Innovative musician Matt Skates connects Fort Worth scene

by Sarah Crisman

On stage, his band Shuttle layers spacey funk over clever beats. Off stage, Matt Skates helps orchestrate a cooperative movement of the Fort Worth music scene.

FORT WORTH — While many electronic acts around the country twist knobs and fiddle with buttons, Shuttle is a band of three experienced musicians performing with live instruments in a band setting. The result is a multi-dimensional sound similar to critical favorites Royksopp and Daft Punk. Bass player Matt Skates is also a powerful force within the Fort Worth Music Co-Op, connecting and revolutionizing the local music scene from the ground up.

Are you the mastermind behind Shuttle?

Well, me and Scott Ivey (our drummer) have played in bands together for years. First we had Confusitron, then Sleep Lab. We used to play at Embargo. But then all our players moved, so we just decided to play some house. Really, everyone has equally contributed. I do more of the promo/booking, but everyone brings something to the table. Scott is a genius. I come up with sketches and grooves, he puts it into our computer program. Scott and Justin Barbee and I have figured out what we're good at. I'm an ideas guy, Scott is a details guy. We rely on each others strengths.

Shuttle: Videojuego

Shuttle has very unique instrumentation, combining dynamic horns over electronic beats -- how would you describe the resulting sound?

We do funk, but we try to keep the aesthetic sound divergent from the hippy jam sound -- I like to stick to more of a European sound. Simplistic, with fewer notes. It's not about noodling around until we find something good, especially when we improvise. The idea isn't like free form jazz; we come up with the full idea before we drop it. We believe you have to come up with the focal point of your melodic idea. I want to program my mind to work like a DJ, but it has to be the full idea first.

Who are your favorite North Texas bands?

I've seen a number of DJs I like. The first local show I ever saw was Yeti – that's more like core music (their rhythm section still plays with the Great Tyrant) -- and SubOslo, a huge dub group around here. Watching them early on kind of showed me I could do whatever I want to do. I don't have to be in a rock band. They aren't like what I'm doing (musically), but their credo and ethic have been quite influential. I like bands that are just themselves and just do their thing.

What's your favorite Fort Worth hang?

I don't drink, but I like to play at the Grotto. It's real low-key. I'm almost a hermit, honestly. I'm playing for a living, so I'm out in it all the time. There's a lot of cool community projects that don't involve bars. The Jubilee Theater is super fun, it's such a neat community. I guess my favorite hang out is Fort Worth. I keep finding these niches.

You founded the Fort Worth Music Co-Op, an organization that helps fill open nights at local clubs with available acts. Tell us about this community-focused venture.

It's free to join; we meet the first Sunday of the month and we move the locations around to bring business to the clubs. We show up with 50-60 people who want to work with them. It serves the needs of Fort Worth music scene, no matter what that might be. We were having to beg production companies to book us, so we just banded together to start getting gigs for overlooked musicians. We're exploring the non-profit idea: If we book a show as non-profit we can get grants for musicians, and venues can write off the shows. The basic idea was to get the open dates from clubs and we would book them at the meeting within the co-op. So far it's been successful, with more people than there would have been otherwise. We feel the scene should book itself, and so far its been great. We're trying to establish a directory of people willing to offer their services to the co-op, be it press or audio/visuals -- anything that would help the music scene. We're not a union, the union is there if people want it. This is more about creating a community of people who express themselves artistically. There wasn't enough connectivity in Fort Worth, I figured this way we could help each other figure out the business end.