Matt was born in South London, England and from a very early age fell in love with music. He went through several instruments before finally settling on the guitar, and through an obsession with The Beatles and all things blues, taught himself how to play from the age of 11. At 18 he began guesting at the 'Ain't Nothing But The Blues...'bar in SoHo London, and by 21 was a regular performer at the twice-weekly blues jams the venue was known for, as well as performing around the country with 'O Titus!', a young group of musicians eager to show the world their quirky music. 

 

In late 2007 Matt moved to New York City. Within 3 months he had co-founded The Glorious Veins, (Spotify) a four-piece rock and roll band with diverse influences, and equally diverse musicians. Over the next 9 years the band recorded 3 full length albums and a limited-release EP, and toured the United States several times. Within The Glorious Veins, Matt was responsible for writing several songs in the band's catalogue, as well as providing any and all guitar parts both in live performance and studio recordings. 

 

After almost 10 years of recording and performing on the road, The Glorious Veins took a hiatus in 2016, leaving Matt (having taken a little break himself, during which he wrote a book!) to refocus his energy on his first musical love - The Blues. In 2018 Matt reformed his old side-project group, The Matt Howels Project, and started playing regular gigs throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Known for performing both highly energetic and heavily improvisational sets with this power trio, along with more tempered solo performances focusing on a Delta Blues sound replete with an old bottleneck slide, Matt patiently carved out a presence on the NYC blues/rock scene. In the summer of 2021 The Matt Howels Project started recording an EP and entered the NPR Tiny Desk 2021 competition. Recordings from these EP sessions have yet to be released, but video of some live performances from the studio and elsewhere can be found here!

 

Matt is also a founding member of Kill Devvils, a new band working out of Brooklyn. Matt provided lead guitar and song writing to this wonderful project, and tracks have been released on SoundCloud (see link above), and are slowly coming out on Spotify too! 

 

Sadly, Matt's tenure with Kill Devvils had to be cut short! After some life-decisions made with his wonderful wife, actress Ali Bill, he moved to Athens, Georgia, where has been making a name for himself at the local Nowhere Bar blues jam and Hendershot’s Open Mic, and working on new original material in his home studio. Matt is currently the lead guitarist in Atlanta Blues Grinders, a local blues band, and is always on the lookout for new projects so feel free to reach out! 

 

Find new original material here - Spotify BandCamp

 

Finally, here are some links to projects for which Matt has provided guitar, outside of his main musical endeavors:

 

Afterburn, an EP by Piper and Paul

 

Sans Patrie, an album by Sans Patrie

 

P.S - Here's that book!