Brooksy? What's all this about then...

So , it all goes back to the place of my birth. A small market town in the middle of England; Stafford. The place where i was born and raised until 13 years of age. It doesn't start with me though. Growing up the Brooksy nickname had already been used by members of my family with my dad and his 6 brothers in Stafford, as well as my own big brother Adam who was affectionately known as Brooksy at School. I also ended up being called by this name and the rest, you could say is history.

Fast forward many years to a RAYE rehearsal approximately 7 or so years ago and we had a situation on our hands. I think there were 3 Matt's (including me) in the room and it was getting way too confusing so i said, "Just call me Brooksy! That's what all my friends at school used to call me and it will help with the confusion." Since then, that childhood nickname joined me at work, in particular with team RAYE.

Now we've got that out of the way, it's 2026 and i have Brooksy drumsticks and people are now asking me to make T-shirts? The little kid from Stafford with the inherited family nickname thinks that's wild lol

I'm not out here trying to be a celebrity or thinking that i'm famous. If you know me, you know i actually hate the limelight, however so many people were asking for sticks that i had to oblige. It also helped that my drumstick company, Vic Firth offer personalisation of sticks for their artists as a service, so when the requests came in, i already knew how to make it happen. It took a lot for me to do it and with a gentle nudge from you guys, i did it (whilst cringing i must add because who in their right mind wants Brooksy sticks - I'm just a regular guy).

So now you have a little context about Brooksy, what i'm doing will hopefully start to make more sense. I think the T-shirts will come along with some other cool products for anyone who is inspired by my drumming, or even inspired by my ethos on life and thinks that they can relate to the way in which i live my life.

i'm hoping that as i get back in the habit of blogging and sharing my thoughts that this website will be a resource, source of inspiration and help for musicians but also anyone with aspirations in life.

I have no idea how often i will blog but for those of you who are in the Brooksy community on instagram (JOIN THE BROOKSY COMMUNITY), feel free to ask questions and share thoughts about things you want me to share my perspective on and i'll do my best to incorporate that into my blogs.

I've been typing for too long now and honestly, i'd be surprised to know that you even made it this far down, but if you did, thanks for reading; hopefully you'll come back again.

Feel free to leave a comment or ask questions. I will reply!

Nice one guys!

Matt - Brooksy