Artist Feature | Matt Doering

What first drew you to music and songwriting?

What first drew me to music and songwriting was the freedom within the whole process of both. Music happened when I was probably 9 or 10 with my best friend teaching me how to play the drums on his drumset, which progressed to school band and playing with the worship band at church, and then even more when I was gifted my first guitar at 14. In all of it the freedom of being able to really feel like I was getting to be and express who I was supposed to be was, and still is, fantastic. All of that then continued with me playing music throughout college and into my work as a worship leader at a few different churches. I began songwriting after college, and I was drawn to being able to voice my concerns, musings, and emotions without having to have everything tied up in a perfect little bow. The freedom in getting to write lyrics and music and then release them into the world for others to hear and lean on and interpret continues to be a joyful process.

Who or what has had the biggest influence on you as a songwriter?

I would say this is twofold. It’s a combination of the singer/songwriters that I come back to time and time again when I’m looking for inspiration - Ben Rector, Drew Holcomb, Tyson Motsenbocker, Jon Foreman, Bob Dylan, as well as groups like Mumford & Sons, Bon Iver, and Coldplay. The other part is the insight and advice of a few friends who are really good at music whether that be vocally, instrumentally, or writing.

If you could only listen to five albums for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Man, I always think about this question and feel like I don’t have “cool enough” albums to share, but they’re some of my favorites so others can question what they will. Also, I feel like a few of these could change tomorrow, but for today these are really what I could listen to for the rest of my life. The five albums (in particular order) would probably have to be “Delta” by Mumford & Sons, “X & Y” by Coldplay, “The Walking in Between” by Ben Rector, “Someday I’ll Make It All Up To You” by Tyson Motsenbocker, & “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by The Vince Guaraldi Trio.

Tell us a bit about what your creative process looks like.

My creative process is both regimented and spontaneous. I try to write every day, and then each week I try to make a demo or two on my iPhone voice memos. When I feel like I’ve got something good, or something that could become good, I send it off to about 5 friends that I know will listen and give me their honest thoughts on the song. From there, I either keep working with it, save it for later, or may just let it go altogether. That’s how probably 75% of my songs get written. The other 25%, I either get a thought and just start singing a hook or lyrics out loud and record them into a voice memo, or I grab my guitar and just run with that thought and press into it for 30 or 45 minutes to see what comes out the other side.

What are you currently working on?

Currently, I’m writing a few more songs to accompany my new EP, Feels Like Home. It’s a combination of brand new songs and some that weren’t 100% ready for the EP.

Tell us about your new record

My new EP, Feels Like Home, comes out everywhere on Friday, November 6th. It’s my second record and honestly, it has me so excited about creating and sharing music! It’s the first EP that I have produced entirely on my own. I recorded it all at home in my little studio, and am super excited about the direction it has taken. I originally was looking to do just acoustic guitar and vocals for all of the songs, but I started playing around with vocoder and some synths on one song and realized I wanted to move with a more full sound for the entire EP. It was a really fun process, and I am excited for people to hear it!