Shattering his leg after skateboarding down a 10-stair ledge forced Matt Costa into a two-year recovery and a new career.
Costa was on his way to becoming a professional skateboarder before the accident.
"It was a little bit of a mess," he said.
The extended recovery provided Costa with a lot of time to focus on writing and recording songs in his room, he said.
Costa has been playing the guitar since he was 12 and likes the "connection someone can make with a guitar and vocal," he said.
Growing up, Costa listened to a variety of music, including Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and Queen, he said.
He discovered folk music at the age of 17, and musicians from the '60s, such as Donovan and Bob Dylan, are big influences in his music, he said.
"I try my best to play my version of that," Costa said.
"Songs We Sing," Costa's latest album, consists of 13 tracks.
"The record was basically my life for that period of time," he said. "I tried my best to take average experiences and make them sound more exciting."
When Costa was younger, he played the trumpet in a school band and the guitar in a punk band , he said.
The punk band played obscure and random songs and performed at only one party, he said. When the cops arrived to break the party up, the band broke up, too.
Though his focus is mainly on the guitar, Costa likes to use different instruments, he said. He occasionally plays the piano, blues harmonica, banjo and other instruments. Sometimes, he will even change the tuning of his guitar to get a new sound.
After writing melodies, Costa's next step was to write lyrics.
"If you have a song, you have to say something," he said. "Singing was about the words and what kind of imagery they would create."
Costa is writing every day and thinks that every song he writes is an evolution, he said.
Before Costa signed with Brushfire Records in early 2006, he recorded songs with Tom Dumont of No Doubt.
"Having him around makes me feel confident," Costa said.
The two met while Costa was handing out his demo at businesses around his hometown of Huntington Beach. The demo got into the hands of Dumont, and a week after he listened to it, Dumont called Costa to record.
Costa and Dumont recorded "T.V. Gods" and other songs, which turned into the "Matt Costa EP." They released everything independently while Costa toured with Jack Johnson in 2005.
Costa is "kind of toured-out," he said. He is enjoying being home at the moment.
"I prefer playing on my porch for the ants and dragonflies," Costa said.
Cari Radford can be reached at cradford@theorion.com
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