Master communicator, Matson Breakey, shares growing up in California’s various cultures; car culture in Japan; MetalCloak’s history and aspirations as a father of youngsters in his 50’s. It’s a great listen.
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5:07 – You think back and go, wow, I’m still alive
8:45 – I learned early the value of communication and communication skills
17:37 – it’s easy to say you care, it’s harder to actually demonstrate that you care
26:46 – my goal in life was to become a starving artist
34:17 – there was a general sense of being self-oriented, it was a survival mechanism
51:06 – I had this bright idea that I needed to be more professional
57:09 – by hour five there was too much beer
1:08:43 – we got so flamed because it was ugly, so we listened and responded
1:30:45 – Today we live in a world where ’70s is like the new ’50s
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:47.230] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Matson Breakey. Matson is the co founder of Metal Cloak. He was a graphic designer. He’s had a couple of different businesses of his own. And we’re going to talk about all of that with Matson and Matson. It’s great to have you on.
[00:02:08.940] – Matson Breakey
Well, it’s great to be on here. I feel like we have Conversations with Big Rich all the time now. It’s finally recorded.
[00:02:14.730] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, exactly. I mean, we sat and talked for about ten minutes before we actually got started.
[00:02:22.430] – Matson Breakey
You know what? I make the mistakes sometimes, and some of my best material happens in the pre chat.
[00:02:27.590] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah. I always have to be careful when I hit the record button. I do it now when the phone is ringing because I’ve gone sometimes ten or 15 minutes and then realized I didn’t hit the record button.
[00:02:41.450] – Matson Breakey
So you just recorded me going to the bathroom then while we’re talking?
[00:02:44.520] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, actually I did. But that part will not be in the podcast. Us talking about it will be. So anyway, Matson it’s always good to hear your voice. So let’s get started right off. And where were you born and raised?
[00:03:03.830] – Matson Breakey
Right here in Sacramento? Actually, I was born in Sacramento. I’m a creature of travel, though. My parents divorced when I was young. So one actually went north, the other one went south. So my mom moved down to La. And my dad moved from Sacramento to Reading and then Redding to wake up. So I lived and I would go back and forth. Usually it would be whoever kicked me out, kicked me out because I was acting up or doing something and ended up in the other side of the state. So I grew up on the streets of La. Walking Hollywood boulevard when I was eight years old to go from where we lived to where my mom worked at a restaurant, to having fun on many bikes in Yreka And so I’m just a weird, strange creature, mix of the openness, but loving the city life, too.
[00:03:58.310] – Big Rich Klein
I kind of had the same thing growing up. I grew up just south of San Francisco and started right. We started riding our bikes up at a young age and hanging out in San Francisco golden gate park all around there. My mom worked just off parnassus at UC medical center, which is right there at the park. And back then, the city was not dangerous, right. There was gang stuff going on, but it was not like the weird stuff that happens in cities nowadays. But then again, I lived in suburbia, but every weekend we spent either water skiing, snow skiing, or backpacking.
[00:04:42.170] – Matson Breakey
Nice.
[00:04:42.960] – Big Rich Klein
So it’s the same thing. Got a chance to experience both.
[00:04:47.280] – Matson Breakey
Well, that’s the beauty of California, too. Even here in Sacramento, you’re 2 hours from anything great, right?
[00:04:53.200] – Big Rich Klein
Oh, absolutely. In fact, when I was growing up, I got to surf, snow ski, and water ski all in the same day.
[00:05:02.930] – Matson Breakey
Wow, that had been exciting.
[00:05:06.080] – Big Rich Klein
That was fun.
[00:05:07.590] – Matson Breakey
Well, La. Was fun. La. Has always been tough, but even to this day when I walk, I just inadvertently brushed my hand against my wallet because that’s what you learn how to do, and you always want to make sure you didn’t have a pickpocket or anything. Right. Even as a kid. Right. And we did a lot of crazy stuff. And I constantly telling people stories about some of the antics we had in La. You think back and go, wow, I’m still alive. That’s amazing. But just because nobody turn around and pull the gun on me and killed me today, you might have that a little bit different. Instead of yelling at you, they might pull out a gun, but it was a good time to be alive.
[00:05:46.780] – Big Rich Klein
So where did you spend most of your time then? La. Or Eureka?
[00:05:56.890] – Matson Breakey
I spent a year in Eureka. I spent a year in reading. And I’d say that to answer your question. Probably more time was spent in La. Than any place because it was more consistent. But I lived in if anybody’s familiar with LA. I lived in Hollywood central, I lived in north Hollywood, I live in studio city, I lived in Echo Park, I lived in Silver Lake, and we lived in Silver Lake. It was not the revitalized bastion of celebrities that it is now. Even though the guy that lived across behind us on the other side of the fence played the reporter on the 1970s incredible Hulk series. Oh, really? I think I was there. I was like, what, maybe 1011 years old and lived there. I love hanging out in the backyard and just talking across the fence with them. I think when I was 13, we finally moved back and La was just my stopping grounds. And it was great in LA. Because they had I don’t know what it is now, but parking passes or parking passes. Bus passes were only like $4 back then for a student bus pass. We had a bus pass as a kid and with a little bit of freedom, you can go anywhere you wanted in LA. READ MORE
