Matt Chase was the drummer for A Black Tie Affair and Mackenzie Heights. He is currently the drummer for an unnamed progressive project
| Matt Chase | |
|---|---|
| Years active | "{{{years_active}}}" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. |
| Genres | Rock, Metal, Progressive, Funk, Jazz, Punk, Pop "{{{years_active}}}" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. |
| Associated bands | Illness To Cure, Nothing Special, A Black Tie Affair, Mackenzie Heights, Kiss And Makeup, Wormhole Machine, Antheridium
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| Associated venues | Many at Kilroy's, Jack's, Crock's, and Black Pirates Pub, Kakabeka Street Fair 2010
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| Known for | versatility and power
|
| Current status | Active |
Matt Chase
Contents
Instruments
Early Drumming
Matt began playing drums on a practice pad he got for his 13th birthday, but before then he could tap steady beats and bounce and bop steady to songs that would play on radios or cd's. He went into Tiger Music at Westgate high school in Grade 8 and got chosen to play the drums, out of almost the entire class which consisted of almost 200 others, who wanted to play the instrument. In the middle of his freshman year of high school, and on his 15th birthday, Matt's parents bought him his first drum kit, a Taye RockPro drum kit. Also in Grade 9, he met Riley Cummine, who later that year, began an unnamed band with him. They played together for almost a year, before the first year of Superior Rock Camp. In Rock Camp, Matt began a band with guitarists Mike Murray and Brady Geurts; bassist Graeme McMaster; and guitarist/vocalist Sara Collison. Calling themselves Illness To Cure, they went on to play after Rock Camp, replacing Sara with Courtney Wall.
Illness To Cure and A Black Tie Affair
Almost a year later, having done one show with Illness To Cure, Matt went back to Rock Camp and was put in a band with Riley Cummine, Brady Geurts, Dalton Thompson, and Darren Lammi. This band would later become the hard rock band we know today as A Black Tie Affair. Calling themselves Nothing Special at first, they played a show at the end of the camp at the Community Auditorium. Matt played with the band for two and a half years, playing shows at Kilroy's, Black Pirates Pub, Jack's, and the Kakabeka Street Fair 2010. He also recorded drums on the band's first recorded song, I Wanna Come Home.
Departure From ABTA
In December 2011, Matt quit A Black Tie Affair, due to conflicts between band members and wanting to try new styles of music.
Mackenzie Heights
In February 2012, Matt was asked by Tanner Bell to play drums for his band, Mackenzie Heights. He played many shows with them and, in May 2012, recorded their first EP with them. In September, Matt quit Mackenzie Heights due to "conflicts with band members, plagiarism, and his style not really suiting their's". Because of further conflicts, Matt has since cut ties with all of them. He was replaced by Jason Malo.
Rejoining A Black Tie Affair
In October 2012, Matt rejoined A Black Tie Affair after 10 months of being away from them. He has rejoined as co-manager and drummer.
Departure from A Black Tie Affair and Antheridium's Current Status
In April 2013, Matt decided to leave A Black Tie Affair for a second time. His reasons were because of conflicts with band members and his style of playing not fitting the band's genre/style. He has wished them well in future endeavours and is trying to leave on a good note. Antheridium, as of now, is up in the air. Matt has told everyone that it will take a major turn towards progressive music but two members are on the fence about continuing on with it.
Future Projects
Matt has stated that he, Tanner Bell, Graeme McMaster, and James Cole will be starting a progressive band thats main focus is to write challenging music.
Equipment
Matt uses Taye Tour Pro drums in Black Oyster in the following configuration: 14 x 6.5 Pearl Artisan II Walnut Burst finish/14 x 5 snare 10 x 8.5 tom, 12 x 9 tom, 13 x 10 tom, 16 x 13 tom, 20 x 16 bass drum.
He uses a mixture of mainly Sabian and Zildjian cymbals with a couple of Dream cymbals in the mix: 14 inch HHX Click hats, 8 inch AA splash, 10 inch Paragon splash, 17 inch AAXplosion crash, 10 inch chopper, 18 inch AA medium-thin crash, 19 inch AAXplosion crash, 14 inch XS20 Medium hi-hats, 22 inch AAX Omni, 18 inch Zildjian ZBT China
Matt uses a mixture of Taye, Gibraltar, Network, and Dixon hardware. He uses Taye Metalworks pedals (single and double) and Mano Percussion, Toca, and RhythmTech percussion. He owns a Pintech electric kit too and uses Pro-Mark Rock 747 wood tip sticks
His live kit varies on the genre of music played. Matt tends to try and scale everything down when playing live, but is known to use a lot of cymbals and drums in the studio and jam sessions.
Influences & Style
Matt plays many different genres of music, from jazz to metal and from funk to progressive. His main influences are Neil Peart, Mike Portnoy, and Mike Mangini. Other influences include Mike Wengren, Gene Krupa, Gavin Harrison, Teddy Campbell, Tre Cool, Thomas Pridgen, Jojo Mayer, Benny Greb, and Travis Barker.
Matt bases his style mainly from Neil Peart and Mike Mangini. His playing is considered to be powerful, energetic, and amazing by some. He began incorporating jazz and big band drumming into his style. When playing with A Black Tie Affair, he tends to focus on consistency with fills and beats. With Antheridium, Matt tends to hit harder and switches from matched to traditional grip on the sticks for a different feel in different songs.