New album Welcome Home out now!

Hey, I know I haven't been updating this thing hardly at all lately. To make it up to you... here's a new album! Read about it (and find a link to stream/download) here: http://mattwixson.tumblr.com/welcomehome

New song. Story, lyrics, and MP3 link are on the Youtube page.

MWFC Occupy Y'all's Street Tour

We've got a short little trip down South in November. We're stopping in Hamilton, OH; Atlanta, GA; Tallahassee, FL; and Tampa, FL. The show details are, appropriately, on the shows page.

The whole world is watching.

I couldn't be more excited!

The Flying Circus tour is over, and we feel like champions. Not exactly wealthy champions, but the kind of champions that get to have an awesome life a few weeks at a time, and do what they love. Not quite a job, but definitely better than any vacation. ANYWAY... we don't have any shows for a bit. Our next show, though, is a heavy hitter. On October 20th, we'll be playing at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, MI, supporting THE SLACKERS and DEAL'S GONE BAD. Now, it's true that the Flying Circus is basically a punk band and that The Slackers and DGB are both soul-influenced ska/reggae bands. But you should know that the Slackers have been my favorite band for years now, and Deal's Gone Bad are near the top of my list as well. Hopefully we don't upset the show too much!

So there's that. Come see us on one of the most exciting shows I've played (yet!) The Slackers wsg Deal's Gone Bad and Matt Wixson's Flying Circus @ The Blind Pig (208 N. First St) Ann Arbor, MI Doors at 9 PM / 18+ $12 adv. / $14 day of

Oh yeah, we're doing a tour!

Matt Wixson's Flying Circus is doing a little tour to support our new EP. Some details need to be worked out still, but it looks roughly like this. Links will take you to Facebook events, which should have necessary information. All of the TBA shows should be filled in soon! Sorry!

Thursday, August 11 - Detroit, MI @ the Trumbullplex Friday, August 12  - Grand Rapids, MI @ the Clique Saturday, August 13 - Chicago, IL @ TBA Sunday, August 14 - Schererville, IN @ Zak's Crazy Eights Monday, August 15 - Cincinnati, OH @ TBA Tuesaday, August 16 - King of Prussia, PA @ House show! Wednesday, August 17 - New Brunswick, NJ @ TBA Thursday, August 18 - Brooklyn, NY @ the Shop Friday, August 19 - Naugatuck, CT @ Tetonka Fortress Saturday, August 20 - Lowell, MA @ the Ant Cellar Sunday, August 21 - Syracuse, NY @ Badlands

JEFFY Release!

I haven't been keeping up with this blog. How predictable. The important news is that the debut Flying Circus EP, titled JEFFY, will be out on August 4th. That's one week before we have a CD release show and kick off a week and a half tour with our buddies Stop Drop from Minneapolis. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of details for the tour yet, but if you live in Grand Rapids, Chicago, Muncie, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Connecticut, Lowell, or Syracuse... we should be playing close to you. And for the hometown kids, we've got an awesome show at the Trumbullplex.

AND you can hear two of the songs from the EP at our Bandcamp page, with another one to come before the release.

A new MWFC track on a free compilation!

We (Matt Wixson's Flying Circus) have completed the recording of our EP. It will be out very soon. Very soon indeed. In the meantime, we decided to lend our first ever released recording to a free compilation. Stream it below, or click the title for lyrics and a link to download the compilation. Hopefully this gets you excited for the rest of the EP!

<a href="http://mattwixsonsflyingcircus.bandcamp.com/track/they-cant-fix-me" _mce_href="http://mattwixsonsflyingcircus.bandcamp.com/track/they-cant-fix-me">They Can't Fix Me by Matt Wixson's Flying Circus</a>

Mental Health Month

So May is Mental Health Month, and today is supposed to be a Mental Health Month blog party. The goal is to educate the public about mental health, decrease stigma about mental illness, and discuss strategies for making lasting lifestyle and behavior changes that promote overall health and wellness.

Back when I was in high school (or maybe earlier. I actually don't remember exactly) I was diagnosed with depression. I was on medication for years, but I haven't been on meds for years now. I actually haven't even seen a therapist or clinical psychologist or anything in about ten years. I haven't had a professional diagnosis, but based on research I've done about mental illness and (admittedly non-impartial) study of my own behaviors and moods, I'm fairly convinced that I fit somewhere on the bipolar spectrum. It's something that scares me constantly, and that fear has influenced a lot of my more recent music, particularly the songs I've written since "Odds" that are yet to be released.

But along with the fear, I recognize that ultimately I am okay. I am OK and I will be okay. The illness I have - whether it's bipolar or something else - is definitely real and definitely has real effects on my internal processes and my interactions with others, but it won't ruin my life. Hell, if anything it's stimulated creativity in me, whether it's just the songs it's immediately inspired or, as I suspect, the many more that have been products of it's effects. I am fully aware that bipolar disorders, depression, and other mental illnesses can be potentially fatal, and I promise now to everybody that if I ever feel like I'm in danger that I will seek professional help, but for now I seem to have a handle on things. I hope that everyone living with mental illness can at least make that same promise.

So there's that. One in four Americans experiences a mental health disorder every year, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. I am not alone. If you are one of us, you are not alone. Now you can go back a few posts and listen to my song "Things Is Getting Rougher" and understand better that sense of acceptance and optimism.

A very surreal and humbling moment from Connecticut, where I played my song "Live On" at the Mitch Dubey memorial/benefit show. The "studio" version of the song can be heard in an older post on this blog, or streamed and downloaded from SoundCloud.

Here's an interview I did recently. It's got a lot of history with a peek at things to come as well.

I just posted a new song. It's for my friend Mitch Dubey, who was violently taken from his friends and family on Thursday night. He was the single most positive person I've ever met, and I thought a good way to honor him would be if the rest of us tried to spread some of that positivity while we're still able to. I'm going to try and set up something in the coming days so you can get an mp3 of the song in exchange for making a donation to his family to help cover funeral costs and so on. I thought I would post it now, though.

I love you and miss you, Mitch. The world is a shittier place in your absence.

Live On

I don't believe anything comes after I don't believe in souls But I believe in kindness and laughter And lately there's a hole If there's anything we can take from this It's that we gotta step it up for Mitch So let's try to be awesome, a little more awesome For him I don't believe that man is evil But I believe that life's unfair I want to tell you that I love you But you're no longer there And I know I'll never bring you back But I hope we all can make a pact To try to be awesome, a little more awesome For him I don't believe in heaven or whatever But I believe that we can live forever So whenever I smile or offer some help If I'm good to another or good to myself Then there's a positive feeling you can't kill with guns And you live on You live on You live on and on and on You live on You live on and on and on So whenever we smile or offer some help When we're good to each other and good to ourselves And we try to be awesome, a little more awesome And though we have lost him, his impact's beyond him So try to be awesome, a little more awesome Cuz you live on

A song for my friend Mitch Dubey, and all of his friends he left behind.

Shows and shows!

I figured I should probably make a shows page here, since this is kind of functioning as an official website. A couple shows in Michigan (and more in the works), and a couple shows beyond (and more in the works) have been posted. Information will be at http://mattwixson.tumblr.com/shows (or there's a link on the side, y'know) and it will hopefully be up to date. Word!