Chops and the Boss sit down for conversation.
Alright Drew, gonna
start this off with something that definitely has me stoked and I figure you’re
the guy to ask: Spanky’s pro board is back on Baker with what looks to be a
heavy part coming up in Made 2. Looks
like we have a reinvigorated Mr. Long rolling around. Great to see but how did
that go down?
I mean, he’s always been super talented, that was never
really the problem. He’s always been good. For a while there, he was able to be
a pro skater, be good and get the job done but I think maybe he just got a
little sidetracked with partying and by life in general. Just getting
distracted by growing up can end up being pretty heavy sometimes.
I think the biggest turning point for him came after he had
decided to quit drinking and started to see how much stuff he could get done
without that partying lifestyle. Fortunately, he’s still super young and can
make such a big change in time so that he’s still able to get out there and
kill it.
Do you think Baker
taking away his board served as sort of wake-up call for all of this?
I think it was a lot of things coming together. I don’t want
to get too into his personal life but I’m sure losing his board was a part of
it.
Coming from my own experience and struggles with alcohol and
things, there’s no real way to say what it is that happens to you to make the
decision and stay with it. It’s just like one day, you’re ready. It can’t come from
anybody else. Not your friends or your family. It is up to you to make that
decision and it’s different for everybody. One person might have to end up on
the streets with nothing and another person just might have to feel a little
shitty inside one morning to turn it around. It’s just how it is. So, I’m sure
there were some things that just started happening where he began to realize
that it was time to get his shit together.
Was there like a trial period there before you brought his board back to see how serious he was?
The thing is that I’ve never really had to take people’s
boards away on Baker. Having to call dudes up like, “You’re not gonna have a
pro board anymore, man. The time’s up.” It really sucked. That was my first
time ever having to do that and it definitely does not feel good.
The fact is that you can’t be a professional skateboarder
forever. I’m not going to be one forever. Spanky’s not. Nobody is. But Spanky’s
just been skating so much. A year went by and you can still see how serious
he’s taking it. He’s filming so hard for this Emerica video when at first, we
honestly weren’t so sure about it. But he’s out there skating like a
professional skateboarder, bringing his board back felt like the right thing to
do.
The Baker crew cannot
be an easy team to manage. How do you balance working with friends while
simultaneously trying to do good for your business? I know there was some
stress with those roster changes a little while back, let alone trying to deal
with dudes like Antwuan while you’re also turning Riley and Cyril pro… What’s
the fine line there?
I think that it just comes down to an honest approach. I’d
love to have everyone from the original Baker still on the team. Guys like Evan
Hernandez, I’d love to have them on there forever. It’s just that some people
take a different path.
Honestly, I don’t really look at it as my responsibility. If
you don’t want to work at being a pro skater, that’s not my problem. That’s
your problem. I’m trying to have a team of pro skaters, not people who don’t
skate.
At the end of the day, you see what I’ve been doing all of
these years, do that. Do what Riley Hawk does. That’s what being a pro skater
is. So much of it comes down to the personal attitude of that guy. That’s how
skateboarding is.
Baker is a family. It is. The problem is that you have these
guys who end up falling off or whatever and they’re mad. That’s the common
story. Certain people can own up to it and then try to do something about it.
But some people can’t or just won’t admit it.
That’s what was so cool about Spanky when the whole thing
happened. It came down to where I asked him what he’d been doing for the last
couple years and he owned up to the fact. “It’s on me. You’re right. I’m taking
responsibility for it.”
Definitely not an
easy thing to do. How’s your Made 2
part coming along? Is there a deadline for that thing yet?
We have a year left to film but honestly, I don’t really
have much footage for it at all. I don’t know if it’s just the point where I’m
at in my life right now or how many times I’ve done this same process over and
over… but right now, I’m just kinda cool skating skateparks with my friends,
pushing myself to do a ledge trick that I’ve never done before. To tell the
truth, I’m finding it kinda hard to figure out what to film for this one.
I’ve read where you
want this part to be a little more fun compared to how you did things with Stay Gold. Are you sticking to that? Are
you almost afraid of setting things off down that madness path once again?
Not really. I mean, just running through things real quick,
I came up skating during that whole Eastern
Exposure thing: being out in the streets, cruising around, ollieing trash
cans and that whole thing. That’s how I grew up skating.
It wasn’t too long after that when I started looking up to
Jamie Thomas, Chad Muska and Tom Penny, who were all more about putting
together these really sick video parts. So I basically just started doing that,
too. Focusing really hard on that aspect of my skating and how I wanted my
video parts to look. That’s how I went about doing things with Baker 3, Stay Gold and my Emerica video parts.
All during that time, the way my mind works, if I’m gonna do
a back heel for my part, I want to do the best back heel that I can possibly
do. That’s what I did. I did that all the way into my early 30’s. The problem
is that now I’m 36, I can’t outdo what I’ve already done already. I can’t
kickflip something bigger than Davis.
I know that. I’ll end up in the hospital.
So what do I do? I’m not gonna be as tech as Guy Mariano
because I don’t know how to do that. That’s not how I skate.
Then you start to hear your friends say stuff like, “It
doesn’t matter. People just want to see you skate.”
Thank you. That’s cool and I appreciate that. But it’s hard
because I’ve always gone so gung-ho with these things. It’s hard not to do
that. But at this point, I don’t think I can do that anymore. My body can’t
physically outdo the jumping aspect of what I did in Stay Gold. I just can’t. So that’s out. Flipping in and out of
tricks is out, I don’t even know how to do that. What do I do?
I have to figure out how I go about making another part
that’s different than Stay Gold but
that I still feel good about. That’s what I’m going up against.
Has seeing all the coverage surrounding your “madness” helped improve that and possibly made you rethink any of that stuff as its happening?
Right now, I’m doing a lot better with that. I honestly
don’t care about it right now. If it looks sketchy, I’ll try to redo it but I’m
not in that mode anymore of trying to get it absolutely perfect. I’m just doing
backtails on skatepark ledges.
My big thing with that was that I’ve never been clinically
diagnosed for OCD. I never talked to a doctor or anything about it. People that
actually have OCD really suffer from it and it’s really bad. I don’t want to be
looked at as someone who has any knowledge of what having OCD is like. I can’t
help people with it. I’ve actually had kids come up to me who really suffer and
they’ll want to ask me questions about it, hoping I can help them. I just don’t
know. Mine just has to do with my skating. Once I’m not on my board, that stuff
basically goes away for me.
Many skaters have a
bit of madness but do you think your case during those years could have
possibly been an unfortunate byproduct of your sobriety? Free from the numbing
effects of drugs and alcohol, this new hyperactivity came to the surface almost
as a coping mechanism? Because going back over old footage, you weren’t afraid
to put a hand down every now and then prior…
Sobriety is just a mandatory thing for me to live. Without
being sober, there would be no Stay Gold
or any of that. All that stuff like me being a freak at the bottom of some
stairs, doing things over and over, really came from a set goal that I had made
for myself with that video part. I had this idea where I wanted it to seem like
the big things I was doing were easy. Like, how is he doing this? I wanted
things to look like they weren’t that hard. So if it looked sketchy, that made
it look harder and I didn’t want that. So I’d redo it.
I know that a hand down or a little extra swag can be great.
Just that little extra whatever, that’s such a part of skating. I know that. I
see it in a lot of skateboarders. But I was sticking to my goal.
Thoughts on the term
“Baker Maker”?
Oh, I love “Baker Maker”. I’m not sure but I think that
might have come from Jamie Thomas. But yeah, I love it. It’s funny.
Just the other day, I put a little video on Instagram where
Jerry, Spanky and I were doing these nollie 360 heelflips with the body turning
as well. Mine was just awful to where I’m basically laying down on the floor,
barely doing it. Daniel Lutheran actually commented on there, “Baker Maker” and
he was totally right! It was the biggest Baker Maker ever!
I like it because since the beginning, Baker has always been
known as being this odd crew. Whether it’s people on drugs or just looking
different, it’s always been this weird group of people. So, of course, the
skating that is going to happen with such a crew will reflect that. It’s never
going to be perfect. I mean, Dustin’s lucky to roll away at all half the time.
I think it’s awesome.
We’ve talked so much
about video parts already and how they’ve been your main focus for so many
years, what’s your process for filming like? Do you sit down and make lists or
just kinda wing it? And has that changed over the years?
Baker 3 and Stay Gold seem almost like two completely different animals.
I’ve always had somewhat of a list going of tricks I want to
get for a part, be it in my head or if I took the time to actually write it
down on paper. Baker 3 was a much
different time for me back then. It was before I had a kid and I just had less
responsibilities. It was easier for me to travel back then. Because of that,
I’d end up being at more spots which leads to more skating. I was just filming
everywhere I went.
With Stay Gold, I really had to think it out. If I want to go on this filming trip, that means I’m going to have to pay the nanny in order to go so I better do something cool or I’m just wasting my money. It’s funny but it really was the truth.
If I’m going out and doing something that doesn’t have
anything to do with hanging out with my kid versus being at home, I don’t see
the point in doing it. Unless its something that’s going to benefit either my
job or my skating, I don’t really care. It kinda sucks in a way because I don’t
even know what to do with my free time. It’s weird.
Which of your video
parts would you say is your personal favorite and is there one you really don’t
care about for whatever reason? Is there one you consider your “prime” even
though you’ve consistently one-upped yourself with each one?
Honestly, I kinda like them all. I think they’re all pretty
good.
As far as a “prime” goes, I realize things now looking back
on parts that I didn’t really notice at the time because I was 20 years-old.
Like when I first moved to California
and was filming 411 profiles and things like that, I had a certain power in the
way I could kickflip down a set of stairs. I look back on it now and I can’t
believe it. It’s not the same anymore. I can’t just go up and kickflip a picnic
table like it’s nothing now. I have to actually try. Back then, your tricks
just pop. No problem. You don’t even have to really think about it. As you get
older, you reach a point where you have to decide to really give it a little
extra something. It’s not just automatic. (laughs)
But focus-wise and overall mentally, definitely Stay Gold is the one. That’s the only
time that will happen in my life. For 2 years, nothing could get in my way. I
was at home, working out by myself for two hours everyday. Pouring sweat. And
skating was really fun for me at the time, too. But it’s funny because once the
video was done, that was it. All that other stuff was done, too. I didn’t want
to ride my exercise bike anymore. It was over. I was cool with it… but I was
done.
What’s your process
like with gaps anyway? Do you build up with a straight ollie, 180 ollie,
kickflip and so on or do you just go for broke straight away?
Some of the ones I did for Stay Gold like the back 3, the back heel and the shuv-it heel, I
actually trained on that one trick. In my park in the back of my house or I’d
go to Biebel’s or whatever and just do that one trick over and over to where I
could do it every single time. Just getting it down, as fast as I wanted. From
there, I’d take to a 5 or 6-stair and get comfortable with it there as well.
That’s all you really need.
Once I got to the spot, I’d warm-up with an ollie or
something but that’s about it. Ollie it 3 times and if it feels good, I go for
it. If the ollies are feeling soft on my feet and I’m landing pretty light,
I’ll start throwing it out. The thing that’s weird is one day, you can ollie 15
stairs and it feels like every bone in your foot is crunching as you land and
your board can barely take it, but the next day, you can ollie it and it feels
like a 3-stair. You can’t really call it.
You’ve definitely
done your thing down some of skateboarding’s more infamous gaps like
Wallenberg, Carlsbad, Hollywood High and Wilshire, which have definitely been
your go-tos while branching out with a few tricks down Love and the Santa
Monica Triple-Set as well. Which one of these gaps would you say is your
personal favorite and is there one that still kinda freaks you out?
Oh man, I don’t think I can say any of them would be my
favorite because they’re all just big and painful. But if I had to pick one,
I’d say probably Hollywood High is my favorite. Just because it’s close to my
house and is a classic LA spot.
For me, it’s always easier to go a little bit taller and
shorter than to go longer. The Santa Monica Triple Set is really long to me.
I’d rather take a longer drop down than me having to go faster, farther out.
The frontside flip
down the Love Gap. Did you fly out there specifically for that? Had you ever
skated that thing before? And was keeping the leather jacket on a conscious
decision?
The leather jacket thing just kinda happened… basically
because it was so cold. But no, I’d never skated that gap before. Shany Heyl
had moved out to Philly so I was around every now and then but the whole thing
is kinda crazy how it worked out. I just did it. I was in Philly but had gone
to the airport to fly home and fallen asleep. We’d been drinking that morning
and I ended up missing my flight. So I had to go back to Philly and somewhere
within that whole mix, I ended up doing it. There was no process or practicing,
we just went to check it out and I did it real quick. That was it.
Growing up in the
public spotlight, first as a little dude for G&S before sharing amateur
duties with Ocean Howell on Birdhouse, did you ever feel almost pigeon-holed in
a way as you got older as “the little kid”? Was there a point where you
realized your style was maturing and that you were starting to come into your
own? 4-Wheel Drive perhaps?
How crazy was it that the ams for Birdhouse at the time were
literally Ocean Howell from the H-Street videos, skating to the Doors and all
that, and me. That blew me away at the time. I was just the little kid Willy
got on the team… Tony hadn’t even seen me skate yet and here’s Ocean, one of
the coolest skaters ever. That was
insane. Ocean’s just the best.
But I never really thought about that little kid stuff. I
just wanted to skate and focus on whatever project I was working on. I wanted
to film and show people what I could do. I just wanted to kill it.
4-Wheel Drive
is still kinda little kid style to me. The thing that sticks out to me is in I
think a 411 where I do a kickflip and a frontside flip over a rail at UCI. I
was skating this big board, like an 8.5 or something. I remember going home to
watch the footage and thinking to myself how that big board just seems to
fucking fly! I really could see a difference. After that, I just started
kickflipping everything and it went on from there.
Talk a little bit
about your filming of The End, with
all the skits and shooting on actual film. Did you realize at the time it was
about to detonate your career like it did with SOTY honors and all that?
I honestly didn’t even really think about it at the time.
Tony said that this is what we were going to do and I wanted to do good. That’s
all it really was. I had tricks in mind that I wanted to do and we went out and
got them. The film stuff was a bit different but I didn’t really care. I was
more focused on just skating well. That other stuff will take care of itself.
As far as blowing up like it did, I did like that part. I
thought it was good but as far as Skater of the Year goes, it was so much
different back then. Honestly, nobody really cared about it much at the time. It
was literally somebody calling up to tell me that I had won and it was just
like, “Okay… cool.” It wasn’t this big surprise or even that much of a big
deal. It’s not like I was “in the running” for it or anything. They didn’t even
have any of that. I think Jake saw that kickflip I did in Paris off the blocks and he made his decision
off of that. He called me and that was it. I mean, it was cool. I still have
the trophy and everything. It just wasn’t like the way it is now.
Why the Chimp?
Oh man, I still don’t really know. That was their idea. We
had all these skits and everything… it was something to do, I guess. It was
based on that Clint Eastwood movie with the chimpanzee. I still don’t even know
it but that’s what it’s based off of. That was the theme.
I wasn’t really that into it but I’m not the type of person
to make a big fuss. They were putting me in this amazing video, fuck it.
Whatever you want.
How was the idea for
Baker born? What made you want to start your own company instead of plugging
into a dynasty-style company like Girl?
Jim Greco, J Strickland and myself… we weren’t really deeply
involved with the Birdhouse team. I mean, we always respected Tony and
everything but we never really skated with Willy, Klein or even Heath back then.
We kinda had our own group of friends that we hung out with. Growing up and
seeing companies like Girl and Chocolate start up, these small new companies
that were really cool, that was more of what we were into.
At the time, it was like this whole drugged-out, Piss Drunx
kinda-thing that we were representing. We didn’t want to be this clean-cut
company like Girl or Chocolate. We were doing our own thing and wanted our
company to represent that.
You, in particular,
seemed to make a pretty heavy transformation at this time from a hip-hop-flavored
deal with the bucket hats and everything to a more punk rock aesthetic on your
own mission… which was largely in direct opposition to the then-status quo of
skateboarding. I’ve always wondered if
there was a sort of “us against the world” vibe in the Piss Drunx gang during
this time? Did you guys feel like you were, in a sense, rebelling against how
“safe” skateboarding had started to become around this time?
I can see what you’re saying but we honestly never thought
anything like that at the time. That just didn’t cross our minds at all.
One thing that I’m most proud about with Baker is how honest
it’s always been and continues to be. That is just who we are. We’re not scared
to put stuff in our videos where we possibly look really stupid. I think that’s
what makes it better. If somebody looks goofy or somebody looks cool, we just
show it. But it’s not a thing that we
really think about. It’s just who we are. We got Jim looking crazy. He looks
like nobody else in skateboarding right now. Let’s show it off. But at the same
time, we still had Terry Kennedy in there. We still had Andre Nickatina in our
video.
But going from Fourstar and all that to the early days of
Baker, I think it just came from being around Ali Boulala more. Hanging out
with Jim and Punker Matt… along with the drinking and drugs. Stuff just gets
dirtier the more you get into that stuff. It just kinda happens. You care less
about clothes. But I feel like I’ve always been hip-hop though. No matter what,
I’m hip-hop, straight up. (laughs)
What happened between Baker and Bootleg to where it became so adversarial? It was always supposed to be two companies but once the split happened, you guys were going after each other in ads and things. What happened there?
As far as the ad thing goes, I would never do that. If
you’ve ever seen a Baker ad where I’m trying to call somebody out like that,
show it to me because I don’t do that sort of thing. I remember reading the
bottoms of these Bootleg ads with J trying to say all this shit towards us. He
was so mad.
What happened was J felt like he wanted more money. I guess
he could see that Baker was somewhat successful… even though having a
successful skateboard company is really nothing. You don’t make money off
decks, that’s just the way it is. But he saw that we were doing good and wanted
more. The people I talked to, who were also part of the business, saw what he
wanted as impossible. What he wanted as a Brand Manager, it just didn’t work
that way. So I took their advice.
The original idea was to start Bootleg alongside Baker out
of Blitz. Side by side, which makes sense. This is actually how we ended up
doing Baker and DeathWish. We get to support each other and earn money
together. This was the idea back then with Bootleg at the beginning but Blitz
didn’t want to do it with him. So he started shopping it around elsewhere and
ended up with NHS. It just became this thing where he was being paid to be a
Brand Manager at Baker while he was basically doing the same art and graphics
for a company he was doing out of NHS as well. It didn’t make any sense.
When DeathWish does good, we all do good because it’s all
under Baker Boys. Same thing with Baker, the whole distribution does good. That
makes sense. No offense to Santa Cruz
but if Creature starts doing really well for NHS, it doesn’t benefit me or our
family. So with Bootleg under NHS, it didn’t work. It became so much about
money and after a while, it was obvious that I couldn’t afford to keep doing it
that way. I had to let him go. That was the end of it.
Talk a little about the recruitment strategy for ams that Baker initially tried with all that super young talent. Was it possibly because you, Dustin and even Ali started out so young? So much of the responsibility falls on the rider but looking back, do you think you guys were in any position to really try managing young kids with all that was going on in your own lives?
There is no way that we were in any position to do that. We
could probably be in jail right now for some of the things we did with those
kids. Just by taking them on those trips with us back then, it could’ve been
really bad. But that’s the way it happened and you learn from that. But no, you
shouldn’t have a bunch of 12 or 14-year-old kids around all that drinking and
drugs.
As far as the decision to recruit all those younger kids, it
wasn’t really because of the way we started. It had more to do with just how
this thing works. You try to sponsor young guys that rip and hope they work
out. That you can build together. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
If you want to have cool riders, you’re going to try and
hook up a few good young ones that can grow with your company. If not, your
company is gonna be lame and it’s gonna go out of business.
Who is one person you
regret not putting on Baker in retrospect?
I did have the opportunity to put Ishod on Baker at one point.
I know, I know… that’s a bad one. I don’t know if it just wasn’t the right time
or we had too many young guys already but it didn’t work out for whatever
reason. He was getting boards there for a second and I do look back on that one
from time to time like, “Damn… that dude is so good.”
I probably blew it on that one but I strongly believe that
everything happens the ways it’s supposed to. He’s supposed to be on Real with
those guys.
What was the story
behind all the jokes on Chad
Fernandez? The prank calls about him getting on the team and the undercover
filming missions from the bushes?
With Chad,
we were all living in Huntington Beach
at the time and skating a lot together. We skated with Chad all the
time back then. He was riding for Creature and was definitely ripping. The
thing is, and I don’t know why this is, but you know how there’s always certain
people in a group that just seem to attract more shit from their friends? The
guy that, for whatever reason, people just love to pick on? That was Chad. We were
all friends and I’m still cool with Chad. But Knox, man… he was just
such a little punk. Especially to Chad. He just loved picking on that
guy. Always prank calling him and everything. It was kinda messed up.
I remember whenever we were editing that video and J had put
all that Chad Fernandez stuff in there… it was right there along with Jamie
Thomas’ sponsor-me video! I just remember watching it at J’s and knowing that
it was pretty fucked up to put it in there but it was just so funny. Not that
the sponsor-me video was even all that bad, it just looked like everybody
else’s first sponsor-me video, just kinda funny little kid stuff. But I knew
putting that stuff in there was both the right and wrong thing to do at the
same time. (laughs)
It was just so good. It’s exactly what a skate video should
be!
Classic shit.
But yeah, Jamie made us take it out. We ended up having to
cover it up because he was gonna sue us. It’s still funny though.
Another infamous
tale, what is your side of the events surrounding the Gershon Mosley
altercation?
Oh yes, of course. I’ll tell you exactly what happened.
I was on the verge of being blackout drunk. Totally loaded.
I was at some video premier in San
Diego and was just talking shit and being loud. I
think I was rapping, too… I don’t know what all I was doing. But Anthony Mosley
was with us, just hanging out and I kept on referring to him by his last name.
Mosley this, Mosley that.
I think that Gershon may have thought I was talking about
him when I was talking to a completely different person. But he came over and
basically stepped to me. Now I don’t start fights but when I used to drink, I
would get into it every now and then. I was loaded that night and said
something like, “Get the fuck outta my face!” or whatever. He just socked me.
To be honest, I probably deserved it because I was being
pretty shitty to him when he came over but my point was that I wasn’t even
talking to him at all for him to step to me like that. I was talking to my friend
Anthony Mosley. It was all a big misunderstanding.
But yeah, he punched me and I swirled around and whacked my
face on a bus bench, cracking me teeth. I remember picking up this metal
garbage can lid, trying to whack him with that. I was probably 10-feet away
(laughs). In my mind, I was gonna get him but in reality, I was falling all
over the place and I couldn’t even really see anybody. It was a mess. My
friends end up pulling me off and I woke up the next day bummed. Typical shit
that happens when I drink: get in a fight, crack my teeth… that’s why I don’t
drink because everytime I did, I’d end up in jail, on drugs, my teeth cracked
or something. Every single time. I could never really drink and have a good
time. It was always a mess.
But I saw him the next day at the tradeshow. I figured I’d
walk up to him and apologize because I was probably out of line. I’m the one
with the bloody mouth. So I go up to him and am just like, “Hey, man, I’m sorry
about that last night…” But I could see that he was literally beginning to
shake and his eyes were getting all red. He was about ready to attack me again!
“Ok, I’m outta here.” (laughs)
Crazy, man. So you’re
now over a decade deep as a company owner, what’s your biggest regret or lesson
learned?
Biggest regret I’d say is promoting drugs. I don’t do it and
I don’t put weed or alcohol in any ads, videos or on decks anymore. Nothing. No
more.
How do you wrestle
your own personal convictions within your company with that of the riders’? What
about those riders who aren’t on the wagon, like Dustin, for example? Baker
will always be the Piss Drunx to some degree, right?
Here’s what I have to say about that: if Nuge personally
says that he wants a bunch of pot leaves on his board, then I’m going to say
okay. If he brings it up to me personally that this is what he wants on his
board, that’s fine. It’s his model. If that’s somebody’s thing and is what they
want, then yes. Of course. I have to let my team have their freedom, even if it
does come at a cost to some of my personal views. They can have whatever they
want. I’m just saying that we’re not going to put it on there just because.
If people are partying, that’s up to them. That doesn’t
affect me. But I’m not trying to be some sneaky businessman where I’m putting
weed on everything just to make a dollar. If I can avoid it, I will. There’s a
fine line. I want my riders to be happy and feel like they ride for the coolest
company that exists, but at the same time, I just don’t want to promote that
stuff. For me, personally, I’m always talking about my sobriety and how I’m
against drinking and drugs as much as I can because I feel that’s my job. I
feel like I have to put that out there for people. But I can’t control what
other people do. I don’t want to.
We discussed your Made 2 part earlier and where your skating
is heading, is it possible we’d see a Heath-style retirement from you at some
point? Where do you see your career in 10 years?
That retirement thing was more of his personality. That’s
how he had to do it. I’m okay with being the old dude who skates. These video
parts have always been for my own personal satisfaction, so you can walk around
with your head up high. I’m happy with that.
You still see Huf around, doing his thing. He hangs and it’s cool. Tony’s still putting out amazing video parts. I’m
just gonna skate and try to make Baker cool. I don’t think there would be any
reason for me to have some retirement thing because I skate. That’s what I do.
I hope companies will still want to sponsor me when I’m 60. I want to stay in
skating, no matter what.
I’m just going to keep on skating as long as I can and push
my skating where I can. Skating for fun. Try to find a good new zone to tap
into that I haven’t before… something that doesn’t have to be jumping off 15s.
That sounds nice.
Thanks to Patrick O'Dell, Goldy and Andrew for taking the time.
R.I.P. Murray.
Thanks to Patrick O'Dell, Goldy and Andrew for taking the time.
R.I.P. Murray.
The Boss! Great Read!
ReplyDeleteReynolds is the best, it's amazing and inspiring to see him killing it to this day. I'm so glad to hear that part about never retiring because this is what he does, I wish all the "older" pros had that mentality.
ReplyDeleteShould've asked about Braydon or Jeff Lenoce though if Spanky can come back why can't they!
I'm pretty sure Jeff Lenoce and Braydon were the dudes who didn't take it to well. Being told that their boards were going to be discontinued from Baker.
DeleteAnd it sounds like they didn't do anything about if. Not like Spanky did. Spanky still tours and takes care of business.
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ReplyDeleteAwesome as always. Thank you agin. Best interviews in skateboarding ind.
ReplyDeleteSpanky is back on Baker: https://instagram.com/p/z-0Wm6G3sm/
ReplyDeleteI have 3 minutes of edited Reynolds footage never seen before from 1996-1997. Maybe they could use that for his Made 2 part
ReplyDelete"But I feel like I’ve always been hip-hop though. No matter what, I’m hip-hop, straight up."
ReplyDeleteBest quote!
So many funny stories. Gershon one was awesome.
RIP Murray cat.
Best Reynolds interview yet, although ive yet to read the SOTY one. Will we ever see it chops or is Thrasher playing hardball with it?
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an interview with him (its prbly on this site) where he talks about the advantages of being a tall skater and supposedly having more pop. at the time I was like 15 and had gone through a crazy growth spurt where I grew a foot in a year. I was having trouble adjusting to a higher center of gravity and my board control was shit. I was losing a lot of confidence until I read that interview, then i started learning how to use my legs to get higher and handle big drops and i felt reborn. To this day when I want to learn a new trick, I try to find a clip of drew doing it bc I figure that's the way a tall dude can get it done.
sounds like we'll never get to see that frontside flip over el Toro that everyone wanted him to do but his stair and gap jumping legacy is unrivaled. Can't wait to see how the rest of his career plays out, even though it'll be more low key.
Best Reynolds interview ever!
ReplyDeleteKeep these comin' chops you kill it! I would love to see a Javier Sarmiento interview if anyway possible.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview! Well done again, Chops.
ReplyDeletereynolds has such a unique style that he doesn't have to jump down big stuff for us to be entertained. i personally just wanna see him skating for as long as he can. there's really nothing that tops new reynolds footage.
ReplyDeleteSuch a rad interview! Thanks for actually taking the time and asking some more in-depth questions. Yes and in all honesty Reynolds style to me is just so good it doesn't matter weather he's jumping off of 15 stairs or not. take this part for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjSGA1L_dqY. This is one of my favorite parts of Reynolds because he's just cruising and having fun, not stressing over a part.
ReplyDeleteI love Reynolds...but you call Gershon a nigger, wtf you think he is going do?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know what's up with the Nick Cave connection... How'd that come about?
ReplyDeleteGreat interview!
ReplyDelete" PEOPLE JUST WANT TO SEE YOU SKATE"
ReplyDelete--This is a fact..
few years ago Rick Howard or MIke Carrol said
""It's NOT about us anymore, people want to see the gnarly kids skate"""
THAT'S BS!
-I don't care if it's sketch or the stair count is missing..i still want to see the dudes I grew up with skate..
--Rudy Johnson is a great example...back in late 90's or early 2000's when his skating all but vanished,,i remember havin gthis conversation with my friends about how bad we just wanna see Rudy do flar or ledge tricks or Manny pad etc... Nope..i know dude still skates cause his kid is a AM...
---We need more videos like Union wheels was back in the day..a video that has EVERYONE in it. regardless of what brand. esp in session form. no best trick, just session a ledge so mofo's can emulate and get stoked..
Awesome as always. Thank you again. Best interviews in skateboarding. I like you doing well every body knows when we played some time we injured badly that are real facts. so you know as well many company provide insurance but at the time of claim he can not return so those people are very depressed. for those we people we help them personalinjury claims.
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