Unstrung

Q: Where did you grow up?
Matt: I grew up in a real small town called Hudson, Ohio that had only a couple thousand people at the time. For high school I moved out to Scottsdale, AZ. I played soccer in high school & I got recruited to come out to play for U of Redlands, so I packed up and moved out here & have been here ever since.
Justin: I grew up in La Verne, CA in an area called Live Oak Canyon.
Q: How did you get started playing music?
Matt: I played piano and a bit of drums in my early years growing up but didn't really start getting serious about it until about four year ago, when I started learning acoustic guitar and percussion.
Justin: I started playing violin back in the day for a couple years, but after a friend of mine wanted to start a rock & roll band, I figured it probably wasn't cool to play the violin. So, I started taking guitar lessons at 14 and then by 15 I joined a metal band. We played together for about 5 years and recorded a 4-song demo. After that band broke up, I started playing acoustic and haven't looked back since (although I still noodle on the electric a bit)!
Q: How long have you been playing together?
Matt: We've been jammin' about 3 years now.
Justin: I've been in a band in one form or another for about the past 15 years though.
Q: Who are some of your (musical) influences?
Matt: My first influence to start playing music was my little brother, Ryan, who's a killer guitar player. The first songs I learned on guitar was "Oppression" by Ben Harper. Musically, I dig everything....Jack Johnson, Toots & The Maytals, Bob Marley, Michael Franti, Iron & Wine, Sublime, Tom Petty, Ben Harper, Barrington Levy, G. Love & Special Sauce, throw in some hip-hop or jazz every now and then too.
Justin: Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Jack Johnson, James Brown, 311, Bob Marley.
Q: What do you outside the band?
Matt: I'm finishing up grad school to be a high school English teacher, tryin' to mold young minds and all that.
Justin: I'm an executive chef at La Verne University. Other than that, I love to get out and do some fishin' when I can. I also have a wife & 2 children that keep me pretty busy too.