I met Matt in Victoria at the Whale wall in May or June of 2006. It was called the Whale wall because of a mural of a whale beside a small square of parkland beside the harbour. I had my guitar, Matt had a drum we tried busking on government street and hit it off musically and philosophically. We left for Salt Spring Island that day and travelled together for about 3 years after that.

We called ourselves Organik Beats when we played and because I liked to DIY record, we did 2 albums together: one in Galiano Island BC and one in Halifax NS. We parted ways after a cross Canada tour in 2009.

We kept in touch over the years and over the years Matt kept true to his code.

His code was travelling, friends and music. The road is freedom. Music is how you give the freedom back. He believed in friendship and he always tried to keep in touch with the people he loved. He made me laugh a lot.

He was aggravating sometimes. Matt could probably piss off the Buddha if he was drunk enough but he always just kept loving you even when you were furious at him, so you just couldn't stay mad no matter what he did. You had to accept the bad and the good. You had to accept all of him.

He was a great friend, I was not raised with a brother but Matt always felt like one. We told each other our darkest and lightest stories. I always knew when he was depressed because he would call me or text me or somehow get hold of me.

We talked days before he died. He had a song he wanted to share but the file was to big to send to me, so I told him about how I was building this site and I made an account for him. He never used it. I didn't really expect him to. Then I heard on Maskbook that he had died...

I realized after he died that I hardly knew any of his songs. So I have been learning some. I have a ongoing project on here to collect his songs and songs inspired by him (lyrics and recordings) and I will eventually release some of those.

I have a lot of guilt and regret when it comes to Matt. We had a few fights and when I look back I remember that there was some resentment. There were a lot of lines crossed on his part, but I crossed lines too.

I watched him learn guitar and write his first songs. We would talk for hours about songwriting and I showed him how easy it is to record with next to nothing, if you have a computer.

I knew he had a knack for building the energy of a crowd, he just knew what to do to get people into it. He understood what to do.

I knew he would write better material than I ever could, and it was easy for him to get in front of a crowd. I have always had crippling social anxiety so a stage to me is either: the safest place to be in a crowd when I know what I'm doing; or the absolute worst place for me to be when I don't. He made me feel safe on stage. I probably wouldn't have continued to play music in public after Organik Beats split up if Allyson hadn't coaxed me to play some house shows in Guelph and later played with me (as O!PiM).

He also was very specific about what kind of music he wanted to do and my tastes have always been as wide as possible.

I have always loved him even when I was furious at him: we are family.

I miss him every day.