Matthew David Hayes was born in Bloomington, Illinois, and raised in Traverse City, Michigan.  Coming from a very musical family, he began drumming at an early age.  At the age 3, he began banging on pots and pans with chopsticks and shortly afterward received his first drum set.   

His father played bass in the Jon Petersen Jazz Trio, and Matt occasionally sat in with the group at gigs. In kindergarten, dressed in a tux like his dad, he played "In Crowd" on stage as the featured artist for that year's Rotary Minstrel Show.  He even had a solo ride of just the right number of bars playing three straight nights of the show after two nights of rehearsal.  After the show each night, he signed autographs in block letters for dozens of audience members.  He repeated that performance in 2nd grade with standing ovations each night.   

Around age 8, he began to take piano lessons from his grandmother and joined his parents in the Cadillac Symphony Orchestra playing percussion.   In grade school through high school, Matt excelled in the Symphonic Band, Symphonic Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Choir.           

As a teenager he started playing professional gigs with his father’s trio, and then went on to play with many different musicians creating musical groups ranging from rock fusion to jazz trios to a mutli-award winning blues band.  Taking his love for drums to the next level, Matt began touring and playing with a few bands  including Root Doctor, a multi-award winning blues band whose CD "Been a Long Time Coming" won the 2006 WYCE Jammie Award for Best Blues Album.  He has performed extensively with the River Raisin Ragtime Revue, one of America’s premier ragtime bands.  He is the featured percussionist on their debut album “Red Back Book.”  Matt recently toured coast to coast with Brent James and the Contraband and was the percussionist when Skidd Mills recorded their album at The Sound Kitchen in Nashville.  Their first single "Moment of Silence" is already creating a buzz in the music industry.   The band has shared the stage with Stone Temple Pilots and Alice Cooper, among others.