Have you ever heard a band that caused you to get lost in the music? Or listened to a song that you wanted to be on a continuous loop? Or how about made you do that embarrassing head-nod and break into dance when you know you have absolute no rhythm? That is the atmosphere that Matt Hires creates. He draws you into the story he is telling with his creative lyrics and he evokes emotions with the melody 
he births; Matt Hires is definitely someone who needs to be a permanent fixture on your music playlist.
With an infectious smile and a humble presence, Hires delivered a worthwhile performance in Orlando on Friday, September 3rd at The Social, the first stop on his second ever-headlining tour. Having toured for two years, doing more acoustic and three-piece band set ups, this time around, Hires has a full band and will be travelling all over the country promoting his recently released EP, A to B. A to B is a four-song EP, highlighting an alternate version of Hire’s single, "Honey Let Me Sing You a Song".
"This one is more stripped down, and has strings, where the other is more pop rock," said Hires.
The original single is featured on his debut album, Take Us To The Start, which was released last summer to rave reviews. The song was definitely a crowd favourite during his show at The Social, in Orlando, and seems to hold a special place in Hires’ heart.
"The song is about a girl and how it took me a while to realise I was really in to her. She had to grow on me," said Hires. "I like to use the analogy of my favourite music or song. I don’t usually like it much at first listen but the ones that stick and are really awesome. They’re the ones you have to listen to a bunch of times to realise how awesome they are."
Not every song on the album is about the realisation of love. "A to B", the EP’s self-titled track, is about life and not just wasting it away worrying about getting from, well, for lack of a better term, from ‘A to B’. Hires mentioned during the show that he doesn’t like telling the audience about the meanings behind the songs because sometimes it can ruin the individuals interpretation, but that didn’t stop him from sharing that his song, "I Always Lose", was inspired by a game of Scrabble.
Scrabble must be something that keeps Hires occupied whilst on tour; travelling to cities all over the country in a tour bus has to be daunting but it doesn’t seem to bother him. Hires is doing what he loves – performing for the fans in some amazing venues.
"I love playing to bigger audiences for sure, and I love playing in places like old theatres. The sound is usually pretty amazing because of the way they are designed," said Hires. One that stood out in particular for him was a show in Toronto, Canada called The Opera House because, "It sounded incredible and was really amazing."
With so many stops on this second part of Hires’ State Lines Tour, there are sure to be some bigger audiences and venues to come. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see Hires in a city near you; it will definitely be a musical experience you won’t want to miss out on. From Wakey! Wakey!’s own Michael Grubbs enticing start to the show, to Hires’ cover of The Beatles’ "You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away", audiences everywhere will be in for a delectable musical treat.
