How old are you?
I'm twenty-two.
Where do you live?
Mira Mesa. San Diego.
Who are your sponsors?
Birdhouse Projects, Gullwing trucks, Vans, Arnette,
Jones Soda, True Clothing Co. and Epic skate shop.
It seems like just the other day you were the
new kid on the block, but now you're getting to
be a veteran. How long have you been pro?
Gosh. Five years now.
That's it?
Four or five years.
Did you have a G&S pro model?
Yeah, But then I was asked to ride for Birdhouse and
I thought that would be a better choice for my career.
What year did you turn pro?
It was '92. It was my junior year.
Some of the kids might not understand what it
took to be a pro in that day and age. What all
did
you have to do?
Then you had to do pretty well in contests.
Definitely had to get coverage in Thrasher and
Transworld. Slap didn't exist then. NSA (National
Skateboard Association,) I competed in the NSA for
two years. If you got top ten in those contests you
were ready to turn pro, or pretty soon. There were
qualifiers, then regionals and then finals. In that
year I got first in street finals.
In Atlanta?
Yeah.
Who else was in that contest?
Chris Senn, Colin McKay, Jordan Richter, Brian
Howard, Matt Beach, Andrew Reynolds, Eric Koston,
and so on. There were so many.
How did turning pro in those days differ
from today?
It seems like these days people are turning pro pret-
ty quick. Like they do one sick trick, or they get one
sick video part and it's like, "Turn pro, turn pro!"
The problem with a lot of them is that they don't
maintain the coverage, the video parts, stuff like
that. You've got to maintain. You've got to take it to
that other level.
You seem to take your job as a skateboarder a
little more seriously than some people. What
is your work schedule like?
My work? Well, like every week I try and hook up
and shoot photos with someone. I always want to
be progressing. As far as my sponsors, I make
sure and always represent them, the stickers and
the T-shirts. That's what they're paying me for, so I
always hook it up.
What about product development?
Not with Birdhouse, but with True Clothing I do
graphics and all that. I work with Raibyn, the
designer. That's the clothing company I do. We just
put out our first ad not too long ago.
Hopefully I can fall back on that
when I'm done skating. My broth-
Wilmer and I do all the sales rep
things. We go every other day during
er
have something else to do. I don't really mind the
sales rep stuff. Every other day would be fine for me.
Wilmer will take care of that.
What do you think about pros that take time
off from skating and still have boards and
shoes out?
Well I guess some of them pay their dues but I think
that's lame. You should keep skating. That's what
you're getting paid for. Eventually it will backfire on
you, if you're not showing any coverage.
Do you ever feel like taking some time off?
Nah. I always love getting the work done. I enjoy it.
It's fun to open up the magazine and see it and be
like, "Yeah, I did this." I get stoked.
Are you going to skate even after you aren't
keeping up with the pro level?
I'd like to keep up for as long as I can, but I'll still
"sit around and watch
the week. I call shops and he goes with me and
takes care of all the paper work and stuff like that.
Do you have an office?
I do it out of my house, but we have an office at
Epic skate shop where we get all the calls and
everything. It's hectic, but it's cool seeing it grow.
Have you run into any problems starting your
own business?
Stuff like catalogs can be pretty complicated.
Production's done in the Philippines, and that can be
tricky too.
Who's on the team?
Dan Connelly, Andrew Reynolds, Cris Alhambra
and Dan Rogers.
Are you anxious to take on more responsibility,
'cause you could just skate if you want, right?
I don't want to do it every day, but like last week I
hurt my foot and couldn't skate and it was cool to
skate after that.
How has riding for Birdhouse all these
years been?
Well, with Tony and Per it was great, but there were
some downfalls when skating had its slump and
everyone had their pay cut.
Were you hurtin' for cash in those days?
No. I've always saved. But I didn't always want to
skate every day so I thought I might as well get a job,
so I got a job at a skate shop.
How was that?
It was fun because I just watched videos all day. I
would work from early in the morning to about two,
which was cool because I was out of there before all
the kids came in. It was lonely, but it was something
to do - sit around and watch videos and get paid.
How did things at Birdhouse pick back up?
They were hurting and then Jeremy Klein started
Hook-Ups and then he took over the graphic
ideas with Birdhouse and things started to pick
up. Before that, Tony was doing the graphics and
ads and things were kind of sour. Since Jeremy's
been in charge of that, things have been going
uphill. And now with our added team riders-
Heath Kirchart, Bucky Lasek and Steve Berra-
everything's been great.
Those guys rode for Birdhouse before, right?
Yeah, except Bucky.
Was it weird to have them back, after they
quit before when the chips were down?
I'm stoked that they're on the team because it
makes us stronger. I thought that was lame when
they quit, but they had their reasons. It's better
in the long run, for Birdhouse, so I'm glad
they're back.
After being stuck in traffic for two hours,
Willy was so excited to get out of the car and skate
that he didn't realize he was going backwards down this steep,
goes to do a
manual and twists his ankle. We had only been there
for three minutes. It's OK. The kids were stoked. It
sucks to have to show your stuff on crap like that.
What weird stuff do kids say to you?
They ask, "Do you get stuff for free?" It's like, of
course we do. What kind of question is that? They
always ask for something for free.
Do you ever get mad?
Sometimes when they're really persistent. It's like,
"C'mon, you get it for free. You get paid." Come now.
Have you ever caught any flack for doing so
well in contests?
Some people think that if you do well in contests
you can't skate the real streets, but I'm not that con-
test-crazy. I only enter the big ones, lately. Like, I only
I entered the last of the Extreme Games contests last
year. I like contests, but I don't want to be
skating in them all the time.
What do you think about big TV
events like the Extreme Games?
They're cool for coverage, but if there
were like real skateboarders doing the events it
would probably be better.
00
videos and get paid."
Have you ever gotten overwhelmed as a pro?
When I first started, I was just this little kid going
against like, Tony Hawk and Mark Gonzales. At
those Münster contests it was like, "Whoa, Is this
skateboarding?" But I'm glad it's like that and I
hope it stays that way.
It seems like there's always a lot of trauma
when teams go on tour. How do you stay sane
on a road trip?
When I'm on tour, that's when I catch up on sleep.
I don't raise my hand to drive. I sleep the whole
drive. I sleep in the car, then wake up when it's
time to skate.
What's the worst demo you've ever done?
It was back east, and all there was was a jump-ramp
and a little tiny box that was only about two feet high
and three feet wide. And here comes Tony. He can
skate these giant vert ramps and everything and he
Do you think they should share the wealth
more?
Definitely. All those big sponsors like Nike and
Pepsi. Budweiser I guess sponsored one last year.
They should realize that people are watching it for us,
the athletes, and treat us a little better.
Do skaters get a fair deal from their sponsors?
At Birdhouse they do. I'd imagine there's
some companies out there who don't treat their
riders too well. It's all about board sales though.
If your board moves, that's what you get paid.
How many different models have you had
so far?
Oh gosh.
Do you have one of each?
Lately I've been giving them to my girlfriend,
Shalihe, to keep,
but I definitely don't
11-stair handrail.
I have all of them. I wish I did.
What's the difference between East and West
and North and South?
It's been blown out of proportion, but it seems to
me, not just because I come from the West, that most
of the originators come from the West coast. Like
Tony Hawk, Daewon, Danny Way, Matt Hensley, Eric
Koston, Mike Carroll-all those guys are originators.
Up north, they've got all those good skateparks. I
wish we had public concrete parks like they do. The
locals from those parks are so good.
Are you punk rock or hip-hop?
I listen to a little bit of both-more hip-hop, I guess.
No, no, I mean attitude, man.
I go to the clubs here and there, whenever I feel like
it. I've thrown parties at hotels, like big parties.
Yeah, I heard about that. I heard you're making
like, five grand a night.
No. I've only thrown about three: one at the U.S.
Grand Hotel downtown-
What? Do you just front the money and then
other people set it up?
I get big D.J.s from the San Diego area like 3 Style,
and then they have their crews, and then I'll put fliers
up in skate shops and that kind of thing. It's just a
party and I get to promote the companies I ride for
with giveaways and stuff like that.
Do you make a lot of money?
Yeah, that one we did. The last one I did OK;
that was at the Doubletree in Mission Valley. That
was pretty good. A while back I did one at
Shalihe's house and that was pretty hectic. It was
a house party, but no one went inside the house.
We rented porta-potties. At the other parties at
the hotels we had to rent security guards and pay
the D.J.s. We've had bands, like June Cate's
band played.
The noseslide is usually
considered to be a pretty
easy trick,
but it's not usually nollied into and slid
for twenty feet.
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