Mike Mattison (Vocals), And
Paul Olsen (Guitar & Vocals)
Influences
Taj Mahal, Nina Simone, Skip James, Howlin' Wolf, Garnett Mimms, Rance Allen, Sun Ra, Rev. Gary Davis, Bobby Womack, Willie Nelson, Snooks Eaglin, Mississippi John Hurt, Dr. John... etc.
Mike Mattison and Paul Olsen are Scrapomatic, also known to their diehard fans as "The Great American Music Machine." The duo pour their influences in the top and out come perfectly calibrated Americana gems. Scrapomatic have recorded three critically acclaimed blues-roots albums since 2002 -- "Scrapomatic," "Alligator Love Cry" and 2008's "Sidewalk Caesars," which they are currently supporting on a nationwide tour.
Their mission: Make music rooted to the blues canon, but dodge becoming a museum piece by taking up the flag of the modern blues innovators -- Taj Mahal, Nina Simone, Dr. John; artists who used their deep-seeded knowledge of the genre to push it into the future. Needless to say, the Great American Music Machine is not afraid of its influences.
Both Mattison and Olsen were raised in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
Mattison started his music career as a bass fiddle player with a jones for Ray Charles, whom his mother took him to see seven times before the age of 11. Mattison attended Harvard University, where he served as vice-president of the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine, and graduated in 1991 with a cum laude degree in English and American Literature. He split the country soon-after to sing jazz in Budapest, Hungary. Upon his return, he met Olsen in Minneapolis, three hours into a P-Funk concert. A musical partnership was born.
Olsen began studying guitar in the second grade. At the age of 17, he became the de facto sideman to local blues legend Little Bobby E. His prowess earned him a scholarship to the University of Minnesota, where -- between blues gigs at night -- he studied classical and jazz guitar, and earned a degree in composition.
After being recognized with Minnesota Music Award nominations for Best R&B Group and Best Male Vocalist, the duo decamped to Brooklyn, NY in 1997 and formed Scrapomatic. They proceeded to stomp their way through nearly every venue in the New York area, including Carnegie Hall.
In 2002, Mattison joined the Derek Trucks Band as its lead singer. To date he tours year round with the Allman Brother's slide player and erstwhile Eric Clapton sideman, and has appeared on three DTB albums -- 2003's "Live at the Georgia Theater," 2006's acclaimed "Songlines" and the group's next major-label effort, to-be-named and released in early-2009
2002 also saw Scrapomatic release its self-titled debut album under the tutelage of renowned jazz-producer John Snyder, on his Artists House label. The Boston Herald named the album -- recorded at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Lousiana -- one of the year's "Top Ten 'Hidden Pearl' releases." In 2006, Scrapomatic made the move to Atlanta's Landslide Records with the release of "Alligator Love Cry," also recorded at Dockside and produced by Snyder. Blues Revue called "Alligator," "primal and tasty... one of the most impressive releases of the year."
Scrapomatic's most recent effort, "Sidewalk Caesars," was recorded in Atlanta at Bakos Amp Works over three weekends in the fall of 2007. The eclectic Landslide album was produced by Mattison and engineer Jeff Bakos, who strove to give the group more power and presence. Scrapomatic was joined by Ted Pecchio on bass and Tyler Greenwell on drums, late of Col. Bruce Hampton's Codetalkers, and both currently backing Grammy-nominated blues chanteuse Susan Tedeschi. Dave "Copernicus" Yoke rounded out the group with his unlikely, ear-friendly guitar, and is now also a member of the Susan Tedeschi band.
As Scrapomatic watches the accolades for "Sidewalk Caesars" roll in, Mattison continues to perform over one hundred domestic and international dates a year with the Derek Trucks Band. Olsen remains active in NYC as a bandleader and ASCAP award-winning songwriter. The nationwide tour rolls on, and the duo are already hard at work on their fourth album. As Olsen says, "You gotta feed the Machine!"
Hey mike! congrats of the grammy nom. with derek trucks. we miss u! im in tahoe now u ever ganna play here again. we wanna see u jam! love u! hope u have a happy holidays! -Justine
Thanks so much for the Add–and your friendship. We enjoyed your music very much. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. It's a pleasure having you among our friends! We've added two blogs about Umano, plus four more new compositions, making ten on our page. We hope you and your friends visit us and enjoy our music, too. We wake up every morning and play the music of the new MySpace friends who have arrived at our site during the night. It occurred to us that these friends (you are among them) are almost universally positive, whether they be novices or legends, and without regard to their station in life or the country they occupy. Although it's not an original thought, it also occurred to us that we couldn’t hold a verbal conversation with most of these friends, but we have bridged that gap by expressing our art honestly with each other. We all have been filling the world with our music and art, in the hope that our messages of love and human understanding will have an impact on the world at large. What a gift and what an opportunity we have received from this technology!
Here is a little something different for you. Check these guys out. I recently recorded one of their shows at Speakeasy Studios which they posted near the bottom of their blog. They were sensational. I hope you enjoy. http://www.stringmetal.com/judgementday/2009/07/28/7-release-tour-diary/
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