Mat Ninat
Guitarist · Singer · Songwriter · Recording Artist
Rock & roll, written in guitar and recorded to tape.
Mat Ninat is a French-British guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer whose music is built on riffs, melody, live interplay and the physical sound of a band in a room.
His musical language was formed early: rock'n'roll cassettes from his father, then The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The guitar became the centre of everything — an instrument for writing songs, shaping arrangements and turning instinct into sound.
That lineage runs through two solo albums: the self-titled Mat Ninat, recorded at the legendary Studios Davout in Paris and released in 2018, and Night Angel, released in 2025. Across both records, the priorities remain unchanged: songs before spectacle, character before correction, and performances with enough air, friction and electricity to feel alive.
He writes, sings and plays guitar from a position between two cultures: British rock in the blood, French independence in the way the work is made. The result is direct, cinematic rock music with blues undercurrents and a deep respect for the records that first made amplifiers feel dangerous.
Two albums. One continuous search for an honest sound.
Mat Ninat
The first solo statement, recorded at the legendary Studios Davout in Paris through an SSL 4000G+ console. Guests include Norbert “Nono” Krief, Patrick Rondat and Renaud Hantson .
Night Angel
Ten songs recorded live in five days at Studio 180 in Paris, through an original SSL 4000 E console and onto MCI 2-inch 24-track analog tape — no click, no safety net.
Commit to the take.
For Mat, analog recording is not nostalgia. It is a way of making decisions — a thread running from Studios Davout to Night Angel.
The first album was recorded at Studios Davout in Paris on an SSL 4000G+ console, with guest appearances from Norbert “Nono” Krief, Patrick Rondat and Renaud Hantson.
It established the scale of Mat's ambition from the beginning: songs and guitar performances captured in a studio with a genuine place in recording history.
Night Angel was recorded live in just five days at Studio 180 in Paris, with no click and no safety net.
Recording, mixing and mastering were handled by Arnaud Bascuñana through an original 1980s SSL 4000 E console and onto an MCI 2-inch 24-track tape machine.
The record features Davy Honnet on drums and percussion, with Xavier Zolli and Antonella Mazza on bass.
Guests Fred Chapellier, Neal Black and Kim Melville bring their own voices to the album without diluting its identity.
- 2018
- Studios Davout · SSL 4000G+
- 2025
- Studio 180 · MCI 2-inch 24-track analog tape
- Console
- SSL 4000G+ · SSL 4000 E
- Output
- Vinyl · CD · Digital · Night Angel Records
A life shaped by records, pictures and British rock culture.
Mat's father supplied the first spark through rock'n'roll tapes and a love of the great guitar bands.
His mother, Vivienne Chandler — actress and photographer — brought another world close. She had worked with Sergio Leone, Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas.
Growing up around the Bush family added another thread to that inheritance. Mat learned to develop photographs in the darkroom where Kate Bush album imagery was created, and practised martial arts with John Bush.
Music and image were never separate career choices; they were part of the same environment. Today, that background can be heard in songs that think visually, records conceived as complete objects, and an artist who still values craft over convenience.
Night Angel Records, the independent label he founded, extends that belief through artist-led releases, analog production, physical editions and a direct relationship between the music and its audience.
Mat Ninat with Slash and Norbert “Nono” Krief — Zénith, Paris, 13 November 2014.
Vivienne Chandler with Sergio Leone and James Coburn, Rome — photographed by Angelo Novi.
Mat Ninat practising Kyudo in Kent, c. 1988 — photographed by John Bush.
Film & photography
Alongside music, Mat has built a long professional background in television, filmmaking and photography. That visual experience informs the atmosphere of his records, artwork and music videos, but the song remains the starting point.
Professional film, photography and production commissions are handled separately through Mat Ninat Studio .