming it up, and Doug Pike got a chance to rest his limbs, Queen Anne’s Revenge claimed the stage to finish off a great evening of Punk for the dotmatrix project!

Photo by Kevin Belton

Photo by Stephen Charles

You can get a copy of their live album on Amie Street or Last.FM, too.*

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Eric Velarde

*To make the whole process a whole lot easier for you on Amie Street, here’s our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets . My advice…USE IT!

Power chords. Smoking & playing. Moshing. Yeah, we had a punk rock show. QAR killed it that night.

MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Ashley Panzera
Camera: Andy Coon
Camera: Blake Faucette
Camera: Micah Moore
Camera: Ashley Panzera
Sound: Danny Bayer
Sound: Don Ravon
Video Producer: Matt “Beard” Williams

If that got you worked up, you might want to check out the live album, currently available over at Amie Street.

Enjoy!

When Harvey shot this last November, I hoped we’d get Kristen under the bright lights at some point so I filed the video away in my immensely forgetful mental data bank, hoping to remember to pull it up prior to the yet-to-be-booked-show.

Voila!

Kristen is headlining this month’s DMP show, with Morgan McPherson and Randy Furches.

Don’t miss it.

And won’t you please, please, please save the Monkeywhale?

Bart Trotman’s footage from INVISIBLE’s month long show at the Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA.

With over 1800 shots from fourteen DMP shows, sometimes it’s hard to see them all. Just in case you missed one or two, every so often I’ll post a couple in hopes of getting a “Damn! I missed that!”

This post’s first shot is by Michael Dunn, from the Citified set during the June 2008 show.

This may be the last time that the media crew could be found so easily in a shot! This is DMP — the band, the crowd, and the media, all in one shot.

Another interesting shot was this one by Stephen Charles from the performance by Janik in September 2008:

The lighting for the DMP shows is sometimes very challenging, but Stephen’s shot has me stopping every time to marvel at the way he used the lighting to his advantage.

There’s more where those came from.