Courtesy of Panther City Riots
Matt Shelton of Panther City Riots
It’s been said that you never really know whom you’ll run into in Fort Worth. You could be in line for coffee and standing next to a millionaire without knowing it. Enjoying a nice meal downtown and Harrison Ford is sitting a few feet away. Strolling down Magnolia Avenue and you bump into Leon Bridges. (Sadly, that hasn’t happened to me yet, though I have met Leon in far less spontaneous circumstances.)
My big starstruck encounter in Fort Worth occurred relatively recently — though it's not one many may rank alongside meeting Bridges or Ford.
A few years ago, I connected with one of my childhood heroes: Matt Shelton.
“Who?” you react (yeah, I can read your mind). At the risk of sounding like a big nerd, let me explain.
Around the early 2000s, Shelton was part of a band called Letter Kills, a post-hardcore punk group among the likes of those you’d see at Vans Warped Tour. Shelton and the band used to open up for bigger acts like Fall Out Boy, Story of the Year, and The Used before he went on to join another similar group, The Wedding.
In 2008 — smack-dab in the middle of my awkward, homeschooled teenager years — The Wedding released what I consider to be one of the best punk records I’ve ever heard: The Sound The Steel. More of an EP than a record (it has six tracks, all starting with the letter R: “Receive,” “Return,” “Renew,” etc.), I was thoroughly impressed by the old steam train theme incorporated into the music; the chugging and whistles between each track; the driving, unapologetic guitars...
Oh, and the vocals — one of the best vocal performances I’ve ever heard. Whoever that singer was had everything a punk vocalist should have: spunk, range, power, a tinge of raspiness. Do I sound like a big nerd yet?
But, yes, that was Shelton. And I promise you, all of this has a point, so bear with me.
Like most things in high school, I wound up setting that record on the back burner for a bit, graduated, and continued my own music studies at TCU (where no one in the music department is listening to punk rock, at least not in the classroom). For a while, classical and various required listening assignments dominated most of my musical intake during my college years. Then, when I finished my music minor and dove headfirst into my major, journalism, I guess I just sort of forgot about my childhood passion in pursuit of a career in news.
Little did I realize that about a year into the workforce, I’d be reporting about Fort Worth while also delving back into the music I loved growing up, leading the music at my church — and writing songs of my own. For one of those songs, a punk-meets-musical-theater track titled “Adventure Awaits,” I slapped together a scrappy demo mixed on GarageBand and kept it saved on my computer, not really knowing what to do about it at the time. But hey, it existed.
Back to Matt Shelton. I honestly don’t even remember how I came across that name on the interwebs; I only remember seeing that he was in Fort Worth, serving as a music pastor at The Paradox Church, and his name was distinctly familiar.
Wait. Matt Shelton? From The Wedding?
Yes, that was him. The Wedding’s not around anymore, but Shelton’s here in Fort Worth, still playing music at a church, just like me. Who knew?
So, being the opportunist that I am, I reached out to Shelton via email, wrote up the geekiest gush over The Sound The Steel and how much his music inspired me — and, because why not, I followed up on Twitter asking if he wouldn’t mind me sending that poorly mixed demo to see what he thought about it.
That was in 2017. I didn’t hear back.
Then, in March (as in, this March, in 2021), I got an unexpected Twitter message from Shelton: “Hey! Hope all is well. Sorry for the three [actually four] years late reply, but I just hopped back on Twitter. Not sure what you are doing musically now, but I’d still love to hear it.”
Lo and behold, within those four years, I did wind up getting “Adventure Awaits” recorded professionally. It’s a real-deal single now under my artist name, Little Sam, on Spotify and Pandora and all the platforms. I sent that version to him, and he reacted positively. Whew.
Turns out, Shelton’s current place on his musical journey is somewhat similar to my own. This year — after taking time off The Wedding to raise a family, serve as a pastor, and grow as a person — Shelton is making a comeback to his own music, preparing for the launch of his new band, Panther City Riots, and a debut album, You Gotta Say Something, to boot. It’s a project uniquely his own; he wrote every song and produced the album himself, recording instruments and vocals at Spaceway Productions, Brilliant Recording, and his own home studio.
Panther City Riots is nothing like The Wedding, mind you. Instead, it’s a more mature, indie-esque outfit, grounded in rock 'n' roll with bright synths that spark 1980s nostalgia.
The song from which the album derives its title, “Say It Like You Mean It,” is an upbeat, mosh-pit-friendly track whose lyrics read somewhat like an autobiography, with indirect references to notable moments in Shelton’s life, including his move out of Fort Worth to California and subsequent stint touring with a couple of punk bands. Each song is honest and deeply personal — what Shelton describes as a reckoning with his faith and identity.
“It’s me writing against my own heart — me protesting my own desires, starting to ask questions about what I wanted in life, and what I was actually after,” he says. “These songs gave me an opportunity to wrestle with that.”
As far as the future goes, Shelton says he hopes to play more shows and possibly participate in a festival in 2022. But he also doesn’t want to stray too far from home, envisioning Panther City Riots as a band with deep roots planted in the place where it gets its name.
After all, you just never know what fortuitous occurrences could happen around here.
“I really like the idea of investing here in Fort Worth and the music scene,” he says. “I’m really passionate about this city and the culture we create.”
You Gotta Say Something comes out Thursday, with a release show scheduled for Sept. 9 at Tulips. Learn more about the band at panthercityriots.com.
