matt|mcginley.

He who would travel happily must travel light. –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

THINGS I BRING ON TOUR...

An actual, tangible copy of a book. Currently reading; The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz.

Apple ear buds. They sound good enough and I wouldn’t be too upset if I inevitably left them in the backseat of an Uber. Easy and inexpensive to replace.

The Headspace App. Great guided meditation app that I use each morning. When need be, I’ve gotten completely comfortable zenning the f**k out in the middle of a crowded Starbucks.

Women’s sleeping bag. Accommodations can be unpredictable. When the sterility of a bedspread comes into question, I default to the bag. Why women’s? Smaller, lighter, easier to compress and tuck away in a suitcase.

Sticky Hands.  I use these as an inexpensive alternative to Moongels (a useful, but overpriced, drum dampening product). And when bought in bulk these things cost, like, almost nothing.

Smart Wool socks. Laundry can be elusive on tour. Somehow, you can go for days on a single pair of these before they even hint at getting funky.

External Hard Drive.  I use this to carry redundant copies of my music production software (and occasionally episodes of The Sopranos). Helpful when I need to produce music from the road. Would I rather work from a studio? Yes. But could I achieve similarly awesome results from the closet of an Embassy Suites? You bet'cha.

Small Talk Música; A modest curation of inspired, original music for filmmakers and content creators. Immediately license & integrate music into your media projects. From Matt McGinley, co-founder and drummer of Gym Class Heroes and contributing music producer for the weekly public radio show, This American Life.

My father-in-law lives out in Jersey. He’s an exterminator…and a pretty damn good one. Occasionally, he’ll bring home junk that customers are getting rid of. Artifacts that have been hiding out in peoples attics for years that they no longer want. This is how I came to be in possession of a rickety (70’s era?) Slingerland rack tom.

I hit it. The shit rattled worse than ya mans ‘95 Chevy Cavalier. I took it apart, washed the hoops, greased the lugs, put some relatively fresh heads on it, gave it a good tuning. Hit it again. Yeah, I can work with that. 

Since every music producer needs a bumbaclot rack tom for their sample library, I decided to mic it and hit record. The first 2 hits are fairly dry (some pre-amp gain, light compression & eq). After, you’ll hear some alternate, heavily processed, options. The WAV is free for download on the Soundcloud - have at it.