...Funny you should ask...
Last night at Howard's was a B'Last! So much hot rock I was surprised it didn't turn the brickwalls of Club H into boiling magma.
First Extra! Extra! (Toledo) went on with a smoke machine and a fistful o' catchy ass high energy numbers with "whoo-hooo!" & "Yeah, yeah" type o' background vocals, hand claps galore & buckets full o' attitude & stage moves. Good Times, those Extras! Extras! we been doin' a load of shows with those guys & it's always a riot. Here's to the world tour.
Next up, Beggars came from Detroit to dance & party & have a ball. Singin' songs about classic American film (Sleep Away Camp) they broke it down for a few bars to let singer Steven Davis Eyes pay homage to the Hot Rails. It was fuckin' sweet. Lots of high kicks & floor humpin'. You should probably hire Beggars for your grandma's birthday party cuz they're a band everyone should see before the bell tolls.
Cleveland's The Hot Rails were Rock & Roll personified for their set. Dual guitar attack! Singer Ken Janssen was in the crowd dancing before they even got to the chorus of the first song. He also downed a bottle of Schlitz between every number, sometimes while lying on his back. The guitar frenzy never let up, I had tears in my eyes by the end of their set for two reasons: 1.) the sheer abandon of The Hot Rails was like sticking my face into a volcano
2.) we had to follow them
So, our set went exactly how you'd think...fucking brilliant! the Dumb-Easies/Hot Love band members came up to sing "I'm from the Future" with us so I could concentrate on my Davey Jones moves & Nathan ExtraExtra grabbed the mic & did a pretty good impression of me during "Ruin My Life" while his band mates shouted along from the crowd. I still got a chance to sing some songs as well, so that was cool.
Big ups to everyone who came out to the "H" I hope your faces don't hurt too much from being all rocked last night. I wonder if anyone got any pictures? I'd love to see the one of Ken lying on his back spitting schlitz straight up into the air. Rock & Roll!!!!!

If anyone's got any stories from last night (Howard's or not) share em here...
So, what'd you do last night?

We went to Cincinnati for three days to check out (and play) the MidPoint Music Fest. It was lots of fun. We met cool people & danced & sang karaoke (for beer -"Sing, Rummy! Sing!").  I can recall a little bit...I think we saw some bands...I know we DIDN'T Bob Pollard's Boston Spaceships cuz our "Artist" wristbands were no good for that show & they wanted us to pay $18 !!!??? Next time you balk @ some $5 cover in T-town or BG, remember that, then eat $5 worth of (insert various names for genitalia here).
Anyway, the Cincinnati City Beat set it up right with 20 or so Scion cars giving people free rides to all of the venues around the Downtown & Over-the-Rhine spots. In other words, lots of people were getting their swerve on but keepin it safe on the streets. Including us! I can't remember how many clubs we hit in the 3 nights of our stay but it was a lot! And the bands were all cool. We missed some that we would've liked to have seen but free rides means more imbibement (not a word, shut up! i'm fuckin' loaded right now) which equals time slipping through the hour glass a lot faster than one realizes.
Our set was lots of fun! The stage manager said some chick flashed us or something but my shades were all steamed up & all I could see was colorful clouds of awesomeness while I wailed about hookers n blow & not wanting to be some hooker on blow's man. It all evened out. Our freebies were all gobbled up before set's end so I think some people liked our music...
some even blogged about it & took pix!

http://blogs.citybeat.com/spill_it/2008/09/mpmf08-saturd-2.html

http://cincinnati.metromix.com/music/article/mpmf-watch/648748/content
Check out my hair!!!

Thanks to the Below Zero Lounge staff
Special thanks to The Host for helping us out with gear & being really cool guys. Expect them to play our area soon! But they can't use our gear (kidding)
Hearts n Hugs

Going on an Ego Trip
BG News - Pulse

Chuck Taylors, leather suits, movie star shades.

The Matt Truman Ego Trip might appear to be your average, local, rock 'n' roll band, with a slight hint of conceitedness, but they actually have something to brag about.

After almost three years of playing together, Matt Truman (vocals, guitar), Zak Durst (bass), Derek Wright (drums), while later acquiring Danny Johnson (guitar) and Eric Barton (keyboard) are leaving their mark across North America.

From their first appearance at the 2005 Black Swamp Arts Festival to the more recent performances at Toronto's North By Northeast Music Festival, and at Boston's Paradise Lounge - a venue they got to play for winning the ourstage.com contest - The Matt Truman Ego Trip has set themselves apart from many of the other bands in Bowling Green.

"We were all in different bands for a while, but found we just don't fit in anywhere," Truman said. "We wanted to get out of it because we knew we weren't going to break out doing someone else's gig."

And breaking out was probably the best choice they could have made for musicians who just didn't "fit in."

Doing their own thing, which is described by the band as making "burn the place down kind of music," is comparable to bands such as Iggy and the Stooges, the Rolling Stones and MC5.

Not only is their sound less than mainstream, but also is their sense of style. In past performances The Matt Truman Ego Trip took to using props like pumpkins, and people dressed liked dancing trees and magical horses.

They've since discontinued this use of creativity due to differences in taste, or lack thereof.

"The truth is finally coming out," Wright said. "I never liked those props."

So now, doing their own thing includes a lot of crowd interaction.

"Somebody will probably end up rolling around on the floor," Truman said. "And that someone will probably be me."

Breaking out has even scored them three slots at the 2007 College Music Journal Music Marathon and Film Festival in New York City.

"We'll be playing the Rocks Off Concert Cruise with a band from England called The Wildhearts," Durst said.

The show is already sold out, so they have to use a bigger boat, which will sail around Manhattan for three hours.

"It will be a couple of bands and a lot of debauchery, I'm sure," Truman said.

And even after all the traveling, all the nation-wide recognition and all the yearning to get out of Bowling Green, Ohio, The Matt Truman Ego Trip isn't ashamed to play a few local performances.

Their next show is with the DirtBombs on Sept. 8 at Howard's, and they will be playing there again in October for free. As much as all musicians would hate to get stuck in Bowling Green, there's something about the place that keeps them coming back - the people.

"We want to thank everyone who has helped us out over the years," Wright said.

Emily Rippe
8/31/07

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CMJ.com
CMJ Networks inc.

From the rolling, sermon-like vocal diction to the crashing percussion, "Industry Standard" is a perfectly worthy soundtrack to the best mohair-clad go-go movies; not to mention the awesome confessional, 'the record company buys my cocaine.'

-Friday, July 20th, 2007
http://www.cmj.com/relay/?p=2862

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Boston Now 07-05-07
Boston NOW/Pub. Michael E. schroeder
thursday july 5, 2007 | ISSuE 056

MUSIC
Matt Truman EgoTrip — Bowling Green, Ohio
The Matt Truman Ego Trip has been described as the MC5 meets "Exile on Main Street" but don't call it a throwback.
"We're not 'retro'," says band leader Matt Truman, "and we aren't 'post' anything or whatever
terms the industry wants to throw around these days. We
are Rock and Roll here and now".

*******************

Local Ego Trip building to big gig in Toronto
Sentinel~Tribune

For self-described "nerdy dude who studies music at some community college," local singer, songwriter and guitarist, Matt Truman has certainly found a way to break out of his sometimes less than cool façade as the lead man for the seminal Bowling Green rock quintet, The Matt Truman Ego Trip.
He calls his bawdy stage presence a "Superman Cape" but a more accurate description might simply be a departure from doing what comes naturally.
Think of it like the George Costanza effect…doing the opposite and putting out some serious rock and roll with his bandmates along the way.
The Matt Truman Ego Trip will be warming up for their upcoming appearance at the North By Northeast Music Festival in Toronto this summer with a show at Nate and Wally's Fishbowl on Friday.
The Ego Trip personnel includes Truman on guitar and lead vocals, Eric Barton on keyboards, Derek Wright on drums, Zak Durst on bass guitar and their newest member and Truman's cousin Danny Johnson on lead guitar. All members are from the Northwest Ohio area.
Although the invitation to play at the musical showcase in Canada is a prized gig for many US bands, Truman and his comrades actually stumbled upon their invite as they searched for possible festivals applications earlier this winter.
"I was actually on the Internet looking for South By Southwest (festival)," he said. "I looked up North By Northeast and they were taking applications right then. I waited for seven months and didn't hear anything and then I got an e-mail inviting me"
They will be joining more than 450 bands, the majority not from the United States, at the four-day festival.
One listen to their infectious and lyrically burning rock material and you'll know why they were selected.
Formed out of the ashes of the locally-based indie group, The Drama Club, The Matt Truman Ego Trip is truly the sum of their parts put together on stage and in recordings, quickly building a local and regional fan-base over the past three years.
The Rolling Stones-like instrumental influences, the industry bashing lyrics and the energy to keep a crowd enthusiastic throughout the night are just a sampling of what this group can be capable of producing on a regular basis.
They are currently putting the final touches on their debut album, "Everybody's Got One," a showcase of their penchant for styling a multifaceted recording approach, and a recording that they hope will open up the creative flood gates for their potential as group.
"Some of the stuff is recorded on my front porch, and some of the stuff is recorded on Pro Tools and we also have some studio time," Truman said. "It is going to be all over the map as far as the sounds that are going to be coming off of it.
"The music is different as well," he added. "There is hard rock, some acoustic tracks and a piano ballad…it is all over the map. I think people's musical tastes are kind of like that now. They don't want the same old, same old."
Faithful fans and record deals aside, Truman cautions that his band is not ready to put it all on the line for a shot at commercial success. Instead he hopes to keep putting out new material that is unique, diverse and occasionally a bit cynical towards the cut-throat music business they all hope to avoid.
"I kind of like where we are at," he said. "I think signing with a label is kind of like another way for working for the man. I have great expectations, but I am trying to keep my head on my shoulders as far as what is to come."

By COLE CHRISTENSEN
Sentinel Staff Writer

As we tumble through our musical escapades it seems people expect us to define ourselves with some sort of pretentious categorical scientific genus. Rock & Roll, it seems, is too broad a term & tends confuse the inquisitor. Whodathunk?
Other terms seem to be too far off base...
Hard Rock? maybe
Punk? probably not
Heavy Metal? no way
Post-Retro-Pre-Core? WTF?
So I ask you, the listener, to define us.
Post your ideas. Be as funny, offensive, asinine or serious as you want. No judge am I.
But remember we are sensitive artist types who are easy to cry...

Lot's n Lot's n Lot's Happenin'

First off Thanks to EVERYONE for voting for us on OurStage.com.
"Industry Standard" was voted Number One Rock Song for the Month of May! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU but wait...There's More...
Matt will be doing a WebCam Interview with OurStage.com this week. Be sure to check it out.

Just finished hammering out the details for the big trip to Toronto for the NXNE music & film festival. We'll be traveling 5 & a half hours to make that 40 minute set at the Black Bull the highlight of your lives! All our Toronto peeps Get there and Get Down. We go on at midnight Thursday. (technically that's friday but...Shut up!)

Also, in case you missed it The Sentinal~Tribune featured us in their Arts & Entertainment section last Wednesday (May 30th).
Oh what's this? --- www.sentinel-tribune.com/
Just type in Ego Trip as a keyword and you're there. Spoiler: the picture features us all in cool-guy shades & NO PANTS!!!! POTENTIALLY NWS!!!

Finally if anyone wants to lend us a wheelchair for Eric (AKA Butterheels) to use at NXNE we'd be much obliged. Otherwise we are building a wood board with wheels for him to scoot around on ALA that one Eddie Murphy movie or was it Gummo? Or Kids? What was the one movie where the guy shook a cup o' change & sang "I have no legs" on the subway? Kids right? Can't remember...

Hearts