Garstka, son of professional guitar player Greg Garstka, was born in Hopewell, Virginia, and raised in Westfield, Massachusetts. He started playing drums at the age of 8. At the age of 12 he started gigging with his father, playing rock, blues and reggae music. At 14 Garstka met Jo Sallins, who introduced him to fusion, funk, Latin and jazz drumming. At the age of 14 Matt appeared in Sallins DVD Mr. Cool. At the age of 16 Garstka began taking lessons with Bob Gullotti. In 2006 he released an EP with punk band Backstab and in 2007 released his first solo album Heavy Volume, featuring Joel Stroetzel from Killswitch Engage, Chis Regan from FNB and Jo Sallins. After finishing high school, Garstka attended Berklee College of Music. While studying at Berklee, Matt toured with African hip hop group Gokh-Bi System. In 2011 Garstka graduated and moved to Los Angeles. In the same year he was featured in GospelChops.com DVD Shed Sessionz Vol. 3. Soon after moving to Los Angeles Garstka met Tosin Abasi and joined his band Animals as Leaders following the departure of Navene Koperweis. With Animals as Leaders, Garstka released The Joy of Motion in 2014. In 2012 Garstka programmed drums for Mestis debut EP Basal Ganglia. In March 2015 Garstka was featured as Modern Drummer magazine cover artist.