Meet Matt Hiett and Andrea Di Francia N/A | Trila

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Hiett and Andrea Di Francia N/A and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt Hiett and Andrea Di Francia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We’ve been playing music together for years, starting at the church we met at, and moving into some cover songs for local gigs. Whenever we played, we’d always find ways to sneak in original songs, though. I think it’s always been a passion and a dream for the both of us to be in a band so it felt kind of inevitable. We’ve both had different types of jobs outside of music, too, and I think no matter how capable we’ve felt at accomplishing tasks within those jobs, there’s a passion and a comfort we find in music like no other career provides. The spark of new song ideas, the locking in of musical hooks, playing live shows and connecting with an audience… these things are consistently life-giving for us and give us even more reason to lean into a music career together.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As individuals and as a band, we care a lot about the idea of community. It’s been such a fun journey to see our community grow and see how the music we write has been able to connect with so many new people. One of the most fun things for us is to be able to play our music live with our following and create memories that way. We’ve been working on this project for a few years now, but in the past year or so, we’ve stepped into a new ‘era’ of our band. We feel we’ve come to a deeper understanding of our voice, both musically and conceptually. Hitting some roadblocks along the way, we just stayed committed to learning and growth – and it’s been really cool to see how many blessings we’ve encountered in sticking with it. We’ve come to know a lot of new friends who have helped us keep going and provided us tools for growth.
A few of the things we’ve really learned to value through all the highs and lows are patience and preparation. In the midst of disappointment, it can be easy to wear thin and lose motivation, but we do our best to keep disciplined and have the patience to let things play out in the right timing. Of course, we’ve still got a whole road ahead of us in this business, but those have been major focuses of ours and have helped us get to where we are now.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
With one of us being from Italy, friends and family visiting from out of town is not unusual for us… Typically these weeks are stock full of touristy activities, like studio backlot tours or theme park visits. But aside from those bigger plans, both of us are always making coffee trips. Some of our favorite places around the area are Coffea in Toluca Lake, Coffee Commissary in Glendale, and Republik Coffee in Burbank.
For food it always depends how we’re feeling… we tend to go to Dave’s Hot Chicken in Burbank a lot, or Finney’s (also in Burbank) for a bit more of a social outing. Jinya Ramen in Toluca lake is another solid option for the list!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our shoutout goes to our wives, Krystal and Amy. It sounds cliche to say “we wouldn’t be where we are if not for them” but it is true. For years, they’ve listened to every early version of our songs, attended all of our shows and encouraged us to keep going when we get discouraged. It’s hard to put into words how much it means to have our wives’ support as we pursue our dream career. We’ve put so much time, money and energy into this and to have them alongside us through the journey, cheering us on and singing along is more than we could ever ask for!

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