Matt Lebofsky

We had a "soft opening" gig at the rehearsal space, not unlike (and at the same location as) the Free Salamander Exhibit soft launch however many years ago. Basically played the whole album for a small gathering of friends and cohorts and family on a Sunday afternoon. It went great! Proof of concept! We can do this! And we will again! And you will like it!

Tuesday, February 4th, 2025

Since we were going to be in LA rehearsing anyway, we booked a show at Zebulon and it ended up being quite the event! Opening the evening was CNTS (haven't seen Mike Crain since the Dead Cross tour!). We played a 90 minute set to the packed house, which included three new numbers. Good fun, and also had some good al pastor tacos in the venue. After we packed up and loaded out we got some more al pastor tacos from Leo's taco truck. When in Rome!

Saturday, February 8th, 2025

Secret Chiefs 3 headled the second night of the Subterranean Dissonance Fest in Philadelphia. So many great bands, and quite the marathon. Great to see several old faces (and meet some new faces). As he has been doing for decades, my old housemate/bandmate Joe drove up from VA to see the show and hang out - wotta guy!! I was in that venue for like 8 hours straight, during which there was some frosty weather outside - perfect timing as it all cleared up by the end of the evening when we walked all the gear back to the hotel around the corner. Flew home the very next morning, and I made my 40 minute connection in Chicago.

Friday, February 28th, 2025

Had a great time playing the Bistro in Hayward yet again. Similar long, crazy sets full of fusion-y and prog-y classics. Once again I worried at first about the lack of parking, but after circling once I nabbed a spot nearby. Phew! Similar set as last time.

Saturday, March 22nd, 2025

Our first real formal show! Great turnout, packing the Little Hill Lounge in El Cerrito. Ex-Juncos opened and then we safely landed all 12 tunes from the album, and nothing more since that's all we know! But people were pleased. I think some cheered when I successfully made the "boing" sound during "Magic Bean" (at the soft launch a couple months ago this failed to happen due to midi failure). Anyway.. we're official!

Sunday, March 23rd, 2025

with Inner Ear Brigade:

As crazy as it made sound, I've never stepped foot inside the Kilowatt in SF before, much less performed there, before this evening. Ate delicious curries next door after soundcheck. Local heros Low Plateau started the night, then us, then Screen Frogs touring from Seattle. First gig with my Nord Electro, so that's broken in. To mix things up a bit we performed a Morricone theme from Exorcist II.

Saturday, May 3rd, 2025

Tried out a new town: Los Gatos. And a new venue, at least for me: The Cats. It's a barbecue restaurant with live music and we had a pretty good turnout of fusion fans and families eating pork ribs. I myself had a brisket sandwich which I wolfed down just before downbeat. The ol' shovel and play! First time doing the jazz/prog stuff on the Nord. Such a relief bringing a lighter keyboard to these gigs. A bit sleepy due to lingering jet lag (I flew back from England earlier in the week) but I hit all the notes. I did mess up the count for that easy break in "Play With Me" - it's funny when you're so worried about the hard parts that the simplest stuff ends up being the issue.

Saturday, June 21st, 2025

with Plonsey Scheme:

Got added to this ensemble last minute, and I'm glad as I always love working with Dan & Mantra but as a bonus Jenya was also on the gig on percussion, so it was like a family affair. Even better: this was for the Garden of Memory annual event at the Chapel of the Chimes, which is something I've never been asked to do but finally I got to tick that experience box. Fun ensemble with all the above plus many more going through the various Dan charts or singing along with Mantra. We were in the corner of the whole complex which mean easy loading but I worried there would be less foot traffic, but people did appear and watch as they do during this whole crazy thing. Ran into some other new-musicky I haven't seen in a while. During out second set the lights went out for some reason in our room (and inexplicably took forever to come back on) but we had fun and made it work in the meantime until we got photons flowing again.

Friday, June 27th, 2025

Back in Canada for the first time in about 10 years! And a big show at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, ON. First gig of this short week-long run in Canada, and first of two spots opening up for The Budos Band. Old stuff, a couple new things, and it was great to reconnect with our friends here in the Great White North after so long.

Saturday, June 28th, 2025

And now my first time at the Montreal Jazz Festival! Once again opened up for The Budos Band, and at a rather lovely large venue: MTelus. This time we stuck to the schedule, which was extra special as the show started with three minutes of technical issues (Trey's guitar pedalboard had a loose power connector). I watched the clock on my laptop and we literally hit the final note of Brazen at 9:15pm on the dot (our scheduled stop time). Another first: the secret debut of two Holy Vehm tunes with Youri a.k.a. "Unhuman" on vocals. Having a frontperson singer is uncommon territory for us. Long time fans in the audience were super stoked.

Sunday, June 29th, 2025

Then quickly over to Quebec City for two nights at L'Anti Bar, where we played a rather long and energetic set - almost 2 hours. Once again with Youri doing the two tunes and then improvising over Dolorous Stroke. The diehards were quite pleased. We messed up and didn't get dinner before the show, and the only option afterward was an Indian place which was slammed and it took 90 minutes for our food to appear after ordering. Oh yeah for some reason everybody ended Combat for the Angel before I got a chance to solo. No big deal, it was the last song of the night and I think everybody had had enough.

Monday, June 30th, 2025

Back at L'Anti Bar. Once again we did another long and energetic set. And I got my Combat solo this time. We shook up the set list a little bit (had a couple tunes we didn't do last night). Also added Youri singing Happy Birthday as a surpise for birthday boy Jason. The borrowed snare had the strainer pop off after the third song. But through sheer will and power Pej powered through and nobody really noticed. We ordered dinner beforehand this time. Right after the set ended I ran up to the green room and devoured a whole tofu thai curry entree in less than 60 seconds. Two hours of rockin' uses a lot of calories!

Thursday, July 3rd, 2025

We had two days off an then played the Fest La Noce De Laine (at La Pulperie de Chicoutimi) in Saguenay, QC. We didn't really know what to expect from this small town in northern Quebec but it was such an amazing, well attended, well organized event with multiple stages in a wonderful setting (the ruins of an historic paper mill nestled beside a small river canyon). The crowd was lovely, with extra excitement seeded by a few fans who came to see us. We were the odd balls being the only (?) American band during the whole weekend-long event. Ended our travels with a real positive gig, followed by two days of travel, driving and flying home.

Thursday, July 24th, 2025

Kind of last minute, but we ended up getting to do a set live on KFJC (as part of the promotional campaign leading up to the Outsound New Music Summit in a couple days). Super easy, super fun. Plus they live streamed the audio and multi-cam video! I hadn't been to this campus since JOB performed live on the radio last century. Ah, college radio. I miss you.

Saturday, July 26th, 2025

We got to play at the Outsound New Music Summit in Berkeley, CA (which took place at the Berkeley Finnish Hall). We were in the middle slot between Gumby's Junk, Ologist, Tri-Cornered Tent Show, and Modesty. A lot of crazy and positive energy going on that evening! Really glad we have in-ear monitors given the boomy room - I could hear everything crystal clear. I was super hot wearing my clothes under the band jumpsuit uniforms. I should revisit that.

Saturday, August 16th, 2025

Back at Jupiter in downtown Berkeley! We had a large audience - prog fans, fusion fans, venue regulars, and perhaps university students returning from summer vacation. For me this was a big show as we premiered our new medley of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer tunes - basically Trilogy and Tarkus. I had sorta learned these pieces before decades ago, but finally had the opportunity to polish them for real and present my work live. I made it through in one piece. Great energy, great response, and I'm super lucky to get to play the material with some super talented badasses.

Thursday, August 21st, 2025

This gig had booking issues galore (many props to Lani at the club who was patient with all the line up changes). But ultimately it was good fun! Brian Kenney Fresno went on first and did his entire 100+ song catalog as a medley in exactly 40 minutes. So many bits I haven't heard in ages! Then Gentleman Surfer did their super energized set. We closed out the night playing all the stuff from our album but also debuting a new tune! Always wonderful to get fresh material out into the world!

Saturday, September 6th, 2025

Played at the Bottom of the Hill in SF opening for long time friends Faun Fables, fresh from tour. That was a good one, lots of great responses from the crowd, and some faces I haven't seen in a long time. We debuted two more new tunes this time, all positively received.

Friday, September 19th, 2025

Back at the Bistro in Hayward! Always good fun, and this time was no different. I was mad at myself on the trafficky drive down as I realized I forgot to pack my laptop adaptor - the laptop which drives all the sounds (and powers) my second keyboard. Dammit! But luckily Josh had one with him so crisis averted. We played two solid 80 minute sets, and the sound was better than usual. The word of mouth crowds showing up are a trip - people sure like their fusion/prog and tell their friends to check it out!

Friday, September 26th, 2025

We played the outdoor stage during the first day of Austin's epic Levitation 2025 festival. I had some laptop/midi woes for a bit, but the energy and playing was great otherwise. Also this was a strange new formation of the band (Trey, me, Jason, Joe, Nick for the first time on drums). Super fun. Ran into the Blood Incantation and began plotting our takeover of Austrlia in a month! Also: I ate epic bbq earlier on the way to the gig, and then the next day in the airport. And then Jenya and I got some in Oakland the day after I returned.

Friday, October 17th, 2025

Hey the lovely barbecue restaurant and live venue The Cats (in Los Gatos) wanted us back, and we delivered! I pounded my free brisket sandwich and fries just before show time. This powered me through the two long sets. So many notes. So many solos. I did biff the entrance of one tune which was embarrassing, but my average was still pretty good otherwise. Major Friday rush hour traffic on the way there, no problem on the way home. One audience member gave me props for playing the intro to Firth of Fifth which even Tony Banks never really did live. I know, I rule.

Friday, October 31st, 2025

We played on Halloween at the Festival Fantôme in Quyon, QC! What a great festival in this tiny sleepy town. Trey (and others) also did an NT Fan set the next day. First time with the "New York" lineup (me, Trey, Adam on bass, Nick on drums, and Matt H. on guitar). Also first time the band ever performed "Anthropomorphosis: Boxleitner" live! Mike and Erin really put together an amazing time for all the performers and attendees, and it was fun to also see and hang out with many great acts including Via Mardot, Mr. Let's Paint, Major Entertainer Mike H., and Neil Hamburger.

Wednesday, November 5th, 2025

Naturally a tour that starts in Ottawa should next go to Australia...? We started a proper tour largely opening for the amazing Blood Incantation in Brisbane, performing at The Triffid. Finally had a gig on this continent! Great fun, minor jet lag.

Thursday, November 6th, 2025

The tour was a bit of a grind starting for 5 shows in 5 days. This second show was a headlining gig in Sydney at Metro Social with Granpa Abela opening with some dazzling solo work on glass and many effects. We played a super long set, and the fans were quite pleased.

Friday, November 7th, 2025

Second night in Sydney we opened for Blood Incantation at the Manning Bar. The venue is up four stories and the lift was broken. Luckily they had a staff to help load the gear. I had been borrowed Matt's guitar for various tunes, but given the tight stage I couldn't easily cross to his side to grab it, so instead I quickly relearned how to play those tunes on Trey's microtonal axe.

Saturday, November 8th, 2025

And then we were in Melbourne! Probably the biggest show of the tour, once again opening for Blood Incantation at the Northcote Theatre. Really starting to hit the groove at this point.

Sunday, November 9th, 2025

Our second (and last) headlining show of the tour, still in Melbourne, playing at Max Watts, with Umlaut opening! Three of the Umlaut guys are SC3 OGs (Bär, Danny, and Phil) so they all sat in for an epic encore doing some old favorites that haven't been played live in a long ass time. Peak show. Then had a couple days off for socializing and travel..

Wednesday, November 12th, 2025

Made it to Perth! We were to perform at the Amplifier bar but this got upgraded last minute to the Magnet House due to demand. Sweet! This and all the remaining shows were opening for Blood Incantation, and we're really hitting our stride as far as all the music, the logistic stuff, and how to fly all these people and luggage from town to town.

Thursday, November 13th, 2025

After another great show, this time at the Lion Arts Factory in Adelaide, we hauled ass after our set, packing up our gear almost instantly, and then got a ride to enjoy a VIP meal at the amazing Africola restaurant. True rock star moment there, though me and head chef Duncan largely chatted about SETI.

Saturday, November 15th, 2025

We left the capable hands of our amazing and insanely helpful Australian crew and flew to New Zealand where we got similar treatment from the great organizers there. Our all-too-short visit in the country started with a fun show at Double Whammy in Auckland. Wow what lively night life in the area around the club!

Sunday, November 16th, 2025