In this special episode of Burning the Ships, I sit down with Matt Brooks, guitarist and founding member of the hard rock band Like a Storm—one of the most successful musical acts to come out of New Zealand.

Matt pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to turn a dream into a worldwide touring machine. We talk about the band’s DIY beginnings, how they used grit, belief, and bold thinking to go from opening gigs to chart-topping international tours without a major label deal, and how Matt is overcoming the rockstar life he has grown to know for years.

From creative freedom to business strategy, this conversation isn’t just for musicians, it’s for anyone willing to bet on themselves when no one else will.

Key Talking Points of the Episode

00:00 Introduction

00:39 JJ’s Joke of the Week

01:29 Who is Matt Brooks?

09:27 Matt’s introduction to his passion for music

14:26 The challenges of being a musician in New Zealand

16:37 Where Matt’s love for music comes from

18:23 How playing in a band is like a business partnership

20:29 The pros of working with family in music

23:43 Making the decision to move to Vancouver

27:53 Why Matt and his brothers moved to Vancouver

32:39 The beginning of Like a Storm’s success

39:12 Joining Creed on tour for the first time

41:38 How resilience and determination helped Like a Storm succeed

43:24 The vicious cycle of the music industry

46:00 Finding challenges to foster continuous growth

48:24 The cliches of the music industry

51:41 Developing unhealthy coping mechanisms as a musician

53:57 How COVID impacted the music industry

57:11 Becoming dependent on substances to sustain a career

59:22 Overcoming the rockstar cliche

01:04:43 Life as a musician and life in the military

01:08:32 Matt’s wake up call during COVID

01:13:46 How addiction can affect children’s perspective in life

01:15:51 Matt’s mission to help musicians with their mental health

01:24:38 Learning how to be your authentic self

01:29:04 Get in touch with Matt Brooks

Quotables

“Our hope was always to end up touring the US but we knew this was gonna be a gradual process, so for us, Vancouver was a great place to start.”

“A lot of the cliches about the music business are true – which is that it’s this incredibly exciting, amazing adventure, and you have the chance to do a lot of things that people don’t but there’s a cost to that.”

“The only thing that I could commit to was that I was gonna keep trying.”

Links

Matt Brooks

https://www.facebook.com/likeastormmatt

https://www.instagram.com/likeastormmatt

Like a Storm

https://www.instagram.com/likeastorm

608B Capital

https://608bcapital.com