An Introduction

My name is Matthew Jason and I am a singer songwriter, located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago Illinois. I have this band called "Matthew Jason & The Collective Debut", and we've been playing in and around Chicago for the past year or so. This band is a work in progress, but what group of creative musicians isn't?

The back story is that I had been writing some songs in the spring of 2007, while I was playing for this other band. We were so involved in what we were trying to make happen, that I wasn't devoting enough time to my writing. This resulted in me leaving the group that summer to pursue music in a way that was very new to me.

I had written music with other songwriters before, but this time I was in a position where I had a lot of song ideas and no band to help me bring these songs to life. After all, that was the reason why I joined that other band. I soon realized that if I let those songs sit unfinished any longer, that was all they were ever going to do.

It wasn't until September of 2008 that the songs were ready to show to any prospective group of musicians. After trying out a few different groups, I found that there wasn't any chemistry and I began to feel extremely discouraged. Finally, I ran into some friends that I used to jam with, and they helped me put a 3 song demo together. With this demo I was able to book some shows while we continued to record, what is now our finished 7 song EP.

I decided to name the EP "Matthew Jason & The Collective Debut" because I wanted it to tell the story of a singer songwriter working with a group that brought new elements out of the songs when they worked together. My producer and I felt that this not only reflected the creation of the project, but the band as a whole. At that moment, the band received its name.

Since the completion of the new EP in August 2009, we've been playing out and working on new material. I plan to use this blog as a way to update what's happening, but also as an avenue to work through my thoughts through the progression of this band.

Thanks for taking the time read this introduction. Please be sure to head to our site (www.myspace.com/matthewjasonmusic). You'll see that we've posted the entire EP. We appreciate your comments, and hope that you'll find yourself enjoying some Rock N Roll!!!

-MJ