Matt Kass’s Hump Day
In Seaside he’s know as Crab Jesus. If you don’t know Matt Kass, you’re about to.
Matt Kass was a pro snowboarder before anyone had heard of Danny Kass, but you’re more likely to know him as the co-founder and long-time president of Grenade LLC. Matt helped start the brand and grow it into a multi-million dollar business, which employed most of his friends. My career at Grenade started shortly after I bought a house and was freaking out about how to pay for it. Matt offered me a job at Grenade, and I spent the next year of my life doing whatever needed to be done, and generally being part of something pretty cool. A lot has changed since then, and Matt Kass more or less disappeared from the public eye. Ousted from the brand he started, and considered dangerous by some and a joke by others, Matt moved to the Oregon Coast, where he lives with his fiance and son and works as a professional fisherman. But after a few years out of the limelight, Matt hit me up, ready to tell his side of the story.
Brooke: Do you think you’re crazy?
Matt: No, but I have had severe emotional damage done in my life as a child that causes me to act out.I sometimes lose control in given situations with anger. I have anger problems. Do you think I’m crazy?
Brooke: I know you’re crazy.
Matt: hahahha, thanks.
Brooke: What’s your biggest regret from your days running Grenade?
Matt: Starting it. Starting Grenade. I would never do it again. It was my Frankenstein. I sit around every day and miss my friends that I lost through it. Do you know why I’m breaking my silence?
Brooke: No. Do tell.
Matt: It’s kinda cheesy. I sit around and everyone has their story about this or that. I was there, I know what happened. Some things that happened I still don’t understand. Like I ask myself, “What the fuck happened? What could I have done differently?” Then I was reading Yobeat and Colin’s interview and it all came together for me. It wasn’t about me. It was about a group of guys and a time and place…like a movement…like a band! And when they break up it’s never the same!
Brooke: All right, let’s break it down to the undisputed facts real quick. Why did you move the company from Mammoth?
Matt: I kept the Mammoth operation, Danny and JC liquidated it, along with a lot of my friends. I kept my friends around so I wouldn’t quit. I never liked my brother, I just liked Levins and Cole, so once they let all my friends go, there was no point for me to be at Grenade.
Brooke: Where did JC come from? How did he get involved?
Matt Kass: He was hired to help with our networking as a consultant. When Danny asked me to resign, I did. I was the manager of Grenade LLC until resignation or death. Of course he stiffed me on the 75k. But what’s 75k among bros….right? Danny hired JC and made him the CEO and took over from VP to President.
Brooke: Right, but you’re skipping a lot. I mean, I worked there for a year and Danny apparently didn’t even know I did. So how did it go from you hiring Joseph to Danny ousting you?
Matt Kass: Danny paid me to resign per the operating AGREEMENT. He stiffed me on the 75k that I was to be paid as resignation. Danny took over as president and hired Joseph to replace me. So I was screwed in plain English. Next.
What about all the rumors of you flipping out when you left?
When I resigned, yes I broke my brother’s laptop over my knee. Yes, I spray-painted my resignation on the side of the building because it was my building and my spray paint. And yes I took a gun out of there and then they lied about it and I lost my second amendment right to bear arms for two years.
Brooke: What have you been doing since then?
Matt Kass: I was the international and domestic sales manager at Betty Rides until I got fired. I went back to Grenade after being fired from Betty. Grenade moved when my girlfriend gave birth and I got a unexplained extended vacation. When I went in to the new office JC said I stole money again (which is a lie) so I got upset (aka I fucking screamed at that lying turkey), quit and walked out. While I was waiting for the elevator JC tried to beat me up even though I was holding a 3-month-old baby. Since then, I have decided my brother is nothing more than a pony and that if he will let JC push me around while I’m holding my son, aka his nephew, that he is no friend, brother, or family to me. I really did not like working at either Betty Rides or Grenade, in ALL honesty.
How did you end up living in the former “Office” location on Burnside? How long were you there?
Matt Kass: When Nicole and Danny lied on a restraining order, I was given 20 minutes to pick up personal stuff. She sold the rest of my belongings. After that, I was living in a warehouse in Washington, then I got evicted, because I did not have money, because I was never actually paid to resign. My family disowned me, and yes, I was forced to live in a skateshop for over 6 months and sleep on the concrete floor in an asbestos-filled building. I did enjoy it though. Cole made it a point to help me through the hardest time in my life because although he is a failure at life, he is a TRUE friend no the less. How is that?
Brooke: That’s insane. Was Cole living there too?
Matt Kass: Yes, then when I saved up enough money to get a place, he lived in my van outside my house for 6 months. Curt Johnson also lived in the shop when he got kicked out of Flood’s house. I also let homeless people sleep in there when it was cold.
Brooke: Here’s a big one I have. Why didn’t you sell Grenade when the opportunity arose? Quiksilver wanted to buy it, right?
Matt Kass: Yes, actually we were almost sold to Oakley. Danny was always trying to sell Grenade to his sponsors. He always wanted to sell out. I was the hold out. I always rode for small independent companies like Joyride and Mission 6. Danny rides for Oakley and Nike. I would NEVER ride for Nike or Quiksilver, or Gnu (because it’s still Quiksilver.) I’m trying to make a comeback.
Will Matt recapture his pro glory of 2001? More importantly, does anyone still have that hella big Bjorn Leines poster?
Brooke: I want to know all about your comeback, but it seems like it would have made sense to take the cash and start something else, ya know?
Matt Kass: Do you know any bands looking to sponsor a crappy halfpipe rider? I have been working on another company since 2007. The new brand I’m working on is Called ENMY.
Brooke: Ok, I’ll bite. Tell me about ENMY
Matt Kass: It’s a outdoor lifestyle brand. I’m also helping out the guys at Sasquatch Skateboards. I was just hired a couple days ago, I’m really stoked. The kids involved are really talented. I’m in the process of forming a Distribution Company and our first 2 brands are “ENMY” and “Sasquatch Skateboards.” I also started my own fishing business as well as being a dad. I’m busy.
Brooke: I’m confused. I thought you said started Grenade was the worst decision you ever made. Why would you start a new brand?
Matt Kass: I really feel like the industry is getting dry and needs a kick in the ass and I’m just the asshole to do it. I’m starting over without partners and because I feel like it is time to make a comeback. I want to bring my band to trade shows so we can play our awful music. I hired a coach to train me and everything. For real!
Brooke: Wait, what are you talking about? Now you’re in a band with a coach? I thought you were making a snowboarding comeback. Are you drunk?
Matt Kass: No, I just got one of my wisdom teeth pulled. I have a coach so I can make a comeback. I have a band called “The Bent Screws” and when next SIA comes you will see the band and the brand. Hopefully I can start shredding soon, fishing season opens 2/1 though, so I’m going out on the water then.
Brooke: So let me get this straight. You’re going to “train” for like 3 days and then launch a new snowboard career, and by next SIA you will have started a Poler ripoff and distribution company?
Matt Kass: I have been training since October of last year. I skate at least 3 hours a day and I’m in the best shape of my life, I’m not fat like the Dingo. I’ll tell people who think I’m not gonna make a comeback, hey, I did one kassrole, why can’t I do two? When I’m doing 540s below the lip I’ll laugh too. I’ve told Gretchen (Bleiler) she won the X games with my run that I used to do. Sometimes my nollie backside 5 would go above the lip, and sometimes it wouldn’t.
That reminds me of the number one snowboard joke of all time: you know where the best place to pick up snowboard chicks?
Me: Yeah, below the lip.
Matt: Hey, How am I ripping off Poler? You haven’t seen one of my designs.
Me: You said outdoor lifestyle… which is what Poler is doing, but you’re right, I haven’t seen it.
Matt Kass: It’s more of a utilitarian style, fishing gear. I know about Poler, I like those guys, I even modeled for them for free. We’re making fishing gear and outdoor lifestyle type stuff. If a kid wants to wear it snowboarding, that’s his business. And I’m trying to start a distro company, but when I say that I’m trying to do it, I’m not trying to jump out over night like Vanilla Ice. The name of the company is called Ammo distribution– ENMY, Survival and Garden State grip tape. It’s been a pet project of mine for a long time. When I started Grenade I wanted to turn it into a skateboard company. When Danny started he wanted to turn it into a TV show. That’s the truth. When we ultimately fought it was because I didn’t want to be on his TV show and wanted nothing to do with it. Dingo and Danny wanted to do it, they made they pilot and it looked like shit. I didn’t even want to release the project. Danny’s the one who wanted to be on TV.
Boat enthusiast.
Brooke: So, when Grenade ousted you, how many boats did you have in the warehouse?
Matt Kass: 2 or 3. I took one with me
Brooke: Did you buy them with Grenade money?
Matt Kass: Nope with my paycheck. My brother spends Grenade money on weed, all the time. I have proof.
Brooke: What proof?
Matt Kass: Receipts.
Brooke: Who gets a receipts for weed?
Matt Kass: I do. Danny took 80k from Grenade to start that awful TV show.
Brooke: Don’t you think that TV show was marketing?
Matt Kass: No, it’s embarrassing Danny stole money from Grenade and blamed me. JC stole money from Danny and convinced him I took it, I put 600k into Grenade and real estate and all I got back was 175k and I feel like they stole 10 yrs of my life. They never gave me a letter of recommendation even though they said they would.
Brooke: Well, at least you’re not bitter. What have you been up to the last few years… how did you get back on your feet?
Matt Kass: Well do you want the truth? It was a hard climb. I was waiting for the 75k from my resignation agreement and it never came. I was counting on the money, so it really screwed me up. I started living in the shop because I had nowhere to go and Joseph told my friends at Grenade that they would be fired if they talked to me.
We got in trouble at the shop for selling graffiti supplies, got a 5k ticket, had to stop selling paint with was a giant piece of our sales. It was a dead horse. I closed the shop, got a house 6 blocks up the street and started working at Betty Rides. Which, sucked too.
Matt, Elliot and one hell of a flounder.
Brooke: Tell me more about ENMY. What specifically are you gonna make?
Matt Kass: You will see. ENMY is “bottom secret.” There are a couple designs on facebook, but they are old. The new stuff is being made right now. I never really stopped designing T-shirts. I just stopped showing people. It was therapy for me. I’ve done T-shirts for small guys and menus for a pizza place. I just do shit on my computer to get by cause I got a kid and diapers ain’t cheap. I’m no Pinski, I’m not gonna cut off my dick and put it in my ear and then call myself an artist — I lost him when he went bo-mo. That’s Bohemian Modern.
Brooke: How are you funding the brand?
Matt Kass: By myself, I don’t want partners. What I’m trying to get across to all these little brands is, don’t fucking be me. Money does bad things to good people. You want my business advice? Here’s three lessons I’ve learned.
1. Don’t take a partner when you need a loan.
2. Be careful who you get into bed with.
3. Lying can get you into problems and through problems, but only the truth will get you out. You can’t lie a fact. Be careful what you say or do, this is the info age and everything is recorded or on video somewhere.
I explained to my father yesterday, sometimes lying is a part of business. Have I ever told people lies? Yeah, I used to all the time. When I didn’t know the answer to something, I would just say two weeks – it’s from the movie the Money Pit – the contractor would always say “two weeks.” Instead of saying I don’t know I would always say two weeks, because it was embarrassing to say I don’t know.
Brooke: Let’s wrap this up. What else?
Matt Kass: Grenade could have been a lot more and should have been. When I think back of what I started, I think of it as something that that was great. When you used to buy a Grenade T you used to support people like you and Dave and Jesse and Tom and me; it used to be a family people. Now when you buy a Grenade T at Pacsun you’re enabling Joseph to abuse snowboarding and snowboarders and you keep my brother drunk and on drugs. I know we all didn’t do it right. I was never the best boss, and one of the worst things I ever did you caught the brunt of. If you ever asked for a recommendation from me you were a great employee in an environment a lot of people would have failed. I’ve had everyone’s back, every day in that company.
Yahtzee!
Good hump day.
sucks that danny kass is a greedy whore… grenade was awesome back in the day their videos were soooo sick! i had a feeling shit was going downhill when they started that stupid fucking tv show though… fuck danny kass. matt should sue for his 75k
Wow… Makes me want to go fishing.
fuck who?
fuck em all
This is a sad story all around, I feel bad for everyone involved. I always wondered how Grenade went from almost getting to the top.. to totally vanishing.
I hope the Helgasons read this article. It is funny how history repeats itself. Younger brother has a huge breakout season, very talented and seemingly likeable (older brother is very talented as well but overshadowed). The brothers start a company together. Brothers have a funny antics guy sidekick…. the rest is up to them. I really hope they heed Matt’s warning
i remember when it was crazy if you had a grenade sticker, and if you did you were the shit because it was in support of good dudes. Now every riced out Cavalier driven by a fat gamer nerd has one on the back window. Good luck with ENMY! At least now you know what to not do.
damn. all respect for danny kass, straight down the shitter. what a greedy fuck.
fuck fat ass dan kass.
proving once again, real men fish.
dont know how you would lose a HELLA BIG bj poster. their loss
WOW—interesting read. Keep these coming YoBeat!! remember peeps…2 sides to every story…I want to hear Danny’s version now. Bring it YoBeat.
Matt has crabs
such a sick interview. They could have had something huge, the snowboard world could have turned out different if grenade survived.
Enmy is gnna be ill! Some people start a business to sell it others to run it for something more valuable then profit..I want a book about grenade..a lot can be learned from this..is snowboarding another corporate system that only caters to money or could we create companies that do things to make snowboarding more accessible nd portray the right reasons to snowboard
Bummer.
Danny Kass is a retard, he can barely put a sentence together for a interview, let alone run a company!
Not to discount any other Humpdays, but this one is so good. Probably the best since Bozung’s, maybe better. Nice work.
This was the best thing I’ve read involving snowboarding in my life. I think anyone who grew up in NJ watching the Grenade videos at 15 and 16 always wondered what happened. Grenade was a huge part of driving this state’s image, and it’s riders were all looked up to. When it fell apart (or “took off” depending on how you look at it), so did snowboarding in New Jersey. It’s never been the same since Matt’s creative direction left. Thanks for your side, dude.
well when u sell $60 gloves.. that straight fall apart in a week. ur clearly gonna go outta business. fuck danny kass that greedy little fuck.
Matt is full of crap and beyond delusional. He’s the one who ran Grenade into the ground. Danny stepped in to keep it from going out of business. JC is a douche, but without Dan and him taking over, there would be NO Grenade today.
Whether or not you like Grenade now, at least they have a team and support those riders financially. That’s something that also never happened under Matt’s watch. What about all the team riders that Matt promised shares to?
I’ve dealt with both Kass’ on both personal and professional levels. I would work with Danny again. Matt, no fucking way.
You want the REAL STORY interview, Yobeat should interview Nicole Jackson.
There’s two sides to every story. Brooke, put your investigative g-string on again and get Dan and JC’s side.
Do it.
Do it now.
Love journalism like this. Thanks for antagonizing. “Well, at least you’re not bitter.” Ha ha ha.
Damn, never knew that went down. Good luck with ENMY!
Yes Grenade has done some fucked up shit, but this guy is is fuckin’ loony toon. I’m taking everything said by him with a grain of salt.
word, more articles about this Brooke. Lets hear from this Nicole Jackson too! Who fucked up grenade more?!
Ahh the early days of Grenade, One of my favorite Brands to sell and thrash and then shit hit the fan. Got to be Honest was waiting for Matt to pop his head out of the Sea!!!! And stoked for some new waves from ENMY!
Matt,
It sucks that you got a raw deal, but you should be proud of what you built with grenade regardless of what it has been watered down to. The industry needs more wild cards like you and less d-bags from the corpo world. Please shake things up.
Make peace with your brother, you guys are family and life is too short to waste. Don’t expect to move forward until you both forgive and forget. Your son is more important than any business beef and he will want an uncle Danny in his life someday. And little brothers always need big brothers.
Happy fishing
wowzers.
and i thought my morning was SUCKING.
OK, Chuck, getting paid is what everything is all about? How about fuckheads like you learn to ride for fun and stop thinking about money? I got stories too. I know all the players pretty well, but I won’t go on here taking any sides……I can just say Matt and Danny are both cool in their own ways. You want Nicole to talk shit about Matt? You want Danny to talk shit about Matt? When JC yells at Casillo to answer more phones and that he’s fucking worthless…..ought to tell you something about how the company turned to shit. Matt admits right here that he made mistakes and lied to people, but the fucker is honest about it now. Fuck you, Chuck.
he doesn’t even mention Slater… whom also got fucked over
interesting interview. funny he’s wearing nikes in one of those photos.
Oh yeah and any of you fuckers saying Matt is loony and delusional….I thought so too, one day in Portland. But then I found out everything he was ranting about (which included me) was TRUE. I thought he was fucking crazy at the time, but that fucker is a genius. He and Nicole built Grenade. Such a sad story here……I love all those guys even if I haven’t seen them in a while. Ride for fun, never make money a priority and you will have realistic opinions about snowboarding. Money fucks it all up.
IaMc001, the whole interview is based on money and false promises. Snowboarding isn’t “fun” when you can’t even afford gas money.
that’s funny. that killed danny’s rep big time. i feel like my respect for grenade just died
danny kass is pretty awesome. Brooke really went hard on a bitch in this interview. that was pretty awesome as well.
best hump day of all time
Worked for grenade. Made me sign contract. Never paid me. They fucked over every rider on the team. Even the tattoos are getting covered up. Grenade is not the same and Danny is a has been anyway.
Fuck Danny he’s a bitch, WHAT ABOUT Slater, and Lane. He owes both of those dudes big time. He should stop paying that fat homo Dingo and kick some checks to the people who actually helped make it happen!!
i really hate the dingo. truly hate him.
holy shit.
coldest least durable gloves in the game..
@Chuck …. False. Snowboarding is, and always will be fun. If you don’t have money for gas, then get your ass out of that business chair and start walking
Wow he really threw his brother under the bus or vice versa, I’m curious to see what the other side of the story is.
big dicks in ya ass is bad for ya health.
fuck danny… fuck matt. grenade is hollow as shit. matt fucked people, danny fucked people, neither of them have any of their original friends/ team riders backing them or by their side at all. matt lied and never paid so many people…. it’s insane.
danny and joseph are really brutal. the gloves suck, the outerwear is better at a dollar store, they have moto dudes, mma dudes….shit is wack.
danny is done. the dingo never was.
i think matt is a real cocksucker…. but he is great at marketing. he can make something out of nothing. i do like that. if he can get his shit together… he can prob make a semi successful brand.
Need a partner for ENMY!? I’ll invest!
You guys are all as bad as the house wives reading gossip mags in the grocery store. “oooohhhh i can wait to hear what he has to say about this..” What i gather from all this is that everybody wanted money and danny was better at getting it. Doesnt make him right or wrong. sounds like everybody fucked up a bunch.
Not surprised at all. Dirt bag company run by assholes eats itself alive. Im just happy those fucking idiots arent in mammoth anymore
Its a shame that Danny Kass has diabetes.
Holy shit, this better just be beginning as there are a lot of follow on interviews to be had. Hell, the Grenade Tales could become a regular feature for at least…a month.
“Well, at least you’re not bitter.” – Funniest shit I’ve read in awhile. Bra-fucking-vo
Grenade = another lame sticker in the back window of a Pinto/Escort/Neon/88 Toyota 4×4
Joining historic brands – Lifes a Beach/No Fear/Bad Boy Club
Awesome stickers – Calvin and Hobbes Pissing/anything Nascar
And white trash Icons – Dingo/Charlie Sheen/Jereme Rogers