Natural Facts Bio

In the fall of 1975, nineteen year old basement band guitarist Tim Matson went to see the Mr. Stress blues band at the Brick Cottage in Cleveland's University Circle. Sitting in that night was the former Stress guitarist Mike Modlin. Matson liked what he heard, approached Modlin, and struck up a conversation about Chicago blues guitar legend Jimmy Rogers. This was the beginning of a long musical kinship. Matson returned a week later and, finding there was no guitar player, asked to sit in. He would remain in the band for nine years. Not long after, Stress got a gig at the Coach House on Cornell, (later Club Isabella). His piano player, Mike Sands, couldn't make the weeknight gig, so Stress hired Modlin on second guitar. Modlin and Matson found they enjoyed playing together but the job didn't last too long. Then in early '79 when Stress left the Brick to go up the street to the Euclid Tavern, he wanted a six piece with two guitars and brought in Modlin again. A year later Mr. Stress Live at the Euclid Tavern was recorded with this band. In December 1980 Mike left Stress to join Little Willie and the Allstars where he stayed until Willie's untimely death in April '84. Matson continued with Stress until May '84, when he left to join Dave Morrison's Aces and Eights out of Athens, Ohio. When Morrison relocated to Cleveland the next year he reformed the band with Matson and in early '86 Modlin was recruited. In the summer of 1988 Matson decided to try his luck as a bandleader and formed Natural Facts with Modlin, bassist Ray DeForest and drummer Denny Melreit. They played the usual blues joints around town, released a cassette, and received some favorable press when Matson's song "Frigidaire Woman" was recorded by Son Seals on his Living in the Danger Zone album. The band opened for Seals three times at Peabody's Downunder, and also opened shows for Blues Traveler, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Kinsey Report, and Travis Haddix. By 1992 things were slowing down and the musicians took jobs with whoever they could. As the band slowly fizzled out, Tim and Mike thought they might pick up some work as a duo. After playing at various venues, they found a warm reception at the Barking Spider Tavern where they still appear every few months. In March of 2001, they were invited to joint the Wallace Coleman Band with whom they played local clubs and occasional out of town festivals such as King Biscuit in Helena, Arkansas. They also appeared on Coleman's "Live at Joe's" CD. During this time they maintained their duo gigs as Natural Facts. Matson moved out of state in June 2002 and returned to Cleveland and the Coleman Band in October, 2003. Mike Modlin stayed with Coleman during this period, playing locally, touring and appearing on Coleman's "Bad Weather Blues" CD. In June 2004 the two left Coleman and have since pursued their own project full time, sometimes subbing with local bands. They released their first CD, "Natural Facts" in October, 2004. In their early days as a duo, Natural Facts relied mostly on the old Chess blues sound with Matson originals thrown in. Over the last decade they have evolved a highly original style and approach, whether on Matson's tunes, or unique covers of blues, soul, jazz and even rock classics. They continue to evolve at their home base, Cafe Limbo, every Friday night and wherever their long history and honest music takes them.