Gem City Style: May 2024

Jessica Hunter

Broke Boland's String Trio consists of, from left, Paul Sontheimer, Matt Boland, and Jack Hanrahan and is the latest iteration of the music that Boland has been making for decades. Their styles combine to form a sound that Boland has yet to achieve on his own; blending Americana and folk with a darker edge.

This month, I sat down with local musician Matt Boland to talk about his influences and his growth in the Erie music scene from his early days with Matty B and the Dirty Pickles to his current project, Broke Boland's String Show.

Jessica Hunter (JH): Tell us a little bit about Matt Boland as a music artist. What first got you interested in music? Did something or someone inspire you to make music? What three words describe you and your music style best?

Matt Boland (MB): I started playing live around town at 18 years old. It's all I really ever wanted to do. When I was younger, I saw the Blues Brothers and thought it was the greatest movie on the planet. At 10 years old, I got into punk rock and became obsessed with the energy of live music. And by the time I hit 18, I discovered Buddy Holly and the art of songwriting. I always wanted to put all my influences together to create high-energy, original music with a fun stage show. When I started the Dirty Pickles, we played all originals, but soon found it fun to start putting my own versions together of my favorite artists of the '50s. The new project that I'm working on now focuses primarily on originals, with a cover song here and there if it suits the show. Three words I would use to describe my original music would be: entertaining, eclectic, multi-genre.

JH: You have a lot of changes coming to your music career. Can you tell us what to expect to hear with the string trio?

MB: The string trio happened out of patience — waiting for the right people to put with my original music. I've been a one-man band for years because I couldn't find the right pieces that catered to the multi-genre style of music I was making. I've always worked with amazing musicians, but for some reason, I couldn't put all the pieces together for a lot of my songs. But Paul Sontheimer on the cello and Jack Hanrahan on the mandolin made a unique sound that catered to all the different styles we play and fit together in a nice package. We do anything from upbeat Americana to dark, folk-sounding music.

JH: What is your creative process like? How do you approach songwriting?

MB: I honestly don't really have a process. There's so many ways that songwriting can happen. Either a cool lyric I come up with or I have a complete concept of a beat or rhythm. Or just a single chord inspiration constructed at any time — I think the important thing is to recognize it and grasp it. Writing with the band is super fun though. My favorite thing to do is arrange the music. There's something about taking the skeleton of just a few chords and some lyrics and turning it into this entity bigger than it was when we started.

JH: How do you think the music industry has changed since starting out with Matty B and the Dirty Pickles? What methods do you use to continually improve your craft?

MB: The music industry has changed drastically in the last 20 years. I started performing in 2004 and it was so important that when you had your first CD come out, it was cellophane wrapped and had a barcode to accentuate your legitimacy. I spent hundreds of dollars at Kinko's printing out flyers and going all over town and posting them to let people know about our shows. Times have changed, not just on how to promote and market, but also how people view live music. I feel like attention spans have become a lot shorter. We have a world of entertainment in our pockets and the idea of going out because there is nothing to do or that we might miss out on something is no more. YouTube videos, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other forms of social media have made it extremely convenient to see your favorite artists from the comfort of your own home or anywhere. It is just a different animal nowadays. But I've always believed if you're good enough and have enough to offer, nothing will stop people from being excited to see it live. I have been very fortunate that I've had that proven with some pretty amazing fans.

JH: Who would you most like to collaborate with? Can you share a time when you had to collaborate with other musicians to create a unique sound?

MB: I'll be honest — I'm not a great collaborator. I like to get in my own head and come up with ideas on my own. That doesn't mean I don't like to collaborate, it just isn't really how I do music. Once I have the right band members and feel comfortable enough, then we will collaborate and put our heads together to make a song as good as it can be. I will say one of my favorite people to take the stage with is Roger Montgomery. When I was younger, I used to go to his blues jams every Sunday at the Beer Mug and every Thursday at Docksider and I learned so much from him and the other people on stage about being able to sink or swim in the moment.

JH: What is your absolute favorite song to perform (cover or original)? If you could perform this song anywhere, where would it be?

MB: I've ended almost every set for the last 20 years with "Johnny B. Goode." But my favorite song to perform that isn't mine would be Ben E. King's "Stand by Me." I just love that song so much! My favorite song on my own to perform is all of them. That's why I wrote them.

Matt Boland can be found on Facebook (BrokeBoland) and Instagram @broke_boland

Jessica Hunter can be found at jessicahunterphotos.com