Life & Work with Matt Rouch of Cincinnati

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Rouch

Hi Matt, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the DC area. I started playing guitar when I was around 13-14. My mom wouldn’t buy me an instrument unless I could play it in the school band. So in 4th grade I played clarinet, 5-8th grade I played saxophone, then finally in 9th grade I joined jazz band, which had guitar, and so my mom finally bought me a guitar. From there I started playing in bands when I was 16. I moved to Cincinnati in 2022 after having lived in Denver for the past 7 years. I had a band out there for a long time and decided to keep the name when I moved here. I started out here by playing every open mic I could find. This helped me meet other musicians and get into the scene a little bit. I met my other band mates around the fall of 2023 and we have been playing shows ever since. This is the fourth city I’ve started a band in and I’m so happy to call Cincinnati home.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, the road has been very long, windy and arduous. Being a musician, even as a hobby, is a really thankless job. You get paid very little, to play songs you’ve worked so hard on, after you’ve spent years working on your craft, to play in places where for the most part people don’t listen or care – if there’s even people there at all. Venues won’t take you seriously for years, press usually ignores you, radio won’t play you, getting on a Spotify playlist is very hard. And everything costs money – your instrument, your gear, recording, photography, music videos, your website, your promotional campaigns. It consumes a lot of your time managing things like your website, your social media, reaching out to other bands, booking gigs, getting press, etc. I always say it’s like being a drug addict, 99% of the time is pure misery and suffering, but every once in a while you get that little hit, that spark, that big show, or enthusiastic fan that makes it all worth it. So you really have to be in it for the love of music. If you’re doing it for some other reason then your heart isn’t fully in it. Everyone from tweens to seniors has a band now so the space is so full that you really have to kick and scream to get people to notice you. You have to be your best promoter. Best advice I can give is to keep your head down, ignore what other people are saying or doing and just focus on yourself, get better at your craft, and people will notice.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So for the last 15 years I’ve primarily played in folk, country, americana type bands. I love string instruments so we usually always have a violin or cello. My main songwriting influences are folk and some country, but I like to think of myself as diet-country or country-light, I’m from Virginia and I just happen to have a little twang when I sing. So singing and playing guitar is something I love doing. I’ve also always loved writing, I won a couple short story and poem awards in high school, I wrote for my college newspaper, and for a time worked as a grant and proposal writer. There’s something very intriguing about learning how to tell the right story. When I first started writing songs in my early 20’s they were pretty cheesy and cliche, but it’s like any other muscle, the more you work on it the stronger it gets. And I just absorbed so much music around that time that I felt I knew what well-written songs sounded like and try to learn from the best. I think my writing is what separates me from other musicians, I’m not the best guitar player and certainly not the best singer, but if people actually listened to my lyrics I think there’s plenty there to chew on.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being surrounded by loving, supportive people. Things will get stressful, things will get tiresome, you may even feel like quitting, but it’s those people who calm you down and give you perspective. Also, nothing beats hard work, nothing. You can have all the talent in the world but if you’re not putting all your effort and energy into your work, whatever it is, I don’t know how you can just magically expect to be successful. As for me, the latest great news I’ve received is that we just signed a deal with Cincinnati Music Management (CMM). After 25 years someone has believed enough in me and music to offer me this great opportunity. I’ve never had management or a booking agent before so this is really meaningful to me, it shows that even it takes a long time, hard work really does pay off in the end.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mattrouchandthenoiseupstairs.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattrouchandthenoiseupstairs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553412144917
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattrouchmusic