HEADS DORIAN TUCKER
W
HY DID YOU CHANGE
your name?
OK, OK, here we go. When I was in high
school I read A Picture of Dorian Gray, by
Oscar Wilde. I liked the book, but it's not
even really that the book was so good, I just
really liked the name. So the other name I
was thinking of was Gray, but I thought that
was a little too granola, hippie Half-Lifer, like
naming yourself Sky. So I just went with
Dorian and I really like that name. If you're
going to be called something for your whole
life, you might as well have a say in it.
Is it legally changed?
No.
How did you pitch it?
Pitch it?
Yeah, like "OK, guys, it's not Joe any-
more, it's Dorian."
somehow the Planet Earth dudes had gotten
hold of a footage tape that had some friends of
mine doing some less than normal things on it.
There was this house where I lived with all
these random freaks, and this guy, Rob
Hostetter, who used to be pro for Zorlac, was
playing video games naked and someone told
him they'd give him a six pack to shove the
video game controller up his ass. So, some girl
grabbed my camera and filmed the whole thing
and that's what ended up on one of the tapes.
So when that tape showed up at Planet
Earth headquarters, Matt Schnurr and
crew were not pleased.
No, they were not. The time I went to the
trade show, I went to the Planet Earth booth
and I don't think anyone knew who I was,
and Jason Carney didn't like me anyway, but
I was wearing this crazy ripped sweater and
DORIAN NAMED HIMSELF
course Matt Hensley. He changed a lot of
things in skateboarding-making up every-
thing. And Jason Lee, for style. Pretty much
those were the three, for those specific reasons.
Tell me about your Volvo.
OK, I'll put it to you this way: there's only
one car suitable for driving, and it's the Volvo.
I've had two, and I'll never drive anything
else. Safety, boxiness, they're non-threaten-
ing-they're a great car.
Nondescript.
Yeah, I guess they don't really tell much about
a person, except that maybe they're square.
What was good about working the
graveyard shift?
I worked in a cage at a gas station all night,
so I didn't really have to deal with people at
all. I worked eight-hour shifts and could
pretty much do whatever I wanted.
Left to right: Dorian
and his spooky doggy.
Frontside boardslide on a
nine-stair rail. It hurts
sometimes. Monster melon
next to the fence.
The thing is, I never really had a big group
of friends, so it wasn't a hard thing to do.
When I was about 16 or 17, I was talking
with Chris Miller and I told him, "Hey, don't
put my name as Joe in the video, just put
Dorian before my part." And he did, and ever
since then that's how it's been.
Who calls you Dorian and who calls
you Joe?
My girlfriend calls me Joe. Close friends and
people I've known a really long time, because
I realize that it would be weird for them. But I
always introduce myself as Dorian.
I know it was a long time ago, but
why'd you get kicked off Planet Earth?
I didn't get kicked off, I quit.
I thought you got kicked off for wearing
makeup to the trade show.
No, no. It was about '94. Brian Lotti was a
good friend of mine, so he helped me get on
Planet Earth. We filmed and made a video, and
bondage gear and makeup. I later heard that
Jason Carney wanted to kick my ass so bad.
So that was that. We went our separate ways.
Do people sometimes assume they know
what style of skating you do by the way
you dress?
No, I don't think too many people pay atten-
tion to me, so I don't really have that problem.
Well, it's just that you dress kind of Sacto
style, but you're into tech ledge stuff.
Oh yeah? No, I don't have Sacto style-
probably for lack of transitions growing up.
Where did you grow up?
San Diego, California. In the early years I
lived in North Park, then in my later years I
moved to La Mesa, where I've lived forever.
What skaters did you look up to when
you were younger?
I looked up to different ones for different rea-
sons. I always thought Jason Jessee would
have been a fun guy to hang out with. And of
What did you want to do?
Well, if I wanted to stare at nothing, then I
could stare at nothing.
Do you see yourself skating ledges at 35?
Skating, yes, but probably not ledges. It's
possible. Maybe you'd just live by the beach
and skate curbs on the way to the store.
What's the closest you've come to quitting?
I did quit. I was 17 or so and I was into bad
stuff, like drugs and drinking, and I had no
motivation or drive to do anything. Then one
day, it just snapped. All four wheels got
flatspotted. I tried this trick for like four
hours. I was skating this stupid gap and all
my wheels got flatspotted and three of my
bearings broke. I sold my board for five dol-
lars, went and bought a pack of cigarettes,
and quit skating for a year.
You quit skating and started smoking all
in one step?
No, I was a little into it before that.
-Michael Burnett