We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Blake and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Matt, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I love to entertain people and I love music. My wife is a music teacher, all 5 of my kids have been in band and musical theater, and I have been doing podcasting and event hosting for over 13 years. My passion is entertaining, it’s my whole life… so finding a way to make that a career was more of a necessity than an option. If you can find your passion, pursue it like crazy, and then find a way to make that your career; well, that’s how you find happiness and balance in life.
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.
Making sure that we go above and beyond at our events has set us apart. Wether we are playing a huge wedding reception, a shopping event in the mall, or a backyard party… people expect an amazing show and that is what they get. As a DJ I strive for an amazing, jaw dropping, performance at every event. There are some DJs who can press the play button, then press play on the next song, and the next… and they can put together a fine event. But what I do, and what I teach my kids (who are also DJs) to do, is to use the technical skills and finesse that you find in a club dj and put them to work for every event. Beatmatching, key mixing, and ultra smooth and fun transitions are something you see every night in a dance club… I think our skills should be utilized to give wedding clients the type of experience that they have dreamed about. So we, my sons and I, work on our mixing skills daily… always finding new ways to transition and mix songs together so that neither we nor our audience gets bored. Anyone can play music… it’s the performance, the nuance, song selections, and the attitude of the DJ that makes it next level. Because of my love for performing and music it’s been very fun, not always easy, to learn the different skills needed to get to this level. I have definitely learned that there are no shortcuts when you are trying to develop a new skill and teaching that patience to my DJing kids has been a lesson in itself.
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?
I have grown up, all my life, in the DFW area. I’ve never lived more than 50 miles from downtown Fort Worth. There are so many great things to do in the area, if you had to only do a few things to get the flavor of the area here is what I would suggest: 1) Visit the Fort Worth Stockyards. Mexican food and BBQ are amazing in Fort Worth, and you can try both in the stockyards; as well as watch an actual cattle drive! You can also walk the streets where there was once actual gun fights and pickup a new hat and pair of boots. 2) Pick a local lake and go tubing or jet skiing. North Texas is lake country, we have some amazing lakes and plenty of water sports. 3) Checkout Deep Ellum or Fort Worth’s Near Southside for local music. DFW is blessed to have so much amazing musical talent that you can find an amazing show almost nightly.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people besides me responsible for my success. It starts with encouraging parents, a supportive wife, and involved kids… but outside my amazing family there have been a number of my peers that have really been pivotal in getting me where I am. Early on I got help from friends that were veteran DJs, Jeff McCune from Forerunner Entertainment showed me things I had never seen before… and Kelly Hooper has been so amazing… always helping and getting me involved in bigger and better events.
Website: www.DJMattBlake.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/djmattblake
Facebook: www.facebook.com/djmattblake
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRuLiobBGjwEJXCLb8z1Puw
Nominate someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.