I never could get into those Matthew Good Band records. There were some good songs (Advertising on Police Cars), but the albums as a whole I found lacking.

Matt's solo work, on the other hand, has been kicking my ass for months. Avalanche is one of the coolest records I've ever heard, and the new one is in many ways everything I had hoped Steve Earle's Revolution would be.

So how is it that my favorite "protest"-style music to come out of the last half decade is in the form of two Canadian records that aren't even sold in the US?

The reason Matt Good isn't big in the US is manyfold

The first time his record was set to 'go big' was when Beautiful Midnight came out. It got a large release in the states ( I think it was the only one of his albums to do so). Unfortuneatly this was right in the middle of the era of 'censorship' where everything with a remotley naughty conotation got branded with a Explicit COntent sticker. He got one of these, his album was censored, and more importnatly, he just wasnt radio-friendly enough. His tour did poorly, and he just couldnt afford to keep touring in the US, where he has a small (yet vocal) fanbase, so he has kept to canada the past few years.

Youre right on how great his recent two albums are, I feel he has matured with his albums, but there are definately times when I feel the I miss the MGB. To hear tunes like "Suburbia", "Strange Days' "Radio Bomb" and ""tripoli" would be a dream come true for me. I've seen him live 4 times now, and he plays a lot of new material, and has't revisited anything but his hits from his older albums in wuite some time.

But he is the best candian artist active. Hands down.


(or at least my favorite)

Good Canadian boy, me and my friends used his songs in mucho projects.

Yes, and correct me if I'm wrong, but in the time since BM (BM! HAHAHA) he has been fairly active in his avoidance of the US market.

I'm not so into MGB, as I said. A lot of their work seemed pretty predictably 90's alt, with some of the Pink Floyd (wonderful) sweeping melodrama mixed in. The songwriting, however, seemed inconsistent. If I could see the man live (does he ever even TOUR the states?!?) I would pay twice as much if he would stick to the last two records. Christ, I'd buy tickets even if the only song he played was While We Were Hunting Rabbits.

A grindcore cover of Weapon?

I'd do it

Good sir, I would buy it.

1) He has never played rabbits live

2) He ONLY plays songs from his latest two albums, give or take hello Time Bomb, Load Me Up, Apparitions, and Giant., 17 songs, 14 form the last 2 albums, according to the setlist on my wall.

he's starting to play some rarer stuff from the Audio Of Being on this tour...if you want to hear how he sounded like when i saw him, you can download the show i taped here: http://www.easytree.org/torrents-details.php?id=11659

Has anybody had the chance to hear some of his demos from the upcoming 2009 release "Vancouver" ? I missed out

I have. Volcanoes and Empty's Theme Park are amazing from it. Think its gonna be a class album.

i've only heard last parade...but i like what i hear