Long Pursues His Other Passion

Matt Long | Men's Tennis | Senior

NORMAN, Okla. -- A self-taught guitarist, Long's musical interests peaked in high school as he began watching Tyler Street, a close friend, play the guitar.

“Tyler was unreal at the guitar at a really young age,” he said. “I saw how dedicated he was to it, and it got me interested.”

Long's brother Nathan was playing guitar at the time but quit shortly after. Armed with his brother's guitar and an ear for music, Long began watching and mimicking Street.

Matt Long Bio | Men's Tennis | Tennis Schedule

“In my eyes, he was the best I had ever seen,” Long said.

Long continued playing the guitar as he entered college, but it wasn't until the summer of 2002 that he joined a band.

“One day three of my friends and I were just messing around, and one of them brought in a Cure song to learn called Just Like Heaven,'” said Long.

“We played it, and it sounded awesome. Each time we played, we brought in five more songs and learned them. One guy knew someone who worked the door at a bar, so we started out there and moved on to a bigger one.”

The band, called Rick Knob and the Tuxedos, made the rounds at some of Ft. Worth's most popular night spots like Schooners and Fat Harry's, where the band drew crowds of around 50 at each gig.

“The best part about it was hearing the laughs and cheers when the audience figured out what song we were playing,” said Long.

Although Rick Knob and the Tuxedos has disbanded, Long has now teamed up with another friend and has taken his music to the next level.

Last year when Long took a year off from school and moved to Clearwater, Fla., to improve on his tennis game, high school friend David Richardson visited him while he was there.

“We had written stuff before, but it was never serious,” said Long. “When he visited me in Florida, I would write the song out on the guitar, and I would leave it with him while I went and played tennis.

While I was gone, he would write the lyrics. I would come back, and we would collaborate and lay it down. We did five songs in three days while he was there.”

Richardson says that while recording music with Long, he has come to appreciate his hard work and passion for music.

“Matt's got a great work ethic,” said Richardson. “If you sit down to write a song, he will get from A to B in one sitting. It takes me forever to get something down because I go back over it a hundred times. That's why we love writing music together.”

Richardson, who says he is the more inexperienced musician of the two, calls their music experimental. Although they do not take their music too seriously right now, it's the process of writing music that he says makes their hobby worthwhile.

“We both can relate to each other's appreciation for innovative music and the process of writing a piece from start to finish,” Richardson said.

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