Hi Matt,

Just checked out your website today for the first time.

I’m seeing Counting Crows where I live in Northern Ireland this December
and it’s going to be the first show that you won’t be rocking the bass!
I’m disapointed about that.

I started listening to the Crows when I was 16 and went to Dublin to see you guys perform in The Oylmpia
for 3 nights and stayed in some crappy hostel by night and stood in line all day to ensure I was front row.

It was the first time I’d met you guys and I was really nervous about it. Adam and co went through the motions of scribbling on the CD cover and walking on (which I was happy with) and then you came out …. You were the most down to earth and cool person I had ever met.

You actually took an interest in asking about me and talked with me at length and signed, took pictures. You came out several times to meet people and I can’t tell you how happy that made me.

That night waiting at the front of the Olympia I saw you coming from across the street with a big Ice cream, wearing your black shirt with the flames on it. Everyone cheered as you ran across the street raising your ice cream up! Haha!

I flew over to London to see you guys in the Royal Albert Hall and then met you again in Killarney where once you took the time to talk and sign stuff. You were saying how much you enjoyed the RAH show.

So thank you very much Matt! You probably don’t remember me, but I will remember those times forever. It’s rare that meeting famous people turns out better than you expect but you really made those times of following Counting Crows about special because you had no ego and had time for everyone.

AND you are a fantastic player!

Hope you’re doing well and happy!

What a great note – thank you so much!! Our Ireland shows were ALWAYS good because the audiences were so amazing. Loud, fearless, music-lovers – and my heritage! (My grandfather dropped the “O” from “O’Malley” when he immigrated from Cork). I really appreciate your note and for stopping by and writing. I can remember the ice-cream incident!! It was one of those beautiful Dublin evenings with a sky full of black clouds but with the setting sun shining underneath and igniting the old brick and stucco buildings. One of my top countries to retire in if the wind blows me and my little family there! Thank you so much for this great note – Matt

You are very welcome Matt. Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

I’m really glad I came to your site to see what you were up to these days.

Haha, it’s cool that you remember the ice cream incident! I remember that night really clearly because I was on still on cloud nine from meeting all you guys and there was a feeling of such excitment about the shows.

Thanks again Matt for everything. Many great shows, and even though I was a complete stranger to you, you chatted and joked as if we’d been friends for years. It is really appreciated!

One question I’ve wondered about and if you have a spare few minutes to answer is :

When you guys weren’t on tour for a while would you one day out of the blue get a call from Adam or whoever to say “pack your bags, we’re going on tour in a few weeks”? And what was band practice like—I mean would you guys get together in a rehersal room or would you work out new songs during soundcheck?

If you ever bring your music to Belfast or Dublin I will certainly be there to see you.

All the best and thanks for your time,
Paul

Hi Paul – good question! Well, we’d usually know our schedule a few months in advance, maybe 3 or 4 months. A tour would normally be 1.5 – 2 years long and that would usually entail being out for 2 – 3 months at a time, then home for a week or two for a break. There’s a moment in the Led Zeppelin movie, “The Song Remains the Same” where the bassist, John Paul Jones is in his quaint hobbit-like house and he’s opening his mail and it’s apparently a tour “notice” and he freezes, looks up and says, “That’s tomorrow!”. It’s such a great moment but I believe it’s got a fantasy element to it…still it changed my life when I saw it in highschool and I wanted to be in a touring rock band so I could get notes in the mail telling me to pack my bags! Just like life though…it didn’t happen like that. Practices meant renting out a “rehearsal room” in a facility designed for bands – in the Los Angeles area where Adam lived at the time – and we would go there for 2 or 3 weeks before a tour began to work out our songs. In the next room you’d hear a horrible heavy metal band…and you would smell the puddles of day-old alcohol on the floors and the despair in the hallways of these horrible Los Angeles rehearsal spaces! These tour rehearsals would be at the end of a year in Los Angeles recording a record, (the new one was made in New York since Adam lives there now), and between the end of a record and beginning of a tour, and we needed to get the kinks out of the material that we hadn’t played in a year or more to get ready for our first few shows. Of course after a week out on the road, we were in shape and didn’t need any rehearsals after that. We did soundcheck every day though because that was a good time to compose together or for us to get the feel of the days’ venue. Pleasure to talk with you Paul – write any time and don’t be shy!! Matt