From Homeless to Pro-Skater: Chad Muska | Epicly Later'd

five star spinner this is speaking how may I help you Mr Muska uh how you doing today sir terrific how are you right I'm pretty good pretty good it's uh cruising AZ you know yep little vacation out here oh let's go down you know any good handrails there hey I have no idea you haven't been there yet no no no I've never been there all right man you ever skateboard nope you're never never oh man guess what foreign [Music] came on and it was like who is that guy like with the Boombox but his skill set backed it up he had his own style and it resonated [Music] from the age of like seven or eight just skateboarding was my life and as a white dude who only listened to hip-hop music and wanted to be cool he seemed to have it down the best of anybody he said whatever he wanted he did whatever he wanted and he didn't give a like what's there not to love [Music] I'll do his energy the way he dressed it was like the modern day Christian of sewing basically Moscow was just bigger than skating when you do something in skateboarding and you see all these other kids copy it that says something about you and your skating literally the one dude who went totally Hollywood [Music] and you don't have a lot of responsibility and making a good amount of money it's easy to think like uh this isn't going to catch up to me then it does the musket documentary hey welcome back to epically later we're here in Hollywood California and we're about to meet up with Chad Muska I would say Chad is probably the most requested episode that I get that I see on my Instagram or whatever people are always like where's the Chad musk episode he had such a wild career from Toy Machine to shorties Supra all kinds of stuff crazy fashion Boombox Cadillac muscle Aid and now he's doing artwork he's a pretty sick guy I've always been a big fan and so anyway I'm excited to interview him learn about him ask him about Paris Hilton and I don't know but um so anyway I hope you enjoy it Chad musk episode who's hungry who's the hungriest Max don't even know he's about to eat uh this is their lunchtime snack they get eggs for lunch but they get uh organic chicken rice sweet potatoes green beans peas spinach and carrots and salmon for breakfast and lunch and dinner but they get eggs for lunch not for breakfast scrambled can you start from the beginning and tell me how you got into skating so my first introduction to skateboarding was in Phoenix Arizona my dad was into uh Harley's he was a biker you know and had all his biker friends and they got together and caused Ruckus around town and I always like felt like skateboarding was like that like I was like that's just like my dad and his homies like you know but instead of riding down the street in the Harleys revving your engines we were skating down the street and scratching our tails and you know making noise both my parents had gone through addiction and you know we didn't have a lot of money I was kind of like uh confused kid from what I gathered he grew up like with not much type of situation like I don't even know just like had nothing and just was like trying to come up you know what I mean I ended up back in a trailer park with my mom I had got busted for graffiti for like my third time and they were really gonna like lay it down on me basically and so I had like possible juvie time and all this stuff I was like this isn't it like this isn't where I'm supposed to be and I knew it [Music] I knew these two girls that were going to San Diego and I basically caught a ride with them I left without dealing with my charges and got dropped off in Mission Beach you're a fugitive then I guess they dropped charges I hope they do in California this is where it began when I first got into town San Diego definitely was the mecca like you'd show up and there'd be like Jamie Thomas and Donger and if you wanted to make it as a pro skater at that time that's where you you had to go foreign [Music] memories man a lot of memories we used to party on this beach that was about a year of never knowing where I was going to sleep and you know sleeping on the beach when I had to or with random tourists that came through or whatever it was it was a different scenario kind of every night at that time my homie George is coming there's like all the skaters that were here and then there was like the beach like locals that would like kind of run the scene over here hopefully they're not too crazy though I did yeah the way that it happened and him being here and people were like where did this kid come from it was dirty white trash like looked like he listened to Slipknot tagger kid what a up muskrat tail [Music] I hung out with him for like a good eight months and just liked him because he just talked non-stop and I just I'm like dude if he can stay half as good as he can talk he's gonna be the best skateboarder ever sure enough ended up being even better than that foreign [Music] specific smell I remember this and then there was like one little bump right here and we used to like let's do tricks into the street this was the Zone back in the day and we would just skate all day and uh sit on this beach wall right here pretty much we lived right here and this was my home take a shower at the Stalls right over there that's where that's where I took showers was right there this is what we do we just kind of sit here and just watch people go by my priorities were to wake up find enough money to get some food get a little money for some weed a little money for a 40 and hopefully run into a girl Simple Times man did you sleep out here if I ever slept here I'd go to the Bay over here I could show you where it's at across the street yeah let's go over there definitely this was our like right here was a was a total chills pass out here on the grass but then there's like the bay over there where the sand is too and that was that was a little spot where nobody ever used to mess with us when you were sleeping out here where you like this sucks my life sucks or were you like this is awesome like now I feel like I thought it sucked yeah I didn't want to be sleeping outside I remember sleeping bag or just out we would have sometimes I would have like a I had a backpack and I'd have like a I had a blanket I'm pretty sure in the in the backpack or like a a big beach towel I think I had spent a lot of time just thinking laying here and just thinking all right thinking about what I didn't know what I wasn't really thinking like that I wanted to try to pursue it like anything major at that time I just wanted to like have a house I guess have somewhere to sleep yeah it's gonna see a trip coming back here but yeah whatever else I've done in my life wouldn't be special without these times got a little emotional dude yeah oh man it's been a lot oh long ride oh man these These Feelings the emotions I'm having right this second are just like great you know what I mean like it's like my eyes are watering but like it's because of so much like so much like so much bad happened here so much great happen here so much like so many stories but uh yeah what up tree we're gonna touch this tree yeah still going my buddy oh there it is my favorite girlfriend I'm here now look here oh okay so I met Chad in 95. I started seeing him around PB and Mission Beach and stuff I was really into filming and I kind of grew up being into filming so I would film whoever was ripping it didn't matter who they rode for or whatever I just wanted to be a part of it and be around rad skating Chad was ripping like all the time like always focused always had a trick idea you wanted to do he was always super motivated so I started just filming him here and there we started skating together and he had the connection to all the photographers and video cameras and stuff like that I was still building the toy machine team and we were starting to film for Welcome to Hell and I was like if you want to be a part of this thing I could talk to Ed and he was like for real yeah like let's do it you know when Jamie got onto my machine he's the one who shaped up the team a little bit and I just saw that he was like fully into doing a video and said go for it Ed Templeton started Toy Machine it was completely his company and I love Ed and I look up to him and he's like such a mentor of mine and Jamie just the idea of being on a team with those guys I was like yeah of course 100 let's do this everything went from there in the 90s Chad Muska Toy Machine Jamie Thomas big rails all that was coming together as like this new type of skateboarding man and seeing the stuff Chad was doing in the magazines I was like dude I can't wait for this Toy Machine video to come out to see the footage of this stuff [Music] so we started filming Welcome to Hell and things started to get tense at that time things were like okay like we gotta make a badass video right here we wanted to shock the skateboard industry [Music] I don't think either one of us intended for it to get competitive it just kind of naturally did because we were both so hungry I was like I'm gonna take Jamie out I know I can do it because I felt like he already kind of was having his shine and I was like it's my time you know and it wasn't nothing personal against him because I was 100 grateful for everything he did for me and was doing but I wanted what he had too we all knew how hard everyone was working like Jamie was getting gnarly Chad was getting gnarly [Music] it was the gnarliest video of all time [Music] we were both stacking footage and it was happening and it was all coming together but Chad had a few injuries during that filming period here they put their heart and soul and Blood Sweat and Tears into it and then like you can't film anymore and somebody else on the team is out absolutely killing it Non-Stop you know it was like way pretty heavy on you well usually in skateboarding if you have the last video apart that means you got the best part and I wanted to have the best part and I knew I could do it and so the fact that I was injured and that was the reason why I couldn't do it really didn't sit well with me you know I was like Jamie you got the part [Applause] the fact that I was potentially stealing you know some of the Limelight it seemed like our friction kind of grew as we got closer and closer to the release of the video I'd already kind of come to an acceptance that you know I I'd been hurt and I wasn't getting the last part but I was still happy with the video and proud to be part of that team and going into the premiere it was like a big time for me because I felt like a lot of the hard work that I've been putting into skateboarding everything was going to start to come back through this video um and it was sort of a a milestone or something to like showcase what all that hard work was the situation where the premiere was we're putting the last title in the video and then we were going to Output it to tape you know we had hours until the premiere I remember being out front somebody got me a bottle of gold slagger and I was like pounding it all of a sudden everybody's like what the heck like what's going on like where's the video where's the video we're all standing around worried like where's the tape where's the tape when we put Alyssa's title in it crashed the computer and then the program wouldn't open back up I shoved to the front of the theater and it's just a mad house there's dudes hammered there's like people fighting it's just like Mayhem they call the video's not done it's not coming I remember thinking they were joking dad was really drunk by that time Chad comes walking up to me like you running a company you ruined my night this is my naive I couldn't comprehend in that drunken state of mind that the video was not going to show up that night and we weren't going to have this Premiere because that was impossible that couldn't be what was going to happen that night you know he's raging right in my face you know like you know screaming at me spitting on me basically like ah you know I'm like my pride kicks in too I'm just like oh you can't do this to me in front of in public like this like it's not cool but Chad was young he was probably he was probably only 17 and to be 17 and have that much like hype around you is gnarly like I don't know that there's been that many people in that position and then you throw you know like an abundance of alcohol in the situation and you got a 17 year old like all sorts of can happen we're lucky all it was was an argument in front of a premiere I remember I woke up the next day and I was really hungover and I was like what happened last night and then I think Ed called me and he was like you're you're kicked off the team and I was like whoa like what like I'm kicked off Toy Machine I was so bummed I was just like I couldn't believe it I talked a lot of and I paid the price [Music] toy machine was a major step in my life but you know just one little thing could be set off wrong in our industry and you're done your career is over a lot of kids don't understand that and think about it after I got kicked off toy machine that reality kind of kicked me in the ass I had this empty feeling like well I did it came Pro I skated for a rad company but now it's over I knew there was tension between Chad and I we were like not even really talking that much at this time and welcome to hell it was just like overnight it was just like exploding so there's all this hype for this Welcome to Hell video and then Chad ends up going different ways that footage never comes out I felt real sad that like I wasn't in welcome to hell because it's like such a Major Impact in skateboarding and a representation of an error that's when I was like well I'm just gonna have to do it on my own then you know there was this company in Santa Barbara called Shorty's Tony bulos started I think there was only like a couple bulk companies at the time and it was huge and Tony wanted to start a board company Chad had just had a falling out with toy machine was a free agent and I think Tony saw an opportunity to like let's grab Muska make this his thing Chad I just believed in him like when you spoke to me and we had these talks I was like we can do this like for sure and he offered me a lot of money I think a lot of these dudes are struggling man you know that's the life of a skateboarder in your 20s once shorty started Chad had some cash remember he bought like a nice Honda Accord went got some tats bought some new clothes but beyond just the money he also told me that you can build the whole team and do whatever you want to do and I was like okay I saw a vision Steve Olson Brandon Turner Peter smallick these guys were virtually unknown and they were better than everybody he hit me up and he was like you down and I was like yeah it was like a dream come true to me you know what I mean I always looked up to him and I couldn't believe it you know Brandon actually got on shorties I was like oh sick at that point I was like whatever I'm about to either Escape for zero or shorties and then I'd just fit in better with shorties and I mean it was definitely a lot more heavily hip-hop influenced brand you know so it was really like I think based around a culture that like identified with represent represent Chad was Unstoppable [Music] he just produced footage [Music] [Applause] so a normal Skate Day you're lucky if you get one decent trick on film [Music] foreign with Chad he got like 15 insane tricks which is unheard of there was definitely like this one day we went to Arizona skated from start of the day into like three in the morning or something we just non-stop hit spots and I guess it became kind of an epic day that people would talk about the day in Arizona was crazy I mean he was just getting tricked after a trick after a trick and it kept going the end of the day and we go have dinner he's drinking margaritas and then on the way out of there he's like oh I know this crazy rail after he's done all this crazy like let's go look at it it's like 11 at night we light up this rail that's like down flat down the thing is what people don't know from the video Parts is it's all of that like 100 times at the top like seeing if everybody's ready I don't know I would yell random things I don't even know what I would yell like this is for the homies right here or like you know I don't even know what homies I was talking about but it was for all the homies like wait all right hold up yeah let's get it like hundreds you know and then he'll just he'll just do the first one it's like some weird like I don't know he has to Hype himself up [Music] foreign with video Parts you're on it you just get that day and you're just getting all your tricks and filming and it's working out and and that was one of those days for me it seemed like things like really started to like take off and kind of snowball from there and it was really like the peak of my career time there are very few skaters that influence skateboarding culturally from the sense of the way people dress to the way people act and Chad did that and see kids completely influenced by them they're dressing exactly the same you know with all the accessories the Boombox and all that stuff but he was also nose-blooding for team steer rails with that iconic shorties board he sold a lot of us yeah and he's I'm sure he sold a ton of those I still have a rising sun musco board like in my room at home right now you know OG not on eBay dog OG he was the biggest ever I remember going to the school and seeing a girl bawling like Beetle Mania like oh my God Chad Muska like bawling now it's just like holy like this is insane [Music] [Applause] when Muska came up the cool thing in skateboarding was to be low-key and subtle and let your actions do the talking you know and anyone that was putting on a show that was shunned Muska had that but he had the skill to back it up and so people loved it Chad had basically risen to the top of skateboarding but in a very like solid sense it wasn't like just overnight hype he worked so hard making a name for himself I think he was looking for what was next Pro Skater thing came up you know they were like we're gonna make a video game we want you to be in it he was one of the first picks of thps because he was he was unique I was like super hyped on it but I never even in a million years would imagine the impact that it had that just took our names and opened it up to households Beyond anyway skateboarding could have ever carried us on [Music] that's when you started walking around random little kids were like that's Chad must go [Music] after the success from that I was approached by some other friends to Startup Circa and similar to Shorty's they offered me sort of free reign to start this company have ownership in it and pick a team I feel that until he got into my situation and started having to run the team you know kind of like play the role I was playing at toy machine we didn't reconnect until after that I think that that just created more common ground for Chad and I initially I actually talked to Jamie Thomas he was my first pick because I also thought that there was something really interesting about bringing us back together because everybody was still kind of looked at us as like enemies I guess and I thought like what better way than to to start a company than to bring both together I was in a similar position of you know being in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game and Chad and I came back together to work together again and we'd both grown up a bit and we got along way better than we ever did before I mean basically Circa was huge blowing up like crazy Chad and I were still blowing up and those guys came up with the idea of doing a documentary on a big tour through Europe but that trip was crazy [Music] it seemed really surreal everywhere we went kids were just going crazy I didn't know that we had become that popular like we would sign autographs for hours and hours like sometimes it was endless and I just remember thinking like oh my God like this is crazy you know Ted carried himself in such a way and he was so charismatic the hype was just so big we went to Germany it was hectic these kids like bum rushed me it was insane and I literally had to like run full speed down this block and like I looked back and there was like 300 kids like running after me I like jumped on this car just started running out this way I'm like um musco where are you running to and look behind there's at least probably 200 kids running after him screaming his name some madness here I mean I feel bad because I can't sign everybody's stuff but at the same time I gotta I'm a human man you know that's that's inhuman dude that was like I never felt something like I guess a rock star moment that was the ultimate time for me where I was like wow this is the height of anything I think it was some crazy feel how we do this cross country speeds I've had so many interests in my life in order to stay interested in skateboarding I have to go off and do other things at times if I only did skateboarding the whole time I think at some point I I would have just become bored of it all aspects of hip-hop culture have been a major influence in my life and and so like within my crew we were always making making beats or DJing or something to that level but that was when I first was able to like from skateboarding get some of my own equipment and start to produce and make things which eventually led to like a strong Obsession of making music is hard I'm feeling it oh really I'm feeling the speed it's pretty hard nice waiting for bit Mark to come through to the studio yo what we gonna do we're gonna lay the dope trap that's not flat it's most of these keep your best step back I'll kick a freestyle over this fresh beat what's up yo I'm on those streets man rolling on the skateboard doing my thing [Music] [Applause] I make my own music so much that you know I really don't I really don't listen to too many people's new music that much I'm just like rocking my own beats man just listen to the beats so I recorded the majority of the Muska beats album at the Soho Grand in New York City and brought together some insanely influential hip-hop artists that like made me who I was at that time and I couldn't even believe I was working with them and that it actually was happening you know yeah we are recording this class is in session he's bad yeah what's the deal what's the deal me personally this album would be more more about about where you're at lyrically to where to where uh right here let's do that you're gonna do more than Break Even you you're gonna have respect the world will be like oh you're a famous skateboarder so that's all you're capable of doing and I would look at it like the opposite way if somebody could work hard enough to become one thing and we're successful at it then they should be able to apply that energy and work ethic to anything in their life and become whatever it is they want to become for me it's always been true expression it's always been like oh I got this idea I'm just gonna do it who cares what anybody thinks like I'm gonna make music because I want to make music if the world chooses to accept it or not that's up to them but it nobody can tell me what to or what not to create or do um I'll never limit myself with anything I thought the muscovis thing was a little crazy but the fact that he got legendary rappers from the 90s and all kinds of people to come do music with them that I was like impressed that he did that you know it was him though you know so like of course he can do that beat his eyes though musca beats gone wild style man just well that's how that's what this is hip-hop yeah we've had two flies that's right baby Flavor Flav and the musker beats kid through my prized possessions that I keep right here had that one for 17 years that one for 15. you're kind of a new one you guys are new so you don't mess up if I didn't become a skateboarder I would have tried to do something within fashion or design but I feel like if I Didn't Do It Through Skateboarding the world would have never given me that opportunity it's my closet they're kind of missing certain ones I kind of saved that like that were special to me that I liked um the first time I had the ability to have anything like associated with my name I wanted it to represent me in a true way that I felt was me he had a weed stash pocket in a tongue no one had done that and that was Muska kids come up to me over the years and they're like your stash Pockets saved my ass I knew kids they said they got arrested with weed in their shoe taken into jail and let back out with the weed still in and got away with it I've had a like pretty good run with most of shoes that I've designed um have done fairly well over the years oh yeah I know baby [Laughter] when you look at what Muska does he's very successful at everything he touches he got on Supra and then he made the Skytop the first impression of the Skytop was like what the I didn't think you would have the success it did it just went crazy Jay-Z Ward and Kanye it was amazing because it was Muska again oh we made these ones for slash those were for slash yeah Anaconda so at one point he was making a lot he lived in the Chateau my mom for like like months at a time it's like 500 a night I know I still don't know don't understand how it said an interview like like you put on some weight and he's like yeah money makes you fat I was like wow this guy is the best like that type of like that is the best from being a kid that never had any money like nothing just having that money was like so insane to me in the real world's terms I wasn't I I've never been really rich like there's rich and then there's like hoodrich I made it Hood Rich maybe a little bit but people in skateboarding don't educate you on money and how it works I was making a lot of money but I was spending it just as fast you know yeah I wanted to go get a nice car I want I wanted to flaunt these things at that time and it was kind of part of a bit public Persona and a bit of my own fulfillment I guess I was chasing that materialism fulfillment at that time and that was just the start of it so no no musculine the Prius budget cuts musculated previous life baby it's a smart choice man let me tell you kids young skaters don't spend your money on Escalades get a Prius go thank me in the long run I'm around here like Moby used to live right there but he sold the house I don't really pay attention too much that kind of stuff nowadays I came to La not knowing anybody not having anything really you know and just started building from the ground up it was like a whole new world that like I've never imagined would accept me as a skateboarder musca was literally the one dude who went totally Hollywood when he got here Chad was with the celebrities child was with Paris Hilton and stuff like that that was his scene [Music] I would go to night clubs where like all these famous people were at and they were like come on in Chad you know I'm like whoa like you know I was living a dream I don't think he had an agenda I think he was just doing exactly what he wanted to do which was the Muska [Music] everyone's like yeah musk is like with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and like you know girls like that we were like what [Music] being a skater from living in a trailer park to like next thing you know you're like in L.A and all of a sudden you're up in the club with like Puff Daddy and the Olsen twins and like Mick Jagger and I mean I got to party with all these like crazy people I couldn't even believe what's happening [Applause] but I was a little too hard at that time period I'm either a party animal or I'm completely sober I'm either like the gnarliest skate rat or I don't touch my board at all like I just like I'm so extreme with my actions that Hollywood sort of Superstar Muska era it was funny but it worried me for sure you don't want to see somebody get just chewed up and spit out which can easily happen everything is kind of like a drug in life you know Fame girls alcohol experience I'm very aware of when I'm being self-destructive and there was a lot of financial things happening in my life my father passed away right at that same time and to some extent I was like I'm gonna do myself in I guess maybe not like take a gun and shoot myself in the head or slit my wrists but I was gonna ride it till the wheels fell off and the wheels almost fell off hey hey [Music] if you've ever partied hard and like woke up the next day with your group of friends and been like oh man like you really messed up last night that was pretty embarrassing so imagine doing that in front of the whole world you know like I've done that and I've embarrassed myself completely in the public eye haters haters haters here haters right here with a little white uniform gold badge black uniform gold match all that take me to jail right now see what it does to me nothing ever something really clicked in my head that God forbid I died or something happened would the world remember me as that a lot of you saw a video of me the other day on TMZ um where I came across as a complete drunk idiot and I can agree I was one I and not making any excuses for it um and I'm completely sorry and I hope that Society understands me and forgives me because I got nothing but love for you there you go green juice they're talking about trying to get my my healthier lifestyle healthy unhealthy healthy unhealthy yeah coffee coffee's a little bit better than a 40 year old English or Saint Ides I guess actually was the was the drink at one time coffee who'd have thought at the end of my sort of Club craze you know like I was partying a lot and I decided I want to go back and skate more and get more into skateboarding during that time period I started to film and put some stuff out there [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] the way ow you can skateboard for as long as your body can allow you to skateboard I've always found ways to heal my body through all these years so like convinced I can do everything myself but sometimes I have to realize I can't as we get older our bodies take its toll man and I think that's the one thing that's been hard for me is just to see my friends get older and not be able to skate like these field Escape [Applause] [Music] maybe not as bad as I thought that was kind of the beginning of like wow I had to get surgery on my knee and then I kept skating on it and still went on tours and filmed and everything and then I had a really bad back injury about three or four years ago now I tried to fix my back it's my inversion table I was skating in Mexico City and I did this front side flip and right when I landed I was like pop [Music] they found the herniated disc that's slipped out and it's like my lower back like I've had so many gnarly injuries but this has been the one that like really stopped me from skateboarding I don't know if it's over forever I'm just I'm just really scared to get to surgery [Music] you grow up as a skater and that is your creative outlet that is you know your salvation and then suddenly it's taken away from you just because of an injury you gotta find ways to fill that void this is where I uh this is where I work my garage my studio temporary and I don't have another Studio skateboarding was always the backbone of everything having that taken from me it makes you question everything like what's next what do I do like can I still design these shoes if I'm not skateboarding art has really become that outlet for me that skateboarding was for all my energy that I have ideas and energy of Within Me charismatic person that created a whole style of skating and style and look is definitely the kind of person that would be an artist you know so it kind of like follows suit he would have that Charisma that kind of spills into everything he does to me these take on landscapes and and this becoming the Horizon and the Sun and the Moon and and then the square is more of a representation of of man or or another dimension this aesthetic really stuck with me and I keep doing it in repetition and eventually I'll probably get sick of this and then move on to something else too like I I normally do or this will the repetition of this will lead to something something new whatever he wants to do he sets it out the goal to achieve it he's left the Legacy definitely in skateboarding he's definitely one of the few that put his stamp of like yeah Chad Muska you know that name's gonna live forever initially I tried to escape skateboarding from my artwork I was really trying to tap into Fine Art and find my space in there and in in the process of doing that I didn't realize that everything I did in skateboarding was still there and was still applying to the artwork so quickly I realized that the skateboarding is a part of me no matter what I do and will have an influence on everything I do in life [Music] I I just know that like mentally and physically be Beyond this one thing I still could go break it off I know I can like he still is really motivated and he knows that people want to see it again so he knows that he could have fun and just enjoy skating around or cruising or you know doing whatever it is that he wants to do we're all just trying musk because there's off of the old school kickers with muscular hype it up I mean I thought about this kind of idea of a process can I do this you know like here we go like here's the ride the end is either going to be a banging ass video part or or the end is going to be me depressed with the with the back surgery thank you [Music] I don't know how I did it I'm gonna be hurt tomorrow [Music] okay it's got some handrails son handrails

Channel: VICE

Views: 2,788,515

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, film, short films, movies

Id: 3JFihjEWU3c

Length: 43min 5sec (2585 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2022