Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Lindblad. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
My journey as a creative professional has been anything but ordinary. I was practically born with a guitar in my hands. Since well before I was on this earth, my father was a musician. As an infant, I would crawl over to him while he was playing guitar and pluck the strings in wonder. Shortly after, he would set up paint cans, hand me wooden spoons, and I would bang on them like a homemade drum set, jamming along with Dad. Luckily, the creative influence didn’t stop there. At age 9, my family took me to my first rock concert: a free outdoor Smashing Pumpkins show in front of 100,000 people in downtown Minneapolis, MN. Awestruck, I began teaching myself every instrument I could get my hands on, and by age 14, I had performed with Shania Twain in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,000 people in Toronto, Canada. Shortly after, I began writing and recording my own original tunes on a 12-track recorder, designing album cover art using magazine clippings, and sharing my music with the world through burned CDs and PureVolume, one of the first web-based music streaming platforms. Within the year, I found myself garnering a local fanbase, and booking my first “official” concert at a dive bar in downtown Toronto called Duffy’s Tavern. I walked away from that concert with $500 from ticket sales in my pocket, and quickly realized that with enough dedication, I could make a living using my craft to entertain and inspire others, much as my father did for me at an early age.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As a professional, I’ve found my success at the intersection of creativity and leadership. Whether performing in national touring bands as a professional musician, or in a managerial role at the Walt Disney Company, my aptitude for people and the production grind makes me truly come alive. Alongside my pursuits as a self-declared “creative Swiss-Army Knife” across multiple mediums of creative content, I’ve also secured a B.A. in Entertainment Media (from Middlesex University London), M.A. in Communication Management & Marketing (from University of Denver), and have produced major brand content that has been seen more than 7 billion times!
I began my career wanting to be a rockstar and travel the country playing music in low-lit venues, feeling the palpable passion of the crowd. After living out this dream in my early 20’s, I came to the realization that living out of van with 7 other smelly musicians, and leaving my loved ones for half of the year wasn’t the life for me. Instead, I went back to school to pursue my undergrad and graduate education while working in immersive entertainment and creative services at two Southern California theme parks simultaneously. Through this process, I honed my craft in filmmaking, sound design, graphic design, marketing, and communication management, eventually landing my current role as a Senior Creative Producer for the Anaheim Ducks, Honda Center, and the 4 billion-dollar OCVIBE entertainment district outside the stadium in Anaheim, CA.
Being a student of life, being kind, and diversifying my skillset is what has led to my success throughout my career. It’s afforded me opportunities beyond my wildest imagination, such as filming music videos for Grammy Award winning musicians, producing music for beauty brands that would go on to land on Billboard charts, and getting to work on the same soundstage as the Muppets. This would have not been possible without continually asking questions, and saying “yes” to opportunities that required overnight crash-course-learning sessions in order to show up with confidence the next day on set. The key for me was trying new things, finding out what I like (and what I would rather not do), and pivoting to double down in the areas where I excel. For me those areas have been all aspects of creativity, from concept to content going live. From a guitar riff to entire songs in which I sang and played all the instruments being aired on The World Famous KROQ. I’ve fallen in love with creating, and letting the world see my work. My hope is that this can inspire other multi-disciplinaries to pave their own way through the professional world, because having been told that I have to “just pick one interest” time and time again, and to defy this notion, I know that those that come after me can truly carve out their own path as I have if they commit themselves to quality, and never settle.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One of the lessons I had to learn to unlock my future was to stop repeating the words ‘I can’t’ to myself. Truthfully, I was AWFUL at traditional education from kindergarten through my senior year of high school. As a neurodivergent individual, I wanted to do anything but sit still and do homework. I would skip school to write songs in the park, doodle design on my notebook covers, and had a very difficult time making a passing grade. I gave college a try after graduating high school but quit on the very first day after being overwhelmed by a five-page writing assignment. A few years later, after writing off higher education, I returned to give my studies a second chance, this time with a new perspective: that ADHD wasn’t a curse but a superpower. That if I truly embrace the unique and colorful way that my brain works, I could excel at whatever I set my mind to. When I stopped filling my mind with “I can’t”, got out of my own way, and leaned into my future, I began kicking doors down that I never thought possible.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and creative is delivering what I humorously refer to as ‘brain babies’. Weird terminology, but in essence, there’s something magical about having an idea or thought, and having the skills to deliver what only exists in my head into a reality through my craft. Even more so when that work goes on to inspire others to do the same in their own line of work or passions. It’s spectacular to be a part of joyfully the sharing of stories and songs that will live on through the ages with others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.MatthewLindblad.com
- Instagram: @HideYourMilk
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewlindblad
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8cpCXnvv2I
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4FipkATr1dwUCvg1wTkDES?si=B3bs93L5Tse7i3kQ5PxKng
