80 THRASHER
They were pretty sore at you?
Yeah. You know? I honestly didn't have any
problem with the lot of the people that work
down there. That was a pretty childish way of
going about it; talking shit in a magazine, but
whatever. You do things you regret, Nobody's
perfect. But at the time I was pissed. I had
motivation problems and I said some things
that were just stupid and childish. If you have
a problem with someone you go and tell them
to their face. You don't go saying it in a maga-
zine. That's childish and gay.
This is a departure from your announcement
yesterday that you wanted to talk a lot of shit.
That was yesterday. It seems I've relaxed a bit.
Let's talk about this cess-pool Southern
California.
I like living in Huntington Beach, California
a lot lately. I've got all my friends here. The
team's all here. We've got our own little scene.
It's fucked here. It's too expensive. But right
now, it's great. All the great skateboarders, or
most of them, came from the most obscure
places-places you don't expect, in my opin-
ion. Because they haven't been around the shit
that ruins skateboarders, in my opinion.
I know you have a couple of
youngsters on the team. Do
you ever want to get them out
of this environment so they
don't get all blown out in the
Southern California skate
environment?
soning. I had alcohol poisoning and I had
clumps of rock-hard shit all over my face.
That's my memories of going camping in
England. That's my favorite memory.
Clifford: What about the shoplifting?
I stole many a thing in my day. I stole many
a pair of skate pants. I stole plenty. I'd still
steal today if I felt like it. It feels good stealing,
you know. I tried to rob a convenience store
before. They left the window open acciden-
tally and I climbed in there trying to steal all
the root beers, 'cause you couldn't get root
beer in England back then. So I climbed in the
window with a rucksack with my friend Balls.
Balls got grabbed by a security guard but I
legged it with everyone else who was out skat-
ing at the time. And I got away and drank all
my root beer and everything was great.
When will it be time to hang up the ol'
model?
Hang up the Flip and move onto the slasher
piece? In about a month's time.
You don't mean that.
I'm ready to move on to a twelve-inch Dave
Duncan.
What do you think of pros who are
Oh yeah, they're pretty good. How come
you're Skater of the Year? You don't live in
Nor-Cal.
You mean like Reynolds and Koston? No. I
don't know why. Ask Phelps.
What was your reaction upon hearing the
news?
I have no idea.
I thought you said, "Great, now I have to kill
myself."
Did I? Like I said, my memory's fucked.
Have you hit your head too many times?
Yeah. I've hit my head. I've broke my arm.
I've broke my brain. I've smashed my teeth.
I've had black balls. But you know what? It
doesn't really matter, 'cause I love it. And I'm
ready to do it all again. But much more. You
got to love it, otherwise you're gonna hate it.
Therefore I embrace the pain. I take it in, and
then I shit it back out.
Who would you pick for Skater of the Year?
Eric Koston, Bob Burnquist or Arto Saari.
Yeah they're good. Have you made it too hard
on yourself, by doing so many gnarly things?
Yeah. Yeah, I have. I want to pace it. I
don't want to do what Pat Duffy did where
it's almost impossible to
I'VE HIT MY HEAD. I'VE BROKE MY
ARM. I'VE BROKE MY BRAIN. I'VE
SMASHED MY TEETH. I'VE HAD
BLACK BALLS. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT?
IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER,
'CAUSE I LOVE IT.
Yeah. Yeah. Nothing can ruin
your whole motivation worse
than some guy wanting to give
you loads of money and
you're fourteen and you've never dealt with
anybody before. Straight off you get your
fuckin' gold teeth and you don't know what
the fuck's going on. I don't want to make any-
one do anything. And if I do I'm fucked. But I
know a little bit, from experience, and I might
try and steer the guys away from some of that.
Have you thought about getting some nico-
tine patches for Bastien?
For Arto. Bastien's French, you have to
remember. He's probably been smoking since
he was ten.
Have you ever been drunk?
Yes.
Did you like it?
Yes.
Will you ever be drunk again?
Probably when I'm about 35, 40. It'll be time
to get gnarly in a new way. Yeah.
Clifford: What are your happiest memories
of early English skate trips?
That was the first time I got hammered.
Took a shit on the beach, passed out, fell in
the shit. Fell asleep on a surfboard and woke
up with shit on my face and everyone point-
ing at me laughing. I was 14. I had food poi-
hangin' on?
Anyone who's made their mark can hang on
for as long as they want, as far as I'm con-
cerned. Steve Cab, Lance Mountain. I hope
they stay on for a long time.
You know what the funny thing about regret is?
I know I regret riding for Hook-Ups. I knew
I regretted it when Klein told me he was never
going to pay anyone. He paid me $150 for
awhile, but then that got phased out.
It's better to regret something you have
done, than to regret something you
haven't done.
That's true. I'd rather learn from my mistakes.
Who's your favorite amateur who's not on
the team?
That kid, Paul Rodriguez. He looks amazing.
I'm giving away all my secrets here.
Don't worry. You ain't gonna pull him away
from City Stars.
I would never do that. Kareem's my homie. I
wouldn't want to.
What's your favorite company besides Flip?
Toy Machine. They're all about skateboarding.
Ed's in touch with what's good for skate-
boarding.
outdo yourself. It's hard
because people are demand-
ing so many photos from
me. Every week it seems I
have to come up with a Vans.
ad. There's only so high and
far you can go. Physics gets
in the way and eventually
you can't roll away anymore.
You can only drop so far or
grind so big a rail or ledge.
Do you have tricks for the Flip video that we
won't have to see in photos before hand?
Right now, yes, a little bit. After this, though,
I'm on a backlash and I'm going to hold
everything until after the video.
Will Tom have a new part?
Yeah. Totally. He has all recent stuff. There's
nothing before last summer. I'm not going to
say it's all the gnarliest stuff, but it's all really
good, you know? I'm stoked on it."
Why do you drive a BMW?
I drive all day; fuckin' every day. I don't
want to be set in a Daewoo Nubira. I'm in my
car more than I'm in my fuckin' bed.
Ed told me it was to get chicks.
At the time? Yeah, it may of been a bit, a lit-
tle bit. So it was for comfort but it's also the
bitch magnet. Yeah, the fanny magnet.
Clifford: If you could be anyone for a day,
who would it be?
That's a good question Clifford. I have no
idea. I guess I would want to be someone
who's the opposite of me. Possibly a lesbian.
Possibly the Goat of Mendez.
What bit of skate fashion do you get the
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