HEAVY METAL MATT & KONA

By Matt DeVries

The need to blow off steam and relax comes with any job. Some go fishing, gamble, head into the wilderness, get spa treatments – while others hit the singletrack.

Although you think they might do it on stage, members of heavy metal bands need to blow of some steam too. Like guitar player Matt DeVries of the headbanging band Chimaira. A devoted Kona fan for years, Matt relaxes on the road (and home) by hopping on his Dawg Deluxe and pounding the trail.

Here’s a dude who plays and rides fast.

My name’s Matt DeVries.

I play guitar for the band Chimaira. Besides playing guitar, one of my passions is riding my mountain bike. About 3 years ago I got back into riding. My friend Jacob English who owns two bike shops here in Cleveland, Ohio called Mountain Road Cycles recommended the Kona Blast for my first bike to get back into the sport. I instantly fell in love with Kona.

Not too long after that I bought a Kona Dawg Deluxe because I had to have a full suspension bike. Cleveland surprisingly has some great places to ride. Most of the time I spend hours at my friend Jacob’s property. He's got about 60 acres of singletrack. Other times we'll go riding at West Branch which is a great and very scenic 12-mile singletrack course in Revenna, Ohio.

We do get some heavy duty winters in Cleveland, but we are spoiled enough to have the only indoor mountain bike park in the world. So, when I'm not touring, there's always riding to be had in Cleveland. Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park is the shit! Cross-country, singletrack, ramps, even a foam pit. They have it all.

Every August we also make the five-and-a-half hour trip down to Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia for some amazing riding! It's definitely one thing we look forward to doing every year for sure! Four days of heavy riding and four nights of camping out, heavy drinking and playing some acoustic guitar around the camp fire. Good times!

Mountain biking is a huge part of my life. Besides jamming on my guitar, it is the one thing I do in my life where while I'm doing it, I am thinking about nothing else. The best part about riding is just getting away from it all. On tour I see and talk to people almost every minute of everyday. Mountain biking lets me get away from it all and just relax.

See you guys on the road! … Or trails!!!

-Matt DeVries

Check out the Chimaira MySpace page or their single RESURRECTION by clicking HERE (mp3)