When did skateboarding change your life?
I’m going to have to say watching the Ninja Turtles movie as a kid originally made me want to start skateboarding the most. Donatello was cruising through a sewer full pipe and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I must have been about six years old and my mom found a Ninja Turtles skateboard at The Goodwill shortly after and bought it for me. The first thing I did was try to jump on it to get both feet on at once. I shot out straight to my butt haha. I didn’t step on another skateboard until I was ten, but that moment definitely changed my life.
What is your favorite trick and why?
I love nollie heels, there’s something about the way it flips to your feet if it works right. It just feels solid. For a textbook example watch Kevin Romar’s after black banger in the Berry video, I bet that felt amazing to ride away from.
With skateboarding in the Olympics, do you think skateboarding can prostitute itself or to lose the true essence?
Nothing will take away the core of why people skateboard. Of course, it can be whored out to make money like a lot of things, but I think it’s good for the growth of skateboarding to have that type of mainstream exposure. The Olympics will inspire so many young kids to try it for the right reasons, even if it also brings people into space to “prostitute” it out.
When was the first time you won a skateboard contest & how did you feel?
I won some smaller contests before entering anything really notable, the first one being at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. There was a contest over a deck stacked with a snowboard on top. I just did a kickflip over it, but it was right before the time was out and no one had landed any flip tricks over it. The funny thing is, when they announced me as the winner of the snowboard, someone grabbed it and ran into the forest with it haha! Never saw the snowboard or that guy again. The first notable contest I got first in was “Portland’s Finest Am Jam” I got $500 for that one, I was super stoked. The pro board graphic is jokingly ironic by the way, I don’t skate a lot of contests.
Skateboarding and music are very connected to each other, what do you like to listen to while skateboarding?
I have a pretty wide range of music that I listen to. Sometimes it’s just electronic beats that get me hyped up, sometimes it’s Black Sabbath, sometimes I’m bumping Gucci Mane. Whatever makes me feel juiced up to skate at the time.
Do you prefer to shred in the streets or in skateparks? Why?
Streets hands down. Skateparks have their place for practicing and I always thought I would love having tons of skatepark options. Living in LA has made me realize skateparks are really easy to get sucked into and can be somewhat un-motivating when you get back in the streets and things are harder than you remember! When I’m in the streets I’m usually having more fun and I get used to rough ground, cracks, short runway, etc. It makes me a better skateboarder. If you could only have one or the other, wouldn’t you want the streets?
Have you ever thought about giving up skateboarding? Why?
Well, I have wondered if at some point I’d be done skateboarding but I always see myself at least cruising around and popping up curbs. Even at 60.
What inspires you to shred and evolve every day? fame or just fun?
There is nothing in life that I have found with so many benefits. I genuinely think skateboarding made me smarter and healthier. My body feels better the more I skate, my brain stays sharper from thinking and solving problems and the satisfaction of getting a trick is so addicting it just feels like that’s what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. I don’t care to be popular as much as I’d like to inspire as many other people to skate as possible, so there is some part of fame to the equation, but the main reason I skateboard is for myself and the people who are on the same search for Animal Chin.
What is your daily routine before you go shred?
I don’t have any ritualistic routine for my day, I do love some Yerba Mate in the morning though. every day is different, so I just go with the flow and whatever I’m feeling when I wake up. Usually filming will have prior plans though, so I hit up the filmer and the homies to link at the first spot!
Any inspiring words you want to tell the next generation of skaters?
Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.
