Music: It's My Life

First EP Album Cover

"This is what I was born to do, I have to make use of the talents I have been given and I won't quit. I know my future lies with music." These words spoken by Nolan Mateer, the electrifying frontman for The Art of Deception, come from years of toil and effort in the face of much difficulty and virtually no support. Nolan, an extremely driven guy equipped with a surprising skill set, has been a member of bands since he was a young boy. He has used his ability to produce thrashing guttural vocals similar to Parkway Drive or classic Bring Me The Horizon, as well as harmonic, passionate clean vocals similar to Pierce The Veil or Ice Nine Kills, to entertain fans for years. Today we'll focus on his current project, The Art of Deception.

Nolan is a relatively unassuming guy, he isn't tall, he isn't stout - he isn't particularly exceptional in any way with regard to his physical appearance. One thing he noticed early on in his musical career is that this fact sometimes throws people when they first hear him perform. They are shocked to see that such sounds can come out of him. He has a very polite personality, and loves to fool around. You can get a small sense of who he is from this video, filmed while Nolan was tracking vocals in the studio.

Nolan first took an interest in playing music during his 7th grade year at Danville Middle School. "I just knew that music was something that I wanted to do at that point," he said. He continued to detail a story about his first purchase of a musical instrument. Being in 7th grade and unable to get a real job due to his age, he "crowd-sourced" his funding. At a high school football game one Friday night, he went around to many parents and other patrons at the game and informed them of his dilemma, asking for donations for his "buy me a bass" fund. He raised over $150 that night, and the next day went out and bought himself a very cheap bass guitar. "I still have that bass, it needs all new electronics and new strings, but I keep it as a memento, haha," he said.

His Work Space

Most of Nolan's work is done from his home studio. This is where the band does all of its writing and future planning. A very faint trace of the scent of smoke and beer can be detected; the smells of creativity. Three walls painted crimson red, and one slathered with white set the atmosphere of the space. Three guitars adorn the back wall, suspended by Hercules guitar mounts - A faded cherry red Gibson Flying 'V', a tobacco sunburst Washburn Acoustic guitar, and the heavy metal maker, a Schecter KM-7 with a black satin finish. KM-7 comes from the namesake of the guitar, Keith Morrow, and from the fact that it has 7 strings. His work space, dominated by three bright screens that serve as monitors, provides an ideal situation for the band to work as 'one'. Thanks to this setup, the band members can see whats going on from any location in the room. "I have the monitor on the left mostly to display the mixer, as well as any additional software I might have running while we work. Then in the middle I have my main monitor, where I do all of the editing, and where we work on email or any social media stuff, and this screen is duplicated on the third screen, a 36" TV so that everyone can see what I'm doing," Nolan said of his work space. He continued, "We use mostly Reaper as our primary DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) along with FL Studio (another DAW) for any sort of effects like bass drops or special backing track stuff."

KM-7 with Black Satin Finish

Founded in 2014, The Art of Deception is a band that utilizes aspects of many sub-genres of metal music. Nolan described the bands sound as "Sort of a mashup of many sub-genres of metal. We've been told we're in the post-hardcore sub-genre, but in my mind its really hard to determine what the parameters that define each sub-genre are. It's an area of debate, haha. You could say our music is for fans of bands like Parkway Drive, Memphis May Fire, or bands like that. It's hard to really put our sound in a box."  The band consists of drummer Travis Stine, an interesting character who sports a beard and can often be caught wearing his sleeveless, custom made, black with white trim SJC (his drum sponsor) jersey. Jared Moser plays the bass, and he seems like a real card, quick with his wit and always ready with obscure movie and television quotes to match any given

Second EP Cover

situation. He can be recognized by his long blonde hair and band tee shirts, featuring bands you would not expect a metal bassist to like, such as Bjork. The latest addition to the band, guitarist Brett Anspach stands out from the group in a way - he is just 5'4". He is also the youngest member of the band, at age 20, but his nimble fingers can fly furiously up and down that fret board. 

An astounding musician, Nolan plans to continue chasing his dream for as long as it takes. He knows that he'll be involved in the music industry in some capacity for the rest of his life.


(album cover photos retreived from band Facebook)