Matthew Skaggs

Matthew Vucenovic (b. February 21, 1974, Seattle, Washington) is an American-born artist, electronic musician, producer & songwriter. Also uses the names Matthew Skaggs (legally took his wife Valerie's last name following their marriage September 4, 2004)

Childhood

Matthew was born in 1974, in Seattle, Washington, where his father was stationed in the United States Navy, but spent majority of childhood living high in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado. The isolation of the Rocky Mountains, and the harsh, near-arctic climate left little to do during the winter months, forcing Matthew and his younger sister to take up hobbies to pass the time. Inspired from 8-Track mixtapes made by his father, including the likes of Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Vangelis, rock and country artists such as The Beatles, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, along with various motion picture soundtracks and television themes, he began to take an active interest in electronic music, requesting a small portable keyboard for his birthday. His parents, encouraging of his new found hobby, obliged him. For his 12th birthday, his parents got him his first proper synthesizer, a second-hand Moog Prodigy.

Appears on

* "Bandwidth Negotiators" - Subreact (1997)
* "Eternacate" - 13MG (1997)
* "American Jet Set" - Kill Hannah (1999)
* "Welcome to Chicago Motherfucker" - Kill Hannah (2000)
* "Kennedy" - Kill Hannah (2002)
* "Unwanted" - Kill Hannah (2002)
* "For Never and Ever" - Kill Hannah (2003)
* "Welcome to Chicago DVD" - Kill Hannah (2005)
* "Until There's Nothing Left Of Us" - Kill Hannah (2006)

Assorted Items of Interest

* Organized and DJ'ed at the now infamous 118 1/2 Jefferson St. parties in Fort Collins, Colorado from 1994-1995.
* Moved to Chicago in 1995 and quickly made a name for himself working with various unsigned bands.
* Lived with Mat Devine in an apartment on Seminary Street in Chicago in the late 90s, before going on to work with Kill Hannah as programmer and synthesizer overlord.
* Has worked on the last four Kill Hannah albums.
* Toured with 13mg and did local dates with Sister Machine Gun in 1996-1997 doing live sound and DJ'ing before shows.
* Owned The Boom Room recording studio with Chicago drumming legend Felix Miklik from 1995-1997, which was homebase for the recording of the Howie Beno & Bon Harris produced 13mg album "Eternacate".