64 THRASHER
Above: Manuals may not get as much play as in the past, but a switch heelflip nose manual is as
hard as it ever was. Note the fakie ollie out for extra style points. Right: After trying this drop a few
times I bet Daewon was wishing he still had those Pro Jogs-frontside flip over a tall eight-stair rail.
was like, "Whoa." It kind of sketched me being
on my board and stuff. But then I thought that
was stupid 'cause then I'm just thinking like all
those people that complain. It's just a cartoon.
You're just laughing. It's just a joke. It's not like
Satan's sitting at World, waiting for us all to
check in. He doesn't have an office there.
What's this I hear about you starting your
own clothing company?
Yeah, it's called Matix. Not "Maytix"-it's
"Matix." It's me and Tim Gavin and that should
be out a little after September trade show. I'm
happy 'cause the team is all friends and good
skaters. It's Marc Johnson, Rudy Johnson, Sean
Sheffey, Jeron Wilson and JB Gillet..
What made you want to make your own clothes?
I've always had things I like wearing too. There
"It's not like
Satan's sitting at
World, waiting for
us all to check in.
He doesn't have an
office there."
are so many clothing companies out there start-
ing up and building. It's cool supporting other
people too, but I just wanted to have something
of my own. I want to be connected and involved
even after I can't skate like the next generation
can. I want to always be around skating. I would-
n't ever want to just vanish one day and come
back and be like, "Wow, look what's happened
to skateboarding! In my day, we used to have
wood boards. And you guys have titanium?"
How did you hook up with DVS?
Tim Gavin got me on. I was skating for Duffs.
before but I was having troubled times with them.
The team went to Hawaii and the whole thing
was pretty chaotic and some of the Duffs team
didn't really know how to respect the island and
all that. I was just kind of bummed on that, and
plus, Duffs didn't really want to do anything for
me as far as a shoe model. I've got nothing against
them, but DVS seemed like they had a better plan
for me so I hooked it up and got my shoe model
and a new one is coming out in September.
What about Grind King? You were the first big-
name dude on that team.
Yeah, a lot of people are like, "What? Grind
King?" But they're super light, they don't slip.
Basically they're good trucks. I wouldn't ride for
them if I didn't like the trucks. You've got some
people riding for truck companies and they
don't even ride the trucks-that doesn't make
sense. So, I mean, you can pull me over any
time, you whip over that board, you'll see them
Grind Kings on that baby.
What new skaters do you like to watch?
Enrique and JB Gillet. Those are two I love
watching, not just because they ride for World.
Obviously you like technical skating, but do
you like to watch other types of skating?
Oh yeah. I love it. For me, I don't put anybody
down. There's no reason to put anybody down.
For example, Jamie Thomas, man, half the stuff he
does is crazy, and I can understand why a lot of
skaters love him. He can do stuff a lot of people
aren't capable of. I can only go big to an extent. I
love watching any type of skating. Sometimes I get
bummed, when it's a whole video of people just
rolling down the street, but whatever.
Have you ever been on a handrail?
Yeah. I racked my nuts on a nine stair. It changed
my whole outlook on rails. Saw Socrates break a
board between his legs on a five stair. So you
know how I feel about rails. They scare the shit
out of me. Once in a while I'll go skate one, but I
can't really compare to the guys that are masters
of rails. I mean, a kid doesn't want to see me on
some six stair rail when there's a guy that can do
the same thing down a 50 stair.
Have you ever found money?
Not me, but one time my friend Carlos found this
wallet with like 120 bucks in it and he's just like,
"Whoa, look at this wallet with money!" And I
was like, "Dude, that's devil money," just foolin'
around. So he's all, "OK, if we go the store and I
buy you something, it won't be devil money 'cause
I'll be sharing, and sharing is good." So I'm like,
"Cool." So we go to the store and we're getting all
these treats with our devil money. He's grabbing
his treats and I'm grabbing mine and then we get.
it all rung up and Carlos is like, "Oh my gosh!"
And I go, "What?" It came out to $6.66. We're like,
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