William Matthew "Matt" Noveskey is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, and bassist, best known for his work with the bands Blue October and machines.
Early life
Noveskey grew up in a very musical household in Northern Michigan. His uncle played bass guitar and sang in a touring rock band, his brother plays drums, and his grandparents played guitar, piano and accordion. Inspired by his uncle Jim Noveskey, Matt started playing bass at age eleven and has been playing in bands since he was a teenager. Matt has said that he was interested in playing both drums and guitar, and that playing bass sort of allowed him to do both at the same time. His first band was called Love Muscle and he also played in a band called Toast, which included his brother on drums. His early musical influences were bassists James Jamerson, Larry Graham, and Flea. Noveskey graduated from Saint Francis High School in Traverse City in 1994. He attended various Michigan colleges and bartended while playing weekend shows with a variety of local acts, including the bands Switch and Botfly. Acting on a tip from his booking agent, in late 1998 he successfully auditioned for Blue October. His first full show with Blue October was at Satellite Lounge in Houston, Texas on February 12, 1999.
Blue October
Noveskey joined Blue October in 1998 after the departure of the group's original bassist, Liz Mullally. Noveskey played guitar, bass and sang backing vocals on Blue October's 2000 major label debut Consent to Treatment. He also created the artwork for the album and along with Justin Furstenfeld, co-wrote the single "James" and the live fan-favorite "You Make Me Smile." Noveskey toured extensively with Blue October in support of Consent to Treatment. He stayed with the band even after they were dropped from Universal Records, but left due to health reasons at the end of the tour in late 2002. Blue October re-signed with Universal for the release of 2003's History for Sale on which Noveskey contributed. Matt eventually fully rejoined Blue October in late 2004. During his absence, Blue October never played the Noveskey-penned "You Make Me Smile" during a concert. The song was included as the opening track on the band's 2006 platinum album Foiled and is now a live staple. After the departure of Blue October's lead guitarist, C.B. Hudson, in 2010, Noveskey temporarily took over guitar duty during performances until the band hired Julian Mandrake as a full-time lead guitarist.
(a+)machines
During his absence from Blue October, Noveskey formed a second band with Blue October's drum technician Alan Adams, who had previously been the drummer for the bands Falling Jupiter and Flywater Washington. The new band, machines, also includes Ryan Holley and Chris Lynch. Noveskey is the primary singer and lyricist in the band, which have recorded a 5-track EP and a live album. The band actively toured during 2004 and 2005 with such acts as Canvas, SouthFM, 7 Mary 3, Vallejo and the Burden Brothers, and played an official showcase at SXSW in 2005. The group have been on hiatus while Noveskey and Adams tour with Blue October. machines has periodically reunited to play live concerts. Their most recent show was October 27, 2018 in Austin.
While not touring and recording with his bands, Noveskey lends his services as a bassist, songwriter, vocalist and record producer to other recording artists, such as Wesley Lunsford & The Selfless Season. In January 2008 he formed a production company called 116 Producers with producer/engineer Chuck Alkazian. The duo works with some of the brightest upcoming talent in the music business today, mainly recording out of Detroit and Austin. Several of the artists Noveskey produces have signed to major labels, won awards, achieved chart success and had their songs placed in movies and television shows. In addition to producing young talent, Noveskey is the proprietor of Wanderlust Artist Management and Promotion, a company that manages and promotes the artists he produces. His current roster includes the bands I Am Dynamite, Dossey and Courrier. Matt also manages Dalton Rapattoni who finished third on American Idol, and he also produced Rapattoni's debut solo album Nobody's Home. In 2012 Noveskey along with Blue October's guitarist C.B. Hudson, broke ground on Orb Recording Studios, a world class residential recording studio in Austin, which opened in 2013. In 2014 Orb Studios was selected as Austin's best recording studio in the Austin Music Industry Awards. Noveskey also tours as a solo artist, often sharing the stage with friends such as Justin Furstenfeld, Joseph King, Jeff Crowder, Wesley Lunsford, Ryan Holley, Casey McPherson, Paco Estrada and Johnny Goudie. Matt's solo sets contain a mix of his solo songs, machines songs, Blue October songs and covers. He is often accompanied by his machines bandmate Ryan Holley. In 2014, Noveskey joined the band Harvard of the South with Steve Schiltz of Longwave and Justin and Jeremy Furstenfeld of Blue October. Harvard of the South has completed recording an album, however due to most of the members being busy with Blue October, the album has yet to be released. Matt has also toured and played shows as a live member of The Meeting Place, The Paco Estrada Band, Megan Becker Band, and Alpha Rev. He produced and played bass on Paco Estrada's album Bedtime Stories and also played bass on Estrada's live album Dancing With The Devil, both of which were recorded at Noveskey's Orb Studios. Matt also plays bass in the Ryan Delahoussaye-fronted side project The Meeting Place. Noveskey is a celebrity endorser of Fender basses, Aguilar bass amps, Michael Kelly acoustic basses, Old School FX pedals and Black Diamond strings, and the first Moniker bass guitar was custom-built for Noveskey in 2013. He also is a member of the advisory board for Black Fret, an Austin-based organization that finds and funds local music talent. In 2019 Matt started working with Alan Adams on a new musical project called Icarus Bell. They began recording their debut album in 2020, which features contributions from Paco Estrada, Will Knaak and Ryan Delahoussaye.
