MARC JOHNSON
W
HY'D YOU MOVE TO HUNTINGTON
Beach?
Well, I have a little boy now.
What's his name?
His name is Avery Nicholas Drake Johnson.
Did you name him after the videographer
Chris Avery?
His first name is after Chris Avery in honor of their
family, the Averys. Also, his mom has a friend named
Avery, too, so it was kind of a joint decision. I chose his
middle names after the English folk singer of the same
name and the last name of course, is after me. When
she moved down here, we decided it would be a good
idea for me to come too because it would be kind of
weird, me living in San Jose and him living down here,
five hours away. It did work out because I'm closer to
him and closer to Sole Technology and Dwindle.
Kickflip backside lipslide.
I'm gonna get out ASAP.
Will you still stay in Southern California?
That is yet to be decided.
Did the A-Team suck?
No. They're actually really good skateboarders.
What happened to the company?
Let's see, how can I say this? The feel of the
brand. And it's not a company, it's a brand. It
wasn't a team-oriented brand. We were supposed
to fit the brand image instead of the brand being
dictated by what we all liked. There was an image
and a feel chosen and we were stuck in there.
Credit card conspiracy, drug theories-no one
was really into it. I can't believe it lasted that long,
really. Nobody wore the shirts, and we spray
painted over our boards. I feel kind of bad, in a
way, because I represented for that long. With this
Are you mad that you're bald?
Am I mad that I'm bald?
Yeah, that you lost your hair?
Dude, I shave it!
I know, but how much of that was preemptive?
Dude, feel it! I shave it!
But weren't you going bald?
I'm sure sometime down the road, but it's there.
If I grew it out it would be there.
was under the impression that your hair was
falling out and you just went with it.
Like Salman?
Like Michael Jordan.
Is that what happened to Michael Jordan?
Yeah, he had afro puffs in the back.
Really?
Yes. Well, I apologize, 'cause I really thought
an inch thick, like Vogue or...
Bridal World.
Yeah, or Bridal World. The magazines are
approaching 250 pages, 300 pages, and have we
seen this before? Yes! Ten years ago. There was a
lot of money in skateboarding, there was an
avenue for people to make a dollar-put your
logo on this banner. Skating goes in these cycles
and now, thank God, we're on an upswing and
we're able to make a living of it. But when the
time comes, when ESPN pulls out, when Slim Jim
pulls out, blah, blah, blah-Thrasher will still be
there. People who are real skateboarders will still
be skating.
Do tricks drive skating more or do personalities
drive it more?
Back in the day, individuals drove skateboard-
ing. They were superstars and you wanted to be
just like them. For me, the guys who drove it, it
wasn't their tricks-Jason Lee could have done a
friggin' 360° shove-it. Certain people
stand out. It doesn't matter if the
heads up all day, "Oh dude, you're the dopest,
you're the raddest," and they're standing there
going, "Yeah, give me more. I need this." It's
because they're too insecure to just go, "Shut up,
let me skate."
Do you have a love/hate relationship with the
kids or a hate/hate relationship?
It's really hot and cold. I can have a good expe-
rience meeting a kid or a completely terrible one.
I can't just go up and be like, "Yeah, great, hi, sup-
port Emerica." I'd feel like an idiot. Most of the
time, I just have to say "Peace," 'cause they bug me
so bad. I just have to get out of there before I say
something I'm going to regret later in the car.
What do the kids do to drive you so crazy?
Open their mouths.
Are they really any worse than you when you
were their age?
Man, when I was a kid, I didn't live in
California, and there were no pros around. There
weren't any pros to try to look cool in front of or
to brag to. When I was a kid, we just sat around
"DO NOT HAVE SEX WITH GIRLS"⁹
111
How do you like it so far?
I hate it.
What do you hate most about it?
I hate the quality of living here. It's stale. Huntington
is stale. There's no college so there's no influx of new
people. It's the same people who just get old and stale
here. You know that whole beach trash lifestyle thing?
I'm not really into that. I'm more NorCal.
It's like Tulsa by the Sea.
It's Fayetteville by the Sea! Yeah, I'm not too
stoked. I've been here for six months and I still
haven't unpacked my boxes, so that's kind of an
indication of how anxious I am to settle in here.
THRASHER
September 1998
new Enjoi thing that I'm doing, I want to repre-
sent 100 percent. I want to be 100 percent into it.
So Gersh is out?
Of the A-Team? No, he rides for Blind.
But who's on the new thing?
Chet had plans of his own. Gershon had really
been wanting to ride for Blind for some time.
When I initially spoke to Rodney about starting
something new, he thought it would be an oppor-
tune time, because everyone wanted to do their
new things. He was into it, and Dave Mayhew was
into it, and it all worked out.
And Jerry and Louie are on the team?
Yes, yes. I'm so stoked.
Are you taking on more responsibility than you
did as an A-Team rider?
I should say so. As an A-Team rider all I did was
skateboard and check the mail.
Do you have an office and everything?
Yeah. It's upstairs. I do the graphics and the ad
layouts much like Ed does Toy Machine.
you were bald.
No one's really asked me about that.
How old are you?
Twenty-three.
And you came onto the scene when you were
about 15?
Seventeen was when I came out of wherever.
'Cause people might think you're older since
you've been around for awhile.
No. I shave it. I swear. It ain't implants.
Is Skate and Destroy still important?
I can't speak for anyone else, but my approach
to skateboarding is not really that violent. I don't
I want to look all sketchy or out of control; my
approach has always been to look more graceful.
Well, what Thrasher's always stood for is hard-
core skateboarding-not the particular style,
just being down for all skating.
Well if that's what the message really is,
than there will always be a place for it. Look
where we are right now: The magazines are
sketchiest, grossest guy does a 30-stair handrail-
nobody cares. I don't care if Knobby-Knees
Nicky does a 30-stair handrail, I don't want to
see it. Right now, it seems that tricks are driving
skating, but for me, what's important is not the
newest, craziest, hardest trick. If you can't do it
well, don't bother doing it.
Is the push for tricks messing things up?
All I see nowadays is that all the kids want to be
better than the pros. All they care about is getting
that fame. They want to be popular and known
and dope. Nobody really cares about anything
good anymore.
What do you think of the new hedonsim? We're
back to the '80s and Gator...
And cocaine. And on and on. It's because peo-
ple need that. You've got these weak-minded pros
out there who are super insecure and they need
that stuff to go to bed at night, to feel secure. And
you've got these morons standing around, the
homies, the posse, standing around blowing their
talking shit about nothing. It's just different out
here. The kids in California grow up so jaded.
Let's just say this-California is no place to raise
a family.
Well, those are all the questions I have.
No! I don't smoke weed!"
What was the first Thrasher you saw?
It was all silver and had Tony Hawk on the cover.
Yeah, that was the 10th anniversary issue.
It was all silver and I bought it at the mall.
Have you ever felt like a black sheep in the skate-
board world?
Totally. I snuck in through the back door. I showed
up at a contest and everyone was all, "Who's this
guy? What's up?" I've always been kind of on the
outside. I don't see that many pros. In San Jose, you
just see the same 15 guys over and over again.
Do you like to party at the trade shows?
I don't go to the trade shows. Those things
make me ill.
What's some advice you wish someone had
given you when you were between 12 and 16?
Let's see: A) Do not have sex with girls. Women
are no good. I wish someone had sat me down
when I was that age, but I grew up with two women
and had no father figure to tell me. No one was
there to tell me, "Marc, stay away. They are evil,
Marc. They don't really care about you, the only
reason you care about you is how you fit in their
plan for happiness." I wish someone had told me
that. Don't dip your stick, because you'll be
hooked for life. It's an addiction you can never
kick; it just gets worse and worse. That's number
one. And B) Don't stress so much about anything.
When it comes down to it, nothing really matters.
Nothing is really important. I look back on a lot of
stuff that I thought was important, six months or a
year ago, two years ago, and it's all basically forgotten.
Advice for the kids: do your thing. You know the dif-
ference between right and wrong-stay on the right
side. Don't follow the herd, 'cause they're usually the
ones getting led to slaughter.
-Michael Burnett