POSTCARD

Matt Hall’s debut album is all about the communal experience

This is the bookend of this project for me. I need to go back to real life,” says local musician Matt Hall as he sips a hot cup of coffee overlooking Main Street, Wellington. Hall is speaking about his debut album, POSTCARD, which brings a bold mix of alternative rock—fuelled by the raw energy of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, with a modern edge. “I am really, really proud of this emotional artistic album that I have been working on over the last couple years, so I want to cap it off right.”

And cap it off he will, with a live show on the Regent Theatre stage on Saturday, November 1, with all proceeds going directly back to the Regent. “The entire album is all of my experience in this region. It’s to celebrate and thank the area for all of the love and support,” he says.

Hall shares that it has been a long and unconventional road to get to this point. He first picked up a guitar in Grade Nine. He was listening to Weezer’s Blue Album and was hooked. “That’s the bible for me—’90s grunge,” says Hall. “And it’s really hard to try and not write like that. If I have succeeded you won’t hear that, but every fibre of my DNA tries to pull me that way.”

Hall continued to hone his skills and write music, but never anything too serious. It was a fun hobby at best. Then came 2020—the midst of the Covid pandemic. Hall had just received a promotion at his company, SafeStart.

“I started in the Vice President role. Our revenue was down significantly. I got this crazy promotion, but the business was literally struggling,” he says. “I needed an outlet. I have played music and written for myself, so I was like maybe I will do some output expression with music on my own.”

Being a diehard Weezer fan, Hall reached out to a Weezer cover band in Kingston called Sleezer, to see if there might be a role for him. He remembers the message like it was yesterday.

“Hey, I am like a psycho level fan. There wouldn’t be a song or a lick or a riff that I wouldn’t know to execute perfectly, so if you ever need a backup guitarist hit me up.”

Unfortunately, the band was winding down as life had gotten in its way, but the group set up a jam session, where they asked Hall if he had any original music as they weren’t interested in playing covers any longer.

“I was like, well I do, but it could be bad. But when I played them, they were so supportive and said people need to hear this.”

Hall wanted to push his boundaries. He notes that the only instrument he never knew how to play that he wanted to was the piano. “So I went and bought a piano. I wanted to write a collection of songs on an instrument I didn’t know how to play. It forced me to do something different. To make different sounds,” he says.

He learned the instrument in roughly six months and presented his music back to a couple individuals. He put out one single and sent it to influencer Alan Cross, who hosts The Ongoing History of Rock on CBC. The message back was that people needed to hear his music.

“Negative twenty confidence went to plus one,” says Hall. “Not a lot, but enough to be like, hey, I am not really messing this up. I was worried that I thought it was good and everyone else was like yikes this is awful. That’s the common thread. People say it should be heard, which has helped tremendously.”

So, he started to formalize and put structure to songs. Hall had roughly 50 finished tracks in his head, and whittled it down to a 10-track album.

“These 10 felt the most cohesive,” says Hall. “That was probably the most fun part of this record. Every song touches a different genre. It starts with Franz Ferdinand dance synth rock, switching to ballad rock, Roy Orbison, George Harrison Beatle-esque, to orchestral, to Brian Wilson Beach Boys vibes, to punk and ends on a little more of an opera style.”

It’s a wide range of genres, but Hall says the cohesiveness comes from similar instrumentation and similar arrangement styles and ultimately, working with the same people on tracks. And the help and expertise of local music producer Jeff Vandertot to pull it all together helped immensely.

“When I say he is a secret weapon, it is such an understatement. He is so wildly talented.”

But how do you play a live show when you are only one person? Enter the best of the best local talent. Joining Hall on stage at the Regent will be Ben Vandergaast on keys, Travis Whiteman on guitar, Jason Hamilton on bass, Bryson Dockrill on drums and Gavin Massey on keys.

“They are truly the best of the best and will help cap of years of hard work,” says Hall.

When asked about what he is looking forward to the most for his show at the Regent, he says it is sharing the experience with his wife, Tara, and kids Lachlan (14) and Sayer (11).

“They have been so supportive. Our two boys have been front row at a shows we did a year ago, just belting out and singing,” says Hall. “We will see, but the intent is one of the final songs of the record has a kid choir, so they like the idea of coming on stage with me and belting it out.”

Hall isn’t sure what the future holds for putting out albums. “It all depends on the success of this project. I will never stop writing. But writing is different than releasing,” says Hall. “I started doing this for me. Now that it has some traction, it just seems like this is the fit. What started out as non-belief, I now believe in this record due to all of the people who didn’t have to,” says Hall. “Everything is fitting into place, and the puzzle will be completed on November 1 at the Regent.”

Tickets are $35, with all proceeds going directly back to the Regent Theatre. To purchase tickets, and for more information please visit theregenttheatre.org