Mat Eiland
A brief autobiography
Since my first solo album release entitled "NOW in 2004, I have album by album been enhancing my craft. The subsequent albums entitled "WE" (2006), "Nomads in the rain"(2006), "lullabies for butterflies (2007), clearly display my artistic progression. I am currently attending IAR to perfect my recording skills, and am writing the next album which is scheduled for release in spring of 2010.
I actually started my musical adventure in the black forests of Southern Germany. I was a military brat who moved around frequently. To curb the overwhelming loneliness that this type of lifestyle evokes, my mother and father made sure I always had access to some type of musical instrument. Between the ages of 6 and 14, I switched between piano, guitar, and saxophone while singing with the songs on the radio (Sting and Prince were my childhood idols). Around the age of 15, I hocked my saxophone to buy a bass. My main goal at the time was to get in a band and hang out with girls. I figured that the bass only had four strings, so it must be easy to play. From the first pluck, I was hooked. At the same time, I was being influenced by such innovators as Kim Deal, Les Claypool, Flea, and Paul McCartney. The first noteworthy group I was involved in was a band called Weak Old Rice. As with many high school dreamers, I skipped school, drank alcohol, and played music without a care in the world. It wasn’t until three years later that I had my first introduction to the music of Jaco Pastorious and Stanley Clarke. Any bass player that has heard these players has two choices, either quit playing entirely, or try to figure out what the hell they were doing. I chose the latter, and that choice led me six months later to the Shenandoah Music Conservatory. There, I studied Commercial Music and Jazz Performance. The five years spent there exposed me to many types of music and musicians. Also during this time, I co-founded EHP Productions, and the progressive rock band BOUD DEUN.
There was an advertisement for a bass player into the Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, Yes, and Naked City. Although the average radio rocker wouldn’t know these groups from gurus, these were the exact influences I was looking for. So I joined and spent the early to mid 90's playing every weekend to knowledge hungry kids at coffeehouses, and middle aged progressive rock afficionados in smoky nightclubs. I also played with such icons as Aquarium Rescue Unit, Gong, and the Dismemberment Plan. But as many bands before us, we suffered from major artistic differences and eventually disbanded in the Fall of 1997. Since then, I graduated from college I honed my skills as a composer, slowly evolved from bass player, to musician. During this time, I took on such odd jobs as an airline reservationist and book publishing representative, all the while gradually purchasing my home studio. Also during this time, I lent my services as studio musician and live performer to such bands as Thinking Out Loud, Tengo Ongo, and Nefrit El-Or I believe these new compositions encompass my musical voyage through life, and are only seeds of a forest yet to come.