Was there loyalty there for you or just free product? Oh, I liked those guys. I was super stoked be an am and go on trips and everything. I mean, I was still working a job the entire time, but in my mind, I was pursuing skateboarding. That is weird, because no offense to Eugene but San Francisco is a much larger market. Yeah, but after I moved to San Francisco, not only did more opportunities start to present themselves, I also started to get a better understanding of how the skateboard industry worked.
But it seems like you went a dark here for a bit, emerging sometime later on Habitat. What all was going with you at this time? I had a Thrasher part come out around this time, Rocket Science.
Part of which was old sponsor-me footage along with new stuff I filmed down there. That got some attention. And Trevor Prescott was making those kinda underground Seasons videos at the time as well, which I also had a part in.
And after a year or so, I was basically broke. It just so happened that my girlfriend was moving to Denver at the time, so I went out there with her for a few months. So I moved to Denver with the plan of just waiting it out to see what happened next. But I think that move is actually what kinda prompted Habitat to take me more seriously. And it was actually while I was out in Denver that they finally put me on the team. Brennan came out in early fall with Alex Olson, who was getting Alien stuff at the time, and we skated for a week or so.
I guess that was the deciding factor of whether or not I got on the team. So yeah, once I got on the team, we returned to the West Coast, ultimately coming back to SF for a while. Were there any other possible board sponsor options at this time, prior to Habitat? There was a moment where I contemplated riding for Popwar before I got on Habitat.
And because I knew some people there, it felt like a real possibility. I got a box or two from them but I feel like by that point, they were already starting to fall apart. How were you greeted by those dudes? I was definitely stereotyped as the new hippie kid, which I rejected and hated… probably because it was a little bit accurate. But those guys definitely teased me a lot. Almost like a big brother-type mentality, you know? They could definitely be assholes, but in a way where they were obviously trying to show you the ropes.
So yeah, it was hard, but I needed that. I mean, there were periods where I definitely felt harshed but there were also periods where I felt really accepted by them.
I love those dudes. What was a particularly harsh experience from back then that you laugh at now? It almost felt like whatever trip we were on determined if he liked me or not. Sometimes I was in on all his jokes and sometimes I was the brunt of all his jokes. It was weird. I remember going on one trip in particular where we were both catching the same connecting flight at an airport. Cool, dude. Danny and whoever else in there were just laughing at me.
It was definitely a wild bunch to travel with, for sure. They were the dirts, man. Tim was a good one, too, because he can be funny in the most asshole way possible. You were always the butt of his jokes… so whether he liked you or not, you were never sure. But at the same time, Tim could always find a way to make you feel okay about yourself from time-to-time. Sure, he could get wild but there was never any malicious intent there.
Aw man, I actually get this question a lot and I always feel a little guilty because I never want to throw him under the bus…. We were out skating this spot and Freddy was full-on trying to get this trick. So close. He gets his board and heads back up there for one more try. But he never ended up coming.
He just disappeared. He just left us there, waiting. But in total Freddy fashion, he ended up coming back after he was done and got the trick. He always finds a way, man. I love it. So how long were you on Habitat before filming for Inhabitants got underway?
Because the first few trips I went on initially were for a tradeshow promo loop thing. But it was pretty much after that where everything started going towards what would become Inhabitants. I know it came out in so I want to say we really started filming for it seriously towards the end of How serious did you take that project?
Or were you just seeing how it turned out? It was more just trying to figure out the ropes. I was living with Brennan in San Francisco, which in retrospect, really helped me out a lot because it took all the guesswork out of things. Because he knew what I could do, you know?
Sometimes I was into it, sometimes I hated it. But I definitely credit a lot of things, both in Inhabitants and throughout my career, to Brennan. That was never my goal. Especially with Inhabitants , I was just trying to earn my place on the team and show what I could do.
A lot of my motivations back then came from simply being excited to be out there, skating epic spots and getting better. Learning tricks. It was my first real taste of experiencing what it truly meant to be a sponsored skater. It was fucking amazing, man. In retrospect, it almost seems like your success with Inhabitants was more of a timing thing. After bubbling up for years, you finally had the proper backing with sponsors, and with living in San Francisco now, it all came together to create this incredible video part.
That sense of accomplishment you have with landing a trick on film. Now, I had the opportunity to do it all for real, skating all these famous spots around the world for this big video. That, and I had someone who was kinda focused on me, helping me get what I needed. It all just worked out. Were Cream and Hot Tuna your choices?
The Hot Tuna was my choice. Cream was Joe Castrucci. Was that something you planned on or more from just having a bunch of wallride clips at the end? Well, the one wallride spot was right by where I was living at the time, so we skated there a lot. So yeah, we got a lot of stuff there. I just had a lot of wallride clips so Joe put them all together into a cool little section. You definitely made the most of it. Did you know that spot prior or is that just where your mind went?
Honestly, that trick came from going down to Burnside. I thought it could be cool to get that at a street spot, you know? But yeah, that came from Burnside.
Makes sense. What about that front blunt to gap in Sacto? So gnarly. Yeah, that was scary. At the time, it definitely felt like I was reaching a bit with that one, like it was on the outer edge of my abilities. We did get it that day but it was definitely a battle. I was pretty shook, because I knew that I could easily get broke off on that thing. I still remember being so careful to get into blunt… every time, so careful.
Because I knew if I got into the blunt, I could bail safely. The last thing I wanted to do was get into a front board instead and get tossed backwards. That scared the shit out of me. It was a little tall for me, at the time. So yeah, I was pretty stoked to roll away from that one. People seem to always talk about how Inhabitants came out of nowhere… possibly because Fully Flared was still impending.
How did you feel about the project prior to its release? I was just putting one foot in front of the other, you know? But like you said, their last video was Mosaic , which I feel is one of the best videos ever. Combine that with Photosynthesis before that… I mean, everything they had done up to that point was absolutely incredible.
So I knew Joe was going to put together something great for this one, too. I was never worried about the quality of the video, I just honestly wanted people to like my part. But you come out with your first big part and everyone goes nuts over it.
Was Inhabitants difficult for you to deal with afterwards… almost like a monkey on your back? That had to seem like a difficult act to follow, right? Because in my mind, I was just some kid from Eugene out there skating, it was hard for me to process. I just thought I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. Looking back at all the other SOTYs that had come before me, they are all the most epic dudes I grew up watching.
I could never think of myself being in that same category. What am I going to do now? I have to live up to all this expectation. It took me a while to understand why I was the one they picked. It instantly solidified my career and established me in the industry, you know? That side of it was awesome, you just had to keep some perspective about the whole thing. Did you realize that you were in the running as it was all going down?
I feel like it just kinda happened. Brennan had been talking to Thrasher a lot, but he was the one involved in those conversations, not me. I was living in Santa Rosa by then and at some point, Burnett came out to shoot some photos with me.
I feel like that was when he came to check everything out, to meet me and go skate. But I just dismissed it as talk, figuring that he was only trying to hype shit up and make Habitat cooler.
How do you think all of these early accolades, establishing your career so quickly, has affected your overall outlook on the industry since? It was just such a positive thing, because the industry really seemed to open their arms to me after that. My name was now associated with this thing that people hold in esteem. There was a place for me now and I was super fortunate to earn that so quickly. Not that I had this type of perspective right way.
It did take me a little while to figure out what the fuck had just happened. Because up to that point, I was always so cautious in my outlook towards a career, thinking that there was no way it could last.
I could give myself a break. It was a very encouraging time. I got on Adidas right around this time, too. Things were going to be okay. I was suddenly in a place where I had a bit more flexibility, to where I could do things like move to Chicago. Yeah, I was going to ask about Chicago and what prompted such a move after all that had just happened? I imagine that had to raise some eyebrows with your sponsors, right? It was after the SOTY thing, maybe they knew that I needed some room to let things breathe a little bit?
Because I did. That was never our plan, either. My wife had gotten a job with Sears and we just wanted to go check it all out for a bit. We lived there for two years, which was good. Do you feel like living in all these different places has had much influence on your skating? I think so. Moving around like I have has allowed me to skate a lot of different things and just gain a different outlook on spots, in general.
Having a family has always been important to me and having an outside world, besides skateboarding, makes me happier as a person. We talked about your knack for trick selection earlier, but where does that inspiration typically come from? Sometimes a spot just happens to be set-up for a weird trick, so you give it a go… and work your ass off for the next two hours, trying to figure it out.
Because a lot of these tricks are just ideas. But you should always give it a couple tries, at the very least. Or those little brick borders on the westside? No way. That stuff is much more premeditated, because I have to let myself think about it for a while as I gather up enough courage to try it. That, or I have to be in the mood to go do something weird, you know? How did Perpetual Motion come about anyway?
And how did that differ from your previous Habitat projects? I remember being in Melbourne on an Adidas trip when Transworld hit me up about possibly doing a part for them.
But I came around to it. But the rest of it was me and Tristan Brillanceau-Lewis going out on our own to film around Portland. But that video definitely felt more like a solo mission in comparison to the Habitat ones. Inhabitants and Origin involved a lot of team trips to random different places. Perpetual Motion had things literally down the street from my house. It was much more personally motivated.
Did the inspiration come from that spot, specifically? That spot is actually in my neighborhood. This is back when my son was still pretty young and I actually found that spot while driving around, trying to get him to sleep. I was eleven when I started so that transition of going from elementary school to middle school. It was mostly from watching my brother and his friends and it also it was a fun little adventure tool to go around exploring and jumping off curbs and loading docks.
Backside Smith grind into the bank in Vancouver. Sem Rubio. My girlfriend wanted me to ask how much is Portland like the TV show Portlandia?
Laughs Not many people in Portland like that show. But I think there are a lot of accuracies in it. There are just a lot of over exaggerated people in their ways. Do you guys get your kids together? Yeah we do! In the winters we have all the parents come and we skate and the kids ride their bikes around and push around and stuff like that.
Good or a bad thing? It might change skateboarding a little bit. The bigger skateboarding gets the more it attracts people that are into sports and things like that, but I think skateboarding is still flexible and it can still be lots of different things.
I think the attention that the Olympics will bring to skateboarding will benefit all sides of skateboarding. All the outside attention brings in a lot of money and therefore it allows companies to do cool things. Yeah I think it will introduce a lot more kids to skateboarding and initially they will be attracted to the competition side of things, but eventually, as they grow older, they will get into the more creative side of things.
Anytime you deal with the Olympics or anything mainstream like that you get a lot of kookiness involved. I know Official does the distribution now. Have you noticed a change in anything? Not a whole lot. I think that the level of energy behind it is pretty cool. He wants to do more than just boards all the time. And all the guys at Official are psyched to have us and they wanted to do something bigger for a long time so they are excited about this step too.
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