Matt Halpern | |
|---|---|
 Halpern in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 21, 1983 |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Drummer |
| Member of | Periphery |
| Formerly of | Animals as Leaders |
| Website | matthalpern |
Matt Halpern (born June 21, 1983) is an American drummer best known for his work with progressive metal band Periphery.
Born in Baltimore, Halpern took an interest in music at a young age and got his first kids drum set aged 3, before switching to a full-sized one at 6 and taking private drum lessons. [1] At a young age, he started to perform extensively throughout the northeast of the United States on a weekly basis. [2] When he was 17 he formed Spinfire with his friend Evan Taubenfeld and released an eponymous EP. Throughout college Halpern sustained himself by teaching drums and performing in local bar gigs. After college, he toured with a number of local bands including The Underwater out of York, PA and a band with long time friend Dan Book called Armoreta before joining instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders in 2008. In 2009, after his stint with Animals as Leaders, Halpern joined progressive metal band Periphery, replacing the departing Travis Orbin. [2]
In 2012 Halpern launched Bandhappy.com, an educational website where students had the opportunity to take live one-on-one video lessons with various established artists. In 2014 Halpern shut down the site citing his busy schedule with Periphery and as a drum educator as the reason why. [3]
In 2016, alongside bandmates Adam "Nolly" Getgood and Misha Mansoor, Halpern developed GetGood Drums, a sample-based drum software synthesizer. [4]
On December 1, Halpern joined Mick Gordon and Sonic Mayhem on stage at The Game Awards 2016, where they performed a short medley of "Rip and Tear" and "BFG Division" from the soundtrack of Doom and "Descent Into Cerberon" from the soundtrack of Quake II . [5]
In 2018, Periphery left Sumerian Records and founded their own independent record label 3DOT Recordings. [6]
In 2012, Halpern formed a rock group called The Mothership with his Periphery bandmate Spencer Sotelo. In 2020, Sotelo revived the project, now rechristened King Mothership, alongside Halpern on drums and Tai Wright (former drummer for Slaves) on bass, and released their debut album The Ritual on October 2, 2020. [7]
Halpern uses and endorses Pearl drums and hardware, [8] Meinl cymbals, [9] Promark drumsticks, and Evans drumheads. [10] He previously endorsed Mapex and Yamaha drums and hardware.
Over the years Halpern developed a number of signature products, such as the Matt Halpern signature snare drum with Pearl Drums, signature drum key for drumkeyshop.com, Promark signature drumsticks, the Meinl Artist Concept Double Down Stack, and the Mapex Black Panther Wraith snare drum.
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Periphery is an American progressive metal band formed in Washington, D.C., in 2005. Their musical style has been described as progressive metal, djent, and progressive metalcore. They are considered one of the pioneers of the djent movement within progressive metal. They have also received a Grammy nomination. The band consists of vocalist Spencer Sotelo, guitarists Misha Mansoor, Mark Holcomb, Jake Bowen, and drummer Matt Halpern.
Periphery is the debut studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. It was released on April 20, 2010 through Sumerian Records, and was produced by the band themselves and Matt Murphy. Many songs on the tracklist had been written long before the release date—with some written by original lead vocalist Casey Sabol—but due to membership changes, the album was postponed on several occasions. Former vocalist Chris Barretto had nearly finished recording the album before he and the band parted ways months before its release. Rather than release the songs with Barretto's vocals, the band decided to rerecord Barretto's songs with Spencer Sotelo; however, Sotelo only re-worked a few of the melodies when recording vocals, versus writing completely new lyrics. As a result, Sabol's and Barretto's lyrics and vocal melodies and harmonies are still featured on the record. The album was re-released on February 6, 2012 as a 'Special Edition' including instrumentals, along with a new song "Passenger", originally recorded by guitarist Mark Holcomb during his time in the band Haunted Shores. This is the only album to feature guitarist Alex Bois and bassist Tom Murphy.
Misha Mansoor, also known as Bulb after the name of his solo project, is an American musician, best known as the founder of and one of the three guitarists in the progressive metal band Periphery. He is also a part of the projects Haunted Shores and Four Seconds Ago, and Of Man, Not of Machine.
Periphery II: This Time It's Personal is the second studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. The album was released on June 29, 2012 through Roadrunner Records in Australia and on July 3 through Sumerian in America. It was produced by Misha Mansoor and Adam Getgood. It is the first record by the band to feature new members Mark Holcomb and Adam "Nolly" Getgood, replacing Alex Bois and Tom Murphy on guitar and bass, respectively.
Intervals is a Canadian instrumental progressive metal band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 2011. The band has toured throughout Canada and the United States with bands such as Animals as Leaders, Protest the Hero, Between the Buried and Me and The Contortionist.
Clear is the second EP by American progressive metal band Periphery. It was released on January 28, 2014 through Sumerian Records. This EP is an experimental work for the band: aside from the intro track, each member of the band composed a track and covered the role of creative director over that track.
Juggernaut: Alpha is the third studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. It's the first part of a double album, the second part of which is Juggernaut: Omega. The double album was released on January 27, 2015, by Sumerian Records. Juggernaut: Alpha debuted at No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200.
Juggernaut: Omega is the fourth studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. It's the second part of a double album, the first part of which is Juggernaut: Alpha. The double album was released on January 27, 2015, by Sumerian Records. Juggernaut: Omega debuted at No. 25 on the U.S. Billboard 200.
Periphery III: Select Difficulty is the fifth studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. The album was released July 22, 2016 through Sumerian Records, and was produced by Misha Mansoor and Adam Getgood. The opening track, "The Price Is Wrong", was nominated for Best Metal Performance in the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. It is the last album the band released on this label. It is also the last album to feature bassist Adam "Nolly" Getgood as an official member of Periphery before he left the band in 2017, though he still returned on Periphery IV: Hail Stan to produce, engineer, and mix the album, in addition to contributing final bass parts.
Harrison Moore Miree is an American drummer originally from Birmingham, Alabama, currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been the drummer for LoCash, Nashville's Clare Bowen, Ryan Follese of Hot Chelle Rae, Hardy, Levi Hummon, and others. Miree is known for his open-handed playing style, earning popularity in the drumming community through millions of views of his original videos on the streaming platform YouTube.
Periphery IV: Hail Stan is the sixth studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. The album was released on April 5, 2019. It is their first album not to be released on Sumerian Records, as the band parted ways with the label in 2018. The album was independently released on the band's own label, 3DOT Recordings. It is also Periphery's first album since the departure of bassist Adam "Nolly" Getgood in 2017, though he still served as producer and performed mixing duties for the album, in addition to performing the final bass parts written by guitarist Misha Mansoor. The album also features live orchestrations and choir from the band's longtime collaborator and arranger Randy Slaugh.
Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre is the seventh studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. It was released on March 10, 2023, through the band's own label, 3DOT Recordings. The album was self-produced by the band and the band's former bassist Adam "Nolly" Getgood.