Nick Machado was born in Fremont, California in 1985. At a young age he started picking out songs by ear on a toy keyboard that his parents had bought him. When he was 9 his parents bought him a electric keyboard and signed him up for piano lessons. In 1996 he moved out to Livermore where he continued to study piano, but was introduced to the electric bass by one of his friends. The introduction of this new instrument opened Nick's eyes to a broad variety of styles of music. He was now playing classical/rock/blues piano and rock/funk/jazz bass.

Nick began teaching at the Riekes in 2005 after being brought in by Justin Shetler. In 2007 he started working at the front desk. He now teaches bass, piano, band classes, music camps, and plays numerous songs with students in the monthly recitals.

Aside from teaching, Nick plays in a band, Punchface, with Justin Shetler and Ryan Tapley that are also mentors at the Riekes Center. They are pursuing dreams of becoming "rock stars" and have played such venues as Slims, Bottom of the Hill, and X-Fest. To learn more about them, visit www.myspace.com/punchface.

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