Let's Get To Know MVTANT

Where did you grow up?

I was born in McAllen, which is on the border of Texas and Mexico. When I was 4 we moved to San Antonio and that's where I grew up, but we regularly visited family down in the Valley.

What is one of the first songs you remember liking as a kid?

My mom and dad were into classic rock and I distinctly remember hearing Any Color You Like off Pink Floyd's Dark Side. The synthesizer comes sweeping through the song after Us and Them ends.. as a child I was enchanted by the sound and I knew I wanted to play the synth. What influenced you to get into music? I had a cousin down in the Valley who played guitar and when I was in middle school he taught me a few Metallica and Pantera rifs. My family does musicals, so singing Queen and Crosby Stills and Nash was pretty common. Music was a major part of my childhood. Hearing Bjork and NIN in the 4th grade was pretty pivotal for me.

At what age did you start playing/singing?

When I met other musicians in the eighth grade, I opted to sing in the cover band we started (mostly covers of Rage Against the Machine, this was 1997). I kept learning the guitar, other instruments, and I was the singer of a nu metal band in highschool... that's when I started learning about electronic music, 2001 or so. First on Fruity Loops, pirated soft synths. I was obsessed, learned even FM synthesis back then. I started collecting synths back in maybe 2003. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself after finishing school?

All the problems I've had as a musician sort of circle around writers block, and I'd probably write out a playbook for how to punch through a drought of ideas. Brian Eno's ideas on songwriting have been very influential for me. What are some of your favorite songs at the moment?