Ramblin' Matt

Born Mateo Garcia in May 1966 in Pto. de Sagunto, Valencia, Spain. Matt has been involved in bands and performing since the early eighties. Right now is one half of the upcoming band based in Dénia (Alicante) Sara Gee & Ramblin Matt, with  more than 400 shows and six albums published since 2013 along her partner in life Sara Gee. Matt is a composer, arranger, guitar and slide player and singer and his first bands were rockabilly outfits in a time when only few dared to play this type of music in Spain, with bands like The Teddy Terribles, The Dalton Brothers and Ruzafa's Incorregibles. He formed Blackmailers with soul brother and gifted guitar player Silver Borras in 1998 after returning of living in the US for five years (Chicago, LA, Austin). Between 2006 and 2013 he has been a performing musician in London with his Vintage Rockabilly trio Los Jailbreakers, as a solitary act or with The Ramblin' Matt Trio. Meanwhile in London he also was the guitar player of Xsara with gigs in venues such as the famed 100 Club in Oxford Street or Mondo Waterrats and also recorded the guitar in her first album. Matt also was the lead guitar player of the Earth Defender Band, a combo of up to twelve Jamaican and West Indian musicians playing Reggae, Lovers Rock and Old School Ska, backing up a pack of artists including Errol Dunkley or Christine Joy White, and with them he toured the UK in a bus, from Glasgow to Brixton. He returned to Spain in mid 2013 when he meet Sara in a gig in Valencia and decided to stay for good after  nearly 20 years away from his land of origin. Matt  writes his own material with influences of Blues, Swing, Bop, Rockabilly, Outlaw Country and Southern Rock and also plays bold arrangements of country & delta blues classics from the likes of Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Skip James, Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Rev. Gary Davis, and Mississippi Fred McDowell among others featuring most of the times only lead vocals and guitar, played with or without slide.

Matt started playing guitar when he was 9 years in school and his first efforts were focused on learning Bob Dylan, Neil Young, CCR and classic 50's RnR songs of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent and his Bluecaps. His first music heroes were The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Taste, Flamin' Groovies, Jimi Hendrix, CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Janis Joplin, Hot Tuna, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground and of course Punk. He grew up with loud Punk and Afterpunk and eventually Teddy Boy Rock n Roll, Psychobylly and Neorockabilly coming out of the loud speakers of the clubs and joints of the huge 80s scene that exploded in Spain after Franco died, finishing forty years of military dictatorship and repression. Matt hates those situations and he advocates for tolerance, personal self ruling and dialogue. He believes that the pen is mightier than the sword. Count him as a traveler and a hobo, and politically his beliefs are the ones of a social anarchist and free thinker of three generations, thanks to the examples set by his father and my grandfather. And thinks that music is the ultimate liberation for all chains and weights that life throws our way. 

He first listened to the Blues when he was 14 or 15 in a friend's house who played the John Lee Hooker album, "Boogie Chillun" and it totally blew his mind. Ever since he has been trying to learn the tricks and turns of this music, from a deep respect of the original artists but always adding a personal drop of his own Soul's juice. In 6 years that he resided in the US, mainly in Chicago he was widely exposed to the electric blues of the Windy City and also took some trips with a guitar and a backpack to the region of the Mississippi Delta where he had the opportunity and privilege to learn the playing rudiments of this music and more important, the meaning of the blues as a way of life and as a mean to express and communicate your feelings to others. With his music he wants to pay tribute to all those who love, live and feel the blues as he does.

SARA GEE & RAMBLIN' MATT: Current and sole project, running since June 2.013 when Sara and Matt met in a gig in Valencia and decided to walk together in life and music. Ever since three albums and nearly 300 shows are on their back and they keep playing their originals and covers of Memphis Minnie, Delbert McClinton, Hank Williams, JJ Cale, Bessie Smith or Ida Cox to mention a few. All the information about them in their Website: 

http://sarageeandtheramblers.jimdo.com

THE DANNY BOY & RAMBLIN' MATT BLUES REVUE: Active between March and June 2.013

"Early in the Morning" is an EP  recorded by top Spain harmonica player, Danny Boy Sanchez  and Matt to support their act, a Chicago and Delta Blues oriented duet called The Danny Boy & Ramblin Matt Blues Revue after a good bunch of very succesful gigs in Valencia and London.The whole session is included in the first section of the album "Bad Reputation", recorded live with ambient mikes in one take. Wonderful Sara Gee joined them in rhythm guitar and vocals in the Bonnie Raitt´s classic "Love me like a man". Everything is presented as it was recorded, with no overdubs or effects, just a bit of echo splashed here and there.

XSARA (Guitarist, 2011-12, London): Cabaret Jazz, Blues, Pop Ballads and piano Rhythm n Blues were the style that they delivered, with a band with up to 10 members, featuring piano, rhythm section, guitar and string and wind section. Matt wrote the guitar parts and recorded all the guitars in the debut EP of awesome UK artist, Xsara, an excellent performer and songwriter with which Matt played legendary London stages such as the 100 Club in Oxford Street or Dingwalls in Camden Town.

THE EARTH DEFENDER BAND (Guitarist, 2009-2012, London) : Matt played and toured the UK  with this combo of Jamaican musicians during a while, the band were the back up for sometimes up to 12 artists, such as JMarie, Singin Hannah, Errol Dunkley, Christine Joy White and many more, with shows of up to five hours of playing. With them Matt (only white guy in the whole crew) toured the UK in an old bus in the style of the Freak Brothers of Shelton and Sheridan. No recorded input exists but several videos can be found in Matt´s YouTube Channel.

LOS JAILBREAKERS: Vintage rockabilly, Sun Records inspired trio that was active in London, UK between 2007 and 2011. Influenced by all Sun Records, Johnny Burnette, Doo Wop, Bobby Fuller, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, and all the classic and some more. And vey loud Punk!. In that time they played over 150 gigs in England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, and Holland and shared stages with the likes of Sandy Ford & Flyin Saucers, Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers, Lee Rocker, Bang Bang Bazooka, The Jets, The Firebirds, Rockin Pauly & The Sinners, Shane McGowan (The Pogues), The Rhythm Boys, The Brick Lane Boogie Boys and many others in venues such as The Ace Cafe and Dingwalls (London) or Paradiso (Amsterdam). Also they performed in two occasions the longest running night Club of London, in the heart of Soho and organised by Gaz Mayall, leader of The Trojans and oldest son of John Mayall. They feature full page in his book, "The First 30 Years". During 5 straight months Los Jailbreakers could be seen busking in any given corner of the West End of London, 7 days a week after 6pm and until 2am in some nights around Soho, Enbankment, Charing X, and many more Westminster spots, several videos of them can be found in YouTube. Download "Rockabilly Riot" and "The Lost Acoustic Sessions" in Bandcamp. 

BLACKMAILERS: Active between October 1998 and September 1999. Blackmailers were born when Matt contacted good friend and soul brother, and also the best gifted player in the business, Silver Borras after returning from spending nearly six years in the US. Along some of the best musicians of Valencia they performed several great shows and recorded a four track demo called "Jumping Blues". Download "Jumping Blues" free at Bandcamp. 

INCORREGIBLES: Matt moved on with this band in Ruzafa, the old district of  Valencia  in 1988 and stayed during two years, until 1990, there is no recorded input and only a few pictures of some shows exist. You can view them in the  Gallery section of this Website.

TEDDY TERRIBLES / LOS DALTON: First "real" band that was functioning between 1983 and 1988, year in which the group disbanded due a heavy substance abuse and extreme excesses, how was the norm of the days. They played a great deal of riotous and excess-filled shows and gained a reputation of being a great live band. Matt moved on to join Incoregibles in Ruzafa, valencia along  Lucky Martínez, now with Cat Club,  and there aren´t any recordings of those days, except for a recently surfaced one hour of video in which the band is captured playing a few songs.  Influences were Beatles, Stones, Stray Cats, Flamin Groovies, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran,  Los Rebeldes, Buldog...etc. You can watch the edited mini documentary with the mentioned video from 1986 in this link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp_KjMsfbII

ALL MY MUSIC AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD IN BANDCAMP

http://ramblinmatt.bandcamp.com