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Matt

Matt Steele - Guitar/Vocals


Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Matt got an early education in Rock 101. "Every morning when I was little," he explains, "my then-teenage brothers (who were 9 & 10 years older) would blast me out of bed with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Aerosmith. They had no idea what they were creating." He soon began raiding their album stashes when they weren't home.

Matt got his first guitar at the age of 9, and began taking lessons from a neighbor. "I wanted to be Ace Frehley (KISS)," he says, "but, I was nine. I think that lasted a couple of months. Then, it was back to football and Star Wars and other childhood musings." At 14, after dabbling with the bass, Matt saved all summer and, with his parents' help, bought his first electric guitar. This time, it stuck.

He played for several years on the San Antonio scene with the band NOIZE, a group he co-founded, developing a reputation as an energetic guitarist and performer. But years of struggle and personnel changes made him finally decide to step out on his own with something fresh. He stepped into the studio and - with the exception of Fred's drumming and Todd Walker's contributions - labored alone on what would become GIVEN'S "The Soul Reason."

"This has been one hell of a journey for me," Matt says, "from leaving the old band, which had been my life for years, to being able to bring a CD to life, I feel like all of the hard work and determination is paying off. We’ve got a great foundation with "The Soul Reason", a great band, and great people to help move this thing along. I am living the dream. I can't wait to see what happens next!"


F.Y.I.
EQUIPMENT: ’00 Gibson Les Paul Standard, ’94 Gibson Les Paul Standard, ’87 Fender Hardtail Strat, ’71 Marshall Super Lead 100 Watt Amp, ’71 Marshall cabinets w/Celestion Greenback Speakers, John Davidson Custom Pedalboard, Cat's Eye Mutha' Fuzz (Thanks, Dean!), Boss Delay, Dunlop 535Q Wah, Dunlop Rotovibe, Rocktron Purple Haze Octaver, ADA Flanger, Electro-Harmonix Small Clone, Ernie Ball Slinky Strings 9-46, Dunlop Jazz III picks
Matt uses and recommends Cat's Eye Custom Effects Pedals!

FAVORITE BANDS: Badlands (“brutally good”), Brother Cane (“casualty of a tone deaf industry”), Audioslave, Slave to the System, Deep Purple (“masters”), KISS (“all incarnations”), Velvet Revolver, Alter Bridge, Shinedown, Foo Fighters, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Green Day, Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Queensryche, King's X, UFO, Storyville, STP, Soundgarden, Stevie Wonder, Dwight Yoakam (seriously!).

INFLUENCES: Guitar – Jake E. Lee (Badlands, Ozzy), Ace Frehley, Bruce Kulick (KISS), Damon Johnson (Brother Cane), Tom Morello. Vocal – Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland, Ray Gillen (Badlands), Ian Gillian (Deep Purple), Damon Johnson (Brother Cane), Elvis.

WHY MUSIC? I’ve had “the bug” since I can remember. My parents said I used to run around singing jingles. Later, when I put on my brother’s Black Sabbath album (he's 10 years older than I) and heard that monster guitar sound, I was mesmerized. Something about a LOUD guitar vibrating my feet gets me going.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO NOW? Fred got me into Army of Anyone, other than that, I haven't bought anything new for a while.

 SPARE TIME: Huge Spurs fan (World Champs!). Longtime Seattle Seahawks fan (ARRGH!.....almost World Champs!). Watch as much NFL football and Spurs games as I can during season. PS2 junkie. Got back into working out recently. I read a lot from fiction to philosophy, and spend time with my family and pets (2 dogs, cat, iguana).

SOMETHING PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW:  While I love meeting and talking to all kinds of people, and those close to me know my goofy side (don't get me started doing impressions), I'm really very quiet and very often overly introspective.