B.B. King, Vlissingen
Per Hanson, M.B., Ronnie Earl and Rod Carey
New Milford, CT 1994

Duke Robillard, Amsterdam 1996
Jimmy Lane, M.B., Jimmy Rogers
Amsterdam, 1996
Gatemouth Brown
Peer, Belgium, 1997 Robben Ford, Amsterdam, 1996
Annie Raines, Bostom, MA 1999 David Hamburger, H.B. Vanessa Rishell, M.B.,
Annie Raines, Paul Rishell
Amsterdam, 1997

Paul Rishell strummin' M.B.'s Martin D2R in Studio
Amsterdam 1997, comment by Dave Hamburger

Playing Harvard Square with David Massey
Boston 1999

In Duke Robillards new bachelors pad
Pawtucket, R.I. 1999

Group Foto with The Broadcasters and
Volker Klenner, Reichenbach, Germany 2000

GaasperDelta Blues Guitarist Joep
Amsterdam 1999

Kelly Joe Phelps, M.B., Anne-Marie,
Dexter Lake, OR, July 2001

Anne-Marie, M.B. Guy Davis, Pieter Groeneveld,
40th birthday/divorce party, April 2001

Matthieu Brandt from Amsterdam, Netherlands (b. 1961) has been strummin' a guitar since 1983 when he traded his first P.C. for his first Alfa Guitar.

Starting out as an acoustic fingerstyle blues player and studying with Irish Blues Virtuoso Martin Hutchinson, he quickly got an appetite for electric blues.

He started out in his first blues band "Bealestreet" in 1985 - a band that was to exist for five looooong years.
Although of questionable level the band was to be a good jumping board for his later career.

Strough studying at the biggest private music school in Amsterdam, The Muziekpakhuis - where he became a teacher in 1987 - he was turned onto Wes Montgomery.
He quickly formed a Jazz Quartet "The Half Nelson Octet" and started performing in the area.

In 1990 he went to Berklee College in Boston, U.S.A. for a summer course. Meeting local pop composer/musician Jack Starkey and feeling at home in the competitive American music, he decided he wanted more.

In 1991 he moved to Northern California, where he toured with local musicians and tried to establish himself as a working musician.

Through some "misunderstandings" with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service he was forced to go back to the Netherlands, where he picked up his teaching practice.
In that period he built himself a studio and started "No Can Do", his first rock-blues band.

The band started playing national festivals and clubs and was gaining some momentum whem the lead vocalist left the band. No Can Do lived up to its name in 1995.

In the meantime Matthieu had been playing in Run Baby Run for a numberof years, a Rhythm & Blues band with a full horn section, lead by Wim Heuperman.
It's members were all seasoned pro's and the chance to play with the cream of the crop in Dutch R & B left an important mark in Matt's playing.

From '92 till '98 he visited the U.S. a coupla times a year and studied at the National Guitar Summer Workshop for a number of years. He assisted Paul Rishell in '97 in his Acoustic Fingerstyle Blues Class.

In 1995 Matthieu started working with Frits Veheij, a local multi-instrumentalist.
As a harp player and vocalist he turned out to be the right match for Matthieu, and in that year they formed "Too True To Be Blue". This acoustic bluesduo has performed all over the Netherlands and is still going strong.

From '94 till '98 Matthieu organised several Masterclasses through the music school in Amsterdam. In this period he also started "Next Door to the Blues" a swing & jump band, featuring Ton van Bergeijk (check out his records through Stefan Grossman's label).

In '97 he started working on Swing and Jump Blues Guitar, in close cooperation with many collegues and students.

In '99 Matthieu spent another year in Boston, where he teamed up with local harmonica and slide virtuoso David Massey. He also had the chance to back up Paul Rishell and Annie Raines (W.C. Handy Award Winners '99) at the House of Blues in Cambridge.

He got a taste for playing the streets by frequenting Harvard Square, where Ronnie Earl witnessed his first outdoor performance.

After returning to Amsterdam in 2000 he started giging with "Too True To Be Blue" and has just recorded his first Solo CD:
'Back Log' available through
www.cdbaby.com .

Matt's website:
www.bluemat.net

But can he play?:
Next door to the Blues



Ronnie Earl, Connecticut 1993

Group foto with Martin Simpson
San Rafael, CA 1997

Arena's Rockin Rhythm Revue
Point Arena, CA 1992

Next Door To The Blues,
Club Maloe Melo, Amsterdam 1997

Too True To Be Blue
Amsterdam 1995

Two Buddies: Ray Nijenhuis and Gordon Beadle, Cambridge 1999

Inigo Grimbergen, Jaco Benckhuijsen, Jaap van der Panne: Gewoon Leven!
Amsterdam 2000.

John Jackson
Port Townsend, Wa, July 2001

John Cephas
Port Townsend, Wa, July 2001