Matt King: Don’t Like
Interview and Photos by Kyle Seidler
Kyle: Let's start with the title of your new video. Why is it called "Don't Like"?
Matt: My daughter Clementine always says "I Don’t Like It," originally, I was going to name it that but a friend suggested just calling it "Don’t Like."
Kyle: What's the best thing about being Clementine’s dad?
Matt: Getting to hangout with my daughter all day, she makes boring things fun.
Chandler Burton - BS Smith. Issue #5 Print.
Kyle: Talk about being a depressed skater from Chicago a little bit. What's the significance of being from Chicago to the stuff you make
Matt: Chicago’s harsh winters can be super depressing but they also drive creativity. We’re just bored and can’t skate for like 5 months out of the year so we’d use that time to just make stuff for fun. We’d film all sorts of things during those months, just watching scary movies and filming weird scary stuff inspired by our seasonal depression.
Kyle: Gimme some scary movie recs?
Matt: INSIDIOUS, The Shining, House of 1000 corpses
Kyle: What motivated you to move to Cali?
Matt: I moved here in 2018 with Gene. We were sick of Chicago at this point and just needed a change. We wanted to make videos out here.
Cooper Latimer - 5-0. Issue #5 Print.
Kyle: Yeah I remember Gene’s basement in like 2010; we’d just watch movies and hangout while you guys cook up the wildest footage. Drinking entire bottles of pinot grigio and filming spooky blacklight stuff. Now that you've been working mostly solo out here in Cali how’s that been?
Matt: It took me a while to adjust to working alone. Gene helped a bit, but we live far apart, and both have our own stuff going on. Without another set of eyes to bounce ideas off, I often found myself second-guessing my work. It made the process longer, but Danny Micik is always filming out there and compiled a bunch of footage of our friends. He had a shit ton of footage so I asked my boi if he wanted to collab on this video and he was down. Chicago just looks so beautiful. I definitely wanted this video to be at least 50% Chicago footage so it worked out that I was here in LA and he could still film our friends in Chicago
Dakota Erwin - Early Grab Blunt.
Kyle: I feel like in your videos the music is actually more powerful than the caliber of the skating. You also make your own music. Did you incorporate any of your tracks into this video?
Matt: Yeh, I made a couple of songs specifically for it, some were just pieces I had been working on that ended up fitting. Yeah, music is important. The skating doesn’t need to be that crazy if the music and editing is impactful enough.
Kyle: You got quite an eclectic mix of skaters in your video. How did you choose who to include?
Matt: I wanted to feature my good friends, many of who are in Chicago. Then I kind of just gathered footage out here naturally, including skaters I like and were down to work on it with me. Danny films with the new generation of skaters out there like Cam and Dakota whom I’m happy to shine a light on
Tom Karangelov - Wallie 50-50. Issue #5 Print.
Kyle: Such a crazy mix of pros too, Spanky, Nassim… Explain how Chris Joslin ended up in the video? Pretty wild to see them curated in this way, nobody expected to see Joslin fly outta nowhere lip sliding a 15 stair to trap music but we’re definitely here for it
Matt: From those Etnies shoots I did with you haha. I just had all this leftover footage of Nassim and Chris from some Etnies projects. They're so gnarly at skating that just going out a few days you get all this insane footage, it ends up going into an edit or shoe commercial with a very different audience than mine. Some of my angles weren’t used and I figured it’d be kind of cool to show their skating in this way you don’t typically see it. Edited my way. Same with a few other skaters, I ended up filming whoever was on those sessions for work and ended up stacking for my video as well.
Kyle: Your latest video features a lot more skating than your previous ones which almost lean more into being straight art films. What prompted that shift?
Matt: I’ve found myself having to change how I film a little bit and film more “traditional” to appeal to companies and hopefully land a job. Which led to me having a lot more “skate” footage than in the past.
Kyle: Yeah papa needs to make money. With the recent changes in your life, like having a baby, how has that affected your creativity and filmmaking process?
Matt: Time is definitely limited now, which actually fuels my creativity. When I have less time, I’m more motivated to make the most of it. It’s been a balancing act, but I find I’m more inspired under pressure.
Kyle: Yeah I’d imagine it's pretty challenging to find a job as a filmer when you have such a refined style, companies especially love when stuff looks all clean and boring haha.
Matt: It’s tough trying to make videos for companies, I would make something for a brand and often get told, it's like, too crazy or too much is going on and people aren't gonna want to watch it, stuff like that. I often have to tone down my style for companies that prefer more conventional filming. Over the years, I learned to adapt, which was a good growth experience, but I’m glad to see that more companies are now open to more unconventional/weird stuff.
Nassim Lachhab - Pressure Flip
Kyle: Yeah you’ve been working with Jerry on all the Sci Fi Fantasy stuff lately which probably changed that dynamic a bit. How’d that come about?
Matt: I think I met Jerry through Logan Lara. He asked me to edit Ryan Lay’s welcome to Sci-Fi part and then Arin’s soon after. That led to trips and talks about a full-length video, which we’re now working on.
Kyle: You like ghost edited the 917 video with Logan huh?
Matt: Logan just asked me if i wanted to help out with the video, i think he only had a small time to get it done so he needed some assistance. We rented a little studio for 2 weeks and worked on it all day everyday. That was the first big video I worked on out here, I was hyped fasho.
Kyle: What’s next for you now that this video is out?
Matt: I’m diving into the Sci Fi video. It’s exciting because I’ll be collaborating with Luke and Jerry, and I’m just looking forward to being able to work together on this next thing
Kyle: Lastly, do you see yourself making more of your own videos in the future?
Matt: It’s hard to say. People often claim their latest work will be their last, but I think I’ll always have ideas that pull me back in.
