'Who The Heck Is Matt McKech?'



BIO:

Matt McKechnie was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and is now a resident of Port Hope, Ontario where his wife is a high school teacher. Since a young age, Matt has always had a knack for writing creatively and began to channel those talents into two main focuses: Music and Journalism. After gaining an Honours BA in English (with a minor in Drama) from the University of Guelph, Matt began living in Guelph and working a few odd jobs while playing lead guitar for a band that was started through some mutual friends (Julie & Merilee Shields and Zac Jolliffe) called 'Sunkissed Keilah'. After practicing and working with SK for over a year, the band wasn't able to move forward and Matt moved back to Ottawa to work landscaping and pay some bills. Matt has always had a side-passion of working with young people and has spent over ten summer and spring seasons working at Camp IAWAH (a Christian-based children's camp and outdoor education centre near Westport, Ontario) and 
continued to work and volunteer there every summer from 1994 to 2002 consecutively. In 2004, Matt married his wife and long-time close friend Sarah and they moved to St. Catharines, Ontario (so Sarah could attend Brock University). During this time, Matt put in a 3 year stint as full-time customer 
account manager at a call centre. Although this was an extremely hard season for Matt, it was his most creative and allowed him to see that he needed to pursue music and writing to his fullest ability.

Today, Matt is an accomplished freelance journalist and a talented musician with a growing arsenal of connections and a plethoric portfolio of experience within both realms. Currently graduating from Algonquin College with a post-graduate Journalism degree, Matt is an intern for CBC Radio 1 and 2 (in both Ottawa and Toronto).

MUSIC:

-has performed and written music within bands 'Natural Bridge', 'Stir-Fried Gypsies', 'Crushing Shelbyville', 'Sunkissed Keilah' and currently 'Graven'.

-early Graven productions (Pilot Light Out and Charles Called It...Anthemic) had Halifax production from Charles Austin (musician from Super Friendz, The Lodge, Lost Wax Guild and producer for Joel Plaskett, Matt Mays, Buck 65 and many more).

-the most recent album 'Valley Theory' (garnering some CBC attention and college radioplay across Canada) had production from Dean Watson in Ottawa, Ontario (of 'The Gallery Studios' - producer of Meredith Luce and The Soiree).
-Matt also manages GravenRecords (an up and coming music collective and homegrown record label that features the works of 3-4 musical artists) with design help from the uber-talented Tyrone Warner (of 'Silver Speakers') and a few other friends.

-has 3 upcoming albums to be released over the next year and a half with each one based in a different musical milieu (acoustic-based folk/cottage rock, full out electric art rock, and backwoods old-country) 

-toured across western Canada with Winnipeg folk artist JD Edwards and Whistler B.C. musician Trish Jamieson for the month of November 2010.

JOURNALISM:

  • Freelance writer for CTV.ca
  • Published Blogger for The Ottawa Citizen 
  • Music writer and part-time Head Music Editor of the Burnside Writers Collective (based in Portland, Oregon) for 2+ years (wrote and edited alongside best-selling authors such as Donald Miller, hollywood actors Susan Isaacs and Tony Hale).
  • A lead writer/masthead for Thick Specs (www.thickspecs.com) - an online music magazine linked to Canada's leading independent music download platform (called Zunior) run by Canadian musician Dave Ullrich (ex-drummer of 'The Inbreds') and rock writer Chuck Molgat
  • described as a 'rock n roll journalist' by Joel Plaskett after traveling with Joel & The Emergency (his band) to start the beginnings of a documentary called 'We Stand On Guard' - (video snippet below)
  • Referenced in the 'press' section of Joel Plaskett's website for a review of 'Harbour Boys' (click here to read).
  • Currently the Associate Entertainment Editor for The Algonquin Times (publication of Algonquin College) as part of the Journalism program.
  • Toured with Doc Walker and filmed/edited daily videos of 'Life On The Road' during their 'Are You With Me Tonight?' 2011 Tour (see video below:)  

REVIEWS:


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Amy_Millan.jpg













-Dave Grohl
-Stephen Malkmus
-J. Mascis
-Tom Petty
-Bruce Springsteen
-Wayne Coyne
-Sarah Harmer
-Kathleen Edwards
-Feist

BLOGGING:

-Matt is an avid blogger and has been since 2003. He runs his own personal blog (where he is aiming to blog 365 days during 2009) here and another music-oriented zine here.

THE MATT SHOW:

-Always wanting to get into the realm of television and film media, Matt has recently started an oddly comedic show that is somewhat of a spoof of his real life that is simply titled 'The Matt Show' (you can view episodes here). The show is written by Matt and stars himself as the main character who either sits around a lot or travels to meet musicians and either book them or tell them 'they suck'.