Matt Epp has been everywhere a she spends most of his life on the road. He grew up in Winnipeg, spent six months living in Spain with his wife and drummer Antonio Lomas and has most of his immediate family in Lethbridge.
He returns to Lethbridge, Oct. 27 to play a solo acoustic show Backstreet Pub south.
In between relentless touring, he has recorded two new albums this year since releasing “At Dawn” with his band the Amorian Assembly in 2011.
He is currently touring on
the new acoustic CD recorded for a release in Germany and has a new CD with his band the Amorian Assembly ready to go.
“On the tour, I’ve been playing half and half,” said Epp, on the road back to Winnipeg where he was performing a workshop at the school he attended Grade 7.
“I want to give people a taste of it. Besides this is what I’m feeling now and that’s the best time to sing it is when I’m feeling it now,” he said.
The current acoustic CD takes Epp back to his folk singing roots.
“I don’t miss the band while I’m playing solo, while I don’t miss being solo when I’m with the band. But I’m in the middle of a 50 date Canadian and German tour. Touring solo isn’t any easier on the body as I still put everything into it. I’m sure I’ll miss playing with them by then,” he said.
Much of the CD has to do with relationships.
He started writing much of the new album after his last show in Lethbridge in December. He recorded it in Germany.
“It’s with the Acoustic Music record label. They specialize in instrumental acoustic music, so as a songwriter, I’m a bit of a rarity. So I wanted to focus on the sound of the instrument and my voice, instead of putting a lot of harmonica on it,” he said.
He recorded the CD between February and May and did most of the work on the new Amorian Assembly album over there as well though the latter was completed in Los Angeles.
“ We were living in Spain. We moved there in September and moved in May. My wife and I and our drummer shared an apartment there in Granada. It was amazing, with the sunshine and the food and the Mediterranean languages. Spain is very close to me and my family and it was good to live close to the band,” he said it also provided an excellent home base for European touring.
“There is so much to explore in Europe. And art is so much more important over there,” he said adding the history of Europe impressed him.
Living in Spain inspired him a lot.
“A lot of the songs were written in Granada,” he said.
He recently relocated to Toronto.
“We love Canada and we like being Canadian. I’ve spent a lot of time in the west. In Winnipeg and out to Vancouver. It was time to move to a place with more population. And there is a really great airport there so it’s easy to get to Europe or New York. And my wife loves Toronto. If she’s happy, everybody’s happy, it makes life a lot easier and life is good,” he said.
He always enjoys returning to Lethbridge, albeit for a short visit.
“I arrive in the morning of the show and have to leave the next morning to get to Saskatoon. My immediate family lives in Lethbridge and Taber, so my parents are there and six siblings and their budding families, so I’ll be able to see them,” he said.
