The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2023 - Issue 34

Samantha Morgan discovers multi-genre sing- er-songwriter Blackbear, who started as an emo kid and ventured into alternative R&B, collabo- rating with rock heroes and other artists. bitemusicceleb KBEAR @ My Worst I n the second or third grade, Mat Mus- to’s guitar teacher babysitter expanded his musical horizons by introducing him to rock bands MxPx, NOFX, New Found Glory and Alkaline Trio and teach- ing him a few riffs. By the fifth grade, the youngster attempted to pierce his lips, started wearing his mum’s jeans and played in garage bands. He watched his teacher play in a band and went to garage shows. “There was a good music scene, and it shaped me to be an artist.” Mat fronted MySpace rock band Polaroid and signed to Buffalo-based Leakmob Record while he was a freshman in high school. Amid the emo trend of the late 2000s, the singer sported black hair. After he left school to pur- sue music full-time, the band released an EP, Inside and Out , and a full-length album, Paint the Town, through the label. “In the midst of my rock 'n' roll endeavours around 2008, I be- gan to find my story to tell, not to mention my sound of creation,” he noted on Reverb- Nation, a social networking website. “I use my experiences with the influence of everyday inspirations to write the lyrics you will hear in my music,” he added. “I like to think of my art as something that’s rented out and shared but will always belong to me. I try to keep my lyrics general so everyone can relate in some way. I want to help the world become a place of acceptance and apprecia- tion rooted in love and expression, much less