Matthew Sonntag and Team Growl
the Blvd on Saturday, January 23rd

Every time I see Matthew Winters I fall in love with his music again and again. It is so straight forward unpolished and just the way it is – and it sounds great! At first Matthew played a few songs by himself including one of my favorite songs “Cute and Stabby” then Ruben jumped on stage and Team Growl took over. I have been waiting all summer to see the two of them play together.

“You never know what you are going to get with Ruben,” as local music scene kid Joe said. It’s true. One of the last things Ruben said that I loved was “I love you guys….No I love you guys…I hope you are enjoying your life because I am and you only get one.”  This was Matthew and Rubens 4th show together and they are like ketchup and mustard. The mellow drums added a nice mix with Matthews’s songs; they added a little more bass. Not only did Ruben and Matthew play songs but they told us a very funny joke/story about how pigeons are thugs. My last comment on their set was how the Team Growl logo is a yellow bird, not a vicious dog but a little yellow bird. I loved it and can’t wait to see them again.

Matt introduced me to Matthew Sonntag, they had met before for the interview and when he was talking to me he had this very casual voice. When he took over the microphone he had this rough twang mountain man voice. The difference in his voice really took me by surprise. He has really cool vocals, anyhow tonight was his CD Release show and there was a raccoon in the crowd!

What strikes me about Matthew Sonntag is his sound; it is off the beaten path in the forest and you are not going to find that “path” anywhere else. It’s a fresh breath of originality. As Matt said “it’s rough like sandpaper.” Throughout his set we got to hear him play with his band and without his band. His dad “Screaming Steve” even joined in. How cool is it to have your dad play with your band? Also Animal was drinking a Miller High Life on top of the drum set; I saw it with my own eyes.

The crowd was excited to see Matthew play they were up in the front cheering him with big cans of PBR. He has a lot of local support and good friends. He said we sounded like teakettles. When everyone was cheering for him he made a point to say hey “give it up for these assholes!” I liked that. Matthew’s music is serious and fun and I like how he can be with or without a band. He also plays a harmonica! If you haven’t seen him once I would recommend you give it a shot, it will be a new experience that your ear buds are sure to enjoy. His new album “The Goodbye Album” is available now – for more info check out his Myspace here. 

Listen to the CIOM Podcast with Matthew Sonntag here.

Check out more photos from the show here.

Andrea@checkitoutmusic.com