skate the ramp because it was dark.
we'd go up to the Rotten Robby's gas
station and pretend we were doing vert
tricks on the curbs, like Smith grinds or
whatever. Back then, all the street stuff
came from what we were trying on the
quarter-pipe and from what we saw in
Thrasher, like Lester and Lance Moun-
tain and all them dudes.
Were your parents supportive?
Yeah, they were cool about it. I think
they just knew that something was
occupying a lot of my time. I think they
saw that it wasn't that bad, so they
were cool about it. But they weren't
too up to buying me new boards, so I'd
always have to try to do chores, mow
some lawns or something, and get a
couple bucks from my pops and then
go buy a used board from the local Joe
up the street who would get boards
like every two weeks from his mom.
Like I never got a brand new board. But
other than that, they were totally cool.
When was the first time you saw a
Thrasher Magazine?
Probably after I'd been skating for
about a year. My buddy Matt Arlick was
getting a subscription to anything out
there that had skateboarding in it. I just
remember what always stood out in
those Thrashers was that crazy Skarfing
Material and the Somethin' Else. They
always had some crazy photos in that.
just remember tripping out on what
the dudes were doing in those maga
zines. It was mostly vert, but then you'd
see a couple photos of street stuff, and
that was Natas and Gonz doing some-
thing, or Steve Rocco doing something
like on a curb.
Is there anything else in your life as
important to you as skateboarding?
Yeah, definitely. There are some
things to me that are way more impor
tant than skateboarding, even though I love
skateboarding. I dig playing guitar, to me that's
just as fun as skating. I dig when I come out
here and jam with you. Also, I truly believe in
the Lord, so I believe Jesus lives, and because of
that, I have a love for him just as much as skate-
boarding. It's definitely more, actually
What's up with our recordings? You've got to
drop some knowledge on that.
Bucket Brothers. Lo jo recordings.
Who else have you been recording with?
I did a song for 411. I got one of those profiles
that they do for interviewing pros in all their
issues, and for my profile I did the song for it. I
just got a bunch of my friends to help me out and
record it. I asked my friend Rachel to sing and
then got Carlos to play drums and Tim played
bass. Just been recording songs I hope to use for
skate videos. I want to do the music for The Firm
video. So, I've just been writing songs and try
ing to make them up-tempo to drive the skating.
What motivates you to skate?
Lately I've been noticing that I'm inspired by so
many different things. Like I'll watch that dude
Sean Kemp playing basketball, flying across the
whole court, dunking or something, and I'll go,
"Man, I want to skate how he does that." Or I'll
listen to one of my heroes, this dude Mike Watt,
play something crazy in a song, and I'm like, "Man, I
want to skateboard how that dude does that."
Sometimes I'll see so and so doing something crazy in
a video, I'm all, "Man, that's good." It inspires me to
try to push it a little more. But just that element, too,
like push something higher, don't stay in the same
spot. If you're doing an ollie so and so high, that's the
next thing, just get it bigger. That's why I like Mike
Daher. Homeboy was doing stuff big.
What year did you first turn pro?
89.
Have you seen a lot of things change in skating?
Yeah, it's changed drastically. You know how skating
is, though, it goes through so many different progres
sions. I've seen opposed to five companies, five big
ones, turn into forty companies. And because of
that, you see all these pros that you don't even know
the names of. And a lot of them are super good, but I
just find it hard to keep up with what's going down.
It's crazy how a whole batch of hip tricks come in, and
then half those tricks get thrown out and only certain
ones remain. That's one of the areas I've noticed it
changing a lot. Skating goes through a bunch of phas
es. I currently love the phase right now, because it's
closest to the one I remember when I first started.
Everyone was just doing what they wanted to do. I
kind of dug it like that, too, because it brought back
that individuality. And it's cool, you see people doing
a lot of what they want to do. It's changed in good
ways, especially recently. I feel like you can just go
ride and have fun, and people are actually giving it up
for whatever now, crazy wall rides or something.
Left to right: On the road to another spot and another session.
These frontside salad grinds are now to be called bushwhack-
er grinds because of what happens to the plant life around the
ledge. The search for Animal Chin is over, Ray found him out in
the avenues right before he blasted these stops. That's Chin in
the background. Having been a counselor at Visalia Skate
Comp for years, Ray definitely has the place wired-lofty
frontside floater above the vert. Check how solid his feet are.
76. Інкля се
There's still the kids who've got the
double-tongued shoes all perfect,
laughing at certain tricks, but it's
gotten a lot better.
Yeah, there's definitely going to be the
ones that are still up for their thing. But
for the most part, it's mellowed out a lot,
enough for you to feel it's cool
Have you been travelling much lately?
Yeah, over the summer there were a
bunch of things going on. Headed out to
Europe for those contests in Northam-
pton and Münster. It was cool, me, Lance
and Salman went out to those. We had
fun out there. Every summer I wind up
being their counselor over at the YMCA
Skate Camp in the Sequoia Mountains.
so right after the Europe contests, we
went to that, and we were over there for
about a month, which was cool, just
hanging out and skating with the kids,
seeing it from their point-of-view. It was
cool, they built a vert ramp, so we were
riding that everyday. Got spoiled riding
that. So, I get back home, and the clos
est ramp is the Girl ramp, but it's pretty
hard to get out to that. Right after skate
camp, I wound up going to San Jose and
staying at Salman's house for a while.
Now we'll play a game called Brother
In-Law's Word Association.
Afros: Picks with fists blowing them out.
Big, kinky, it don't matter.
Cornbread: Chow
Money: Low-dough style.
Mike Tyson: Clock any sucker out there.
Powell videos: All the ones until after
Ban This are boss.
Cadillacs: Huggy Bear
Hip hop: I dig Digable Planets. That's
about all she wrote for me.
Inland Empire: That's like home to me.
The Firm: Family
Out: To God bo the glory.