About Matthew:

Q. Where were you born?
A. I washed ashore on the beach in Kona, Hawaii.

Q. When did you start playing bass?
A. I started playing when I was 11 years old.

Q. Who were some of your bass influences?
A. Sting and Flea. Watching Flea and listening to his up front, in your face baselines was one of reasons I noticed the bass and wanted to start playing bass.

Q. Who are some of your favorite bands or musicians?
A. Level 42 was an early influence and a favorite of mine. And for musicians, in rock pop it doesn't get much better than the Beatles. I love the spiritual side to their music that Harrison added. Having met Paul for the first time in 2006, makes one of my bass idols even more personal to me. Along with his unmistakable melodic bass voice, he is a lovely man with a lot of high energy and positive vibes. Ray Brown, the other melodic voice behind my bass influence. Amazing musician that practiced up till the day he passed on. His advise to me in Sept of 2000 was "Practice a lot now 'cause you won't want to do it when you're my age." I'm still taking his advise to heart!

Q. What was one of the first songs you learned to play?
A. Johnny B Goode and Enter Sandman.

Q. Do you play other instruments?
A. Yes, I play guitar, piano, Ukelele, like my Dad, a bit of everything.

Q. What got you into music?
A. There was always music around our house. My brother and I wanted to start a band in school. Mike played guitar and our best friend played drums and that left one instrument to complete a power trio. I also have an older brother Dan who plays bass and it turned out to be a perfect fit for me.

Q. What basses do you play?
A. My main instrument is a custom 5 string Alembic I got back in '93. My backup, live and studio basses are a '63 Fender Jazz with flat wounds and a '73 Precision Bass. I also have a '65 Hofner Violin Beatle Bass (set up like Paul's) and I play a 90's carved top upright bass.