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                                <td><p align="right"><font
                                color="#000000" size="2"
                                face="Verdana"><em>Detroit is
                                known all over the world for his
                                car industry but for rock&#146;n&#146;
                                roll people Detroit is synonymous
                                with small but great labels like
                                Fortune and Hi Q Records. Today,
                                a band which has named itself
                                reffering to these labels can be
                                add to the list of the new
                                talented rockabilly bands. Matt
                                and his gang has released a
                                supercharged first CD for the
                                Spanish label El Toro and are
                                very busy touring the whole wide
                                world (Last Vegas, Green Bay,
                                Spain, Montreal&#133;) and
                                helping the rockabilly community
                                connecting together (thanks to
                                www.planetrockabilly.com).
                                However, Matt has spent some of
                                his precious time answering some
                                of our questions.</em></font></p>
                                <p align="right"><font
                                color="#000000" size="2"
                                face="Verdana"><em>by Dave &quot;Long
                                Tall&quot; Phisel and Fred &quot;Virgil&quot;
                                turgis</em></font></p>
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                                <td valign="top"><font size="1"
                                face="Verdana"><strong><br>
                                </strong></font><font
                                color="#000000" size="1"
                                face="Verdana"><strong>So, how
                                long have you been doing music ?</strong>
                                <br>
                                I&#146;ve been playing music
                                since the age of 5. I started on
                                piano and was playing the guitar
                                at 14. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Do you have a classical
                                training? </strong><br>
                                No classical training per se. I
                                only took lessons from the age of
                                5 until 8. More technique,
                                scales, etc during that time
                                period. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Does it help you writing
                                songs now?</strong> <br>
                                Any musical training will
                                definitely help your
                                understanding and knowledge of
                                musical structure. I&#146;m sure
                                it has some effect on what I&#146;m
                                doing now as a musician and song
                                writer. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>How did you get started ?</strong>
                                <br>
                                My father was a jazz musician
                                through high school and college
                                and he encouraged me to take up
                                music. My father played saxaphone.<br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Did you grow up in a
                                musical family ? </strong><br>
                                On my father&#146;s side mostly.
                                My grandmother sang and played
                                piano and did a few recordings. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>What kind of stuff was
                                it?</strong> <br>
                                She was a young woman when she
                                made them in the early 40&#146;s.
                                They were kind of contemporary
                                music from that time period. Love
                                songs of a sort, I would say. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Have you always been into
                                rockabilly? </strong><br>
                                I&#146;ve always liked the genre
                                throughout my life. My mother was
                                a big Johnny Cash fan and through
                                that I discovered the Sun stuff
                                and it went from there. During my
                                teen years I listened to a lot of
                                punk and hardcore music (still a
                                big scene for that genre in
                                Detroit). I got heavily into
                                rockabilly/hillbilly music in my
                                mid 20&#146;s. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>You&#146;re in your mid
                                30&#146;s, so you were a teenager
                                when the Stray Cats were big in
                                the States. Did they influence
                                you one way or another?</strong> <br>
                                I did buy their records when I
                                was 13 I think. At the time I
                                think I liked them because they
                                were doing something different
                                and influenced by 50&#146;s music.
                                Looking back, they seem to be a
                                starting point for a lot of
                                people to get involved in
                                rockabilly in the United States. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Do you remember the first
                                record you bought and/or the one
                                that made you think �Woahhh,
                                that&#146;s what I want to do !�</strong>
                                <br>
                                Well, the first record that made
                                me want to play rockabilly music
                                was the Johnny Burnette Rock n
                                Roll Trio stuff. It was so wild
                                and out there....imagine
                                recording all that back in the 50&#146;s?!
                                They must have thought they were
                                from outer space back then. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>When you bought that
                                Johnny Burnette record, how old
                                were you and how did you end
                                buying this record? </strong><br>
                                I was in my early 20&#146;s and
                                it was the first piece of
                                rockabilly vinyl that I&#146;d
                                owned. I can&#146;t remember
                                where I got it, but I rember
                                getting it because I liked their
                                version of �Train Kept A Rollin�.
                                The rest of the LP really killed
                                me?! It was hard for me to
                                imagine music that savage and
                                wild being recorded during that
                                time period. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>What are your influences
                                as a singer and a songwriter ?</strong>
                                <br>
                                Man, that&#146;s a tough one as
                                there are so many...Johnny
                                Burnette, Jack Earls, Charlie
                                Feathers, Joe Clay, Lew Williams,
                                Curtis Gordon, Johnny Powers are
                                all at the top of my list, but
                                there are a ton of guys out there
                                that had only maybe one record....Jimmy
                                Carroll for instance. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>What about your band,
                                where do they come from, were
                                they in other bands before ?</strong>
                                <br>
                                The Hi-Q&#146;s has been around
                                since April 2003. Our drummer
                                Loney and guitar player Smokey (now
                                former guitar player) were in a
                                band called the Big Barn Combo
                                for several years. Our bass
                                player Rudy was in the Starlight
                                Drifters and played in a couple
                                of earlier groups with Loney.
                                Both Loney and Rudy play with
                                Jack Scott as part of the Top
                                Ranks. Currently, Jimmy Sutton of
                                the Four Charms has been filling
                                in duties on lead guitar. </font><p><font
                                color="#000000" size="1"
                                face="Verdana"><strong>Is he a
                                permanent member ? </strong><br>
                                Jimmy Sutton is the permanent
                                guitar player for the Hi-Q&#146;s.
                                We&#146;ve just started working
                                on a new set of recordings with
                                him in the last couple of weeks. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>What about Steve Jarosz ?
                                </strong><br>
                                Steve has played with us on
                                several occasions and I&#146;d
                                surely use him in the future if
                                the need arrises. He&#146;s got
                                his own projects here locally
                                including a fantastic Latin Jazz
                                Trio. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Do you remember the first
                                show you played?</strong> <br>
                                We did a show at a small bar in
                                Detroit. I remember feeling
                                relaxed and confident... had a
                                load of fun with it too. I&#146;d
                                been in too many bands were I had
                                to worry wether or not one or
                                more of the other members would
                                do their part. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Tell us more about your
                                site �Planet Rockabilly�.When
                                did it start? </strong><br>
                                Planet Rockabilly is the brain
                                child of our bass player Rudy. I
                                guess I&#146;ve taken over as the
                                content manager while Rudy
                                handles all the technical aspects
                                of the website. At the time, we
                                thought there was no worldwide
                                website that covered the rockin&#146;
                                scene in depth and on a regular
                                basis. It can be a lot of work,
                                but it&#146;s enabled me to meet
                                a lot of really good people who I
                                would never have known. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>The Rockabilly scene
                                seems to be reborned by the many
                                and high quality newcoming bands
                                from Sates. Tell us more about
                                the actual american rockabilly
                                scene. </strong><br>
                                That&#146;s very true! Most of
                                the newer bands are coming from
                                Southern California where they
                                have a very strong scene, but
                                there are bands scattered
                                throughout the rest of the
                                country like the Star Devils,
                                Buck Stevens and the Buck Shots,
                                the Star Mountain Dreamers, etc..
                                <br>
                                It&#146;s very difficult to tour
                                most of the country as the
                                opportunity make enough money to
                                pay for the tours are very
                                limited. Hopefully some inroads
                                will be made soon and get the
                                bands coming through our area on
                                a regular basis. I&#146;ve done
                                some promotion and won&#146;t
                                book shows if I don&#146;t think
                                that I can fairly compensate the
                                acts for their performance...
                                also won&#146;t make promises I
                                can&#146;t keep either. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Tell us more about your
                                first album �Hop and Bop�...</strong>
                                <br>
                                We recorded �Hop and Bop� in
                                two sessions at a local recorded
                                studio called Woodshed Studios.
                                It&#146;s run by a good friend
                                and musician Tim Pak. We recorded
                                live using analog equipment and
                                ribbon mics. We tried to get that
                                live 50&#146;s sound like you
                                hear on Sun, Meteor or Mercury
                                rockabilly recordings. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>Why beeing produced by
                                the �El Toro� spanish label ? </strong><br>
                                We actually produced and recorded
                                the record ourselves, but
                                released it on El Toro. We needed
                                a way to distribute the record
                                and Carlos does a great job of
                                putting his bands out there and
                                getting them heard. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>What are the most
                                memorable gigs you played and/or
                                went to ?</strong> <br>
                                As a musician, the most fun I can
                                recall having at a gig recently
                                was at the High Rockabilly
                                Weekend in September of 2004. Boy
                                was that ever a fun party! <br>
                                As a fan, I think the first Green
                                Bay weekender was just amazing...so
                                many artists in one place at one
                                time. It was almost like a dream.
                                I&#146;m looking forward to
                                playing there this time around?! </font></p>
                                <p><font color="#000000" size="1"
                                face="Verdana"><strong>Talking
                                about Green Bay, did you meet �legends�
                                there you&#146;ve always wanted
                                to meet ?</strong> <br>
                                I did get a chance to talk to a
                                few of the �legends�, but I
                                think I spent most of my time
                                getting crazy with my
                                contemporaries !!! It was a wild
                                party that lasted a long week. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>When can we expect a new
                                release ?</strong> <br>
                                We&#146;re busy working on new
                                songs and hope to have some new
                                recordings put together as soon
                                as we can get ourselves back in
                                the studio. <br>
                                <br>
                                <strong>A last word ?</strong> <br>
                                I&#146;d just like to say thanks
                                to you and to everyone out there
                                who bought the Hi-Q&#146;s CD and
                                contributes to Planet Rockabilly?!</font></p>
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