Music Matt & Esh
“I live for the moment, as tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us, but I am always excited about what it might bring.”
so independent; I need to control what I do,” Esh smiles. “But a girlfriend of mine said it was coming - this was Season 10, where Simon [Cowell] had left, and the new judges were Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. So it had the rock element. I still wasn’t sure but then I discovered Milwaukee Idol, and whoever won that would walk into American Idol at the producer stage, so I auditioned for that. Matt actually did the audition video with me we – it was The Rolling Stones’ Come Together. So they called me two days later, and I’d made top six. My friends thought that was good enough to go for American Idol, so I did. I was back and forth for four auditions, made it through 396 people to Hollywood, then I made it to top 40.” Quite an achievement! So this led you to part ways with the Afrobeat band, I’m guessing? “It did, and the whole American Idol experience alone taught me what I want and what I don’t want; I was actually relieved when I didn’t go further! Being told what to do, and not being able to be creative was a problem for me; they wanted another Rihanna or Beyoncé, so I was pigeon holed,” Esh explains. “I was told it was because as an African American woman, it would be hard to sell me as a rock and roll singer... That was 2010, and now of course it’s very cool to be an African American rock singer! [laughs] It was a valuable experience, but even just seeing all the kids believing they were going to be superstars was difficult to watch. I was sitting back and thinking, ‘is this for real?’ It didn’t sit quite right with me.” Esh admits the experience felt like a boot camp (with plenty of 6am starts and 3am finishes), but if she could apply herself in the same way to doing something she loved, then who knows where it might lead? “So I co-founded my band, Red and Reckless, with some heavy hitters that play with Erykah Badu and Gill Scott [in Chicago] - an awesome band,” Esh enthuses. “Matt guested and played guitar on some of the shows, so we were constantly meeting still; we’ve always been there for each other out of utility, I suppose!” Esh then went on to release her own EP, You Should Know Me. 23 HEADLINER
“I was the artist, the manager, the social media expert,” she says, with a smile. “And I had some great guys out of Chicago working with me. I was travelling between Milwaukee and Chicago, and still living in Milwaukee; and then the band split! I was like, ‘what’s going on, God? Give me a break!’ [laughs] We were really getting off the ground at this point as a group; we’d been together for eight years, had played Summer Fest three times (the largest music festival in the world by numbers, remarkably also based in Milwaukee!), we’d done Taste of Chicago, House of Blues, and suddenly it was just me and the bass player, just swapping out guys, and I didn’t feel comfortable.”
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his was 2015, and Esh felt she needed to understand exactly who ‘Esh the Singer’ really was. “So I moved to LA, and stayed there for seven months, just to get myself together, while at the same time, Matt is away travelling the world,” she laughs, adding that she also has two kids to look after full-time. Somewhat of a super-mum, then? “[laughs] Yeah, super-mum, and rock and roll chick here, you know? So for the last year or so, I’ve just been focusing on my family.” For Matt, the last 18 months have been a little different: he was planning on living in NYC due to its Afrobeat scene, which he has been immersed in for last 10 years; but then another band he was playing in signed to a label based in India, and at the same time, he got an offer to move to Memphis to join another international touring band. I’m feeling dizzy just thinking about it..! “[laughs] Yeah, it was many opportunities; I ended up joining the band in Memphis, toured Europe with them, then flew to India to join the other band, then flew back to the States,” he explains. As you do... “I’ve been touring with the band in Memphis since then, whose singer, John Németh, is the current BB King Entertainer of the Year, the highest male honour outside of The Grammys. And I spend a lot of time with Al Green’s old drummer, Howard Grimes, just chatting to him on his porch; he is the godfather to us when it comes to power and simplicity. So I’m living in Memphis, and surrendering myself to different projects as they come along.” And on that note, fast forward to 2016, and here we are in LA, where the two of you have met up yet again, embarking on yet another project together! You’ve made
a music video for RME Audio, which has been put together by renowned videographer, Brian Mear; and then you performed every day at this year’s Winter NAMM show in Anaheim. Tell us about that. “Yes, it’s amazing how it works out, isn’t it? [smiles] Through various channels, we have got together and both put our name to RME’s Babyface Pro interface, an exceptional product,” Matt explains. “I had been using one of RME’s competitors’ products, and there is a lot of smoke and mirrors in the audio business; many people don’t even hear about a company like RME, which is a real shame. You hear about the Apogee Duet as the ultimate in portable interfaces, but for me, it doesn’t come close to the Babyface Pro.” Matt uses Babyface every day, and rates both its versatility and sonic qualities: “I have been recording all of our concerts with it by just running a condenser mic into it; I place Babyface in whatever part of the room seems most appropriate with just a single XLR input, and the results are fantastic. “But there are 24 channels of potential input in this little thing, so if I wanted to, I could mic every cymbal, drum, guitar amp, vocal mic; you can really make it as big as you want.” And what about you, Esh? “Well, the opportunity with RME just doing the video was amazing for me, just being back in contact with Matt, first and foremost; and I knew Brian [Mear] too. I was in town, I was dropping the kids off for the holidays, so as long as they could feed me nachos, I was prepared to hang out for as long as they wanted,” she laughs. “And the video was great timing. I am not a techhead, by any means, but to find out about Babyface Pro, just how simple it is to use, I realised I could learn this technology easily. “It’s also something I knew I could represent, so I am very proud to be a part of it. And this wasn’t to try and open any further musical doors, it was just to hang with friends and do some cool stuff. “Once that was done, I was back to my family, but now RME have gone on to forge a real relationship with us; they brought us out to NAMM, and we’re now part of the bigger picture, which is going to be very exciting. “I live for the moment, as tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us, but I am always excited about what it might bring.” A nice way to sum it all up, Esh. We wish you and Matt the best of luck with your future musical ventures, which we have a feeling might well crossover again before too long..! www.rme-audio.com