John Major is a local Erie citizen who is the frontman of his band, Paper Matches. He currently works as a guitar teacher and a sales associate at Dollar General. Major has a refreshing charm paired with a passion for music that caught my attention. He is inspired by rock music and has found inspiration in Erie that drives his music. I chose to interview him to discover his musical beginnings and see how Erie has affected him.
MM: "Where did your affection for music come from?"
JM: "I always loved music growing up, my dad's a big fan of music, and my mom is a theater person. I was brought up in it. I started getting into rock 'n roll when I was either 13 or 14. I found all the standard bands like Green Day. Then I got into classic rock like the Ramones, the White Stripes - who are a huge influence, Sex Pistols, and Skid Row. I love all rock music, the hair metal bands, punk rock, the 50's rockabilly. I dig all of it."
MM: "What made you want to pursue a career in music?"
JM: "It kinda just seemed like the only thing to do. Music is essentially the only thing I really found worth putting time into. I started off playing in orchestras with violin, at 17, then I picked up the guitar and it's gone from there. I also have never found anything I have loved as much as music. "
MM: "How did your band Paper Matches come to be?"
JM: "How much time do you have? *laughter ensues* The original line-up of Paper Matches was me, Nicholas Birch, and Ryan Gavalier. Nick and I had a two piece band called Two Out of Three. We met up with Ryan and we decided we were gonna have a three piece band but with no bass guitar, only two guitars. That didn't go well, though. Ryan moved away so Nick and I kept Paper Matches alive during that time. We loved the name and the logo we made. We had a bunch of different base players throughout the years, the whole three years we've been around. We were all big White Stripes fans and that influenced our sound. We're still around cause Nick is too loyal and I'm too damn stubborn to let it die *laughs*."
MM: "Hell yeah. Has Erie influenced your music?"
JM: "Pretty much everything we write is very much inspired by our environment. Erie is a massive inspiration for me personally. It's a town filled with the right people. There is a lot of inspiration to be found. Another thing that is so great about Erie's scene is that everyone is willing to help out each other. Everybody is willing to go see everyone else's band. We're all able to offer constructive criticism, advice, and help. I've learned much of that recently. It's pretty amazing with all of Erie natives' support and friendliness."
MM: "Are there any upcoming projects for Paper Matches? I know there are at least a few songs on you Bandcamp page"
JM: "We do. We haven't released as much in the past few years just because of conflicting schedules. We do have an upcoming album, entitled "Jinks" and it should be out at the end of March. So you would have to keep an eye out on our Facebook and YouTube for all of that. It's kind of a blend of 50's rock n' roll, 70's punk and there is a little bit of 80's influence in the mix. We're trying to not keep it corny. It should be fun, it's a unique mix of songs to keep people from getting bored out of their skulls."
MM: "Has Paper Matches played live before?"
JM: "Oh yeah we have. We've played Basement Transmissions. Any time they want to call us, we are more than happy to play there. As far as bookings, we've been to some of the bars. We're hoping after we get the album out there, we're going to start booking a lot more shows so that we can generate more attention to ourselves. We as a band are very into shameless self-promotion."
MM: "Where do you see Paper Matches in the future?"
JM: "I would definitely love to see keep this going. It's playing rock n' roll with two of my best friends. So it's kind of the most fun that anyone could ever have. We are all lucky enough to keep this going right now. It would be amazing to record another album by the end of the year. A second album in a year is more up to good luck. I'd like to keep this project growing. Hopefully, we'll have something for people to listen to. Our philosophy as a band and human beings are to live in the moment and see where each day takes you."
The Paper Matches social media and website information are below. You can also follow John on Facebook.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaperMatches/
Songs: https://www.facebook.com/PaperMatches/app/17809112...
