Email Matt:
matt@mightyorq.com

Former Gigs
Shannon Curfman
Hadden Sayers
Jay Hooks

Matthew Robert Johnson was born in the tiny town of Grafton, North Dakota. He is the youngest of four boys and the son of a welder father and homemaker mother. He knew by the age of seven that he wanted to play the drums for a living. Matt tells the story like this, “I had gone to one of my older brother’s band concerts at school, and I was lingering by the band gear after the concert. There was an old set of drums there that I hopped up on and started to hit.” That first encounter with the drums led to Matt’s asking his mother if he could take drum lessons. His mother went to the local school band director and asked if she could get lessons for her son. However, the director stated that “Every 7 year old wants to play drums. He’ll get over it.” Matt explains, “Our school was so small, and I’m sure the band director wasn’t making much money. He just didn’t want to be bothered by giving lessons to a little kid.”
The family eventually moved to a different town where Matt bid his time until finally being able to play drums in the band in 6th grade. This time, however, the band director was very supportive. “Mr. Rex Waddingham at New Salem Elementary was awesome. He was an old hippy that grew up in the 70’s. He showed me my first beat on the drums, which left a big impression on me.”
Matt’s school days were spent practicing as much as six hours a day. “I was way into drums,” Matt explains, “reading Modern Drummer, looking at catalogs, and practicing as much as I could.” He participated in all of the school’s music ensembles where he learned to read music and appreciate music theory. Between his sophomore and junior years of high school, when he was 16 years old, Matt toured the Western US and Western Canada with the Christian based show band, the “Continental Singers”. “It was a great summer. I got to play every day for different audiences. I learned a lot about playing and also a lot about getting along with other people on the road.”
When Matt graduated from high school, he received a scholarship to study music at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, under the direction of Professor Michael Blake. In school, Matt mainly studied mallet percussion. “It was very difficult getting used to the mallets at first. My high school didn’t even have a marimba or vibraphone, so when I got to college, I was way behind the other percussionists.” Matt enjoyed the challenge of playing catch-up to the other drummers in the percussion section. “It was really great for my playing to study mallet instruments. During college, I really had the best of both worlds because I was also playing between three and four nights a week in clubs around the area.”
After two years of intense studying and playing, Matt decided it was time to get out and play. “I got married to my wife, and she wanted to move to Fargo to finish her undergraduate degree. So I left school and we moved the 80 miles south to Fargo, ND.”
It was in Fargo that Matt would get a lot of club playing experience. “For the first few years of living in Fargo, I was playing in cover bands that would carry around big sound and lighting systems to every gig. Most gigs were at least two nighters, so we only had to setup and tear down once, thank God!” All of this playing around the area eventually led to Matt’s gig with fellow North Dakotan, Shannon Curfman. Matt explains, “There were a bunch of cool folks playing around Fargo at that time, (Austin, TX guitar & drum heroes) The Keller Brothers, Johnny(Lang) was just starting to get popular, and a guitar player friend of mine was teaching this little girl that could sing and play guitar, Shannon Curfman. We ultimately got some of our friends together and put a band together around her.”
Matt toured extensively with Curfman throughout the Midwest, including stops at the Chicago Blues Festival and numerous other festival and club appearances. It was also during this time that Matt put the blue collar work ethic he learned from his father into play. “We knew we had to sound as good as we could as quickly as possible,” Matt explains, “so we used to rehearse every day at 8 A.M. There were some blurry-eyed musicians slugging coffee at most of those sessions.” In time, the hard work paid off, and Shannon signed a recording contract with Arista records. Management wanted a different band backing Shannon so they parted ways. Shannon and Matt still cross paths while on tour, and they remain friends.
A month after leaving Curfman, a club owner that Matt knew from his college days called up and told him that an artist from Houston, Hadden Sayers, was looking for a new drummer. After speaking with Hadden on the phone, Matt headed to Houston to audition and ended up being offered the gig. Matt packed up his drums and moved with his wife to Houston where he would spend the next four years criss-crossing the US playing an average of 200 shows a year. “I learned a ton from Had about playing and the music business in general. Hadden had his stuff together, and it showed.”
After four years of working together, Hadden decided it was time for a change and let Matt go. “He was a complete gentleman in how he handled the situation. He explained that he just wanted to do something different and I understood where he was coming from. It was actually a blessing in disguise because it made me have to hustle to replace the income I had been making with Had.”
Matt’s “hustling” translated into starting an internet business and also teaching privately. “I remember explaining to my ever supportive wife at this time that I wasn’t going to look for a job, but I would try my hand at these two ventures. We were both wary, but proved to ourselves after a few months that we weren’t going to starve.”
Teaching showed Matt a way to give back all the valuable information that he’s learned over the years to another generation of kids. “Teaching privately is a lot of fun,” Matt states, “it makes me have to explain why it is that I play something, and that causes you to have to think it through before you open your mouth.” Matt maintains steady roster of between 25-35 students a week.
Matt eventually sold his internet business and opened a motorcycle apparel/accessories shop called Renegade Classics in Houston. “I really enjoy business, even with all the stress and headaches involved. I always tell people that I would be too lazy if I only had one thing going on.” Matt also finds great value in the lessons he’s learned in business, and how they relate to his music career. “I recently read a great quote that I printed out and hung on my wall. It’s by Earl Scheib (founder of Earl Scheib’s paint shops) and he said ‘Work hard, be on time, and don’t worry about how much money you make.’” I take that to heart and apply it in business and also in music.”
It was at this time that Matt got a call from Gulf Coast guitar terror, Jay Hooks and began working with him. “It was a blast playing with Jay. He really wanted a drummer that could shuffle but also rock, I like to think I did both for him.” Jay Hooks was signed to the Dutch record label, Provogue. Matt toured extensively with Hooks throughout Europe and the Gulf Coast. “It was strange playing with Jay because his label was really strong in Europe so we played big places in Germany and Holland and then would come home and play icehouses for twenty people.”
After Jay Hooks succumbed to substance abuse issues, Matt hooked up with his current band mate Orq at a local bar and they knew they had something special. “We jammed together and afterward kind of looked at each other and knew that this could be cool, so we started gigging and The Mighty Orq began.”
After playing for two years with original bassist, Jessica Will, she decided to leave and Orq and Matt asked their friend, Westside Johnny, to join the band. “Jessica was cool, but Westside brought a whole new level of musicianship to the band.” The Mighty Orq released “Milk Money” in 2005 to widespread critical acclaim and acceptance. The band averages over 200 shows a year, and that has allowed Matt to refine his playing technique to be as efficient as possible. “Even when I’m playing very loud, I’m still completely conscious of how I’m holding my sticks and the way my body is moving.”
2008 will bring the release of The Mighty Orq’s highly anticipated next album, “To The Bone,” with intense touring to support it. “I’m very happy with the sounds we achieved on this record and the drums in particular. My playing on this recording is very indicative of my playing style in general, which is to make the song sound and feel good. I always try to play what’s right for the song. I find it a huge compliment when, if I’m playing a blues gig, someone will come up and ask if I play anything other than blues, the opposite happens on rock gigs. I’m proud of that.”
Matt’s playing continues to evolve with each day. “I’m a big fan of practicing. Right now I’m playing a lot of brushes because I have a new baby at home, and I need to be quiet. It’s been great for my touch on the drums.”
As far as the future is concerned, Matt likes to use this quote from Gordy Knutson (longtime Steve Miller Band drummer) to convey his feelings on being a musician. He said, “My theory on improving as a musician is simple. As long as you’re a better musician at the end of the day than you were at the beginning, you’re moving forward’. Matt agrees.