O.K. so here it is…

My name is Matthew and I grew up in a small east Texas town where I was raised by (mom and dad) hippies from the mountains of Colorado. 

From the very beginning I was exposed to music, music, and more music.  My father played bass in a new wave/ska band and mom always hung with bands from the local club (Shake Russell, Dana Cooper, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Cold Cuts, Joe King….)

From the time I was 10 or so, I knew I liked guitar but was more interested in saxophone.  In 5th grade I tried to join the band just to find out that we didn’t have enough money for a sax.  A couple of years later I found the guitar.

Dad helped and I learned as much as I could from my friends.  A dear, dear friend of mine introduced me to electric guitars and distortion (thanks Adam) and my journey to stardom began. 

We moved to Austin at the age of 18 and started work on our band (which consisted of Adam, myself, a ton of marijuana, and lots of phycotropics).  Needless to say, we lacked the focus to launch our very unique style of noise and silliness.

Check out my baby!  This is my Ibanez Jem 77fp ... I got a screaming deal on this one!

After some time passed (I think it was about a year) I met Don, a guitarist that had taken a 10 year break from music and was working in a volunteer fire station with my friends in Oak Hill.  We got together and started redoing his old music (Led Zepplin meets Rush meets play as fast as you can/kill the drummer).  Gigged at Steamboat on a semi-regular basis, playing for crowds of about 100 (all friends and family), and had a down-right good time.

Now I’m a father, still haven’t quite achieved guitar god status, but look forward to it in the near future, I have started a company building custom guitars “Picket Guitars”, and am four months away from getting married to a wonderful woman. (He's been married for a while now! ~msw)

On paper it’s easy to see how lucky I really am.  Read it and weep (for joy)!