Meet Matt Bozzone | Musician / Drummer / Percussionist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Bozzone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, how do you think about risk?
Taking calculated risks have been vital to advancing my career as a musician and living my dreams. A few months after I graduated college, I took the safe route, moved to Boston, and accepted a job doing doing sales. I worked for a great company and made a lot of money for a recent graduate in his mid-twenties. However, I was ultimately unfulfilled, hated the brutal winters in Boston, and felt like I was not being true to myself. Music was the thing that I was passionate about and I wanted to live somewhere warm. So in July 2010 I moved to San Diego for a change of lifestyle.

When I arrived in San Diego, I began working another sales job, while also immersing myself in the local music scene and playing drums in several bands. I dreamt of working as a full time musician and realized that if I wanted to make that happen, I needed to dedicate my life entirely to music. I didn’t study music in college; I played basketball at Ithaca College and was a Sociology major and a politics minor. I started playing drums when I was 14, but didn’t practice much until I was in my mid-twenties. I knew I was years behind my peers and had lots of catching up to do. I felt like if I was going to be a full time musician, it needed to happen before I was 30. So in July 2011, at the age of 26, I quit my day job and began working full time as a musician. Since then, I haven’t worked another day job and have dedicated my life entirely to being a working musician, without a “plan B”.

This was a calculated risk. I didn’t have a lot of steady paid gigs when I quit my day job, but I had enough money saved up that I figured would give me a cushion of about 12-18 months to build a solid foundation of gigs and connections. During the first year of working as a full time musician, I practiced a ton, went to lots of jam sessions, and said “yes” to nearly every gig that I was offered. By 2012, I had steady gigs and was playing drums for at least 10 different bands. By 2013, I started touring all over the U.S. and releasing albums.

The touring lifestyle and album release process presented a whole new list of risks and rewards. Since 2013, I’ve depleted my life savings several times and have maxed out credit cards more times than I can remember, in order to purchase tour vans and release albums. I’ve never known exactly if or when I’d get the money back, but I’ve always had faith in the music I was playing, my bandmates, our band managers, and myself. Taking these financial risks allowed my bands to keep pushing forward and reap the rewards that come along with touring.

I’ve been fortunate to have been in the position to take big risks. While I’ve worked my ass off for over 15 years and haven’t had anything handed to me, I’m also aware that having a solid support system has been a huge reason why I’ve been able to succeed. I have a loving family, super talented bandmates, hard working managers, and amazing friends who have all helped me along the way. I’m aware that not everyone has that kind of support system and many people face obstacles that I haven’t had to face related to gender, race, socioeconomic status, etc. I encourage people to pursue their passions to the fullest and take the risks that will help them to live their dreams. I’m aware that not everyone has that kind of support system and many people face obstacles that I haven’t had to face related to gender, race, socioeconomic status, political oppression, etc.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been playing drums for over 20 years and have been working full time as a musician since 2011.  I earn a living as a freelance drummer. Most of my work comes from live performances. I also occasionally get hired for recording sessions, and would love to do more of that work.  I play gigs with about 10 – 20 different bands every year.  I tour with a few bands; those projects require lots of commitment.  When I’m not touring, I play all types of local gigs with different bands.  I also teach drum lessons to children and adults.

I play many styles of music but I’m most passionate about music from the African Diaspora:  afrobeat, cumbia, dub, reggae, funk, hip hop, tropicalia, samba, disco, etc.  I also enjoy when those styles blend with elements of psychedelia and rock and roll.  Since 2013, I’ve toured all over the U.S. with several bands that mix together those influences into their own unique brand.  These days, my main touring band is Elektric Voodoo.  I also play drums for MDRN HSTRY and percussion for Mitchum Yacoub, which are two projects that have been gaining traction in the festival scene.

I’ve been able to sustain a career as a full time working musician by practicing drums for thousands of hours, collaborating with people who share similar artistic visions, and working for thousands of hours on the business side.  Being good at one’s instrument(s) is often not enough to create a fruitful music career.  Creating original music with a unique vision is crucial to one’s success, coupled with the ability to implement an effective business strategy to get people to hear your music and earn money.

What separates me from a lot of musicians is that I’ve spent thousands of hours working on the business side of things.  Over the past 10 years, I’ve toured with several bands and done all of the things that booking agents, business managers, and tour managers do:  book tour dates, recruit and hire musicians, handle accounting, purchase vehicles, handle social media, communicate with the media, schedule rehearsals, book hotels, etc.  I don’t enjoy any of this stuff, but it’s necessary if you’re an independent artist, without the support of a record label, who wants to succeed in a touring band.  Most bands have at least 1 person who does a lot of this stuff.  I’ve been fortunate to be in bands like Elektric Voodoo where everyone pitches in.  Even with the help of booking agents and managers I’ve still had to put in thousands of hours of work on this end.  Most musicians either lack the interest, skills, or discipline to do this kind of work, which I understand.  I’d much rather be practicing my instruments or recording music than doing the tedious business work.  But it’s all worth it when I’m finally on tour, playing cool festivals, meeting interesting people, experiencing beautiful places, and making other people happy, playing music I love with the people I love.

No, the road to where I am today has definitely not been easy.  Things are still challenging and I’m constantly grinding and hustling. Being in a touring band is tons of fun, but also very challenging in so many ways.  It takes a lot of hard work, patience, and empathy to effectively manage all of the different schedules, personalities, values, financial situations, artistic visions, and priorities that exist with every band member.  On top of all of this, being able to effectively cope with rejection is a huge part of being in a touring band.  Getting cool venues and festivals to book your band is not easy.  Getting people to come to your shows is also not easy.  I’ve played shows 3,000 miles from home to a crowd of 5 people, more times than I’d like to admit.  Those moments are tough and have made me question my life decisions.  But I’ve also played lots of awesome festivals and clubs to amazing crowds.  Those moments are what I live for and make all of the struggle worth it.  Maintaining a positive attitude, learning from mistakes, and not dwelling on failures have helped me to persevere.  I use rejection and failure as fuel to push me harder and continue to grow.

On the personal side, I’ve sacrificed my financial stability, romantic relationships, and my health in order to advance my career.  As an independent artist and musician, lots of these sacrifices seemed necessary at the time.  I value my independence and autonomy as an artist and a human.  I’ve done everything in my power to preserve these things.  I’ve definitely made lots of mistakes along the way.  I’m doing my best to learn and grow from them.

I’ve learned many things from living the lifestyle of a touring musician.  Success in the entertainment industry requires massive amounts of patience and persistence.  Many musicians quit on their dreams because the lifestyle is challenging, they’re not seeing the desired results, and they don’t want to continue to endure all of the hardships.  If you continue growing and pushing yourself, eventually good things will come your way.  I’ve also learned to adapt and evolve with the times, but also avoid chasing trends.  I’ve found success in doing things that separate me and my bands from others.  I strive to create music that is timeless and that makes me happy.  I usually see the best results when I follow that path.

I’ve also learned the importance of self-care.  For many years I neglected my physical, mental, and emotional health, while touring a lot and doing all of the crazy things that come along with that.  Because of this neglect and wild lifestyle, I eventually suffered from a very painful back injury in 2016 that affected my performance. I believe that the back injury was related to the mental and emotional stress I was enduring, coupled with all of the unhealthy decisions I was making.  After the injury, I began to prioritize my health and focus more on self-care.  I changed many things about my daily routines and lifestyle, which have made me feel significantly healthier and happier.

Lastly, I’ve learned the importance of working with people who I enjoy being around.  If you want to get hired as a musician, be easy to work with and bring a fun vibe to the group.  Being a great musician can only get you so far if you’re difficult to work with and a bummer to be around.  Also, it’s super important to show your love and appreciation for the people you work with, especially if you’re a bandleader.  People will invest more time and energy into you or a project if they feel valued, loved, and appreciated.  I think this applies to most industries, not just music.

Moving forward, I’m most excited to hit the road again and play some awesome festivals with Elektric Voodoo and Mitchum Yacoub this spring and summer.  I’ve also been recording my own original music and am in the early stages of leading my own band.  For the live show, I will play congas, timbales, and percussion, and have one of my friends play drum kit.  I’ve never been the musical leader or frontman of a band.  So this is all new and exciting to me.  I hope to start performing with this project sometime in 2022.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My social life mostly revolves around music, so I would go see a show at Music Box, Winston’s, Belly Up, The Casbah, Soda Bar, or The Observatory. Those are some of my favorite local venues; lots of great bands come through and lots of interesting people attend the shows. For a daytime activity, I’d either take them to Sunset Cliffs or Balboa Park. Little Italy also has lots of great restaurants and is cool to walk around. If we just wanted to take it easy, I’d recommend just hanging out in Ocean Beach all day and night. I’ve lived in OB for nearly 9 years and I love it here!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m blessed to have so many amazing people in my life that I don’t think there’s enough space here to adequately thank all of the people who deserve recognition. But if I have to choose, I’ll start by dedicating my shoutout to my family. My parents, my brother Chris and his wife Julia have all been so loving and supportive of me throughout the years. My mother is a singer, Chris is a composer/multi-instrumentalist, and Julia is a writer… I’ve received lots of artistic inspiration from them. My father was an insurance underwriter for over 30 years, where his primary job was risk assessment. My ability to effectively calculate risks and effectively use logic and reasoning to make difficult decisions comes from him.

I’d also like to give a shoutout to my bandmates in Elektric Voodoo. We’ve toured all over the U.S. together many times and have experienced a wild roller coaster of ups and downs. All of those guys are incredibly talented musicians and amazing human beings. They’re all so good at many things and have inspired me to continue pushing myself as a musician and an artist.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout to the magazine Wax Poetics and the hip hop duo People Under The Stairs (PUTS). Wax Poetics is hands down the greatest music magazine on the planet and PUTS is my favorite hip hop group. The stories in Wax Poetics and the lyrics in PUTS songs encouraged me to quit my day job and pursue music to the fullest.

So sorry if I didn’t mention anyone’s name who deserves recognition. I still love you!

Website: www.elektricvoodoo.com

Instagram: @mattbozzone

Image Credits
Cole Herauf