A grilled cheese sandwich dropping between the cooker and the worktop. Melodramatic weed PSAs. A particularly aggressive rooster. Not the most obvious source material for metal brutality, but then John Matos isn’t your average shredder.
For the past year, the Florida tech-metaller has been soundtracking viral videos with remarkable consistency and technicality, garnering tens of millions of views in the process. From a millennial craving chicken wings to cult Always Sunny in Philadelphia scenes, Matos’ distinct brand of heaviness flits between eerie discordant leads and blastbeat riffage to channel those moments of all-too-human rage captured on camera.
Matos had already made his name with American deathcore bruisers Abiotic, where his otherworldly tight rhythms and frenetic leads won acclaim from other heavyweights of the metal world – not least Trivium’s Matt Heafy, who collaborated with the band on this year’s Ocean of Worldly Suffering.
But his videos have won an even larger audience – guitar royalty like Heafy, Paul Masvidal and Paul Waggoner regularly tune in, as do UFC fighters, rappers and even comedians, with Eric André frequently checking out the latest clips.
Matos got his viral start in June last year after adding guitars to a video of – what else – someone ‘unsyruping’ a pancake, to which his buddy David Paradis had already added a drum track. The collaborative effort took off, and Matos started on his own viral video journey.
“I look for videos that make me laugh and where someone in the video has a sick scream I can add some riffage to,” the guitarist explains of his process.
“Since they started gaining some traction, my inbox is currently flooded with videos that people send over with suggestions, so I'm thankfully never short on material. I've also chosen to do some videos with folks that are yelling, but are also hitting topics I agree with and want to help get more visibility.”
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Matos isn’t afraid to channel his views through his choice of videos – his djent accompaniment of hot takes surrounding the recent Little Mermaid remake is a highlight – although his favorite is his soundtrack to a ‘husband calling’ competition held at the Iowa State Fair.
“It's about as ridiculous as it sounds and I had so much trouble shooting the video for it because the clip is so damn funny,” he laughs.
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Usually accompanied by a Strandberg NX7 or NX8, Matos plugs into a Kemper to deliver his crushing tones, but given the intrinsic rhythms of human (and animal) speech, his compositions tend to start with drums.
“I typically start with programming some drums to the clip – figuring out what kind of beat would make the most sense to what's going on,” he says. “I can usually start hearing riffs in my head while I'm doing this part. Some have actually lined up perfectly with some Abiotic song sections, so I've done that, too, which has been a lot of fun.”
Making these videos consistently has forced me to write often, which has been great with keeping the creative juices flowing
In fact, some of the videos have ended up inspiring new Abiotic material altogether – as Matos notes, “Making these videos consistently has forced me to write often, which has been great with keeping the creative juices flowing.”
More recently, the guitarist has sought to bring his short-form skills to the gear world, producing a series of 60-second demos that aim to provide the lowdown on a guitar or pedal in under a minute. Given that guitarists love to reel off sensual poetry about the tonal nuances of their latest squeeze, it can be a tricky format.
“It definitely presents some challenges,” Matos admits. “As gearheads, we want to gush over the products we're reviewing, and the 60-second time limit forces me to keep it concise, find the things that really make a product unique, and write a compelling section of music that does the product justice.
“What's great is that I've seen how people have reacted to the reviews and how much they enjoy me cutting right to the chase. With attention spans getting shorter as we doom-scroll, the big challenge is keeping folks engaged, while making sure they're getting all the great specs on a product.”
Despite his success, Matos is also aware that, while social media has its advantages, it has a darker side, too – and he posts regularly about mental health to that effect.
“I think for folks who have been doing it for a while, it has become an awesome tool. It has allowed guitar players like me and so many others to reach new audiences, get creative, collaborate, and succeed in ways we never did,” he reasons.
“That being said, I do see the obvious downside to Instagram guitarists, where it's just short clips of your best take of something. It impacts songwriting, impacts how future musicians see the instrument, and it can turn into playing what you think will get views, as opposed to getting proficient and playing/writing what you love.”
“There are tons of pros and cons to it, but it's the world we now live in,” he concludes. “I'm a firm believer in balance and growing with the times, as things change.”
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In that sense, Matos is emblematic of what it is to be a guitar player in 2023, utilizing the platforms available to him to promote his playing, while employing that increased awareness and creativity as a catalyst for his own material within a band context. It’s an inspiring outlook for anyone who thinks Instagram and TikTok are killing the art of guitar playing; rather, they’re just one more medium to use to your advantage.
To that end, Matos is looking forward to expanding his take on gear reviews, embarking on further collaborations with his musical pals and “putting out a ton more music with Abiotic” – but you can be sure another savage breakdown over a howling dog won’t be far behind.
