BIOGRAPHY
Nick Matzke is a Guitarist, Recording & Mixing Engineer, Producer, and Instructor based in Houston, TX. Nick has wide variety of styles and genres under his belt as a player that he calls upon for the many different projects he’s involved in. Nick plays for various bands and artists as a sideman, while also writing and releasing instrumental music as a solo artist. Nick does session guitar work for artists of varying styles as well as composing music for film and television. Music Nick has played guitar on as well as produced, mixed, and mastered has been featured in shows on networks such as the E! Network, Viceland, and Food Network.
Nick grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and started playing guitar at age 14, influenced by classic rock and blues. During high school he began playing in bands and developed a more diverse taste in music listening to hard rock, metal, pop, country, and R&B music.
After high school, Nick first attended Milwaukee Area Technical College before transferring to Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2005. It was during college Nick got more into styles such progressive rock, jazz, and jazz fusion. At Berklee Nick was able to study with some amazing instructors such as Walter Beasley, Tim Miller, Marty Walsh, and Prince Charles Alexander.
A cool project of Nick's at Berklee was the band The Konami Kode. The band was started by Nick and fellow guitarist Paul Meyer as Berklee's version of a video game band. The Kode specialized in playing video game music note for note to the original songs while also adding solo sections to the arrangements. The Kode toured extensively throughout the Northeast from 2006-2008 and released a full length album in 2007. The band had been on hiatus since the members moved all around the country but recently the band has been working on recording some new material to be released soon!
In 2008 Nick completed his dual major bachelors degree from Berklee in Performance and Music Production & Engineering. It was while at Berklee that Nick wrote and recorded most of his debut solo album "Physical Proof" which was released in 2009. The album features 10 songs ranging from Jazz Fusion to Progressive Metal and features some great guest performances by some of Nick's Berklee classmates from the time.
After a 1 year stint in Los Angeles where Nick worked as a runner at Westlake recording studios, Nick moved to Houston, TX where he has been working ever since as a full time musician. In addition to playing gigs and doing sessions as a sideman, Nick runs his studio, Bayview Audio (www.bayviewaudio.com) where he does tracking, mixing, and mastering. Some notable artists Nick has mixed and mastered recently include Cedric Ballard and Wild Fire. Nick also recorded guitar for Andrea Valles EP "Mi Casa." Nick second solo album “Decennium” was something that he has been working on ever since his first solo album was released back in 2009. The new album features 10 diverse instrumental songs spanning genres such as Jazz Fusion, Funk, Progressive Metal, Country, and Pop & Hip Hop. "Decennium" will be available everywhere on December 17th, 2019.