What's your first memory of a
skateboard?
Riding down the cul de sac by my
house on a little board with clay
wheels. I was probably four or five.
I've skated my entire life. Growin up
skating, me and my brother.
When did you get hooked?
Fuck. when I first started. I went to
school and did all that other shit with
my homies, but me and my brother
always skated. When we first started
skating, we competed against each
other, but in a good way. My brother's
sick as fuck. so he always pushed me.
Who did you look up to in your early
days of skating?
Probably my homie Keith McBean.
Then there was my friend Val
Velagas. he got me into tech
skating
We used to skate at this place called
Mervyn's in Clairemont. This was
during the pressure flip days and
we'd see how many new tricks we
could come up with in a day. We'd
invent like five tricks in a day and
just battle one another. Then it was
like Sal. Nowadays it's like Gino
Ianucci, sick as fuck. He's the techni
cal master. Guy Mariano and all the
pimps of the skate industry. My
homie Paully B. he fuckin hypes me
up. We just skate every day and push
each other to the next level.
What was skating in San Diego like in
those early days?
H-Street was the fuckin' shit right
there. H Street ruled San Diego. It was
cool cause we'd see those heads.
around and skate with them We'd
skate whatever, all the same schools.
We'd just hit up all the communities
round San Diego.
Did
you ever enter contests?
I did some. Contests are
fun to skate with the
homies, but fuck it. I don't
know. I'm not really hyped
on contests, but whatever.
Who was your first sponsor?
My very first sponsor and
shit. whooo! Chapter Seven.
Mike McGill. I gettin
was
flowed by that shit. I used to
get pissed at homeboy He
wouldn't even UPS me shit.
he'd make me find a ride up
someone to back it he was lookin at
Rocco and lookin at a
at all these com
panies to back it and then like a year
and a half, two years went by, I was
gettin hand-me-down boards from
Plan B. cause they'd only ride them
like I do now Schloss was always
filming with Plan B and he'd scoop
ground for so long. We never got the
chance to put out a full length video.
We did some promos for the trade
shows and stuff like that, but it didn't
get out there I was busting out my
own technical shit.
What is it about tech?
Technical skating is where it's at.
"TECHNICAL SKATING IS WHERE
IT'S AT. IT'S THE HARDEST PART
OF SKATEBOARDING. DON'T GET
ME WRONG THOUGH I'LL SKATE
ANY FUCKING THING YOU GOT
to Encinitas to pick up boards. I got
pissed, so I had to leave that. Then
begins the saga. I explain the
whole story. First of all, after I got
off Chapter Seven, my homie Dave
Schlossbach came to me with a pro
posal. He was going to start a com
pany and it was going to be me.
Kanten Russell, Gino, Markovich, Dill.
Jeremy Wray it was going to be all
the homies. Schloss was looking for
up all their boards and give them to
me. So then he finally got a backer.
Were you getting frustrated?
Yeah. It was crazy. Schlossbach was
the filmer and w
d we'd go
d get all this crazy
underground technical footage of shit
that no one had ever seen before but
it never got out. I was working for
nothing for so fucking long. Only the
people who skated with me knew
about it. That's why I was so under
It's the hardest part of skateboard-
ing Don't get me wrong though-I'll
skate any fucking thing you got.
That's all about skateboarding.
Skate everything.
When did things start to click for
you, trickwise?
See it kind of goes in periods, You
skate and you've got your rhythm
down and you're en pointe and then
ughh! You get hurt, then it's like.
fuck. Then you just got to rebuild.
rebuild. rebuild. After a while
though, you get used to the tricks and
you can learn to avoid the injuries.
Now I can just bust whatever. You
know what I mean?
What's the next trend in skateboarding?
Flip-in. flip-out tricks. I think.
What's the hardest trick you've
ever landed?
The backside tailslide kickflip
bigspin out-that was the mission of
my life right there. When I was
younger I'd do backside tailslides and
shit to kickflip shove it out. but I
wanted to do this trick for my whole
life. Then when I landed it. it came
easy to me. I conquered it.
You've been skating with the same
crew for a long time.
Hell yeah, my brother. Bobby Steels.
all the fuckin homies.
But now that you're pro you'll proba-
bly just want to skate with other
pros, right?
Fuck that! Hell no! I'll skate with any-
one that skates, dude. Anyone who
skates is a skate brother. TSA-The
Skater's Alliance.
What's this whole West Side deal you
guys are always yelling about?
I don't know, that's just some funny
shit. dude. It's just like. West Coast.
Skating anywhere is fuckin' sick. but I
just represent the West cause I live out
here. I love this shit. It's just the bomb.
dude. The sun, the weather, everything
about living here is sick. It's all good
though: I'm down to skate anywhere.
That's just what I represent.
Clairemont! Fucking San Diego!
This is the word association part. I'll say
a word and you say the first thing that
comes to mind.
All right
Wax
Ledges.
22. about three of em.
Texas.
Texas.
San Francisco.
Sick.
Chad Knight.
He's sick too.
You can't say sick for everything. Hubba
Hideout.
Switch backside tailslide shove it.
Billy Ruff.
Crazy
Punk rock.
Heavy metal.
Driving under the influence.
No doubt.
Wu-Tang
Clan
Jamie Thomas.
5:0
O grinds down handrails.
Chillin' shoes.
Andy Roy.
Punk rock.
Mr. 1
Skate
em.
East Coast.
West Coast.
Florida.
Mexico.
Brown Sugars
Damn
Jason Dill.
Sick.
Pelle Pelle Jeans.
Ahh! What the fuck?
TSA
The bomb.
Oscar Jordan.
SD head.
Heineken..
Fuck.
Television.
Too much.
Meat is Murder.
Not even.
Josh Kasper.
Yeah!
Josh Kalis.
Sick too.
Bushwick Bill.
Who?
Crooked grinds
Pointer grinds.
Sal Barbier.
PIMP
Portable flat bars.
Whatever.
Rasta.
Get irie!
Vanilla Ice.
John Savino, where you at?
Tony Hawk
OG.
X-Games.
Wack
Zero video.
Bomb drop! Where's your parachutes?
Will you ever move out of San Diego?
Yeah. Don't get me wrong-Ill
always reside in the SD. even when
I'm an old man. But I could live other
places for three months or some shit..
Just check them out.
What's your opinion of the present San
Diego skate
scene?
It's crazy, 'cause there's not a lot of
spots where all the skaters can unite
and just skate the same spots every day.
But that's hard to find anywhere. It just
seems like if you come from other
places to skate San Diego, you should
skate everything. Don't just skate all the
ledges you've seen the pros skating-go
on your own missions and find your
own shit. And about the Clairemont
invasion: if anyone skates Clairemont.
they better bust their top shit, 'cause
that's Clairemont and I'm going to take
em out. That's my shit. Warning to all
IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE
OUT-OF-TOWNERS INVADING
CLAIREMONT, THE LAST PLACE you
WANT TO SKATE IS THE HYDRANT
ACROSS THE STREET FROM SMOLIK'S
HOUSE. IT'S BEEN MAXED OUT.
WITH LIL B ON THE LURK, SMOLIK
COMMENCES THE 180 FLIPPIN'
OVER THE LITTLE YELLOW BITCH
ACROSS THE STREET.
270 TO SWITCH CROOKS.
you BETTA RECO'NIZE!
78 THRASHER
79