Machiel started playing music at the age of 8 by taking classical guitar lessons at the local music school of Halle. Later, as a teenager he started composing music for his first bands and in 2012 he started jazz guitar at the conservatory of Maastricht. In 2014 he decided it was time for change and went to the conservatory of Brussels to have lessons of Fabien Degryse and Peter Hertmans for guitar.

Over the years his curiosity for composition grew stronger and he decided to take lessons with Kris Defoort, where he developed his distinctive style of writing and a strong sense of personal taste.

During his studies, Machiel founded the band ‘Abstract INC.', a sextet that forms a symbiose between improvisation and compositions. With this band a first EP was released in September 2020.

Next to this project, Machiel is also active in the duo ‘No Wasabi' together with guitarist Rebekka Van Bockstal. Together they write and create for this band, with a first album released in november 2019 on Buzz (Challenge Records).

Next to these projects Machiel experiments with sound, electronica and free improvisation. This you can hear in the duo HEREMANS/SENSMEIER, a band together with saxophone player Jon Sensmeier.

Machiel is also one of the founding and steering members of the free impro collective BIC (Brussels Impro Collective). This collective organizes events and workshop, and works together with other art disciplines, with free improvisation as the connecting link.