Artist Spotlight - Matt Corey
HarmonNNY’s May Artist Spotlight is a Watertown native, Matt Corey, who is a multi-talented artist who plays bass, composes and produces his own music, and specializes in audio mixing and mastering.
From a young age, Matt was very creative and artistic. When he was little, he was into drawing, but he always had a hard time deciding what to draw. Matt got his first bass guitar at the age of 13 because he wanted to record his own rap beats. When Matt started playing music his creativity clicked because he never had a hard time figuring out what to play. After a while of playing music, Matt also got into producing and mixing because he wanted to record what he was making.
Matt has his own studio where he records hip-hop, rock, and metal music. Matt is excited to be working on his first metal project with artist Josh Hagen, a Watertown native who currently lives in Portland, OR. Due to the pandemic and with the help of technology, they are working together virtually. Matt has laid down the base tracks and Josh is adding vocals, as well as banjo, which adds a creative twist to the record. They hope to release their record within a few months. Matt also produces hip-hop music under the title Matty C. Beats. Matt records for various artists, as well as producing his own work that he has other hip-hop artists rap on.
Along with producing and composing, Matt has performed in a number of bands and currently plays with the local band Nice People which features three other musicians, including Shawn VanBrocklin (vocalist), Andy Reiner (guitarist), and Kevin Murray (drums). Matt shared that “There is a certain comradery you get when you have a band. It’s a special relationship when you’re playing music together and writing music and practicing and everything.” It’s much different than composing and producing music alone in front of the computer.
Matt encourages any artist to “Find your own workflow that you are comfortable with.” He recommends creating a place that you can walk into and be creative immediately and reducing the barriers to being creative, as time is a precious commodity. “No matter what you do, if it's music or if it’s art or dance, make room for it and just schedule it out.” Give yourself time to just be creative!
To find out more about Matt or to listen to his music, follow him on Instagram.
