When I get home from tour, the first thing I want is a meal that wasn’t purchased from a gas station or a rest stop vending machine. But after a few days of recharging I get pretty nostalgic about performing live, and suddenly beef jerky and a bruised apple for breakfast sounds a lot better than not knowing when the next show is gonna happen. This time it’d been two years since I’d been on stage and I would have eaten just about anything to get back on the road.
It was September of 2021 when Dallon Weekes texted me asking how things were going. I told him that I was essentially starting Superet over. I was finishing up the recordings for “Pink House” and “Prism”, but beyond that I didn’t have a solid plan for 2022. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Dallon, he has a band called I Don’t Know How But They Found Me. But what you might not know, is that he’s one of the most generous, supportive people I’ve come across in music. Not to mention, he’s an amazing singer and performer…
He told me he’d be touring in January, and if I was ready, Superet should open a couple shows. I was not ready, and he knew it. But I told him I would be, and so began the great scramble of 2021.
I spent the next few weeks trying to figure out what this new iteration of Superet could be. I thought about everything from going solo, to trying it as a brass band! That’s Tuba, Trombone, Trumpets, and Saxophones. We actually tried one rehearsal, it was kind of awesome, but a total logistics nightmare.
One night I was catching up over drinks with my friend Aaron Harrison Folb. Aaron’s kind of a musical Swiss Army knife. I told him about the shows and he wanted to help me make them happen. Wine started spilling and ideas were flowing. We were so excited I think everyone in the bar thought we were on a date!
Flash forward about a month and two shows were in the calendar. One in San Diego and one here in Los Angeles. We recruited drummer Dash Hutton, and asked singer Laura Anderson to make a guest appearance. We rehearsed for a week, played the shows, and before we knew it it was over and we were drinking Gin from the green room laughing in my kitchen about how it all happened too fast. The next thing I knew I was steaming some broccoli wondering yet again, when the next show was gonna happen.
PING! “Text message from Dallon Weekes”
He wanted to know if we could make it to Denver in 2 days to play the remaining 21 shows of their US tour. But Dash was no longer available and Laura was in Paris. I called Aaron in a panic.
“Hey man so…”
Before I could get another word out he knew what I was gonna say.
“I’m in, let’s go!”
But we didn’t have a drummer. So I called a guy named Jamie Howell. Jamie and I had a band in high school but hadn’t spoken in ten some odd years. I cold called him, he was on vacation with his family but decided to bail and join us at the last minute! What an angel right?
The next 24 hours were a total shit show. My (legendary) girlfriend helped me organize the whole thing. We booked flights for Jamie and Aaron, we rented a van, grabbed as much Superet merch as we could find, dropped everything and drove to Denver. When we arrived Jamie had somehow learned the entire set in his head. It wasn’t a perfect show, but I can’t remember feeling more charged with life. A few thousand miles and 20 hotels later it all worked out, and it was one of my favorite tours to date. It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you have a few people in your corner who love you and believe in what you’re doing. For them I’m truly grateful.
So here I am again back home from tour, craving yet another gas station breakfast. “I’ll have a watered down coffee and a half frozen turkey sandwich please!” Only this time I decided to try something different. I started going through footage we’d been haphazardly capturing along the way. I asked friends and family who came out to send any video they’d shot, and I scavenged the internet looking for clips taken from the crowd. I stitched them together and next thing I knew I had a mini documentary! Ok “documentary” is a bit of a stretch, but it’s my newsletter so I’ll call it what I like!
Editing this little film together was the perfect way to wind down from an amazing adventure. Plus, it lead me to creating the Superet Substack. I hope you enjoy it, and until the next one, I’ll see you here in the newsletter.
xo
~Matt
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