Today we’d like to introduce you to Skunk Manhattan.
Hi Skunk, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in San Antonio, but my family moved to the small Texas town of Hallettsville shortly thereafter. My mom worked as a registered nurse and my dad went through odd jobs while I began learning from nuns. My grandparents, who were near by at the time, had a piano and I was inspired by watching my grandfather poke around on it. A few years later my dad got a job with Texas A&M University, and we relocated to College Station where I did most of the normal 1980s kid stuff like playing outside, drinking out of garden hoses, climbing trees, riding bikes without helmets, and burning my eyeballs out with Nintendo.
Music wasn’t a huge part of my upbringing, but what I did hear by way of my parents was very good. My dad had a classic rock record collection (I’d later discover), and we’d often listen to stuff like The Doors, The Beatles, Elton John, and Fleetwood Mac on family road trips. There was also often classical or soundtrack music playing at home. Contrary to what I heard at home, the trending music of the day, as I approached teenage years, was cheesy pop and hip-hop. My brother and I used to mess around on a cheap keyboard making “beats” and improvising atrocious raps. Fortunately, this did not stick.
Guns N’ Roses was a major turning point for me. Once I heard Appetite for Destruction, and realized that “heavy metal” was awesome, and not a bunch of satanists telling kids to kill themselves, I was hooked. The first thing I recall playing was the simple guitar melody to Sweet Child O’ Mine on a toy guitar. I began guitar lessons the following year, at which time I ended up becoming friends with my guitar teacher, and started attending local rock shows as “a roadie”. Even seeing a small town bar band was incredibly exciting and inspired me to want to be on stage. My first legit concert came a year later. Seeing Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and Faith No More at the Astrodome in September of 1992 absolutely blew my mind.
I basically stumbled through high school, torn between fitting in amongst a sea of people with which I had little in common and being true to my introspective self. In conjunction with guitar, I began piano lessons, but there weren’t many people I knew with the same taste and drive in music as myself. Dave Tucker, 5 Iron Woodworks owner, drummer, and close friend to this day, was one of the few classmates I bonded with. He had a crazy knowledge of music and we decided to start a band. His first set of drums were cardboard boxes, a broom for a high hat and a screwdriver handle for a bass drum pedal. I had purchased a ninety dollar guitar and amp combo and, although his sister highly disagreed, we thought we were ready for rock n’ roll stardom. Our first “recording” was utter trash, but a fun, memorable experience nonetheless. I remember Dave and I high-fiving to my Slayer inspired dive bomb guitar solos even though we knew the recording we’d gotten for twenty dollars was sonic garbage.
After some basic college and dead end jobs, I moved back to my place of origin where I met lifelong friends in music classes at San Antonio College. There I began performing both acoustically and with a local band. We recorded an album in three days, did a radio interview and live performance on the biggest rock station in town, and had a successful CD release show. This was short lived however, and before long I decided to move to Los Angeles along with my brother (who had taken up bass to play at our album release) to attend the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA. There I made more lifelong acquaintances, one which led me to England a short time after. Guy Laverick, had a home recording studio with an early version of Logic Audio, an Allen & Heath mixer, and two 8-track ADAT tape machines. At the time, that was a mega cool setup and I got my first taste of “producing” music. This was also the place where I learned the phrase “A Good Rogering”. Little did I know I’d someday start a band using the euphemism as a moniker.
Unfortunately, being young and naive came with consequences, and when I returned to LA I proceeded to experience the general pitfalls of a young, unfocused rocker. Then came the attacks on 9/11. It was a very strange time, and uncertainty led me back home, broke and depressed. It took me a few years to get back to a mental and economic state which allowed me to move forward, and I was able to move to Austin in 2004 where I’ve developed the network I know today.
In many ways my musical career didn’t begin until I moved to ATX. I’d begun working for my Uncle, who owned a vending business at the time, when my brother decided to move back to Texas as well. He’d had the successes I had not: he’d toured the states and abroad, made the cover of the LA Weekly, and even played the famed Whisky A GoGo in West Hollywood with the Boston-turned-LA transplant, groove-metal band, Hostile Groove. It was surprising, to say the least, when he decided to “come home”.
This became the catalyst for what would become my future life. We began playing music together again, and went to open mics and blues jams. Then we formed a mostly covers band called Pitchfork before eventually forming the original hard rock band, A Good Rogering circa 2007. Though he has since moved back west and is busy with a family, I still carry the “AGR” torch. He and I collectively wrote most of the songs over the years, and he has been invaluable behind the scenes since his official departure from performing.
I feel my musical path was never a question, and it has been gradually revealed throughout my life. I am very thankful for the inspiring music instructors, long time musical friends, and a family who encouraged my musical endeavors. The world has changed exponentially since I initially discovered my love for music and the desire to create and perform in a band, but my teenage dreams remain the same.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. Like many musicians and creatives I’ve battled depression, anxiety, feelings of doubt, and have even contemplated my own sanity. I sometimes wonder why I do this, especially as I get older, but through all the roster changes, career disappointments, broken hearts, and broken bank accounts, I continue. It’s who I am, and what I do because there is truly no better feeling than being on stage playing for a cheering crowd, and if the band is tight, and the vibe and sound are good, it is a high like no other. Achieving that is often easier said than done, however.
I could cite several factors that comprise the makings of a successful band, some I was innately aware of, but many I just learned the hard way as I’ve somewhat stumbled through this journey. A shy, small-town kid with big dreams, but without big money or Nepo baby feet in the door, kind of goes hand and hand with depression, anxiety, etc. I don’t want to use abundant capital and notable influence as the end all be all to success, but it certainly helps having either, if not both, of these in your corner.
I’m not sure if things are more or less difficult now than in Rock N’ Roll’s heyday, but the landscape and business of music has vastly changed in the 21st century and continues to do so. I admire any credible artist “going for it” because it’s a confusing business, convoluted and evolving, full of scams and uncertainty. Many local bars and promoters don’t seem to offer the same securities they once did, and many people in a post covid and techno-driven world, full of endless entertainment and distractions from the comfort of one’s own home, are less inclined to go out to watch a live band, especially an original rock band operating without the security of a long-running mainstream nostalgia. I realize age is a factor too, but I’m not sure if the younger generation even gets all that excited about their peer’s local shows, or even artists in general, the way Boomers, Gen X and the Millennials did. Influencers and YouTubers weren’t a thing when I started down this path. I’m old school and that kind of dopamine boost just doesn’t do it for me. I was born for the stage. So, at the very least, the competition, and the variety of it, both legit and absurd, seems far greater than the days before the world wide web’s infant alternatives dominated our lives.
My biggest concern now, in this rapidly changing techno-landscape, is Artificial Intelligence. There’s already an endless sea of “artists”, who fancy themselves musicians because they top-line juvenile nursery rhymes over “beats” and pass off infantile musical ideas created by a room of a “hit-maker” producers (that money thing), who have devalued this craft by churning out fast food and calling it “art”. It’s McDonald’s for music, and it is equally synthetic, grotesque, and detrimental in my opinion. And now, with AI creating commercial ready songs in seconds, I wonder if future generations will inevitably submit to the Huxley-driven comforts of the modern world, or if the collective consciousness of humanity will combat the pendulum before it swings to a point of no return.
To me, there is a vast difference between actual art and commercial dribble. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of popular music has been, and still is, very good, and I also enjoy a funny AI song making fun of lame cliché bro country, or some other commercialized sonic atrocity that has long been unleashed into the public’s susceptible psyche, as much as the next person. I’m a fan of all types of genres, but I want the music to have merit, I want it to come from a human’s soul.
Regardless of my perceived failures and shortcomings, or the abundance of factors which I cannot control, I continue to learn and evolve as a songwriter, band leader, and entrepreneur. I particularly enjoy interviewing and learning from the more successful and accomplished, and feel, at the very least, I can offer advice to young aspiring musicians while continuing my own journey. I’m one of those people who most likely boarded the Crazy Train until it runs out of track, so I’m riding out this adventure. Behind my inherent cynicism there has always been that romantic optimistic spirit, I’ve just had to learn the hard way that a dream doesn’t become reality just because you dream it. So now I try to appreciate the small victories, I’m more guarded with my time, and move with more intent. The trick is maintaining discipline and not becoming distracted and derailed in an environment very well equipped to do so. And here I thought I was just going to “rock out” for a living.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Since relocating to Austin I have written, recorded, and performed with a wide variety of bands and artists. These are the current bands/projects I’m most vested in:
A Good Rogering: the eclectic hard-rock band in which I sing and play guitar. This band began writing in late 2007 as the heavy-rock grunge band, Quartershackle, I was playing with became increasingly stagnant. AGR was formed with a plethora of creative ideas spawning from my brother, myself and bassist Blaine Matte, who also played in Quartershackle. Original drummer, Mike Molina, joined in 2008 and we made a demo and started playing locally. After many iterations over the years, the current lineup includes myself, Blaine, Tim Driscoll of Runescarred, Rom Gov of Black Satellite, and Adam Kirby of Eyetooth. We recently released the single ‘Overcome’ with a guest lyricist, Yuri Diogenes, have a Tool cover in the works with legendary producer/engineer Sylvia Massy, and are currently recording our fourth full-length album at Evil Snail Studios in Austin, TX.
The Invincible Czars: a rotating cast of eclectic musicians who write and record original scores to iconic silent films. Though I am no longer a touring member, I still write with the band and contributed to the most recent centennial anniversary soundtrack for the 1925 film, Phantom of the Opera. The band will be touring this fall performing the soundtrack live at movie theatre’s and art houses across the U.S. and Canada. A copy of the DVD will also be available and the soundtrack will be digitally streaming as well. The Czars have an extensive catalog of cinematic music, a variety of rock music, and reimagined classical music. The latest soundtrack was recorded and mixed by renowned audio engineer, and Secret Chiefs 3 guitarist, Jason Schimmel, and mastered at the famed Abbey Road Studios.
Runescarred: a progressive thrash metal band I joined after touring with Austin Chronicle’s voted “best metal band”, Dead Earth Politics. “DEP” disbanded in 2017 and core members emerged to form Runescarred. Though currently on a hiatus from playing live, the band has four new singles ready to release this year.
I am also passionate about teaching music and have been a music instructor at various schools since 2006. I currently teach part time at Velocity Music Academy, Musician’s Woodshed, and Strait Music in South Austin. I enjoy featuring students at my annual Austin-based music festival, Skunkfest, which I started in 2018 to feature local and regional talent. I primarily began this festival because I was appalled to see bands being charged money just for the opportunity to play other festivals. This year’s event will be held Saturday, September 6 at Come in Take it Live and all profits will be donated to central Texas flood relief.
Another recent endeavor, that ties into my musical career, has been starting a podcast with my longtime friend, Victor Ramos. In 2020 Eclectic Soundtrax Podcast began interviewing various musicians, artists, and creatives from around the globe.
Aside from these primary endeavors, I’ve done a little acting and standup comedy. Please don’t ask me to tell a joke.
What does success mean to you?
I think success is finding happiness in conjunction with supporting oneself. If you can be happy doing what you love and earning a living doing it, that sounds like a win. I often say “I’m living the half dream”. I’m a professional musician who gets to perform, be creative, and share this language with others, both through songs and teaching, and that’s pretty damn cool. The administrative side of things that goes with running your own business and all the social media requirements of the modern era, on the other hand, diminishes the awesomeness of “the dream”. I think those who are really successful have mastered the art of working smart, and have an excellent understanding of balance and delegation. I’m still working at this.
In a perfect world, I’d get to “just be the artist”, but very few have that luxury. I’ve learned a lot, albeit many times from the school of hard knocks, and will continue to push forward in this ever changing industry. My biggest hope for the future of the “music industry” is a push for authentic connection via art, and a thirst for, at least somewhat, original music. My biggest fear at this point is technology and the idea that anyone can be an artist. That notion undermines and decimates the hard work and success of the true creators who have spent years of their lives honing a craft. As I continue to discover my passions and ultimate purpose, I hope society moves in a direction that reconnects us in a more organic way. To facilitate human connection on a broader scale, for the better of humankind, would be my ultimate success. I think it’s pretty clear just how successful Ozzy Osbourne was in that regard based on what we’ve seen since his passing. Ironically, the Prince of Darkness shone a light greater than most ever will. What a legacy to leave behind.
To influence someone’s life in a positive way, to give them hope, to make them feel like they are not alone, to leave the world better than you came into it, that is success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.agoodrogering.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agoodrogering
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agoodrogeringband
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skunk-manhattan-426b9016
- Twitter: https://x.com/agoodrogering
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AGoodRogering/videos
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/a-good-rogering
- Other: https://agoodrogering.bandcamp.com/music
Image Credits
Stacey Lovett: Solo promo shot w/ Doubleday Guitar and AGR 2025 band promo photo (white)
S.A. Sebastian Gnolfo: Priest attire solo and live band shot
Kali Rose Photography/Kairo Media: Solo live shot w/ Seahawks Tregan Guitar
Emily Shirley: Artwork for Skunk Manhattan “Baby I’m Trying”, A Good Rogering “Overcome”, and Skunkfest 2025 Flyer
