Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Gary Hoey shares his stage and his rig with a teen guitar shredder

"Even in the eigth grade, I blew most everybody away." -- Matt Holmen

Years ago, while interviewing blues guitarist Walter Trout in the minutes before his set at a Street Scene concert, we talked about the rising youth factor in blues music, about the sudden crop of dazzlingly competent kids with electric guitars.

“It’s getting so there’s a teenage guitar slinger in every town I play,” he said.

True enough. So who was the teen shredder that was invited up on stage to play with Gary Hoey a couple of weeks ago in Ramona?

Meet Matt Holmen.

He blew the headlining guitarist's doors off, by most accounts. After the concert, "Gary said he wants me to stay in touch. He said he wants to help me. He gave me his email."

It started when Hoey explained to the audience why a song he was about to play was so sad:

"He said, it’s sad because it starts on the turnaround," Holmen explains by phone from the Mission Valley home he shares with his parents.

"He asked if anybody knew what turnaround meant, and I said yes. I was in the front row. He heard me say that.”

The turnaround is, in this case, the last chord in a standard 1-4-5 blues chord progression – the five chord, in other words, which is resolved by the one chord.

“He asked me how old I was. I told him 17. My name's Gary, he said. What's yours?" Matt. " And then, he played “Almost Over You."

Later, Hoey invited Holmen to come up on stage. The teen guitarist recounts: "He said, do you want to come up and play some blues? It's in the key of B. Do you know what that is? And I said yes."

Holmen says he started playing guitar only five years ago. He's had a couple of local instructors (Chris Shannon and Greg Balomey) and he's attended the Vista branch of the School of Rock and Roll.

"Even in the 8th grade," he says, "I blew most everybody away." As far as playing style goes, Holmen favors Kirk Hammett, Metallica's lightning-quick lead guitarist.

Hoey brought Holmen up on stage a second time for an encore of sorts. Keep in mind that there was only one guitar/amp set up on the stage, meaning Hoey's own, and that's what he let Holman play both times.

"The second time we played "Foxy Lady."

Matt Holmen is in a band that is at this point without name.

"We're trying to find one that isn't already taken, or, completely stupid." He shrugs off a small laugh. The band's only been active for a few months now but they've already recorded a demo. So what does Holmen’s future hold?

"Hopefully I'll be playing out. That's what I'd really like to do, play music." Later, he will email that it was fun gigging with Hoey.

“Or more so, his band.”

Any stage fright? “I was not nervous at all to be dead honest. I've played a show before which was in front of my entire school.” He says the head count then was much bigger -- 2,500.

“In Ramona, I think excitement drowned out any nerves.”

Holmen says he dreams about being a member of, or sitting in with a national touring act such as Gary Hoey. “I'd do it in a heartbeat. “No doubt about that.”

Photo: Connie Bolger

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Next Article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?

Years ago, while interviewing blues guitarist Walter Trout in the minutes before his set at a Street Scene concert, we talked about the rising youth factor in blues music, about the sudden crop of dazzlingly competent kids with electric guitars.

“It’s getting so there’s a teenage guitar slinger in every town I play,” he said.

True enough. So who was the teen shredder that was invited up on stage to play with Gary Hoey a couple of weeks ago in Ramona?

Meet Matt Holmen.

He blew the headlining guitarist's doors off, by most accounts. After the concert, "Gary said he wants me to stay in touch. He said he wants to help me. He gave me his email."

It started when Hoey explained to the audience why a song he was about to play was so sad:

"He said, it’s sad because it starts on the turnaround," Holmen explains by phone from the Mission Valley home he shares with his parents.

"He asked if anybody knew what turnaround meant, and I said yes. I was in the front row. He heard me say that.”

The turnaround is, in this case, the last chord in a standard 1-4-5 blues chord progression – the five chord, in other words, which is resolved by the one chord.

“He asked me how old I was. I told him 17. My name's Gary, he said. What's yours?" Matt. " And then, he played “Almost Over You."

Later, Hoey invited Holmen to come up on stage. The teen guitarist recounts: "He said, do you want to come up and play some blues? It's in the key of B. Do you know what that is? And I said yes."

Holmen says he started playing guitar only five years ago. He's had a couple of local instructors (Chris Shannon and Greg Balomey) and he's attended the Vista branch of the School of Rock and Roll.

"Even in the 8th grade," he says, "I blew most everybody away." As far as playing style goes, Holmen favors Kirk Hammett, Metallica's lightning-quick lead guitarist.

Hoey brought Holmen up on stage a second time for an encore of sorts. Keep in mind that there was only one guitar/amp set up on the stage, meaning Hoey's own, and that's what he let Holman play both times.

"The second time we played "Foxy Lady."

Matt Holmen is in a band that is at this point without name.

"We're trying to find one that isn't already taken, or, completely stupid." He shrugs off a small laugh. The band's only been active for a few months now but they've already recorded a demo. So what does Holmen’s future hold?

"Hopefully I'll be playing out. That's what I'd really like to do, play music." Later, he will email that it was fun gigging with Hoey.

“Or more so, his band.”

Any stage fright? “I was not nervous at all to be dead honest. I've played a show before which was in front of my entire school.” He says the head count then was much bigger -- 2,500.

“In Ramona, I think excitement drowned out any nerves.”

Holmen says he dreams about being a member of, or sitting in with a national touring act such as Gary Hoey. “I'd do it in a heartbeat. “No doubt about that.”

Photo: Connie Bolger

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.