Biography
WHAT I’M MADE OF
WHO I AM
Instruments Matt Frick Plays: Banjo, Guitar, Piano, Percussion, Marimba, tabla
His Education: BA in Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University
Biography Timeline (Told by Matt Frick):
- 1980 I was born. I grew up in a musical family. My Gramma played gospel piano and Dad played the trombone.
- 1988 When I was 8 years old my Grampa (Jack Frick) took me to see John Hartford (great banjo player). I fell in love with the banjo.
- In the 5th grade (1990), I started taking drum lessons at Paul Mueller’s Studio’s in Indianapolis. I took private lessons from 1990-98 through all of high school. I studied with Dan Paul, focusing on Drumset and some Marimba.
- In the 7th grade (1992) my eyelashes started turning white and I found out I have a skin condition called vitiligo.
- 1993-94 I played in a hard rock trio with Adam Siddiqui and Brown Partington in a band called Cicada.
- 1995 I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis (a messed up muscle disease) I was worried I could never play drums the same so I started learning to play the guitar. I took lessons from my Mom’s friend Mark, and from friends at school like Kris Steigerwald. I learned Beatles and Dead songs with a few originals coming to life.
- I started working on hand percussion 1995. Playing in drum circles and with my best friend Brian Wright. We formed a drum army and learned to work together as a team. I also started experimenting with the piano around this time
- 1996 Mike Connard, David Thomas, Patrick Flaherty, Brian Wright, Jay Constable and I started a band called “Elephant Dance”. We played mostly Grateful Dead covers and smelled pretty bad. There were 2 drumsets in this band, (me and Brian Wright) We played at the Emerson Theater (Indianapolis) a few times and drew a huge crowd of hippies.. for a brief moment my friend Sarah Shelton joined the band. Jay quit the band and Cameron Reel joined on the bass. Dave Thomas left, Aaron Stout came in and suddenly the band became “Tumbleweed Punch”.
- 1996 I left my drum thrown at a wedding gig and Travis Ellison stole it from me (more to come later…)
- 96-98 Mike Connard gave me my first banjo and I started taking lessons at Village Music in Zionsville, Indiana with Craig Blatner. I fell in love with bluegrass after hearing “old and in the way“, I realized the potential of acoustic music.
- After Tumbleweed Punch broke up in 1997, I started playing with Andy Salge and David Sullivan in a band called the Water Company. We played small gigs at Brody’s, Musicbox, Emerson Theater (Indianapolis, Indiana) and at all of Andy’s cousin’s weddings. I played Drumset and sometimes banjo and xylophone (my Mom bought me a serious concert xylophone around this time..)We recorded an awesome 4 track recording called “I’m worried ’bout your foot because my cat died”. (I’ll try to transfer this to cd soon…)
- The Water Company then went acoustic in 1998 and brought in David Thomas who was learning mandolin. Water Company took a new direction and was the beginning of a long term musical friendship between us all
- I also joined a side reggae band with Mike Connard, Nick Keener, Daniel Morris, and the Usual Suspects/Orts… this band had like 60 members throughout it’s life I think. I played drumset.
- 1999 After a few recordings with the Water Co. at “The Lodge” with Jay Arbucle as our engineer, David Sullivan and Andy Salge moved to Bloomington, IN to go to Indiana University (IU).
- Started a Power vocal acoustic band called “coast” with Aaron Stout, David Thomas, Eric Riddles and me.
- 2000 I went to Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). I took an amazing guitar class from David Morgan, the blues guitar teacher. I learned how to apply fingerpicking styles to the acoustic guitar — changed my life forever.
- 2001 I moved to Bloomington, IN to go to Indiana University (IU). I joined “Blue Moon Revue“. Members were: Andy Salge, David Sullivan, Matt Marshall, Drew Scalercio, and Dan Hirons. Since the drumset position was taken in this band, I played percussion. I developed a nice set up with xylopohone, congas, percussion and banjo. Blue Moon Revue took off in Bloomington, Indiana and did very well. We opened up for some huge acts in college: George Clinton, Santana Side Stage, Los Lobos, Widespread Panic, Yonder Mountain String band, ok Go, Here Comes the Mummies.. I played with Blue Moon Revue (this time) from 2001-2004
- 2001 David Thomas moved to Bloomington, IN to start the Water Company back up again. This time we added Dan Hirons (from Blue Moon Revue ) on drumset and I played full time banjo. Water Co. played fun music and was a great time.
- 2001 I ran in to Travis Ellison and demanded my drum thrown back. We had both been studying Classical north Indian Music by chance and started to play music together. This was the beginning of an amazing project we started called Sangeet Mala (meaning garland of music in Hindi). We combined East and West fusion. Travis had been working on tabla and started teaching me. Eventually we brought banjo into it and started writing a 40 min. composition called “the piece”. We added Hannah Won (violin) and brought in guests like Joe Fish, Jim Wert, David Sullivan, Joel Kelsey, Karl Leichty, Brook Mumford for crazy east west jam sessions and improvised live shows at T.I.S. music and the Bluebird Nightclub in Bloomington, Indiana. Sangeet Mala played from 2001-2004. We recorded some awesome live shows. (I have some of these shows on VHS that need to be transferred to DVD)Water co. played from 2002-2004 in Bloomington, Indiana. We ended up having to break up because Blue Moon Revue was doing so well we wanted to put our 100% into it and had to decide between the two.
- 2004 Blue moon revue broke up and Matt Marshall, Chris Chandler and I moved to California. I went to an Indian Music school called the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music in San Rafael, CA. I studied tabla. This school was amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it.
- 2005 I moved to Portland, OR with Chris Chandler and started a sweet duo called “The Banjotles“. We played rock songs with a banjo and guitar. I also started playing with the “Travis Ellison Band” playing banjo.
- 2006 I recieved a package in the mail from my Aunt Linda. Inside was a stack of poems written by my great gramma Pearl Childers”. Most of these were written right after the depression and into the 50′s. I started a project with my good friend Nick Vote where I put a select few of these poems to music. The project became “Out West for Rene“. My brother, Dan Frick, got involved and contributed his own interpretations of her poems. This is a fantastic project, it’s still in the making! (2006-2010)
- 2007 Matt Marshall and I moved back to Chicago to start Blue Moon Revue back up again
- 2007 Water Co. was revived, Dave Thomas moved to Chicago
- 2008 I quit both bands to start selling mattresses with Back to Bed. I needed to make some money and catch up and focus on recording (vs. playing live all the time). I got sick of being broke…
- 2010 I started playing with David Thomas again and revived the name “coast”. David Thomas, Sam Aranson, and I. We are playing small shows and will take over the world!
- 2010 “Coast” was revived. New members are David Thomas, Sam Aranson, and me. This is an acoustic trio playing mostly Americana, Bluegrass and Folk music. It’s in the spirit of the old coast band with Aaron Stout and Eric Riddles, meaning the vocals are awesome in this band! This is a combination of Water Co., Banjotles, and Out West for Rene with a new twist and almost better looking dudes.. Coast added David Young and created a website www.headforthecoast.com.
- 2011 I started making a video documentary for my Out West for Rene project and quit the band coast. www.outwestforrene.com came to life
- 2011 Took a new traveling job with the Great Estate Roadshow.
- 2011 Banjotronix was formed with Nick Holm. www.banjotronix.com is now in the works. Working with Nick Holm opened up a door to the electronic side of music. We are currently working on a project which may or may not be called “hooked on banjotronix”. A rival band titled “Mandotronix” was created by David Thomas (a removed from birth siamese twin) and has been talking mad smack during the month of November
- 2011 I recorded some really nice slide guitar and banjo parts for a band called “the Puffins”. Sounds great, simple songs and nice melodies
This is great. I remember the high school / IU parts, and learned some of what you have been up to since then. I’m glad to hear that you are still making great music!
I know this story somehow!