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Physical Proof is an instrumental album released by guitarist Nick Matzke that features 10 original songs mixing fusion, funk, and progressive metal styles. It was written, recorded, mixed, and produced by Nick Matzke over a three year period while he was studying at Berklee College of Music. The album features the playing of Nick Matzke as well as other fellow Berklee musicians such as Nate Laguzza, Dave Vandigitty, Ben Stueve, Yuka Yanagihara, and Ray Reich. The result is an album that features some tight grooves, catchy melodies, and blazing instrumental performances.

NICK MATZKE'S BIO

Nick Matzke is a Guitarist, Recording Engineer, Producer, and Teacher, whose guitar style blends together elements of Funk, Smooth Jazz, Fusion, and Rock.

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 and started studying jazz with guitarist Jack Grassel. In 2003, he formed the funk/fusion trio Seven On Six and played many gigs in the Milwaukee area. Playing funk music with this band was a very integral part in developing Nick's musical style. At this time Nick also started learning more about recording after getting his first Pro Tools rig in 2004. In 2004 and 2005, Nick was the Milwaukee area winner of Guitarmageddon, Guitar Center's annual guitar competition.

After finishing at M.A.T.C. Nick attended Berklee College of Music in Boston in the fall of 2005. There, he finished with a dual major bachelors degree in Performance and Music Production and Engineering. While at Berklee Nick went deeper into studying jazz music, while still keeping a diverse palette of musical styles studying with Tim Miller, Walter Beasley, David Fiuczynski, and Joe Stump. It was at Berklee that Nick really honed his production, engineering, and mixing skills. The combination of great teachers, hours of hands on studio time, and real world style production projects made for an amazing education in recording and production. While at Berklee he was able to study under Grammy award winning engineer Prince Charles Alexander as well as Marty Walsh, Jeff Largent, Dan Thompson, and Stephen Webber. Nick was the recipient of a Berklee Achievement Scholarship and the MP&E Creativity Scholarship. Another 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.

After graduating from Berklee Nick lived and worked in Los Angeles for a brief time before relocating to Houston where he is currently working as a performer, freelance recording engineer, and guitar instructor. In 2008 he produced, engineered, mixed, and played guitar, on singer Emily Kiel's 4 song EP. In 2009 Nick released his debut album entitled "Physical Proof." In 2010 Nick mixed a five song EP by the Houston band Wings Burn Away and is currently working with Highway 59 Band on engineering, mixing, producing, and playing guitar on their upcoming full length album. Nick is also in the early stages of working on his next solo album which will be out in 2011.