The Chats’ Matt Boggis Is Better At Skating Than you

Images by Dougal Gorman

I couldn’t say a single bad thing about Matthew Boggis.

He’s an incredibly nice guy, which I’m sure you’ll be able to see when you read this interview, he’s extremely polite, he’s positive and super kind. He is the drummer in The Chats, the Sunshine Coast-based shed-rock band that’s uniquely Australian, vocalising the thoughts, feelings and lives of the nation’s working class.

Their song Smoko went viral in 2017 and it was all up from there for the band, Australian radio station Triple J argued that the song ‘was an instant classic of a youth anthem’. They were right it was and it was everywhere. It felt like for two years you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the lead singer Eamon’s voice shouting, ‘I’m on Smoko, so leave me alone’.

While being Australian music royalty and touring the world, Matt is an incredible skateboarder. There was a moment around 2017/2018 at the same time as the band was blowing up where it felt like he was going to make it as a pro skater. He was getting Girl boards and it was looking good for him over there. He was filming so much, shooting incredible photos and going on a bunch of trips. Anyway, the band life was the path he took, and it’s been all up since then for Matt and The Chats.

I wanted to catch up with him to chat about skateboarding, those days and see how the band life has been treating him.

Hey, what’s up, what have you been up to?

I’ve been chilling today. I went for a wave earlier with my brother. It was alright, it was pretty fun. It was good to get out. I haven’t been in the water for about a month now, I’ve been overseas.

Yeah, how was Japan?

It was so sick, so much fun. I went with my girlfriend. I love that place. The food is so nice, and I love the culture too. It was nice going on a trip not being a tour. 

Where are you guys going on your next tour?

We are doing a tour down the east coast of Australia, from Queensland down to Victoria. We’re starting on the Sunshine Coast in a few days, we are doing shows in smaller towns between cities, we’re playing in Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Byron and ending it in Torquay. I’m really keen. There are some good bands on the lineup too, we’ve got some of our good friends playing.

That’ll be really nice. Are you spending much time in Australia not touring?

It’s been a fair bit lately because we’ll do a two-month tour and then have a month and a half or two months off. It ends up being pretty good.

That is pretty good. What was it like when Smoko blew up? It came out of nowhere at the time and then suddenly you guys were everywhere.

Yeah, it definitely did, it was kind of crazy. I never really expected it. It was really cool. We did a tour with the Cosmic Psychos shortly after that and we met our manager then. The momentum just grew and grew, we kept touring after that. It was super lucky.

How old were you when that happened?

I think I was seventeen.

You were seventeen!

I think so either seventeen or eighteen. I could be so wrong but I’m pretty sure it was around then [laughs].

How was that? You guys started touring the world within the next few months after that, right?

Yeah, it was cool. I don’t know if it really set in until we went overseas. When we went overseas for the first time it was like ‘Woah, there are all these people here that really like us and love the music’. It was wild. Usually, you go overseas and have to work your way up but we were so lucky because we had a good fanbase.

Where was the first place you guys went overseas?

We did a little NZ tour first but then our first big one was England and a bit of Europe. It wasn’t a big tour; it was only two and a half weeks or something. I was just like what the fuck this is sick, they weren’t huge rooms or anything, I think the first room was a 350-people cap I’m not sure if it was sold out or not but that was really good. I was just like wow this is awesome.

Damn, that is still big for your first show overseas. How quickly did it go from doing shows around Australia to travelling the world?

Yeah, it was definitely quick, but I feel like we were doing small shows around the 300 to 400 cap mark for quite a while. I feel like it was more in the last couple of years where we started to jump up into bigger rooms and stuff. I’ve just been looking at the venues being like ‘Woah I can’t believe we are playing here this is cool’.

Yeah, does it get crazy when you’re playing a festival and you look out and are like I did not expect this?

Yeah definitely, especially if you get a good timeslot at a festival, it is like wow sick. It is cool. There is no nervousness or anything, well maybe a little bit but we are all pretty tight so we get through it together.

You would’ve pretty much seen the whole world by this point, right?

Yeah, I guess so. It is kind of difficult because you go away, and we are playing most nights, so you are limited to the area around the venue. Most of the time you can be in this cool city, but you don’t really have the time to do everything you want to do. It is still really cool and fun, you meet some good people and have a really fun time.

Yeah, what is it like when you have a day in the city?

I’ll go try do whatever I want to do. Sometimes you don’t always feel up for it and you find yourself in a hotel room in New York just having a nap in a random room somewhere [laughs].

Do you get a chance to skate while you’re on tour?

Yeah, sometimes I am skating every day.

No way.

Yeah, if we have a bus and the morning is all clear, I’m going for a skate. Whenever I’ve got time, I try to go skate. Sometimes it doesn’t work out but other times it works out so well and I skate every day for five days. It is so sick.

Where’s your favourite place you’ve skated while on tour?

I love skating this really fun little skatepark in Minneapolis. I love it when we go there. Definitely somewhere in the states, either Minneapolis, Denver or New York. I can go skate a bit of street but most of the time I’ll go skate a local park.  

That is so sick, I didn’t expect you to be able to skate so much.

Yeah, it's good with the bus, you’ll sleep while the bus is driving. Sometimes we rock up in a city early enough for us to have a whole morning there. If I’m not feeling cooked, I’m like let's go skate.

Yeah, do you feel fucked playing a show after skating all day?

Nah, it feels really good. I need the energy, it’s a nice boost. If I did nothing all day, I think I’d feel like shit.

On skating, I feel like there was a time, right before everything blew up with The Chats you were really doing the skate thing. You were down in Melbourne a lot and you were skating so well; you were getting Girl boards and it seemed like they were hyped on you. Was the pro skater path something you wanted to go down?

Oh, thanks. I never really saw myself being a pro skater, but I was definitely really enjoying skating, being in Melbourne a lot, hanging out with friends and filming. I was loving filming; it was so much fun. I was pretty set on that. I was really passionate about it. Then when the band and all that took off, that part of me was a little bit upset that I couldn’t skate as much as I wanted to and work on projects. But another part of me was like well I know other skaters who are going through it too. I was just like whatever, I should just roll with it. It was a great opportunity with the band too. Thanks for that. Yeah, I was trying to go down that path I suppose.

Did you feel like you were at this crossroads where you had to choose between a music career or a skate career?

Yeah, I did. I tried to ignore that feeling because I didn’t want to think about it like that. I just saw it as a cool opportunity, and I just was going with the flow. I love music equally as much, so I was like this is sick. There was definitely that feeling but I didn’t want to dwell on it that much.

Does being in the band impact your ability to even just go skating for fun too?

Nah, not really. I still go skate whenever I can. I still have so much fun when I skate. It didn’t change how I feel about skating, I still try to push myself and try new tricks. I’m not trying to take it easy even though I should sometimes [laughs]. 

Do you ever miss filming and think about filming another part?

Not really. I feel like I could right now if I wanted to. I could knuckle down and do that. I have other things that are on my mind, and I still love skating so much but I’m in another prism of life. If I wanted to film a part, I would be able to work it out, I’m sure.

That’s a good way to look at it. I remember during the time you were coming down to Melbourne heaps around 2018 you almost switch front blunted Flinders rail.

Yeah, fuck. That is kind of annoying to think about. Well, I guess I could always go back down and try it again if I wanted. I’d like to think so. It is kind of hard to say until you’re there skating [laughs].

How close did you get to it?

I stomped it a few times and ate shit a few times. I was just burnt after all that. You have to skate it so late at night, it’s so hard to skate at that point.

Did you ever talk to the guys at Girl about the possibility of getting on?

Yeah, Andrew Brophy saw a bit of my footage that I was filming with my friend Pat [Gemzik], he sent it to Sam Smyth, the Team Manager and they were keen on it. Andrew gave me Sam’s contact and I started talking to him directly. That was really cool. I still talk to him, everyone over at Girl are really nice people.

Then they used your song in the Melbourne tour video.

That was so sick when they did that, I think that is so cool. They came to a show when they were on an Australia trip.

It’s cool how it worked out like that with them having you involved and supporting you even if it isn’t as a team rider.

It is really cool. I feel like a lot of companies wouldn’t be like that. They are just really friendly and they’re really happy to help out and support people they like.  

For sure it is really cool. Thank you for doing this. Do you have anyone you’d like to thank?

I’d like to thank Wade for organising this all, my brothers, mum and dad, Eamon and Josh in the band, the managers and everyone.