Matt Barrios

Matthew Paul Barrios
Born January 16, 1990
15 years old
High School honor student

Matt started with his first drum, a snare, at the age of four. Next he played on a Roland drum kit, age 5-8 years old. Between the ages of 9-11 he sang soprano & alto with the Florida Singing Sons Boy choir. They are a professional boys choir out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While studying with FSSB, he received formal music training and made many appearances for the community including former President Bush, Astronaut Brent Jett Jr. aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and other local dignitaries and events. He performed with artists such as Nestor Torres, Sir David Willcocks, & the Vienna Boy's Choir just to name a few. While at the same time taking private piano lessons with Sister Mary Tindell at St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida.

His voice changed early and he picked up the drums again and started private lessons at the Chairman of the Fretboard music school. After about one year when he was 12, Matthew joined a local high school aged Emo band named Unwanted Superheroes. They played parties and local spots like The Edge, The Factory, Pompano Indoor Skate Park, and a skate park in Orlando.

His next move was playing with his former teacher Chris Schmitt in a band called Shredquarters at a restaurant /bar called Mustang Sally's. It's at this time that he started playing in the youth band at his church (Flamingo Road Church) in Davie, Fl. After about 6 months he was then asked to play in the main church with the adult praise team. He is the youngest to be accepted for this position. During this time he graduated from The Chairman of the Fretboard music school and currently taking lessons with Randy Robins.

In May of 2004, he was invited to play with the adult contemporary rock band I DiGRESS at Sunfest in West Palm Beach to open for Michelle Branch. He is now a member of I DiGRESS and has traveled with them as their drummer. With them he has performed at such venues as Shenanigan's, Clamster's, Lulu's Bait shack, Harry A's, The Blue Martini, Club Ovation, The Culture Room, and currently they are at The Hard Rock Cafe @ the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fl.
With them, he did some recording and live video taping at Full Sail School in Orlando, Fl and just this October finished recording a professional album of original music @ OceanVU recording studios with engineer Karl Heilbron.

My name is Chris Schmitt and I have the honor of being Matt’s first drum teacher.

Matt Barrios is a great example of a homemade prodigy. Matt’s father John, first brought him to me at the age of 11. When I first met him, I remember a humble, quiet and polite young kid. Already a talented chorus singer, he showed immediate promise on the drums.

It didn’t take him very long to surpass me as a player… So how to play drums weren’t the only things I taught him. I explained to him the importance of song structure, timing, and musicianship. He took to it very well.

I have always felt as a teacher, there is no point in learning a language you can’t speak with others. I began hooking him up with others to jam with, mostly other students of mine. This was good for him for so many reasons. His family and I began to see something really special in Matt’s abilities as a drummer.

He played in a punk band at just 11 years old. Right from the beginning they sounded so impressive the father of the guitar player demanded on everyone signing a contract, just in case they ever got a record deal. This was unfortunate only for the guitar player. John and I both agreed that Matt had bigger plans.

Around this time I began teaching another student, turned guitar monster over night, Ed Kerr. Matt and Ed, both from humble beginnings, became the cornerstone in the band USH, or Unwanted Super Hero’s… a band name that today, fits the band members characters perfectly.

As a way of teaching them both song writing, I began recording them during their lessons. I let them do their own thing and gave them some ideas along the way, and as a result, they came up with songs that made a huge dent in the way their classmates and friends will remember them in the time they spent in school together.

Just around the time he was turning 13, Matt had his first competition experience in the “battle of the bands” at Ed’s school. With little time to prepare, USH took home third place right under “Lithium”, the most popular band in the school, as well many others.

I remember during that time, Matt was always raving about how good the drummer from Lithium was, and how much he’d like to be able to play that good. I kept telling him, “He’s four yours older than you, and you’re almost as good as he is… Just keep playing with as many people as you can and you’ll see.”

Around the same time I was playing at local place called Mustang Sally’s with a bunch of friends of mine. It began as a duet made up of my friend John D’Angelo’s father John Sr., and an old buddy of his named Phil. The band played songs from the 60’s and 70’s, like “Free bird” and such… nothing very complex on the drums. This is one way the band was a lot of fun for us…

John and I used to jam with at the open mic once in a while. Bringing a drum set and a bass when we could. John and I were mainly guitar players, but loved switching back and forth between drums, bass, and guitar. We received so much great feedback while we played as a band that we were asked to play there on a regular night. So now we needed a bass player if we were really going to make the place jump. So I called on one of my other students, Mark Caldwell.

Mark is bassist born from a pool of habits, structures, and songwriting. With some encouragement, and a little direction, Matt and Mark became two fine examples of what it takes to great musicians.

We now had a fun band. I thought it would great for Matt to come down and play 2 or 3 songs every once in a while. I remember looking over at Matt’s dad and cracking up every time he would do a fill on the drums. It was crazy how he played over songs like Sweet Home Alabama… sounded more like Sweet Home Ala Dream Theater. I thought it was cool, but there are some that found it to be a little much.

Matt and Ed continued the CD they set out to finish as Ed would be moving out of state soon. They had their last show planned and Matt was ready to continue in the band USH without Ed. I finished the CD with them, they played their last show, and USH said their good byes to Ed.

Now ironically, the drummer from the most popular band “Lithium”, which Matt idolized, ended up as the drummer for USH… Matt found this out after Mark from Lithium was learning Matt’s drum beats on Matt’s drum set while it was at the singers house. Matt was destroyed, however I was thrilled. What better feeling accomplishment can you get than when the person you respect the most leaves everything behind to learn your chops.

Though it’s hard to see it that way when you’re 13. Again I saw that Matt was ready for bigger and better things. So I had him play with me and one of the best guitar players on planet, Michael Bianco… right back at Mustang Sally’s. But this time, we could really cut loose. And so we did.

I felt Matt needed a drum teacher that had been a drummer all his life, and could improve Matt on a technical level. So I cut the cord and sent him out to find someone that would take him through the wash. And that someone was Randy Robins. He’s simply sick on the drums, and a great teacher.

Matt's father is a monster influence on him in a great way. He’s always driving Matt to a game or a gig somewhere. The reasons for his success as a drummer cannot go unnoticed without looking at the support and encouragement he received from his family.

We all are looking forward to seeing Matt become a professional something… and I look forward to being the producer in what ever blows up first! Good luck man, the RULE!!!