I think somewhere around twenty, twenty five or so. I'm only counting albums that have been released on labels of various sizes. My most recent release that I've been a part of is Cyhra’s No Halos In Hell album.

I wouldn’t say overwhelming so much as rewarding honestly. It always feels so good to be a part of so many important Metal albums that have so much reach and are so integral to the international scene. Every now and then I feel like I want to slow down and just take some time to be a “normal person,” but then I get the bug to record again and be creative so quickly so that’s kind of pointless. My career continues to snowball and grow larger with each release. The best part of all of it is getting to work with so many of my childhood heroes.

That started to happen after the first few Pyramaze releases. Once my playing got out there and started to get some recognition people began to approach me to play on their albums and write songs for them. It seems more and more lately that it’s my orchestral work that I’ve been being commissioned for, as well as things like guest keyboard shred solos and arrangements. No, 2013 sounds about right. I personally took some time off around then when my daughter was born and some additional time to fix myself and figure out what makes me happy. You have to have that kind of foundation to be able to create in a positive environment. The session work thing just happened organically to be honest. Only over the last few years have I focused a bit more on marketing myself as a session musician. My girlfriend Mallory is a web designer and social media specialist, so she has helped generate additional business for me through jonahweingarten.com Check it out!

No, I have never had any doubts about that. I have always believed in myself and in what I do.

I don’t ever feel like my session work is out of necessity or I wouldn’t enjoy doing it so much. I know that bands, artists, and record labels approach me because they are seeking out what I do as an artist, so what I deliver to them is very “me” in its sound and style. I have my own distinct thing going on and it's fun to have that be sought after. I have other sources of income outside of music so I never have to take session jobs that I don’t like out of financial pressure.

I think it has to do more with stylistic approach more than anything else. I work with a lot of symphonic bands over seas, mainly from Germany, Sweden etc. European Metal is more rooted in classical and folk music so it’s definitely more my jam in that regard.

Absolutely! I have an incredibly unique skill set and that has only served to my advantage. Plus I tell hilarious jokes ;-) I'm always able to nail what it is that people hire me for because Metal is generally pretty transparent in its influences.

Everything from all the styles of Metal, symphonic, black, melodic death, industrial, power, prog, folk, etc. to things like instrumental relaxation projects, sports team anthems, book trailers, indie film scores, and album intros.

I have a studio in St. Paul that I work out of with my engineer partner Tom. I like having someone to bounce ideas off of and get a second opinion on. He mainly works with big musical theater productions so he has a highly developed ear as well

That has never happened before, but I think in some cases that might be helpful. Nothing is more irritating than having to go back to the studio to change or redo something because a client wasn’t clear and upfront about what they were looking for specifically.

Of course this is circumstantial, but usually the answer to that question is “ASAP.” Labels always want their albums completed and delivered by a certain agreed upon date so that they can plan out the promotion and release schedule for an album well ahead of time.

Well, coffee has been life changing and has increased my overall productivity exponentially. So it always starts with that. Then I pack up and head to the studio for usually four to five hours, gym, then repeat. Not terribly exciting actually.

I filled in for Mindmaze in 2017 on their tour with Sirenia and Arkona, but since then I haven't played live a lot. Mostly just one off gigs with Pyramaze over in Europe which is always a blast. I've been focusing more on building my career as a session/studio musician than a live entity, but that very well may change in 2020.

I think we have handled it quite well actually. We replaced Michael with Jacob Hansen (yes THE Jacob Hansen) and we are about to drop our best album yet in 2020 along with a brand new record deal. The Michael era is something we are all very proud of and helped launch us into stardom, as it were. Yes you are correct on all fronts. Jacob and Toke also write fantastic songs and when we all come together to turn them into studio recordings it always sounds like Pyramaze somehow. While our music is slightly less Power Metal these days and more Prog, its also become increasingly more orchestral ad cinematic.

Jacob found Terje after things didn't work out with Urban Breed. Jacob was producing a band that Terje was singing some backup vocals on and was like “Holy S*%#t this guy is awesome and should be the new singer of Pyramaze.” True story. And we still have some fast songs, but I think we focus more on creating melodies and riffs than just all out speed metal these days.

Pyramaze is funded through our record labels and live performances. My session work rates go to support my life and pursuance of career goals. And yes you are right about royalties... they are pretty much a joke.

I still try and buy cds when I can to support the bands and the industry. Spotify is great for checking out new bands or albums that I want to sample before I purchase. If I personally tried to make a living from Spotify plays I would be living in a dumpster eating old moldy hamburger buns.

Fantastic! Purchase away people!

No, I haven’t personally received one from a streaming service. Our label has always handled that.

My solo albums are usually instrumental piano based music that are very melody based. I haven’t done one of those in about five years because I've been so busy with everything else.

I would love to find the time to work on more solo material. I think if I were to release another album of purely Jonah music, it would be epic film score music that could be placed in games, movies, and trailers etc.

The show was filmed, and hopefully the footage will see the light of day soon! Yes, it was Matt’s first and most likely last time singing live with Pyramaze, but you never know!