Matt Wachter was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. As a child, he spent most of his time with his family in New Jersey and Boston. An active child, Matt participated in baseball and soccer, taking up swimming as well, he also went to Space Camp, along with Space Academy. His interest in music bloomed when he was around five years old, and between the ages of five and eight, Matt experimented with various instruments, focusing primarily on the piano and drums.
Matt reached the peak of his musical interest around high school and spent most of his time playing in bands. He picked up the bass, he stated, because he "wanted to play in a band, and the band needed a bass player." Matt had no previous experience with the bass, the closest being experimenting with the guitar. He credited former Metallica bassist, the late Cliff Burton, as his inspiration for wanting to play the bass guitar.
Wachter was rumored to have worked in a slaughter house, but confessed in an interview that he and his bandmates made up the story to stir up an otherwise dull interview.
Shannon Leto, and Solon Bixler, rounding out the 30 Seconds to Mars line-up, in 2001. Solon Bixler was replaced with Tomo Milicevic in 2003.
Wachter often stands in a "pigeon-toed" stance (both feet turned in toward each other) when he plays his bass, and stares down at his feet. He says doing this allows him to focus on what he's playing and keeps him from being distracted by fans.
In the early days of 30 Seconds to Mars, Wachter complained of consistent headaches after performing, but no pain while he was on stage. After a visit to the hospital and a CT scan, it was discovered that he developed a concussion from frequent head-banging on stage. This prompted his mother to suggest he "wiggle his hips like Elvis", as mentioned in the fan yearbook. The head-banging has since stopped.
The first two dates of the 2006 "Forever Night, Never Day" headlining tour had to be postponed after Matt hurt himself. The injury resulted from changing one of his car's headlights (or as Shannon says "He was left alone with a pair of scissors." to which Matt replied "A pair of scissors and a light bulb. I'll leave the rest to your imagination."), pushing the tour back an additional two weeks. The band issued press release to fans on March 2.
While on tour in El Paso, Texas, on March 1, 2007, Jared Leto announced to the arena that Matthew would be playing his last show with the band. He dedicated the final song of the show, "R-Evolve", to Matthew. The group, with the exception of Matthew then signed autographs for the El Paso fans.
Following the departure of Ryan Sinn from the band Angels & Airwaves, on 23 April 2007, Wachter has joined the band in Sinn's place on their current tour. He was later confirmed as a bandmember, and worked with Angels & Airwaves on their second album, I-Empire.
Love is Angels & Airwaves' third album and the second with Matt as a member of the band.
