Quotes From The Road #158

“Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”

Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993: Author of The Power of Positive Thinking

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973: Spanish Artist & Icon

Cheers,

Dave Hoskins

LYRE Goes Live with March Micro-Sets!

 

The day many of you have been waiting for has finally arrived: LYRE is now playing live shows. Actually that day has already come and gone without so much as an email out to our loyal followers. What gives?

It was a calculated risk. We knew we needed to get our stage legs and iron some kinks out of our live performance and we didn’t want to risk booking a full set without working on that first. That’s when we decided to hit several Seattle area open mics first. For those not familiar with the term, an open mic is an evening (usually a slow night) at a local club where musicians and bands can come and work out material in front of a crowd for about 15 minutes each. It truly is a test of your acts ability to grab an audience’s attention fast and not let it wane.

We started heading out to a couple open mics a week in early March and the response has been very reassuring. Both club patrons and venue owners have been very complimentary and we’re starting to gel more as a band as a result of the experience.

We’ll probably continue the open mic routine (announced only on our “CONCERTS” page here at LYRE.tv) for the next few weeks but we’re also now actively looking to book full shows and sets in shows shared with other bands. As soon as we have something more than a 15 minute micro-set to announce you can be sure that we’ll be shouting it from the rooftops and hoping all our fans can make it.

Introducing New Band Member Matt Quarterman

LYRE is happy to announce that Matt Quarterman has signed on to handle guitar and backing vocals with the band. Quarterman is an extemely talanted singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and a recording artist in his own right. You can read  Matt’s full bio here and look below for a video greeting Matt taped for us.

Matt grew up in Portugal and Ukraine before moving back to the US to attend college. After earning a degree in songwriting from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music he relocated to Seattle in 2007.

In a review of his EP “Misplaced Americans,” Northeast Performer Magazine wrote, “[Matt] will further use the music from his eclectic past to distinguish himself amid a seemingly endless pool of singer/songwriters.” Matt also plays mandolin, dobro and harmonica in the band Star Called Sun and has won several awards for his poetry.  He likes port wine, clove cigarettes and long walks on short piers. Find out more at www.starcalledsun.com.