Matt Stell & The Crashers
Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Five regional bands are asking for your vote at the Waka Winter Classic on Friday at the Outland Ballroom.
It's a "battle of the bands" concert featuring Kevin Cochran, Matt Stell and the Crashers, Bring Your Green Hat, Dirty Old Towne and LFDC Funk.
Each band gets a 30-minute set and each audience member gets one vote.
The band with the most votes gets to serenade the crowds at the 2009 Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival in Ozark, Ark., June 4-7. The four-day festival has an impressive roster of big-name headliners, including Black Crowes, Gov't Mule and the Yonder Mountain String Band.
And like the Wakarusa festival, Friday night's lineup features an eclectic mix of music.
- Kevin Cochran is a singer/songwriter from Chicago. His acoustic-folk music sounds like a cross between Jason Mraz and John Mayer.
- Matt Stell, a 2006 graduate of Drury University, fronts the Crashers, a southern-rock band that has been touring all over the Midwest lately.
- Bring Your Green Hat is a fixture in Springfield's downtown music scene. The local band plays a blend of rock, funk and reggae.
- Dirty Old Towne is a five-member Celtic-rock band from Branson that mixes original songs with traditional covers.
- LFDC Funk, another Springfield band, is a six-piece psychedelic jam band.
"Wakarusa is a nice way to take another step forward and get to meet a lot of other bands and people," says Daniel Dossey, drummer of Dirty Old Towne.
"This band is something that all of us have dreamed about for years. We all really want to make this a fulltime situation."
So does Matt Stell, who is working on his masters degree at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
"I graduate on May the 9th and after that my full-time employment will be rock 'n' roll," says Stell.
But he says winning on Friday night is his first priority.
"We're trying to cram our two-hour show into a 30-minute set," says Stell. "We're really trimming the fat and trying to pick our most high-energy numbers."
But Dossey and Dirty Old Towne may have a secret weapon: kilts.
"As an entertainer, you really want people to see you up on stage looking like something out of the ordinary," says Dossey.
"You want people to feel like it's not just a guy with his T-shirt and jeans and he just barely managed to get himself up off the couch to show up for the gig."
- Springfield News-Leader
Matt Stell & his band "The Crashers" played here Friday night & I have to tell everyone THAT THEY PUT ON A STELLAR SHOW! (to borrow another of Steve"s phrases.) This guy had played here three times back when he was still a "baby" so to speak, (hardly had his eyes open yet) & he was good. Yet when he took the stage Friday night, everyone's jaws just dropped! Matt has taken his talent & awesome voice, to a whole new level. Great range, crowd command, and songs - I'm tellin ya, this guy can write songs!
So, if you have a chance to catch Matt Stell and The Crashers anytime do it! You will not be dissappointed! He also has a very talented band in Adam Freitas, lead, Joey Rowlett, bass, and for this night, Chris Brotherton sat in on drums. Mix them all together & you have a night of music that basically can't be beat!
- Capones' Italian Eatery
A product of Central Arkansas, Matt Stell is no stranger to attention. Since his days of dominating area basketball, he has been familiar with the limelight. Towering the stage at 6'7" Matt Stell has no problem bringing presence to any venue. He also thinks its time to bring Arkansas blues to the table. After hearing Stell, you feel as though you're hearing a blues legend right of the Delta, and have an uncontrollable urge to wipe Memphis-style BBQ sauce off your face. Stell is a unique combination of traditional country, Delta blues and soul. This boy is as southern fried as it gets. Matt came out with his first album in early 2006 "Live at the Snorty Horse" which was also an attendance record for a weekday show. One can rely on Stell either bringing a crowd, or generating a fan base for his next visit. Matt has shared the stage with guys like Adam Hood, Mighty Orq, John Evans, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Jason Boland on several occasions. Anyone who's heard him agrees that this wiry framed rebel is the real deal. Stell's acoustic duo is ideal for an opening act for all manner of artists, as is his solo act. His wide range and eclectic style make him a versatile talent. In short, Matt Stell has a standing invitation to play at the Snorty Horse any time his schedule permits. I strongly recommend booking him--at this rate he'll soon be very hard to afford!
Steve Greene Owner, Snorty Horse Saloon - Snorty Horse Saloon Weekly Newsletter
Discography
Singles--Shirt, Troubles, Sheepskin Road
EP--"Matt Stell: Extended Play Release" - Released June 2008
LP--"The Sound & the Story" - Release Date - May 2009
*All singles enjoy full rotation throughout Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, and Tennessee.
Photos
Bio
In their first full year as a touring act, Matt Stell & The Crashers played over 120 shows across Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennesse, Iowa, Kansas, and Ohio and enjoyed widespread radio success in diverse markets across the region. MS&C had a very productive year, headlining new venues and supporting many regional favorites such as Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Casey Donahew Band, and the John D. Hale Band, as well as national acts such as Randy Rogers Band, The Eli Young Band, Wade Bowen, and Jake Owen. The boys are looking forward to 2010 as they will be recording their second album at world renowned FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL with Jason Isbell at the helm producing the effort. The band is starting the new decade off strong with endorsement deals such as Jagermeister and Red Dirt Hurricane and the boys are ready to hit the road again with as much vigor and commitment to southern music and heritage as ever before.
2009 Bio:
“I’d say the record is eclectic but focused,” drawls the Central Arkansas native in response to a question regarding the nature of his debut record, The Sound & the Story. The answer betrays his unique mixture of down-home sensibility and pointed intelligence. With songs ranging from poignant country to high energy, toe-tapping rock to Americana inspired, lyric-centered ballads, one thing is for sure; the record covers a lot of ground. “I don’t feel like one sound or style represents me, so I just pick and choose my favorites and mash them together.” This sentiment is conclusively proven on the record.
Acclaimed Houston-based singer/songwriter/producer John Evans shares these sentiments. “Stell’s sound is like a shot of whiskey, but more Southern Comfort than Crown Royal. He’s got a smooth grit to him. He’s a fresh breath of old school.” With Evans producing the record along with Mikey Ferrara and Stell himself, the sound that Evans describes is evident throughout the record. One thing is for sure, The Sound & the Story is a fresh take on Alt-Country and Americana from an artist quickly on the rise.
A native of Central Arkansas, Stell spent his formidable years splitting time between his familial home north of Little Rock and the Florida Gulf Coast. A basketball scholarship took Stell to the Midwest where music first began to creep into his life. “Music was always a part of my life but it wasn’t until college that I picked up a guitar and started to try and write my own music. I sat in front of my computer and squeezed out three chord country and delta blues songs that I thought none of my friends had ever heard of.” To Stell’s surprise, his friends loved these songs and he and his guitar became a fixture at house parties around Drury University. Ultimately, this led Stell to compose original works, which were received even better than his covers.
As luck would have it, a venue catering to Alternative Country opened up a few miles West of Stell’s college town of Springfield, Missouri. This bar, the Snorty Horse Saloon, provided the eager but inexperienced Stell with an outlet for his music and a crowd anxious to hear his original work. Stell quickly built a fan base that remains fiercely loyal to this day. Touring takes Stell and his newly formed band, The Crashers, from Oklahoma and Texas to the Mississippi playing his unique brand of rock, soul, country, blues... basically Southern music. He has shared the stage with the likes of Cross Canadian Ragweed, Eli Young Band, Chris Knight, Jason Boland, John Evans, No Justice, Adam Hood, Grayson Capps, Micky and the Motorcars, and the John D. Hale Band to name a few. “Matt Stell & the Crashers have so much potential it’s scary. We have become close friends in recent months and those guys are as friendly as they are talented,” remarks John D. Hale. “We look for excuses for them to play shows with us.”
The Sound & the Story is a fresh collection of sounds that gives Americana, country, and blues fans something to enjoy. It effortlessly blurs the lines that separate these genres and creates a sound that, while sometimes hard to define, is always coherent and seamless. “I started this record with tropes and character sketches. I feel like what I ended up doing was chiseling a sound out of distinct but connected parts. It sounds like the western part of the South I think.” With the addition of the Crashers--Adam Freitas on harmony vocals and lead guitar, T. Joey Rowlett on harmony vocals and bass, and Matt ‘Teaspoon’ Richardson on drums--The Sound & the Story comes to life with soaring gritty tones, driving bass lines, and funk-tinged beats.
Links
