Tony Hawk Shares His Life Story

what's up I'm Trevor Jacob wheels behind the camera we are just arriving Tony Hawk's warehouse which in rocket power my favorite TV show growing up they called it the Hawks Nest and they go and visit Tony Hawk in the Hawks Nest so that's where we're headed we're almost there we're gonna just see what he's up to maybe play around on his ramp a bit I'm still dealing with a broken back so probably won't do anything too crazy but yeah see what he's doing and ask him some questions that I'm curious about skateboarding and his extensive history in skateboarding in general and all the things that he's accomplished has been pretty crazy so stoked to catch up with him and we'll see what we get up to okay said not to use that door but to use this door this is the door [Music] are you set yep hey I'm Trevor hey nice to meet you hey nice to meet ya how's everything going going good and yourself yes that'd be good let me get you guys here to probably report in here in his office okay why do you want to do a setup in here is it cool video and know-how honestly where it is yeah I was just gonna like cruise around and kind of just like say what's up and talk to him and then but what I mean so deep how are you Thanks good see is everything going well yourself what's up man how are you nice to meet ya Thanks um we just want to stop by and say what's up maybe cool y'all go skating and ask you a couple questions and okay cool yeah that's sweet uh yeah I didn't really expect to escape but no no not you like I was just gonna cruise around the road you're gonna skate yeah okay but I mean like just you know I got a broken back right now but like at least yeah I wondered about that take a couple cruisers and okay talk to you about your legendary existence and okay kind of you okay all right cool yeah um you just sort of free-floating like this there okay yessum yeah um let me just uh my daughter's here so let me make sure she's okay sort it out so good oh I was referring to you on the way here that we're in the hawks nest like in rocket power oh yeah I hadn't know you know when I do that you know I thought that show was kind of like a cult following mm-hmm and then when I did it I have no idea really kids like me all over the world watch it yeah and then when I mean like I I posted it I don't know you know my Instagram just last year yeah and it just exploded with comments and like I miss rocket power it was so awesome yeah I thought it was just like I didn't think that I was skating was that big back then you know what I mean it was a bunch of secretive little kids like me watching it all or I got my board how are you good this is places here I'll shoot my office all right Charlie for last month but this is a wheel speed board I brought my cruiser and I was like damn I should bring something else that looks like a little more bored yeah except I've been skating it around just like on the streets oh that's awesome but it is a pretty good Fillmore board yeah summers always have the big soft wheels yeah um so this is pretty much where I pretend to work and just collection of oddball stuff that I've gotten over the years some my favorite photos and yeah my friend made that my birthday I feel a little self-conscious putting it together and riding on the mountain yeah check me out I just have to cover the name of the stomp pad or something um but yeah I was cool with him to do that yeah and then same with that like that surfboard yeah well nobody must be seeing that logo but sharks true but you do get a walk down the sand with it yeah yeah that's awkward thing about having stuff with your name on it yeah I figured out there over the years what's the story with the Playboy board on that we produce those for Playboy fiftieth anniversary and then Hugh Hefner signed it for me so that's pretty litter and then I went to gene Simmons house for an interview and he has this whole room biscuits Museum of all they're licensed kiss stuff yeah I mean just like the most random things and and like kiss coffins and kiss wine and he had the skateboard and he was like oh we make skateboards I didn't even write like I forgot and then we sign a team and give it to me yeah one of the other one of these other other ones got some Sun on them I'm sure this friend of mine junior Christian Jacobs he was tingling in the cube he's the lead singer of The Aquabats and created Yo Gabba Gabba and I always liked the art he did on us so I kept that one through the years fencing with that some dude in Mexico City just hand me this Wow yeah took some time I know I felt like it's hard when people give you gifts and stuff when you're gone especially cuz you like well I don't ma'am I carry on but this one was like I had it you got to it yeah nothing it's like layers and layers of what is that even like frosting paint or something like yeah cake yeah it's it's puffy pink Wow and this one a dude gave me literally as I'm walking out of a demo um in in downtown San Diego he's an artist from Tijuana and he hands me that and I've got like my bags my path my skateboard I'm just like oh he like he hands me this weapon what is it made out it's um horse raping hands it's great yeah spray paint cans and they're just deadly Wow I mean I appreciated it but it was it was an awkward encounter yeah yeah and then uh let's see what's this is the very first skateboard made of birdhouse like first one off the line Jerry time to clone yeah Wow he designed the graphics and then became lead artist for for birdhouse does it I don't know if that's yeah I guess since we're talking about it right now the jeremy klein heath care chart part the end like yeah ha that's all how did how did that like yeah that's insane that's that was when you give them a relatively big budget and let them do what they want right at the time yeah I don't know if it would all go down that way now but check that out if type it on its on youtube yeah just check out Jeremy kleine heath care chart at the end that's ours in fire how is the yeah like that movies speaking of which like probably the best and most effort skate film to ever come out ever yeah I think that the reason being is that we we put a we put a lot of effort into it we put a big budget together and we were shooting film and no one was shooting film back then so there was added pressure from the skate to the skaters that were like you can't just waste a roll of film yeah and and we actually cut costs by not developing some rolls because we knew they like oh those are all bales and yeah it was weird it was like I mean it's just different now because everything's video and everything's high-res and 4k and [ __ ] but um this was in a time when that was the only way you could get footage to that quality with my own film right like even all the bowl stuff and like you skating the ramp in the huge arena and at like dude yeah we're able to be ready too boring for $200 a day Wow for a week we're and I think no we rented for 10 days it took it took six days to build the ramp and then I skated it for four days and then all the just like Steve Barron breaking into your house and like that was that but no is his deal we just let everyone kind of do their own all right you know he's escaping your house isn't that it was his house okay I'm just someone's house anyway it was just yeah actually not thinking all this stuff I was so young like three years old four years old thinking that those scenes are actually real I'm like yeah wow just being like mine boggled by like I guess I didn't really consider that it was maybe not program for all ages I was just trying to let I was just trying to my team did what they wanted yeah and there were definitely some questionable visuals in there yeah I don't really know you know maybe Dave and we moved on we evolve yeah see what else I collect movie props I used to collect a lot more I've got some stuff from you're for Christmas they were actually used in the movie but this is the favorite thing that I've collected over the years um this is from wild at heart now if anyone's familiar with that movie Nicolas Cage Laura Dern you I'm I'm not in the movie I just love it and uh this is a road sign from a fictitious town in the movie if you know the movie you'll know what that's all about I just assumed your aunt cuz I don't know the movie no no no it's David Lynch super weird it's I don't know it's just what like it was it's it's one of the few movies that I really want a prop from and that one came online and so I got bit on it your most cherished item in here no you said that's all movie props yeah yeah for sure and it came through absolutely nothing to do with skateboarding not at all yeah well the income did right he ain't come to buy oh yeah let's see this was this is probably one my favorite things I got this is a Devo hat signed energy dome signed by every member of Devo at the time two of them actually passed away since but this was when Devo played boom boom hot jam in 2003 mm yeah 2003 at San Diego sports arena it was like I we we did the boom without him and we had live bands playing along the way we would usually have them play two to four shows and Devo played two shows and those were like those were my dream come true like that was that was first time I ever did a 900 at the tour I was there you read the San Diego I was there huh he was Anaheim but I was there cuz I remember Devo played I remember them yeah I was there you saw Matt hopping it knocked out yep because that was you have the loop at that show right um not this tour okay then I don't know thinking of but I recited staples I don't know but I know I was really young and I was there when Deva played so oh you saw two different ones that I'm gonna loop that year but um of like fives that's awesome though yeah um yeah that was that I mean those those two shows like were basically my my big sort of selfish celebration moments because like do those my favorite bands ever and the fact they're playing on the deck of my vert ramp yeah it was just like I didn't even care forget a crowd I was just happy that that was happening that all yeah what uh what's the name of the song that year you have that video part two in my way the Arnett video Oh gates of steel gates of steel yeah that song and that video part like he's my favorite of all time oh so like those two things and then I don't know I think that video came out in like 97 or something but yeah that would mean that the boom boom hop jam was about in like 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 with the arena - right cuz I remember that video part in the song and then my brother and I my mom got us tickets she like knew cuz you know huge fans whatever but the band was playing you know like play yeah they played that song yeah you were setting the ramp yeah and I remember I just remember that moment it was like it I don't know it was just so mind-boggling for such a lady about what is your probably one of the very few that knew that and that was exactly like that was my favorite Devo song I requested that song for that video yeah and then when they started playing that song on my ramp that's when I was like holy [ __ ] I got on 100 now like wow no now is the time it's ever gonna happen in my show it's gonna happen now so that's really cool you recognize because I mean for me that was just like a totally personal moment and I really didn't think anyone else could see all those other elements about it well somebody out there named Trevor did cuz I know I can see that and I appreciate the whole I recently had to find that video it was hard to find do I have it you have an objection it's at Travis Pastrana's house yeah AHS I have it on VHS I converted it to a DVD oh I gave it to or actually that might be I did I did manage to get okay you have I basically bribe someone to digitize it I got a copy on the suite yeah that's how I can get it to you it's fun I still saw steal favorite video I'll time right there you're in my way very special can you show us around yeah sure well if that was it that was my office right there it's messy I realize Seth Seth knows what I'm doing before I do and basically runs everything behind the scenes he's been gone for last week and this place almost fell apart that's true jaren all right young man got behind the guy in forever this is will but Jared's og he did the one-on-one videos so he's been here he's been on the skate scene as long as any of us yeah well I'm just old so that's the only that's where he's not even a no longer yeah some water yeah I wrote they responded your thing of the day when everyone is doing the old old filters and you're like this is just me I'm like such [ __ ] but oh yeah it's funny it's funny your joke was funny not that you look old this is basically this this modest office is bergen house because murray house is really just me my production manager Derek who's gone on vacation and our team manager Adam that's all bird house it's all done through licensing so it's not a big operation but weird nimble and I like it because like it's just us three having fun not answering to some giant company about why we do things or you know if this is questionable or not because I just want to do with the team wants to do um but yeah it's not not some huge factory that's the foundation that's what we do public skate parks for low-income areas that is probably the biggest staff here in my building and we've been going since 2001 well we were just talking about the wheels from Orcas Island and oh yeah was explaining awesome that's when he met you or saw you or something yeah 10/10 valid the year when that park opened yeah that's um I mean that's a perfect example of what we do we try to empower the communities that are trying to get a part going we give them resources and funding and to date we've helped to fund over 900 parks now tell me about the Lone Pine Park California was that is that your doing um yeah I've actually only seen it because when I went by there was snowing every time yeah other mammoth right and yeah we helped to fund that and isn't it's right behind McDonald's oh yeah yeah awesome I always stop there and skate it it's great funny because there are very few I mean you know we've done over nine hundred so yeah like I know every single part yes I doubt but there are a few key ones that I that I recognize because of either the the city or because where you go the story behind it and Lone Pine was definitely one where I was like oh that's on our way to man let me check that out every time I Drive by it's got snow in it yeah really damn that's I don't know I mean just it just don't look like I'm I only go up there when it's dumping yeah so it's true yeah damn that's that's really insane I didn't realize nine hundred that's yeah quite a special impact someone in there can answer those questions yeah door bursts open like that's an answer for you oh and then the desert like all of our current very house everyone's Pro models pretty much yeah or yeah sometimes we do a series that are all have a running theme but then sometimes everyone just goes rogue because they won't have their own yeah um and then we does special edition for Eric Andre cuz he was in the birdhouse video and he and I were talking about it and came up with this idea and it's awesome it was it honor a team member yeah totally what else what else is going on over here um mostly accounting administration I don't know how to make that sexy for you it's necessary well the skateboards yeah these are I mean most of these are my words through the years there have been a few key ones that were really hard to get because I didn't keep one when we ran them and then end up having to buy them on eBay it's funny how that works everyone would like magazine covers that they want to keep they like keep one because they'll go away and then no one can find them anymore but I had one that we just couldn't find one and the guy no Soraya had it and he had been selling trying to sell on eBay and he got some bid for I don't know five or six thousand dollars and fell through and I learned about it later and contacted him music you still interested in that because I'd like to buy it yeah so I bought it as discount sending one of my boards nice don't think we have actually it was a it was a short run because it was a sort of tribute to the Damned phantasmagoria album cover yep and it was too close so we had to we had a cease-and-desist Donna got it there were that me mate and then this is this is about a room the viewing the viewing corridor so this is the rent we built for the tour 2002 at a cost of $600,000 Wow and basically this ramp can go up in two hours and down in one hour that's insane yeah because remember I was asking you about it I was like cuz I wanted to get it out to the desert for that event oh yeah yeah and you're like yeah can be there in like two days yeah the price done like yeah I mean it's just the cost is labor yeah because we don't need for it that's or anything we just need that much people to write puddi section up and put it up right yeah it's crazy you can just see all the sections are like just so is each 8 by 4 section completely steel-reinforced from the back or yeah there's all it was all machine made by a company in Pennsylvania that does stages so they do big concert stages raka ac/dc you know Lady Gaga and stuff and so all their stuffs made to go up real fast and then get trucks and hit the road which is what we did I'm with this ramp for five years in a row Wow well let's go check it out yep yeah thanks ok thanks again for doing this oh sure I'll be done a few thousand times but yeah people I think people come here expecting you know like rows of skateboards and all and this is kind of not the business model of yeah yeah I wasn't sure like how you run things like if there'd be a bunch of people sessioning you're like um don't probably people probably start killing up in the next hour - yeah I really because because I like I got to get kids from school and do stuff later in the day so we have what we call the old man's sessions and it's usually me Kevin Staub Lincoln anni McDonald Bucky lassic and then that's usually before like 1 or 2 o'clock and then around 3 o'clock x-games final shows up and then that's just like hectic skate session all the new guys you know speaking of exiting this finals or actually I'll ask you about that after I just wanna like run [Music] watch out for the gap safer I heard he's Hertz already broken back [Music] ya know it's I got pretty lucky what Saul injury thing so we're good did you have to have surgery yeah no leg turned down yeah it turned on five different spine surgeons telling me like surgeries of us and I kind of like just prolonged in yeah it's awesome yeah well so I was gonna go yeah but I don't know about those wheels in I'm not gonna do a verse yeah um so this is more I just sort of when people come by street dudes and my kids and give them something to skate other than just a giant vert ramp yeah and this has changed a few times we actually had this was a big thing for a ride channel when we were doing ride show going strong and so we would have sort of clinics and how to's and how to build ramps stuff like that and then this just remained yep and this is usually what I'm doing on the weekends with my kids skating here like my daughter learned to drop in all right yeah that's all thing yeah viral just super weird cuz it was just us here one night and she will she wanted to do that and then she wanted to go to Panera and I was like can't go to Panera let's drop in I just probably take her anyway but yeah but that was a motivation yeah and then she did it she's an Arab Red Bull she know she could new suit that's all it took then I got her I got her a full coffee not just a slice of coffee cake a full coffee cake the whole thing yeah so that was her reward I guess yeah it's pretty insane how old was she at the time uh she was probably ten nine or ten okay yeah she I mean all my kids they all skate and they're all pretty you know active and they like to skate a lot and she skates the least so it was even bigger deal in terms of you know watching her progress that she would do that because she really liked she died wasn't skating and then she's often doesn't do it for weeks mm-hmm so it was pretty fun is the only is the only entrance to the top of the ramp I guess you could say is the ladder no this stairs over here I'm gonna say she could check it up in the top yeah come on nerds I'll show you the thing that scares people most so the thing that scares people the most when they come up here and especially when they're shooting video is the plank walking the plank alright well you're gonna walk the plank I don't know I mean no no I thought you see how the look in his eye you're gonna ollie the gap percent of the wait [Music] new wheels get slippery you've done that a couple times I love how you like I saw a video you the other day like just skating through the air your story like skating through the airport you're just cruising but like if an ordinary person that knew nothing about skateboarding saw you walking down the street nothing like you don't you're not like people always ask me how I get away with that and it's really just more that I do it quietly you know man I don't like drop my board now make a noise I just kind of just kind of set it down and just go around people and I'm not making any noise and right so that's how I get away with it and I usually don't do it for very long but every once in a while I'm rushing to a gate and I just go for it yeah I know but I'm afraid of wheel bite right right when I don't want it you really want to do it the line is it's basically a semi wide carve on that wall so that you're basically ending it like in that fourth sheet like bread oh I see so you're kind of sweeping s so that your trajectory is is you're already gonna go across it no matter what you know what I mean like yeah so that's - you go I'll do it I don't know I guess if I'm gonna do the gap I may as well film it break the thousand dollar camera yeah I honestly just didn't want to risk like actually committing and then blowing it good yeah I always say the priority is saving cameras and kids I've racked my shoulder many times saving the camera off your kick turn you're on this seam and that just sets you up right across okay I mean you already jumped in so you got the hard part over with okay [Music] those feel like dead sailor air like Midway I gotta go a little higher you still still carve a little more just cuz you're not doing here I said you know like you can come across this wall a little more okay you're saying like I'm just saying if you do it in air that's that's where you want to be but you're not and it'll be more of a better art over the gal gadot less usually I'm trying to talk kids into like even trying it like that's what I'm my line and he's just kidding Kerry's doing it [Music] [Applause] you gotta tell me like I I people stayed here for Mike McGill just did that for the first time last week he scared this ramp for the last 15 years well it comes with a broken back wheels oh yeah he's a lot smarter than I am and he came off the rollin that's how he had to get speed for it yeah let's not mention you and some of the elite others are like 15 feet above the coping well that makes it easy under their coping right I mean literally going higher makes it easier cuz you're gonna clear it no matter what you know low is when you're like at risk of not actually getting across it but that was cool wait one time we um we removed removed to five sheets five more sheets oh wow and I did it and broke my board when I landed well that was was that in your video part like a couple years ago it was yeah yeah but the one but we removed one more right and when I jumped at my tail broke and I couldn't get the speed anyway so we just scrapped it talk to you about the this the the sideways loop oh how is that constructed here so basically we put it here where the channel is and then it went my whole thing was I wanted it to just sort of morph into the ramp at the end and to be honest after doing it that was my big mistake right so as it made the it made the ribbon get tighter at the end what do you mean mistake you did it I know but if I had just made it like one continuous transition mm-hmm it would have been way easier because there's not that like sucking it up at the end of the track again but I just thought somehow that's gonna be safer that I would be able to fall into this right gotcha you know what I mean yeah but in reality I just kept slamming into the ramp and so if I were to ever do it again which I'm not I would just make it a literally a sideways loop and put it there but it was hard to get speed to because because it started another four feet above the the ramp you know I mean like that was actually beginning so you had to get plenty of speed on a setup to get into it if you know we're talking about I think it's on the right channel yeah yeah is a sideways loop yeah I think it's called a downward spiral downward spiral it's like probably the most absurd crazy thing that I didn't mean I didn't realize something like that was even possible but leave it up to the man himself yeah I thought it was like everything in theory was gonna be the way a loop works and it was in some ways but in some ways not at all run since we're on the topic of crazy things run me through the like I guess I have a lot of questions for you if you don't mind but the yeah the the question that I have is like talk to me how transformation like the 900 was for you and like when you actually did that from you know like I feel like that was kind of when skateboarding made a staple and you were kind of the exclamation point on that and from there seeing skateboarding as like a skateboard fan like that was kind of what made the masses of the world see skateboarding so like how do you in your own eyes being the artist himself like how did you see that as transforming in in the world I guess I think what it was weird for me because I had been trying 904 almost ten years prior to that night that I made it and to compare I did a 720 my first 720 in 1985 on a ramp in Sweden with three people watching and it was for me it was a milestone because I wanted to learn how to spin more and for skateboarding it was like oh that's cool you know I mean that there's something new yeah and so when it came to pass at the X Games and the 900 thing I mean yeah yes it was the next sort of barrier to cross for it spinning yeah but I think it was more that people saw I mean just this is this is only because I have so much distance from it now I think it was more that people saw this passion and determination of wanting to do something new and putting your body at risk just to do it and and for what like the the thing that they got the concept was over I wasn't necessarily going to win yeah you know what I mean I didn't I didn't think it was gonna be even hair whole crowd stayed and yeah and so I think it was just more of that that sort of um that approach to doing what you love is is what I I hope is what people took away from it and what made me inspire people to start skating I don't think it was all about just you know I mean like people do new gymnastics tricks that doesn't make people jump in gymnastics on a big level totally or like a huge population suddenly start doing gymnastics because of it yeah it has to be something other than that and I think it was just more that people saw and and what I was doing it wasn't just about me like that that represents skateboarding in general like people who skate they know what it takes like you try something for hundreds of times thousands of times before you make it and when you finally make it it means everything's yeah it may not mean anything to anyone else but it's like it is opened yeah it's like your first kickflip yeah like you know other people who don't cubes they don't care yeah but it means everything to you cuz you made it happen so what you're saying is like you know and it's it's a it's like the relativity of making the stakes way higher for your own personal self and then having the whole world watch you achieve that yeah that was I guess that was the weird aspect to it for me because I just never thought that that kind of thing would resonate because skateboarding was always considered so obscure yeah not mainstream and not not even cool like you know when I was skating when I was skating in high school it was the furthest thing from cool you could do right and then suddenly it's front and center at this big event you know and this new trick happens and people like that's the coolest thing ever that's what I was gonna that's what I was my next like kind of thing I was gonna say is that you skating your entire life and then like that moment is what puts it on the map for other people but they haven't seen your entire life has been dedicated to skateboarding no one sees behind the scenes like that right but you do other people that appreciate skateboarding like myself do but then the whole world sees it as this like you know big thing but from the back end it's blood sweat and tears from yeah and also in a lot of ways and I want to downplay it but in otherwise it was just another trick yeah I mean many tricks have happened since ran at spinning tricks but but also variations and and things that I think are infinitely harder yeah have happened but they didn't happen on that in that forum right and they didn't get that much attention and so it was weird for me for all that to be focused in on that but at the same time like I was hugely proud of it and yeah it followed me around for a year every time I'd show up at a demo even like a Street Plaza Wow and then well what like even what Mitchie just did a 1260 but here's the thing that I'm so what when you say the like something like the the crowds watching you in determination to do this trick it doesn't really matter what the trick is but they're watching that I'll never forget like the times just before you landed it like you're just you're so fierce and so just intense that like you're shaking you're literally on the bottom with like shaking and anger and frustration and like that is what for me would like draw me to be like wow you know like holy crap like he wants it so bad but what I was gonna ask you was like Mitch adjust to the 1260 on the mega ramp at X Games but all of that wasn't there right like there was like there was no there was no like because no one saw the determination maybe behind that it didn't get them the same amount of hype that maybe you know they yeah it's just a different setting to and and it's not like you get 12 tries in a contest yeah I'm the mega ramp right either so it's gonna happen or it's not I mean it's it's in you could tell that on his first few attempts it was probably gonna happen yeah and but at the same time I think that through the years now people have gotten a little bit jaded to all of it yeah it's like all just yeah and there's a there's a mindset that's just like and there's also people and I do not agree with this at all that thinks somehow the mega ramp the big that you know it's a 28 foot quarter pipe that makes it easier there's no way that makes it easier that makes it infinitely harder and scarier yeah because your your feet the air like yeah there's consequences are tragic if you don't pull off the wall enough you bounce off the coping from 20 feet above the ramp that's - and then the next 20 30 feet better there's nothing about that that makes it easy yeah sure it gives you more time to spin but I don't agree with that whole notion I think it's if anything that's the only way we're gonna progress the spinning moves right and I mean 1260 like I don't well I'm not and I don't I don't bring that up to like take away from no Nanak 900 but I'm saying this it was a different setting but as far as I'm concerned just as hard way harder like it all of it all those things combined make this formula that is a recipe for disaster yeah talk to me tell me about what is your what are your what is something that stands out to you maybe one or two things that stand out to you that your skateboard career has led to that is the most just obscure ridiculous thing that you've been able to to go and do the Simpsons for sure I mean I was a fan of Simpson since I started when it was on The Tracey Ullman Show that's how old I am and and the idea that they would create an episode around me was just outlandish so the fact that I got to do that people still quoted to me this day and it's such a it's such a a marker a pop culture too so yeah I was usually proud of that I got to skate the White House during the Obama administration well I was invited in the White House yeah and I chose to skate and I think of that what you will yeah some people were offended some people were stoked I thought it was awesome yeah and I think I mean those two things are kind of these things that I would never imagine it ever get to do I mean there's all kinds of other things that I've been able to participate in that I never thought you know like cancer charity or fundraisers or research stuff like that you know the fact that you can you can use your success for a greater good Foundation is definitely my Pradas work yeah we'll provide these facilities to kids and underprivileged areas who just want to skate yeah it's not that they're trying to be pro they just want to skate and they're told not to and we want to give them a place to go they feel like they're looked after No and traveling the world like I I didn't grow up with some wanderlust yeah I wasn't trying to you know what I mean like get out of my home - I live in San Diego like Dawson yeah but the idea that something I was kind of thrust into touring the world and and sort of embracing diversity and cultures and foods like all that stuff I grew into and now I love it and I love sharing it with my family yeah so and I never imagined being able to do any of this yeah like in any the only the only occupation I imagine to be able to do all the stuff that I'm doing now would be like rock star a movie star right that's it and I and I knew that I wasn't cut out for you so the idea that I could have skating to this obscure sport at a time when it was considered a joke or a kids thing yeah is all just ridiculous and you know people think like they ask me is this was this your dream like there was no dream right that no one who was living a dream yeah I'm skating yeah so came the dream we just created the dream town and to this day like I still I'm very thankful and it's all just gravy it's like so cool every but it's come it's it's it hasn't come on a silver platter like and in for people like myself that has have been kind of involved in action sports understand and can relate to like the hell and pain and suffering and gnarliness of trying things that you've been yeah - really appreciate you know where you stand in this world and that you know what I mean yeah well there's plenty of people who ya they don't they don't see the hard work you put into it in they're just like oh you just you know got lucky right place real time like you'll a 900 and as his life was easy and it's just like okay you believe what you want but that was but you know yeah there were there were decades of pain and and effort yeah I'm into all that stuff even just that one trick but but all the trick you know like having this ramp doing this to her yeah we skated this tour for whatever what well it ended up being almost 10 years but we're talking about like giving me your all every night you know almost every night of the week for for 30 shows straight and saying and if you think that that comes easily like just playing a song you know right then you haven't tried skating or have tried anything yeah where did the like a lot of people I feel like like I was saying earlier about the 900 kind of put a staple on on skateboarding and making things really known but you know you've been how long you've been professionally skateboarding and competing at skateboarding since what your how uh well I started competing when I was 11 yeah because that was the only way you could recognize me skating right especially in the in the late 70s early 80s no one was making video part no there were no videos right no one was making video parts the only way you're getting coverage in a magazine is by winning contests so I knew that if I was gonna have any type of success or recognition in skateboarding I had to compete and then I just had to learn how to skate all different terrain figure out strategies like it's weird because at the core skating is just this individual expression you know but when you put it in a competition it's subjective you've got to kind of do what you know the judges want to see you've got it you've got it learn new tricks every event because if you do the same if you just play the hits they know mark you down yeah yeah the same score you got last event is not going to be the same score you get for the same run right next one totally yeah so where did that where would you say has it been ingrained and you like the competitive drive was I mean really I competed for 20 years of my life so it was definitely a big part of my life and it was a big directive for what was doing yeah but after that year like night those years 99 mm I I stopped competing altogether and it really unlocked a new potential for me to let that go and to not have that pressure all the time made my skating way better because I was always learning tricks knowing that I gotta have that one in my pocket and be able to do it all the time right so it's a little bit more of a conservative approach to how you skate because you're doing stuff that you know you're gonna be able to make a lot and take some risk but when you when you sort of release yourself from that you can try anything and you know when we did this tour like we were trying new tricks on the tour and the crowd was with us and we were trying it over and over I mean every every night almost was like a mini best-trick event yeah um and I loved it and it was something was like oh we don't have to compete to make this all validated and to make it something that people will recognize and yeah we had the crowd with us every night and it you know I don't want to say that this tour was the end-all but it definitely taught me that I don't just have to compete to make a living yeah it's so special it's and like I feel like and you not you feel like you did pave the way for not only yourself but others to see like you know this this skateboarding thing is becoming more of a way of life than strictly competition because back then like you said there was no there's no sponsors or no-one you know it was like the competing the old-school like snake runs and bull events and all that kind of thing that was really it right oh yeah I mean I remember I was under so much pressure especially in the 80s to win because I was on this winning streak that it became more like if I didn't win the event people were like oh he sucks now yeah even if I skated my best and I got second and that weighed on me so heavily that at one point I had a conversation with stacy peralta who was running the company I said Stacy I don't think I can compete anymore and heat I remember him saying these exact words like how are you gonna make a living and I was thought I don't I don't know I'll skate and learn tricks and I'll get photos and he's like no one's gonna see it Wow if you're not competing and he was right because there was everything back then yeah it's not anymore yeah I see I see it maybe more than most people might I hope everyone sees it this way but like you know if it means anything to you I see I see and understand what you've paid for so many and I just have to show my appreciation for that thank you it's insane and it's it's you know effort that most can't comprehend so thank you yeah I did a funny story about I saw the first Nitro Circus uh-huh in Vegas yeah and every year we do this to her I would try to step it up like one year I had you know sort of me mega jump and then the next year I had the jump going all the way over it and I had to build this this 50-foot rolling then we hung from the ceiling and then it was like alright what's next year alright we're gonna have the loop we'd add the loop and then I just kept adding these like ridiculous things to the to the set and at some point we sort of tapped out right and then I went to the Nitro Circus sold-out arena and you guys have a rolling and a jump and I was like is that all it took yeah but you you guys were doing you know like no no no it was a different thing it was just there was there was a moment I was like you mean all I had to do was make one jump and then an airbag and we could have toured for another two years no because I feel like anyone will show up to watch a bunch of idiots kill themselves I got it you know what though you're right none of my crew would have taken a Barbie car down that thing so yeah so kudos to you guys you guys know I didn't do the Barbie car the only one I've done was the couch yes I saw a couch in the boogie board yeah yeah well hey it was my kids still talk about it so it resonated it worked yeah but it was it was funny that I did have this funny moment right then and also that was the night that Travis proposed yeah and my kids are pretty young at the time and so when we left the thing I said what you guys think you think that was cool let's call it the marriage thing was kind of weird and them and then my other kid goes yeah do they do that every night Wow yeah because you can't comprehend into that age yeah that's what they remember there and the wedding one part that's so funny what about what about your telling me what went into the video part that you just that you just did like mostly Street you know oh Dericks yeah I'd like to talk to me about how can just the barracks Tony Hawk new skatepark yeah yes so I guess that can't hit using the word organically but that came kind of organically because I was there doing interviews for a mobile game that we had released because they kind of wanted to skate park setting and while I was there in between interviews I just I jump their stairs and did a couple little tricks and put that on my Instagram because that's how I was doing and it just blew up and I was like that's you know me like I kill myself for new jokes on this thing yeah but jumping 10 stairs that's what resonates and I get it because that's what all everyone's doing yeah and so I worked with the barracks a little bit we did the do a kickflip thing rosianna kids do a kickflip and they said you know we should do something else and I go what about wood when people do video parts there as I said oh that's a battle commander what about that and they go well you gotta get at least three minutes of footage I said well let's do this figure that out yeah and I just kind of dug deep because I used to skate street a lot especially in the early days of birdhouse so I just sort of tried to remember the stuff that I had down then and would go up there and do like four or five tricks at a time and you know it was uh it was a lot of work but it was really fun was like it was kind of cathartic because at my age like I'm not trying to keep those tricks going yeah so a lot of those things were like alright I could cut that one to rest now especially ten stair handrails that's done those days are over and all the bills that went in between there they knock you out RC and that's short three minutes well it's funny it's not really my age that's a problem with the bails it's my style because I I skate very yeah I need slide out of things right so running out of tricks is not my ideal yeah you just crumble kind of like me yeah that's it I'm not am I gonna keep running I just kind of collapse and take it so I would come home very sore from those days but it was fine I was cool because I get to lose my kids in the - mm-hmm sweet so uh tell me just a couple more questions I have what about talk to me about the whole video game for me growing up on your video games I'd you know go to school come home like skate in the driveway and then play play a video game and I get yelled at by my mom for doing my homework all like literally every day on repeat and I think that was most kids around the world everyone that I talked to certainly my age talked to me about the significance that that's played in your life and did you think that a video game with like that would really blow up and have as many sequels as as it did and have the success not a chance it all came about because I had been approached by a PC programmer about doing again this is probably 1997 ish maybe 96 even and he said hey I want to I've been working on this game and he had kind of a little engine of this guy going around bowls it was super basic you know you use like the keyboard to control it and he wanted me to go pitch it with him to different manufacturers either software manufacturers or console manufacturers and we would go to these meetings and people were just like what no one skates why would anyone play skinny it was just superb it was very discouraging and he gave up yeah but because I was going to those meetings my name was sort of going around all those manufacturers and then about a year later activision called me and said hey we heard you wanted to work on a video game was that during like ninety nine the nine hundred no that was in early 98 ok so what's happening pre and then that maybe of course yeah I mean a video game you know if we didn't happen a month so right um so I went up and met with them saw what they're working on and really liked what I saw I mean they the first the first version of the game of the game was taken from the game that they made called apocalypse with Bruce Willis ok so the first time I ever played to an expert skier was with Bruce Willis my gun on his back it's true doing like Ollie's in the desert Wow but I but there was something there like I felt the controls felt intuitive like everything felt it just felt right and so I signed up right away and then we worked on it for basically a year from that point on and then by the time we got to what they what they call beta which is the version they submit to to the actual consoles yes the first one was Playstations ready we were just about to submit Sony and I was at the x-games and the whole thing happened with 900 um and I remember emailing them the next day yesterday you guys I did this thing last night and I think we should include it in the game as a trick and just being humble Tony Hawk hey guys well the president emailed me back right away and he's like we're already on it you [ __ ] roll this is awesome Wow and so they had to animate a 900 and put it in there like in a week watch for submission to and there's always whatever there's always conspiracy theories that somehow this is all master plan and yeah I've been working towards that it was all just total you know perfect storm of timing and it if it had been two weeks later the trick wouldn't have been in the game right the game wouldn't come out but people had been like why isn't yeah um totally but uh but beyond that like I just want to make a game that I thought skaters would want to play that was the goal I thought that if I can get a skater to buy a PlayStation to play this game that's successful to me and and I knew skating was already you know underground it wasn't it wasn't mad and it wasn't you know I mean it wasn't wasn't a mainstream sports so I didn't think it would resonate among gamers but then after the first game came out actually right before the first game came out Activision offered me a buyout of future royalties and I knew then like something was up yeah and then when the game came out just as it was coming down denied it or did you take it or oh no I died kidding me like making sure no they offered me they offered me half a million dollars against like no way well no at the time that was incredible I'd never no one had ever even I never even heard people say half a million dollars before you know I mean to me it was a big saying a billion gazillion dollar here but at the time things were doing pretty well I had just bought a new house yeah and I was like I think I can just let this ride and see what happens um yeah but but as that as the game was tarting to get released in the skate industry people just started calling it the game and that's when I knew we had a hit because I had the the approval and the validation of the hardcore skaters yeah and skaters to play games and it was like all right this worked yeah and then right when the game got released they started working on sequel Wow I mean I remember the phone call it was within days they said hey we're already working on number two and what what Wow do you know that's I remember it like playing like the underground levels and have the whole soundtrack memorize in my head cuz yeah we were waiting literally like as a fan kid waiting like when's the next thing coming out like because we would just have that on repeat all the tricks were already like we had unlocked everything on put on Tony Hawk I think I think that's that's what made it so successful is that like you said you could finish the whole thing keep coming back to it and finding your own new challenges just like skating and I really believe that that was what what kept the longevity and what people kept coming back to it and wanting the next version of it yeah um and in August thirty first twenty years Wow crazy so people keep ask me what do you guys do walks through first do you have any plans I don't know none of the video games sorry Freddie yeah maybe I'll maybe I'll make an alias and play online what about the future what do you got planned you got anything I mean you obviously just accomplished more in your I mean I don't know dude you're always on to something but like yeah do you have any you have any uh yeah some projects in the works I'm I mean I'm kind of just taking it as it comes right now I don't really have some huge goal I I really enjoyed just being able to skate at my leisure and do exhibitions once in a while and it's trying to just spend more time with my kids cuz they're all getting older and I mean we got three in college now and um and you know I I spent a lot of time especially like when my oldest son Riley was young I spent so much time on the road that I you know I have a lot of regret and missing just sort of family moments yeah and so I want to be available to my kids and I mean and to him as well like yeah even when your kids are all they still need you yeah but other than that I think the big project I haven't worked now is is I'm working on a Broadway show with skating with Mark Mothersbaugh really so Mark Mothersbaugh is doing the music it's steel really uh and I'm gonna do the choreography and then we bought the rights to a Nick Hornby book called slam so basically the the whole show is about a teenage skater who his girlfriend gets pregnant okay and his having to come to terms with being responsible mm-hmm and how skating helps him do that crazy um and it's been super fun we already did a workshop La Jolla we have a lot of interests when did that come in that's the big question yeah okay the script is almost done um there's so many elements to stage shows imagine yeah are you gonna be traveling with that doing I won't be in it but I'll be behind the one behind it yeah just the way that mark will be doing the music and something else will be performing it is there anything that you would just closing will get out of your way here is there anything in closing that two things what do you want to what do you want to be remembered as or yeah yeah what do you want to be remembered by or as and and also I'll wait I'll wait for your answer in then I'll um what are you what's your legacy what's the dream to have you I don't know I think I think like my ego says I just want to be remembered as an innovative skater because that was always my goal just was trying to who's seeking validation from my peers with what I do because what I did the way I skated especially in the early days was not considered cool or progressive it was considered more like a circus act right um and so I was always striving to like try to you know yeah be accepted in that sense but beyond that I hope someone that helped to promote skating on a bigger scale you know I mean that's I always felt like skating provided me something that other sports couldn't even though it was not really accepted in by the general mainstream it gave me a sense of validation it gave me a sense of self-confidence of identity it gave me an outlook on life that a lot of my peers didn't have at the time and so I want to promote that as best I can and provide that same opportunity not to be pro but just to get those same elements from the same positive aspects from skating to other kids and maybe some kids have never even seen a skateboard right and and I can reach them because of because of my success in other areas totally I was just going to say that sure you have realized this but for me if it from my point of view it becomes so apparent that you know skateboarding was this thing that was being you know push kind of in for so long and you're like clearly in my mind the spearhead that kind of like exploded into making it a cultural thing where people can have jobs around it and this whole thing just kind of exploded like you know it's really cool to hear you talk about all this and and kind of see that that you know you are literally the exclamation mark on how this whole thing kind of exploded almost like you're pushing this energy into this thing and then finally just the egg cracked and boom yeah like I said it wasn't some great master plan it's just little by little I was trying to to help promote it know however I can I think the stuff that I'm most proud of especially in those days when things really blew up was being able to use big marketing dollars to promote skating in general to a new audience right you know like I had a an endorsement with the mascot milk I know some with McDonald's yeah and Bagel Bites and all that and and I used all of those obviously I benefited that you know I'm not gonna yeah any cut it but but I was able to use their marketing dollars to reach an audience that maybe would have never seen skateboarding and to represent skateboarding in those advertisements in a way that others wouldn't yeah it's incredible like and what would you say like like Ali not a leader cuz that's a cliche well I mean a lot of people state ambassador and being a guiding force yeah yeah I mean people sort of put that on me yeah and I was happy I like I was happy to accept our responsibility but it wasn't something I was choosing to do what is something that's formulating an Ivan especially a my younger like I did are you kidding me I didn't want to represent wanna be responsive or anything that's gonna skate yeah final words what would you to give any advice to the kids or people that are aspiring to be something or even you know start skating or whatever like what what you have any words of advice to them that that might help them along their path I think really firstly do what you love doing don't don't choose a path just cuz you think it's gonna be the most financially successful because in a lot of ways you probably just be miserable doing it just do what you love doing and in the end that's your success and you're gonna enjoy your work and I think that if you do choose something especially if you choose something like what we do learn everything about it I mean you're perfect like you didn't just skate like you're riding doing all these other things learning different terrain learning different vehicles and really pushing limits elsewhere and it allowed you to have an edge on everyone else and I think that with skating especially or something of that nature if you learn every aspect of it even things you weren't interested in you're at least gonna have that advantage and be able to make a living at it because some of your peers they only focus on the one thing and the one thing that they did well and at some point that wasn't enough well I mean at the same point it's broaden you did exactly where you you've you've stood as well as like you know focusing I mean focusing on that one thing arguably right like focusing on yep but well at the core is skating but what I'm saying is like when I was growing up like I learned how to edit video just because I was interested in it I learned how to lay ads out you know I mean and even like a little bit of Photoshop and and taking videos and doing stuff that wasn't my my job description and just to keep it fresh keep it new yeah and also just because it was interesting and I like think about and now I mean just if you think about all the options you can you have and especially all the tools available with smartphones yeah like all those skills have they've they've come full circle and now I'm able to do all that stuff because I learned it at an early age and I mean that's why like I've had such success on social media yeah because I was I learned how to do all that stuff when it was on VHS decks make it VHS videos of our team I mean it's just one example and it's just more like if you learn everything about your craft that's all I'm saying yeah if you if you love something learn all the stuff even if it doesn't interest you even it's just boring business stuff see the over help it's gonna be yeah that's how you're gonna make success yes so that's so inspiring to hear because when when I when you when I hear you say like you know myself being in into the all the different things and all the different sports I guess you could call it now yeah a unicorn like the only reason I've ever pursued that was the same reason that you were explaining that learning a new trick it's like you want to learn that new trick because of the chase to learn that new trick and finally when you do it it feels like the best thing in the world yeah and so for me growing up like you know looking up to guys like you and and different people for me it was always just about like wow those all those things are really cool I want to be able to have yeah I want to be able to like learn something in all those fields and luckily I had friends in the neighborhood that had bikes and dirt bikes and stuff so it's interesting to hear you say that from the actual unicorn himself yeah but you had the determination I had my Trevor moment a few years ago when I I learned how to backflip a bike at Woodward into the foam pit man yeah cuz we were through top and like all right we're all gonna learn this and I was frightened to death like and then the first one I landed kind of upside down and popped my neck worse than any skate accident I've had and then eventually got around to the wheels on the foam pit and that was it like I wasn't that's enough you did it yeah but I'm just saying like that was that was where I had that same feeling like holy [ __ ] yeah I backflip the bike you know I didn't have to go over to the real thing the resi and do all that it was just more like there's enough for you it was enough and and I think that's I think that's sort of the message is is do it because you love it put your own challenges out there you know to be like mister 1260 yeah but but do something that that you'll find pleasure in that you'll find validation and sorry confidence in yeah I mean that's it like I've seen you do stuff that no one else would even think of or want to do but it's crazy and it's and it's it's celebrated it's interesting to hear you say that because yeah that's all it's I've never thought about it until you just mentioned like why at the end the reason is like yeah it just sounds cool in my mind yeah there wasn't some collective that was like alright the next thing is you're gonna go off a skateboard and land on a bike no I mean no one interesting it's interesting to hear you say that because I think a lot of people get wrapped up in like oh well like so-and-so did a 1260 so I have to do it now or like yeah north or even you know parents or coaches now or whatever is pushing like so and so did you know a triple cork 1260 on their snowboard we just you expected that you get stuck in that rut yeah and then no one everyone is like it is the same yeah and I mean yeah it's all incredible and it takes incredible skill and determination but at the same time like create your own path for sure do stuff in your own style yeah and if people don't like it who cares yeah my style was so chat like I was I was an outcast in an outcast activity when I was a kid I remember I remember watching something I don't remember what it was but it's stating that like you know yeah you were you were the outcasts of of you know yeah and it was hard because I finally found this thing I love with with this like cool culture and crew around it and then all of a sudden they were making fun of me and I was like I already went through this in school because I skate right and then at some point I just was like well I'm just gonna keep doing this because I like it and not because because I think you like me right you know I think that that's the that's what is liberating yeah when you stop worrying about what everyone else thinks or cares or sorry or if you're in the cool crew damnit you've talked me out of questions no I think it's just more it's more like it's it's more like once you let go of of what do people think of this am i doing a right way is it cool you just do it in your own voice that's when it becomes cool right and that's when it becomes your own and unique and at some point maybe that is gonna be the new style right I mean I didn't know that's what I was doing would become a style yeah um but I'm proud of it yeah man you can't be afraid to pioneer your own movement or you know take charge on your own path if you have that vision then you know staying with the pack is not the thing you want to do well they need to get lost in the shuffle - yeah that's that's the that's the sad part about is if you're doing like the cool tricks of the month yep and everyone's doing frontside flips and you're doing frontside flips you just get lost in the pack unless yours is extraordinary especially now with social media everyone's watching like something for ten seconds then okay now that's cool what else yeah and I was I know that and I know people think that they can be successful there but but you got to just keep stepping it up yeah and doing new stuff and there were more than anyone that's exhausting yeah where if you want to make it especially in competitive sports you you got a you got to fight off not fight off but compete with a lot of people that really want it and that's becoming more apparent through social media and competing to but like there's a lot of people fighting for that top position and you know I mean I marry well it's it's it's gotten it's nice because it's gotten Democratic um but at the same time it's gotten diluted yeah so to rise above takes a lot right yeah it's very interesting all right man we'll let you go but I have so many more questions about the same for another time cool we're taking Tony Hawk from them here oh no my allergies generally took my voice from me sweet yeah thank you appreciate it thanks for letting us stop by well we'll see you next time sketch up the channel with a broken back oh yeah I forgot we're recording til we get in the car that's okay let's not oh yeah sure normally like a formal interview see you later no we're out of here here we go yeah my school yeah I got it right here that's it right yeah yeah thank you very much for letting us come by yeah and um you get also these ramps right here yeah this is what we built for the broad weight test okay so these were two of the ramps and ways to channel so they're kickers oh they were they had a little top so they're quarter pipes okay nobody how they go we had an a-frame and a handrail it was very small but huh it was a test and so is it gonna be like a Vegas show type of it at some point hopefully I mean I hope it's more Broadway than Vegas right I don't have a difference I don't know I honestly like gonna Broadway it's more like a like a subtle stage okay and it's more about the the story got it I think face is more about the costume yeah Cirque du Soleil and got you oh no I want to meet somewhere between yeah sweet all right yeah just parked there yeah thanks yeah I got this printer this story van it's like the ultimate ultimate toy vehicle you should check it out oh man my kids were still young and probably want to get that it's got like like we drove down here last night we'll crash on the floor you put the snowboards bikes swords Wow so this is the this is the mammoth vehicle yeah except it's not four-wheel drive so it's like the mammoth summer vehicle oh yeah yeah checking conditions yeah exactly all right guys you know safe drive yeah thanks MA see you later thank you very much thank you all right yeah my pleasure thank you thank you all right see you guys I'm pretty cool pretty special to check out Tony's place with the man himself I do the living living icon like it's pretty it's pretty just like like mind-blowing for me as a kid to watch him and his life path just inspire so many like it's pretty special to see the impact that he's had not only on skateboarding but as you can see like his his message spoken straight from him is the sheer like determination and you know passion to kind of like do your own thing and not really care you know what what others are gonna think of you or or say or whatever it's like you know he was he saw his outlet and he pushed it to the best of his ability and like that's what he's done man it's just really really special really cool I feel so honored for him to be able to share that with me like yeah it's really cool so I really appreciate you guys watching thanks for coming along with this journey on this journey with us and I don't know what we'll do for the next one but we'll see you next time

Channel: TrevorJacob

Views: 97,671

Keywords: tony hawk, trevor jacob, insight

Id: AYSctgGlsIM

Length: 79min 26sec (4766 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 21 2019