We recently connected with Matthew Colombini and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Thanks for having me! Tis truly an honor and privilege to have this opportunity to talk with you here on CanvasRebel, sharing some words and stories with your readers.

I have been creating music for over a decade now; many projects have went from my mind, to a notepad, into my home studio, and bounced out as a finished product. Albums, EPs, singles; no matter if it’s short or long form content, I’ve learned that without any meaning or heart? It can turn out being only a fraction of what it could’ve been if it had purpose within it. So honestly, and it sounds a bit silly, but every project I create has the most meaning to me. By going through the process of creating and shaping them, they become a semi-tangible translation of myself that I can share with anyone willing to listen. Even if the amounts of meaning vary, or what the subject matter means to me and others; I find them all meaningful in their own unique ways, just like all of us.

When creating a project, I not only like to choose directions, ideas, and lyrics that have meaning to me, but also that people listening could find their own meaning in. I mean I’m not just making music to listen to myself, I want to be a career musician! haha But by keeping things what some would call general or vague, and looking at the bigger picture rather than the singular, can truly help make a meaningful idea more relatable to others, allowing them to form a more personal connection with the song or project.

I found being too detailed can potentially hurt in some cases, for no two people’s journeys are exactly alike, and you can lose traction keeping things too specific to yourself or going by what you think others want to hear. I started getting somewhere when I not only removed excess detailing, but actually used those specific details in a different way, helping to make the song sound more like myself yet more general, and in my opinion, more relatable. That’s an awesome thing about music though, like any form of art or expression; interpretation and perspective can be so similar in some cases, yet so different in others. From this man’s perspective though, it’s truly a blessing to have music in one’s life, in any capacity, creator or consumer.

After doing things differently for a while, I noticed something. Once I began truly believing in the ideas that I held, and going in the direction my intuition pointed, the music started turning out so much better! It’s also helped me become much less critical about myself, my creations, and where I fall short. I wish I would’ve started doing things in that way earlier, I’d have saved a lot of bad off albums; but in order to improve, we must practice. Practice does not make perfect though, perfect is merely an idea to strive towards based on one’s standards; but practice always makes improvement, even if it’s not apparent right away.

So to other musicians out there, don’t be afraid to do what you want and what represents who you believe you are in the current moment. You don’t have to take that YouTubers advice, a DAW can have many paths to the same destination, you don’t have to order that plugin chain exactly the way they told you in the musician subreddit, do what feels right and what makes sense to yourself to truly find your own meaning in a project. If we all did things the same way, we would then become closer to all being the same; and I don’t know about you, but I like that there are so many different kinds of people in the world despite our differences. We can only keep individuality alive by being our true selves, and sharing that with others. I know it can be scary, but in my own experience, was one of the best decisions I made in not only my musical career, but also for the direction and overall quality of my life on this planet.

Matthew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello CanvasRebel readers! First off I want to take a moment to shine the spotlight on CanvasRebel as a whole and specifically Jennifer Salazar for reaching out with this opportunity so that everyone can get to know who I am a bit better not only as a creative, but as a person too. I truly recognize and appreciate the hard work you all do to help my fellow creatives and I get somewhere by giving us a platform to express ourselves. Truly, thank you! And another big thanks to all the readers out there, for without people to be interested enough to read about others experiences and perspectives, these opportunities wouldn’t even exist for any of us. So one more, this time to those reading, thank you!

Now that all thanks are thanked, hello again! My name is Matthew Colombini, and I am a creative. I create in many ways, but I primarily focus on writing, creating, and releasing music under the stage name/pseudonym: Call’em bini; I would say I identify with being a writer and musician the most at this point in my career.

Currently, I wear many hats as an independent musician, it’s one of the only options for a lot of us because although making a basic home studio is somewhat affordable these days, outsourcing for the countless production services like graphic design, audio engineering/mastering, a variety of 3rd party services like social media marketing, and sooo many more aspects are just simply out of our budgetary limits. I try not to look at them as limitations though, but as individual opportunities to let our creativity shine out and overcome those limits with our own methods of problem solving. Easier said than done, but we gotta start somewhere!

I mainly create positive/motivational Hiphop music focused around coping, healing, and growing from mental health issues in a practical day to day environment. I also use many other genres of music to help tell that same story alongside others, such as: Acoustic Guitar, Jazz/Swing, Orchestral, Instrumental, and a healthy dose of fusing these and other genres together with other sounds and subject matter.

I deal with mental health myself on a daily basis, have for many years. As most people who live with mental health are aware of, either first or secondhand: if we let them, internal issues have the potential to impact and influence almost every aspect of life. For me, this includes my music as well as the topics I choose to write about, but I’ve tried to harness it all for the better in my writing. I am truly fortunate to be in a position where I can share my experiences with others, even solutions I’ve found, good or bad, through music I make; and that’s the key. It helps me stay focused to get by in my own day to day obstacles; and throughout this journey, I’ve been blessed to learn of those I have impacted with my words and music, which is a great thing indeed. It can be a big responsibility some times, but is also extremely rewarding.
I don’t have all the answers, nor am I claiming to, but sometimes talking to others or hearing of their own experiences can help bring an improved perspective when looking at our own lives, answers involved or not. I mean that’s basically the whole theory behind group therapy, and if you’ve ever experienced group therapy, you know it has the potential to work wonders. In life, it’s our connections that bring us together, and our efforts through adversity, growth, and change that keep us that way.

Since a young age, I have been very different from those around me, and always seemed to be conscious of that truth. I used to think it made me stick out like a sore thumb, but from an opposing and more positive perspective, being different helps me stand out, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Throughout my research of success, learning from the many journeys of “The Greats” in our music industry, in most cases to succeed in being a career creative, you MUST stand out and set yourself apart from others. This makes me think of a couple other musicians from years past who found a way to stand out, or rather, the way found them.

50 Cent, a now very well-known rapper, had trouble breaking through the industry early in his career until he was involved in a shooting and ended up with a fragmented portion of a bullet lodged in his tongue in April of 2000. He didn’t quit after this. Not only did he survive, but learned to make this tragedy work for him eventually giving the way he delivered lines a different sound, thereby being what I believe was part of the catalyst to his initial entry and future success in the music industry. He stood out. Now I’m not saying go get involved in a shoot-out and get shot 9 times in the hand, arm, hip, chest, and face, do NOT do that! But what I am trying to shine a light on here is that even though 50 had his own sound to begin with and was making good music, it took facing down/ rising above his own adversity and struggle to find a way to flip it and make what could potentially hold him back, work FOR him; this only made him more unique through time and experience.

Another example that comes to mind, and this is one of my favorites, is Kanye West. He was pressing forward along his journey to being a rapper when he got in a car accident and fractured his jaw in 3 places in October of 2002. Now, it doesn’t take a college graduate to figure out that the jawbone is very important to a rapper/vocalist; but what a lot of us didn’t know was that at the time he was trying VERY hard just to break into the industry as a rapper. A lot of the time people didn’t take him seriously and pigeonholed him into solely making and producing great beats for other rappers like he had already been doing. This must have been so hard, with already trying so relentlessly to break through and be recognized, then the universe literally breaks you instead, throwing everything you’ve worked for into jeopardy. I think a lot of us trying to come up right now can really relate to this in some context, maybe not physically or word for word/experience for experience, but there’s many ways to use a formula if you know what information to plug in. But I digress, back to Kanye.
Like 50, he did not let this tragedy hold him back either. His debut single, Through the Wire, was saturated with personal experience from this event, really shaping the finished product and how it was received as a whole. The way he delivered his lyrics for the recording, subject matter, and how he implemented everything together with the song and visuals through the telling of his story, made him truly stand out from the rest. It showed everyone a true raw part of Kanye, his determination, and strength of will to persevere no matter what. Everything from the music written and recorded with his jaw wired shut, to the visuals of the music video chronicling his journey throughout the process, was completely enveloped in his experience. Instead of letting it overtake his mind/life in a negative way and set the course for the rest of his career, staying in his position as a beatmaker/producer; he also made it work FOR him. And it did in fact work, because as we all know, he became a great emcee with many timeless releases under his belt so far, and many yet to come.

These are two musicians who have, with their own actions, inspired me at a point in my life when I needed it to continue onward, and contributed a small portion I was lacking to help make me who I am; especially in staring down the possible life or death of a career. Hopefully by now the meaning behind all of this hasn’t become too muddled in the short-stories of others, but my intentions remain the same. It’s not enough just to be “good”, “talented”, or “well connected” in any industry or career; it takes something from ourself that literally takes something. We have a choice each day to face the things that hold us back and improve upon them, no matter how fast or slow it takes, for in my opinion that is how we move forward efficiently, how we get to know our true selves, and in turn, how we can stand out as individuals. It starts within, how we control and direct it out and around to others in representation of ourselves is up to each one of us, no one else.

So what sets me apart from the rest? Well that’s simple really, it’s actually the same thing that sets you and 50 and Kanye apart from the rest too. I am myself, mind body spirit, and that’s something no one else can be. Sammy said it best, I just gotta be me! And I hope you do too.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I think of a story that illustrates my resilience, my mind goes right to one imparticular. I share this story quite a bit because it’s something many people deal with everyday in varying degrees, and there’s not a lot of concrete social understanding as to what it actually is or entails. I won’t get too into it for those who have already heard this story, but for the new readers I’ll give ya the gist.

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia between 2017/2018; it’s basically a chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and tenderness in localized areas. After a year of persistent back and body pain alongside testing, physical therapy, and seeing doctors all over the state of Ohio to figure out where my issues were coming from. I got an answer, but since Fibromyalgia is apparently incurable, it wasn’t an answer I was hoping for, not even close. It impairs my mobility on a daily basis, I can’t lift heavy things anymore, and have to regularly assess my limitations so I can still engage in low impact physical activity like light stretching and walking. This in turn allows me to be able to perform simple tasks like house upkeep, cooking, and going out. If I can’t maintain that balance though, I slip back into pulled muscles, high stress/anxiety, pain, and being stuck laying down on a couch for days or weeks at a time until I can heal enough to start all over again.

I actually wrote some songs last year about what it’s like when I’m in that perspective, and am currently re-working them into a 10 song project for release in Summer/Fall 2023 called, Through the Window. It touches on a lot of those specific vibes and feelings I have felt. It’s about many things though, and includes a variety of topics; but the main theme is how someone placed in this kind of situation can feel stuck inside watching the world go by through the windows of the house they live in, and not be able to do much about it. I speak on topics of isolation, nostalgia, change of seasons, and even some fun stuff along the way to lift the spirit.

I’ve been living with this for about 7 years now, but at no point did I ever stop making music or creating. Some years I put out less than others, but I always found a way to keep working towards my dreams despite feeling the odds were stacked against me. I don’t know exactly why I kept going, maybe to keep my mind focused on something other than my medical issues, maybe for the dopamine boost from creating, might’ve even been simple intuition. Whatever the reason though, I kept it up, and learned many tools to help adjust and adapt, albeit reluctantly, to my new lifestyle.

While on the path to further enlightenment of finding ways to cope with and improve quality of life, it’s good to take breaks and consume something different, more laid back and fun, in line with personal interests and whatnot. I myself like to research musicians I enjoy, their stories, and how they made it to where they are today in hopes I can find parallels between them all, perhaps even stumble upon some secret to success. Plus, I love knowledge and enjoy learning about my industry as well as those who dominated and are currently in it, so two birds at once I suppose haha
One day, I was watching Oliver Tree interviews with his character, Turbo. If you’re familiar with Oliver, you’ll know he literally came out of nowhere to dominate the internet and audio/video streaming platforms for months. His wacky crazy character Turbo, combined with his social media and video strategies, really made it so people couldn’t help but notice. In one interview imparticular, after watching sooooo many, I feel he broke character (which he almost NEVER does, it was all Turbo all the time) and I believe the story he shared was true of Oliver’s past. So whether the story is perfectly accurate or not matters not, what matters to me is what I got out of it.

He spoke of being a professional scooter rider, like extreme sports skateboarding/inline kind of stuff, and made a living doing that. One day, he broke his wrists, a tragedy for someone in that occupation; he was told by the doctors that he would heal, but not be able to ride his scooter professionally anymore. It was in the hospital he decided; if I can’t do that anymore, music is my only option now. So music it was! He went back to school, studied, grew, and wrote his final paper on what I believe he called The Living Meme; this was basically a write out of the character Turbo and his plan to rise online through social media platforms to find success with zaney marketing, and even zanier Punk-Pop/Hip-Hop style music. This story spoke to me so much, I could completely relate. I had lost almost everything, even my hope for a career in music; I’d even started researching jobs I could do from home that weren’t music related it was that bad. But I didn’t wanna start from 0 again and give up my dream so soon when I had already put so much time and money into my music career. So I said to myself the same thing he said; if I can’t do that anymore, music is my only option now. I started focusing on becoming a studio musician instead of performance, updated my computer, studio, and began creating a plan to find a way to break through. I finished my plan, and am still currently executing the first of 3 stages: practice through creation! This meant making more music, a LOT more music, and getting it up on streaming services to begin generating revenue. Once I start gaining some traction I’ll be moving forward to the next step, and the next, until the day I reach the last goal of the overall plan; then, I move on from there. We never know how far we will go in life or occupation, but as I learned in boy scouts as a kid, it’s always good to be prepared. So I have quite a few plans and ideas of what I wanna do the bigger my career grows; and the more efficient I become at completing every stage even if my body and mind aren’t always 100%, the closer I get to being able to earn the title of professional musician.

By now I’ve figured out a few simple tricks to help the process, so much so I can still create at a somewhat regular pace. I use my old laptop to make and arrange beats and start off premix structure for a new song. Then I use my cell phone to listen to those beats more conveniently while I write songs and keep project/track notes organized in a notepad app synced with my Google account, so the words never get lost when changing phones. I put my Mac Mini computer on a cart with my interface, headphones, keyboard, track pad, etc, and mix/master songs I’ve finished recording on my TV from the couch when I’m down. And when I need to record a new song that’s written and prepped out ready, I break it down into sections and record each section in a different session to split up time sitting upright in a chair; which makes it a lot more manageable to stay consistently working on a daily/weekly basis. I have even found solutions to still have friends over and work on collabs; I just setup my cart in my living room, move the coffee table aside, and get my dude the mic while I am able to operate my DAW through the TV from a comfortable position, which takes less of my energy to complete a full session and have more fun doing it. One of my strongest qualities is creative problem solving, and I think my diagnosis has only given that quality more power over the years due to its continuous use and practice.

But yeahh, I find this to be one of my favorite stories of personal resilience because looking back, I’m even amazed with myself sometimes. I never gave up on my dream no matter what was thrown my way, not only that, I found ways to keep improving and getting better through creative problem solving, personal determination, and good old fashioned strength of human will. I’m so beyond happy I kept going, for this is indeed what I’m meant to do, there’s not a doubt in my mind anymore.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I would have to say there are many goals/missions helping to drive my creative journey, so many in fact I don’t have time to go over them all in just one interview haha But goals, big or small, are absolutely essential to help us move forward, and consistently grow over time.

A big one for me is becoming a career musician and making a living writing and creating original music from my home studio either independently or signed by a record label. Before I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and my mobility wasn’t as compromised, I made a good deal of money playing live music gigs in Marietta Ohio; enough to pay most of my bills even. Now that’s a good feeling, being able to survive day to day/month to month, by doing something you truly love. I miss that feeling so much, but work hard everyday to be able to get back to that point. Maybe not that exact point, performing on stage and such, change is indeed constant; but being able to make a paycheck from the music I create and being able to support myself again. And that day? I look forward to with great anticipation. On that day, I’ll be able to start the process of finally getting married to my girlfriend of 11 years, we can buy a house where we want to live, and can finally, truly, start our lives together as one.

Another goal/mission I have that drives me, is to bring pride to my family name, and continue on the long line of successful men I come from. My great grandfather Egidio Lucindo Colombini came here from Italy when he was 16, following his wife to be, Emma Marie Colombini. They landed at the port on Ellis Island before eventually going west to settle in Santa Rosa California, the city of my birth. Nonno Bini as we all called him (Nonno is Italian for grandfather, and bini is kinda obvious haha) but Nonno Bini worked many jobs, most of them I was never even told about. Two specific jobs do stand out in my mind though. He ran a local tavern in Santa Rosa called Gene’s Bar for many years, and over time he built the business Colombini Construction, still in operation today. This company would end up building many structures in the city that are also still around today; it didn’t take long until Colombini became a well known name in the community. His son, my Nonno (Grandfather), Richard Italo Colombini, was a man of true legend and ran the business after Nonno Bini passed it on to him. He went to school, studied business in college at the University of San Francisco, and learned how to run Colombini Construction more efficiently. In college he played football as well, for a pretty special team actually; my Nonno was a member of the 1951 USF Dons. These memories shared in story always carried a great deal of pride and nostalgia when he spoke of them; and as I’ve gotten older, I can understand why. Among his many many accomplishments in life, one of them was meeting Charlotte Lee Townsend (my Grandmother), and fathering my dad, Dante Matthew Colombini. My Dad moved here to Ohio with my Mom, Beth Ann Ullmann, now Colombini, to her hometown of Barlow Ohio before I was a year old. By the time I was 10, my dad went out on his own and created his own business, Dante’s Wallpapering & Painting. If you ask anyone he’s ever worked for, you’ll know he’s the best in town at what he does, whatever that may be. Some would call him a jack of all trades, I’ve just always called him Dad; but he truly carried on the pride of the Colombini name, and not only went into business for himself which is very hard to do on your own, but succeeded in being the best around with his flawless performance. We may not always see eye to eye, but I’m truly proud of and inspired by my Dad on the daily. He’s another great man in a long line of great men, and I hope to one day fill the shoes of these 3 who came before me on my father’s side of the family. I know I have it in me, I feel it, I see it in my mind, just need to keep at it and as my Nonno said, never give up on myself.

Finally, and probably most importantly, a goal/mission that drives my creative journey is because it truly makes me happy, and I want to have a happy life. Being in the studio, just writing/rapping/singing/creating in general, there is no better high to me; but on the opposite side, when I’m not creating because my back goes down, everything else just seems to get harder or even fall apart. In those moments I like to think of a quote from the TV show Supernatural. “When a writer isn’t writing, they feel sad and they get lost”; this is such a true statement for many of us, writers/creatives or not. If we are not doing what we feel we should be, what calls out to us on another level that maybe even no one else can see or hear, it can really have a negative impact on the whole of a person. So I find good vibes and write from there, I stay working consistently on my journey trying to enjoy any and every moment I can on the way through each challenge towards success; for I believe this to be the truest purpose of life. Living. No matter who we are or what our choice of occupation, however we see fit to attain our own vision of happiness; life is truly what we make it, and I wanna make it a blast!

Many thanks again to CanvasRebel, Jennifer Salazar, the readers, and everyone else out there who helped make this possible! I appreciate anyone who has made it this far, and hope you got some value from our time together. Links to my streaming platforms, and Linktree containing Socials among other links, will be below. So if you did enjoy the content here today? Head on over to my Linktree, pick your platform of choice, and check out some of my work. I have over 130 different songs on Spotify alone, that are also available on Apple Music/Tidal/Deezer/etc; plus, more platform exclusive tracks on my YouTube page, so odds are you’ll find something you like! Much Peace Love Patience Persistence and Positivity to everyone out there. Until next time, Call’em bini signing off Tom from Toonami style. Later.  

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/callembini
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/callembini
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@callembini
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1SZwCyhmdLTozCdVIvdYak?si=eXQxbE_DT4eZsBO-K_tY2g