With some pretty famous initials you might confuse MJK with Maynard James Keenan from Tool, but in fact, residing in NZ is our own professional muso MJK ‘Mathew King’ born in the ‘Naki.
Performing under MJK, Mathew has just released a brand new single Magnetic, and it’s a pretty slick tune!
The single kicks off with some very intimate guitar work, you start asking yourself if its flamenco/Spanish? Then the band kicks in with hints of what sounds like a marriage of jazz and grunge.
I’ve been in jazz bands, big bands, concert bands, and rock bands, and if you asked me if you could merge those into one and still have it sound good, I’d say yeah nah, but somehow, Magnetic pulls all of these aspects into something that gives me glimmers of a much more polished version of early Red Hot Chili Peppers mixed with Primus.
MJK has such a unique voice. It’s got such an earthy/mature tone. In the beginning it somewhat reminds me of Curtis Stigers (the guy who wrote/sang the Sons of Anarchy theme song), but then blends to something a little more bluesy. He’s also used some simple yet effective distortion over the top to give it just a touch more edge.
The massive highlight for me really is the guitar work all the way through, not just the writing, but the way it is performed. MJK is clearly a very talented musician, and a very talented songwriter who has put a massive amount of effort into this tune. There is elements that I think a music lover of any genre could well appreciate.
If you are a blues/Jazz/Rock fan and appreciate something with a bit of a twist, you need to check out this tune.
Mat Gat (MJK) is a solo guitarist/ musician from Taranaki currently residing in Dunedin. Studying at the Wanganui school of music from 1999/2000 gave Mathew a strong grounding in all aspects of music theory and performance. In 2019 he was a member of Trip Change to play the New Plymouth Festival of the Lights event in January. After Covid changed the musical landscape it gave him the opportunity to focus more on his solo career.
Releasing his first single Magnetic on 02/10/2020 Recorded at Arthousemedia Studios Dunedin. Mathew's main focus and love is guitar but he enjoys a vast amount of musical styles as can be heard by his Spotify and YouTube channels. Main influences are - Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Tool, Led Zeppelin, Portishead, Sublime, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and many more.