This year, the JMAs had 75,000 submissions. Of those submissions, three percent were nominated for awards. From those the Matt Clarkson Band was nominated in four different categories: Fanâs Choice (Duo/Group), Music Video of the Year (âBad Newsâ), Vocal Event of the Year and Songwriter of the Year (Matt Clarkson).
Musicians from every state in the US, along with 40 countries, will be attending the award ceremony in Music City, USA. Members of the Matt Clarkson Band will be there to represent the area and hopefully bring home some awards.
For the past four years, the MCB has been providing a blend of southern rock and country to a variety of concert goers throughout Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. Founded by frontman Matt Clarkson and lead guitarist Kelly Bush, the band has honed its sound through a series of grueling four-hour gigs at bars and nightclubs around the area.
The MCB has since headlined several fairs and festivals, including the Clark County Fair, Bellefontaineâs Pineapple Palooza and the Clifton Gorge Music & Arts Festival. The band was voted in the top 3 bands in the âBest of Springfieldâ in 2022 and 2023.
On a whim, Clarkson, a maintenance technician by day, applied to the JMAs with the music video for âBad Newsâ: a lively country-rock tune about partying, as evidenced by the featured bonfires, shotgunned beers and the chorus of âGettinâ buck wild, baby / gettinâ country crazy.â
âMy big thing is never wanting to be put in a box,â Clarkson said. âWhat I was nervous about with [âBad Newsâ] is wondering, Is this too cliche? Sometimes we write a little too in depth for the general listeners. We really have to back that off, because sophistication isnât always the best.â
But despite âBad Newsâ being a pivot from the bandâs perhaps more thoughtful lyrics â in other singles like âCominâ Home to Youâ and âBourbonâ â the broad appeal of beer-crushing summer nights in this modern ball cap country takeoff ostensibly helped land MCB four nominations at the JMAs.
MCB has the ability to genre jump, likely due to the people-pleasing marathon bar gigs the band came up playing. And although country is the glue that holds the band together, itâs the rock ânâ roll that keeps it fresh.
William Dekle, the rhythm/backup lead guitarist, grew up on hair metal.
Ryan Fyffe, the drummer, comes from grunge, alt-rock and nu metal roots.
Spencer Barnett, the bass player, was in a death metal band; he didnât even own a bass, much less a bass amp, when he agreed to be in the MCB. He used to shred on an eight-string guitar. He made a compromise and now plays a five-string bass.
Bush, the lead guitarist, idolizes Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour and Noel Gallagher, and admits to ripping riffs from Eric Clapton, though he doesnât much care for Clapton. At one point in his life, Bush would have not been âcaught dead in a country band,â but has since withdrawn that idea, stating that Clarkson is âone of the best country musicians [heâs] heard in a long time.â
Clarkson himself even had a kitschy rock band in high school called Tomorrowâs Past â which, the band agrees, is a name that just means âtoday.â
Together, the five ironically make up the country outfit, the Matt Clarkson Band.
âThe reason weâre probably not considered just straight up country,â Clarkson said, âis because I have nothing but rockers in my band.â
For a country band, there is a heaviness to the music. But itâs the balance of memorable riffs to the sincerity of Clarksonâs lyrics that forges the looming allure of the Matt Clarkson Band, both regionally and nationally.
The MCB is currently pining for new notches in the bandâs belt, and the recent nod from the Josie Music Awards is evidence of a new notch. Regardless if the local band takes home a trophy, itâs still good news for âBad News.â
âI donât know what to think about it yet,â Clarkson said of the bandâs nominations. âI donât think I will until after itâs said and done. But to go there and sit in the first few rows, weâre gonna see the band name big, five times. If we win and I get to walk on to the stage, thatâs gonna be crazier. Itâs pretty surreal. Iâm either gonna touch the stage because Iâm invited up there, or securityâs gonna grab me off of it.â
Contact this contributing writer at branberry100@gmail.com.
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