Menton J. Matthews III

Menton3
Birth nameMenton J. Matthews III
Also known asAvis, Saltillo, Menton3
Born (1976-01-03) January 3, 1976 (age 48)
Mississippi, United States
Occupation(s)illustrator, comic book artist, songwriter
Instrument(s)cello, viola, violin, guitar, drums, piano/keyboards, bass guitar, electronics[1]
Years active2006–present

Menton J. Matthews III (born January 3, 1976, in Mississippi) is an American musician, painter, illustrator, and comic book artist currently living in Chicago.[2][3] He is known mostly as Menton3, but also as Avis and as Saltillo.[1] Matthews is a multi-instrumentalist who can play a number of diverse instruments such as cello, viola, violin, guitar, drums, piano, and bass.[1]

Music

Matthews started his music work as a member of Sunday Munich, a band which was created with his then wife Sarah Matthews.[4] During that time he adopted the name Avis J. Matthews III.[1] Saltillo is an alias used by Menton J. Matthews III for his solo project.[1][5] His debut album "Ganglion" was released in 2006 under Suspicious Records, a sub-label of Hive Records.[6][7] He started cooperation with Artoffact Records and they re-released this album in 2011.[6] His next two albums ("Monocyte", "Monocyte: The Lapis Coil") were also released under mentioned label, both in 2012.[1][8][9][10] "Monocyte" was created as a concept album and a soundtrack to the comic book of the same name (also created by Menton J. Matthews III and published by IDW Publishing).[11]

Painting

Menton started drawing and painting as a child, already then he wanted to make comic books. His gift developed over the years and now he can be called self-taught painter. For some time he turned and dedicated himself to music. After the Saltillo album was released, he thought of painting his wife a canvas. Doing so brought back memories and for next few years he painted as much as he could. The idea of creating comic books came back to him, consequently he self-published his graphic novel, Ars Memoria. He admitted, in interview from 2010, that up to this date, it was the hardest and most rewarding thing he have done artistically. He had a pin up in Proof #25 (image comics), and Zombies vs Robots Aventure (IDW publishing) a four issue miniseries of which he has 'the first nine to eight pages of, plus a great deal of independent covers and pin ups'.[12]

Asked about his future work he replied "I heard a writer once say, that he did not really write things, and much as he just wrote it down. Painting for me is a great deal like that, if I could articulate it with words I would not have to paint it. It is the need to manifest the internality of my own psyche. To place in the external world my own personal internal architecture, iconography, tropes and loci, connecting them together and seeing them in ways that my psyche does not naturally do outside of dreams, to the point that resolution was a foregone conclusion."[12]

Since then he collaborated with different writers and created a lot of illustrations.

Discography

Ganglion (2006)

Released under Suspicious Records label (CD Album).[6][7]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."A Necessary End"Menton J. Matthews III5:57
2."Giving In"Menton J. Matthews III5:22
3."Remember Me?"Menton J. Matthews III3:25
4."A Simple Test"Menton J. Matthews III5:29
5."A Hair On The Head Of John The Baptist"Menton J. Matthews III7:32
6."Blood And Milk"Menton J. Matthews III3:21
7."The Opening"Menton J. Matthews III2:49
8."Backyard Pond"Menton J. Matthews III3:00
9."Grafting"Menton J. Matthews III4:45
10."Praise"Menton J. Matthews III4:12
11."I'm On The Wrong Side"Menton J. Matthews III2:29
12."002 F#m"Menton J. Matthews III3:45

Monocyte (2012)

Released under Artoffact Records label (CD Album).[8][11]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Abeo"Menton J. Matthews III2:34
2."Proxy"Menton J. Matthews III4:30
3."If Wishes Were Catholics (Vocals – Sarah Matthews)"Menton J. Matthews III5:15
4."The Right Of Action"Menton J. Matthews III5:01
5."They All Do It The Same"Menton J. Matthews III2:54
6."Gatekeepers"Menton J. Matthews III4:13
7."I Hate You"Menton J. Matthews III4:00
8."Forced Vision"Menton J. Matthews III4:29
9."Hollow"Menton J. Matthews III3:43
10."The Locus Priory"Menton J. Matthews III5:44
11."Veil (Vocals – Brianna (3)"Menton J. Matthews III5:15
12."To Kill A King"Menton J. Matthews III3:57

Monocyte: The Lapis Coil (2012)

Released under Artoffact Records label (Vinyl).[9][13]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Proxy"Menton J. Matthews III4:30
2."If Wishes Were Catholics (Remix)"Menton J. Matthews III5:15
3."The Right Of Action (Remix)"Menton J. Matthews III5:01
4."Gatekeepers"Menton J. Matthews III4:13
5."The Locus Priory"Menton J. Matthews III5:44
6."Necromancy"Menton J. Matthews III3:00

Ascension (EP)(2017)

Released under Artoffact Records label

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Following Evelyn"Menton J. Matthews III5:51
2."Flood (ft. Richard Walters)"Richard Walters & Menton J. Matthews III4:02
3."The Us We Do Not See"Menton J. Matthews III4:53

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Menton J. Matthews III". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  2. ^ "Menton J. Matthews III “Menton3”" Archived 2013-04-06 at the Wayback Machine. Wizardworld.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  3. ^ "Menton's blog". Menton3.blogspot.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  4. ^ "SundayMunich". Last.fm. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  5. ^ "Saltillo (Menton J. Matthews III)". Mysterytricycle.com. 3 October 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c "Ganglion". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  7. ^ a b "Ganglion". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Monocyte". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Monocyte: The Lapis Coil". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  10. ^ "Saltillo". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Monocyte". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012
  12. ^ a b "Ars Memoria, The Art Of Memory And Also Of Menton J. Matthews III". Mapanare.us. Retrieved January, 2015.
  13. ^ "Monocyte: The Lapis Coil". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.