About Me
Age: 21
Location: Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and home in Southwestern PA.
Instruments played: Guitar, bass, drums, piano, voice
Years playing each: Drums - on and off since 1998; Guitar - acoustic since fall 2000, electric since early 2002; Bass - intermittently since learning guitar; Piano - taught myself Zao's "Violet" in 1998, been teaching myself ever since
Equipment used: Epiphone E-series Beast, Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster, Line6 PODxt Live, Fender Princeton Chorus Amp, Ibanez AW50 acoustic, .75 picks and heavier for acoustic, 2mm and 3mm Big Stubbies for electric, D'addario medium acoustic strings, D'addario 11-52 electric strings, Planet Waves and Horizon cables, Cakewalk Sonar 4 Producer's Edition. On past recordings: Cakewalk Home Studio 2 XL, DOD 15-band rack EQ, Ibanez TS7 Tube Screamer, Ibanez SM7 Smash Box, DanEcho, Ibanez GAX70 electric guitar, Peavey TNT 160 amp, TS808 Tube Screamer, Ibanez Flanger, Ibanez GT10DXA acoustic amp, Casio CT-670 synth
About the Music
There is a void in rock music. The music that is original is oftentimes too expirimental to be thoroughly enjoyed. Pop and rock are often so shallow in musicality and subject matter that the listener is bored.
I only write music that I would like to hear on a disc, or on the radio, or on a soundtrack. The music must be thought out, have melodies, have emotion, and be important. It must mean something; be set apart from beats with rambling overtop.
In Matthew Allen songs, you will find influences from metal, pop, emo, rock, and even Spanish-sounding guitar. The lyrics are often poems from even years ago that fit the music. They are meaningful, sometimes cryptic, and often about friends.
I strive to be original. I continue to work towards it.
3-15-03, 2:00 AM
As I wake in a half-conscious state, it is music that fills my mind. It is in my thoughts, my heart, my fingers. Most of my life deals with music; with sitting alone, a guitar in my hands, melodies being created. These songs may touch lives or heal souls. Yet I am reminded continually that all in life is passive. I could, at any moment, lose my hearing, my hands, my life. All would then be meaningless. It would be recognized as a tragedy, as a loss of talent. The world would move on. But I would be stuck in a soundless world, unable to express my ideas as I once could; in my private hell I would wonder why I didn't do more with what I had, why I wasted so much time. I may never touch the lives that need it.
If I am remembered as a good person or a great musician, so be it. But to affect lives for Christ is far greater than any worldly praise.
