umusicians:

Matthias Harris is a  Youtube sensation known for his A Cappella covers of songs such as Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.” We talked to Matthias about music, tour life and upcoming music releases!

Your Twitter bio reads MD to Taio Cruz. What does MD mean and what does the position require you to do?
Matthias: MD stands for “Musical Director” and put simply it means band leader. It also means I work out how the music is arranged for a live show and how the band plays the songs. I often put together bands and then rehearse them up ready for tour, as well as typically playing in the bands myself. I actually only work with Taio within Europe, but I also MD for other artists worldwide… I guess it’s my day job!

When did you first discover your love for music?
Matthias: I was in love with music before I can remember. My first memories are singing and dancing to old Michael Jackson albums like Off The Wall and Thriller. I loved those records so much that I played them back to back. It was years before I even realised there were other artists out there! Ironically I didn’t actually start to learn to play music until I was about seventeen.

Who are your musical inspirations?
Matthias: I definitely have a lot of inspirations, Michael Jackson is the ultimate musical inspiration for me, but there are many others. Some of the more obvious ones are people like Sting, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Gotye and John Mayer.

But there are also some less obvious ones like Ludovico Einaudi the modern classical composer, or Imogen Heap for her more experimental approach to music. I also get a great deal of inspiration from people that I’m lucky enough to work with. Certainly people like Taio have influenced me. Not necessarily in how he sounds, but in his work ethic. There are also many other musicians behind the scenes who are the unsung hero’s that also inspire me.

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