I was pretty sheltered growing up. I just started getting into

In the words of Matty Mullins, we hear the testimony of one who found freedom and identity through the power of music: “I was pretty sheltered growing up. I just started getting into heavier music with the Tooth & Nail/Solid State era, which really kind of brought this whole thing to life for me, so I am really thankful for that label.” These words speak of awakening, of discovery, and of gratitude toward the forces that guided him from confinement into creativity. To be thankful for a label is not merely to honor a company, but to acknowledge a gateway through which the soul discovered its true voice.

The first truth hidden in his words is the image of being sheltered. To grow up sheltered is to live within walls—protected, yet also constrained. It is a state where the vastness of the world is hidden, where experience is limited, and where the hunger for something greater lies dormant. Mullins reveals that it was through heavier music, carried by the strength of Tooth & Nail and Solid State Records, that the walls began to break, and the wider world of passion and expression came flooding in.

This pattern is as old as time. Consider the philosopher Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: men lived chained, seeing only shadows on the wall, believing those shadows to be reality. But when one escaped into the light, his entire vision of existence changed. Mullins’ discovery of heavier music is akin to stepping out of the cave—leaving the shadows of limitation behind and entering the brilliance of authenticity and depth. What had once been muted now thundered with life.

The label itself becomes in his story not merely an institution, but a catalyst. Tooth & Nail and Solid State Records, known for nurturing artists in alternative and heavy genres, served as the vessel that carried Mullins into a new realm of sound, identity, and belonging. Without such a platform, his voice may have remained stifled. By giving him and others space to grow, experiment, and pour out their art, the label became a forge, shaping raw passion into something enduring.

In his gratitude, Mullins shows humility and awareness. He does not claim that his success arose in isolation, nor that his discovery was self-made. He honors those who built the bridges before him, who carved the paths that allowed him to walk further. This is the mark of wisdom: to recognize that our journeys are rarely ours alone, but woven together with the work of others who believed in something before we did. Gratitude makes the heart soft, and in its softness lies the strength to inspire others in turn.

The lesson we must learn is clear: every life has moments of awakening, moments when something—an influence, a mentor, a community—opens our eyes to a greater horizon. When these moments come, we must be thankful, for they change the trajectory of our existence. To despise or forget these turning points is to dishonor the very roots of our becoming. To remember them, to honor them, is to keep alive the fire that first stirred our hearts.

Practically, this means seeking out and embracing the influences that expand us, and then acknowledging them with humility. Ask yourself: Who or what helped bring my life to light? Speak thanks for it, and carry forward its legacy by becoming such an influence for others. In this way, the chain of inspiration never breaks.

Thus the words of Matty Mullins endure: from the shelter of childhood, he stepped into the fierce vitality of heavier music, guided by the vision of a label that dared to create space for such voices. His thankfulness is not only for himself, but for the awakening of a spirit once constrained. May we too recognize and give thanks for the forces that awaken us, and in so doing, may we become awakeners for generations to come.