Eye To Eye With Lonewolf
Zac Matias is a DIY artist. Defined as the “method of building, modifying, or repairing things without the direct aid of experts or professionals,” in the music world, the DIY culture has thrived in the underground scene for many years —especially in the Midwest region far away from the major labels on the East and West Coast. Hailing from Northwest Indiana, Matias has earned himself a reputation as one of the best videographers in the game, and he’s become synonymous with one name: Lonewolf.
Lonewolf’s origin story is a modest one. His interest in shooting videos blossomed from him and his brothers’ recording skits on an old home camera with tapes. As he grew up, he developed a passion for skating, then started to record himself and his friends skateboarding and uploaded those videos onto YouTube. Naturally, when friends of his started to make music and wanted to shoot music videos, Matias was pretty much the closest person they knew to be qualified for the job.
“My friends would make music from school and they asked me if I can shoot a music video, and I was like ‘I can try.’ I had no idea this would come from that. It was a snowball effect. I think me and all my friends, we were just cool with everybody and in doing that, it was kind of inspiring. Plus being in Northwest Indiana, we’re really close to Chicago. So that’s how I started to network with people, just reaching out to Chicago artists.”
Thus, Lonewolf was born, and from there he simply put himself out there. He credits his hometown for being in a position to be exposed to all types of people. Just starting his directorial career, he would never say no to a video opportunity and reached out to work with local artists whose music resonated with him. He developed a distinct style that utilizes distorted camera shots, grainy footage, sporadic jump cuts and superimposing pictures cut from magazines or hand-drawn art to essentially create a moving collage.
LUCKI - GLORY BOY [Official Music Video]
Often matching the woozy, drug-infused ambiance created by many of the rappers he works with, the visuals create a hypnotic effect that never feels overwhelming. It’s a mellow trance perfect for a smoke session. While different videos draw parallels in style, each one still feels unique. He credits inspiration from regular visits to the record shop and viewing the cover art for music from the 1970s and 80s.
“I would just take photos of them and be like ‘how can I implement this into my work?’ Because back then no one had computers or anything, they had to just make artwork either by drawing it or screen printing. They had to use a DIY style. What I love about DIY is that it’s 100% you. You can customize everything. In doing that, how can I take these collage things that’s just a photo and then turn it into a video, while keeping it me? My videos are really experimental a lot of the time. I just try not to repeat, in my head, I’m just thinking, ‘how can I make this fresh?’”
Just scrolling through his YouTube Channel and you’ll find a plethora of incredible visuals for a variety of notable names like Yung Bans, Maxo Kream and SahBabii to name a few. Some of the earliest videos on his YouTube channel include local underground mainstays like Supa Bwe, Adot, Warhol.ss, and Plu2o Nash. However, it’s his relationship with the Flawless Lucki that stands out in his impressive catalog.
“It started from him reaching out to me from seeing one of my videos and just grew into a friendship. Now I’m appointed creative director for his projects, which is crazy. When we first started working, he was the biggest artist I’ve worked with at the time. We just see eye to eye, I think that’s why we still work together and work so well together. He always makes great music, he’s always pushing the boundary, if he has a vision for something, he comes to me and I do my best to execute.”
The duo has reached milestone after milestone with one another, and they’re both looking to keep their feet on the gas pedal. Lonewolf directed the visual for Lucki’s recent single “Faith,” and the video marked the first time any of Lucki's videos surpassed half a million views in the first week alone. The key to their success, as well as to the success with any artist Lonewolf works with, is the formation of those authentic personal bonds.
Aside from Lucki, Lonewolf points to two other artists as examples for the importance of friendship: Omar Apollo and Brent Faiyaz. It’s worth noting that the style of music from these two strays away from the work of Lucki and other notable rappers that Lonewolf consistently works with, yet that doesn’t stop the videos from staying true to Lonewolf’s vision. This is due to the level of understanding he creates with whoever he is working with, staying on the same wavelength of creativity and understanding.
“My relationship with Omar came from him being from Indiana and he knew my brother. We were kids on the internet. He made music, I just started making videos. We just hit it off and joined forces. With Brent Faiyaz, we built a friendship just off him hitting me up like how Lucki did. What I like about having a friendship with Brent is I can hit him up like ‘yo I’m in LA, can I slide?’ and we don’t even have to talk about videos. Just building a relationship with an artist that you see eye-to-eye with. If you’re able to just kick it or text like normal outside of politics, it just makes things so much better and it’s more organic. ”
Brent Faiyaz - Fuck The World (Summer In London) Official Video
Being able to come up with so many of the artists he’s worked with gives Lonewolf inspiration to just keep going. As a videographer, there is incredible power to begin to visually mark the growth of himself and his collaborators with each new visual released. He laments on how he views certain videos as missed opportunities in regards to building a stronger relationship with the artist it was for. The logic basically being the stronger the relationship, the stronger the product where everybody wins.
“I don’t wanna talk shit about the industry, but it can just not be organic sometimes. And I’m not even pointing fingers, but there are industry relationships sometimes where you’re meant to work together for the sole purpose of money or clout. You wanna have a good friendship with these artists if you really like them and like their music. It’s such a beautiful thing when you see eye-to-eye like I do with Brent, Lucki, and Omar. The sky’s the limit. I’ll talk with them about aspirations and it doesn’t seem far-fetched when everybody is on the same page.”
The aspirations especially don’t seem far-fetched at all now that Lonewolf has checked off working with the two biggest artists of his career so far, Lil Uzi Vert and Chief Keef, thanks to his role in creating the lyric video for “Kobe (Bean).” It was only the first of a three video deal he managed with Atlantic Records, and he describes it as another important step in his career. The videos are all animated lyric videos, which is different from the bulk of his work, but it presented an exciting and challenging opportunity to flex his creative muscles.
“Uzi is one of my favorite artists and people. With Chief Keef, being from Indiana, when he was blowing up we all felt the whole wave. It’s just a lyric video so it’s not like I know them personally, but it’s surreal. That process was cool because it was like ‘what can we do to keep things interesting without having any footage of them physically?’ One video [Baby Pluto] is full claymation, so I bought a dollhouse off eBay, and I made a lil clay Uzi. For the “Kobe” video, just taking footage from the internet of Kobe, or just really listening to the song and trying to symbolize what they’re saying. For one, it’s cool to think of these ideas and implement them. It’s kinda similar to shooting a video but it’s a different process in the sense there is no footage. You just gotta be creative.”
Lil Uzi Vert - Bean (Kobe) feat. Chief Keef [Official Lyric Video]
It’s a testament to the type of person Lonewolf is with his collaborators. The music industry has been notorious for being fake, but it tends to reward the realest, and Lonewolf is about as real as they come. An artist in the truest sense, his goal to create and distribute the best artwork possible in order to level up. This passion has even led into creating art outside of shooting videos, as he plans on releasing a photo book later this year.
“It’s gonna be something you can put on your coffee table. I’m doing this book because I had a crisis. I’m a director and I’m sending all my videos on the internet, but what if something were to happen to the internet? I needed to make something physical that people can admire physically.”
The book will contain sketches and pictures that he has amassed throughout his career. As an artist whose portfolio exists virtually exclusively on the internet, the book in a sense acts as the preservation of his legacy. If it was an album, it would be his greatest hits collection. It also gives him something new to create in the time being, and it is the act of consistent creation that gives him solace during these days.
“I’m a very routine person. I make a to-do list every single day of things I need to get done. I meditate pretty often and I workout. It’s easy during this quarantine to slack off or chill. Lately, labels have been reaching out for animated work and editing, so that’s been keeping my mind off whatever craziness is going on.”
Dedicated to his craft, he looks forward to finding new ways to push the limits of his imagination as well as inspiring others to do the same. His advice to young videographers that reach out to him is simple.
“My advice to them is just stay true to you. You’re exposed to so much at once, and this industry moves so fast that people might feel rushed. But I found my pace. You stay at a certain pace and stay consistent. How I got to where I was at was just experimenting. I wasn’t thinking about anyone else. Experimenting is the biggest thing for young videographers to do. Don’t wait on anyone to shoot a video. I feel like people feel like they have to shoot on a guideline, but the sky’s the limit. Find the joy in it.”
If you ask him about whether or not he feels like he’s made it, though, he’ll tell you straight up that he hasn’t. He’s proud of his accomplishments, but he knows that growth his slow and steady. He’s in no rush though. Lonewolf is looking ahead, but he’s making sure to embrace the moment and the people around him right now.