Lance Mountain | The Nine Club With Chris Roberts - Episode 127

well we are back huh we're back at the 9 Club everybody listen oh let me tell you something happy new year we got a special special special guest mr. Lance mountain is here happy new year Lance happy new year thanks yeah thanks for finally came thank you I was too scared to come on no no I was appreciate your snow chat here no and it took me a while to get these gifts oh you're right Brock gives yeah it's my gosh it's a while not gifts I should say gift one gift for you okay Wow well I got junk I got one gift okay and then I was like wow there's three guys I get it some junk around but the real gift is it was just it's a 2018 one in nineteen yeah I figured the we got an update to new technology oh you got old technology you've got old technology Lance you got some technology over there I got some new technology for me is this okay so um this is well this is what it really is okay this is a incredible actually replace the iPad or since it needs to have a little stand I had to put it on it this is a photo of me when I was a kid on clay wheels we call it in my Amish outfit those pants are a little high water by the way here is the little above the belly button I think Oh got a flip book you made a flip book 9 the switch flip Manny yeah oh thank you so much look at this Wow let me see yeah is it from the start like this that's the other way I think that's how it works any loop sexual it doesn't look I know it loops there's one in every single page yeah loops that's of me no but it's not one is it loops about three or four times Kelly will you hold this up and you click videos into everything right click trap so do you have do you have this one I don't have that one no or do you say you didn't have a VCR watching every single video I can't wear these I need to alright go ahead and wear this and then there's these you guys can assist these are just little Oh Oh little notebook is a little notebook things Wow I was a sick thank you I was thanking on the cover there's a cost and 1ba what and then there's amazing you know thanks there's so much thank you that's how I was trying to Mullen I was just trying to give it up and I shouldn't even mention it go ahead but you're probably an S collector right yeah for sure I didn't find it and I was gonna bring it was gonna bring you the Tevas chomp on this oh wow I still have it but you have a whole collection of things I'm getting rid of it what does that call the game it's a donk nobody you're like you're selling stuff on like the on Instagram or whatever I moved so I had everything in storage mm-hmm and so I was like you know what I'm gonna when I bring the stuff into the house because I've got I bought a house or basically built house in the last couple years uh-huh I'm only gonna bring in the stuff I really like I'm gonna see use touch totally and I'm gonna start getting rid of the stuff I it's all great stuff but it's just like I can't have it all yeah and so I basically can't hold on this-tv stretch forever know that I can hang out and I can probably hang onto that shoe but somehow I couldn't find it so maybe that meant I'm not supposed to give it up hey why are you holding onto people's dreadlocks what's going on what did he cut him and then you saved him or did you trim him off him yourself you know he cut him off oh he did yeah he cut him out he had extensions hair extensions oh so they're not they're not dreadlock their hair extensions put him in a bag and you ever need him no God brought those thank you poor man's collecting it's all sentimental fellow Mackay had a cast and he cut it off at this contest I was like I'm gonna say that do you save it yeah and then I got Mike V's check from venture once and what are you thinking your collections the most random thing their order says the hair so it's like that's mother else's hair that's the most random doodoo doll what about behind you you said you have those a Cadillac thing or like a that's the horn from the Cadillac and animal chin was all right is that the only thing you saved from the Cadillac it's a horn how did you get that out just rip it off yeah I think so just aesthetic is amazing like he had used all these does these art things so everything that he does kind of crossed into all these other projects he always used to do before Pawel dog town here all that stuff and he had these shows where he had I think it was offensive to cut he would cut the cattle he'd cut the wings off Cadillacs and he had art show with the wings so somehow that just turned into what we did in analog Jim yeah because that was kind of what he was doing at the time and so we cut him off there but I think is really because he was gonna cut him off have him for his art show anyone isn't bright we're driving a Cadillac around in pop no I really remember I just always saved like little bits and pieces of skating memorabilia yeah yeah there's memory things not buying or collecting or paying for them did you keep the button in the glove compartment no only rough there was one I don't know I think I've always uh I have a theory it's not a theory I just um I grew up in a great time for skateboarding and um I wasn't the cool thing about it is I I kind of look I look at doing Peter sometimes and I think he has the same thing it's like a little yeah but we have a little cool it's a little chip on our shoulder okay cuz we were around but not part of so he's like one of the oldest dudes okay but he's known Dwayne is known from 1980 79 80 funk he skated all the way back in 74 - sure you know while these other guys are known and so he's it's all skateboarding is all about being at the right place at the right time with the right people and being known to the data mm-hm but the IRA's of skateboarding are basically when you start not when you're known there you go and so um I never thought I was ever gonna be part of it I was sitting in my room in Alhambra right and dreaming about it and stuff and my friends were a little bit older four or five years older than I was they're kind of I'd kind of get the you're kind of a poser you were a poser I was a poser because I was into all of it so the aesthetic of it or whatever so we were mimicking and playing skateboarding and they were we're skateboarders they were skaters living a yeah we're skateboarders are you playing skateboarding um why are you dressing up like that and I'm like oh cuz this guy is doing this or why are you doing that because that guy is doing it was like that's not what it's about it's about skateboarding but they stopped gating so who was a real skateboarder more of a dreamer of it was Sara and I have talked about it it's like we played skateboarding people play cowboy and Indians we play skateboarding so whatever was in you know that's kind of part of it it's like it's more than just the act of it it's it's so much of the things that emotionally draw you to it but how do you make the distinction between playing in and doing it like what's the because eventually it turned into doing it just now I'm still playing it probably playing it more now trying to play it more now than I ever did you know when you start I mean everyone's everyone I think has the same thing even kid today it's like you find this thing that feels or seems different and you and you all want belonging and you find belonging in that Center and when we were kids there was a Toy Story yeah a lot of them were available because um in the late 60s mid sixties there was like basically a boom of clay wheeled mm-hm marketed skateboards black nights on that black nights fight a pack those kind of boards or whatever were available boards and a lot of them had them and they kind of just because they didn't work that great or whatever they kind of came and went but everyone had him in the garage yeah everyone had him so the friend that I had that was five years older than mutt he had his mm-hmm and it came out every once in a while or whatever but in uh mid 70s like 73 74 the urethane wheel came out and so there was another boom and so all those all the crummy ones came out and they were the hand-me-downs to the friend so we all started on clay wheels because our older friend had the better product which was your thing we all know but the clay wheels you were just kind of maybe just skating you weren't skating skating when the clay wheels did you see that photo I have clay wheels in that photo what's covered it up by my it needs to be covered oh yeah no I mean arguably no we weren't skating just cruising right that was skating we had no idea what it was it was you love those plaid pants by the way yeah we played tag on him oh yeah we sat we put him on boxes on him and we sat it and went down the hill and hit the ivy and she came into the ivy and we started playing games Tic Tac tag you know that was an evil knievel is really like the thing guy so everyone on every block got a cinderblock and put a piece of wooden flew off it on their bike or some yeah a skateboard and so you started hopping around and doing stuff but instantly just like everything else once a thing is seen people start figuring out how to compete it's the nature yeah that's usually close to psycho he's like my friends really even well I wasn't even competing he was just better it's better and there was groups of I mean I was until hammer and there was tons of kids skateboarding Oh for this short period of time there was there was a place Arby's Bank and you go there and there's 50 kids there in their hand doing handstands and 360s and nose wheelies and it's wow all of a sudden it's Manute there's manoeuvres sure and so I was connected to it real quickly because it was like oh this is something just like every kid it's like oh this is something I can do whatever I want however I want by myself with it and I feel like I can there's something here rather than and I'm not gonna really be fast enough for track or write none of those things are interesting you're free you don't have to conform to what the core isn't told exactly right the rules in the court are not prescribed they're not present and that's why any kid is interested in skate points sure but as soon as you start then you start seeing oh well there is rules there is that guys and instantly was how many 360s can you do how many 360s can either how many 360s is what made you good just spinning around like like on the back wheels when you guys grew up is how high you can you ollie probably right yeah yeah how high can you ollie how high can you ollie it was how many 360s can you do i colleague for boards i don't know for was hired you do I could not do them I could do I could do nine I did nine at the most when I was kid there's a lot though yeah oh no those guys I did there's guys still that can do 100 there's guys that are still going still spinning but when you were young if we made three 360s you broke a certain level mm-hmm there you could do six you broke a certain level and I was kind of at the three to six level okay and there was dudes that were doing nine and above and you know up to 30 and 40 and this nose wheelie 360s and so right at that time there was guys famous guys at Natalie Russell skits Hitchcock these were the guys that were known for skateboarding I dug them because they are the known guys in your in your area or no no this is a dispassionate sky oh [ __ ] and whatever they're know like the a lot is like talking three six toe knee elbow or whatever sure but then Alvin those guys came in and they had an aesthetic which was more surfing and it was more aggression and more Bank riding even though they could freestyle and that was like okay I connect to that right that's what got me because I could do that better than the actual technical what was technical at the time sure no how did you see them doing this like was it through magazines or videos or well no I saw I saw my friends doing it first okay I saw my friends doing all this stuff because like I said it was there was a boom and there was my friend Enrique Esparza this kid Chris Jenna V lived down the street Stewart Fong there was local guys that were for all I knew were pro because they were good they're good and I was like I wasn't I didn't feel or get good until this switch came where was like and it came real quick what caught me did skateboarding is when I saw a magazine the first magazine I saw was in 75 it was down at the bottom of the hill we had a bike shop I went down there and got this magazine called skateboard okay and it was in 1975 and even though right when I starred I instantly you know we did about a year and a half or whatever just tic tacs sitting in boxes sure as soon as I saw that it was I wasn't doing 30 360s I was gonna do three this is gonna go the same way as anything else I seemed to be going the same way like I'm not gonna be good at this right but I saw this magazine and it was the first magazine I ever saw and it was skateboard mag it's called skateboard 1975 I got it and it's this guy Stephen Monaghan and he was just a rock he was doing a wheelie through a puddle through water and it was splashing up the screws into the and I think I think that really made the huge impact I mean of me understanding that early that I connected to something that wasn't 9 10 15 360s it was riding through water riding through and you can get the cover and I mean and it looked cool look oh yeah yeah and it made you feel something more than if I practiced and practiced and practiced and beat Stewart and get 10 360s and he's done but competition is all skateboarding's all competition it's just how you do it no so that I think was really enough for me to go it just I love this thing mm-hmm took off and so it was an aesthetic yeah photos meant a lot of stuff to me and and so I jumped through whatever was looking good the guy at skate park was good I wanted some of that this board looked good I wanted some of that you know that's why I became the poser is like I have photos after photos of me with the album Fedora the album board Tommy in a way it was a local guy Tommy knowing Chris tropa were local guys were pros that lived in the Montebello area and he had a interesting style he had broken his arm and his arm was broke and so he still skates use oh you play no Tom you did price good nights friends up oh maybe yeah yeah and yet he broke his arm so he his arm was like that and there was a period of time my friends was like why you trying to hold your arm like him and white I don't maybe I was maybe I wasn't rulz just well I'm just like and so that's why I say playing skateboarding we're uh full-on fans of it yeah yeah I think people really do play like they do the you always hit always do yeah you try to emulate your favorite skateboard only if you talk to Alban those guys they all say we emulated Bertil Minh we emulated these surfers yeah we weren't immolating skaters cuz there wasn't and then don't get me wrong I've never emulated my peers no Pierre well I've said oh I was imitating my Pierre like ya know we have these giant egos we immolated this guy before us or the surfer or the someone had nothing to do like yeah I have a new it's like yeah I've never tried to emulate Costin no you do emulate your peers totally so just turn us the end yeah thanks for coming Kelly grandmas shirt ya know every every year Hazzard dudes that were like these pivotal people that changed it and it's either they changed it in the the way they skated the terrain they skated the approach they skated the stylee skated or what they presented it to be right some people can do that in competition some people can do it in video some people can do it in photos some people can it's just that is what makes them that's what makes it great yeah well those greats are the ones that become the remembered grades that's true that's true and you said that like the turning point was for you was like Jay Adams and all these people going off into a different direction if they can't really call it freestyle no it's called freestyle but it was called skateboarding and Stasik is a huge influence on this because a lot of people reading stess --ax in stories got this feeling of the the attitude of skateboarding when the feeling of what it's supposed to be or whatever I just I didn't read sorry but he also shot photos and there's photos of constant node doing a two-handed grabbing the tail in the nose and just bunny hopping and pulling it off a curb yeah well that's what we're doing that's so much better than a 360 probably letter tell wasn't yeah it was because it was a it was in a group it was an emotional thing it's like you're scaring yourself you're doing so that's obviously a fine line where all those things mix mm-hmm this is one of the reasons Alva was known is once competition came he competed on those guys level you down hilde restyled he high jump he did whatever he had to do in competition right but he was a mainly as a surfer bank rider that ended up chasing that feeling to find vertical right so that it's split at that point where these guys were chasing this feeling and ultimately trying to find that vertical wall and they found backyard pools the industry is so far behind always sure he never had pool contests Alvin never entered a pool contest huh no there was no contest in a backyard pool it was like in the articles and everything everyone was like yeah I was a novice a few years ahead he's a step ahead he's kind of like cutting the cutting you know breaking breaking ground and there was articles about it and little things but was there a competition showing that no no never we can't do that that's in the backyards that doesn't make sense yeah I sure do it above then they built skate parks mmm six months later yeah they have a pool contest right someone like Steve Alba has already passed he's gone Steve Alba wins the first pool cornice okay Olsen was here there was another one Olsen won the first pole caught this so trying to figure out how you put that into a box and make it competitive mmm um there's always a little behind yeah yeah of course Ives the skaters know and they already had already stated Alvers ahead of time to oliver ahead of time but by the time they came to competition how about didn't win it no let's skate park pool contest huh there wasn't one forum right we have that today yesterday during your era during everyone zero yeah there in the world every era it's just the it's always a little late to show then the people that what we naturally respect as a skateboarder right we respect the ones who wrote the new song we don't go hey let's figure out how to have a competition and see who can play the Sex Pistols song better sure yeah that's kind of what competition has to do yeah but we as a group dude pick and choose who we decide lead it's almost like you know even the street leagues of today is like the skaters are almost getting so much better than the contests that it's there they're passing it up almost you know almost others on the street yeah in a weird way that's revolution oh yeah no it's what do you think we'll do like a 20 stair handrail no it is it's it's always done this it did it for us it's what its wife Street skating is so big it finally figured out wow this is what you guys do you go back and forth on a halfpipe let's put in an arena and do that for five years sure and you can all just drive that into the ground and we will all we're all making money which is all doing good right and then no skip ones over here doing some doing something else yeah the visionaries we don't have visionaries we don't have visionaries leading the industry right now or dissever know Stacy was awesome Stacy and Fausto when they got together and it was kind of dying they got together and did their best to lead those things and they did a good job but it was changing so much that you could you could change with it and skateboarding those things always they're good for two years three years four years and you got to move you got you got a movement and if you don't understand that boarding is moving you will build something to set up your little empire that is already defunct by the time you figured out what it is so her and the skaters know it but you don't right and that's where we are we've been that in a lot I think oh it's horrible but I think it it really came about in the world industry years yeah when Rocco was able he had so much but he gained so much of the industry he owned basically 70% of the skateboarders that mattered yeah maybe more maybe 90% of the skateboarders mattered and at that point the industry stopped having skateboard contests mm-hmm skateboard contest were designed to video parts and well skateboard contest in the in the first in the very beginning was designed to do like everything else let's make it a sport that people can understand and put it on the ABC there you go and those guys try to run it and do whatever and Alvin these guys were doing what they're doing like just destroying the whole concept of that mm-hmm and so skateboarding was small and so the industry which is you know what I'm just gonna say Stacy and Fausto got together there's other people but they really got together and said to hit this thing so dead how can we nurture it made a magazine make contest and it was bouncing around from oh we had pool contests oh those are dying let's have backyard gram contest so like he saw Stacy saw the kids were riding in the street again listen let's kind of let's try to UM have street events or do things and it was changing so fast that they were able to at least move with it right even if it's a little bit behind it's always gonna be behind sure absolutely but it's at least moving with it if that makes sense we can get into that but that's it that's a whole nother conversation I was gonna bring the little trophy I got Oh would you I was gonna bring this trophy because you know supposed to bring trophies place no but the guy was gonna bring it for this at this point actually it's it's it's the first-place trophy but it represents what I'm talking about it's the cop it's I want a street contest in 1990 right after I broke my ankle and came back and that contest should have been set up for Matt Hensley to win oh I want it Matt Hensley got second well the only reason I want it is because there was still it was still an obstacle course it didn't represent what Hensley had brought to skateboarding yet and so I keep it I'm proud of being a dude that shouldn't I got it started loose ball bearings being able to beat a Matt Hensley in a street contest so I'm proud of that but I also am very proud that Prout's not the right word I'm very aware and love that trophy in my mind that that was Hensley's contest mm-hmm and if skateboarding would have done the right thing it would have been hence this contest so that's happened I mean I've had these conversations like Savannah second Savannah Slama we're building this but we're entering the contest we're judging the contest were building the contest by that second Savannah sign I'm Mike V is maybe in it mm-hmm and it's like we're still building stuff that I can ride right and Mike's like you're building stuff you can write and like you're right yeah but it's the system is off the system should be trying to unless nothing's wrong with the obstacle contest yeah but there should be a contest for this this this and that whatever maybe a maybe a street plant contest you know maybe a curb contest maybe or whatever like whatever these guys are doing because they're there they're pushing it they're changing it they're moving it it's always kind of too young to do that but typically everyone has to kind of join in and enter this thing that's not really anybody's Europe right but that's skateboarding it we adapt who can come here and adapt I'm proud of that too like you have its obstacles we can adapt we could we did boardslide but we there was a big vert wall that we could go higher or whatever do you sure so that always happens but I think what happened in the era when Steve was able to have all these riders he was very obviously like um he wasn't doing contests it's gonna be all video yeah turns out what I think happened is that gave way for a second industry to start like that gave the ability for us as skateboarders to go this guy's doing 70 360s but I don't care James is amazing gives me a feeling I want that right it took the ability for us at skateboarding to spotlight that or show that because there was no contest for cream Campbell and guy Mariano to show their goods that's a whole other industry set it up and said now another video skaters here's the here's the here's the these are contests these are video skaters sure oh yeah I'm not gonna say that it would Templeton and might be people crossed over nothin are the right guys and uh you know but that also it also sets up hey anybody that wants to learn this come learn it Dan just like any other sport but that's not the that's not the premise of all what we do right the premise of what we do is you have the toy and you make up the arena there you go and so it didn't do much back in that day it didn't like collapse anything but it was a slow process mm-hmm that you have dudes that you can't sell skateboards winning the highest event you guys have highest winning event doesn't say that the guys are winning the highest event isn't the best guy but those are two separate industries now and now that the money's from outside there's no money going into this industry because they can't you can't understand no no no I'm telling you this guy wrote the song that Elvis Presley's playing oh yeah yeah whatever okay and that's not knocking contest now and that's not locking the writers that never contest now I'm just saying the visionary there's no visionaries behind it setting it up and doing it right and I want to say I have a lot of guys that are are headstrong pool dude that's who that's just kind of my friends yeah hate Street League history I'm like ah I love Street League yeah yeah because Rob did what I'm talking about he said no one's giving us this I'm gonna go do this right and he went and did this thing which was like I respect this type of writing and I'm gonna take the top ten dudes that do this and give them a platform yeah I think it's a big reason why that's going to the Olympics now yes we've also fallen into the same trap because without losing every friend in skateboarding majority of the guys in Street League now I don't want to see mmm the first ten guys I do right and now it's a learned process here's what it is didn't change it hasn't moved it hasn't it's just here's your and that's what the that's that's our fault as skateboarders when the I don't care Olympics rule whatever I ain't here right it's what we did a skateboarding and our skateboarders what we allowed or sold to them mmm-hmm when they came to us said hey what's your arena we need to know what the arena is what's it what's the criteria how do you score this what is your sport it changes every day every day changes every day so quickly it doesn't we not building something for everyone in the world to figure out how to practice - we're moving there's no court there's there's no court yeah and that's the premise of skateboarding that's why I kid picks it up there's no court I get to make the court and so the industry the we have to be ahead of that and build that and change that and we should have said and here's the biggest problem I'm super out of my mind about because of that because I've worked on skate parks building yeah because of that every skatepark is dropping off we already had a battle for the last 15 years of trying to build interesting new creative change it move it do it whatever sure oh no we want what the X Games have all we want what to do to her has all we want them to know now they need Olympic training courses right it's like that is devastating to skateboarding if you don't understand that everything if there's a thousand kids that start skateboarding only three of them want to go to the Olympics mm-hmm and so you're building something for three people to practice - any it's devastating for what we do as hey here's your toy you lead it we know we know the industry has always looked to you what they're doing I can't feed it back to him sure yeah see the thing I was amazing about skate Stacey was he's such a good skateboarder but at some point he decided to stop being a skateboarder and make our skateboarding lives better yeah none of us it's we don't do that I don't do that yeah I wasn't about to do that with the firm I did the firm because I wanted to skateboard yeah we want to skateboard right all right so we're more Alba's then Stacey and Stacey did that in the e um he made this thing better and he understood it and he worked together with people and I just feel that the people that might think that way don't they're not in that position to do it or they haven't taken those positions and we you know by default let those reins out to people who basically intuitively don't know what it is or should be mmm without saying a bunch of bad things about people sure they're trying to do a good thing but realistics really if they could do it they probably would still be Alva skip I know but you said like the industry put themselves first that's not a put themselves first they don't intuitively know what we're talking I'm talking about right because I've had those meetings yeah what's wrong with this what's wrong with that oh you mean the quarter pipe should be over here oh oh wait oh that's the restaurant the course is wrong the quarter pipe the kids want the quarter pipe here no you missed you missed the whole premise of it mmm it's an adventure it's finding these things out it's developing new stuff it's it's rewarding the person who can adapt not who can copy it's sure it's understanding that whole thing okay I don't even think I can explain it I think I know what I'm talking about in my heart I think we all understand it we don't know how the word how's you move forward on it yeah right and so there was no problem with Street League the problem was what everything did was we need the Street League thing yeah no you should have made like five leagues yeah and then skateboarding would make sense to people Nyjah is the best at what he does he gets paid this much grant Taylor is the best at what he does there's a fan group that they don't even cross over they they don't even like one of the other they maybe do crossover but we set them up to get into the little camps yeah yes us this dogs that's horrible this is horrible that's great and then everyone just goes like what they just say corporate corporate is terrible or whatever capitalism is horrible I think they just blame this big thing out there that doesn't isn't really a thing it's just individually I think there's no real understanding of the vision of how we take and go what they originally were trying to do which is a contest in the beginning was taking and trying to find a way to spotlight and showcase the talents of the ones the inner circle have already said these are the leaders they're gonna sell boards these are the leaders these are the developers of it these are the people you can't even understand you know like I don't even know why I don't even know why I'm not pro I crooked grind yeah I did 11 he did 10 sir it creates that whole understanding it's like yeah it's not about the one more it's that he saw something and went over here right I was so inspired by your manual that I practiced for 15 years and I did it made a flipbook out of it and I don't understand why no one wants to celebrate me leases to it and the inner circle kind of knows and mm-hmm we've even branched out so far that our little anal circles are kind of the industries are pitted against each other sure no everyone else wins yeah because we're like protecting our I don't know I blabbered there's no but I ruin this will hold then there are the people then that go off on their own you know and that that's the people that you're talking about I want to say that we are healthier at a and it's always been craziness it's always been craziness and that's what's beautiful about it sure but there was a point in time where see this I just that's what I'm talking about before with John and I we talked about how things words like they're never gonna be like that no they're never gonna be where it kind of like maybe never made sense yeah well I mean the era we grew up the reason we were so adamant about trying to make this thing work is because we saw three generations before us in a period of three years be given everything and then everything pulled away Frank like how does that happen yeah and they I talked to him I still love them all I know him all like they're my heroes they're only a year older than me maybe some of them are younger than me but they were pro a year before me yeah and they they still have that like I don't know it's like we're going man you're so rad it's all about what you've done and they're like no it's all about you it's you you did it you took what we did and gun I it was such a weird time we had boards and you know we called up to get boards with our name on them and they didn't even have them or they had no can we get a sticker and there just fell apart they didn't do anything for us and we're like we learned like yeah no one's gonna do anything you get to do it yourself yeah right but they're there and I think it's almost back to this point where the kids today they don't know how to do it for themselves because the thing is so big that if they want to do it just join in and do it and they're at these events or that these things going this feels wrong what what should we move the quarter pipe over here like uh we've missed the premise of why we started you know like I've learned a long time ago like skateboarding if you want to actually stay doing it it's more than it's more than winning it's it's a it's theater what do you what do you mean by that I mean by that when I grew up there was two guys that were just as good each other and one is known and one is not yeah it's because personality personality the way he looked the way he carried himself yeah the way he one of them didn't enter contest contest involvement part of into one of them didn't enter contests one of them and you had to be very the known knows about it oh I'm gonna go back to I don't want to do this well where we go I'm gonna go back even to a film we saw when we were kids tony alva not even arguably the for the father of what we do mm-hmm but there was other guys that were good back then sure really good great my friend was in two of this guy named Jerry Valdez okay I was into Tony Alva right but I was into everybody so on my board I had Jerry Valdez row for Val surf so I had a bow surfboard with a Elvis ticker okay you don't do that it's like a world industry sticker with a girl sticker I don't know but it was very territorial whatever I left at all but I don't mean that's some lame what do you got what do you got I was rad man that's not knocking out my man he's the best and I'm a huge fan but there was a film at Alba's peak and he there riding a pipe mm-hmm and he sticks a sticker on the wall yeah we turned up the sticks a sticker on the wall and it's like and then there's this guy Jerry Valdez comes in the same video or movie and he does the frontside kick turnover the sticker oh and my friend was like / this is better yeah why do you have an Alva board basically I'm like I like alphabet everything it's it's the whole thing yeah don't dislike Jerry sure love Jerry even to this day I know love Jerry but it's it was too fine to notice the whole industry is saying this guy this guy this guy this guy this guy wasn't and and arguably Jerry learned a bunch of more modern tricks he did all these things but it was right time right place mmm right backing interviews contests all of it yeah it's just it's one of those weird things and this is a perfect this is arguably at that point two of the greatest dudes they're not arguably they were the two greatest dudes at that point I would say it's kind of saying guy Mariano Henry Sanchez there you go yeah how does that happen why does that happen why does one per try and I think it's it's a little bit more theater yeah all right that's a that's a bad explain theater I'm gonna say there's two other guys later on which Ottoman aim but one of them they both skated very much the same they both were one into competitively and one of them developed a following of how you one of them like a.j Adams developed the falling of what this means to people another one developed is more known for tricks they're both known for tricks but one is more known for tricks and one was more known for this is what it's about yeah and the next generation copied the guy's tricks did him better and forgot about them mmm right and it no one forgot about well people probably forgot about Jay until another story was made or whatever but we didn't forget about you sure yeah oh yeah and so it's it's it's this emotional tug that's why I mean theatre it's like it's music it's very much like music it's art you know you know relate to something somehow and I'm not gonna knock competition cop we're all about competition so you have to compete but I feel that we've had these different industries and it's harder to take what we know or feel and give Jerry or someone a an opportunity to make the most of it sure okay I love it but I do want to talk about cuz we're talking about the good old ways my second question you know it's it's fascinating because nobody talks about it nobody comes on here talks about with such passion and such love for it you know people if it's different it's great it's a breath of fresh air almost you know what I mean maybe see the skateboard go through all I mean it's crazy look at the wheels behind ya went from blusette it's been skating only doing live I know well this is a loose ball bearing okay which is a roller sport I started on it well I started out my friend gave me clay wheels they're white clay wheels in there so one of the pictures yeah they're actually a little bit before that's been it went right to urethane so I got this wheel called the metal flex this is actually in roller support it said about 75 76 okay if I've got Jim they actually your thing came out at the end of 73 so I think they came out the end of 73 and but I believe I got the guy's hand-me-down board and I think I got meta flex wheels in 75 when I saw the magazine and then what the hell is that one there next to it this is a Targa this is yeah actually at the time as a terrible wheel it's super white I know it's a normal sized wheel for its time i simpiy er juice or something was like this when I had targus I had this on my stacy peralta warped tail okay which should we can get into that that's too is another scam because it was actually a plank of wood with a wedge they used to have solid pieces of wood and they put a wedge on it oh okay and called wedge tails okay and genus sold the stacy peralta warped tail hmm but all they did was have the wedge and they sanded the bottom so it looked like it because nothing was warped at that point right I won't go back to that was why I was trying to warp that board with my dad in the bathtub one behind us this is before this is before seven plywood they glued them together and work them you see I think this is a good this is a good Wow just kind of I don't know it was more I like collecting these things just like that trophy to show or for me to experience these emotions like I had to go from that yeah to this is the bearing cover known as the early 90s right yeah I mean that's actually a wheel I rode but this part I mean I can pour my soda in that thing it's so deep they have some bigger wheels in this but they can't blow out of that thing I know look at this little bearing cover this is about a size what do you say Rogers thirty thirty thirty-five this is not okay no did that start off at it's a forty maybe probably 49 to 39 was a smallest it went right yeah but no they wore him down yeah it's even small I was gonna bring this other one is a little bigger but it was just awesome looking cuz it's just what is a little bit bigger that's incredible and then it went he just ate it he decided what I mean I look at that as I mean that's a great timeline right there you know what I mean look at that yeah and this is basically what we rode through the 80s is about this size really do you always awesome put all the wheels in your mouth I've gotten about five of these sides well let's Tommy let's talk about the beginning in in little Lance growing up and starting on the 1975 ish or something right jumped on a skateboard yeah I think I kind of covered a little bit I had a friend that lived down the street and a neighbor was Enrique I think he's five years older than me I still talk to him okay it's awesome and he's the kid on the block that did everything well baseball good at everything yeah kind of played with him did whatever kind of but there's hardly any memories before even showed me a skateboard Oh gave me his old skateboard that's when your memory database starts I mean I know we played this we used to play this egg in the hole well I think we used to play games and he was really good we played tag you couldn't touch him he'd play football I can even come close to touching him okay I mean I should go back farther I guess my dad is British okay British citizen came here and got married actually never became a American citizen even when he got married you can you just had a green card you didn't oh yeah I mean okay he's married but he actually never became a citizen Oh which is you know whatever um but he was an amazing dude he was like uh uh to me is normal but looking back he was very not normal for her HAP's you ever seen Chitty Chitty Bang of course so the I don't know who it is but it's the colonel the officer did the special fully on my head British dude just whatever he collected military British military stuff it's like a museum or something right yeah and he would dress up in costumes all the time and was he in the military ever yeah yeah yeah oh he was okay so well he so he was um he was a kid he lived in Lewisham which is right outside of London hmm and so he was one of the kids that got sent to the South for the when they're bombed the war yeah you know they're getting bombed they sent him to South South got bombed because that's where they're coming through his school was destroyed his kids his friends were killed Wow he got shipped up to York and he was like the oldest one of the oldest kids so he's kind of like a leader and you know there's 15 kids at a farm and yeah right when he got right when the right when the when he kept our office 17 or 15 when he's old enough so 15 it was basically right at the end of the war he joined the lancer regiment hmm is actually 17th 21st lancers which is the death or glory okay you know that it's like a famous skull with death or glory sure that's there is that regiment he joined that as a I don't know it's called it's like a it's like a it's like the the young kids version of it hmm and then he actually was in when he got into the military military he was on in the 9th 12th I think here's the lancer regiment so there was he didn't fight he actually drew maps it was at the end of the war they're still doing cleanup and Palestine and stuff but um he didn't fight his regiment from what I know he didn't really tell me everything but his regiment somehow boat sank or something okay but he was back home talking about trying maps so that was his deal he started collecting all this stuff the little bombs and everything I fell in his house he started collecting parts of a Spitfire that crashed Wow then he started he stole his uniform stole it he wouldn't let you kill yet what they were is a horse guard regiment like a lancer regiment oh okay ride around on horses with spears but little war they didn't do it but like all the British regiments like the Queen's guards or Horse Guards they ride horses they had the big plumes address the the the all the guards which were the big bear skins in red suits they're all they're all they're all army okay and they were they were Calvary which turned into tank regiments so there was a thing called like the Crimean War or whatever that you know charge of the Light Brigade you probably heard these are the back in the 1800s this that's what they wore and they fought on horses and everything but so what they did is you'd wear all that stuff as dress or in parades but you actually drove tanks and war okay and they still do it they still dress up like that even though that's just for parades it's just for show so yeah that was Lance Sterling he actually took it I have it named II named you after no he named me her uncle that was killed in the First World War Oh Robert Lance Robert Lance - yet it was to welcome his his brothers his dad's brothers to his dad's brothers my mom's the only one that gonna know if I got this wrong I believe maybe only one of them was killed hmm but maybe but bosz named Robert Lance Robert Lane one brother in what way did your dad approve of your skateboarding and all that stuff Jodie was very supportive how I felt um I felt it was he was we were did a lot of art and stuff with him did a lot of silk-screening and built a bunch of stuff and so when I got into it I think he thought I only get this information from my sister my older sister because my older sister said oh they did not want you to do this they didn't know yeah but I never felt that mmm I think they just were worried like okay so he um because he was British I think when he got here he didn't want to send us to he thought our school system he was terrible okay so he sent us to a private school yeah Richard which is interesting I guess probably because he was British we ended up going to a Christian school which is like a um a Protestant school rather than a Catholic school or whatever could oh yeah I don't think I'm not really sure that's right why which was really interesting so I got him I definitely got that from that era being kid getting into skateboarding that everyone was worried he's gonna become this ice skater there was druggie I think so I went to a private school and um I definitely knew that there were kind of like oh we gotta keep this kid in prayer cuz he is he's going in the wrong direction yeah that's gonna yeah direction but in your mind you're going in the right direction not I mean you thought is having fun I'm just going I'm going where you know what it was super interesting I loved it because I love this I love this foundation because when I got to skaters when I got around skaters oh my god it's the Christian kid huh mmm just like right in the middle huh he's trying to like want weed you know take a sip of that I'm like where do I belong what do I feel so it made me really Oh turn into analyzing everything everything too much so as you can tell I don't answer any question I'm just I say what my brains thinking sure I mean I just think stuff um the question you asked me was so far away man amazing it's amazing I'm so over here now I loved it because it just made me really question everything about life or whatever and but that was the feeling and that's what I never got it from my parents but my sister was like they're so worried that what are you gonna do you know hopefully you'll grow out of it at that point there was no there was no skateboarders making a name for it that we're like that you could do that as something oh no like so that's know like knowing it now like oh so now they're like parents that like 130 kids yeah thank you for sure oh no it was then it was like it was a year yeah it was like well let me put it this way too this is when the Jesus Movement was happening in 70s mm-hmm so I'm going to this old old but old way of a system that goes is even the Christian school system is shocked because there's a whole new movement of the the Jesus Movement the 70s it was like hippies long-haired dudes just surfers and freaks coming to the Lord okay like it was a huge revival like it was massive in this in the early 70s Wow and the church is like oh my goodness what's going on they're letting sinners in you know which is which is basically the whole the whole message of the Lord has for everybody were yeah he's died for all of us like he's that's easy diverse everybody should be able to come in sinners not for a system or a church service but I knew I felt and I saw that going on like we try to do the right thing we try not to do the wrong thing and there was a big shake-up in this this community that I was going to school with yeah that hippies and people that smoked weed at one point maybe are here sure or whatever and they're just on fire crazy rad dudes and then I was like involved in the this other side that was that so what are we gonna do with this kid that's gonna he's gonna become a pothead a loser a drop whatever that isn't that's what you were if you had a skateboard sure no future and they're your parents even the best the parents are like I just want better for my kid how about school yeah of course my dad wanted me to I think he mentioned computers back then back then for sure I didn't even know what a computer was but he wanted me to he was like maybe you could be an architect hmm and he wanted me to go to a trade school that was five years that would teach you architecture tough and computer stuff had was possibly on the horizon which I didn't even know it was way for it was way farther off and I could be my timeline could be a little bit off but I don't see how it could be because I knew by 78 I'm not I'm gonna skateboards yeah like you I don't know what else I'm gonna do but I'm not you're just gonna make money out of anything about I'm gonna skateboard and I don't know how or what kind of job or what I'm gonna do to fit in to do this but we were skateboarders well at this time I mean what you're like 13 or something right why 14 13 14 you know um but I had won an amateur contest and my sister said as soon as you won that amateur contest my dad was kind of thought maybe maybe he can do something with this hmm he took me to e is awesome we went to England twice he took me in England once in 75 but he took me in England once in 79 okay to skateboard oh wow took you out there to skateboard I think and I hadn't been I wasn't sponsored I was not gonna go anywhere um I had already entered some contest I entered a high jump contest and like whatever I won but it was all age group so it didn't matter you know 13 doesn't know I entered a high jump contest in 77 there was this little bull snake contesting I did that how high did you go the highest I ever jumped was I do you know what I mind you say it no it was a good eight or nine inches lower than my friend Henrique okay are you still one yeah but cuz you're not a thirteen going against other thirteen-year-old yeah realistically Island yeah we would do everything my friend would get me to do everything and so I kind of try to learned everything we just were the type of guys we learned everything we could try on a skateboard right they actually had a snake runs so they had a snake run contest and that was the first non freestyle or whatever Bowl and then I entered it was an amazing contest they had put taped off little areas in the snake run and had numbers in him and you went over it two points four points if you know is before it was kind of before the even idea of possibility of having a pool contest or whatever this is the beginning of the these kind of things you get all did you hit her most of the numbers there was this local dude that ruled he was an amazing skateboarder this guy Leonard we all looked up to him he was a local Ripper mm-hmm and he could do roll outs it wasn't there's no way a jet time okay no just but he could do a roll out rolling it just came out basically hmm and he put number whatever hundred up there like a five or something okay it was like a five up on the deck and everything else was one two threes and he knew how to like hit the bank roll out hit the bank roll out so he had a hundred and seventy five points and the rest of us had like four twelve eight it was awesome and the guy was a good skateboarder man Leonard killed it there was like a Highway Patrol little video that we're all um Highway Patrol safety film we were all in and I had to be the little kid that came in and like he was escaped they had escaped police escape artists what they had put like escape police or skate patrol at skate parks the guy they play still do it like the guy that makes sure everyone's running the pads or yeah yeah you come into the skate park in there check your trucks and like know your trucks are to lose nothing wouldn't yep they would check your truck yeah gonna come in you're like you can't ride that run you have to you have to go to the beginner area did not know what I was doing yet it was so new black this is 70s Montebello opened in 76 so this is right at 76 or the end of 76 right at the beginning of 77 this skate park opened Montebello is it's considered to be the second skate park ever to open oh but I think it actually there's there's data said it opened before Carlsbad but I don't think it did I think it was meant to open before Carlsbad but I think it opened a second okay but um if you look at books and there's a book I have it says that Carlsbad open to 77 and Montebello open six but okay I don't think it did and then if I remember correctly because we sent away for but I think there's a lag or whatever and we show up first day and then we can't ride that runs because you are a beginner you have to go through a whole test to see if you can move up to the novelist or advance this game police are testing so we paid and we had to go to the straight sidewalk so there's you know there's seriously like 60 kids standing inside a skate park riding a sidewalk right when there's a sidewalk right outside but we had paid or money to be inside the why doing handstands up and down this sidewalk because we're not allowed to go on the snake run run but you we all wanted to get to but there was hundreds of kids there so they didn't prove yourself before you got to the to the police or is the song to stand there watch you judging you or something the thing is I don't think they ever really got to the place where they did those things I think it slowed down mellowed out and then you kind of just the the rules went out the doors next week or whatever the skate police ever tighten or loosen or he was on skate Patrol yeah did they take mine they they tighten mine the very first time I went they tighten your truck oh yeah there's a guy Curtis hassle grave that was telling everyone how to stop drop and roll like they were doing the fire drills in the magazines about you had a fall and they saw it was funny the skate parks were funny right then they were like they didn't really know [Music] they didn't know what to expect is this brand new thing you know yeah they've made this thing and hundreds of kids show up that part by the way was absolutely obsolete by the time was built like no run was deeper than this oh wow all the pros that came there well like came once and left and like within three months it was done upland was built which had a 15-foot deep well that's how fast skateboarding was moving sure I got sidetracked you ask me something stumped me is it okay then no what no I can go for hours yeah that was the first event first event and you want it and that's when your dad Oh England yeah that's when your dad kinda no not that one this is how sorry sorry not that not that was way too small of a thing that was way too early that's okay I didn't went he didn't until 80 was after me England and everything and I got sponsored and won a amateur contest that's where my sisters like I think he kind of thought maybe you're right at that age where you probably should go get a job and I'll lighten up a little bit maybe something's gonna happen mm-hmm but I think they were concerned did you get the sponsor at the contest no this is four years later guys that's why I have that chip I got sponsors so late because I grew up with my friends that still were like saying that the spider ships not where it's at man it's about riding the pools it's about like if they venture we're just doing it yeah yeah that's like yeah but I still had this attraction to like oh wow this guy's rad and that guy's rad the magazines and everything yeah yeah you know the event oh this guy wanna this guy's cool you know Steve Olsen comes on in the way he looks changed everything yeah changed everything and I jumped that and I'm like and you know they're out there buying the the indestructible boy that will never you know it's this they produced an indestructible board that if it ever breaks you can return it and I'm like why are you getting the Jay Adams board like the jambs board has been obsolete for too now I'm like did I finally make money yeah you and they were right in their sense but I was still like I need to be a piece of this warrior so my dad took me to England which was incredibly killer because uh that's actually made boards that's what we did we would make boards I was at a point in time because it got to point to it's too expensive expensive and I could hardly add anything I had some of the best stuff had I'm very happy that I had the Stacy Peralta warp tail when it was a necessary board I had a Jay Adams Z flex which is a necessary board I had a 7-inch Alva I had a Val surf I wanted to get the Kent Senate or PPP but I got the one that fit they're gone and I got the alternate one which was basically the same board a little smaller without his name on okay still bummed about then I got the 10 inch Alva and then it all went south started making her own boards because it was too expensive it yeah and it turns out your skateboarding doesn't develop very good when you're writing homemade stuff pretty good it looks like a you know 13-inch or with one millimeter raised tail you have to see what was I mean you see how thin it is so you can't pump again even so I went to England on that board came back and this salivic a beam came out and I got a K beam and my skateboarding changed overnight it was actually you could pump and you get speed I think would just be more but I made a bunch of boards and stuff and for about a year year and a half probably um what a what age were you were at this point I was probably fifteen fifteen when I went to England okay I think I had my 15th birthday or my 16th birthday in England Wow 79 I was born in 64 79 who can do math I need a piece of paper and a calculator you took me there we went to museums to see the military stuff and then we went to the skate parks the skate park at that skate park to this and that's what we went to a place called Mad Dog Bowl where I met this kid Seth hmm which is amazing because I met him in 79 skated with him one summer and I haven't seen or talked to him I saw him a couple years ago in England really 30-something years later yet is amazing Wow skating still or no just yeah he was around girls room yeah you can't yes I went to ROM you been to ROM probably Romford Romford skate park in England might have actually her into hero mmm the two parts that were open seventies yes I think there's funny part about south bankers people used to ride it mmm-hmm and that was on our list and we could not find it no we were in South Bay we're on South Bank we're walking around on top of the scene the magazines like this but that was back in the set people wrote in the 1770s yeah that one we can find there's a couple we couldn't find which was funny cuz they're right under rocks but on Google map anything I had a tear out from a magazine with like addresses and a little like logo no pictures no so I went to this place called Gillingham and Rolling Thunder um met Jeremy Henderson you know hearing Henderson New York met them up there mr. Polansky mr. boss key which was a great skateboarder Shogo lived there at that time and Shogo had was we didn't see show go but he was doing a demo at ROM it right around the same time and we met didn't meet but saw Mike Santa Clara skate there and he was another British guy that was just great oh great it's not the one oh I thought you meant Clare with red vines on it in there whatever he took me there and there was this because everything was so late I had learned in verse by this time in verse word came out 78 okay and night so I had already whatever it's a year later we're already doing in verse easily a year and it was a fairly newish thing there because things are so late how long were you out there for a couple months not very long okay month maybe it's sure a day I actually just went to the airport anyways there there like I had new but new cubics cubics I just come out just like who do you write for who do you write for and like ride for like who do you sponsored by I'm like no no way where all those guys sponsored or were they just asking you come States and that was in England Mark Baker probably a sponsored in Sinclair like Newton probably Sabarsky and Henderson Henderson's actually from here he's not even British really but everyone thought it everyone we all thought he was British because he was went so he had taken probably what he has seen here over there and it advanced it a little bit right are probably a lot actually and then Baker and those guys had come over here and skating with Alvin really went over there but it was changing really quick and so long long long story longer um I just came back with this idea like sponsored maybe I can't be somebody somebody thought I could be sponsored yeah they were asked you know then so I came back thinking wow and my friend at that time came back and they got jobs kind of didn't ride as much mmm we had a ramp in his yard it's kind of like do you want to move there empty your yard oh they don't like it wow what is this gonna go is it gonna end that's what you were thinking yeah yeah what's what's next I want to go to the parks I never really got to go to the parks because I could only really skate on the weekends and stuff I had to go home be home before dark and me do my homework um with all those kids so his hugs are far you had to so I was like now let us get the park so my friend did we started going to the park a little bit and the park thing became very quickly like each park had teams and the parks would compete against each park hello so there's a whole amateur thing going on there was a Hester series which were the pros and then there was amateur series which was basically parks against parks so you had to get on the park team to compete won't know because there's 1a 2a and 3a which was basically unspun surd Park team and then shops well you know what were they sure okay yeah flow or sponsor yeah so I I was like oh you got a contest to be or whatever so I started entering these contests and um no it was great no it tells me the story it makes me feel good we'd be like you would you'd escape at the skate parks they've contests at the skate park well what I would do would go hey there's a there's a contest at Reseda there's a Reseda on you know May first so I I could only skate weekend so I would go hey get my friend or my sister or whatever to take me to Reseda practice two or three weekends and then try to get the contest sure like worth like if you went to reseed it was there a seated team yep in the receipt was probably pretty good at its own skate park always all localism yeah yeah it was long I mean that's the beauty of that thing it was like it was all just like today it's heavy localism like if you know the park you know the park and so really the people who rose to the top were the ones that weren't from that that could come and do okay or win yeah go to a park and win wow they're like who are you yeah yeah that was cab cabin oh you got Foss oh yeah they a Zam's went in it was just like crushed it who are these kids what the it change it the the it's amazing how the generations change so quick it's just insane how are you doing in the contests well these were just unknown oh that's am yeah I basically won all the time won all the time but I entered one a so here's the story as gonna get ya second contest I think I entered was that's not second whatever but there's a cost I don't remember when we started entering pool contest okay but one of the early ones I went to practice it was paramount and skating the night before or something cuz if nobody's there wasn't the weekend and know who was there Pat NoHo Pat no and NoHo was actually a pro he had actually been a pro in a pro contest right before that if I remember correctly because I knew who he was no pro board just kind of call regional design oh okay but he was am again crazy yeah you could enter pro contest even have a board but go back a tech company won what are you gonna do you can't go pro you can't stay pro so he was am in this contest oh god I had known he had already entered this pro thank you that's how he was a pro like I knew who he was and I was skating and he he says it to some that's not me but he was like it's like what age group you in like he said he was kind of like well his kids goodie I hope he's you know like well I might have practice or what I don't know but he was basically saying here's told me since that I didn't know it at time but he's told me the story since that he was like checking to see if I was in his age group and his division he didn't want to go up against you I don't if he didn't want to but it was just like sizing up all maybe sure okay I was in his age group but I wasn't one eight I was like I haven't entered anything before they told me like I got to go to my money he's like oh cool so I entered this contest in 180 like I should have been in 3a basically I should have been in there their division oh if the he was in 3a yeah not that I would have won or anything but I should have been in that division right and he it was obviously that he noticed that so I that's another thing I was like yeah but for me everything was fairly slow because um so I'd skate Lakewood mmm-hmm the Lakewood was kind of empty and I was like where's everybody and they're like there's a new park opened skate city Whittier oh yeah and this is kind of late this is this is an 279 right at the end of 79 80 and opened okay so I mean I had already ridden for a long time and if you're at the right place at the right time things can happen or whatever I'm looking at Eric Dressen 10 years old oh yeah riding with Alba never gonna happen and so I go to Whittier and it happens to be basically tryouts for the team I'm like so I entered it or what I don't even really remember Lucero tells me the story he's like there were locals he lived across the street they they were gonna be on the team skeet City team and there they basically had a small event or something and I guess they it was a contest but then they basically picked the team out of that contest okay and that the pros were George Orton was a local they're amazing like one of the first dudes that do massive frontside airs wait really - sitters gnarly he's like kind of a Danny wage type of you know like a you know falls out just for its time okay ray bones which had just uh just got his born on pal um and we knew who he was from before cuz he'd ride Makaha and stuff and just the best style beautiful like didn't even move like when he did backs it airs it look he honestly looked like he was just riding up a pita piece of Plex just yeah just perfect he was such a great style Wow he was a judge in this guy Darrell Miller which made up the Miller flip oh yeah actually hadn't made up the Miller flip by that time I think yet it's right around that time they were the judges and I got on the team it's not on the team I got on skis I won the contest and they put me on the team and like Lucero tells me the story cuz they were like locals it had it was already open for a little bit hmm and they were they were gonna be on the team and we came and took their spots oh wow and I was like dirt I was a dirt bag I had the worst equipment I had mm-hmm I was just I was a pile just a full scumbag because we had nothing you know and all that all the rad skaters at that time always had the newest cleanest Radice equipment new wheels every week new boards whatever was there and that was that was that was half of it just the way you you look at a girl like that guys sponsor look he's like no he's just filthy rich but at that time most skaters were it's kind of like now there's a lot of good people and there's like really what who do you pick and how do you decide and it's kind of the playing field was kind of the same mm-hmm and the old-school pros were already selling products so they weren't going anywhere right but all these new kids were like on the come up yeah what's going on yeah what's going on and the tension because of the contest were kind of dying at that point and yeah it's just it was an interesting time and me I mean Neil blender was an AM yeah was it my Jam's we're all am so gay tur was an M Tony was an AM Christian was an AM I'm come he wrote from Marina he wrote for Big O then they wrote for Gina you know Gina it all happened quick so right when I got in that contest George Orton was like hey what do you want to write for Vera flex so not only did you get on skate city I was like no I just I just came from England wondering if I could be I don't want to really get on a team what do you mean this was your dream that I'm telling you I was like now it wasn't really my dream I didn't know maybe dream was around but you people were already saying like hey are you sponsor he spun you had it in your mind yeah I think the main and I think I honestly told him I was riding a Ray bones board I had bought a Rea buttons board it was smashed and nothing and I was like honestly I want to get them pal or and Ray bones gave me a board you told the fair fly now I remember you asked me that now it's like kind of know if I ever did get sponsor I kind of want to write for Ray bones or pal how ray gave me stuff I was like I think I'm gonna in the air damn bro bro it's super funny man because I have a photo it's so rad it's so rad and my dad shot it I have a bunch of pictures we always shot stuff and I always try to emulate stuff and I can just see what I'm doing like I'm sitting there talking to George Warren and Ray bones mm-hmm in the photo but it honestly it seriously looks like I was like a dad I'm gonna walk right by him and when I get close to him can you shoot the photo like I think I'm part of this thing and I'm not part right right and I want to be part of this thing and I don't think they even know who I am right and but I kind of got a board from them so yeah I'm I'm at basically on PAL right like all this weirdness you know anyways George Orton basically quit severe flex and rights for Santa Cruz right away anyways okay and I skate for the park team for about a year and a half mm-hm and I got a board my board got stolen at this other contests and Skai Steve Hirsch which was one of the main very flex riders he was him and Eric Grisham won every doubles contest gave me his board can I got my board stolen actually I'm skipping a whole part Darrell Miller after Ray bones thing basically didn't happen ray kind of didn't wasn't even going to the park that much anymore Darrell Miller got a board I got a couple boys off Darrell Miller he wrote for Kanoa that kind of died too high and I got I was riding his board he got stolen at this at this contest but fell apart and I don't even know why anybody steal those boards fell apart so bad and Steve Hirsch gave me aboard and which is crazy because I had those Vera flex trucks on oh yeah backwards trucks actually potato skate master tape tater was the team manager of India at the time and he was the manager of skate city so he had given me trucks already so I'm like oh I'm kind of getting flow from Indy but I'm nobody in this thing because they gave everyone product like and everyone like right when I went to skate city this guy Greg tie took me to Steve Kathi to genus guy like having me go skate the skate park and skate in front of him it's like a tryout I didn't know I was like no so the guy that the guy that we're at Whittier kind of like thought I think they saw something and tried to ship me and sell me around mmm I even got a phone call one day they're like just Stacy Peralta's bringing Scott Foss and Steve Caballero down to this contest it was right after they had just came on the scene and got known from winning this contest they're gonna come down they're gonna come through skate city come down now's your chance to be seen I I met Stacy before okay I don't know if he knows who I am or anything at this point gotcha but I think I know him because I've talked to him at Montebello and blah blah he didn't know who I was okay how's your chance you probably know you know I'm thinking like oh Ray's priority talk to him gives me some or it's like then all my friends are like you know Parker like here's your chance let's get you on pal kind of thing Wow let's get the bad news bears on pal duck because we're the Bad News Bears I come down skate around whatever cab basically it's have said since like oh gosh we hated you know why were you trying okay down here all around all around trying to do tricks behind them and stuff are you gonna Majan that because I didn't even skate like yeah cab okay I skated more like Foss mmm which was a little bit easily kind of aggressive okay no more aggressive II mmm-hmm and out of control more got you wonderful so yeah like following these guys alright no are there yeah I guess I was I don't even really know I'm thinking yeah they went to skip this I went to skate it with them they went to skate that I went to skate it with him I'm thinking like they're trying get away from the entire time yeah maybe I don't even know that I'm not in their position you're even thinking about their position I'm thinking that Ray's given me product and the guys that work at Whittier that have been shopping me around told me to come down and this is your kids which you know just it just exposes how like until you're in you're in that's right to your interior in you're not in you know I mean look at his cap said that he hated you at first I don't know if it in hates the right word okay I said hated I think you know he is like young yeah you ask him I've heard him say it before I didn't even know he knew I was there to be honest maybe you were but I wasn't like ever thinking I want cab to see me skate because Stacie's making a decision he said dude yeah yeah turns out our friend and local kid that rode all the brand new pal stuff got Stacey ended up flowing him stuff instead of you yeah and we were so us my friends were more jealous than me they're like it was funny it was really cool so what did you do you did you nothing cuz you eventually got unverified say what I was just like I just said I did that skated there and just went back home and sat by the phone wait'll we come in never came I'm just joking um I actually might have known that they didn't even hit I I knew by them talking and hanging on giving this other kid boards that there was no interest and so I was I think I kind of went along like oh yeah I'm just that's cool I just skate but at that point you're already like that's when the bug is like you when you said why didn't you take that first offer yeah I'd probably was like why did I take that first off exactly you know now you're going like oh whoa yeah we're just doing this for fun like but my boards are garbage I got nothing I'm writing you need boards with no nose like I mean we dried boards for a year back then oh yeah it's totally different right full year and that's when you knew filming sponsored this is like I mean we write wheels for trucks I rode the same trucks I had three pairs of trucks before I got basically sponsored from 75 to 80 I had three pair of the trucks basically that's incredible we wrote trackers everyone rode trackers because there was no other truck mmm and then a truck came named Bennett came out which turned way better and so it's like some people were like if he weren't sponsored by tracker you went in row Bennett's I think pretty much everyone who sponsored by tracker though HM and it's Bennett's broke the base plates broke all the time so you'd get this AC you get another base plate and put it on ACS base plate or Excalibur and instantly that's what Indy made they made a Bennett hmm Olson and Blackheart and basically I think told Fausto make a Bennett is what round because it's the same truck Oh Shepherd didn't have a plastic base plate and it was round but it turned is the same tourney well he's had plastic base plates and they break yeah and so I skated Lakewood and Bobby Valdez Darrell Miller Powerflex guys even though I never I only saw Olson at Lakewood once even though he is there every day supposedly I wasn't there very much there was in de terre Indy territory I was gonna write Indies mmm-hmm so I was trying to get through the point that I was riding Indies and then I had to ride Vera flex trucks in the next next day in a contest entries which him that's how rad it is when you're young I had known it was fine right put together I didn't know yeah and they're like hey we write from Bowflex the next contest was it the same guy that you turned down before or different no no because George Orton ended up writing for Santa Cruz okay oh that's right yeah so it was Steve Hirsch basically pointed me out too I mean kill low see which was Allen lost his dad was actually the guy that ran the team so at some point gill must have really asked asked me but you turn pro pretty quick on Vera flex right within like a year or something yeah I won season ones like you know I mean yet it was all contest but yeah so you had to prove yourself so I mean I was nobody not even known and I was like I'm on Vera flex I mean there's a known because you're the skate park kids yeah so there's hester series one has four series to Gold Cup is basically like three different generations almost every generation was dressed is that three-year period is like a ten year period now right realistically so we are the AMSAT Gold Cup and first contest I broke my ribs during the contest probably right before it but I got fifth at that contest okay it was at Oasis which is let me explain it this way to a lot of the pools are keyholes mm-hmm which are basically half pipes yeah which is funny because I was a halfpipe skater I rode half pipes a lot because I didn't get to go to the skate parks and I had a halfpipe I know my friend Enrique had the halfway kind of used it to your advantage a little bit no I couldn't ride any of the keels that were half pipes oh really always did terrible in those contests I always did better at the upland ones of any ones that had lines okay that you could adapt or change or whatever and that's might have been because I was so used to writing really terrible stuff I was able to do stuff on terrible walls that people would avoid but when it came down to just difficult I choked all the time so then the second one is a Big O and I won which isn't like nobody expected that at all for sure like how many people are entering these am contests at the time it's so funny it's like you think it's nothing but there's like 70 dudes that's incredibly there was a weird short period where if I look at the list and not everyone entered okay but in the Gold Cup there was like 71 pros I think and there's probably could be wrong it might be as low as 40 but between 40 and 70 dudes I mean it's a big deal if you win that's a lot of people to go through at that time that's the only way you've got sponsored right if you're gonna win an event there the guys winning cab was winning the pros well Dwayne that year Duane Eddy and cab whether there was grit um I'm trying to think who else wanted content that probe one of that one Mickey alwah we're still ripping okay yeah Mickey had won the year before and he was still he won the first you won the Oasis contest oh wow Duane won the second one Duane one that pro I won the am third one blowing it I should know this no but Christian won that one I believe okay marina okay that was his little stomping grounds yeah which was weird I didn't have a stomping ground I won at Big O which is like it would have been Bob seraphim's place the Santa Cruz rider so even a bigger deal that you won there and I want to make a point Billy rough won everything at this point Oh is he he was winning he in yeah he won the overall hammer and then next year he would turn pro and won basically everything huh but John Gibson was incredible he was another guy that should have been a pro a year before like he came from Arizona and rode pools and was got he got second that year and nobody could come from other places and ride this stuff no one came from outside Rhode Island you know huh and he dominate he is awesome Wow but anyways uh blah blah blah that's up in Texas did I say I was thinking of this Arizona contest yeah yeah he's from Texas so when you're winning all these contests are you know you're doing good and then there what is very flex just asked to say hey weren't sure you're pro no no it's not that fun I want a lot of amateur contests in the a spa days the skatepark days and pretty easy to win okay then it moved to the sponsored thing and I won that one main one I got third overall hmm it was whatever what happened was skip earning tied yeah it come it completely died and there was almost all the parks closed most of the riders kind of just phased off or fiddle like didn't know where to go and they hmm they didn't the next year they didn't show up to the contest I think one of the biggest reasons and this is good reason to learn from competition to the year they did the gold cup they decided they were trying to figure out another way to make it more unbiased okay legitimate real real competition take the biased out of skateboarding which we'll get to that but that's the only good part about skateboarding is the bias the biased opinion is the only good part about it yeah I like that guy jurors guy oh yes that guy so in the competition they decided that year that 25 percent of your score there's 75 is your runs you took two runs best run counts 75 percent of score 25 percent of the score was the compulsory everyone had to do the same eight tricks it was set set yes frontside carve frontside air invert backside carve backside air invert slide to fakie fakie slide rock and roll rock walk okay to do the same run everyone had to do that run and he basically judged you on how you use the pool and if you could do the tricks yeah and at least half of the pros from that era didn't want to do inverts there was a new trick and they're forced to learn it like Olson will say it or whatever like I never learned it I didn't want to yeah you did he'll say to this day never did one they were forced that that which is a fine but it's like nuts not fine yeah of course and it showed the am's like most of us could do it better than the pros but we'd watch someone like Jay Smith mm-hmm drop in John lacera and I watched him drop in and there this is a run you're supposed to do that compulsory and he learned Andric so he could do it and he would just he'd do the Butte he would just drop in his dude front side car front side car frontside Carver frontside Carver lay back and were like he's the best he's the bat right he's the best one but he couldn't compete the next year or he didn't want to compete the next year it just made him like turn them off turn them off yeah turn them off on comput is what it's about on this resort but it also gave us opportunity there you go which was horrible because basically skateboarding said hey there's no more pros you're Pro now and we're like we made it we get this where is everyone people we love everyone's gone yeah damn this is what 80 81 81 okay Wow yeah 80 that was there that contest where they had the compulsory 81 it was so small and it was dying they had pro amps and so I want to say there was a Pomona pipe and pool contest actually the one that rusty Harris passed away yet hmm he actually had a heart attack at the contest oh yeah and I want to say Caballero Mickey Alba mm-hmm we're the pros from the last year and then it was myself Billie ruff Neil blender Tony Hawk as amps and I think I ended up in third or fourth and so it was like well you're pro know who you entered her pro contest like Johnny says you just like walk up you're like Pro Am check so you're like basically going I'll take the money this time it's okay last time you couldn't take he's so very flex did you ever get a Bourdon very flex or you did okay because you were you were torturous is is like we're up to nineteen eighty this is this is okay this is what we do you know but um Julie you turn pro for very flex right but then shortly after Powell Powell Peralta right yeah like within like a year no no no I uh well like I got on Palin eighty-three okay eighty-three got on Vail flex in eighty turn pro and eighty one eighty three how did the Powell think yeah and you know what happened is um so one of the reasons I got a barrel flex which was awesome was they're gonna go on a US tour and I don't think even Ames everyone on the US tour so I got I got on and I went on this US tour okay with them which was amazing so I um but at that time park after Park when we're going was closing or closed or whatever it was it was like the death of skateboarding trip shop it was sure it was it was the death of skateboarding trip we went to Apple and Apple was closed we didn't even go up to Cherry Hill because I had already closed were you just driving and you we had mapped it out but they had mapped it out but when you got there driving by the time they had we made shirts and everything and then by the time we're on the road Cherry Hills closed we're not opening it Apple's closing but we opened it up for you maybe Wow Denver Boulder was closed they opened it up for us half the things are full with water we're demoing at the most eight people eight people are showing up yeah yeah this is nobody it was dead Park after Park it was am the and the low sees were had already started kind of moving into the all the skate parks were closing they're struggling so they started making our seat racetracks oh and they got started getting kind of into their icy car business as we're going on this trip hmm and by the time we're done Gil realizes like I'm not gonna do the pro thing anymore I'm gonna do RC really basically so the owner his brother owned the Vera flex and together mm-hmm and so the pro side of it was basically like let me go over here so I was still on Vera flex as a rider without Alan Lucy's dad Krishnam al Guerra all the top pros were basically there was nothing so it was me and Alan left on bare Flex basically you know I started working at Bear flex so I could make some money okay what a warehouse job so my dad's belief was coming true could it make anybody doing this making millenia doing it so I had to add jobs I was working I worked at a it's a great job too I worked out very flex oak screening you screen your own pro boards so I actually got a job so I worked at Whittier skate park okay what do your skate park closed mmm no that whole Whittier the whole period of Whittier skate park and all the antics that happen in a skate park is a whole nother thing that was just amazing stuff we can get into that too um but we're jumping ahead okay so the park closes and I actually get a job working at a night watchman so they wouldn't steal wood from what a construction and construction site drawing my graphic for bear flex because they're like you're gonna turn pro you get it so I'm sitting atop you know your top row you're gonna get a board what Nightwatchman so people don't still would thinking sure you get a layer for the ramp and like yeah you get a board but you get to draw it come up with ideas and like wow pros skateboarding is not as I had dreams no um so then I get a job at Vera flex excreting boards okay which is amazing because where flex did the exact same thing pal was doing they got all these little Hobie went out of business and they had thousands and thousands of little boards pal aghanim and silkscreen him as Street boards Vera flex got him and I was so excreting him as Cobras freestyle boards or so I don't know what they were but they were so bad that their that splinters and everything they're ripping the screens and I'm like driving all the way to chats where it's from alhambra like what am i doing and I you know obviously talked to my mom going Wow just to see I was like Stacy Peralta is the only one that's even doing anything with this right like he was a pro and I was like is this what it is is like it's over and now we have to figure out this Avenue like to do what Stacy does just do it like it's done I mean Tony we all have the checks to prove it $14 check if I sent ya my little one was a $14 check but what is 14 bucks come on horrible he was 13 or 14 he says right now I can get by I is 18 yeah yeah I was like well this is right on the cusp of like okay you got to figure this out so um desert ramp battle with the next contest and uh I I was skating with Stevie a lot okay cuz I was like you just want to be around dudes it I heard go to San Jose this is pathetic I'd go to San Jose and have a horrible time couldn't skate and everything but I'd use it for motivation really yeah oh I'd go there and I'm saying I just used that episode for motivation I don't think I've ever went to San Jose and skated well and had a good time I never went to Del Mar I skated well and had a good time what was it just cuz of the parkour knows me just thing is just how I function like I'm uh moody emotional yeah skateboarding is emotional it's about these things it's not about those things and when you're put in those situations it's I just used them to fuel the fuel line because it's playing the game yeah you know a lot of people can't play the game because the game's not that fun there's only a few people that actually like that game yeah and they do really well but a lot of people go that's not the real thing how do you deal with it and so I was so scared to be not get it that I was like I understood it play the game right figure it out do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do and part of it was going skating and being pushed and being so motivated that you didn't do as you'd want to that you came back on fire huh there you go yeah so I was skating with Stevie a lot I think we were friends we connected I think a lot I think he was I think he was attracted to that I just didn't give a rip right so the next contest was great desert rap ramp battle and this is a time where I was making bondage pants and stuff and Stevie was wearing bondage pants and started playing music and even at that contest is it when you didn't interview Stevie he'll tell you the whole story but Stacey was like what are you doing you don't care about skateboarding anymore because he wasn't in first place or somebody was like wearing punk you're hanging out with lip I don't know and then he came back and won obviously okay but uh at that contest Stacey came to pick me up with Stevie to go out to the great Reza trampled battle and um the story's been told a million times but um I had to talk to my mom and my mom straight up went to Stacey was like yeah you know Lance is really concerned and worried about the future and he wants a love scape when he wants to be involved but it's kind of like where does it go was it you know he's pointed out and showed me and we know that you you do that you've done this you're a pro that has done this and he's interested in you have any ideas or how I can help him or what do you what when he might think er yeah yeah something like that basically approached him and basically he came just like well what do you want to come work for me like work for you or pretty much huh and so we had the conversation was like look it um you think you have to leave very flex I'm not gonna steal you off Mary flex I don't do that but if it ends and you leave oh oh we'll pick you up in three months which I don't know if we should even tell but Newton Stacy was awesome he's very polite and everything that's the right way to do it even though us even though you probably this is amazing as Stacey never took anyone off of anything it's incredible like he wanted to build his guys no but since the real scenario was that skateboarding was gone and he could see that I wanted to be around and work it the real offer was for me to come there I wouldn't have a board anymore I'd ride for it mmm then just kind of fade into his position as he taught me and showed me what the ways and so I got on as employee actually really and one of my things was I had I went up hung out with Stacey and Stasik and went to pal once a month with them on meetings and things and was gonna make up intelligence reports and learning the business and because I say the intern yeah basically a professional in you know I mean it's fuzzy at points its lair whether that's what was really thought or not thought or expected I don't really know to be honest hmm I looking back on I feel super Fe really guilty because I was like are you doing that I'm gonna beat your dudes since I was a kid I you want the guys that you think are the best to think that you're good yeah of course I've had this conversation with a couple people it's like there's nothing you can do if you if you're like you're good but you're not my favorite there's nothing that poor kid can do to change that mind either yeah nothing nothing you could do all the right things and you can get to the point where like I never really thought that much of it but you're amazing now yeah that's all you do yes you never go back and go yeah you were the dude when you're falling Stevi around I saw hugger like you're great yeah so that will never happen but the amazing opportunity and to sit back and go that's like even in the documentary it's kind of I would say it's kind of I think things are misunderstood oh yeah after I talk to skaters because my main thing is they were like oh you didn't ever thought you're good enough you didn't plan you should happen you belong nothing that was never really said I was I never should have been on pal cuz I rode for someone else mmm Stacey did not take people from somewhere else right otherwise he would have taken Miller he would have taken Neal he would have taken not us he would have taken all these people that were in this thing you didn't take people off he builds his own guys yeah but I was this mishap that was supposed to go work and just refused to do what I was supposed to do and force my way back in I was just like I'm gonna win the next contest yeah I was so adamant about winning the next contest no his next contest was st. Pete I got second and then the next one was up when I won one Upland yeah Wow but I'm also that type of dude - that was like one not that win again again I just had to prove my point so I have this wrong motivation I have just uh it's interesting yeah it's like without being super rude I've been told by people like by bosses you're the you're a jack of all trades but you know master of nothing right Wow and I'm like which is a good thing I guess nope or like you said well it's a bad thing I don't know I would take it as I thought of it yeah I think it's a good thing okay cuz I think it means it's exactly what I wanted to do yeah I'm good at a lot of things and I can beat your masters there you go if they're masters they should never be beat money uh-huh each one every one of them but you also proved your point though by winning but that's it's also it's a defense of a fearful position mm which can be dangerous and also can be really motivated because I'm a I dream a lot you know and like a lot I think a lot of people are dreamers yeah and um that can be an empty thing because you can you'll never reach it because as soon as you're close you then you dream another dream another one you never get to go was great right and then the the things that drive you are different there's like a different motor driving thing and some so you get driven by these different things yeah so um I don't know why I went from there but um I think I was really just supposed to go work and fade away how old were you at that point 18 18 oh no no no aw come on yeah no I got on palette 18 so which is I mean it's late yeah that was late back then I became an employee there no I wasn't gonna see this like um I think and I think Neal blender and Jeff crossover man Grasso's maybe a little young but you know saucy gross oh but like our clique Neal for sure because we were contemporaries like I think like what Neal was doing at his stage as an amateur was incredible it was obviously different mm-hmm but I also think he thinks like what I was doing at that point was one of my highlights but if you're not on the right thing or no one really there you're not the right place it's not getting documented no one cares like um it doesn't really matter that's a matter and that's one thing when I got on pal I have Stacy behind me saying this kid matters now right but truthfully I I was that kid that was would do certain things and then see pros do it later in an ad and going yeah [Laughter] I think a lot of I think that happens a lot or whatever sir but it don't matter until it's presented by the right people in the right place and the thing there you go and not that Vera flexure wasn't the right place it had its time and it wasn't in incredible it's not the Vera flex that people know of as Fairfax that's what it became when Gil left mm-hmm that cutting edge Pro team left and it became a toy store company yeah but they had Eddie or guru which is Tony Hawk's and Steve Caballeros icon oh you know um architect mm-hmm that's the guy they copied at Eric Grisham which was the gnarliest dude hmm Steve Hirsch and them always won every doubles patty Hoffman won every girls contest um they had my Kirsch and they had Siegfried they had other abs and everything they had Jordan at the beginning it was a very it was Plan B basically right it was basically Plan B when sorry it's H Street Oh H tricks more of aged okay it's kind of like it's more like that it was like it was like moving it forward it was like flip what was it like girl I'm just kidding no no no it's not like girl no no no no no it's not like girl because it was the brand that the people loved it and knew it but there was a there was a definite group of people against it mmm-hmm there was a group of people against it and Santa Cruz and Indy were flying the flag against it pretty hard really against fair flex yeah yeah well the last contest they were spitting on Eddie they're spitting on Eddie or girl why though their version is that this was robotic skating no style robots mechanical level of whatever yeah our version is that we're style Punk feeling I think a lot of the rival really really came from the trucks because Vera flex had their own truck you know salbo always says like oh we liked you because you wrote India sounds like I did writing when you're on perfect you know I didn't see our boards came complete basic yeah and so there's a bit of that there's a bit of and that's what I'm saying I was in there going like Dwayne dug me like I was on bare flex but he dug me he was it coming like they and salvo would too but they would spit on all of it you know but but I was on verified so they weren't supposed to like me right and the Vera flex dudes were red and they always say oh it's robots or they're not Punk and we're pumpkin is like but Steve Hirsch went to Punk shows before thrust so it was just this weird thing um a lot of them it was very trick oriented gosh skateboarding was very trick oriented at the point and we everyone learned that you could do an axle stall and a new trick and win the contest rather than you go back and look at and Steve Alba's lines are amazing and the things he's doing he does lean grind revert but he wasn't placing in the top five because he didn't have the new tricks and that that was happening right then and there was a rebellion against it and the rebellion against it was coming from the same people though but they're pretending they weren't that like Dwayne Dwayne Peters and Eddie Ogura are exactly the same skateboarders hmm like they skateboard the exactly the same way right one doesn't surf or one doesn't carve they do new tricks but one Dwayne they're the guys I was talking about before Dwayne played a theater and yeah he created a following of this is what he's supposed to be and it was against Eddie mmm which is a shame because they're actually really their friends and there are the same dude but it was it'd be Kate it almost created a shtick that he has this he's trapped too now yeah yeah where he could just that they could enjoy themselves now it's in shame but he's still stuck in that because he doesn't realize like everything off outside of acid dropping into the square that no one else has done in the world people can do okay we love you Dwayne because you did the acid drop not because you spit on Eddie not because you pretended to be more punk not big not because you put up a wall because you're a better skateboarder than any room in the world not because you can OD more not cuz that's all the stuff other people can do sure what you do want to skateboard is why we love you yeah oh that's why we love Eddie yeah but we can still go the theater and that feeling that you brought us mmm is what we want but it also can kill the another guy the next guy or it kills the next guy and also kills you yeah yeah it's like where do you play that game where do you play in between where it's not self-destructive and you're still that dude and you enjoy it and it's brutal skateboarding is chewed up and spit out thousands of people it still does yeah yeah ran way more and a lot better skaters than me I've been chewed up and spit out so quickly well it's the attitude that you have for sure to like burning bridges like you got to be if you're gonna be the ski you've been in the skate industry very very long time it's because not because your skateboarding is really good he's done a lot of great things for skateboarding but you have a good attitude about it I think that sticks out a lot of people in the that's the people that need to be in skateboarding still there's a lot of great skateboarders that yeah I get it you know everyone's had your rough times and some people have a hard harder time they're rougher times and it's how you navigate it and I mean Stacy taught us well be prepared it's ending be prepared ascending be prepared ascending when it ended everyone freaked out yeah but which is crazy is most of his dudes were able to navigate it yeah did he pick guys that can navigate it or did he help us help us a little both maybe yeah there must have been crazy like how was it when skiing died then it picked up up again where you just kinda like a little Mike which time there was a time though let into now like basically like whoa like in the 90s I guess so it's like blue night it died down quite a bit yeah I mean I've always I got um you know as employee yeah and I'm gonna do that and I love that because I love the inner workings of it stuff aesthetic and these days I love the I loved it all wait as were made I would get the ads and no one else wanted crazy weird as a Craig wanted to do I was like I want to do that yeah sure ones like that I want to do that like it give me that no and the other time I'm like oh but I was like what yeah I'll do it attitude the way they called Mikey yeah Mike you'll do it no I uh I don't think it's maybe it was that desperate I'll do it attitude and maybe everyone thought I was desperate but I I think I got it hmm I liked it I liked those things I love that my head was on a naked Ken doll totally amazing I don't know if anyone else really wanted that alright but I'd also when we came to the film well that's separate that's a little bit after so I got that to be um that's gonna just fade over there work over there just AC had no idea where the industry's doing no I was I got him I got him pal making two hundred dollars a month which was a lot better than fourteen and fifty dollars a month sure I got married making two hundred dollars a month oh wow that's crazy more what were you living at two hundred dollars a month I still I was at my parents gotcha yeah okay so I'm on pal get two hundred dollars a month I don't know how long it is exactly but they're filming for the first video mm-hmm and Craig and Stacy or whatever they decided to have me kind of weave the story together Oh gotcha whatever I don't really have a spotlighted part but I have a ramp so it's like they're gonna come right my ramp like oh I was a janitor I I was available or the glue or whatever like Stacy gave me those opportunities but I was also like having a side guy that could do those things was probably good for him sure but they they were like gonna weave me through anyways when that video came out Stacy just basically was like hey everyone's asking for your board would you would you consider having a board again Wow and I'm like yeah course I was like yeah of course I wanted that he all asked me like is like I thought you didn't want a board and we decided not to have a board would you want it that way I'm like yeah of course I want to Boise um and I got married right then so I was still making 200 others a month but the board came out and just bounced up to two grand well right well yeah I went straight to two grand for having a board like it boomed it everything clicked right then I think sales and everything started picking up and okay stuff happened video was a hit yeah I mean having a video changed it was a big thing in skateboarding mm-hmm and I got to be like this thing that tied it together so realistically I got to be the the model that you can make it in a video rather than contest which I thought was crazy because I want enough contest I thought but if you don't win all of them I guess it doesn't matter I don't know yeah it's weird it's like isn't one ramp contests good enough isn't one air contest good enough like that's how I was one pool contest like I got a trophy I've won one contest and everything like one thing that is needed but I'm like I guess I didn't put the time in to got enough points in the snake run yeah my guy so yeah I was amazing like well going from two hundred to two grand overnight is it yeah it's life-changing you know it was like I'm just like well we can do this yeah we can do this right it all felt like we almost gonna make it we're gonna make it I got him like when I got pal John and those dudes were like they were like one of us got on that team there you know like one of us going up like it was cool it was like the dirt bag that came like the dirt bag got on pal sure and I was like riding a sword in scull not array bones Rodriguez is just like I'm still like wow I should be in the room I should have been riding a rebel Rodriguez board it was sword and pala by that time but I mean you know that's why I went straight to the vato like oh yeah the bottle board the one that's Craig didn't so fought Oh rat hmm well meows uh yeah I've got to I mean that's your put alongside Stacy was really good at putting people alongside each other you always get people from two different areas mmm each other Scott Foss and Steve cab and you're like sauce is a guy cab obviously it's a guy yeah but you know in our hearts Foss is everything - but that's not known in history as much and then like so he is always he put people in areas um and from my area there was Teddy Bennett and David Z David Z was amazing skater oh those are the guys that were am's when I was trying wanted to be him okay gotcha so I got on and then your ear with cab and McGill Tony dream come true we just didn't want the dream to end that was the dream right the dream come true was that we get to do it tomorrow that's the dream and is still the dream mmm so it's not like I can't even think today like I would love to be this or dad or do this or win that it's like I just want to do it tomorrow yeah yeah that's really all we want so is it that was like oh this this dream yes I don't have to worry about tomorrow this is gonna last a while yeah yeah that's what I think okay right but it's also like I was trying to say it also became very quickly this era where it was working mm-hmm and it wasn't really what you wanted you didn't want to here's this opportunity to wear this and make that here's this opportunity to do this and get that and something we just kind of really wanted to skateboard right where we wanted when we wanted with who we wanted and make and make money sure yeah don't work that way yeah it's like yes you get to go to you know you get to go to Italy mm-hmm and ride a mini-ramp where they expect you to do a 540 in see-through pants or whatever like Tony and I went is amazing story but you had to do it cuz it was 500 bucks we got to do it you got it we went Tony Tony Hawk's I went to Italy to do a TV show with four hacky-sack errs no no sorry for roller skaters uh-huh to hacky sack errs and a chainsaw juggler to do a TV show hell of variety yeah it was one of the best trips because it was so bad it was so gnarly and crazy and we get there and it was there's a halfpipe on stage made out of one sheet of thin birch with a two-by-four across the top did Tony tell you the story no oh it's amazing Tony awesome Tony the best humans possibly like cuz I'm just like instigator grumbly like whatever and he feels the same but he's not like whatever he just looks not like but obviously Tony's gonna go do it because you're good at it yeah so they take us in this back room to get our costumes oh and I see right away with the what's going on before Tony and I went straight for the see-through blue pants and he had a see-through yellow pants and I first ride I bailed in my knee went through the ramp seriously is this in front of a live audience or the TEL are they filming it for the live audience the next day but this is there was practice test day gotcha stage is full of mirrors I don't know if it's Tony or me it makes more sense it was Tony mm I mean me okay bored shoots off breaks one of the mirrors and they just like nope doesn't so so yeah I don't think we even did the show they cut you I think so you still get paid yeah those are your pants completely see-through like did you could you like if you weren't wearing underwear yeah yeah yellow would be easier to see through I think but it that's why I chose oh my god and I think I might add underwear I don't think Tony did no but I think he got him to give him a pair is no I don't know wasn't yet asked him was it chain saw juggler wearing see-through pants - no they had a different office they had different outfit they gave the skateboarders see-through shorts how are you how did you hook this up would it who's your agent yeah what's we were on the PAL videos oh that they wanted you guys yeah I'm with Tony Hawk everybody else go I'll do it just that kind of stuff you know you're like if they're great experiences yeah of course but they're also like this is what we this is what we started this what are we doing but then again they're great they're great experiences I love some of the worst experiences to me I just love them yeah just you know I mean some people are like this I'm like they're just like oh it's a great severity to later yeah it's just like and I could be the one that like constantly that's like pushing the buttons and making it worse for everybody and everything and me sitting back going like I'm fine I didn't realize like it's a bad trade I have it's just like instigator or like just yeah it's a bad trade but it's I thought it was funny at some point well you're just having fun right I mean you're trying to miserable what I'm having yeah trying to have fun yeah I mean you're near the Italy wearing blue see-through Goff payments already created man all the craziness is I almost died that trip I thought a cop was gonna shoot me pull the machine gun on me do it let's get most scared I've been in my life what would you do we used to wearing the pants I know we're just stuck at our hotel there's a miserable hotel and I want to tell a story Millersville hotel and it was right in there's a prostitute's all up and down the street in cars oh yeah and the cops would pull by and we were skating home and a cop was pulled up and Tony had a camera and I was like okay myth camera and I went to shoot I went to I shot a photo with Tony scammer I think in the flash went off oh they didn't like that off just one they went down reverse almost ran me over came out with pop that one machine oh my god film and everything oh wow oh they let me go you can take photos the cops hang out with prostitutes with a flash at night it was bad I didn't even know the flashes on gun okay it's one of those things this is one thing right but it was scary I was scared I'm bet I bet I thought he's gonna shoot me because you know the yelling at you in a language didn't know and it was a machine gun yeah yeah but the Powell days must have been in crime inna you did you guys did what 8 videos or something 3 give or take now 3 long it's like everything else it ended on this third one much more that should have happened no but you were part of something oh yeah it was great yeah phenomena was I'm nine years you know seen good luck it seems I mean there's only nine years really that was on that's a long time is it nine years on a skate company no I'm too long behind the old school where it's like you're just gonna write for one company yeah yeah yeah even nowadays you told that doesn't happen I mean that cab has cab has been able to basically ride for the same company there's a whole career yeah that's true yeah it's such a blessing but it's also because he had an avid do you have to have avenues to do that yeah of course so horse but what what it ultimately happened with Powell when it came to an end Bowen came to knit yeah times change yeah it's just um with skateboarding hitting that wave again or with you or will you just no um no no no it's skateboarding so um we were riding the wave yeah we were riding their wave and it's like the same thing it's like you get on this train that you you think nothing can go wrong and yeah in the arena doing the same thing over and over and over and Street skating is really changing yeah start not that Street skating wasn't there I mean I can go back to Whittier like we've had these conversations like even Stacy did a little post the other day of John Lazaro and Richard Romeo they got low at Whittier who got kicked out I kicked out of the park and they would all they would do was skate and imitate all the stuff on the curbs Slappy's yeah it's worth Slappy's email um board slides inversion all that stuff so everyone comes to the contest and Stacey and Stasik see those guys doing it mmm they come back and actually talk to them about possibly representing their brand they're gonna do little boards and they see what Stacey sees where it's gonna say sports girl yeah I think John basically I actually know John and I'm like yeah we don't wanna do that can you just get us back in the park oh they didn't do it no they didn't do it they didn't really take that opportunity I mean they saw what was doing and he saw what the kids were potentially doing and there was a change it wasn't everyone's Street skated everyone's skateboarded before we rode parks we rode the streets sure you know there's that time like I was talking about like all we wanted to do were when people are doing 360s I just want to go down the sidewalk and up the driveway and down the sidewalk and up the driveway and then there's a bush and this is the surf thing yeah of course I want to do and then that kept going steeper and steeper to vert so everyone skated Street curbs everything right roll on the curbs do they they messed with it but because they were outside they really developed a couple more things so what did the tide was shifting more towards it Street skating yeah bottom line Stacey picked young guys raised him up right and Steve came along and stole him pretty much that's really what has happened it was he was raising up dudes in an old way where Caballero basically won contests for a year and a half before he got a board guy Mariano Rudy Johnson these guys are coming up oh yeah he's trying to build him up I feel very guilty cuz I think that was my assignment take him under your way for me to take him under their wing and kind of carry it on from there and maybe I have a brand under them mmm Tony maybe have a brand under them all these things cuz that's where it was going okay I don't think that's really where George wanted to go it's definitely not I mean I was doing house filming I was doing stuff but I wasn't doing what Stacy did I didn't give up my life to go I'm done I'm gonna raise these guys right you were still doing and other companies came along well Steve came along was just like offered him it all right now yeah Rocco yeah he came around and said hey you know we'll give you all right now so you know Mike V first it's like and so at that state how does Stacy compete he wasn't gonna play that game mm-hmm and I think it really just hurtful and hard and not how what does Stacy do yeah if it's not the same world and I'm not gonna play that game what did where do I go and what do I do mmm and so Stacy he raised up other guys you're a Barbie came along which was a great choice yeah yeah um but the the choices were less gotcha and I would arguably say the greats were taken mmm all right yeah guy turns out to be great does he not yeah guy Mariano and the great started playing with in bottom line they wanted to hang out with guns yeah they right I wanted to hang out guns at that time yeah but blind video came out I was like can I you want to play with you guys playing with Mark for a long time like we had already started going in that direction like Stacy's our leader Jay's our leader Alvers our leader Duane's our leader Neil's our leader cabs our leader guns is our leader he happened to be over there now right you heard of where's that's how what happens in skateboarding but it's also to like the new companies come along the cool kids kind of are over there now right is it's and then you're kind of didn't happen that way it was always you're able to get the right guy and keep the right guy and that was changing yeah because the model of how to do it was changing and it wasn't a mom that Stacy necessarily wanted to play he was more clean well I'm not even clean it because people say oh it's about the graphics or something it's more about how you do business like I want to raise this kid up and and and let him wait for two years of course it'll give it to him now yeah yeah cuz then you can find out who's the the right guys I I don't know I don't know it was just a tight don't get me wrong I don't it's just what it is sure I in some ways I think it was a great thing yeah horrible things who thought Paul first Rodney her mic Rodney went to do business world with Ronnie start yeah Rodney start from what I understand Rodney basically was is demoing for money mmm-hmm riding for PAL for board sales which he not you're not gonna get boards they offer freestyle board right he's not making any he's because it was a sign as what he was doing at that point was basically sideshow beside Joe mmm until Gon's took what he did and made it the show so he didn't get any money hmm those demo he's doing whatever and so I think Rocco came along and was like I start a company and you know what be a partner he was basically a partner with that and then pal found out I was like hey you can't do that oh he was double dipping well he was starting to try to dip she was it anything yeah which I think makes 100 percent it makes sense the rock was coming to him going that's done a lot yeah yeah of course I was in yeah I can say that stuff I've heard that said to her riders and stuff and I've seen that happen and rock was rad he was fun it was like it was new as Jean we can do whatever you it's yours you can do whatever and yeah part of that's true it's a lot of that's true Pal was in a place that couldn't or wouldn't go there right Stacy was in a place that couldn't or didn't want to go there and Rodney's gone Tommy and feeble see there they're done and truthfully Stacy came to me one day and said hey I'm gonna leave the company what are you guys gonna do jeez like not not like I am leaving get know I'm dumping you what are you gonna do he's like there was conversations like I can't start another brand I can't do that to the I can't do that to George uh-uh I don't even know if this stuff's cool to talk about different view of it Stacy might have a different view of it um he wanted to be there but he couldn't be there anymore right um where's the art again in the film makin the company were we're going in these trajection vision and PAL going it's gonna get bigger we're gonna get buildings we're gonna do these things we're gonna go here we're gonna go here and it's just and it's like well we have to like get small again how do we get small and in cycle it just wasn't there and I think George was a little bit more it's almost weird talking about because they're gonna see it or say it differently but George was more like you're not really doing what you want to do or you should be doing films that's what you're getting into but I think Stacy wanted to be a part of skateboarding it was just did I've had a conversation with him later that I was kind of almost blown away with like he was almost freaked out that's not the right words I used the wrong words all the time it was almost freaked out just that when he did leave no one in skateboarding reached out for him Hey come work for us do this do that we're kitchen and I kind of was like we thought you wanted to go right and we saw it differently I was almost like yeah you're out we're still stuck here we can't get out all right we got we're stuck in this mess that we know have no idea how to make money how to make a living what to do when you know what to do and so he was it was just like it collapsed the whole the financial part of it collapse and a building and blah blah blah and so Stacy was out and he was just making sure that it's like you know he didn't if you talked to Stevie he never even went to Stevie to tell him because Stevie had this vans contract oh and so I don't know how Stevie sees it but Stacey saw is like I don't need that he's he's good Tony Mike and you like what are you gonna do right you guys got no money I mean we went from mm up to 20,000 and then we went and we're all married and we have kids and we have I'm sending my kid to a school mm-hmm a private school same one I like you same teachers so awesome have a house finally have cars and Tony's even bigger you know more stuff right - nothing you guys got it basically thousand or less than thousand dollars a month like everyone's going bankrupt everyone's great living off their savings what are we gonna do were you saving money at the time were you living off your server were you just I didn't make enough no no I had a small savings okay real small no I don't I didn't I just had a house money in the house cars oh I was cool but I didn't I didn't buy a ton of stuff mm-hmm that I was gonna drop far and I didn't so I couldn't scale down to $1,000 though yeah so I was like that's what Stacy knew what are you guys gonna do what are you gonna do like what are you gonna do did you have an answer for him no I was like I don't know what I'm gonna do I mean George was at the same time pear was working there and Pat Brandon Pat Brennan oh yeah I met Brendan rode for PAL came back from a trip came to me was like George is gonna give you a company and I'm on it seriously Pat knew that before you well the whole conversation was like that was where it was gonna go eat a couple years before that it didn't okay I'm not ain't gonna happen and now that stacy is leaving is collapsing now we're gonna do it and then I had that Congress like so that was all happening like what's going on pair with Melinda was there and he's like behind the scenes and he's Rocco's friends and it was all is a weird time soon Stacy is like what are you gonna do and there's even conversations of like why don't we all go do something and you know like I can't do that for workers or it's like you know it's kind of time for you guys to branch out I think but um make sure you he was I think he was trying to I think he was he's awesome I think he was trying to protect skateboarding at least mentioned to it stay together mm-hmm have power have influence so this doesn't get out of our hands cuz it's up it's out of my hands now right and it's in you guys are me now and I knew that and I was heavy I was like that's never gonna happen I'm not you right like he was really good at being the middle guy like we all wrote for Stacy really I mean we everyone I think would say they wrote for Stacy hmm but George provided the wave of it to happen sure made the prize he did almost it was a great combination of things but it was filtering off and they're looking for a Stacy replacement I'm nothing I'm not him right I'm not even diplomatic you know weird talk I'd probably bump Stacy out all the time I was like that's a lie because that's diplom that's not being diplomatic and I'm like and I'd be lame cuz I'd like to me I can't do that so yeah let's just diplomatic you have to be you know in the middle of all this mess you have to be diplomatic I'm like I'm just - I can't do that right and I'm too selfish I'm not like Stacy I'm selfish I just look kudos or whatever it's just a tip of the hat - how awesome Stacy was and just giving me that that window cuz I would never be here without that window and I would have been on barrel flex and it would just end and I've been bombed and I got given this and I feel guilty that I didn't pick up the reins and do that and be able to hold and but I knew I was gonna be able to do that yeah but what if you couldn't do it I can't do it like but what about this new company that they were offering you oh I'm gonna do that you know but I went to meeting after meeting cuz they were saying what are you gonna do and I'm like they're good you know but if you had nothing they went straight up they have a name picked out no no no he George actually called me up and said hey you know we're gonna give you this company you know right you know you and your wife can move up here and work in their warehouse and learn some computers and give me the you know the name of the company you're Ryder ideas and I'm just playing along gone and I hadn't talked to Casa it's funny I had talked to Causton I was like hey Eric if I ever start a company would you write for it no I never I never leave a tree [Laughter] that hensley was on the list I didn't bother asking and I'm sitting looking at this going this is what Stacy would do anyways you wouldn't go cherry picked the other teams mm-hmm I mean want to do any of this but if you don't have if you didn't have anything now weren't you even littering of course I'm considering Collin Raye Barbie because he wanted to he was like what do I want to be what are you gonna do yeah yeah guy right for that team they're gonna give you know I was like me and then do you know that's really bad to say to Ray Ray was like I was probably like ray when you're on first but Ray was a possibility Colin was on the team at the time called okay yeah Wow and he was like there was murmurings of like hey maybe Colin would want to be on it and maybe you you know then I was like well Matt as they are constant calling ray maybe I could do something like that not a bad no squad maybe Wade supplier yeah I remember come up with name I don't know yeah you know that's that meeting I didn't I don't think I even told George anything it's like I was just like in shock going I'm not gonna tell him I'm not gonna do it cuz I don't know what I'm doing just deer in headlights yeah then I get a call from Rocco actually I might have been through nada scuzz not as and I were hanging out a little bit at that point and I'm like hey we want to take you on a boat to Catalina Rocco says this yeah what are you thinking in your head are you like mm/yr you know that this girl already know the deal like all this stuff is like I swear I don't I swear oh but I swear I think I just make up all this stuff in my head never happen none of this happened so you're on the boat to Catalina Mark Gonzales at this point it calls me and goes like I'm gonna leave blind why don't you take over the team oh really oh I'm like do I so going to Catalina yeah Rodney pear will endure not us and rock over there I'm like okay what yeah I thought pair work for pal Wow like and so we went and played the whole time and I'm like we just played surf - did anyone that's written for world knows the gig like come play with the toys little vacation see how much better it is here yeah later right I guess so anyways I don't I ended up at Rocco's and raw I don't know if Paris even there anymore I don't think notice is there anymore just Rocco and Rodney and they're like oh so what are you gonna do you know we know everyone's leaving pal I'm gonna get a company to do this like um why don't you bring the company here I can hear it right now I remember him saying like if you well you'd be done we'll just take the guys anyway we're gonna take Collin anyways Eric's not gonna ride for you easy to write for 101 we'll just take ray [Laughter] Hensley would never ride for you anyways something I'm like George maybe I did mention that George did pear tellest that's kind of something I was like mom I don't even know he's like you know you basically we said why don't you come do something here like you're basically the last one that we want we've gotten everybody right and then it turned into the conversation of where my heart really was I was this like like I want to be with the best mm-hmm I want to be around the best I want to have influence with with the best and I want to keep doing what I love doing exactly but I don't know how to do it here I really don't know how I personally can do it here like didn't feel right you got everybody I want to but I'd like in the position the stasi position not as a writer as in some sort of control like well I mean I'll straight-out say it I know you got like hookers and prostitutes for 13 year old kids to get them off other teams right damn and everything's a go there's no right or wrong it's just and then I think the conversation of like we don't like drugs and I was like I understand like I'm not saying you guys are bad people it's not your belief system I have a belief system or a place in my life where I can or can't go or don't even want to sir and then I had a quite a long conversation with Rodney about I love Rodney I do yeah I don't know him that well but at this point it was like a crazy time it was we had a long real intellectual discussion of how there there is no right and wrong and there's relative and all this stuff and I got to the point it's like I don't even know what you're talking about like and he was kind of I think he was kind of like you're playing games with me and what do you know and I'm like yeah I just I I know there's a right role for me sure and it doesn't mean and it's like even if somebody everyone has their limits or their places or whatever but it's just I just struggled with it I was like I just can't see me being can't be a part of that I lied to so bad oh well I knew what it meant I meant it meant that I didn't have to starve sure and they're like ah we don't even want you to do that anyways we're gonna make this brand new magazine we want you and not us to do it seriously yes and it was like the offer really I think ultimately wasn't having the brand there wasn't doing the blind thing that came up he was like oh now gone marks gone that's mine I'm taking care of that it was basically you could have like run an alternative brand here that you know like you can be the good brand in here oh no you know that isn't probably won't even work anyways the conversation was like we're gonna start this magazine we think you not us can do it could you imagine so I'm still freaked out confused going why is going on having dreams wondering like praying like talking to Lord like what is going on it's time for having arguments with the Lord what is wrong is this going on for it feels like years but from the point I knew I had to do something - when I got boards was six months I was six months without money six months oh my god the period from here to over there was probably two months oh no the probably four probably take time on three months to get boards I can't remember okay maybe was quicker then I don't even know it's such a blur how long were you battling with the if you should do it or not do it we're a 1:1 conversation with my wife that was it I'll be straight out honest I had this dream I instantly woke up and I had this dream of Jonah there's a story in the Bible Oh where the Lord asked this guy to go prophesy and tell this this nation that just real evil you know the Lord loves you and turn changed it up and he's like I ain't I don't want to go there I hate those people and if I do they're gonna change and I don't even want them to change that's kind of the conversation Jonah had with God okay and he split the other way and got swallowed by a giant fish Oh or probably a grouper or a shark fish or whatever a whale or whatever they could call the whale massive whatever whale spits him up on Nineveh and he goes and does it and he's mad and he's frustrated and he's whatever he talks to him that the nation repents and changes and good and then years later goes back I had that dream about this story really I'm doing what I'm doing now my wife is like oh you can't do that you'll never be happy like I love his cars I would love you to do it we'd have money it sure she's driven around in his Ferrari before she's like you can't do it now you just can't you know you can't do it yeah so just put it out of your mind and just bury it it's just it's one of those interesting things in life and crazy you're not able to do it um so I was like wow okay can't be that can't do that don't want to do that what now I'm empty now what start your own company well it's like kind of in that process of that's kind of all I have to do like or go get a job or then I was just like I'll tell you this other biblical one too I went to my pastor friend I don't really know him that well but I've he's uh I just said here's the scenario what do i yes I got no answers either like I believe in the Lord I believe this stuff I've been don't got answers here's how the industry works it's not possible to do that it's like you have to go with Rocco you can't do your own company I don't want to do my own company your honor um what should I do in a scenario you leave the room he comes back and he has four boxes this big of the tapes and they're just tapes at that time of the Bible commentary on the Bible didn't even say your answer yeah I knew what he was saying I knew or whatever it's like the Lord has the answers just spend time with the Lord like that's who you are not saying that people don't know that like that's the answer for everyone even if you don't know it but the people who do know it you better get doing that basically all signs were pointing so as I said like what don't you do man I don't even have any money like I don't even want to do this I do want to do this but I want to do it the right like and just like I know I can't be in business with someone that thinks completely different I can work for someone no one's offered me anything except for a big brother which it wasn't ok I'm gonna go to the bank tomorrow if I get alone I'm gonna just start do a company I guess Wow they're like luckily no Valon can I get a loan for 80 grand yeah yeah right call up I was like you bet we ordered boards we got a company I think that's how we're gonna pay the bills did you even have a name oh yeah you have pages the pages of names ok at the same like I've ordered boards order from taya Taylor like Allah ordered boards graphics they aren't even dry yet no no cuz I'm gonna take them the squeegees just get boards before I even know what I'm gonna do gotcha order then para comes to me and Tony it's like hey we're leaving - we're gonna do a brand we're gonna do a distribution to tell you should be part of it that it uh I was like oh maybe maybe that's what I do oh there's the answer go down there just start working on a warehouse it's like putting walls up with Frank Hawk like yeah building bird came home and I was like I ain't doing that no wood I was like no I'm not doing that why I was just in business with again with some like mmm I was in I would be in business again with someone doesn't believe the same way as me but can't do it as good as rock why are you doing this to me God like right what are you doing like can't I just skateboard is there anyone that wants this god no one wants me to skateboard and how old are you at this point 91 91 years old 64 290 164 91 let me get my calculator like 29 already its way you said 91 yeah so it's 70 and say that's 27 skateboarders are Rodney where are you this is where we need right now I know that's like 27 ok 27:49 I mean that this conversation was rowdy ruled it's just defining and you know what we've had conversations later that is like doesn't I don't think he thinks that way anymore no it's 27 Wow it's crazy to think about that what young or old you know yeah I thought you meant you're holding is still skating no no no oh no I thought that like oh man I remember worried 18 I was stolen barefoot I was unfair flex mm-hm skating with Neil it might have been younger than 18 there's when the gold cut whatever and we just looked at each other I like man that was fun all it's over so we're old it's over yeah well cause it you back then too so it was people were and so when you say 20 like oh gosh it I was way over like what extended why are you gonna try to start something new and pretend you're part of this thing especially when it's this new thing I mean I don't heed I love Mike V Mike he's awesome like I think I'm possibly think I actually the one who got him on pal pretty sure Oh Neil pointed me out him out to me one day where we're at of um Virginia Beach and he had a destroyed board I don't know if it was mine or not but I just had mine in trunk I like here we go new board came to the parking lot he was doing the stuff in the parking lot at Virginia Beach and I was like you see that's the kid I get the board too and then he was on Pell there you go and because I was that Stacy guy it was like Mike came out to California and I was gonna take him Street skating show him spots and Stacy was filming still but I was being the middle of did it done Mike V was like can't skate with Lance he's no good right from Mike all right with Mark Gonzales totally Wow totally which is true I mean I want him like it's true like what if you just think about it it's totally true I want to skate with Lance man no it was a I know what you're saying no he's saying for sure yeah you know what I'm saying oh yeah it's just hard for us to imagine that right did he when he's explaining it very well before he's like I I wanted to ride for this I thought this was the thing I got there wasn't that any more than that we went on a tour I remember we went on a tour and he was bright eyed and ready to go and like loved and he was so bombed on us we're jaded we're old we got to the train station they didn't pick us up and I probably was being Lance like I don't go home it's lame and and he was so bummed like oh gosh I didn't you guys were not the guys I thought you were well my growth he was it was fresh he was ready to go and I was like I came in last thirteen sure I got in there 10 or 15 times right and it's and it wasn't to walk on my hands this you know what's it the walk on my hands sure I'm jump ramping and trying to do Street plants right now kind of cool kind of fun I'd rather be home I still I wanted to be in the dog bowl with alpha not that I didn't move and change and wanna be but it's like sometimes it's like it's just I don't know whatever but we were get your herds he was just straight out like he's honest he's like yeah you guys are like you not who I thought you were you're lame you're not you not into it you're not cool you know you know he was so excited to do it and so over there I love it but now we're gonna bring you back yeah where were we we were talking about deferment your words yeah you just and you told your wife that I'm just gonna call people to sell back there I love it it's so a couple more tangents please do somehow Big Brother's started yeah first issue comes out I see how crazy it already is my boards come in not just the sample boards production boards I get a call this is so weird I don't even I just this is one of the things I was like I make this stuff up I have the paper okay Jason Lee calls me Jason Lee he goes we all want to leave blind we want to ride for you wow that's like oh wow this is exactly what we always wanted I just I was like I know it's true thought that's Jason lucky remember that kid that might not be true there's a lot of things I think I know that turns out that no one else no but yes I might have brain damage but I wrote it down I'm like because Keith was gonna write for it already okay yeah kid Gruber but I had this paper and it's got you know Ray firms I met Jason Lee guy Mariano Johnson looks good I think Tim oh I forget the people you said and I was like I you should I said are you are you sure um oh here's yeah you know what if you're serious come to my house tomorrow thought they're recording something for Big Brother Oh seriously oh well that's what they're doing wait we're talkin you're out there I go just like Jason G Jason Lee just like never you serious come to my house tomorrow I just got boards I just got some sample boards to try cuz I was like that's the best way to deal with it so I don't say stupid stuff oh they look basic like calling just to put it all in the magazine that's what I instantly thought cuz the one magazine when it came out I was like ah that's what they saying about Kristin's girlfriend and that's what they're saying yeah like they're destroying everybody that's like since I didn't you didn't go with them maybe they're yeah they just trying to get back and drop that haven't you oh yeah shows up the next day by himself I was like eh you serious yeah yeah I mean I was like do the other guys know like I got only remember that conversation I just don't I don't know if it was just him thinking it or thinking of it I don't even know if he had a real calm I don't even know at this point is this before or after the blind video days it's after this after Hans is already gone Jason left shortly after that anyways he left this thing he'd left right then he left anyways to do blue yeah that's right you know he was leaving obviously the rest of the team was just him but it rules cuz I have this board too he got on the board did one 360 flip and snapped it I have it well I saved the board because of it and we sat there and talked you know I was like I want to do it so bad Jason but I can't even do it it's like I'll be honest you guys a raise you were raised in this fantasy that it's not this way like the things that you think are wrong there and the things that you think about Rocco's like he's providing all this stuff I'm not saying I like what he does so you're providing all this stuff and he's provided a false understanding well you can't walk into it you couldn't walk into the firm and take a hundred boards right come he's gone tomorrow a business and same with world it's just it's that's like I couldn't even ah I hate to say I can't even do it cuz I couldn't even make you happy you guys would be gone and I'd be did he understand or did he I started blue no I don't know I mean I don't know Jason side of it I just remember me in this turmoil in this all this weird goings-on in my head what am i doing how am i doing it I told this to Burnett is funny it's like I ended up the garage I've escaped order one day and I ended up in the garage packing boxes and shrink-wrapping wheels with a tear coming down and I bankrupted the company so quick really yeah I did everything wrong oh wait it was around for like 15 years or ten years yes my wife and I did it out of the garage for nine but I bankrupted in six months easy yeah how did you just not know England nighters not knowing the numbers or I'm gonna tell you this is going funny it's like uh I tithe get out of business you what I typed it out of business tired what it's amazing tithe me personally like I think everything I have is the Lord's okay everything my breath everything gob always thought that I'd never even struggled her over so it's like everything's his so I've always given a tent I've always given since I was a kid I've always given ten percent of my money to I think to stewardship to somewhere to the church or to whatever yeah sure I think it's good I think oh well a lot of people have problems with it or anything but the beauty of it is because it's not between me and a church or organization it's between me and the Lord and he owns everything and it's his anyways okay but me being an idiot which is it's actually better than as an idiot because I didn't understand that you tithe off your profits I tied it off sales oh so if I sold a hundred grand at $10,000 that's not but it cost me 70 grand to make sure so you run out of money very quickly that way No so I ran out of money within the six months did you actually file for bankruptcy no no no no no I will paint my bills that's one thing I'm so proud of like I through all the things I did I heard so many stories of companies not paying their bills and not paying their this is not paying their ads and not doing this and then going back and fighting Inc and still getting ads another good I never owned it I did it I did it right yeah and the red thing is is it was also another way to the Lord to prove to me that he's got me because he he made that thing last without he let me do that to show us I got you I mean 15 years yeah well nine because at ninety nine then you went over ten nine my wife was like while you get a job at McDonald's just like is there something you have some sort of ego why don't you just get a job at McDonald's would be better and I was like time to do something different okay so yeah but you guys are scratching under living for yourself though right I mean you're making some money yeah we're paying the team I was always this I always did this until the end I'm even if you when it went to the distribution mm-hmm and I had so many people that helped that I have to think during the firm the firm those relationships are awesome great company by other people yeah my favorite companies videos the riders anybody really cared no he's not can't stop is what about credible know the further show the video was in the videos gonna called the firm there's one loved way Nevada that was the first which is the god ray yeah Keith Joe are you thinking the one with Western my so that one's more like a just a day in the life almost video gotcha and there's a couple little friends and at the end and then the second one is the firm the firm is James Quall and Weston I mean can't stop with but that video is my favorite cool Oh Mike there's three I wore that tape out there's three teams there's there's three yeah yeah there's basically three different teams and they're all Matt Beach yeah oh yeah crazy yeah there was there's a fourth team that really never had a video which was the really the Salomon Agha Matt Beach Frank girl where you're mm-hmm right which no video came out at that for that new Lehrer so there's kind of almost four groups it you guys always had the solid they had a commercial in every foreign one with the same song that don't and what was behind those commercials like how did you find out that like that song I think gave many mate wrote that song Dave met he was there with Psalm with Solomon and okay I'm pretty sure that's if I can t remember the song but if we would have stayed with one song Dave Mehdi wrote it a little far simon and garfunkel type song mm-hmm and I just I I wanted to stick with the same thing so I just I'm pretty sure that's it but that's Dave Nettie's music I knew a fart one question would come up sooner or later no going back to the running the firm and then because you said it yes or nine years you went to the distribution yeah that was you didn't want to work at McDonald's now is it everything hasn't season you know and it plays its thing it just runs through its courses so even the first group of guys ran through its course yeah and you got to do things or whatever I still like I knew I couldn't do a company with three dudes sure but what am I gonna do so everyone's like oh I love your company because it was just you and your friend yeah but okay I love how you don't really want it to be good or whatever whatever it was awesome man you guys always travelled with like girl team back in the day yeah well what happened I think it's pretty neat goodbye I think Rick Howard and I made a connection because when they left they were like on this island they were kind of on this island of they got attacked I think a little bit by it would pitch skateboards and all that yeah my world and stuff I mean I think he probably hid this here's what happened I bet you Rick got exactly what I got the day I started the firm that I made it known got the firm I mean so I was on independent for years mm-hmm and actually you were jumping around but I was on independent for years and actually helped design are kind of on this one trip I was with on this one trip and Foster said hey we're gonna make a stage five truck if you have any ideas or whatever and so on this trip I basically was making the whole time a clay model of a truck Wow which was funny because Stevie and I were playing games because I showed Stevie's on Indy but McGill wasn't on indeed so I was trying to hide it from him enough enough got out that he was in the back basically making his truck eventually go away would you it was all fun whatever but so I was kind of involved in ruining the indie by picking in a cracker whatever um so at that point foster gave me a raise and I got a good pay from Indy okay and when I started the front firm I got a phone call from fast I was like you're my competitor now so we're cutting your pay seriously whoa so you learn these lessons yeah Wow and I think that's why I was trying to get at Rick probably Wow see I had just done it I don't know if I had done it for a year or half a year before not very much longer but somehow we made a connection and I was always finding spots and doing stuff and trying to make a video and somehow we connected and it kind of started showing audio West in a spot hey Weston what do you think about this spot don't like that spot show guy that spot I would get a clip there mm-hmm that spots great sir I don't know why it's how we started spending time and I started doing little things here and there with them and literally graphics - yeah I did I did actually one of the worst graphics ever made oh it can't be that bad dance come on it is worse than bad maybe in your eyes no no it's bad we won't talk about it I did a couple of other ones that were you know neat okay for its time let's call meat I know there's different times in skateboarding man I like graphics graphics and then like there's times where it's just like you just want you just want to do things with your this it's very percent yeah it's interesting there's a time that um we had gone on some trips together it was awesome and we almost went there the distribution almost yeah bad and why didn't it go there to the outside world looking in it looked like that that was a good marriage yeah I probably it should have happened and it probably not could have happened it would have happened so then what happened it wasn't the right thing to do Oh God and I told Rick it wasn't the right thing and I probably didn't explain it well no I don't know if I did or didn't it was just I knew it wasn't the right thing to do but then you were I wanted to do it I wanted to do it you're the thing I don't want to own a company I personally don't want to own being ownership with someone that isn't a Christian oh okay gotcha I don't want to more than that I want someone if Rick would have said hey would you ride for girl well he done it oh you 100% oh I was waiting that whole time Stacy said hey what are you gonna do I was waiting for someone to go you have value can you ride for us right right so it feels very unfair I feel guilty even though I love the firm I've always had a guilt that I wasn't able and I didn't do what Stacy did yeah I was I was doing what we all do now is trying to find a way from me to skate that's which is not fair to your team yeah but that's a new world it's it's not not that it's not fair to your team that's what it is now because the other people the other way it's done doesn't it can't provide enough for the team either yeah and so honestly it was like I kind of had a you're not explaining it was like if I would have done the girl mm-hmm I would have wanted to be able to do stuff that I I would have had the means or hoped I had the means to do stuff I would really have wanted to do and put together a team that they wouldn't wanted probably how do you think yeah well not now because at that time yeah but seeing people that they did put on later right some of them were actually the guys I met I will it I will say this to the credit of Lord when I when I was having these crazy prayers with him arguments prayers whatever I was like I want to have influence with the top guys I want to skate I want to be able to skateboard that's what I really want but if you have something else for me if you want me to go get the job in Donald's or what do I do in life but that's I want to skateboard and I want to have I want to be with the best guys there's a plenty of opportunities I could have gone and done outreach things and mmm you know all those people are going oh you got to do a Christian thing and come come teach at the churches and uh I don't have any desire the Lord never put any of that desire you put the desire it that I get to hang out with Joe Vontae Turner or whoever they keep coming there you go yeah even if I'm a [ __ ] or a weirdo or whatever to him that's my desire and I realize that even though I didn't understand it the whole way through I realized that he did do that that's what he did and if I would have chosen these other routes or mistaken these other routes not that I did the straight route but I none of that would have happened even if I would have been at girl huh because I feel for Rick and Mike they were in the same position that I always was that you're the owner no one's gonna ask you right right before like a true I got a Nike I get the right for Nike because I'm not the owner right kind of yeah and that is provided is that and I'm trying to say rude or anything I loved I loved those dudes I feel that the Lord protected me from that situation mMmmm I would have been behind a desk slowly moving down that route I was always trying to stay away from right even though it would have been very cool for skateboarding and the writers for the firm to be there sir right yeah like I said I thought it was a perfect mirror it was in killer and we were already kind of there without any of the papers yeah I don't know what the perks were but yeah without the paperwork like you're you already there you are by side or kind of it's like oh you want is that belonging those friends and those relationships and those things and Richie Rich I'm still real good friends with Richie and it's just like we talk about a mother mm-hmm yeah just the relationships we get to have is the funnest part man it's incredible yeah I'm sitting here with Lance Milton you're locked in when you don't get the float it's true your string get locked in and I get I that's one thing worse I've done a lot of things with a lot of people because I want to have those experiences and it's like um you know how it is when you get into one you get into one little group and we also think this way and everyone becomes the enemy and everyone's skates nasty or holzer arm skateboarding been so awesome for that reason that I've got to floating and all the relationships even though and ultimately I think that's kind of why the firm I did stop it yeah because when I went to the distribution I kind of already knew that was the exit plan exit plan is in you may can sell the company to them or you could just know that's see yeah I'm glad I did everything the way I did but if I would do it now I would do it so selfishly and so differently really yeah I do why do you do a skateboard company to make money make a plan so he can sell it to you no intention I had to know I had an opportunity to sell the firm oh you did yeah but no I didn't want to right I just wanted to kill it how much were they offering I mean it's never enough I can consider it because it's just like why do I want to see the firm at Cole's exact right like why yeah for all years pay or something like yeah let's go work again but so that's strategy well I know I mean whatever like obviously it wasn't me and my wife doing it I made a licensing agreement to sell it through a distribution yeah so there was a kind of change as soon as we did that Baker came to ok and there was it was in the camp of there was I don't think four or five brands can sell well out of one thing okay and the established things was already there and so ultimately all I really wanted to do is I wanted to try to accomplish one more video more the way I felt like I hope I could gotcha and at that point I had Humphries and Clerval and Curt and I had some pieces where we could have a family to try to try to make that happen right rather than just me filming the garage floor and trying to make up some make up some intro people like that was how did you make that that's she on the budget you had yeah I filmed it on the gross so is cool is like you know um it was like one more thing I wanted to piece together um I think partly to is like I do things at wrong time wrong place I had a couple conversations with people like you're doing things wrong you can't do it this way skateboarding is all about image and team and it's this one thing and you're like yeah I'm exactly what I want I want to I want to sponsor super eclectic group of dudes yeah if I had the opportunity I would do way more eclectic and that was not what was super working at the time yeah then you're like I have that battle of like I was gonna bring this to I thought it was funny some of the sponsor me tapes I didn't sponsor but there were some good ones he's Richard oh wow ya know when that was a hard one too why why didn't why didn't I yeah that I couldn't take care of them Oh ray was in Tustin and it would be like me doing what Stacy wanted me to do which is like hey can you take care of he's right I don't have I don't have the abilities to mm-hmm ultimate looking back on is great because I would have been whatever he could one of the raddest writers in my opinion oh yeah but I would have just been one of the guys that's no fun yeah that's no fun I you know that one he threw his leading foundation to go back to Burgos no no no is he I didn't take the tape and he hit that same tape he gave me became the footage and went Alberto okay truthfully you might have sent a tape yeah I probably the last guy but he I think he did what everyone does like firm stickers on becoming to you know just joking I'm messing i messing around i have poisonous tape - no I uh Wow he probably tried to send it to someone else not me wrong parks man sorry I'm investing in these kids and like I spent more time investing him in their and their realize and it's like it's one of the reasons I let Billy off the team the marketing program okay if you talk to him about he's like yeah less was just out of his mom I don't know what he couldn't even explain to me he wasn't the right guy for our team huh he's the right guy for Toy Machine sure it worked and I knew that it was it was wrong it wasn't happening it was we're trying to film a video I was trying to keep all these pieces together I took Rodrigo to go see him Rodrigo wanted him on no but Rodrigo and him to Tampa and they almost killed each other Oh seriously yeah I'm not putting a team like everyone dresses the same eats the same looks the same like I'm trying to put these crazies together because that's the best but if they refuse to connect and I got it I got a B on every trip to pick up all the mess it's like I can't I'm not the situation's I'm almost psyche it was unfair to them right it's unfair to my son I had 15 kids when I should have had one there there you go um I still feel guilty about all of it you had a big big big baby I mean there's a there was a thing was don't get me wrong Yanni was on the team too that's right Yanni billion and TX trains going yeah everyone's got a pile out and grab each other's bags and it's like that's not my bag there goes their cup and it's just like should have done a reality show uh yeah oh yeah obviously a skater takes it hard but I did yeah I did you know a huge favor no yeah I knew that and I could feel that it was like this is not what my keychain on there - yeah good like he's a amazing skateboarder hell yeah amazing skateboarder yeah try to get something film with him trying to get something film with Billy but Billy only wanted to skate for in the morning and I had I had no one to go skate with one guy for the money it was cool cuz he was more of a he saw skateboarding the way he thin it you know I'm just gonna go film it 4:00 in the morning get one trick and that's what I do right and I'm like okay that can I I'm okay with that even though I want this and it's like maybe I can convince him to do a little more like I don't even know I'm thinking and I'm about the karana Park we're trying to make a video and I can't get footage of you back in my kitchen and we made all these attempts to get footage with my kitchen and I finally broke down and took him to a back yard where I'm not supposed to take him and it didn't show up and I'm pressing my luck and so we put lights on and I get kicked out and got a gun pulled on me and all my all my pool dudes are like banned me for life you can there why don't you you killed the pool and I'm like I'm jeopardizing all this stuff for trying to make something happen for people right and I I've learned this lesson it was like you have to choose people who want to be pros it's hard to make them do it you know they have to want to do it that's what you want to do and it's like I love Matt Beach Matt Beach rules he never wanted to be a pro no really no he's incredibly wasn't yeah yeah it wasn't probe but he didn't he was a pro because he was so naturally good not because he wanted to be a pro right like we went to Spain once and it was ray Barbie me and him it's like do you know this is why I'm guilty it's like your basic you're putting the weight of all this company on mat beach because Ray's hurt got a hurt ankle been hurting for a year I'm in my 90s but he said and we're going to the death of Spain at a time where if you go and you do what Mike V knows in his head you've got 15 minutes with these people and you make an impression they'll they're yours for life mm-hmm I'm going and I'm sick you've got this opportunities what an awesome opportunity everyone you skating fun it's gonna be you're gonna do for life you can't can't say that you can't want that you can say and that but you got it they got intuitively want that marcel's right that was just great how did you find Xavier Sarmiento a new hobby but him in Rodrigo were filming and skating together mm-hmm he's another one man javi is so good and I almost didn't put them on really you think the best though you just like that's what I'm it's like I think I'm like slowly going exactly where I know I shouldn't be going because my heart wants to go there right who cares who cares mat javi these dudes rule who cares that this is how it works right it's just getting heavier and heavier and I was like I ended up making I got an adidas I didn't tell you all that money and I'd be putting it into them how do you know I still see I still see more board sales from me and it's crazy my home so you put it in the distribution you thought that was your exit plan no it was good it was kind of like oh yeah this is it's like you could get back to skateboarding what was an exit plan like hey I'm out of here right maybe it was like hey I can go skate more and go skate but I didn't I actually worked a lot more oh you did kind of well no the opportunities were better but now you're brand manager pretty much well I was doing all that to I you know what it I was doing more I'm doing less was doing less but I had more opportunity right but then Humphreys was coming and taken dude Humphreys put so much money into that video he did it all - you know and all he really wanted like he can you make sure that it says I directed it right produced it or is he great and so we all collectively did this thing together everyone put their work in I mean going back to Matt or whatever like the amount of work it took for Humphries and Kurt to get him to do that is huge but he did the work but it tired them out - um and I'll be argue he would do that again if he had those guys mm-hmm and that's it's kind of like sometimes you have to figure it out yourself and want it yourself it's true completely it's true because when it kicks you down because it will kick you down or just say hey do you know what we decided we're not interested in you today either you're gonna go figure it out and make them want you again because I've already had that happen to me like four or five times yeah we can't don't value any guys it makes me so mad the seed like brands that I know said there's no value in people trying to put their stuff out again saying yeah Tony Hawk put his own board out because people would say there's no value in him he owned the company he paid for it and his partner said hey do you know what we got to stop making your board how crazy is that but Tony said yeah I'm fine I'll do the nine hundred I'll just rely on what I got my skateboarding there you go my progression and it comes around again and skateboards great skateboarders are great the firm was cool because of that especially the relationships and all the things that happen in Weger was oh we're here I love a man I thank them a ton because I feel there are one more piece of letting me do what I want to do yeah and I'm not sure if I gave back as much as they gave me mmm but that's the brand things weird being a skater and an owner two different is a totally different understanding than being an owner or even a skater being on both sides they're just like there's only a few people that really know it and I always thought that your brand should be dudes that are better than you there you go yeah it's not just guys to promote you of course I probably should have been the team manager rather than the owner I should have taken Stacy's and George and Rocco's and everybody's all their positions right I couldn't do that hey you did it the way that you thought you should do it and you know that at the end of the day it was fun you know but you they'll run the course so it's like yeah I don't trip on it with it was listen 15 years it's nothing - yeah when it was um when it was time was time what was a deciding day were you just like listen I'm done it was slow slow slow easy so but Jeremy Fox came to me and asked me to do fury the truck company mm-hmm and was like I think even at that time was like you should stop doing the firm just I would do this wow I'm not gonna do that yeah um and I couldn't I didn't want to do that but I can say it now doesn't matter the money was so good I had to sacrifice being in the indie book which hurts for those four years for that money Wow which kind of stinks cuz the indie book came out at that point so I wasn't in it I was off India at that point um then I had that conversation with Fausto and stuff was like what do I do I mean I don't I don't even know why I asked him like I I just can't even sing no like I gotta do this right so that's where that relationship started um and we had conversations slowly but surely but he was a Jeremy Fox yeah truthfully he was the guy that came to me and said why are you doing this thing you should be skating you should all you have been skating and I was like no one said that or offered me the cheque to do her but it's kind of what you wanted the whole time - it's to be skating I just wanna be escaped um I'm glad that it went the way it was but that's what you wanted it to do yeah and I like I said I would have done it differently I would have made the brand all about me so it would financially work and not invest into kids I knew that starting into it and I know it now but I didn't I still wouldn't change it for what you can't know what we did right yeah but it would be very easy to be just make something from for in come to me come should I want to be part of a family I don't want to be about myself yeah so yeah you he was the one that basically came and was like why are you doing that why she's why are you doing the company once you be a writer or what you should be writing you should be on the desk you should be out there and you basically offered me to write for flip it's crazy and I was like I got it company I got a team I gotta take care of if I gotta figure out what to do it wasn't flip a part of that to was when we went on trips and everything and it slowly kind of became like are we gonna motivate this thing are we not who we gonna take were we not and I it was a hard one it was a hard one the way it went but it was like he's like I've been getting Lansing yet Rodrigo no no here's the thing which is interesting is we had to deal with - I think it happened even with my wife we had to deal with Rodrigo riding for chocolate in the magazine about three times over the time that we sponsored him because people at the magazine like to print this knowledge that Rodrigo was gonna write I ride for chocolate when he didn't in like the new section yeah and you see the gossip nonsensical like just it's part of skateboarding I don't really dig is the the the latch on so there's so many of latch ons is like how those guys are doing it and then this is latch on want to say stuff or do stuff or no stuff truth is Rodrigo never talked to Rick ever it was to Chico is to here was to be fine no more bodies you know more about it than I do I had heard that people were talking and Rodrigo it wasn't me and say hey yeah I'm like and I would always have these conversations go skate with them yeah go have that conversation and I got the ins I don't think he ever had it spider I don't know actually loved Rodrigo and I'm you know what it's like I look at it I see Rodrigo still making money and I'm like very happy and God John he still kill you so hard and he gets to do it exactly the way he wants to do it which is ultimately I was trying to want him to do it the way I did it yeah which doesn't happen anymore yeah like no one does it that way anymore like I used to try to get him to go skate with Causton all the time and he was like loved Causton but you wouldn't skate with costume I'm you probably know more and I don't know how long were you worked with s and stuff but it's like yeah I mean I just i straddle them form lrg trips and stuff do that but I think that later that's less yeah I think you might have talked to him after um the firm was done what's that he might talk to chocolate maybe a snow yeah no no I actually made it happen oh I talked to Rick oh okay and Rick was like you know the offer is basically out there but he's never taken it kind of thing or whatever and I'm like I basically negotiated talking to him but at the same time - I think Rick and them they were on the same they were saying I've read it did not trying to takes yeah I do you know and so is this weird thing and so I was like I can't remember but I was like already knowing I'm working my way out or whatever like I'm trying to figure it out yeah cuz I don't necessarily want to do another video and I don't necessarily I was like I gotta put another team together I gotta bring in three new dudes four new dudes these guys gonna hate it I'll be honest I was like I wanted to get Louie Kern and Patrick Ryan oh wow and I'm like Rodrigo is gonna quit how do you do this how do you keep this is what you have to do you have to keep moving this thing along and it's a lot of work and I was thinking I gotta do I gotta bring these three kids in that's what I want to do and then Rodrigo at the same time I was like I'm so almost at the point like why don't you just go ride for him instead of like putting us through a financial burden that you're making people think that and we can't even sell your board all right you know it's like why don't you just go do it and then he finally was like I don't want to do it and then flip was like why don't you ride for flip and I was like why did you ask him we would why did you ask him to ride for flip when I'm here and they were like oh no we didn't really you know and I was like he's like why don't you guys all come here like not all come but why don't you Rodrigo and Bob uh-huh and I was like and then I talked to Rodrigo and it's like no I don't want to do that I just was true firm I was like not done I got a figure ray out oh I got a figure we go out I gotta figure javi out it's a tough one ray we figured out javi took a little bit right mathy I did not figure out and I just said I'm I can't do I can't sort this out don't skate mom we went to skate them off yeah yeah that but he was javi - I treated him my cab like he he can go be a professional snowboarder he's like you play guitar he he was he's javi he's fine was skating how he skates where he skates when he skates if he gets paid or doesn't get paid yeah like still chillin just gonna do his hobbies yeah sick he's crazy yeah so I was like I almost didn't feel that I could figure that out um I think he thought he could stay with Rodrigo and I think they thought them two together was not a good match I don't know and then we ger Weger was close enough for me to just be normal and just go like I'm sorry I can't I'm below it I can't figure it out right and I hope you're okay was that joy people have asked me was it hard was hard I was like now is hard the whole time and that was easy when I was like I knew is like letting go yeah but here you are now you know it's like the firm is done it's almost like you have this breath of fresh air this newfound freedom now that you skate for flip you don't have that responsibility yeah you know it was cool I mean in Nike and all this stuff yeah he didn't come for a while it was on adidas oh that's yeah during that time that's referring the end and I was actually taking a lot of that money and investing it into the video or the whatever erm so a lot of the money I had earned kind of didn't get to be put away from me Wow which is kind of one of the other reasons like what am i doing for my future what am i doing you know and then my son got married yes I was like wait a minute I didn't even get the finished parenting um what am i doing and so the the flip he offered it he'd be a writer was huge yeah bad I want a bike ride to eat with my wife I slept I got a chance to give it a one more skating shot like give it another shot yeah like not skating I always skated yeah yeah nice get a lot I think but I got one more like give it everything you got for a video part I like videos yeah videos I love you photos and videos to me I love that I love contests and everything and the live but I love the creating a feeling yeah the things that the guys did for me I want that's what would I get a feeling from oh yeah even if it works or doesn't work no I mean I just like trying the music that it's a whole it's a whole thing yeah um it's memorable yeah people are always gonna remember if you get first sure I never remember you get second even though I think second it's just this was just as good yes if I got top five that's all I needed to do that was dude top five in the world like here's I take it yes all you need to do that's the way I thought I'm conscious I'm poor do that and leave an impression oh yeah no that's what that's what I'm saying that's jack-of-all-trades yeah yeah master of none of it that's just yeah so I was like wow dude I'm gonna I get to do a video looks gonna get me do a video I scared to death is that extremely sorry yeah yeah I'm scared to be in a video Ryu oh yeah but I wanted to so badly I wanted to try to give it everything I had how much time did they give you well they said it was gonna be six months okay wow that's quick yeah I just got on and they're like we'll build you a pool off to a good start and I was like okay I'm good I think I got maybe four or five tricks filmed and I had this Nike project with the cuz I had I did get on Nike I got a Nike at that point so huh I was out of she was sponsored for about two years oh and nothing was happening and um I actually caught with Kevin hey what do you ever consider putting me on Mikey really made the call Wow I was gonna get back on vans and I just didn't it was like I didn't there was nothing that position was already taken by cab like you don't come in and get to take that position you can take it's just like whatever how are you learned like whatever I already learned by being on adidas like a position that think other people think doesn't even exist could be really good sure sure yeah having shoes on adidas that no one even knew I had a shoe actually paid really good if you got perfect yet to talk to Kevin or those or hunter but um I think they were into it I shouldn't know they were into it but there you know sandy was the call sanika yeah did you know sandy no no but I kind of got that was kind of the battle that they my battle is the right word struggle the conversation that they had to have with him oh no it can make sense because of this sure because he wrote him in the eighties I have no idea what they said but they came back and said yeah we can do it Wow Wow and then after about a month or two or whatever when I met sandy and really talked to him about it I got the impression that he was like I really get it from the response oh really that has been come back to me it's amazing ultimately it's like people that provide ways for you to do what you love to do is huge absolutely and that's all people are looking for and not a lot of people get them out of the people that ya want tried to get it yeah so it's very um super blessing of course but I then I was like okay I um so I film for I think four or five chicks that can t remember mm-hmm and I got two so I'm get to do a project with Nike which is turns out to be the orange shoe with Craig which I used because I always wanted to use that graphic that was on the board that I used wrote in Bones Brigade video show that never really became a board bla bla yeah hmm so I was filming this little video part thing with that which was cool my son's music was in it oh cool and then it was supposed to be a couple clips in this pool and so it was getting late and we had filmed everything else and we're rushing to get the skate footage mm mm broke my arm which part of your arm just snapped this one right above the elbow as already started filming on the flip video I was really focused there I was just gonna there wasn't really going to be any skating and it was gonna but I wanted it to have two or three really good tricks because it was the same thing I wanted to have something good video this is the only good two three tricks light was getting short I rushed mmm I was just being Lance like I always do what you do how'd you heard it I did a backside disaster but I was trying to do other things it was like rush can we get a photo too and it's like okay I'll just let me just do this one and I'll do that and you know I had done it there a billion times but I do them wrong a lot okay everyone has a way of doing certain tricks and if you don't do it the way you do it things can go wrong I don't know I do backside his s is like that and I did the full-on oh you came to I didn't I got way too high and just laying on the back truck what did you fall down to the flat bottom and hung and I fell all the way like I fell all the way this way with my arm behind me oh no ma'am geez and I got up I was like oh so boys pissed yeah of course had got up and I went I got I'm doing it then I did it again you were back in what in it so the way I broke it - I thought broke it and then the second time I broke it off Oh would be the second time same fall both times I hung up miss lamb boom and I was killing me I'm like I'm doing it I went up and I did is he canon huh you did the same thing again it broke off yeah it was like it it broke I guess oh but the break was like this the break goes like this and like this so it's like diagonal breaks and there's a pie piece missing so you didn't try it a third time no I was I was super faint and yeah so that was that until hospital apat out of it there you are you guys are out of the video of me falling and it says breaking records crossed out breaking bones I don't know but still that's it and that's what 3 to 6 months I've never tried to get a rod got a rod in your got a rod we only had six months to film for the yep extremely sorry video yep and it took nine months to heal oh it wouldn't heal it wouldn't grow it wouldn't grow it wouldn't grow they almost took the rod out and uh wanted to start over and I was like give me another month like is there any growth they gave me a month and they said there's a little bit of growth and I was like cool I just started skating again started filming in a cow in a sling no cuz when they put the rod in it you don't have a sling open they put the rod in you don't have yeah they just like don't so they're looking wisdom don't do whatever for yeah rod to take the bones have to connect yeah for it to grow okay so there Rod's in there holding it but you can twist it or snap it unless it grows around it yeah and because it was a PI piece the two healthy pieces weren't touching they're touching the x-men together so it just started right here and slowly went around so there was a little bit of growth and um the the film had already got pushed back just because of everyone else you know like so as they usually do ya know this it was still not even really healed it was I started just doing all the stuff that wasn't grabbing or anything no no right and then one day I just wallop slam and I'm like oh no okay I can take it oh yeah that shoe you had behind you right there is that like a sheeted with Nike and Stussy yes I was a Nike Stussy shoe and whatever there's a lot of conversations how it goes the shoe actually comes plain hmm with some stencils and you can stencil it yourselfer and do nothing oh really yeah oh it doesn't come like that no no I was like a plain just a plan to come with tape and everything so you could tape up it you got to figure it out yourself don't do it so it actually came from a pair of pants that I rode I wore you know it was I made um yeah actually warm and future primitive oh and when we all jump out of the Saros van and grasso is actually wearing another pair of pants they're snakeskin I think okay nevermind but I had made these pants yeah because we loved this band 999 and they wore leopard and whatever is punk rock stuff and so I made these pants years ago actually my son had a photo in Thrasher wearing him like 30 years Wow I had saved him or whatever so it was based off of that okay just whatever but um I made fifty pairs oh I stenciled that went out to Suzy stores yeah I mean 50 shoes the spray paint it's got to be a lot of that's a lot of work it's a lot of time yeah well I was thought I was gonna do 150 or so but um I thought I was gonna stencil all this just massive material use the material incentive uh then it actually turns out better because then you don't have to have weird spray-painted shoes sure it's just a thing but um I could sit here and talk six more but it's the new year we got a person twenty this episode just gonna livestream yes gonna sit here we're gonna have food delivered well go take turns napping thanks so much man it was awesome like I said I consider from there six hours eight hours ten hours yeah it's over it's over yeah you gotta go Lance Kelly no can we give you some 9 club if you your shirt or something or yeah mother I'm catering coffee to eat what kind of tea Earl Grey English breakfast but I've resorted you tips who know I've completely red green tea now I'm not even British anymore green tea because caffeine keeps me up so I stopped bringing and I don't want to drink as much milk and sugar anymore so I've gone to green tea I used to do PG Tips email it sugar it's okay to drink green my license my British license has been revoked Wow I'm sure there's some Brits that drink green tea thanks so much for bringing me all my good we grab a couple things your size t-shirt triple extra-large triple XL I'm kind of a big dude no um quadruple so we could buy XL grow into it we're gonna out you know Oh green tea what kind of green tea what is this what is a brand you what do you do you know what I don't even buy it you just grab the teabag out she's the one that came up with that theory like it is good flesh caffeine and better for you and I it was just more about milk some people put a little mini milk in the green tea - that's good - yeah waiting time but uh banned this please talk about it so much this sum is insanity band this band this is the power you owe and kneel oh gosh always like along the best segments that win why see when when this games at the house oh inside the house kneel in there yeah yeah that's all Stacy wanting the inspired band bike build-off sure yeah skatepark inside of his house just Neal this we didn't get into Neal it was like I mean you guys know gonns but before Gonzo's Neal their brains are that's their brains they see the world differently in the Neal blender is amazing yeah um and he was kind of like so we're all these kids in these different parks and he kind of was at Big O which was a kind of a punk rock park okay I think he kind of didn't really fit I want to fit there and then Whittier was kind of like we're more like the UM we were kind of like the fans of skateboarding and nerds okay but we were all kind of just weird and we all want click together kind of weird we're you know dog town was like World geez we invented the thing Badlands was like we're bigger and badder than you San Diego is more like we're technically the best and Big O was kind of punk and like Whittier was like yeah we run the thing okay and we know it and we're arrogant lame and cocky and weird but uh but we don't say that but we now we can say right now you're just weird like oh you guys are all weirdos in semiquaver um and but lead Neill was like the lead of it man he just saw the world differently yeah and he did so many interesting red things that became the standard of skateboarding right you draw pictures of something and years later it would become something in yeah like the everybody does the the in the contest where he stops and spray paints on the wall that that drawing everybody loves that so you know what the fakie everybody is fakie everybody you know that trick no no fakie good buddy have you heard of I've hardly the good buddy very good buddy trick called the good buddy there's no vertical stuff you've heard a good buddy yeah so good buddies where you go up backwards is this I can't explain it it's like tonics it's not even worth explaining to Street Street Minds because it's a fakie hand plant and it can't really be done good to be honest okay it really can't but Neil used to make films and super eights and stuff and you'd play films and they playing backwards and so he played inverts and he's thought like he was he was just he would look at this stuff and he had tried it like think things could be done so he wanted to go up backwards into an invert mm-hmm like so you play an invert and coming down he's like okay I can come up and go up into an invert huh instead of you know invert Ryan invert just playing it back lock I can push up and go up and he was doing stalled inverts and so he tried it and he found out that I can't get up there no but this is at a time when nobody there's like no there's like three tricks to do when you're going backwards right so he was trying this to learn this before a contest okay I'm probably making all this up and Neil won't see it he got to come on the show they want you on the show it's gonna be the best show ever and you can just talk about how none of us know what we're talking about so you want me was trying to get up it was total meal and we knew what you were in the inner circle of kind of knowing okay that makes sense sure because we're arrogant we he was trying to push up into a full Enberg and he tried it a bunch one night and everything he probably wanted to do it for this contest okay he realized I'm never gonna do it I can't do it right whatever turns out the next contest half the contestants are doing rock fakies and then going Bank ain't little ones yeah everyone had learned his trick the next day yep the next contest is not his trick wank that's his trick was going up he was doing like right and he was going ah can't be done I can't be done mmm everyone was like we're doing Neil's trick huh yeah and so he's like oh great the fakie everybody and so the fakie everybody or the everybody or the good buddy of the version of it gotcha is a trick that people do proudly today but don't know it actually means that you're doing something wrong and it can't be done right and you're all doing it that's impressive that is incredible there's millions of stories like that Neal what are the chances Neal will come on the show huh what are the chances to call him 9 are you gonna really call him right now or the chances are gonna answer my phone call now one to ten one being the least 10 where does Neal fall on that Wow I think you've I almost tried to bring Lucero with me Oh realize a couple hey let's just do John and I do and so we'll get to John originally if you got Neal and some sort of safe thing for about four minutes you might do it for four minutes I don't know I can't speak for Neal I know either but you know I'm the best though you ride yourself a clip with him to signature yeah I don't think anything's impossible sure um I don't think he you'd see a reason to do it right yeah the hardest thing for him yeah and so you'd go like that's really far and a story and a story yeah I can relate yeah we can yeah I think you can make things happen yeah you skate with if you ever just put it in his Britta's ear what time is it it's 10:50 I call him in like two hours he'd be getting up want to give you some mind club stuff policy you this the the switch flip manny has been here you you return the favor and I'm returning it back to you there's a mob you can drink your green tea out of awesome oh yeah much and of course is your shows red that means a lot is there anyone come on said hey you know here's how you can make you feel better I don't know there's no way to totally as a shirt for you the 9 Club shirt long sleeve along yep people have their ideas you know Lance people say oh you could do this you could do that it's fine it's a beanie great thank you he's opening the beanie right now look at that I'm gonna I want to reshoot the whole thing really bad hair all right ready wow we are ha we're back at the 9 Club everybody what's the cost how many well aren't gonna spend the time don't even I forgot about the special thing okay let me tell you something people come on the show they say you know I say special special special right you know and then they want another special or in the comments they say you only gave them two specials or three specials or whatever I've just kind of nailed narrowed it down to three okay Oh special special special guest but the UH if they asked for more I'll give them more oh that's horrible well only upon request I'm glad to oblige you know could I get two specials only then people are gonna say you'll if I only want one special no didn't know special no special if Lance mountain came on the show and I said well we are back back in the nine club everybody today we got a guest no one just with that just with that yeah well we are back huh we're back in the nine club everybody guys stuff already today we got a guess thank you yes okay how about three guests is it cool I've narrowed it down to three okay just to let you know Lance it's been an honor and a pleasure thank you so much for coming you I so all the great stories all the great great everything we got to be a part of the best part is there anything you want to tell us any anything that you've never told anybody before any breaking ground break any and exclusives to do it intro to four and one for us welcome to fall [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The Nine Club

Views: 353,686

Rating: 4.849226 out of 5

Keywords: chris roberts, roger bagley, kelly hart, crob, the nine club, nine club, the 9 club, 9 club, skateboarding, skateboards, skate, skating, skater, podcast, talk, show, history, lesson, interview, news, tutorial, motivation, entertainment, legend, how to skate, funny, haha, hilarious, comedy, braille, thrasher, berrics, transworld, tricks, sk8ing, nike sb, sk8board, street skating, switch tre flip, boardslide, crail couch, Lance Mountain, powell peralta, flip, variflex, tony hawk, stacy peralta, sorry, rocco

Id: lPG1xvG-flA

Length: 225min 15sec (13515 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 07 2019