Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Rade.
Hi Matt, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It’s funny because we never truly got together to be in “a band.” At the time (2007), we were all working at the downtown club, Beauty Bar. Through conversation we discovered that we all played instruments, so decided to get together to jam for fun. 20 years later, we are still doing it!
BIO:
Austin TX’s instruMETAL outfit EAGLE CLAW plays heavy, loud music. From the very beginning, vocals were never in the plan for this creatively destructive four piece. Taking up where other instrumental bands leave off, Eagle Claw carved out their own niche within the instrumental genre. Dynamic and engaging, but ultimately all things metal.
Formed in the fall of 2007, the band started gaining momentum when their Demo “Bastard Usurper” first infiltrated Austin’s music scene. That was then followed up by their first official release entitled “Poacher.” Recorded by Bryan Richie (Bassist, The Sword), it features 9 blistering tracks filled with tasteful riffs, clever time changes and fist pumping beats that set the tone for what Eagle Claw have become known for.
In 2012, the band released their much anticipated sophomore album, “Timing of the Void.” Featuring 8 monolithic tracks, the record’s title and overarching theme is based on “The Book of Five Rings”, a text on Kenjutsu and the martial arts, written by Japanese swordsman Miyamato Musashi, circa 1645. In a recent news item published on Eagle Claw, the Austin Chronicle wrote, “Like Musashi, the local quartet’s instrumentals are dually Zen and violent, and their timing and attack is martial. Not just a titular reference, the swordsman’s lessons are the basis for the music on Timing of the Void.”
Eagle Claw’s third full length album, entitled ‘Vallis’, was released in September of 2019. A concept album, based on a rogue character, roaming the landscapes of mars. Recorded by producer Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch. Featuring 7 tracks, the bands writing style picked up right where “Timing of the Void” left off, but left room for some faster arrangements than previously recorded on earlier albums.
Comprised of the dualistic soundscapes of guitarists, Matt Rade and Michael Gonzalez, the searing low end fuzz of bassist Luther Smalls, and the relentless pounding of Bart Butler’s drumming, the band is best known for their high energy live performances.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have been through a lot together. All of life’s moments over the past two decades, marriages, kids, financial struggles, covid, health, personal stuff, have all impacted the band, but we have managed not to but each others heads off, (most of the time,) and keep the band rolling through it all.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We all continued our careers in venues and bars for a while, I (Matt Rade) went on to be an owner in the east side bar, High Noon! While Bart Butler owns and runs his own MMA studio, “The Void” (named after our second album.) And Luther Smalls owns and runs his business, “Lula’s Agua Frescas”, and supplies juices to a lot of well know bars and venues in thee Austin Area!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I am a 6th generation Austinite. I have seen the city change so much in just my life time, but have also felt how the previous generations have experienced all the change. As a lifetime austenite, I have never been one of the people against all of the growth, and people moving here. It’s a great city to live in, so I welcome it, but it is definitely much different now than it ever was. I would say that the thing that I like the least is the infrastructure of our roadways, we got too big, too fast, and the roadways will probably never catch up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eagleclawhurts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eagleclawhurts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eagleclawhurts
