Matt Santry

quote - - Jaxon, DJ, WMMR (93.3FM) Phila, PA,

quote - - Jesse Lundy, Talent Buyer, PointEntertainment.com

quote - - Jeff Juliano, Mix Engineer (OAR, John Mayer, Dave Matthews)

What happens when a local cat decides that the corporate gig isn’t what mashed his potatoes? He does a Matt Santry: drops it to to become a full-time musician. This guy is the embodiment of a local man following his dreams and then does it all by himself. Santry played at PLAY’s launch party held at Grape Street (4100 Main St.) in Manayunk on June 14. We thought we’d take a few minutes with the go-getter to pick his brain and let you know what experiences and plans he’s got in the bag.


PLAY: Where are your roots?
Santry: I never know how to answer that question. I usually say from the Philadelphia area, because I came from the Villanova, South Jersey and Philadelphia. (Philadelphia is) where I started playing music, and that’s where I identify with.


PLAY: Has it affected your style?
Santry: Uhm, not necessarily. My style is from my influences.

PLAY: Tell us a little about who you are? Background, development, etc. Santry: I guess I really got my into this scene at State College at Penn State. My senior year I was playing five nights at week at one point. I learned a lot about this lifestyle and figured that ‘hey I can make a living at this.’
I do play covers on top of my own compositions, so that helps me keep my chops up. Sometimes I have to sing several nights in a row. That helps me develop my voice. That’s really where I got my start.


PLAY: What were your beginning interests in music?
Santry: I grew up watching my dad play guitar. I picked up guitar on my own and played with friends at 14.


PLAY: What musician(s) have influenced you the most?
Santry: As far as guitar, I was influenced heavily by Dave Matthews and Jimmy Page (I wanted to learn every Zepplin song) but when I started playing acoustic it was definitely Dave Matthews. I like the chord inversions (You could play an open D chord in the standard position, but there are also five other different inversions that will produce similar sound but different feel. If you change from a third to a second, it takes it to a different place.)
With singing, I was influenced by (I began singing at 20, so I got a late start) by Bono. I was really into Eddie Kowalczyk (Live) but when I first started singing, some people said I sounded like Eddie Vedder because I have that baritone sound to my voice.


PLAY:Is music all you are doing right now, or do you have another job?
Santry: As of a year ago, yeah, I teach music lessons part time. But it’s pretty much just music at this time.


PLAY: How exactly would you define your style?
Santry: Singer, songwriter, pop-rock.


PLAY: Tell us about your CD, the promotional video at Grape Street, getting on Jackson’s CD.
Santry: My CD came out in September 2005 and is currently available on my website (www.mattsantry.com) the third track Love Habit will appear on Jackson’s Local Shots Vol. II (WMMR), which will be out in August. We will have a release party on Aug. 1 at Grape Street. People can also call WMMR to request the song.
I’m getting into the NACA circuit (National Association for Campus Activities). This is the organization that larger schools like Penn State find their entertainment for the campuses. The association they are a part of.
As far the video, I did a few TV spots in the past. In ‘04 I performed on Cold Pizza on ESPN, last fall I was on NBC 10, but I’ve never recorded a live show with the crowd response. And in this one there were people dancing and screaming; having a good time. And that was kinda the point of the video; to show that you come to see Matt Santry you’ll have a great time.


PLAY: Who’s your target audience?
Santry: I would say probably the college.


PLAY: Your website talked about a mission; can you tell us about that?
Santry: It’s just basically that the goal of any indie act, you want to get out there and have as much exposure as possible. I want to get out there so I can sort of master my own destiny I guess. I don’t want to have to sign to a big label to tour and (I want to) get people exposed to my music.


PLAY: What the craziest thing that’s happened to you while on stage?
Santry: Basically being attacked from behind during a show. This girl came up and I didn’t even see her. She was biting my back. I stopped the music and screamed into the mic “you’re biting me.” That was at a restaurant/bar that I was doing a solo acoustic gig – it was the strangest thing. A group of college kids came and that happened. She ran off and then 40 minutes later it was calm and peaceful again.


PLAY: What’s your favorite fan story?
Santry: This one’s pretty innocent. When I played in San Fran last year a girl had found me online and asked me for a guitar pic after the show. She got really excited about it. So I gave it to her. At that point I was working a full time job, so I was like ‘wow’ this must be how rock stars feel.


PLAY: What a - PLAY (www.playphilly.com)