Matt Pike
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Matt Pike was the guitarist of the now legendary stoner rock/metal band Sleep and is now the guitarist/vocalist of the Bay Area thrash metal band High on Fire. High on Fire is as of 2006 on a consistent touring schedule, and their contract with Relapse Records is still active.
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[edit] History
Pike moved to California after spending time in Military School while living with his mother in Golden, Colorado. A self-proclaimed "Juvenile delinquent" at one time, he was stealing car stereos in order to feed a developing "drug habit". When he arrived to the Silicon Valley-- realizing that the punk and metal scene was much more active than the one in Denver, he quickly made friends and began going to shows. Pike joined a grindcore band called Asbestos Death. After playing around the bay area they developed a much more heavy and slow sound. Dubbed "Doom metal" by the press, The quartet soon began to develop a following and changed their name to Sleep.
[edit] Sleep
When Marler decided to eject, Sleep became a "solo" guitar band and continued to keep it’s vitality heavy. Holy Mountain illustrated Pike as a young Tony Iommi--generating ear-shattering Black Sabbath riffs that invariably made a profound impact on the developing stoner metal/doom metal scene. In 1997, Sleep called it quits after London Records refused to release the Dopesmoker/Jerusalem recordings and the accumulating pressure the members were experiencing. Pike couldn't come to terms with the break-up and became depressed. A short time later he realized that it wasn't "over", and decided to give it another shot by calling people over to jam in his garage. Within six-months, the jams were headed to fruition and a band (High on Fire) was developing from a simple need to play guitar again.
[edit] High on Fire
From the ashes of Sleep rose Pike’s new band, High on Fire (HOF) contains the heaviness of Sleep but is faster, with more aggression and edge. Pike handles both guitar and vocal duties. High On Fire have toured consistently since their inception.
[edit] Scum Angel/Kalas
Pike was the frontman of the Bay Area psychedelic-metal band Kalas (formally Scum Angel) that featured members of Econochrist, Samiam, and Cruevo. Without strapping on the guitar, Pike only sang and surprisingly more melodically; the band however did include dual guitars. Kalas split in September of 2006.
[edit] Equipment
Pike has hardly changed his guitar set up since his time in Sleep. He plays two or three Gibson Les Pauls in High On Fire, including the cherry-sunburst standard he used in his previous band. During the early years of Sleep, Pike used Laney and Orange Amps but Pike and Al Cisneros discovered the Matamp “Green” while on tour in England, which became their preferred amplifier.
A few photos online have shown him using his Laney amps and some Marshall Amplification as well. Initially, the only other addition he made to his set up after Sleep was adding a Soldano Preamp (to add more gain) to the Green head. Pike would feed the Matamp and Soldano signal into a Solid State Power Amp to power his Green Cabinets. He eventually switched to a beefy Soldano SLO-100 Head during the Blessed Black Wings era.
As of 2006, he has been using only the Soldano head to power two-Green Cabinets. Since the Matamp heads require regular maintenance, bringing them on the road has become "touchy". An insider has mentioned that Matt owns some of the last Green amps (in honor of Fleetwood Mac Guitarist Peter Green) that Matamp founder Mat Mathias and amp builder Dave Green ever touched and they have since become collector's items.
[edit] External links
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