chops sits down with jkjhnsn for closer #6.
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| photo: bowers |
Introduction by Chad Bowers
It was June 27th, 2007, and I was sitting at my desk in the windowless, sub-zero Workshop design department. Back then, we’d use AIM to send files to each other. And that morning, I got a file request from Castrucci or Strobeck asking me to download “jakejohnson.mp4”. I clicked accept and started downloading the 14.4 MB file. It’s worth noting that this was the first sponsor-me tape I had seen since taking over TM duties for the Workshop and it completely wiped the slate clean. The bar had been raised. I remember watching it over and over, then showing everyone at the office that morning.
I was scratching my head at the tre flip noseslide on the pyramid ledge, and the wallie tailslide at the banks over the NYPD barrier looked so fresh and innovative at the time. Tricks like that are commonplace now. It was only 1:18 seconds with no music and mostly his Chapman footage with a few other things that Strobeck had filmed , but just like they say, “You know it when you see it.” Even now, we’ll be in some parking lot in the middle of the country and I’ll see everyone stop skating to watch Jake. Nothing has really changed in the 15-plus years that I’ve known him. One of the most authentic and gracious people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.
=O =O =O
The power of mystique. I can’t recall anyone achieving such cult status as an amateur and keeping it going for so long. I mean, Rick Howard compared you to Julien in my previous interview, which is obviously high praise. But how do you react to being called “Your favorite’s favorite” and all that?
(laughs) Well, it’s cool for Rick to have said that, but this question sorta jumps into a lot. Because the truth is with every skateboarder, whether you have a career or not, it’s really the story of that person. It’s whatever they’re going through at the time, in addition to whatever challenges they’ve faced in the past. Because you’re always evolving, you know? You’re constantly changing and redefining yourself.
The “power of mystique” is funny because all I really know is my story. I’m 35 and just now starting to realize so much about myself. I came from a small town and looked up to my brothers and their friends who skated. They introduced me to their favorite skaters and the videos they’re familiar with, which I then interpreted through my own lens.
We all interpret things through our own experience, which can then manifest itself in different ways. Like, you can tell a lot about someone just by watching them skate. For whatever reason, the challenges you face in life get filtered through this passion for skateboarding and you begin to understand yourself in bigger ways through this one obsession. And for those of us who’ve been obsessed with it for longer periods of time, it essentially becomes how you move through life.
Skateboarding is how I express myself. I’m not the same person I was at 18 that I am now at 35, and that shows in my skating. It’s an evolution. I feel like I’ve had several different eras over the course of my career. Because we’ve all had those moments where, all of a sudden, you have some big realization about yourself. For me, that’s typically through a skateboarding lens, which then feeds into my skating going forward.
If anybody were to sit down and try to understand what a skateboarding career actually is, we’re all just trying to inspire one another. It really is an amazing opportunity we have. Because a video part is more than just tricks, it’s the traveling and engaging with the people you meet. The conversations you have. It’s having that understanding of someone you just met… or maybe even haven’t met yet. Because we all share this one singular identity and experience. These are the things that really push it forward, beyond the act itself.
It’s a complicated question but I do want to express how grateful I am to be on this journey.
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| photo: owens |
I feel like we’ve been able to pick up on your different eras over the years, but are you even aware of being seen as this elusive-type figure?
Yeah, I’m aware of the support I get... even though I really don’t produce that much footage. I’ve always been thankful for that. Most pursuits wouldn’t honor that the same way skateboarding does, so I’m pretty lucky there. (laughs)
It’s not that I’m trying to be this elusive figure. I’ve just always tried to be as truthful as possible with myself and my skating. The ups and downs. I’ve had to give myself some pretty hard looks with wherever my head was at over the years. It’s not that I didn’t want to be more productive at times, it’s just not always that easy.
I have to imagine this type of notoriety putting a lot of pressure on you.
Not so much anymore. The most challenging time came in the wake of Mind Field. Being part of such a large video, it all happened so fast. Because I was only 21. I went from simply trying to keep my head above water… figuring out how to survive on my own for the first time outside of my parents’ house while also trying to film for this big video at the same time. It was tough. But that gave rise to all these different opportunities as soon as the video came out and I don’t know if I was ready for that. Like I said, I come from a small town. I didn’t have a skateshop or too many older skaters to hang around with, especially after my brothers moved on. I didn’t really have a support system to help me make sense of things.
Everything was moving so quickly. The way it worked out, I’d just finished filming for Chapman when I was approached by Alien Workshop, who was already in the middle of making Mind Field. So I went from one thing to another over the course of five years.
Now that enough time has passed, I have a better understanding of things. Because I had this single-minded pursuit of my goals, I didn’t know that actually achieving them could lead to even more stress. You don’t really think about that at the time and I wasn’t quite prepared for it. It’s been something I’ve dealt with for a long time.
Have you seen the video of Mason Silva visiting of your Mind Field spots? Or Evan Smith’s switch frontside homage to your switch backside wallride in The GX Video?
Yeah, that stuff is cool, but I think all skaters do that. Skating Le Dome or Hubba Hideout, you’re always gonna think about what’s gone down there before. It’s the same thing. Sometimes it’s a little more aggressive in a “one-up” kinda way, but for the most part, I don’t think skaters typically subscribe to that “I’m gonna take you out just for the sake of doing it” way of thinking. That’s what makes skating different.
I think most of what we do is an homage to the past in some way.
Have you made homages in your clips?
Oh yeah, for sure… let me think.
The switchflip over Pappalardo’s bump-to-bar in Pablo comes to mind.
Yeah, that was a little Pappalardo homage… but also, it was probably the only bump-to-bar I could switch flip at the time. (laughs)
I don’t know if you make homages in your thirties. You’re basically just trying to get clips.
(laughs) What about Jake in his twenties?
Well, when I moved to New York in 2006, I saw the Eastern Exposure videos for the first time and became aware of Matt Reason. He’s been a huge influence on me. Having never seen those videos before, they quickly made me realize what I loved in skateboarding the whole time without fulling knowing it. Because I had favorite skaters and parts growing up… guys in California that I’d been watching my whole life. But once I saw Eastern Exposure, it resonated so much more with me in regard to spot choice and trick selection. The overall aesthetic. Because I could never quite relate to those perfect Cali spots as much. The stair jumping and giant handrails. I started to realize that my favorite clips were always the ones on weird and sketchy spots. The East Coast spots. That was a big moment for me to tie all that together in my mind.
I do a switch ride-on in Mind Field that Lennie Kirk had done there regular. Actually, I’m pretty sure Lennie and Jerry Fisher both did that one. And I learned switch wallrides after Matt Reason. He was my inspiration for learning a lot of tricks around that time.
The fakie heelflip down the Banks Nine was definitely a Pappalardo homage. He fakie flipped it… but that could also be considered a Matt Reason homage, too. He’s the first person I saw do a fakie heelflip that made me want to do them.
But yeah, I’ve definitely made a few homages over the years.
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| photo: o'meally |
Something that gets tossed around a lot with you is this idea of “Less is More” in coverage. But is that really what you’re doing?
Well, I’d never really been in front of the camera to film seriously until I was 18. And the first time I did was in New York for the Chapman video. I had all this pressure on me because I was sponsored and it was my only chance to get out of State College. So I went from having only filmed a couple casual clips with friends to being under this huge amount of stress every time I went skating. I don’t think that I ever really learned how to cope with that.
I grew up skating mostly by myself, obsessively learning tricks in my own little bubble. To take that and put me in front of a camera at these high pressure spots, I ended up developing a camera shyness that I’ve battled for years. And because of that, I developed some pretty bad filming habits, too. Like, I figured that if I was going to put myself through this process of getting clips, I might as well try the hardest trick I can think of because I’m already in hell.
Making the most of the misery.
Right. I started doing this thing where instead of chipping away at tricks in a logical way — starting slowly and working my way up, I’d only try tricks that were a little out of my league. Basically using all of that anxiety to force myself into committing to things. But it worked! Not all the time but enough! And that’s a slippery slope, you know? It wasn’t the smartest approach, but left to my own devices, it’s all I had.
I always felt like I had to compare myself to my peers, most of whom were far away in California. Guys who had been filming since they were kids, doing harder tricks than I’d ever done before. Because when I moved to New York at 18, I’d never even grinded a handrail before. There were a lot of things I’d never skated before because they just didn’t have those kinda spots where I’m from. So I had to catch up really fast and basically do it all on camera.
I also had a lot of pressure from my family. Because my move to New York was “all or nothing” for me. I lost my relationship with my parents for a while because they wanted me to go to college instead. I knew if I didn’t make it in skateboarding, I’d have to come back home with my tail between my legs, humiliated. It was a lot to keep bottled up inside as a young kid.
These days, I’m trying to look at how I film a little differently. Because that style of gathering footage has not been easy on my body. I have to go back and reset a lot of that mentality, especially if I want to be able to heal from these chronic injuries. I need to learn how to chip away at things slowly if I want to continue to do this.
We only see the glory of the makes, not everything else that goes into it.
I just didn’t have the talent to get that kinda stuff done back then... Not easily or consistently, anyway. I never developed that side of my skating to where I could handle being put on the spot and deal with the pressure.
But I feel like your footage in “Pablo” is a perfect example of this approach. Because there’s only a minute or so of footage, but it’s all insane. I mean, how does one even approach a nollie 180 switch wallride?
Oh, I’d been trying to film that trick for a long time. I remember trying it at a spot in Pittsburgh for Cinematographer Project back in 2011. It just became something I tried over the years, which became a bit of a process. Waiting for the right spot and the right conditions. I guess I could’ve been a little more pragmatic and practiced it in different places, but I try a lot of stuff like that. It’s just a lot of failures, I guess. But like you said, nobody sees that side of it.
The “less-is-more” thing, I guess I just couldn’t land all the stuff I wanted to. That’s all we got out of it.
What’s something that you wish you could do better in skating… besides filming?
(laughs) I’ve always wanted to be better at transition. That’s one thing I gotta continue chipping away at. Because it’s always been such a foreign world to me. There are times when I think that maybe I just don’t have the posture for it. Like that Ronnie Sandoval/Grant Taylor technique where you’re down low and one with the ramp? I’m still on top of it. But you can’t blame it on being tall because there are plenty of tall guys who look just as natural. It just takes a long time to develop that kind of balance, especially if you didn’t work on it when you’re younger, but it’s not impossible.
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| photo: chinner |
I’ve always loved your analogy of looking at video parts like books you’ve written. What are your thoughts on these smaller cameos versus full parts?
Well, full parts aren’t really team projects anymore. They can be, but it’s usually not the case these days. I’ve wanted to have a few more full-length parts by now, but it is what it is. And as far as the cameos, that’s just kinda how it happened.
The GX-era for me in San Francisco was a nice format to work in. It was a lot of street skating, but casual. We filmed a lot of warmup-type stuff but I was able to get a little more comfortable with filming, in general. And every once in a while, I’d try something “part worthy”. But the thing is, we were collecting footage as a unit. It wasn’t just going out by myself to try a trick for three hours and then going home. Not at all. I was going out with my friends and skating all day. We’d all film some things and one person might get something we saved. It actually felt more like a team than some of the team projects I’ve worked on.
But since moving back to State College in 2015, I’ve mostly been filming on trips. I haven’t had that type of working relationship with a filmer where I can go out at any time and film for a part. I did my best with Purple. We worked really hard on that one, but injuries got in the way. And in the end, I don’t think it quite added up to a “full” full part.
After that, I jumped right into “Right Here For Pablo” and that felt like it was gonna turn into something for me. I was gearing up to travel for the next year or two for that, but then the pandemic came. Everything kinda stopped right there for me. I know it made street skating a lot easier for the guys living in cities, but I was pretty isolated out in State College.
I just have to get more comfortable with the process. Traveling more as well as being a little more structured. Because I often have to return to spots multiple times in order to get stuff. That doesn’t always work on tour where you might only skate a spot once and never return.
What about your clips in “Lifeboat”? Wasn’t that all because of a wrong turn or something?
That was a kid I met while driving back to State College from New York. I had to get off the turnpike because I don’t think I had enough money to pay the toll. It just so happened to be the Reading exit where Holistic is, so I figured that I might as well stop by and check it out. It wasn’t like I was really planning on going there that day or anything.
But yeah, that kid was there and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about filming, so we went out and got a couple clips. That’s really all it was. And he made it into a little video. Just a spontaneous little encounter that got caught on film.
You talked earlier about your inexperience with filming prior to New York, but I’ve found self-filmed edits of you skating a box as a kid. And, of course, “Skate Omega”.
(laughs) The box edit was right when I got on Chapman but still living in State College. That was just the box I had as a kid, out in the driveway.
I got on Chapman in 2005 and graduated high school in 2006. But during that time, I got on flow for éS and bought a VX2100. I was also in film club at school, so I had access to editing programs. “Skate Omega” was a little joke edit I made with my friends. We did a few of those, just making fun of the whole thing.
The box edit was a little more serious. I got a tripod and sessioned my box for a couple of hours… basically wanting to show éS, like, “Hey, I’m skating!”
Who would you cite as influences on your skating and trick selection?
As skateboarders, I think we can all cite a ton of influences. And there are always those specific tricks that stand out in your mind. For me, my first favorite skater was Brandon Turner, largely because Fulfill the Dream was my first video. But I loved that he could switch tre flip and switch hardflip… the commitment he had in his skating. I liked him a lot. Steve Olson, too, and the looseness in his approach. Like the front blunt-big spin in the middle of that ledge? I’d only just started skating but I already knew that trick was insane. Not to mention all of the other stuff he did in that part.
Yeah, Olson was incredible.
So it really started there. And then Reynolds in The End shortly after that. That was a big one. Arto in Menikmati and how well-rounded his switch skating was. Because Arto was loose but also very precise, you know? He stomps things. He’s kinda heavy footed but also has a lot of board control. Switch stuff down bigger things but still making it look unique… I feel like Arto brought all that together for me.
Obviously, I love Guy Mariano in Mouse, but around that time is when Paul Rodriguez started having footage and I looked up to him a lot for his switch skating. PJ Ladd, too. I actually got to see PJ at Woodward one summer before his video came out. Seeing him skate in-person and then his part coming out a year or so later, that changed my life. Being able to witness how good he was and then for the video to show all of that and more? That was huge… And Chris Cole’s part in New Blood. That was a big one for me growing up, too.
There are a lot more but those are the early ones that essentially carried me all the way to New York. Obviously, Bobby Puleo had a big influence on me once I got there. Pappalardo. Danny Renaud in Mosaic.
Was your switch backtail in Cincinnati for Mind Field an homage to Renaud?
In a way, but I also think my getting a trick there was basically an homage to the Workshop, in general. Because that spot always had such a presence in their videos, I wanted to add to that. And that hubba is perfect, too. Nice and low.
Honestly, there was a bit of necessity there, too. That was probably the only hubba I could’ve switch backtailed at the time, it just worked out that it was the Alien hubba.
“I lost a lot of my tech tricks after moving to NYC.” How would you characterize your earlier style and what tricks do you want back?
I was kinda all over the place back in State College. Because you gotta think, I’m this little kid trying to emulate P-Rod, Chris Cole and PJ Ladd. It was all awesome, I just hadn’t left my town yet. I didn’t really know what was going on.
I used to be able to do frontside and backside 360 kickflips on flat. I could do those pretty good, actually. But honestly, I’d just be happy to get my nollie tre flips back proper again. But tricks come and go… and there were definitely a few that I really don’t need to get back. I had a couple of crazy ones back then that I really don’t need to be doing anymore. (laughs)
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| photo: mehring |
I read where if you could choose any skaters to skate with, it would be Matt Reason and Lennie Kirk?
Matt Reason, Lennie Kirk and Mike Maldonado. Those are the guys for me. When I lived in New York, I watched Mike Maldonado’s part in Welcome to Hell every day before going skating. And I always liked Lennie’s part because of the chaos in it. You can sense the impulsiveness in it all. I guess I related to that a little bit.
And you cited Matt Reason as inspiration for your wallride explorations…
Yeah, that was right around the time I started going to New York. I saw Eastern Exposure for the first time and immediately started trying wallrides once I got back to State College. There just happened to be a brick wall at this little flatground spot we had and I learned them there… so, of course, the next time I’m in New York, I want to wallie everything. Every barrier I saw. (laughs)
That was the first time I was able to skate through a city from point A to point B and hit every spot along the way, just like how those guys used to. I found my wallies and wallrides to be more consistent than a high ollie, so it became something I really started to maneuver with. It was a lot of fun, so it just made sense to start developing it more.
Back to the transition thing, I grew up with two ramps around my neighborhood. And like I said, my older brothers skated. My one older brother, Danny, actually used to skate those ramps all the time, but he always refused to let me come along. He didn’t like having his little brother on the session, so I’d have to stay at home and skate my box instead… I guess I’ve just always had this frustration with transition. Because I was never allowed to skate the ramp as a kid, so I never learned transition when I was young. Then I tried to learn it later on at Woodward and got smoked. After a while, I just didn’t have the patience to learn it whenever I finally had the opportunity. I was already onto ledge stuff and whatever technical stuff I wanted to learn instead.
When I learned how to wallride, I felt like that opened up my own way of getting vertical. It honestly felt more natural to me because it was sorta like hurdling over obstacles. Running right into them versus having to be more delicate like you do on transition. For whatever reason, wallies just made more sense to me and I embraced it.
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| photo: lecras |
Was Chapman your first sponsor?
Well, I had already visited New York a few times when I was younger, staying with friends that I’d met at Woodward. The summer before my senior year, I went out there for an entire month to skate and actually ended up staying for two months. That’s when I got on Chapman, just from skating around the city with my friends.
That summer was supposed to be my last hurrah, because I had already started applying to colleges. I was heading into my senior year and constantly breaking boards back in State College. Nobody was sponsoring me. I’d kinda made the decision that I would be moving on soon. Like, I remember having this moment where I thought to myself, “It’s cool, I’m gonna be alright without this.”
I started playing a lot of basketball and thinking about going to film school. It just so happened that my friends hit me up, like, “Come to New York this summer!”
“Alright, one last time.”
That’s when I really started skating the city for the first time… because we were always out on Long Island before. I started getting boards from Chapman and filmed some tricks. It just kept going from there.
And you went straight into filming for Short Ends?
Yeah, but I was only visiting New York every couple of months. I’d come home to work and save money, then go back and film for a week. That’s what I did for an entire year until I graduated and moved up there in 2006.
But filming for Chapman was a very slow process. Because we filmed for, like, a year and a half. That’s a long time for a small video. I remember everybody pulling their hair out, wondering why it was taking so long. I thought it came out good, though.
How was that project stressful for you?
It’s kind of a funny one because my friend Jeremy made it. He was trying to film it all on this one Panasonic camera so everything would look the same. And not only that, he wanted it to be a secret… because we were all young riders from out of state. We’d go on these missions where everyone would land tricks and he’d always be like, “You can’t tell anybody about this.”
We could never film with our friends or tell anybody what we did because he didn’t want the word getting out. So yeah, he was a little strict. I mean, we were all young. He was probably only 21 or so at the time, but we definitely butted heads. The whole process was like this weird hidden thing, which only added to the stress of everything. Because at some point, a few of the riders stopped telling me about their clips, so I stopped telling them. We all started hiding tricks from each other. It got a little weird.
That’s wild.
Looking back, it was still fun but not as fun as it could’ve been. Because we never got that experience of going to a spot and everybody getting tricks, now let’s all hang out and enjoy it. No, you went home, ate egg salad and didn’t tell anybody what you just did.
360 kickflip noseslide on Pyramid Ledges was sick, though.
(laughs) Thanks. That was a battle, for sure. It did not come easily, which is why I took the one where I rolled away all crappy. I didn’t even care.
What about the switch flip backtail ender at Temple?
That was another situation where I felt like that was the only rail I could do that trick on. So, it became this situation where we all went to Philly for this one trick. Because we brought Allen Ying with us. It became this whole ordeal where we’re gonna go down there and you have to do it. It was definitely a mission, which I’d never really done on that level before. And it was pretty nerve-racking. Driving 2-3 hours for one trick? The pressure was on and I didn’t want to waste everybody’s time.
That was kind of a big moment for me, actually.
Short Ends has a similar trick selection to Mind Field with a lot of the same spots, how do you compare the two?
Chapman was not only me trying to figure out how to skate and film, but also how to go about doing so in New York. Most days consisted of going down to skate the old LES park before work, working my shift at the hotel and getting off late, then riding my bike around after dark to find spots. Going over to Roosevelt Island. Just exploring the city and trying to figure out what all is out there. What can I skate in-between working full-time and everything else? But that’s really what set me up for going right into filming for Workshop.
Mind Field was different because I had all the time in the world. Strobeck was available at any time, where Jeremy was in school and also working for Chapman. Jeremy and I could only go out at certain times… but I had a lot of ideas. Many of the spots in Mind Field are ones that I’d looked at while filming for Chapman.
That was basically three years. So by the time I’m 20, I’m filming for Mind Field and all of that skating in the city had made an impact. I was better acclimated and knew how to go about doing whatever I wanted to do.
There’s also a little desperation with Mind Field. Because with Chapman, I had a back-up plan. I was working and paying rent. I could’ve done that for a while and been okay, while still trying to do the skateboarding thing on the side. But as soon as I got on Workshop, I had to quit my job so I could go on trips. I basically had to live for almost a year without any money. And I couldn’t have an apartment without a job, so I had to crash on people’s couches and depend on the generosity of others for a while. Selling Red Bull, boards and shoes just to get money. I say “desperation” because of my chaotic living situation combined with the anxiety of filming every day. That was my way of life at the time because I didn’t have anything else. I’d left all my possessions at my parents’ house. So yeah, I basically put all of that into my Mind Field part.
But I did develop more confidence through it all. Being able to push myself more and take bigger risks after proving myself in different situations. I got more comfortable in trying to go outside of the box with my skating. And I’d also started to travel with other Workshop riders, too. Being able to see their process made a big difference.
Could you have made Mind Field without Short Ends?
I don’t think so. I don’t think it would’ve worked.
Did Dill get you on Alien?
Dill was always in my corner, but he didn’t want me to make any decisions until after I filmed a little with Bill. He wanted to make sure that it all meshed. Because I was going to get on Stereo at one point. And I was getting some boards from Habitat, too. My first box from Joe actually had Workshop boards in it. But it was Dill who convinced me to film with Bill a few times, and when I did, Mehring came out, too. We got a few things early on that felt really good, and that’s when I decided to lean into the Workshop possibility. It just made more sense.
There’s the story where Dill challenged you with a first try nosegrind-nollie flip out at Thompkins in order to get on Alien. Any truth to that?
It wasn’t to get on Alien but that actually did happen! It was a crooked grind-nollie flip popover on a flat bar and I think I did it on the third try. He was gonna give me $100 or something… and when I did it, he still wouldn’t give me the money.
“No, I said first try.” (laughs)
I think that was the first time I ever met him.
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| photo: acosta |
But didn’t you only get two years for Mind Field while everyone else got five?
That sounds right. I started filming with Bill in summer of 2007. September, maybe? I can’t be sure but that’s about when I quit my job and went out to Cali for the first time to stay at the Workshop house. By spring, I was going on trips with the team and by fall of 2008, my part was done. So I really only had one year.
It was one of those situations where when I first got on, the video was supposed to be out in six months. They just kept pushing the deadline back. But yeah, when I first started talking to them, I remember them saying, “Well, we’re working on a video but it’s gonna be done soon.”
That was another thing, too. There were a couple of flow guys at the time, me being one of them. Mind Field was kinda like our trial period. Like, “See what you can do to film a part. If you can put something together, maybe we’ll put you on the team.”
Mehring recalls you being “super planned and focused” back then. What do you think he meant by that?
He’s probably talking about how I would take every opportunity to try and film something. Because I don’t know if things were always planned, but I was definitely super focused. I had a lot riding on that part and was always going back to spots to get the tricks I wanted. I was pretty uncompromising about tricks back then.
…Honestly, that might’ve stemmed from the Chapman years. Because I only had so much time to film back then, I needed to take advantage of every chance I could get. To take every opportunity seriously and really try to get something every time.
It just felt like everything was possible back then. There was so much stuff in New York to skate and I was constantly circling around all of these ideas. I felt like I had so many options, it just came down to whatever felt right at that moment.
I remember Zered and Eli Reed were also filming parts for Zoo York at that same time, so we got our own little group going. We’d meet up at Thompkins every day to check in on how everything was going before heading our separate ways to film, meeting up again at the end of the day. That was really cool. We had all of this momentum going, it just felt like the right time to make the most of it.
Were you making lists?
Oh yeah, a lot of lists back then.
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| photo: mehring |
What were your biggest battles in Mind Field?
Kickflip backlip on Blubba was probably the biggest one. I went back at least four times for that. And jumping down the Brooklyn Banks stairs. That was a battle, too.
Switch ollie over the rail to switch 50-50 took a long time. That was an ode to AVE, for sure. I started trying that one super early on but didn’t actually get it until almost deadline. It was seriously a whole year of hyping myself up to do it. I remember going there one time and I couldn’t even get myself to try it, I got so upset that Bill and I shaved my head… because I was so pissed off. Like, I’m angry so I’m gonna shave my head and be angry. That one drove me crazy.
And the switch back 50 line was a battle. I had to go back a couple times for that.
One of the only lines in the part.
One of two, I think. Lines definitely became a thing toward the end. As we got closer to deadline, I remember Greg saying, “Dude, you don’t have any lines. Forget about singles, work on getting some lines!”
So Bill and I went out every day for, like, a month to try and get lines. We ended up making that little manual pad and threw in a switch barrier wallie afterwards. That one was a struggle, too.
I also battled a couple that I landed but never rolled away from. Like, I tried a trick into the Courthouse but always got kicked out before I could get it.
What was it?
Fakie frontside flip. It was kind of an ode to Kalis where he ollied over the rail and ollied into the drop? I was 180ing over the rail and fakie frontside flipping into the drop. I think they put a clip of it in the credits. I stuck it but couldn’t get the drop.
You brought up that Blubba kickflip backlip earlier, didn’t you almost get that switch later on?
Yeah, I tried that for GX but ended up spraining my ankle and never went back.
Another Short Ends spot in Mind Field, the switchflip nosegrind on Pyramid Ledges?
Yeah, I’d just figured that trick out so it was fresh in my mind. Pyramid Ledges had recently been unknobbed, too, and that spot always holds a special place for me. It’s the first spot I ever got a trick on when I came to New York, so I was happy it worked out to where I could get a trick on it for Mind Field. It wasn’t easy, though. I had to battle that two or three times as well. Pyramid Ledges is always a battle.
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| photo: colen |
The 50-50 through that box on the rail always tripped me out. How’d you figure that one out?
That was another spot I found while filming for Chapman. My friend Luke tailslid the box and I got a backtail on it around that time, too. I don’t know how the grind came about... I just remember committing to one and it worked out. It was pretty spontaneous. Just push through the box and it basically becomes a drop-on grind after that. It lets you right onto the rail, you just gotta pretend there’s no transition.
What about that double-set wallride?
That actually wasn’t what I planned on doing there that day. I’d originally gone to switch backside flip the double-set, but after trying it for a while, I didn’t think I could do it. But since we were already there, I had to think of something else real quick, so I started putzing around with the wallride and it felt pretty good. We were in the final month of filming and I’d just jumped down this thing how many times? Might as well keep going because I’m already hurting.
But yeah, that one happened pretty quick. 10 or 20 tries that day… Maybe not even that. I just remember asking Bill, “Do you think this is possible?”
“I don’t know. Maybe?”
“Let’s try it.”
We turned the camera on and next thing I know… “Oh shit!”
One of those type of moments.
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| photo:mehring |
Incredible. And, of course, the switch backside wallride ender over the pole?
That was something I’d been thinking about for a while. Because I was spending a lot of time skating up in midtown by myself, looking at spots. That’s how I got the idea. It’s basically a perfect wallride over a pole. It did take a couple of times because I always got kicked out, but that was on my list, for sure.
Did you sit on any of the editing with Greg?
No.
And you didn’t choose Animal Collective, right?
No, that was sorta by default. Jason had been wanting to use that song for his part. I can’t remember if his part wasn’t long enough or if it didn’t quite fit, but he ended up using that other song and we used the original song for mine. I didn’t know who the band was or anything about them, but I liked the song and trusted Jason and Greg’s instincts.
Who had your favorite part in Mind Field?
Well, I really liked Omar’s part a lot, but I’d have to say AVE.
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| photo: mehring |
Beyond the filming stress we talked about earlier, I feel like your post-Mind Field period could be characterized as a moment of true breakout success plagued by multiple injuries. That had to be difficult.
Yeah, I didn’t really know what to expect when the video came out… and then everything changed. I started traveling a lot more with Gravis and Quicksilver, but at the same time, I could now afford an apartment. I was transitioning from basically having nothing to lose and everything to gain, to figuring out all of these opportunities. It was a lot. And you’re right, I had a lot of injuries right after that, too. I tore my PCL badly within that first year.
I did the best I could but those circumstances did slow me down a bit. And I didn’t really give myself the time and space to heal properly. Because once I started to get healthy, there was a lot of pressure to go pro. I had to jump right into Cinematographer Project, even though my leg and knee hadn’t fully healed. It became this thing, like, “Alright, it’s been a while. You gotta do it again and we’re gonna turn you pro this time.”
That was another jolt, but I had to embrace the momentum.
So how was Cinematographer for you?
It was tough. I was 24 and pushing through a PCL tear, femur and tibia breaks, and some chips. And I wasn’t even a year off that when I started filming for Cinematographer. I ended up forcing it, which was hard, but I got it done.
I did have some good momentum prior to the injury, but at the same time, I was still learning how to travel. Figuring out a routine and how to get tricks on the road with these big company trips. Coming from New York with this meticulous spot choices, I had to learn on trips that even if a spot doesn’t speak to you, you should still try something because that’s what you’re there for. I was probably a little too picky about stuff back then.
Yeah, but that kickflip front tail on the Bay Blocks is legendary. Was that pre-injury?
No, that was right at the end when I was starting to feel healthy again. About six months into filming. Late 2011.
That one took a really long time. I can’t even remember how times I went back for that but at least four or five times, for sure. Maybe more. Because coming off those injuries, I only had so much strength to try it and then I’d have to rest for a while.
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| photo: coulthard |
What’s the secret of the straight no-comply? Because I know you got inspired by Terps doing them around this time, right?
Yeah, Kevin and I had started traveling together and I’d see him doing them on Gravis trips. I’d always get excited and ask him how he did it, because I wanted to learn them, too.
But there are a couple things to no complies, actually. First is the way you pop off your front foot, because it’s not the way you normally would. You can’t think of it like an ollie, it’s more of a sidestep or a shimmy. You release the pressure off the front by gently sliding your foot off the edge… kinda like an impossible. And you want it to be flat, because the main thing is to absorb the board with the side of your leg without stopping the momentum. Like, instead of the board slapping your leg and bouncing off, you want to bring your leg back a little and catch it like a baseball glove so you can then direct it and level it out… with a subtle hip gyration. (laughs)
(laughs) But when did you realize that no complies, similar to your wallie stuff, could be developed more? Like no comply 5-0s?
I just like trying to develop tricks. Doing them in a more efficient way. Like, I’d rather take the time to learn something properly, you know? Because it took me years to learn no complies correctly, but once you get enough control, you start to see where they’re gonna go. That’s when you can really start developing tricks into other stuff.
Mike Rusczyk did a couple no comply 5-0s back in the day, but it wasn’t something I‘d seen very much of. I felt that there was still potential to bring no complies into the grinding world. (laughs)
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| photo: mehring |
Bit of a deep cut, what about that Nyack kickflip into the sketchy bank drop around this time?
I’d seen that when visiting Nyack earlier that year. You can actually see it from the bus coming in from New York City. That largely came about from Mehring being asked to shoot a cover for Skateboarder Magazine. He asked if I could think of anything and that spot came to mind because it would be an upright photo, so we went on a little mission that day. We didn’t get the cover, though. Chris Pfanner did a kickflip off a high roof into a bank that they used instead.
But yeah, that Nyack spot was really sketchy. It’s all downhill. As soon as you drop your board, you’re going faster than you want. And then you’re going over the rail into this crazy bank. It’s just one of those weird spots where if you do one little thing wrong, it can be really bad.
Did you know Alien was going under or did you find out on Instagram like everybody else?
I got a phone call from Carter about it. And from Chad, who was our team manager and main contact at the time.
We could sorta see it coming with how many times it got bought and sold. That whole thing. I really wasn’t involved in that side of it, we were all just trying to rally together as a team and keep it going. But that was a very dynamic time in the industry. A lot of things were changing in skateboarding back then.
But weren’t you were already having issues with them? I know you were bummed on the HD.
I was just having issues with myself, in general. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to be. I was skating a lot with the GX guys in San Francisco at this time… not as an industry-type thing, I was just having fun with my friends. Honestly, I was just taking a break from everything I’d gone through over those last few years. The pressure of filming video parts and traveling. And like I said, it was a dynamic time. I think everybody was trying to figure out what was next. I wasn’t on Quiksilver anymore and Gravis was about to go out of business. I didn’t want to jump right into anything, so I took some time and experimented with my own lifestyle and skating, in a sense.
At this point, I do think that my skating took a backseat for the first time in my life to just… living. I had a girlfriend, who was sorta my inspiration for living in the van. Alternative lifestyle stuff, like massage therapy and herbalism. Finding myself in SF, I just decided to focus on whatever new ideas were in front of me and see what came of it.
We all take different turns in life but this was a nice place for me at that time. And my skating developed as such, through that. Bouncing all over.
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| photo: allan |
Jumping into the rumor mill here for a sec, was FA ever an option for you?
I don’t remember having any talks with anyone from FA.
917?
Yeah, Alex and I did have a conversation at one point about a brand.
Was it 917 or possibly that thing with Dylan?
We didn’t get that far. He was just talking about starting something up and wanted to invite me into that conversation. It may have been prior to 3D… I think it was.
Yeah, I went to go skate with Pontus when I got on Converse in 2014 because I was stoked on what Polar was doing. Bringing more of an international presence into the American scene. I was definitely repping Polar stuff for a minute and hyping it up. Through Converse, I went to go meet him and we did talk about it. We made that little Converse video together, which was cool. But yes, riding for Polar was definitely something I considered, yes.
Well, everyone at Deluxe was always very generous while I was living in San Franciso for that time. Helping me out with whatever I needed, which was nice. Because I was riding Krooked boards for pretty much that entire time. And I do remember going in there a couple of times to talk to those guys. I went on a trip with the team, too. I was thinking about it, for sure, I just wasn’t sure if I was going to stay in SF or not. Like I said, I was enjoying not having to make decisions at the time.
I didn’t have the most mature attitude towards getting back in the industry back then. I was too happy being off, not having to worry about stuff.
So how did Mother come together?
It was just this project Chad really started putting his mind to after Workshop went under. He’d already learned so much from working there over the years, not only design but how to manage a company. It’s actually a family endeavor with him and his wife and her family. But he just willed it into existence. Every time we talked over the course of that year in-between Alien and Mother, he just seemed so focused and passionate about it.
I remember there being a moment in 2015 after the dust had settled, Gilbert, Omar, Tyler and I all had to make the decision of whether to go back on Workshop, try this thing with Chad or possibly do something else.
I can’t speak for the others but I definitely wanted to follow what Chad was doing. It was something new and I liked that he was doing it all with no guarantees from anyone about anything. He just wanted to do it. Chad is a good friend and has always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, however I wanted to do it. We’ve always had a great relationship, whereas the Workshop was never as personal. Having it fallout the way that it did, without any real understanding of why it happened. Never getting any real type of answers from the owners… and now they’re hitting us up to start all over again? It didn’t really make sense to me.
I wanted to help Chad with this new idea. To see what all he could do with it and trust in the process. Because he was going to make it work, no matter what.
You mentioned earlier how moving to New York affected your relationship with your parents, how’d Catherine react to your first Mother graphic?
I think she was surprised. Like any mom, she’s super humble and just happy that her kids are alive and healthy. I just remember her saying. “Oh, that’s sweet! That’s me back in high school!”
She came to the premiere of that first Mother video, too. I feel like anything I do to incorporate her more into my life, she’s appreciative of. And I moved back to State College shortly after that and began rebuilding my relationship with my parents. Because the board is just a board, what’s most important is what it symbolizes. Having a relationship with them.
How did your Static 4 part come about? Were you out filming with Josh?
No, Ryan Garshell from GX is also from Florida and had known Josh for a long time. He actually helped Josh film MIA and a few others.
Basically how that went down is Ryan and I had a bunch of footage that we didn’t really know what to do with. Ryan hadn’t started working on his own thing yet, so we just decided to contribute that to Static. It seemed like a cool thing to do and a great place for the footage. Because we all looked up to Josh and always tried to emulate his filming back then, especially during that early GX-era.
So that wasn’t really a project, you were just skating.
Yeah, I just had footage. Probably the only time where I’ve ever had footage like that and could just turn it into a part.
There might’ve been an option to make it a solo part, but I wanted to include it in a full-length project instead. A lot of my friends were gonna be in Static and I wanted to be a part of that, too, if I could.
Had you ever seen that Montreal wallride spot before?
No, not until we got there. I think they showed it to us on the very first day, like, “You gotta see this thing!”
At the time, whenever I would travel with GX, it was nothing but skating. We would literally show up and look at every possible spot we could. Scan the whole city for everything, every day. That was it. And that area was just another thing for us to see.
But we were having a really good trip, building up momentum the entire time. During the last few days, I ended up getting that long 50-50 on the rail, which was also at that museum. I did that the day before. And with all the momentum we had going, I guess I just always had that spot in the back of my mind.
“Alright, fuck it. I might as well try that one tomorrow.”
Because I think that was supposed to be my last day there. Everything was going so good, I just gave it a shot and it worked out, you know? Just one of those trips.
How many tries was that?
Three.
Did you change your wheels or anything? Because the seams in that thing are enormous.
No, I didn’t change anything. I know people used to skate the bottom set. Back then, you could ride down from the middle and just do the bottom stairs, but I don’t think I ever did that. I figured that I could probably get away with it from the top, so I just went for it. Definitely a throw caution-to-the-wind type of moment.
Amazing. But I honestly think people kinda sleep on your Clipper frontside slappy in there.
That’s a funny one because I was really scared to do that trick. Like, really scared. I hadn’t been jumping on too much big stuff at the time. I was just sorta chilling out there in SF, so to be able to put that one down felt really good.
Did you get smoked?
Thankfully no, but I did have some close calls. I got it on my second time there. I had tried it a few weeks before, but that first attempt was always so scary to get out of the way. Both days, it took me a minute. I remember the first day, I just kept 50ing it. Over and over again. I couldn’t get myself to go for the wallie part. To commit and put my wheels on the wall.
The best part was Wes Kramer being there the second day. He was trying to hype me up so he wallie 50’d it backside first try. Then he wallie bluntslid it, also first try. He’s like, “Alright, dude! You got it!”
I hadn’t even tried to 50-50 it that day. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “That didn’t really help!” (laughs)
(laughs) “Thanks a lot, Wes!”
Right? “Yeah, Wes. Looks like YOU got it.” (laughs)
Nah, I was super hyped to have him doing that. And it must’ve helped because I did end up going for it. Sort of a weird one because the one I landed, I only put two wheels on the wall. Most of the other attempts had more wheels on the wall but I took that one. I guess it might’ve looked a little weird on film, I don’t know… but it was cool to get an NBD on Clipper.
That clip was sort of my culmination in San Francisco. I was learning a lot of weird little tricks back then. Learning to wallie into grinds like that was just something that kinda happened. Like I said, I wasn’t trying to do anything specific out there with my skating. It was just a free space to experiment. I guess that’s just where I naturally went at the time.
How did your association with Ryan and GX begin?
Well, when I was just starting to skate again after my PCL, I went on a Bones trip to Miami. My friend put me in touch with Ryan to film and we got along really well. I was still very much recovering, just starting to do tricks again. But we ended up filming a trick together and it felt so good that I decided to stay down there and keep skating with this guy. That was 2011.
I started going to SF shortly after that and staying at Ryan’s house. We filmed a lot of Cinematographer there, then we all went down to LA for the premiere and I went pro. And after that, I started planning a tour of all these small towns.
Exactly. It ended up being Ryan and the gang, but it wasn’t “GX” until after that tour. Ryan came up with the name and the concept. But that’s basically when it started. We made a bunch of little edits for Slap, which then got picked up by Thrasher. When we got back to SF, it definitely seemed to be working, so we kept it going.
Skating around SF with those dudes, did you get into bombing hills, too?
Yeah, I bombed a couple… but I’ll be honest, I almost got taken out. This one time, I was bombing a pretty big hill that I thought had a stop sign at the bottom, so I didn’t look. Like I said, it was a pretty gnarly hill, so I went right through. I look over and there’s a car coming right at me really fast, like 40 mph or so. I was able to dodge but it was probably within a couple feet of hitting me. That’s when I came to the realization that this is not something I wish to continue doing. (laughs)
I made it through okay, but it was really scary. So yeah, I’ll still go down hills, but I powerslide a lot. I can’t go as fast as the other guys.
One of my all-time favorite flicks, what was your process with that no comply Thrasher cover?
That was toward the end of my first trip to Barcelona, which was like heaven on Earth. Being in Barcelona with my friends, working towards a project with all this support from Converse? It just felt really good. Because we all had the same sorta mindset and similar approaches to skating. Never taking it too seriously but still handling shit. And it was another one of those trips where the momentum just kept building, so by the last few days, it was time to really go out and get all we can.
I remember trying that one for a long time. A long, long time. And a lot of them just looked like nothing. A lot of weird air foot. Just bailing and bailing… because that bump is so uneven. The speed you gotta go at and the way you pop off of it, I never quite knew how to get up to it. But at least you don’t have to run and throw down. You get those nice, easy pumps so you can stay warm without using too much energy and can try it for longer.
But yeah, I think that was the second time I went for it and, again, that was our last day there.
Did you have that idea going over there?
Yeah, I’d been looking for a bump-to-bar to no comply for that entire era. And I tried it on a lot of them. Turned out that I couldn’t get it on any of the other ones, but it worked on that one. Fortunately, Dan Z. was there to shoot the photo and it was a big surprise for me to see it on the cover. I was hyped.
How did Purple fall into this? Because everything after Alien seems like you were just skating, where Purple must’ve been more of a “project”, right?
Yeah, Purple was really big. Lots of international trips with large groups of skaters. And a lot of pressure. But it was an amazing time, for sure. Traveling with all those guys and seeing so many cool parts of the world was awesome.
It was definitely a time of transition. The first GX video had just come out and everybody who rode for Converse now had to go off and do this. I think we were all trying to figure things out. I moved back to New York for a bit and then State College. Ryan started working in HD and began contributing to Purple, too, which we had to figure out but ended up working well. A lot of things were changing but it was cool.
Like I said, I had a few injuries at the time so filming was a little difficult. A lot of clips ended up coming from contributing filmers, because I’d also been trying to film for Quasi and a few other things. We basically had to take the footage from all of those different places to create my part.
Are you happy with how it came out?
I am. I tried really hard, even though I kept getting hurt. I broke two of my toes twice. Small breaks, but one of them had me out for four months and the other ones for a month each. For a video that was filmed over the course of one year, I was out for eight months. I didn’t really have a lot of time to film and it shows, but I like it. I liked working with Ben Chadourne and going to France a lot. It was cool.
Who chose the song?
I think Ben did. I don’t know where that came from, to be honest.
The frontside 180 to switch back 50, that’s in State College, right?
Yeah, right down the street from my house in Bellefonte.
How’d you come up with that idea?
I was watching a lot of Wade Speyer parts at the time. He used to do that trick on transition a lot. Danny Barley, too. I always liked seeing that alley-oop kinda trick. It wasn’t my first idea but 180ing over that bar felt easier than straight ollieing because it was so close to the bump. You had the wall, too, so if you didn’t lock-in right, you could just kick the wall and save yourself. That was kind of my fail-safe. So yeah, it just worked out.
You’ve been quoted as saying “skateboarding is too formulaic”. Is that what you’ve been largely reacting to all this time?
I’ve just always tried to connect the dots that aren’t typically connected. Trying to look across different categories and think in a nonlinear way. I mean, everything is formulaic in its own way, but I’ve tried to embrace the creative side of both life and skateboarding, incorporating all of those inspirations the best I can. That’s always been my approach. Sometimes, it’s what your body is capable of, and sometimes, it’s what you can envision. And sometimes, it’s just the spot. Finding something that speaks to you and that you can interpret in your own way.
What I love most about skating is that it forces you to see things. It takes you to these places that you normally wouldn’t go to in hopes of finding something that inspires you. I mean, to go out and constantly feel like you’re gonna across something that forces you into action? And in such a creative way? That’s a powerful thing.
I’m a nerd about this stuff. I watch a lot of old footage because I like the way people move, the different styles I’ve seen. Different ways to move the board around. I just want to try something that I’ve never done before. Not falling into that formula of doing the same old stuff.
It brings to mind your wallie ender for Purple. A unique interpretation of a spot hiding in plain sight.
Right? That spot has just been sitting there, waiting. But if you can see it and figure out how, maybe you can make something happen? Because Ryan just lives around the corner. I’d see it a lot and always look at it. One day, I finally got around to trying it.
That’s one of the cool things about skating, too… the brain is always working. We’re constantly reviewing styles and programming things into our heads. Like, you can envision things as a way of learning, which is pretty cool. Because part of your brain doesn’t know that you’re not actually trying something. You can just think about it, envision it, and then it really happens sometimes.
Thanks so much for doing this, Jake. What’s next for you?
Just trying to get healthy, to be honest. Not too worried about the specifics of “what’s next” at the moment. Just trying to build better habits as I figure out what all I’m physically capable of. And it’s getting there. I’m good. I’m starting to get back out there now. So yeah, just trying to enjoy it.
We’re working on building a skatepark in State College next year and I’ve been helping out with that. That’s been a lot of fun. But as far as what’s next for me, I’m just trying to get back in the van and put my head around the process again. Get in front of the camera as much as possible and not worry too much about what’s next. It’s an exciting time. Because you never know what you’re capable of… you’re always trying to figure out what that is. Just give it what you can. That’s where my head is at right now.
