Matt Sassano
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2019 | INDIE
Music
Press
Devil Won't Change His Ways is the brand new single by Matt Sassano and Laurel Wright and the beautifully composed pop track. In this song duo shares philosophical thoughts. To express it fully, they use pleasant vocals that make listeners pay attention to the lyrics.
The catchy beat adds pop vibes to the track and makes listeners move easily. Devil Won't Change His Ways is also full of interesting epithets:
- Just another masquerade
Because the world is stage
To sum up, Devil Won't Change His Ways is the amazing meaningful and catchy track which will stay on repeat for a long time. -
This Guy is out of this world!! rocks like nobody's business ... true entertainer and aan absolute gem of a person. - Mary Palko
Matt has amazing stage energy and Makes sure the audience is engaged. Talks with the audience before and after the show. - Denver Rock
To sum it up, Devil won't Change His Ways is an amazing, meaningful and catching track which will stay on repeat for a long time. - Fabrika
On Sept. 26, the undiscovered heavy rock band, Transparent, performed at Rock’n Ricks in Limestone, N.Y. Although Transparent has been together for three years, this was the first performance with their current lineup: Matt Sassano (lead vocals), Tyler Connor (backing vocals and screams), Bradley Meise (lead guitar), Quintin Olix (rhythm guitar) and Daine Brogley (drums).
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Transparent’s album, Light in Darkness, released on June 6, 2013, features the song “Bridges” which is included on the soundtrack for the videogame NASCAR The Game: Inside Line. Other noteworthy songs on the album include “Paranoid” and “March of the Damned.” The band’s recordings set high expectations for the live performance, and they definitely delivered.
Despite technical difficulties in the middle of the show, Transparent performed an impressive set, lacking common faults you’d expect in a local show. The band radiated energy, almost to the point that there was too much for the amount of people present. Sassano involved the audience with clapping, asking questions and making personal connections; he even dropped to his knees during “Paranoid,” a song about a mental patient, to add a dramatic visual for the audience. Transparent needs a big audience; 20-people shows aren’t going to cut it for a band that has already surpassed many of it’s kind in showmanship.
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The high enthusiasm would be nothing without good music to back it up. The instrumentalists seemed to really have their act together, especially for a first show as a group. Brogley didn’t miss a beat on drums. In general, the music was above average in comparison to most unsigned bands.
However, the show wasn’t perfect. There were awkward spots on stage, moments where one member wasn’t meeting another’s energy or enthusiasm or someone was just standing around instead of engaging the audience or looking passionate about their music. Towards the beginning of the set, the band seemed a bit uneasy, awkward even, on stage. I blamed it on nerves. While the out-of-place pauses and tense side-glances dissipated, Transparent definitely needs to work on exterminating their presence at all.
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Was this show the best local concert I’ve ever attended? No, but it sure wasn’t the worst. Had there been a better audience attendance, I believe it might’ve helped the band, if for nothing but confidence. Rock’n Ricks is a great venue for local bands to play. Bands looking to get their feet wet in the local music scene should certainly take advantage of the venue. I will definitely continue to listen to Transparent, and I suggest anyone that likes heavy rock to check them out.
You can buy their single “Bridges” on iTunes or listen at https://www.facebook.com/transparentband.
gordonhr13@bonaventure.edu
AD - Emily Torison
Discography
2012 Transparent / Bridges
2016 Transparent Soul / Proving Ground
2019 Matt Sassano / Transcend
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Bio
After a 20 month break from his last effort, Transparent Soul, and a 16 month trial of writing for advertising, movies and TV in collaboration with Cathy Heller’s Catch the Moon Licensing Agency, Matt has come up with his latest musical project which is in the words of 21 Pilots, a form of schizo pop. The reference in Matt’s case comes from his heavy rock background and killer lyrics, combined with Knoxville rapper Cope’s rap schemes and the EDM influence of producer Colton Carnley from CX3 music productions. Each track delivers fresh new combinations of these mixed elegantly by Carnley.
To sum it up, I found Matt Sassano to be a hungry , self-motivated artist determined to inspire anyone and everyone that he ran into.
Matt was born at 33 weeks, with a traumatic brain injury. The Doctors carefully explained that his lungs could not keep up and that there was very little chance for survival. As a result of the trauma at birth Matt was disabled with Cerebral Palsy and Discalcula. While these disabilities caused Matt to have several surgeries and a constant challenge in his learning ability, He adjusted early on to the daily struggle and became accustomed to the fact that he was always going to have to go the extra mile just to have somewhat of a normal life. Early on the love of his Mother became a rock of comfort and confidence when the challenges became difficult.
As Matt matured as a young adult, he began to realize that although he was constantly having to overcome life’s difficulties, He was also a source of inspiration for almost everyone that learned his story. He began to see that there was not a lot of encouragement or hope for others trying to overcome their life obstacles. He began shape his own future around the idea that even though we all have debilitating features in our lives, we can still succeed and even see our dreams come true. Matt wanted others to see that they didn’t have to settle for survival or a mundane existence. They could have a full and rewarding life.
Matt became a songwriter , first to help verbalize his own frustrations and thoughts, and then later to express how that by not giving up, we can make our dreams come true and if we look around there are others that we can encourage just by how we live our lives.
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