LIFE LESSONS
MATT PIKE
The nine-toed stoner metal icon on juvenile delinquency, military school and his Olympic-level weed intake
WORDS: RICH HOBSON
MATT PIKE HELPED codify stoner metal as a genre in the 90s with his band Sleep and their landmark releases Holy Mountain and Dopesmoker (aka Jerusalem), before launching the no-less-celebrated High On Fire. Along the way, there have been struggles with booze (he’s not sober) and even an amputated toe. With his first ever solo album, Pike Vs The Automaton, on the horizon, we asked Matt to guide us through the lessons that helped turn him into a modern metal icon.
I WAS A REAL PROBLEM CHILD…
“By 14 I was doing drugs and stealing booze from my parents, throwing parties and getting into girls pants; all the things a shitty kid does. We’d take LSD and drink Jim Beam all over downtown Denver. I got into a little thieving ring run by some older guys; I was a skinny kid so I could stick my arm through tight spaces to open doors or whatever, so we’d go stealing cars and driving around.”
GETTING CAUGHT WAS THE BEST THING THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED FOR ME
“I ended up going to juvenile hall for a while, then got sent to military school. My dad was just like, ‘You didn’t do enough time, dude.’ I wasn’t charged for grand theft auto, it was charges like criminal trespassing and whatever – just enough to get me a bunch of probation and time. It got me to California though, and once I moved in with my dad he was able to enforce rules that my mom never really could. I shaped up and tried a little harder, did better in school for the last year.”