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 NEW ALBUM 2023

T R A N S I T S - Pt. I & II

PART I & II

OUT NoW

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ABOUT

 

Since busking the streets, malls and markets of hometown Melbourne with his one man band approach to extensively touring across the Country, singer/songwriter & guitarist Matt Katsis has continued to introduce his blues, roots and folk stirred sounds to audiences far and wide with gusto and merit for the past ten years.

The seed was first planted at age eight through family friends playing the acoustic guitar at family gatherings, which inevitably led to guitar lessons and performance opportunity’s through school years onto completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Music. Things were quickly becoming clear to Matt and those close, that this pursuit, in some way, shape or form was to prove a mainstay. With a live sound that parallels percussive elements of 6 & 9-string acoustic-electrified guitars, stomp box & tambourine, support shows with Australian Blues & Roots aficionados Jeff Lang and Backsliders (Dom Turner, Rob Hirst) stand up as highlights as well as hitting the road for many lengthy runs of self-booked interstate shows.

Recent festival performances at Kiama Jazz & Blues Festival, Echuca-Moama Winter Blues, Darker Days, Mornington Peninsula Blues Festival, Illawarra Folk Festival and many more has seen Matt join notable festival line-ups across the years with Aussie music legends; Ross Wilson & The Peaceniks, Daryl Braithwaite, Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Diesel and Ian Moss.

Following a short stint of shows in Oregon, USA, an opportunity that arose after been awarded Bruthen Blues Festival’s International Musician's Challenge in the Summer of 2014, Matt’s EP “The Burke & Wills Sessions”, received warm welcome in North America & Canada in 2016 when his version of J.J. Cale's' 'Call Me The Breeze '' was added to Apple Music’s 'The A-List: Blues' & 'Roadhouse Blues' Playlist. It sat alongside Internationally acclaimed Blues artist's such as Joe Bonamassa & Bonnie Raitt and the track has since clocked up over half a million streams and counting across all platforms. His 2017 EP release As The River Runs & 2019 Live At The Wheaty (The Wheatsheaf, Adelaide) encompasses his distinctive fusion of folk, blues and roots while hinting at influences of alt. Country/Americana, largely inspired by his travels through North America’s West and the deep South in the years prior.

In this new chapter, singles’ “Bones” & The Front Page” were fresh sounds in 2021, a follow up to the low-down holler, “Love & Gravity” (currently featured on Spotify’s ‘Just Me & The Blues’ editorial playlist), each recorded at his home in Central Victoria mid-2020. In harmony with this new found domain in the engineer’s seat, late-2021 saw the release of a retrospective studio album “Over The Horizon”, featuring Matt’s early guitar instrumentals paired with songs that have stood the test of time on the road now recaptured through these recordings, some revisited and others recreated.

When speaking about “Over The Horizon”, Matt explains;

“This actually wasn’t the album I had planned to make! There was a full album’s worth of tracks I was working on through early lockdowns of 2020 and of those songs, not all but many I found were darker and others far more introspective in comparison. I guess it came as a response to all the sudden changes in the world, the shake up and all the things that came to be wrapped up in that.

During that time I was also revisiting some older recordings of mine - early instrumentals and tracks with my rhythm section bandmates from way back, which was where writing my own original music began. So I was chipping away at these past songs from home really enjoying the nostalgia of going back through and listening to the mixes but with no real plans. Before too long though inspiration struck and I was overdubbing guitars, backing vocals and playing drums, percussion, putting down bass lines and even mandolin on some of the more stripped back tracks and there it eventually was, 10 revisited tracks from sometime ago (plus a couple ambient interludes) that became ‘Over The Horizon’.

The process was a really positive one and kept me inspired through some personal and externally challenging times as it served a great reminder in getting back to my roots, I feel the anchor in the history and the memories the songs conjure up and it helped me reflect on the things that drew me to guitar and music in the beginning. If not just for that reason alone, I can’t think of a better collection of songs for the album - even if it took a retrospective to land there.”

A Bluesman at heart, avid wanderer — albeit delicate folk ballads to foot stomping slide guitar down-home swagger, Katsis nods to the pioneering and enduring legacy of which the genres traditions relay yet embraces a distinctly modern sound mirrored across his songwriting, recording and live approach. Stay tuned for the full length second album “Transits” in 2023.

|   F E S T I V A L S P L A Y E D  |

 Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival | Blues on Broadbeach | Queenscliff Music Festival | Bruthen Blues & Arts Festival | Melbourne Moomba Festival | White Night Melbourne | White Night Ballarat | The Basin Music Festival | Globe 2 Globe World Music Festival | Groundswell Festival | Mordialloc by the Bay Festival | Kingston Harvest Festival | Frankston Waterfront Festival | Blueprint Festival | Montalto Awakening Festival | Mt. Eliza Music Festival | Boolarra Folk Festival | Swagger Music Festival | Tanglewood Festival | Tooberac Blues & Roots Music Festival | Benalla Wall-to-Wall Festival | Bendigo Craft Beer & Cider Festival | Nightjar Festival Torquay | Kiama Folk By The Sea | Main Street Mornington Festival | Illawarra Folk Festival | San Antone Smokehouse Festival | Womin Djeka Balnarring Festival | St Kilda Blues Festival | Perisher Peak Festival | Echuca-Moama Winter Blues | Marysville Jazz & Blues Weekend | Mornington Peninsula Blues Festival | Katherine Outback Blues (online) Festival | Darker Days Festival | Kiama Jazz & Blues Festival

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Check out the 2017 mini-documentary/interview by RESFILMS |  Matt Katsis - ‘A Brief Background’ as it takes a look back to where a life in music began — from early beginnings busking & gigging in Melbourne and an affinity to the acoustic guitar.

Also read Matt’s interview with Culture Mad Magazine, from August 2019 shortly following the release of ‘Live At The Wheaty’.

 

“His songs are imbued with a heartfelt gravity anchored by his warm and cathartic baritone.” - Overblown Magazine (UK & Ireland)

“As The River Runs is a warm soothing EP brimming with passionate graceful tracks that warm the cockles of your heart. Pure, honest and charming - each track flows smoothly into the next while displaying variety’s in Katsis’ musicianship and depth. The thing that becomes apparent with this EP is how detailed and moving a guitar feature can be — the guitar adds vibrancy and lift’s into a melancholic sense of playfulness that is quite beautiful” - Indie Buddie (online publication)

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1st Place | Queenscliff Music Festivals Favourite Busker, 2013 (VIC), Warracknabeal 'Y Fest' Favourite Busker, 2014 (VIC), Bruthen Blues Festival International Musicians Challenge , 2015 (USA Tour – Oregon)

Semi Finalist | Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society (MBAS) Blues Performer of the Year - solo/duo category, 2016 (VIC) , Byron Bay Bluesfest Busking Competition, 2016 (NSW)

Finalist | Perisher Peak Festival Upload, 2018 (NSW), Busker’s by the Creek Festival singer/songwriter showcase, 2018 (QLD), Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society (MBAS) Blues Performer of the Year - solo/duo category, 2018 (VIC)  

 
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T O U R D A T E S