Matt Hendricks

"When I was real young, I would listen to my Ma's console stereo with the 8-track, ya know--Foreigner, Queen, Barry Manilow, Buddy Holly, The Beatles--you know, stuff like that. My Dad's tastes leaned towards Elvis, Buck Owens, CCR, and Jerry Lee Lewis. I always wanted to listen to that stereo, man--all the time. I had a dream about a guitar when I was 7 years old--I didn't know what it was, I just knew the shape. Then I asked my ma for piano lessons, which never happened (laughs), but some years later, I did get a guitar. And then I heard Van Halen's 2nd album, and it killed me how good Eddie was. I couldn't play any of it--so I worked backwards to Clapton. Couldn't do that--so I went to Black Sabbath. That I could do. And then life happened--I joined bands, and quit bands, most of them failed. You move places, you come home and decide what you really want--which was to rely on just myself. I moved to Milwaukee, got engaged to my highschool sweetheart, and started playing solo. I went to the Conservatory to get a degree in music, but on my way to class one morning, I was hit by a school bus, and I dropped out right before graduation. During the recovery--which was awful, and you're thinking about all of those "what do I really want to do with my life" thoughts... and then the blues found me, and I found my real voice, and that's when I knew that music was all I wanted to do."