The band Periphery’s drummer Matt Halpern will not be a part of their Australian tour. The Washington-based DC band will be a man down for their Australian tour, but thankfully it’s for an excellent reason. Matt is taking some time off after the birth of his second child to focus on his personal life and responsibilities with it.
Halpern announced his hiatus on Instagram in a video with the following post:
“Hey everyone! I have good news and bad news… The good news is we recently welcomed my second child into the family and everyone is doing great! Bad news is, I’m sad to say that with my current family duties at home, I won’t be joining Periphery in Australia for our November tour. I’m really going to miss not being able to be there on this run, but thankfully the band will be in very capable hands (and feet!) with the great David Parkes [of I Built the Sky] filling in for me on the drums. I’ll be on dad duty throughout the end of the year, but I’m stoked to get back out on tour for Periphery’s run supporting Spiritbox in early 2025, and of course I’ll also be back for everything else beyond that as well. Thanks to all of you awesome fans in Australia for understanding, and I hope to be back down your way as soon as possible. Cheers!”
Born in Baltimore, Matt Halpern became interested in music at a young age and got his first kids drum set at age 3, before switching to a full-sized one at 6 and taking private drum lessons. Throughout college Halpern sustained himself by teaching drums and performing in local bar gigs. After college, he toured with several local bands including The Underwater out of York, PA and a band with long-time friend Dan Book called Armoreta before joining instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders in 2008. In 2009, after his stint with Animals as Leaders, Halpern joined progressive metal band Periphery, replacing the departing Travis Orbin.
In 2012 Halpern launched Bandhappy.com, an educational website where students could take live one-on-one video lessons with various established artists. In 2014 Halpern shut down the site citing his busy schedule with Periphery.
In 2016, alongside bandmates Adam “Nolly” Getgood and Misha Mansoor, Halpern developed GetGood Drums, a sample-based drum software synthesizer. In 2018, Periphery left Sumerian Records and founded their own independent record label 3DOT Recordings.
Halpern uses and endorses Pearl drums and hardware, Meinl cymbals, Promark drumsticks, and Evans drumheads. He previously endorsed Mapex and Yamaha drums and hardware.
Over the years Halpern developed a number of signature products, such as the Matt Halpern signature snare drum with Pearl Drums, signature drum key for drumkeyshop.com, Promark signature drumsticks, the Meinl Artist Concept Double Down Stack, and the Mapex Black Panther Wraith snare drum.
In 2012, Halpern formed a rock group called The Mothership with his Periphery bandmate Spencer Sotelo. In 2020, Sotelo revived the project, now rechristened King Mothership, alongside Halpern on drums and Tai Wright (former drummer for Slaves) on bass, and released their debut album The Ritual on October 2, 2020.