An Interview with the Matthews Brothers
Nick and Blake Matthews. Photo: Tyler Cichy.
There sits a bench on the corner of Van Buren and Clark that has been skated since the late 80’s. Some serious biz has gone down there but no one would’ve thought someday it would be ollied, the long way. Not sure if R. Kelly was locked up across the street at the time it went down, in what is one of the weirdest looking Federal Prisons there is, but I like to think he was staring down at Nick riding away singing I Believe I Can Fly with a tear running down his cheek.
Nick posses a serious pop blended with an eye for a good spot. Add that with a brother who equally has that same eye behind the lens and you’re gonna keep seeing beautiful skateboarding.
Nick and Blake went through a hard 2021 with the passing of their mother but I know for sure she’s looking down as proud as can be seeing them do what they love.
- Dave Ruta
Ollie the long way. I believe Nick can fly.
Village Psychic: What’s going on guys, how’s Chicago today?
Nick Matthews: It's pretty cold. We're about to skate a friend’s warehouse.
VP: Oh sick, is that the only indoor spot you guys have right now?
NM: There's House of Vans and a few other parks in the suburbs. Not many options. Luckily our friend has this warehouse that we've been able to skate. We are trying to plan some trips. Last year was pretty slow with trips. I kind of had to be home for some family stuff and also COVID.
VP: Where exactly you guys from?
NM: The suburbs. It's called Naperville. It's like 30 minutes outside of the city.
VP: When did you guys start going into the city?
Blake Matthews: We started taking the train into the city when we were about 13. It was pretty different back then, cops were definitely way more on it and security was always crazy. Only a handful things were skateable.
VP: Blake, have you always filmed?
BM: Pretty much from the beginning Nick was already doing more than I was, so I kind of got stuck behind the camera (laughs).
Smooth moves from the Pavement part that put the brothers on our radar.
VP: I was trying to think of the first time I heard about you guys today. What was the first project that kind of got you some attention?
NM: Probably that Thrasher part, the Pavement one.
VP: For a long time Chicago was kind of a black box in skating. Not a lot was known about it outside of the Midwest. Do you guys have any theories as to why?
BM: According to our homie Dave Ruta skaters in that era just wanted to keep it low key and not film or shoot photos. They didn't want it to blow up. Kalis said he would ask them if it was cool to film shit when he lived here. When an older friend of ours was growing up in the suburbs he said he would take the train downtown with his friends, and they would get vibed out by the older heads. People just wanted to keep it kind of secret.
VP: Did you guys ever feel that vibe?
BM: Oh, no. That was kind of before our time. Also, Chase and Post Office weren't really skateable until probably 2019. They were huge busts before.
Back in the day in Chicago, I feel like most people weren't skating ledges as much. People that were coming up, Neen, Marisa, those people were definitely rail skating and were in the suburbs more than the city. They were definitely following the Toy Machine route.
The bust factor is back, good thing Nick was able to get a backside smith grind backside flip out in before the spot got shut down.
VP: So why is Chase skateable now?
NM: It’s always been there, but people mainly just skated the set and the rail up top. Someone finally rub bricked the ledges and got them going, but I'm not sure why the security mellowed out.
BM: Apparently the building was for sale and they kind of gave up on kicking people out. Between COVID and all the unrest last summer, it really was a free for all. It would be like 70 people skating there every day. No matter what time of day it was pretty much a go.
It's actually a really gnarly bust again as of about six months ago. They've got an armed security who’s only job is to guard the plaza. It’s pretty gnarly. They'll chase you down and try to grab your board. They’re super aggressive. It’s off limits right now. It's not even possible to skate currently. If you go down you can see the guard just sitting there.
Nick is one of the few to transcend just skating a Picasso and evolve into the kind of guy who ollies up to a Picasso.
VP: Kyle Beachy wanted me to ask you about your kickflip wallride at Picasso, he called it the “Ken Keistler special”.
NM: Oh, where you ollie up up the Picasso and wallride it, as opposed to running at it? Ken’s the only one I've seen do that, he inspired me and made me think it was possible to do that.
VP: That’s an iconic Chicago spot - what is your favorite trick from there?
NM: Maybe Kalis’s kickflip wallride. It was just cool seeing him do a wallride.
VP: Who are your favorite skaters from the Chicago area?
BM: Man, that’s hard. Dave Ruta is the first that comes to mind. Really all the OG Uprise dudes. Marisa Dal Santo was always really rad.
NM: Timmy Johnson. Marisa obviously was really sick. Steve Perdue.
VP What about influences outside of Chicago?
NM: Mike Carroll, Pappalardo, Van Wastell.
BM: Dan Wolfe was probably my biggest. Also all the classic stuff - Deluxe, old Alien and Habitat stuff really was influential for me.
Fakie heelflip in a less familiar yet still striking urban setting.
VP: I wanted to ask you about the Bronze connection, how’d that come about?
NM: Those guys came to Chicago and we just became friends with them. Rizzo, Josh and Paul, all those guys.
VP: Did you get on Huf through Rizzo?
NM: I actually got hit up through Tyler Cichy, but I was hyped that I already was friends with Rizzo.
VP: So on the topic of Huf, the NYC gap back lip in your Venture X Uprise part, was that something you knew you wanted to try?
NM: Yeah, I had gone to NYC on a Huf trip around the time Keith passed. We were like trying to film a video there. We went to the gap to bench to look at it, pay homage, and to see if anyone wanted to skate it. I wanted to try it but I was too scared. I went back recently and tried it and was able to do it. It is scary because it’s pretty narrow where you ollie and you have to go through this patch of bricks that are uneven.
The backlip. RIP Huf. Photos: Mike Heikkila.
VP Yeah that roll up looks crazy. Do you have favorite clips from the new part?
NM: Maybe the ollie over to 5050 on the bump to bar at Chase, or the nose manny nollie flip into the cellar door in Milwaukee.
VP: I was tripping on that bump to 5050 and the window 5050 - you grind to the absolute last second on both of those.
NM: Oh thanks. That window 5050 is one of my favorites, too actually (laughs). I’ve looked at that spot for so long, since like 2017, and finally recently tried it for this part.
BM: I would say all the footage from Chase is my favorite. It all felt natural filming that stuff, just was there skating with friends and tricks kinda just came about. I love how that spot looks at night too, so it was cool to have that section in the part.
Grinding to the very last inch on these backside 5050s.
VP: So do you guys plan on staying in Chicago?
NM: I definitely want this to be home, but also try to spend a lot of time in New York, that's probably my favorite place to skate. The last few years my mom was sick, so I wasn’t traveling a ton. I want to travel as much as I can this year and spend more time in New York.
BM: We lived in LA for two years. It was cool, definitely had a lot of fun out there. When we moved back to Chicago, we kind of recognized all the potential there was here and how special the spots are. But you know, like anywhere, you spend too much time somewhere and you're gonna get burnt out. It’s good to change it up.
VP: I will say, there's not a ton of “mainstream” skate footage that comes out of Chicago, and it is such a good looking city.
BM: We're definitely lucky that we have had these really fun plazas to skate here the last couple years. It doesn’t hurt that they’re also visually appealing for the most part.
VP: I was wondering if you guys have a favorite skater / filmer duo?
NM: I love the stuff Tyler Cichy and Van Wastell filmed together.
BM: Probably Strobeck and Pappalardo in New York. The black and white edits. With Jake and them, that was so sick.
VP: Have any good Jake Johnson stories?
NM: Honestly, he’s just a super cool down to earth guy. He was the nicest dude to me when the Quasi guys came to Chicago for the first time. He’s always just good dude in general. He does like to drink warm IPAs, though. I thought that was pretty funny (laughs).
VP: Oh, last thing, who is your favorite person to film with?
NM: Probably Blake.
BM: (laughs) Nick I guess.