Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Gonzales.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m with Matte Blvck. I come from a small town near the border of Mexicali B.C Mexico. Calexico is about an hour east of San Diego. I was around music as early as I can remember, my entire family has some type of musical ability. I remember being four years old and my uncles forcing me to sing or perform in front of family and guests. They actually still make me perform whenever were together. My dad is 55 years old and played nothing but 80’s new wave, it was then that I was introduced to bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, and The Police. This was sort of the beginning of my obsessions with music and picked up a drum set and joined several bands over the years.
In 2011 I heard The New Division on Pandora and was blown away by the songwriting. I decided to do a little stalking and slid into their dm’s and got myself an audition. This would begin my journey as a professional musician, this was my first time touring and performing in front of large audiences. We opened for some of my favorite artists like Peter Murphy from Bauhaus, shortly after opened up for Peter Hook from Joy Division. In 2018 I joined Julien K a dark alternative group with founding members of Orgy and Dead By Sunrise. We toured with Stone Temple Pilots, The Cult, and Bush and wrote an album together. This was a very important time because it was here that I knew I no longer wanted to be a musician for hire. I had deep ambitions of creating something I could call my own. I bought myself a bunch of hard wear and began studying the ins and out of Ableton and began writing what is now Matte Blvck.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been an easy road. My parents were 16 when they had me. I had one pair of shoes that had to last me the entire school year, I don’t think I ever had a computer at home during the late ’90s or 2000s. I know they did the best they could and I’m grateful for the attention and love they gave me. The town I grew up in didn’t really have any recording studios or a live music scene. I’ve had to work twice as hard to gain everything I have. Frankly, I’m glad this has been my journey, or else I wouldn’t have this drive. Just to give an example, nowadays if you’re a new artist and release your music it’s safe to say it’s going to get lost in the abyss of Spotify and other streaming platforms. Labels don’t really pay artists anymore, however you kinda need them to put you on the map. So how do I end this perpetual hell as an artist? I decided to enroll myself at Berkely and studied digital marketing. I learned so much about branding how to target my audiences on different platforms. It goes without saying that if you want something, you have to put in the work.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a professional drummer and a dark electronic music producer. I’m the frontman of the dark industrial synth-pop Trio Matte Blvck. I’m also known as the drummer of The New Division and Julien K. I’m proud of a lot of things, but the thing that comes to mind is the fact there are people on the other side of the world that buy my music and connect with it. That will forever blow my mind. I also think that my music falls in the category of the dark electronic scene however it’s hard to pair up with genres within the scene. I listen to a lot of techno, post-punk, and darkwave but I mostly listen to uplifting modular music. I attempt to encapsulate the polar tension between these genres in my music. I don’t know if this sets me apart from others but I know I’m creating the music that I want to make. I’m very proud of it.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Every morning I meditate using an app called “Calm”. It helped keep my stress under control. I’m a huge fan of comedy and listen to a lot of podcasts. Some of my favorites are “Your Mom’s House” by Tom Segura, “Tigerbelly” by Bobby Lee, and “This Past Weekend” by Theo Von. My workout routine is pretty intense, I go about four times a week. If you’re into that lookup Eric Leija on Instagram. That guy is a total savage.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: matteblvckmusic.com
- Instagram: @matteblvckus
- Facebook: @matteblvckus
- Twitter: @matteblvckus
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MATTEBLVCK
- Other: https://ffm.to/iwnd
Image Credits
Band Press Photos by Alex Casillas Individual press photos by Alex Casillas Matte Blvck live at Casbah Photos by Dream Views Live Additional live photo by Mahem Rock Star Magazine
