Matt and Andrew Como are songwriters and musicians that value organic music, musicianship, and songs with original integrity. Music is not a hobby of the brothers but a way of life and a career. Early in life, their father and his brothers would play at family parties. Growing up in this environment inspired them to play music, and it fast became a central part of their lives. They extensively played live throughout high school and college and are now an experienced live act having played in countless bars, major festivals and local shows. In 2010 they officially began the rock band The Como Brothers Band and have been pushing forward for their dreams of a long term career in music. Matt Como took some time out to talk to eyeplug.net
01 How did you get started in music?
My brother Andrew and I were always interested in music. Andrew started playing guitar in 6th grade and I started later on. I remember the first thing I learned how to play on guitar was the riff to The Beatles song Day Tripper, after I realized I had the potential to learn I knew that playing music would be an ultimate obsession for me. It is just something we connected with. We got started from our parents getting us involved in music lessons as well.
02 Where did your direction come from?
Early on our musical direction came from our Dad. He was in a band with his brothers when he was younger and he would always be playing music from Billy Joel, The Beatles, Huey Lewis and the News, and many other rock artists like that so that’s what Andrew and I were started on.
03 Who were your major influences and inspirations and who do you despise?
Every artist has had different inspirations in life so I don’t despise anyone for playing the music they feel connected with. Some types of music I wouldn’t play maybe because it’s not in the toolshed of possible things that I could be good at. There are types of music I may not like to listen to but that doesn’t make it wrong for someone else to like it. Our major influences and inspiration come from great songwriting and the blues. Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, and John Mayer were big in terms of guitar influence.
04 What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?
Andrew and I try to create relatable ideas that we can write about and put an original spin on the music through lyrics and instrumentation. Having an original integrity is a driving force behind the inspiration of any song that we write.
05 What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live shows then & possibly even now?
We can bring the songs energy and hopefully people in the audience can draw on that and have a fun time. Our main goal is to get people grooving and having a good time. A self-indulgent show is something we aren’t interested in? we always say if people are coming out to see any particular act they want to have fun and we want to setup the atmosphere of the gig to enable people to have that good time.
06 How do you begin your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?
None of our songs should leave any one saying, what the hell was that about? Our goal with our songs is to create music that is relatable. Even though we may be pulling from personal experience, the experiences we are expressing are ones that other people can say, I know how that feels. Songs that I’ve written deal with light vs. dark, hoping for a better future, rising up above hard times, dealing with struggles, but also happier topics involving relationships and better times.
07 How did your music evolve since you first began playing?
It has evolved a ton, even from a six months ago. If you listen to the EPs we released in 2010, 2012, early 2013 and now our new full length album Baby Steps that will be released on October 1 (2013) I think there can be clear improvements heard in the musicianship, songwriting, and vocals and I think that just shows how much we have been working at it to get better every day. Andrew and I have been practicing a lot for some time now and at a certain point we’ve always said we have to trust in our abilities and get out there, we feel that it’s time to get out and play.
08 What has been your biggest challenge? Were you been able to overcome this? If so, how?
Over time the realization that music is a business that takes major time and investment outside of actually playing the music. This is a big struggle and challenge because as an independent act I am financially putting everything I have into the band including recording costs, marketing, websites and etc. And also the time it takes to maintain all the social sites, act as our own booking agent and many other things. I think our next step may be to look into management. We definitely would like to tour, especially at colleges, but making that a reality is where we are at right now.
09 Have you released any music videos?
We just released two singles from the Baby Steps album at the end of the summer: Straight Face and Late Nights. The music videos were shot in our hometown of Port Jefferson. That made them pretty special for us that our first videos were able to have a hometown feel. The videos were filmed/edited/directed by our producers Tom Flynn and Mike Watts of VuDu Studios. Those guys are amazing and we really love working with them on both the music and other things like music videos. We have two really cool lyric videos that we made with those guys as well that will be released this fall too!
10 What should we be expecting from you in the near future?
On October 1st (2013) our debut first full length album, Baby Steps will be released. Check iTunes! We will also be releasing two lyric videos in the coming month for songs on the album. After that we will be promoting the album and hopefully supporting it with meaningful gigs so fans can come see us play and hopefully we’ll make new fans with this effort.
Web Links:
Comobrothersband.com
Facebook.com/ComoBrothersBand
Twitter.com/ComoBrosBand
Instagram@ComoBrosBand
Link to buy the current single:
itunes.apple.com/the-como-brothers-band
soundcloud.com/comobrothersband
