Quick Q and A with Eric McDonald (Matching Orange)
 by Kathy S-B  ·  19 February 2011

Eric McDonald is much in demand. He’s one of the most talented players in the greater Boston area and he’s been someone we’ve been aware of since he was in his teens in a band called Jaded Mandolin. One does not often see him without his mando or guitar in hand. Seems like a day or night doesn’t go by without Eric having a gig somewhere! There’s lots of good information about the band Matching Orange on their website. Here’s a video of the band doing a couple of lively reels. If this doesn’t make you want to get up and dance, nothing will.

How did you guys come up with the name Matching Orange?

Well, I’ve never really figured out the best way to answer this question. Sometimes we make a joke about a beach vacation and speedos, but I won’t go there. When this band first formed, it came from a partnership between myself and Eric Reiner our pianist. Eric had compiled a decent amount of music which he packaged in orange music folders. When we needed a name, it came up as a passing comment. Somehow we paused and have gone with it ever since.

In your bio, you list a number of different styles that affect your sound. Where did these influences come from?

Well, at this point we’ve all been playing music for a long time, and we’ve all done a number of different things. We’ve all been interested in acoustic music for a long time. I started playing metal when I was in high school, and when I went to music school for two and a half years, I did everything I could to expose myself to many different styles. Brendan has recently gotten into techno and electronica music and actually gigs as a dj. He’s also done a lot of jazz playing. Eric has been playing piano since he was seven with lots of different teachers, which has exposed him to all sorts of different things. He’s also really good at figuring things out. For instance, we had to learn a tango for a recent gig, and Eric learned, recorded and taught us how to do it, and it worked great. He’s amazingly talented in that way. I mean...there are so many places that these influences come from. The funny thing is that the three of us found each other playing traditional music. The way these influences creep in is very subtle, we hope. Basically, we’re trying to play music that feels traditional, but that allows us to experiment and exploit the musical relationships that the three of us have.

So how did you guys get together anyway?

Basically we just met around town. I met Eric through the fiddle player in my old band, Jaded Mandolin. They used to do gigs together, and we actually played with him for a while before Brendan came along. When we were looking for a fiddle player, Brendan came up. Eric had known Brendan from fiddle contests over the years. I actually don’t even remember how I knew him, but I knew who he was. We know a lot of the same people. Anyway, Brendan sat in for a gig we had and it was so much fun we asked him to join the band. We’ve been having a blast since then.

So you guys play a lot of instrumental music. But you’re playing concerts and coffeehouses. How do you make that work? Don’t people get bored?

It’s true that when you’re playing instrumental music for performance, it can be very difficult to keep people interested. For us, we have a number of things working in our favor. First of all, our repertoire includes a large number of traditional songs, and we always include these in our sets. Occasionally we’ll throw in a song of mine as well. Most importantly, though, we are playing traditional music. The energy of this style is infectious. It keeps you on your toes the entire the time. It is much more a part of people’s makeup then they realize, and it is extremely prominent in today’s world. When you go to the movies, when you’re shopping in a store, when you’re listening to the radio...this music is present. To see it up on stage in a more formal performance setting feels natural, even exciting. In addition to this, our arrangements have to be tight or a piece will drag. Using the textures we have in our toolbox, we have to create something that is cohesive but that is constantly changing. It has to tell a story without words. Luckily this music has a lot of stories to tell. I have been extremely pleased with the feedback from song lovers about our music. If we can get the emotions across, we can succeed in speaking to people without words.

You guy just put out your first CD. What can you say about it?

Well first of all, we’re extremely relieved it’s out! We had some serious delays getting the CD out. We recorded it very shortly after we started playing with Brendan, about a year and a half ago. Then we ran out of money, and it never came back. You know how these things work. Anyway, we got some extremely generous support from fans, and we chipped away at it. Finally we started selling pre-orders and that pushed us over the hump and helped us get it out. As far as what it sounds like, I have to say it’s really exciting to hear the character of the album. It’s a fine mix of original and traditional tunes, and I snuck in a number of traditional songs as well. While we have come a long way since then, this album is an excellent snapshot of a really intense time for this band. We were playing and rehearsing a lot and arranging a whole bunch of tunes. The album was mostly recorded live in Eric Reiner’s living room, so it really captures the moment well. I think it’s a great project and I’m really happy we can finally share it.