Drums
South African drummer and songwriter Matome Phala, born in Johannesburg, Gauteng has been playing drum set since age eight. Matome strove to learn every style and drum technique and credits his first teacher, Scottish drummer Bill Donaldson, with guiding him along his musical path.
Matome went full-steam ahead focusing on performing and playing with a variety of artists and also becoming a songwriter. Eventually, his music pursuits led him to apply and be accepted to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he completed his Bachelor of Music Degree in Professional Music with concentrations in Performance and Songwriting.
Along the way he developed an affinity for drummers who broke music norms such as the likes of Jojo Mayer, Thomas Lang, Buddy Rich, Benny Greb, Thom Green, Anika Nilles, Elvin Jones, David Garibaldi as well as rock music musicians such as Taylor Hawkins and Chad Smith (funk-rock). Matome then went to a music diploma program in Cape Town where he studied under the virtuosic, Andre Swarts, who influenced Matome to pursue his career overseas at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The first of his large ventures include two tours with Jacob's Saw a blues rock South African Band and recorded a song called "I'll Be There" off their "Ever Faithful"
Recently Matome embarked on the journey of playing for a Boston Based Band, Gost Pepper, and has begun the process of being a founding member of a few projects to come in the Boston Area, while pursuing his career as a songwriter as well. Matome explores the marriage of music and life, hand in hand much like he fell for music. He strives to inspire listeners and musicians to come with all his heart,bringing worldly cultures and pushes them to believe anything is possible no matter your background.