Glen Matheson has been involved with music for as long as he can remember. When he was 3, someone took a picture of him pressing the keys on the family Hammond home organ. That photo now hangs up in his home music studio. Although Glen is profoundly deaf in both ears, he never let that stop him from enjoying music. (Normal hearing is generally regarded as being able to hear from 20 to 20,000 HZ. Glen can hear up to approximately 4,000 HZ, and only with an aid boosting those tones by 120 decibels.) He often compares his hearing loss to that of a person who is colorblind. Just because a person can’t perceive certain colors doesn’t mean they can’t appreciate the art they see. Likewise, just because certain tones and frequencies may be beyond Glen’s ability to hear doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy the ones he can.
     Growing up, Glen would try to copy what his father played on the organ. He learned early on that music correlated well with mathematics. Knowing that any major chord would be the root note plus four semitones from that note and then three semitones from the second note, and that minor chords would be the root, three semitones, and then four, he was able to play in bands, even if he couldn’t hear anything higher than one octave above middle C.
     His first synthesizer was the Radio Shack Realistic Concertmate MG-1, a cheap keyboard made by Moog to reach the mass consumer market. That was the start of a lifelong obsession with synthesizers. Shortly thereafter, Glen bought the Roland SH-101 and the Roland JX-3P and in 1982 started playing in a band that did mostly Zebra and Led Zeppelin covers. He can remember playing at a Commack roller skating rink in a Battle of the Bands with the group, and the sound man had to shut off the keyboards at the mixing board, because Glen was supposed to play the bass part for Triumph’s “Fool For Your Love”, but never switched over from the bell sound he had just used for AC/DC’s “Hells Bells”!
     After leaving the group because they had decided to down size from a five piece band to a trio, Glen played in several other bands that were all basically variations of the ‘never leave the garage’ bands. One day while driving down Deer Park Avenue, he stopped in at Gil Breines Conservatory, a small music store in Deer Park. Just inside the door on a bulletin board was a notice about some group called CDM. They were apparently looking for musicians of all types. Tearing off one of the phone numbers on the bottom of the paper, Glen stuck it in his back pocket. A few days later, he found the piece of paper with the number again and decided to give them a call. The Coalition for Disabled Musicians, or CDM for short, was a group dedicated towards giving ALL people a chance to play music, especially those who had some type of disability or handicap that might make it harder for them to do so. Promising support and patience for all who needed it, and the lure of actually playing in front of an audience was all it took for Glen to jump on board. And for the next couple of years, he learned from a lot of talented people what it took to pursue your musical dreams. He got to play in places as diverse as elementary schools, Rutgers University, the Special Olympics, and an outdoor concert in Virginia. You might know the guy who drove with him down to Virginia. It was none other than EAD founder Jake Rinaldo who played bass for CDM.
     In 1989, Glen had an opportunity to play for a group with major label interest. After recording a demo at Paris Recording Studios, the band started doing regular gigs. Just as things were taking off, (there had been talks of a 6 week tour in Japan), the band imploded. Glen, along with the bass player and guitarist from the newly disbanded group started a new project at Split Decision Studio in West Babylon.
     Several months later, one of the partners of Split Decision decided to sell his share of the business. After careful consideration, Glen decided to buy out that individual and become part owner of Split Decision. Things went well the next couple of years, and Glen got to see the music scene from a whole different perspective. Split Decision had always provided live recording, but MIDI sequencing and sampling now gave the studio a much needed boost in what they could offer to musicians who walked through their doors. Glen started teaching Adult Ed classes about MIDI and synthesizer basics.
     In 1991, Glen went through a divorce which resulted in having to sell his share of Split Decision. Despite no longer being a partner, Glen stayed on to help at Split Decision for a while. (It’s a good thing he did too, because that’s how he met his current wife.) It was around the same time that he started playing with a guitarist named Mitch Hunter. Mitch played covers, but half of his material were originals. Glen wound up playing in several different bands with Mitch over the years, and theirs was a mutually beneficial collaboration. Glen wrote many original compositions during this period, and he gives Mitch credit for allowing him to grow as a musician.
     Sometime around 1998 or so, Glen joined a blues band called Buzz Cafe, a group based in Mattituck. Although he doesn’t remember too much about his time with that band, he did let us know that he got a speeding ticket on the way to his first band practice, and that he had the name Buzz Cafe shaved out of his hair for a gig they once did!
     From around 2000 to 2018 when COVID hit, Glen continued to play for several different bands, but started to get more serious about doing his own music. He considers his home studio as a place where he can relax and unwind; a place where the music inside his head can spill out and come to life. He’s also learned that sometimes less is more. There was a time when he wanted to be like Emerson or Wakeman with multi-tiered stands full of synthesizers surrounding him. These days, he’s quite content with taking his iPad and Launchkey Mini MK3 down to the beach and just letting the music flow.
     Glen is looking forward to working with EAD. Over the past decade, there have been tremendous strides in making music accessible for those who have physical and/or mental challenges. Technology has made music creation easier than ever before, allowing for alternative methods of song writing and musical composition. Today, people in general have become much more socially aware and have started embracing and encouraging the disabled world’s efforts in their quest to follow their musical dreams. We still have a ways to go, because there’s always room for improvement, but Glen can’t wait to see what comes next!