Project Description
Interview with
JESS & MATT
Interviewer – Vicky Hebbs
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“Jess & Matt remind me of Lindsey and I. They sing so well together, they can play anything and are so well grounded. The world needs this great duo” – Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac
“Jess & Matt really impressed me straight away, to the point where I’m now learning things from them.” – Chris Isaak
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Have you always wanted to be musicians? When did it become a serious concern for you?
We both have always loved music since we can remember…
How would you describe your sound?
Pop / Singer-Songwriter / Country
Why do you think people resonate with your music?
I think our ability to tell a story from two different perspectives and intertwine our individual voices throughout that story gives us the opportunity to add depth to songs whether we wrote them or not.
You have your first headlining tour coming up in February. How do you feel about going on tour?
Our main passion is performing live, and we have spent a long time song-writing both here and over in Nashville getting our body of work to where we want it to be… we’re so excited to finally be able to create some special intimate moments with our fans in the road and share these new stories & songs.
Do you have any other live performances planned for later in the year?
We are looking to do another run of shows in the middle of the year, we’ve been blown away by the feedback of fans asking us to come and play in their hometowns – so we’re working on bringing the new show and songs to as many more new places that we can later in the year.
If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
We’ve been lucky to have had some crazy moments so far that ticked one of these boxes for us – we performed with Chris Isaak at his New York Show and as an idol of ours it was a real pinch yourself moment. I think performing with Stevie Nicks would be a big one… or the whole new Fleetwood Mac Line Up with Neil Finn would have to be the ultimate.
You recently released single, “Know About You”. Can you share the origins or inspiration behind the song?
We wrote this one in Nashville and the idea came from a conversation we had one day about the time leading up to when we first met – Jess admitted that she actually already knew a lot about me thanks to some online Facebook stalking, and then I admitted I had done exactly the same… and then we decided to write a song about it.
How has your music evolved since you first started writing music together?
We were both solo artists before we met with very different sounds and influences – we met studying music and our music stayed separated for quite a while… but when we finally started booking each other when we had duo gigs, we had this big moment where we realized a whole new realm of possibilities working with harmonies intertwined with melodies and that really inspired us and our story telling as we had the ability to write from multiple perspectives in the same song.
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How did things change for you two after signing with Sony?
To one day sign to a major label is always a dream for an artist when you’re starting out… and to be signed by one of the biggest labels in the world was a real surreal moment for us and one we’ve never taken for granted. After signing with a major label we were always to ensure we didn’t become complacent to the opportunity we were given and have since travelled all over the world to grow our careers, visiting Sony New York through to working with the label in Nashville which has provided us with some incredible once in a lifetime experiences to develop & grow as artists.
What are your career plans or goals for 2020?
2020 is a year that has seen us make some big moves already – after 4 years we have parted ways with Sony Music Australia and will be exploring some exciting opportunities in the USA & at here at home… we have put a lot of time into developing our new body of work and are so excited to be finally hitting the road for lots of touring and new music releases.
Where do you see yourselves in a year’s time?
We see ourselves spending more time in the USA, more touring, playing more festivals and we plan to have finished our debut original album which is really exciting!
What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
The ability to touch someone with your music and have someone in that moment to relate to your story and have it impact them is a truly magical moment… and hearing people sing the words to a song you wrote is a surreal moment that never ceases to make us emotional. Those intimate moments of realness where we are all transported from our everyday lives and connect within a song are what it’s all about.
Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
Artist – Fleetwood Mac
Movie – Interstellar
Place to visit – Nashville
Venue to play – Chapel Off Chapel (Melbourne)
Food – Mi Goreng Noodles
Drink – Bourbon Whiskey
Person in History – Thomas Edison
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) Some favorite one- liners/ lyrics.
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Jess & Matt
“Know About You” Tour
Tickets on sale now!
Saturday February 1 2020:
Laycock Street Theatre – GOSFORD, NSW
With special guest Fletcher Pilon
TICKETS | (02) 4323 3233
Saturday February 8 2020:
CSU Riverina Playhouse – WAGGA WAGGA, NSW
TICKETS | (02) 6926 9688
Friday February 14 2020:
Chapel Off Chapel – MELBOURNE, VIC
TICKETS | (03) 8290 7000
February 22 2020:
NIDA National Institute of Dramatic Art Parade Theatre – SYDNEY, NSW
With special guest Chris Lanzon
TICKETS | 132 849
Thursday February 27 2020:
The Old Museum – BRISBANE, QLD
With special guest Caitlyn Shadbolt
TICKETS | (07) 3257 4089
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Check out JESS & MATT below
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube
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JESS & MATT
release brand new
pop-country summer single
‘KNOW ABOUT YOU’
Written and recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, Sydney pop duo Jess & Matt have released their brand new single “Know About You” – a quirky pop-country 21st century love song sharing the real-life story of Jess & Matt’s pre- relationship social media stalking from their alternate perspectives. The X-Factor favourites will also embark on a tour in February in support of the release, and will be raising funds for the Bushfire appeal with $5 per ticket sold going to the relief.
“We’re heartbroken over the bushfires that are devastating our country right now. We can’t begin to express how much respect we have for our heroic firefighters and volunteers, fighting this impossible battle, day in day out. We need to come together as a nation to help with the long and difficult recovery effort ahead. We will be donating $5 from every ticket sold to our “Know About You” tour, to the Bushfire appeal”.
The pair will also fundraise at the shows themselves by providing dedicated collection buckets for patrons to donate in to.
Driven by its sassy, forward, fierce and somewhat haunting lead line “I don’t know if you know about me, but I know about you” this track is a playful, feel-good and infectious summer pop anthem.
To celebrate the release of their new single, Jess & Matt will also be embarking on their first ever national headline tour in February 2020 with select dates around Australia joined by some special guests.
Jess Dunbar and Matt Price both grew up in Sydney suburbs and first met whilst studying at the performing arts school, JMC Academy, and have been together since.
Prior to meeting, they performed as solo artists: Dunbar’s solo work was in an indie folk vein being vocally compared to the likes of Tori Amos and Feist; whilst Price’s solo material had a soulful indie rock sound. In 2014, the pair decided to team up musically, playing low-key shows around Sydney as a duo before auditioning for the TV show X- Factor the following year.
Fast becoming fan favourites on the 2015 season of Australia’s X-Factor, which saw them land the grand final eventually placing third, Jess and Matt swiftly landed a deal with Sony Music. They released their self-titled debut album in the same year that earnt the pair their first Australian ARIA Chart number 1. The following year they returned with a new single, “Bones”, straying even farther from their indie roots with an electropop sound.
In January 2017, they partnered with Destination NSW to release their third single “Sydney To Me” which they performed for the first time on the steps of the world famous Sydney Opera House at the 2017 Australia Day Concert. It also became the soundtrack to Sydney’s tourism campaign and was the lead track from their 2017 EP “Belmont”, aptly titled after the street they first lived in at the beginning of their careers.
In 2018, the pair released their second album titled “Songs From The Village”, which debuted at number 2 on the Australian ARIA Charts and featured classic songs that defined a generation in the 1960’s in Greenwich Village, New York. It also included duets from Chris Isaak and Rick Price. The pair’s intrinsic songwriting ability has seen them spending time in the music city of Nashville, Tennessee working with an impressive list of industry heavyweights. Recently recognised globally as finalists in the prestigious Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition with entries from 48 countries, their unique sound shows influences of folk and contemporary country whilst all based around the pairs lush harmony driven acoustic roots and songwriting.
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