Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Von Doran.
Hi Matthew, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been highly into music. I have memories as far back as 3 years old, hearing my sisters play their Beatles 45s on their plastic stereos with the speaker in the lid. I had an older brother who listened to the harder rock bands Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix, and he played drums, so I started messing around with those. My family was class A dysfunctional, so music was my escape. When I was 15, my mother’s boyfriend got me a guitar for Christmas (I guess he was trying to score points with my mom). And then I immediately got so into playing guitar. I started lessons right away & then shortly thereafter; I moved from living at the beach with my mom to going live in inland California with my dad, which made me get even more into music & playing. So much for becoming a Marine Biologist, as was the previous plan! I got a music degree in college & then went to a prominent guitar school in Los Angeles for a year; after all that, I dove into a music career that continues to this day. I proceeded to diversify my musicianship skills as I went through many musical phases, including rock, jazz, classical, new wave, etc. As a result, I would now describe my artistic tastes as being “e.) all of the above.”
I started my career by playing in the top 40 bands that played in bars & restaurants & weddings, and alongside all of that, I was always involved in two or three original projects of various genres on the side. In the late 80s, a rock singer friend of mine started a 14-piece Jazz Big Band, of all things, The Don Miller Big Band, and it was pretty unique for the time. We had residencies at very cool clubs in Orange County & LA, and we did all different kinds of events. We were spoiled because if you could afford a Big Band, you would likely have your event at a Ritz Carlton Hotel. In the 90s, bands like The Brian Setzer Orchestra & Big Bad Voodoo Daddy & Royal Crown Revue blew up & we were along for that ride. We played for eleven years every Monday at a prominent Orange County club, and all of the swing dancers from LA would come down & hang out with us, which drew a huge crowd every night we played. We eventually ended up as the house band for two TV shows—the Nanny with Fran Drescher & the last two seasons of The Seinfeld Show. We would play before they started taping to get the live audience all worked up & enthusiastic so that the energy would help the cast do their best. Overall, that band lasted over 20 years!
In 2004, I created an album of original modern jazz instrumental music & it did well. That put me on the map as an artist, doing my own thing. I’m known for being a Jazz artist because of that album, but I still compose, record, & perform any & all kinds of music. Shortly after this period of my life, and on a whim, I bought a friend of mine’s house in Webster Groves. I was shopping for homes in Orange County, California & everything back then was a million dollars for 900 square feet. It’s too long a story for here, but what started as me joking about buying his house because it was so cheap compared to LA prices ended up with me jumping onto a plane & spending three days falling in love with Saint Louis (I had never been to Saint Louis before!) and I’ve lived here ever since. Some of the most significant happenings of my career have happened because of my connections here in Saint Louis. And I still really like it here. This city has a very relaxed vibe on many levels. Once, through a crazy chain of events & worldwide connections (that would not have happened had I not moved here), I ended up touring with La Quinta Estacion, a Latin Pop band signed to Sony Records International. We toured North & South America & ended up winning a Grammy Award in 2009 for Best Latin Pop Record. As a result of so much traveling & touring, I have cultivated my particular perspective on having a life & career here in Saint Louis. The reality is that every city has its issues that can make that city not so ideal, and the negative aspects tend to get the most attention. But I now have a fantastic loft downtown that would be 2 million dollars in New York, and, as a lifelong Southern Californian, what you all think is “rush hour traffic” here is what I find to be rather cute. Saint Louis is somewhat of a “little big city,” & that is one of the things I love most about it. All that being said, this city has proven to be consistently dynamic in many aspects. You have to pay attention & seek out the better things. In the current music industry, you can work from anywhere. So, as long as I have wifi & an airport, I can sustain a fairly vibrant music career.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Everyone understands that a career as an artist is highly challenging. You have to work diligently & and persistently to produce & publish art in a way where you can sustain a life. And the music industry has never been more batshit crazy than it is right now. As someone from LA who has worked with the Recording Academy, which produces the Grammy Awards, I’ve seen the inner workings of it all. And because the first half of my career was pre-internet & smartphones, that period was quite different than how things are now. I’m unsure about these references to the “good ‘ol days.” When were they, exactly? Everyone has been referencing them in every past decade. Human perception is such that it tends to remember things in the way one wants to remember them. My career has been a glorious blend of smoothness & roughness, just the way I like it. I am at a point in my life now where I truly appreciate the challenges that have come at me fairly consistently. That doesn’t mean I don’t have moments where I may not be so grateful for the experience, but those moments are now fewer & far between. It’s about continually balancing life & art with people & places & things. So you never really find a static balance; per se, you are constantly balancing. I love being a musician & creating art. And I love being an educator & helping other people find their center with their lives & their art, even if their art takes its form in a more traditional job setting.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve been so fortunate to make a living doing music. Because I’ve always focused on being as diverse a musician as possible, I am more valuable to various music projects. And when I was based in Los Angeles & Orange County, I had more opportunities to connect to a broad & deep musical network. Now, all of that serves me wherever I am. Subsequently, it’s been an incredibly varied career path for me all over the map, literally, globally & musically. The cool thing is that the music scene, in general, has evolved to a point where, in 2024, anyone can go for anything they can imagine. Everything & anything counts. All genres from any era will have an active scene, even if it’s only online. And everyone has everything they need on their laptop to produce art & to publish art, which I think is very cool. You can write & record & rehearse, & even perform, all virtually. Of course, everybody is doing it, so there is an immense amount of content to contend with 100,000 new songs uploaded daily on platforms like Spotify & Apple Music! But it still seems that the adage is true to some extent: “The cream rises to the top” or, at least, maybe to the top of someone’s playlist.
To be successful, artists now need to become ninja entrepreneurs. You & your art are essentially a brand & you have to figure out how to market & promote that brand. I found out that I love this aspect even though it is considerably disparate from the “artist life.” I have learned a lot over the years by forcing myself to become involved with music projects that were somewhat above my abilities & experience. It is probably the best way to grow & evolve, but it is also the scariest. My first real entrepreneur experience was creating an extensive online video course for learning guitar. I ended up licensing it to Hal Leonard Publishing & that has served me well. I learned more about entrepreneurship by jumping into a massive project like that than if I had returned to school to get an MBA. I love that you don’t need a degree to be an entrepreneur; you say you’re one!
And another thing about the current music industry scene is that there isn’t the ageism that existed in the beginning. Anybody of any age can be a rock star. I can tell you, as someone who grew up listening to what is now classic rock, we had ZERO idea that the bands whose music we were listening to on the radio at that time would still be touring in their 60s, 70s, & 80s! I recently saw Ringo Starr’s All-Star Band (he’s 83!) at the Fox Theater & I would’ve been the youngest guy in the band, let alone the Rolling Stones, who, back in 2019, I decided last minute to walk down to the Edward Jones Center & see. If I lived in LA or NYC, that would have been over two hours to get to (and there’s a great picture on Instagram of Mick Jagger that he took of himself visiting the Arch).
What are your plans for the future?
I’m swamped as an educator. I love coaching people on their music paths, such as guitar playing, songwriting, music production, performance, music business, etc. I’ve built up quite a private practice for clients I work with in virtual lessons. This enables me to teach anytime, anywhere, and I do that.
A few years ago, I got broadsided by someone running a red light & it turns out that I had excellent insurance. So I ordered a brand new Ford Bronco Sport & waited half a year for it because of the Pandemic. When I got it, I went on a somewhat impromptu road trip to visit some friends & family in Colorado & New Mexico. At the last minute, I threw in my camping gear & my guitar & an amp. I was out for a few weeks & it was then that I discovered that I could do my coaching work & stay on the road as long as I wanted to. Now, all of my clients are virtual. The Pandemic got everyone used to doing Zoom calls, so I have clients all over the US & the world.
I now go out frequently & explore the country while pulling over whenever I need to do a session on Zoom with my laptop. Sometimes, I’ll get a room at a funky mid-century vibe motel & teach eight or ten clients for a whole day & then move on. Sometimes, I’ll stay with friends in various cities & teach from there. Sometimes I’ll teach from a campsite. I can teach anywhere as long as I have bars on my phone.
Then, this last year, I started setting up my music gear in the wilderness, using a camping battery to power it all, and filming myself improvising ambient guitar loops in remote locations. So it turned into a thing. I’m editing my videos now & putting them up on YouTube & Instagram, and pursuing artist grants for funding and museum residencies for performing. I recently connected with the Contemporary Art Museum in Grand Center and the 21C Hotel & Gallery downtown and am discussing performance possibilities there. I’ve also been attending many avant-garde music shows & presentations here in STL. I am pleasantly surprised that we have a vibrant scene here for that kind of music.
This is my current path. I do things for a few years & then decide to move on & create a new version of myself as an artist. However, I don’t leave anything behind. I’ve become an amalgamation of all of my human and artistic experiences, like most people do. With the planet in such disarray, we are all more challenged than ever to stay present & positive. So, I am doing my best every day to focus on what will bring joy to others & myself.
My path has given me plenty of opportunities to build resiliency & fortitude. I am finally at a place where I feel most confident in what I do, even when I’m having a new experience. For any artist, that’s very important. It frees you up to create from a deeper place. And the best part is? The path never ends.
Pricing:
- private one-on-one coaching sessions $80/75mins
Contact Info:
- Website: www.matthewvondoran.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthewvondoran/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-von-doran-3a9a02/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPkeaA5ZwA0MqlpZGn8RBqQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/matthew-von-doran
- Other: https://matthewvondoran.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
the 5th photo – Terence M. Love
