Erie's Matty B returns, to reunite with Dirty Pickles for set of original songs
For Erie musician Matt "Broke" Boland, the move was spontaneous but necessary.
In a span of four days just after Christmas, Boland made the decision to move to Austin, Texas, to explore the music scene and continue to grow his career as a working musician honing his skills as an original artist.
A cup of coffee over the holidays with Pat "Shaggy" Welsh, a friend visiting home for the holidays, spurred the idea, Boland said. Welsh, an executive producer at a film, TV and video production company called 360 Studios, has lived in Austin for the past 16 years and persuaded Boland to rent a room in his home.
"He said, 'I'm leaving Thursday if you want to (join) for the trip out.' I had four days and I thought, 'I've got to do it, man,' " said Boland, who has been performing in Erie and the region for 18 years as a guitarist and vocalist, starting with Matty B and the Dirty Pickles. "It all just lined up perfectly and I had to take it."
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Boland, 36, spent the first seven months of this year establishing a name for himself at local clubs and spots around Austin. He left Erie knowing he would be back to play dates booked for several summer gigs, including a reunion show of original songs with the Dirty Pickles at Basement Transmissions, 145 W. 11th St., on Aug. 12.
"I got really lucky my second day (in Austin); I played an open mic and got a booking agent. I'm playing about four nights a week, doing my one-man band primarily," said Boland, known mainly for his rockabilly and '50s-style rock and roll music. "While I'm here, I'm going back and forth and putting my band together ... when I come back to Austin, I'm going to be really focused on original music and making a name out there with a band."
Although he still plays with the Pickles, the new band will go by just his name, Matt "Broke" Boland.
"Bands come and go. I just got to keep my name and go with it," said Boland, whose nickname, "Broke," has been with him as long as he's been playing.
"I break strings all the time. I have since I was a kid and I still do," he said. "There used to be a saying in Erie that if Matty didn't break a string, then it wasn't a good show. That and there's the obvious 'starving artist' part of it."
Building on his beginnings
Before leaving for Austin, Boland was planning a marketing campaign to start promoting himself as an original artist.
"Everyone knows me for doing '50s rock and roll, and I've got pigeon-holed into that over the years," he said. "But I have six albums of total original material and I'm still writing and evolving in that way. And I'm doing my best to break out of that."
Boland started the Dirty Pickles when he was 18 years old, with Ben "Jammin" Roemer on bass and Mark Grzywinski (Marky G) on drums. The group of friends played originals, showing up at spots like the former Sherlock's starting in 2004, and then added in covers because of the money involved.
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Boland later played and toured in a more political-driven band, drawing new fans and losing others, he said.
Later in his career, when he lived and performed in New York City in 2018 — "I was doing pretty well, but I didn't like my living situation," he said — he decided to bring back a version of Matty and the Pickles, not the original Dirty Pickles, but a five-piece show band with horns that would do covers as a tribute to '50s rock and roll. Boland said he wanted to prove that he can "put something of that class together and start looking at casinos and cruises as a show band."
It's worked, and it's what he does with Paul Sontheimer on bass, Mike Russell on drums, David VanAmburg on keyboard and guitar, and Phil Papotnik on saxophone, along with a sound guy, pro sound system, suits, and more.
"I (felt) like this is a really good retirement plan, but I have so much more in the tank as an original songwriter," he said. "I was getting really frustrated; it was hard because I had the golden ticket and know this is going to work wherever I take it. I can make money and be a professional, but I need more out of (my career)."
Showcasing his multi-genre music
Boland said his biggest obstacle with original music is describing it to the uninitiated. He says his shows can "take people for a ride."
"I write some '50s-sounding songs with a lot of blues influence. And I have other songs that ride on the edge of punk rock and country and folk," he said. "I would call myself a rock 'n' roll revivalist. It has blues, folk, Americana, '50s rock and roll and modern. A lot of stuff sounds like White Stripes and a lot of stuff sounds like The Avett Brothers. It's kind of all over."
It's a sound Boland has been developing since he was a teenager with the Pickles. He hasn't had another occupation to distract him from that goal of refining his craft.
"Now I can take everything I've learned and put it into my original stuff, my character and everything," he said. "I feel like I've made the name (in Austin) and now I can focus on original music. Once I get it together down there, then I can start pitching it to labels. This next push is going to be kind of make or break."
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Original Pickles, other summer shows ahead
"The Pickles have never stopped playing," Boland said. "We've played every year, multiple shows. We just had different members, but I've kept it going for 18 years. I've been trying to figure it out and asking people, 'when can I say we're the longest running Erie band?' "
With Schroeder back home from Portland and Gryzywinski living in Pittsburgh, a reunion show was an easy decision for Boland and the band.
"We haven't played our debut album 'Picklebilly' since those early days," said Boland, who includes "Digg It" Dave Schroeder as a Dirty Pickles original member since he has filled in on drums and bass in the past. "We probably haven't played a show with just our original songs on an Erie stage in over a decade, which I'm excited about because those are the songs that got me my start and got Erie behind us."
The all-ages show at Basement Transmissions on Aug. 12 starts at 7 p.m. with Brooke Surgener and Brewer and Friends opening.
Boland also will have other projects going in the next few weeks, including his trio, which includes Sontheimer and Russell.
The Pickles show band, which plays a gig in the Lake Erie Community Park concert series Aug. 3, will be performing at CelebrateErie in late August before Boland returns to Austin.
"The reason why that band works so well is that they're all experienced jazz musicians," he said. "We've been doing the show for the last two years. We all have the show down and we'll probably do one rehearsal (before a performance). But everyone is so professional, it flows."
Boland will also have the Pickles joined by Rodger Montgomery on guitar and Ron Yarosz on harmonica as part of the Broke Boland’s Blues Batch performance Saturday starting at 2 p.m. at the Erie Blues & Jazz Festival at Frontier Park.
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Boland counts Montgomery and Yarosz as influential artists who helped develop his playing. He said he used to sneak into the Beer Mug at 1108 Liberty St. when he was underage to watch Montgomery play during his blues jams.
"Rodger Montgomery was kind of my mentor. He would get me up and I knew if he wasn't giving me a mean look that I was doing good. So we've developed a really awesome friendship throughout the years because I think he's as good as it gets, at least for this area when it comes to blues," Boland said. "And same with Ron Yarosz. He gave me a lot of opportunities when I was young to get on stage and jam, even when I was terrible. This (Blues & Jazz Fest) show can't be bad if I have these guys on stage, no matter how much I mess up."
Contact Tony Battaglia at [email protected]. Follow the GoErie.com Instagram page at instagram.com/goeriecom.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie's Matt Boland reunites with Dirty Pickles for original songs set