12 September 2021 - 0 Comments

After the rewarding but demanding process of making Break, Rattle and Roll, Matt Joe Gow headed back into the studio in early 2020 with the guiding concept of making a stripped-back record; unvarnished by production tricks and elaborate instrumentation, which would again be self-produced. For this album, Matt had an overarching theme, the circle of life, looking at the spectrum of emotional experience, the highs, and the lows. Following the recording sessions, Matt headed overseas with the intention of returning to Melbourne to mix and master the record, but fate struck in the form of the global pandemic, and so the decision was made to complete the album remotely. Eventually Matt and the team were able to finish it whilst he was in New Zealand, where he undertook a highly successful solo tour. Now back at home in Melbourne, Matt Joe Gow and The Dead Leaves are again on the road, and with Go Ahead, Celebrate we are implored to go ahead and celebrate like we used to. Certainly, fans of Matt’s laid-back country style are going to be keen to take him at his word while they await the release of the album, Between Tonight & Tomorrow, later this year. The album will be available on CD, Vinyl, digital and streaming while the single will be digital and streaming only

Matt Joe Gow grew up in the deep south of New Zealand in a town with bad weather and good music: Dunedin. Surrounded by music, he was encouraged to pick up a guitar at an early age and after travelling the world, Matt moved to Melbourne, Australia, drawn by its culture and vibrant music scene. He formed a band, The Dead Leaves, and in 2009 released his debut record The Messenger, produced by multi-Aria award-winner Nash Chambers, and featuring contributions from Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil, and iconic Australian country guitarist Bill Chambers. As Alternative Country and Americana continued to grow in popularity, Matt steadily toured and supported acts such as Chris Isaak, The Jayhawks, Justin Townes Earle, James Reyne, Kasey Chambers, Marlon Williams, Jimmy Barnes, and John Butler.

Whilst regularly making demos and working on other projects in the studio, it would be 2016 before the next Matt Joe Gow record, Seven Years, which was released to critical acclaim and was nominated for the Music Victoria Award for Best Country/Americana Album Of The Year. This was self-produced by Matt and guitarist Andrew Pollock, and after touring and playing numerous festivals in support of the record, Matt returned to the studio in 2018 to record the follow-up, Break, Rattle and Roll. This was an ambitious outing with keyboards, horns, pedal steel and backing vocalists supplementing the core band. It was released to even wider acclaim and went one better than his previous release and was awarded Best Country Album in the 2019 Music Victoria Awards. In addition to full band shows, Matt undertook a solo tour with Grant-Lee Phillips, with Phillips later posting that [Break, Rattle and Roll's] Bridge Over Concrete is on constant rotation in my head!.

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