Back

Where did Matt Mckeen go?

Last year, Matt McKeen left Proto Scooters after 4 years of being synonymous with the brand. Since then, we haven’t heard a whole lot from him. We hooked up with Matt to find out what he is up to now.

He has been riding since 2000 and has been a part of the industry for almost as long. Matt McKeen is one of the most influential people within scootering. Many riders automatically connect him with Proto, when his name comes up. But how is it to be ‘Matt the scooter rider’ and not ‘Matt from Proto’?

"I guess I feel more stoked about riding again. It was getting stressed trying to balance my lifestyle between working and riding for the same company," he says and continues:

"There were things that would bum me out and put me off from enjoying scootering. After being a sponsored rider for so long, it feels nice not to be tied down by a company. Now I can focus on my projects and ride whichever parts I like - so, it's been pretty chill."

Working on Trendkill Collective

Recently Matt has been working on reviving the Trendkill Collective with the help of David Coe.

"We ditched the old 2013 blog layout and set up a legit website. I spent a lot of time creating and pumping out new content for that - so, it's been a good way to stay in touch with scootering", he says and adds:

"Riding-wise I've just been working on my Hella Grip promo whenever I can for "The Passage" grip tape. It's taken a bit longer than I had hoped, but now it’s finally here."

A way of giving back to the community

Trendkill Collective is Matt's way of giving back to the scooter community, which has and always will be a big part of his life.

"A lot of kids tend to grow out of the scene once they're adults, but we want to show them that they can grow old with scootering and enjoy doing what they love forever," he says and continues.

"We try to post content that we feel is lacking in the industry. Interviews and articles with underdog companies/riders, videos that have power and promoting events that we feel do good for our community. Things like that - it's all about nurturing the culture."

Stoked to be back again

Besides his work with Trendkill Collective, Matt has just started working as a brand manager for AO Scooters.

"I was looking for jobs outside of the Scooter Industry when Andy hit me up about the position. I was stoked to be able to get back into the industry again.", he says and adds.

"Besides being the team manager, I also do marketing for the brand like running social media, creating graphics, ads & videos. I'm also working on the development of new scooter parts - so, that'll be something a little new for me”

****

Be sure to give Trendkill a follow on Instagram and check out www.trendkillcollective.com for more awesome content.

Get Matt McKeen's signature grip tape from Hella Grip right here.