Growing up in Michigan I had heard of Matt Hebert and even seen him around at times. It was obvious he was a shreder but we were in different scenes and on our own shit. I had moved to Chicago but as the beauty of skateboarding did its thing, we were brought together this August while on a camping trip to Grand Haven, MI. Plus Skateshop Owner and good friend, Rob Woelkers had assembled a crew to rage and skate. We met up at PLUS in Farmington, MI and I immediately coped a tank that he had made. Wolf Pack was the name of his blooming clothing company and i was into the steez. Talk about a first impression, the dudes fully equipped with pre-rolled blunts and a true homie attitude. Needless to say that trip was rad and Hebert was top on my list for artist interviews. So here it is. Chyea whodi. First we got to chatting about his band...
What"s the band called? -Subways are for sleeping.
Do you guys have a myspace or anything? - Naaaa, I don't think we do.
Your not sure? -Yea. haha.
Haha, alright, so the music is not accessible to the general public. - I mean we have shows like every once in a while, every, basically three weeks we have a show. We haven't really recorded anything yet, were working on it. Word, anyways I guess well try to kick this off.
How old are you? - Twenty four, October 24th, 85. Damn thats pretty recent, how was that? -It was pretty tight, played a show that night. Got rowdy.
So your currently living in Mt. Pleasant? - Yea, I'm moving back to the metro area, like Walled Lake and stuff, in a couple months, like around December. I'm about to graduate from CMU.
What's your major? -BFA in graphic design and BA, it's basically two majors, ones print making, ones graphic design.
So when did you grow up skating? - I was in 6th grade, got like a really shitty thirty dollar board from K-Mart, skated that for a year, than found an Alien Workshop board in an alley, stole that and skated that for like another year. Than uh skated ever since, I don't think I've ever took a break, skated for eleven years now. I used to snowboard but just scrapped that all together. Messed with my skating.
Where did you grow up skating? - Detroit area, around Commerce and shit, before West Bloomfield Park was there. But WB was pretty recent.
Besides skating, your in school, so what has your recent work been all about? - Well I have a couple different projects going on right now. One I have been working on is textures, like spray paint drips, and there coming from woman. The other series I'm working on are cakes with chicks popping out of them, and they have cut out porn mag chicks, so it's pretty ridiculous. I've been printing more Wolf Pack shirts for PLUS and for the riders. Along with the graphics for some new PLUS decks, that are a PLUS and Wolf Pack collaborative. I'm also making the titles for Kyle Eby's upcoming video, Rough Riders.
Tell me more about Wolf Pack, what inspired you to start it? -It kinda started in 2007, right before I went California to stay with Zupkee and Riley O'neil. I brought Wolf Pack shirts, the first ones I ever made. I was just like sewing letters onto shirts and stenciling them. They weren't that legit yet. Than after I went back to school, had a sewing machine and i was starting to do printmaking, so thats when the first Wolf Pack shirt came out, it's got like a wizard on it. Basically before I was actually selling anything, I gave four shirts to everyone I wanted to have ride for me and just kinda went backwards so that more people would know about it.
Who are the riders? - The riders are , well you got, Jordan Zupkee, Charlie Ryan, Kevin Sanders, Mike Crock, Joe Crock, Matt Wilson and Justin Cefai. Looking to put a few other names on, but just kinda contemplating who its gonna be.
What feeds the art that your making for the company, is it the kind of work you usually do or are you going for a certain look? -Well uh, i usually do art for about four hours a day, weather Im drawing painting or working on the computer. But i mean its kinda what i just do daily, so whatever comes from that day i guess. But i can see myself altering styles, back and forth. Most of the stuff I do is hand done, weather or not I transfer it to a computer.
So thats pretty much your creative process, do you have an quirks? -Well I have a lot of different ways to produce work, and a lot of different ways that I do. I've been doing a lot of figures on wood and i use a lot of geometric shapes as detail. I do a lot of silk- screening t-shirts and I print onto lots of post stamps and stuff. I usually submit work for the contests on Fecal Face and do lots of poster work and designs for friends. I kinda just do shit all the time for upcoming events and other people, I have gotten really used to it.
Since this is the beerics, do you have any good drunken stories? -Yeah do you mean one involving skateboards, haha, i have a couple. Skateboards yea, that would be good. -Alright well I was in Rochester, New York visiting my sister and decided we needed more beer, skated up to the party store and i was so drunk i like hit the bottom of the driveway and the ramp it like shot the board out and i flung out and hit my back and i like broke my rib basically, actually sprained my rib muscle or around it but basically just couldn't skate for like a month after that just cause i wanted to go get beer.
What's your favorite beer? - Well I like the dark stuff, so you know Becks dark is pretty good, i had one of those the other day. But if i'm going for abundance, Pabst is probably my favorite.
Now thats a prime answer right there, thats what were repping, we legit sent them a little proposition for sponsorship, "To become the official beer of skateboarding." But we haven't heard much yet so i don't know if there to into it. Offers still up though. So let us know PBR. -Yea a thirty pack a week sounds nice, haha.
Any shout outs? - Matt Wilson, Eric Carlson, Rob from Plus Skateshop, everyone at Plus, OG tdub crew, Cefai, Johnny, EMAC, Bennet house, also anyone who has ever supported WOLF PACK.