Exits (Commentary)

Hey, this is Matt Porter, and I am from the band Exits. And I just wanted to talk to you guys a little bit. Hopefully, you've listened to the debut EP by now. Or maybe you're listening to this commentary before you've actually listened to it

But the first thing I kinda wanted to talk about is just...the name "Exits" itself. A lot of you guys, I know you've been watching me for a couple of years now, and I've always performed under my own name. And there's a few reasons I wanted to change that. I think...so many people can gеt on a stage and play guitar and be ok at it, and I definitеly fell under that category. I think with shows, in particular, I never took the extra step to really work hard past being on the stage and trying to kind of...connect with people. And...I think in the last few shows I've played in the past year have really shown me the value of interacting with the other people in the room

And part of me wants to move away from my own name because I think...performing as a singer-songwriter has been something that was really fun for me, and something I really enjoyed. But...I still think whenever my name was on a bill, I...it kinda automatically made things about me. I'm on the stage, you're in the audience. You're seeing me. Those are all kinda ideas that go with that. And I don't want it to be like that at all. I think-I think shows and music are more about the people in the room than they are about the person on stage and about what we're all feeling

And I kind of...even though it's something as small as a name change, to me, that really helped me change my mentality a lot, in creating something that everyone can be a part of. And I think as a performer, it's a little bit necessary for me to kind of be able to step outside of my own world for a little bit on stage. Whereas...the issue of identity and me performing as myself, I think there's this pressure to kinda be myself. And if I have another name, it's a lot easier for me to kinda step away and...be a little bit different than I would outside of a music setting

So I think the name "Exits" kind of represents a departure for me, both in sound and kind of in that mentality that I just talked about. And it's definitely a change that...I like, and something I'm excited to keep moving with. So...hopefully, you liked the debut EP under this new name