SKATER OF THE YEAR 1998
ANDREW REYNOLDS
I
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL BURNETT
n the world of Andrew Reynolds, good things come easy.
Kickflips are like ollies, contest victories are like regular
sessions, and ground-breaking tricks aren't a matter of maybe,
but more a matter of when. When? Whenever he feels like it.
Are you really about to retire?
Me? No way.
How come you said that the other day?
I'm not really going to retire. I wanna bust
out crazy from here on out. I want to have
at least two more video parts that outdo
each other, so the last one will be the one.
What makes you feel like you want to
retire sometimes?
You go out and skate and you're jumping
around, all sore from the day before. It's
pretty hard.
When is a good time for a skater to retire?
If you skate like the Gonz and do stuff like
he does, that's fine. But if you're getting
really old and you're not doing as well and
people can tell, it's time to stop. If you're
looking old and crazy, it's time.
Is it all right to still skate, even if you're
the wackest dude out?
For fun, sure. If they really love skating,
people should skate until they
can't anymore. But if you're
trying to bust out coverage and you know
you shouldn't be anymore, you should
leave it up to the new generation.
What do you know about Florida's rich
skate heritage?
I have tapes at my house of old skate
comi
contests, and every person's run is some-
one you would know. It'll be Dave Duren,
Caine Gayle, Clyde, Jamie'll be in there;
there are all these people you hear of now,
and it's surprising. A lot of skaters come out
of there.
Like who else?
Monty Nolder, Lance Conklin, Scott
Conklin, so many people.
Markovich.
Yeah? I've never seen him there. I've
skated with that guy once, and it was
when I was in California. Neil Mims is from
Florida but I've never seen him. Mike Daher,
Elissa. I used to see Mike McGill's parents.
In the '80s Florida was known for
being a little rawer, like maybe the
guys didn't have all their teeth or the
newest equipment.
That's everywhere there; you see some
rough looking dudes. When I was 12 I'd go
skating down the street and some guys
had a vert ramp built into a big dirt ditch,
so you could walk off the ground onto the
deck. It was down in the dirt. It was right on
Ownin
a lake, and it was awesome. These guys
were real burly vert dudes. They skated for
pure fun, and it was crazy to see. I didn't
know about doing airs or anything like that,
and these guys are seriously flying around.
doing air after air.
What about some of those old park
scenes? Did you check those out when
you were little?
I've been to all of the parks around
Florida, like Kona and Stone Edge. I used to
skate Stone Edge quite a bit when my par-
ents would go to the beach. They'd just
drop me off at the park every day. That
place is really fun but you have to wear all
your pads. When you're that young, you
just want to skate and you don't care
about the pads.
What do you think about all these fools
half-stepping?
The only person half-stepping is me. No, I
don't know. Half-stepping? Don't do it.
I don't even know what that means really.
Well, look at it this way. Jamie Thomas.
takes full steps. A lot of other people just
half-step.
Who o were some of your idols growing
up? Any mentors who led you down the
righteous path?
Just raw Lakeland skaters, like Robby
Basford and Clay King. There were people
who skated street gnarly back then, and
introduced me to skating street. I used to
see all the pro guys at contests when I was
young-like Lance Conklin, he was a big
pro in Florida--but I didn't really get too
into that scene. I just chilled in my home-
town and skated as much as possible with
my friends.
Did you enter those contests when you
were a kid, like NSA and all those? What
was that like?
It was cool. You could meet a lot of
skaters who were trying to do the same
thing as you, and that was their life, they
cared about skating most. It was fun. I just
liked to see how I could do.
Didn't you do really well in one when you
you
were little?
Right when I got on Birdhouse, and Matt
Beach and I rode for Birdhouse, we skated
in this one in Houston. I got second in that
one in the final, and that was a big deal
because people used to turn pro right after
that. That year I did well in the contest, and
then a year later at the finals in California I
had a broken wrist, and I did really badly.
That was at the Y in Encinitas?
Yeah. That was the last year. Everybody
was swimming at Tony's house the day
before, and I wanted to swim so bad, so I
went in the back and got scissors and cut
the whole cast off. My thumb was all blue,
and I was like, "Oh, I shouldn't have fucked
with that
with that."
the
Who are the fat kids?
It's an inside joke between me and some
of my friends; there were these fat kids who
lived down the street. Like raw, dirty fuck-
ers-full-blown mullets, Metallica shirts.
There were three of them and we used to
laugh at them so hard.
Did you guys ever get into it with the
fat kids?
No. I didn't really chill with them.
You never had to fight them or anything?
No.
What was it like going on that first
Birdhouse tour, the Lexus Summer Tour?
I didn't go on that one. Tony went on one
when he just took the Lexus and drove
around. The one I went on was crazy. I had
met Willy and all those guys on a couple
occasions before, so that was no big deal. I
already knew everybody. So when I went I
was just like, "This is great!"
How
old were you?
Maybe 15. Or 14. It was so fun, you know?
I just went along with what was happening;
I didn't think about it like, "Oh my God, I'm
on tour, this is something so new."
Let's go down your list of five favorite
TV shows.
First place is The Simpsons. Second,
Conan O'Brien or something. I don't like
five shows. I just like The Simpsons.
What's it like living with the people you
work with?
Who do I work with?
Jay. He's your boss.
Oh yeah. I don't have to go to work so I
don't see him all day. We each do our own
things
s and then come home. It's just how
you get used to living with anybody.
What was your first piece of skateboard
fame and fortune?
I had Birdhouse ad and I got in the
magazines a little bit. I had my name in
that G&S ad, under the amateur list, and I
was psyched.
Who is the least generous member of
the Birdhouse team?
Let's put it this way: one time when
I was on tour with Willy, I said, "Hey Willy,
give me a sip of that shake," and he said
no. But everybody's cool on Birdhouse.
What's your favorite Jim Greco moment?
Every day. Living with Jim is better
than... You wanna know the top five TV
shows? Jim Greco is number one. He's an
ongoing show.
What's he like? Tell the people.
Just the way he talks to people, you just
have to be around it to understand. He's
not afraid to speak out or be loud or get
himself kicked out. There's no way to
explain it and there's no one moment.
Tampa contest or something, but I was real-
ly sick and couldn't skate. I skated in the
Europe contests for my first two contests,
Münster and Radlands.
How'd you do?
I got seventh in the first one and made
$300, and that was coo! because they
gave me money. In the Radlands one I got
first and got like $3000. I was like, "Whoa.
this is good."
You were telling me that you once had
some pressure on you for one of the
Florida contests.
The second time I entered the Tampa
"Leave it up to the new generation."
When did you first move out of your
parents' house?
After I graduated from high school when
I was 18. I drove out to California two
months later.
And then what?
I lived in Huntington with a whole
bunch of skater kids, and I met a lot of
new friends.
Were you pro when you moved?
Yeah. Everything was all hooked up.
Birdhouse found me a nice apartment and
everything was all there, so all I did was just
move my stuff out of my car and into my
room when I got here. Then I was living in
California, just-like that.
When did you turn pro?
Halfway through my last year in high.
school. I was supposed to enter the first
58 THRASHER