Matt grew up in Huntington Beach, California and would always see kids at the bus loop skating around. He wanted to try, so he asked them to use their boards when they’d fall off. He says eventually they got sick of that, so he realized he had to buy his own board. Matt played baseball when he was younger and there was a magazine drive. Matt sold a certain amount of magazines or candy bars, and won prize money. With that money he bought his first skateboard! It was a brand new old school skateboard and he would ride it in the parking lot. But then, he noticed his neighbor was a better skateboarder than him, and he had an old beat up board. Matt traded the neighbor for the beat up one because he thought it was better and cooler, despite it being “all jacked up.” Those same boys from the bus loop also had guitars and the same thing happened. He asked to borrow their guitars until they eventually got sick of it and he had to buy his own. He saved up 50 dollars of lunch money and didn’t eat lunch for a couple weeks to get his first guitar. It was an electric guitar, and that's what he started playing on when he was really young.
The music Matt began to fall in love with, learn to play, and listen to came from skateboarding VHS videos. Instead of watching TV, he watched vhs tapes. These tapes are how Matt was introduced to so many different types of music. From hip hop to soul music, classic rock, folk and indie music. In seventh grade, Matt began to take skateboarding seriously in hopes to go pro. He became super inspired by other skateboarding videos and would watch them and then try to recreate their tricks. He started making his own VHS demo skateboarding tapes, going out and filming, compiling shots together, and putting music to it. He would then send those videos off to sponsors and people would start to sponsor him, send him free skateboards, shoes, and it was all super exciting. But soon after,
Matt broke his leg. He watched his friends start to take off and have opportunities and perform crazy tricks, but he had to watch from the sidelines in crutches and a wheelchair.
While Matt was immobile, he decided to go back to school and study literature and began songwriting. He says “the funny thing is, that the first lesson I learned...when I had to take a forced break, was when I was immobile and I saw my friends out there continuing to push it, I realized that actually, a little bit of break is good sometimes, it gives you some perspective.” He continues, “When I stepped back and I actually thought about it, I thought about it differently.... I gotta remind myself to take a break.” Matt stopped skateboarding until five years ago when he saw someone had a skateboard in their trunk. He pulled it out and tried a trick and he decided to pick it back up again.
Despite the sprains and charlie horses, Matt says it was a full circle moment skating again because skateboarding is the reason he got into music and creative things in the first place. He says it really feels like “coming home.” When he skates now, the pressure he used to feel is gone. He doesn’t feel pushed to do any crazy jumps, flip tricks or grinds. He says he can now “feel that feeling of freedom.” Matt compared skateboarding to an instrument. It’s changed his mindset and he feels like it is the perfect outlet for the constant drive he feels. He explained “It was really just like, I just wanna get that next step. I just wanna get that next chord. I wanna get that next note. I wanna get that next little trick in my driveway. And you do that enough, and then years and years later, it just becomes ingrained and it becomes a way of life.”
Matt’s advice to fellow creatives is to remove expectation because then they will be free. If you're too far ahead of yourself and you are only thinking of the end result of a project, then you're forgetting to be present in it during this time. But, being present is where and when the magic happens. Being in the moment is so important.
His story proves everything really does happen for a reason and what’s meant for you will truly find you. If you lead with drive and stay strong through adversity, magic can happen.
