Where do you hope to see yourself in three years? I’d really like to be able to support myself comfortably making original music. Right now I’m playing a lot of gigs where they want covers. It’s kind of strange that people will pay more for a knockoff of a Journey song than a piece of original music, but that’s what pays right now. More records, more shows, definitely. I’d really like to find my band, you know - my musical family. We’d all be totally into it and they’re my jam.
Most rewarding part of your job? It’s really rewarding to see someone when you’re looking out at the crowd at a gig and you can just see that they feel supported by what you’re doing. You see a new light. I feel like that’s a part of a responsibility. I know what makes me light up, but I feel like a lot of people don’t know what makes them light up and come alive. I think that it’s important that people spend time working on finding what makes them light up. I think that world would be a pretty radically different place if everyone did that.
Most frustrating part of your job? Myself.
Matt Nakoa at Bay State Green, Westborough MA photo by Steve Aronson 2010