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Clockwise from opposite top left: Scotty in Chinatown.
A real artsy photo of Max boning a Indy while the
blade awaits. Downhill grindage from the Scotty
man. Max caught in the sunlight of downtown
Oakland. How about another vert sequence
from Max? Okay, this time it's a switch
frontside nosegrind to fakie.
Coast, Maryland, DC area big names. And then the up
and coming ams like Chris Hall, Steve Teague, Brian
Tucci, all those guys, Ali Mills, he was another sick guy.
Do you feel like you have any responsibility as a pro
to represent skateboarding in a positive way?
Yeah, not just as a pro, but because of how much I
care about skateboarding. I want to see that skate-
boarding has the good name that it deserves, and I'll
do anything I can to support that.
Is it true that you worked as a security guard?
Yeah, this is true. I didn't tell anyone as it was going
on. I just said I worked at a hospital and packed my
uniform in my bag and was embarrassed of it, but
now I can joke about it because it is pretty funny. But
I made good money, didn't have to work too much,
and was able to skate, and that's all that matters.
How did skating the City match up to back home?
It was a lot rougher in San Francisco than in DC just
because it's a little older here, or it's just been getting
broken up from earthquakes. They use different mate-
rials in different places of the world, so they use an
extensive amount of marble in DC, and they use more
concrete and brick here, so it makes it rougher. But it's
cool. The hills and stuff are just exactly what I thought
they'd be like; they're fresh.
Is skateboarding more mental or physical?
It's almost always mental because when you have
confidence, that's when you
skate good. If you skate like
you're scared, that's when
you land and slip out. And
you need to be physically fit.
if you skate a lot, then physi-
cally you'll know how to
kickflip almost every time
because you do it everyday.
And most of the time it's
just mental, so when you're
having a bad day, it's just
because your mind is else-
where, or you shouldn't
have gone out because you
weren't in the mood.
Tob
Do you think that consistency is something that's
missing from skateboarding right now?
Actually, no, I think it's coming back more, because at
this point, it's on its way up, because skateboarding has
gotten to a certain point where little flippy balance tricks
are not what people want to see. Who cares if it took you
a thousand times to film it? Skating in person is just as
good as in video. So, yeah, it's on a comeback.
Would you agree that style, fluidity and timing are
making comebacks as well?
Yeah, I guess, because people get into like a rhythm,
and they get like a beat going when they skate, so some
of the best people, it looks like they're listening to their
Walkman when they skate because everything is flowing.
What kind of music do you like?
I guess you would say rap music, definitely.
What would you want to change about skating?
I'd like to have more chances to skate vert, like if there
was a vert ramp in my backyard, and then I could go out
front and there was everything else.
Do you think it's important to be well-rounded?
Definitely. I feel that if you're pro, and you go to a
demo, and all they've got is a big ramp or like a ledge or
anything, you should be able to perform on it and be
impressive. Not be a show-off or whatever, but be able
to skate good on anything that you come across because
you're a professional, you're pro at what you're doing.
riding a skateboard, not pro at grinding a curb and pro
for crooked grinds, not pro for backside disasters, Smith
to rock fakies. You're pro for riding on your skateboard
and making it go where no man's been before..
Is there anyone you'd like to thank?
I'd like to thank Justin Girard, Ruben Orkin, all of my
sponsors, FTC and Kent, my girlfriend and my mom for
keeping it real, and Bryce.
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