No questions had to be asked for the interview to begin. Matt Feldman, the 19-year-old music supervisor for the US version of popular British show Skins was extremely anxious to discuss all his new ideas and plans for his future.
“Let me show you what I’ve been working on” was a reoccurring statement Feldman would make that would be quickly followed by snippets of mixes his newest project called GirlBro have had completed. “It’s a seventeen minute multi mix that I made with my partner Sophia Sanpapous and we really just wanted to think of ways to get everyone on the dance floor and the way to do that is to play music that we know they like. People respond well to things they already know.”
This is a basic viewpoint that is apparent throughout everything that Feldman has currently worked on in his music career, including what could be considered one of his greatest accomplishments, getting to pick out the music selection for an entire season of Skins, the MTV drama that revolves around six kids and their lives in suburban America.
Over the seven month period of choosing music, Matt had gone through at least 900 song choices before he had to narrow it down to 20 songs per episode, which meant only 200 songs were going to make the cut.”It would be one thing to be picking music for my own picture” Matt explains “but it was totally different trying to figure out what music fit for someone else’s, it was a super intense process.”
As he puts it, the job just sort of found him. Before Skins, Feldman would participate in paid studies and questionnaires. One day, his friend told him of her friend who was an intern for the boss of Skins. They were looking for a group of teenagers to be in a writing group to gain realistic ideas they could potentially use for the show. Matt joined but was only concerned about one thing; the music. He asked about it until he was told to make a demo of his song choices.
Feldman featured in Billboard Magazine
Through his upcoming success, Matt was interviewed by Billboard Magazine (which he has proudly framed on a wall of his basement studio). The article led him to be reached out by other kids who were inspired by his accomplishments. After the article came out a young manager of the eclectic dubstep group called Night Kids reached out to Feldman asking him to go to one of their shows. Night Kids has already shared the stage with Major Lazer and B.O.B and Feldman felt rather intimidated by the offer.” I felt really honored that he thought so highly of me because I have never been in a band or managed a show, so this kid seemed to be more experienced than me.” Regardless Matt went to the show and instantly fell in love with the band; “They’re so beautiful” he gushed.
For being so young, Matt has already dived deep into the business and creative aspects of music, but his biggest dilemma has been choosing which one he would like to concentrate on. “Look at Starscream, they’re a great example of the business perspective.” Starscream consists of Matt’s close friends George S. and Damon H. who use a Gameboy and a drum set to make upbeat dance songs which classify as a genre of Chip Music.
Matt has gotten involved in their career by placing their songs on the Skins soundtrack throughout the season and got the band to perform live on the season finale. “I didn’t help them so much as someone just really liked their music.” Matt insists they’re a “cool” example of the business aspect of music because they have gotten their name out on their own. “They’ve accomplished everything themselves, from their own clothing designs to key chains to even the crazy visual affects they put into their shows, it is really amazing. Even after all that they ended up pressing records and were in the top 10 sales for 2 days when their EP came out. Their business tactics paid off.”
Yet, Matt remains uneasy with just sticking to the purely business aspect of things “I have all these ideas, I was even thinking of becoming a pop star like David Bowie.” Feldman wants to continue making dance music. He spends his two months of downtime from Skins mixing beats, playing instruments, writing lyrics and really getting into the creative process. “Its time to shake things up, there are so many things that I want to do and I will do them all and it’s going to be so much fun.”
