In life, there are people who make a mark simply by being. Their presence. Their spirit. Their smile. At the skatepark. In the lineup. Around a campfire. Backstage at a show. Micah Jan Mattson was one of those people. Sadly, Mattson has gracefully kicked out of the mortal coil far too soon. After he went missing and a frantic search earlier this month, there has been an outpouring of grieving memorials and memories shared across Southern California’s skate, surf, music, and art communities.
Born August 22, 1979, Mattson grew up in North County San Diego, coming of age when skateboarding was exploding beyond its traditional boundaries and into music, art and street culture. By the late 1990s, he was riding for Zero Skateboards, appearing in the videos and magazines that documented a particularly raw and influential era of Southern California skating. But skating was only part of the story.
Mattson was also a guitarist for the San Diego band Kut U Up, which now features former Transworld Surfer editor and WSL commentator Chris Cote in their lineup. Mattson’s time in the band connected him to the same skate-and-music scene that would produce countless road trips, shows, and late nights. Former bandmate Brendan Raasch remembered Mattson on Instagram. “He was a dad and a fun guy who liked to camp and travel and listen to Ween while playing guitar by the fire,” Raasch wrote. “You will only get so many stories to tell, and a large percentage of my favorites will forever have Micah @micahjan in them.”
That sense of community extended into the surf and art worlds, too. Mattson’s younger twin brothers, Jared and Jonathan, make up the acclaimed musical duo Mattson 2. Thanks in part to their older brother’s influence, they’re known for their jazz-infused, surf-inspired jams, including contributing tunes to the soundtrack of Thomas Campbell’s 2009 film The Present. They are also regular collaborators with skate legends Tommy Guerrero and Ray Barbee.
Campbell, who lent his artistic vision to the cover of the newest print issue of SURFER, photographed Mattson skating during those early years, and the two developed a friendship that stretched across skateboarding, music, art, and travel. As noted above, Campbell was instrumental in introducing the Mattson brothers’ music to a wider creative circle.
Surfing and skateboarding weren’t simply something Mattson did. It led to music, which led to art, which led to travel, which inevitably led back to the beach, the streets, and friends he made along the way. When he wasn’t riding a board or playing music, Mattson was a devoted father two his two boys, Jared and Jonathan, worked as a train conductor, and enjoyed long, off-the-grid bike rides.
Mattson leaves behind his beautiful family and a long list of friends who shared waves, skate sessions, stages, road trips, and campfires with him. The videos will remain. The records will remain. The photographs will remain. But for those who knew Mattson, his real legacy will live in the stories, and there are plenty of them.
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