Michael Giammattei also known amongst the CT music community as Mikey G, has dedicated his life to the pursuit of making music not only as a career, but also as a way of life. He's had a love of music since he was a youngster, especially gravitating towards anything percussive. This love led him to his instrument of choice, and his drumming journey began while in 5th grade of the CT school system. However, it wasn't until Middle School that he first began to experiment on the drum set. His music teacher at the time was selling a 5-piece Slingerland kit and asked him if he was interested in purchasing it. Of course he jumped at the chance to buy it and got the money from his parents to do just that. It is somewhat of an indescribable feeling when sitting down for the first time behind your very first drum set, but a feeling he tries to hold onto each time he does so in the present. Not ever taking lessons, Michael began to teach himself the intricacies of the drum set every day after school. However, during the day while at school Michael progressed through the music program, which allowed him to become a well-rounded drummer. He was immersed in several styles of music, including Classical Concert pieces as well as your typical Football Fight songs. Being part of the Shelton High School Drum Corp afforded Michael the opportunity to march in many a parade as well as many field shows. Being a member of the Drum Corp (and then Captain of the drum line in his Junior and Senior years), he along with his fellow drummers were often given opportunities to play solos when doing field shows, usually in front of hundreds of people. This was his first introduction to how teamwork in a musical atmosphere could make amazing things happen and it was a taste of performing in front of large audiences; something that he would learn to appreciate later on.

He is proud to say that he is self-taught on the kit and was able to advance a long ways on his own. It wasn't until after college and a few bands later that Michael met up with his first ever drum instructor, Ron Nihoff, at a local open Mic night. Ron studied with Joe Bonadillo out of NYC and was the perfect drummer to advance Michael's drumming skills. After finishing several years of lessons with Ron, Michael set out on his own. He began playing in both cover bands and original bands just to play as much as he could and to make a little money on the side. It was at this time he met his second drum instructor, Greg Trabandt (Proprietor of RVP Studios in CT). Michael's biggest leap forward as a drummer took place at this time; not only in his playing, but also in opportunities that began to present themselves. A local group of musicians was assembled and put together with a few out-of-towners, thus making up the band Pipeline. It didn't take long for this band to do big things; one such thing was showcasing for record labels @ SIR in NYC. Labels that were interested in the band were Epic, Universal, Sony and Casablanca. Though it was not meant to be for this band to make it nationally, it did give him that extra fire and push he needed to keep trying to reach his ultimate goal: to make a living playing music. It was also at this time that Michael was afforded his greatest achievement to date, a write-up in DRUM! Magazine’s Oct 2005 issue. Though the article was a small one about new up and coming drummers it was a moment of validation, that not only had all the hard work, time and effort put in been paying off, but it was a sign that showed him he was on the right track to possibly making his dreams a reality.

Throughout the years Michael has had many amazing experiences and opportunities. He has been in many original bands that have played as direct support for such National Recording Artists as Saliva, Bowling for Soup(which just so happened to be the debut performance of his band Our Finest Hour), The Plain White Tees, Ra, OTEP, Static-X, Split Shift, Revelation Theory, The Strokes, Cavo, Atom Smash, American Bang, The Steve Broderick Band (lead singer of TSO fame), The Marshall Tucker Band, Chris Jensen, and Black Jack Billy, among others. He has performed at many local CT staples such as Toad's Place, Café 9 and The Webster Theater; as well as at universities such as Western CT State University, Sacred Heart University, SUNY Cobleskill NY and Cornell University. Also being in one of the last bands (Calm to Chaos) to ever play the infamous CBGB's in NYC (before closing their doors) was quite a big honor for Michael and his band mates. That very same band, Calm to Chaos, was named the Best Original Rock Group (Readers Choice) for the 2007 Hartford Advocate Grand Band Slam. His bands have had their songs played on CT radio stations as well as being on National CD compilations. He has had some songs he's recorded drum tracks for place very high (top few hundred out of thousands) in National songwriting contests (most notably the Billboard Song Writing Contest) as well as finishing in the top for many a National band competition. He was named "Best Instrumentalist" in the New Haven Advocate's Grand Band Slam Readers Poll for 2011 and his band This Time Down named "Best Punk Band". He has recorded drum tracks for several different artists/bands demos/albums including: Pipeline, Our Finest Hour, Big Ugly, David Miller, The Dominick P. Mauro Project, Tom Forst and Amadeo L. Gauthier. In 2015, Michael's band, Forgotten by
Friday was nominated for "Best Country Band" in the CT Music Awards Grand Band Slam Readers Poll and took home the title of the 2015 Best Country Band in CT (along with a nice trophy). He has several albums to his credit, the self-entitled "Calm to Chaos" debut album on Horizon Music Group Recordings, the newly debuted album "Believe" with his band Forgotten by Friday and an appearance on another local artist's album, Chris Bickley's "Tapestry of Souls" (both of which have also been produced by HMG); featuring such other guest artists as Kelly Keeling of Baton Rouge/Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Michael Schenker Group/Lynch Mob/Dokken/Carmine Appice/Blue Murder fame (on Vocals), Chandler Mogel of Outloud/Talon fame (on Vocals), Mike Vescera of Obsession/Loudness/Yngwie Malmsteen fame (on Vocals), Eric Klaastad of Trouble Tribe/Cindy Lauper/Billy Joel/Thunderhead fame (on Bass), Chris McCarvill of X Factor X/Obsession/Dokken fame (on Bass), Scott Spray of Arc Angel fame (on Bass), Michael K. Smith (on Bass), Dom Mauro (on Bass), Rick Gauthier (on Bass), Bill Holloman of Nile Rodgers/Larry Gatlin/Bruce Springsteen/Paul Simon/Slash/Elton John/Steven Tyler/Patti Lebelle/Diana Ross/Les Paul fame (on Sax & Trumpet), Gaetano Nicolosi of Iron Horse fame (on Drums), Bobby "T" Torello of Thunderhead/Michael Bolton/Johnny Winter/Grace Slick/Black Oak Arkansas/Air Supply fame (on Drums), Paul Pedroncelli (on Drums), Vic Steffens (on Drums) and B.J. Zampa of House of Lords/Obsession/Metal Church fame (on Drums). The track that Michael recorded for "Tapestry of Souls" features Michael K. Smith on bass and Mike Vescera on lead vocals.

Michael currently drums for several bands (Original and cover), Forgotten by Friday, which is an Americana/Southern Rock/Alt-Country group like such acts as Keith Urban, Zack Brown, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Black Crowes, which has two albums to it's credit (2010's "Believe" and 2015's "Whiskey & Song"). He also plays with the Grunge Tribute act SNAP: a tribute to the Big 4 of Grunge, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Michael also teaches, actively plays with several cover acts as the #1 fill-in guy on the skins (ranging from Soul/Funk bands, to Country bands, to Classic and Modern Rock bands), is the occasional house drummer for several open mic nights, and does the occasional studio session when his talents are needed.

They say that it's not so much the final destination, but the journey, which is most enjoyable, so with a little luck, a few prayers and a lot of hard work hopefully Michael will finally be able to get to that next level where he can finally enjoy playing music for a living. This truly would be his dream come true, so stay tuned, as it should be an interesting ride!