Life After Rock N Roll

As I write this on the first day of Autumn 2017, a lot has happened in the last seven months. On April 12th I started recording my new album, 'Life After Rock-N-Roll'. I lost Austin Hicks, my best friend and bandmate in the Low Counts to a tragic accident on March 8th 2017. We made a lot of headway and shattered every wall put before us with our no frills, high energy Rock-N-Roll band. We were on the rise, three albums in four years and air play on over 250 radio station in the US and abroad when it happened. Thick as thieves, what we had was irreplaceable, just gone. A lot of people asked me if I was going to quit music altogether. I didn't know what I was going to do next but I knew I would continue performing and recording my music, I would have lost my mind if I didn't. There's no way I could walk away from that even if I tried.   

To get away from grief I soon found myself back at Brookstown, the no frills brick studio in Winston Salem NC where Austin and I made our albums with our good friend and engineer, Allen Laws. I started out recording a few songs that I had recently written, just me with my acoustic guitar. Originally, I approached the recording process as a way to submerge myself in music to escape the dreadful things on my mind. Dealing with the loss of Austin was one of the toughest things I've ever faced. I didn't know I was beginning to record this album. All I knew was that I lost my best friend, my band mate, our band and future. It hit my soul in multiple ways. I wrote around 29 songs from April to May and recorded 19 of them, 13 of which are on this album. My music was changing and I was taking big risks and moving away from my comfort zone. I had no intentions of replicating or tarnishing the music I made with Austin.   

I made a conscious effort to meet musicians I hadn't played with to record and used instrumentation I hadn't previously. I decided to line these musicians up with songs that I thought would fit their musical personalities rather than using the same core group for every song. It worked really well and before I knew it I was on a very different trail in a short amount of time. It all made me appreciate the gift of music in many new ways and showed me a new road to take once more. There are no rules or limits to this album and it's a twisting and turning trip that started with just me and my guitar. The finish line of the recording process found me playing fresh, original music that inspired me with great musicians that were new to me as well.   

This album was born out of a tragedy but I hope that somehow I turned it into something positive that my best friend would approve of. I feel like he's guiding me in recent days. I think he'd be glad to know that I haven't stopped moving and creating because that's what we were about - motion. I know I carry on Austin's spirit with this music and I feel like it's my best to date. He lives on and I hope I pissed off the Grim Reaper in the process. Music is a strong, magical force. There is life after Rock N Roll. "Much love mate".  

- Matt Walsh Sept 22nd 2017