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Anthony came to TX after Hurricane Katrina, worked at South Shore Skate Dist, started Delic Skateboards and became another Pro Houston had to add to it's arsenal of rippers. He likes skating everything and passing on the love of skateboarding.
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 How’d you get into skateboarding? I got into skating one day when I was fourteen years old riding my bike down the street and saw a skater ollie off a curb transition and was amazed he could ollie on the skateboard higher than I could on my bike. This guys name was Kent Knepper, a great street skater. Who was hot then and who’d you look up to? I looked up to Kent Knepper, Brandon Chapmen, Jake Bradley, Mike Dominguez, and Kit Ericson, these were all local street skaters in Santa Barbara. Mike Taylor, Mike Kresky, Robbie Olhieser, John Detman, were also a big influence on me growing up as well. When did you realize you were good enough to get sponsored or how’d that come about? I skated on a miniramp in the back of a skate shop on Holister ave. called Wild skate shop. One day the owner asked me if I wanted to skate for the shop and gave me a grey sweatshirt and some Wild stickers. The feelin was one of belonging to something, and being part of a team, not so happy to get free stuff. What were your favorite tricks and things to session? My favorite tricks were something original, like frigid kick the wall then crail varial the board. I liked to skate ditches and wall ride spots. Once you got on Powell Peralta did you get to travel a lot? I got to travel all over the world twice and had amazing adventures, even today i feel like it was a dream. What are some places that stand out? Japan with Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek, and Colin Mckay was a great trip, and Australia with Tony , and Bucky, was a lot of fun as well.  When you turned pro street was becoming more of it’s own specialty. Did you think it would get as big as it did? Yes, street skating was really taking off and skating on the street seemed to be evolving really fast. I thought it would get very big, because it seemed to have many dimensions someone could get into and have a lot of fun with, and its right out your front door, just waiting for u. Who were your favorite people to skate with? I really liked skating with Kit Ericson, Justin yates, Loren Manser, Emerys Burkhower,Brandon Chapmen and Jake Bradley. Did it take you long to land the famous huge parking lot gap in the Powell vid? It took three tries , first one landed it perfect and was so surprised I landed it I immediately jumped off and started yelling I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it. The second try is the one Powell used for the video, barely put my hand down. The team manager said lets go you got it, I said you can go but this is for me now, I knew I would never go back to this gap again, so I went back up and on the third try I made it perfect, Powell didn't use it for the video because they didn't like the angle but making it good meant everything to me. What are some of your favorite accomplishments? The big gap hill at the end of Propaganda, the eleven stair ollie in public Domain, the lipslide down the ten stair in video eight, the 360 double flip down the five stair in Chaos. What’s the hardest trick you learned? It was a 360 ollie double flip I did almost over the whole pyramid and never got it on video. What are some things you are doing now? I like to visit old spots I used to skate now and try to do tricks that i was trying twenty years ago but never got the chance because of the injury, I don't try to keep up with the new stuff of today I skate to challenge myself these days. How is the industry and skateboarding different now than when you started? The industry is much larger now, I find myself spreading myself too thin in this respect, I try to put the companies in perspective, I don't try to ask for to much, and what I do receive I try to promote there products, its very easy to get caught up in this, and you just need to focus on why you skate, not for what you might get out of it. I know you’ve had some tough injuries, so how has that changed your approach to skating? I have always been the type of skater who will try one trick a million times until I finally land it, this approach does not work anymore, I try to skate more consistent now, and work my way into tricks, learning how to bail the tricks is just important to me as making them these days. Any advice for young guns? I would like to say skate original, what ever you do can to bring your own twist to your skating, if everyone does the same stuff, the originality of the sport disappears, and its the different types of skating coming together is what makes us unique from any other sport. Who are some guys to look out for in skateboarding? The guys to look out for are Chris Cole , Nyja Houston, Andrew Renalds, all the guys from Street League, there are many skaters out there to look out for that is why I think now is a very exciting time in skating. If you could design a course or spot what would it be like? I would want a four foot high pyramid that is mellow, and plenty of room for speed to approach the pyramid and land, the course would be set up to go in a circle so there would be very little cross traffic. How do you see all the skateparks shaping the way people skate compared to just riding what you can find on your local streets? The park skaters get to skate very nice ledges and rails and they always know what to expect when they get there, to me its a little scary because if the park closes, what then, that special ledge you've grown up with is gone, the street skaters know they might get kicked out of there favorite ledge spot so they have a backup spot, not relying on one spot to define there skating. What are some things you’d like to see happen in skateboarding in the future? I would like to see designated street spots all over the city, at all the schools, and through the towns, I don't like the idea that a city can build a skate park then give tickets out whenever they see a skater, it makes me feel like they are trying to round us all up in a stable like cattle, wrong again, skating is about freedom of expression and the whole world is our canvas. Any goals you have for yourself skating wise in the future? I will continue to challenge myself in skating, and be involved in aspects of skating for a very long time. Final comments? When I was a Junior in high school I was small and skinny and was picked on by the jocks of the school, by the end of my senior year they loved me for being a famous skater, I see those same guys around town from time to time and they have skating shirts on and wear skate shoes, funny how things work out. Sponsors - Legion Skateboards, Trackers Trucks, ROBOT-GUTS Hardwear, Green Bananas Clothing, Last Resort Wheels  Skater, Bones Brigade Legend, The Firm owner, great video parts, filmer, one of the coolest Pros out there and still ripping all come to mind when I think of Lance Mountain. We had the pleasure of catching up with him and here's what he had to say.  How did skateboarding come into your life and when did you get fully into it? Older Friend Quique gave me his old clay wheel board when he got a new one with urethane wheels, 1974, by 76 I was into the magazines and fallowing the scene. Who was hot and what guys did you look up? Him at first, Gregg Weaver, Tony, Jay, Stacy, Wally. just started fallowing the Mags. 75-77 was one generation 78-79 another 80-82 a whole new generation. Not like today generations are 10 year. Did you ever get to ride with them early on? I saw a few pro’s ride some of the early parks, but never was a part of it until my older skate mentors moved on and got out of skating. Who were some of your favorite skaters to ride with in the 80's, 90's and now? Neil Blender was the best. It always changes if you want to keep skateboarding, as others move on or have to get working. You need to skate with new usually younger skaters. What were your favorite things to do and places to ride as a kid? How about now? Backyard, 70’s skate parks pools, backyard pools. The same today. Anything new. Some street stuff, really anything. How did you did get sponsored and how did it change things for you? Went to England to skate as a kid in 79, the kids there thought I was sponsored, that’s when I first thought about it, as I came home my older friends were moving on. I started going to the skate parks more and they had teams. I was put on that and was asked a few times by companies. Everything began to be based on contests. After a few years doing real good at skate park contest I got on a company Variflex by Steve Hirsch and owner Gil Losi. They took me on a USA summer tour in 1981. Then I turned pro. Just a strange time in skateboarding.  NSA SW Regionals Skatepark of Houston Kahuna ramp when painted red Once you got on Powell Peralta what are some accomplishments you are most proud of? My Son & Wife. I won a ramp contest a pool contest and a street contest. Tried to be creative so the spirit of Blender stayed in skateboarding. Because we were in the first video’s and showed the world you could do this as a living I think skateboarding is able to provide for many many more people than it ever would have. When did you get to start traveling? Highlights? Funny Stories? 1979 first big skate trip. Mostly being able to see so much ground braking things in skateboarding happen. New tricks at the early parks, miller flips, inverts, Ollie's. Mc twists, 720s. Mark Gonzales coming up, Kareem Campbell catching kick flips, Bob looping baldy. When did you first skate TX? Tour 1981, Jeff Phillips ripped, blue ramp back of Zorlac maybe. I remember great times in the 80's, what are some of your best memories? Early 80’s were cool lots of changes lots of great product, lots of creative things, tricks, spots, by the late 80’s things just got stale. I remember you being at the big contest on the Kahuna , what did you think of that ramp since it was one of the first 12ft metal ramps? Bigger ramps pushed skating to bigger airs but also was the beginning of the end. I thought ramps were getting played out we were doing the same contest in every city. The skate park pools of the 70’s were better venues I think. But it did bring in a new bread of rippers.  85 or 86 Skatepark of Houston Kahuna metal ramp You always looked like you were having fun when you skated which came through in the videos. I thought the parts where you were goofing around on your skateboard with friends was great and important because it encouraged skaters to "just have fun" - was that intentional or did it just kind of happen? I wanted skating to be fun, some of it was because I was having fun and some of it was because I thought others were to serious. Some of it was because I wasn’t having fun trying so hard so messing around made it fun for me. I always thought skateboarding was playing with friends more than a sport.  85 or 86 SUAS Skatepark of Houston When did you get involved in filming and how has that changed over the years? Once I saw photos in the magazines I wanted to shoot photos or be in them, they just captured a moment in time and you had to dream what was going on. I think that made skaters more creative. Once video came out I worked with Stacy a lot. That was a new medium and was awesome. Done work with it ever since. What were some of the most challenging things to film? Skating along side of some of the best was hard, it took me longer to make things and made me think how to do something that could stand out. What was it like starting your own company? It's kind of the "American Dream" for a lot of people... The climate in skateboarding was such that if I wanted to still be involved it was something I had to do. I enjoyed it and also wasn’t that good at it. I love that it got me to here and now. Really enjoyed some of the relationships that were built. What are some things most people don't know about starting a company? I think that people think they will be their own boss, and you really go to having more people than ever that you have to answer too. Being a good owner really is being good at trouble shooting, organizing who is good at what and being responsible for many many peoples livelihoods. How did you balance your skating, business and family? The best I could, as it came, but it taught me the most important things in life. You've done a lot of things behind the scenes over the years. What are some of the coolest projects you were involved in and anything you're excited about or doing now? Any and all things, liked shooting photos of a lot of the up and coming street skaters, it kept me connected to it. I like working with Ca. Skateparks building pools right now. It was great watching shred at Rock The Cradle in Houston; how have you managed to ride so good and creatively as you've got older? Ice cream, I have more time now that I don’t have a company and I like skateboarding.  Rock the Cradle for Johnny Romano Oct 2010 Houston Did you ever imagine back in the day we'd have public skate parks? It seems with all the parks more older skaters (regular and pro) are riding again creating skating families. Where do you think that will take skateboarding? After the parks closed in the 80s I never thought that concrete would be built again, have to thank Red and the Oregon boys, for bringing it back. Available terrain has always dictated the direction of skateboarding. It appears more young guys are getting into riding trannies, vert and bowls as well as the industry embracing it again. What are your thoughts on that? Once the industry embraces it, it is probably on it’s way out, something new is starting somewhere. What are some things you'd like to see or make happen in skateboarding? The retail business and the deck industry be healthy for al the shops that put a lot of effort into the support of it. Skateboarding has always had a creative side and then the business side, Is there a healthy balance between them? Yes, can’t have anything without the good blend of both.  In tall company RTC Houston Oct 2010 Since the 90's it feels like product became more homogenized and less creatively differentiated than the 80's or am I just being an old guy? Skateboarding isn’t young any more, we were blessed to see it in it infant stages. You have one of the longest running pro careers in skateboarding. How do you manage to do that? I could have been born in Siberia 1832, I am blessed to live in a country that was based on Gods morals to be free and have the opportunity to chase after a dream. I want to do what I want, but I have learned to put the Lord first then he will bless me. Sometimes it is not what I wanted or had in mind, but in the end it is better than anything I could have got by myself. Looking back are there any things you would like to have done different? Learn from your mistakes faster? Are there any things a lot of people don't know that you would like them to know? Everything I need and real joy and peace is found in Jesus Christ. What things would you like to do in the next 5 or 10 years and beyond? Stay involved, learn kick flip back flips down Hollywood high 16. How do you think skateboarding will change? No idea, I never thought I would live to see skateboarding in the Olympics. Bummer. I debated on asking this, but...a lot of old guys would like to see a Bones Brigade reunion...any chance of that? Stacy is working on a Doc about the whole team as we speak. Any final comments? There has been so many great skateboarders to come and go from this, I want to tell them how rad it was to see their contribution. The dream of a skateboard carrier can be brutal. But skateboarding in itself is always awesome.  I first saw Bryan skate at the Skatepark of Houston on the Kahuna and knew right away this kid was going places. He was amazing and part of the next gen of TX rippers after Phillips, Craig, Gibson, Wilkes etc. He went on to master cool lip trick combos, air to lip moves all stacked into one big helping as the 80's blurred into the 90's and still rips today!  When/how did you start skateboarding? I got my first bigger board when I was about 11, but skated a plastic board pretty young. Skating just looked fun. I bought a broken Sim’s Screamer I nailed it back together with a 2x4 and rode it till I could get a better one. I started checking out skate zines, and then started building jump ramps with custom paint jobs(oh yeah!) I later went to visit some local ramps and was hooked. We started finding ramps all over and meeting all the skaters that made the small scene in Houston at the time. Everyone was going to the spoh thanks to Dennis Eppinette. There were also a number of descent pools around at the time. I remember sitting in school dreaming about where I would be later that day. What skaters did you look up to? Definitely Jeff Phillips and all the Texas pros. Todd, Ken, Johnny, Craig, Wilkes, Troy, Neil Blender, Chris Miller, Ben Schroeder, Mountain, Cab, Lester... When did you realize skating was a potential lifelong pursuit or career for you? It was far from a lifelong career for me, but it was fun while it lasted. The industry died when I was about 23. When I won some prize money for the first time I felt like I could live off skating. Skating paid my bills for a few years but the travel was what I remember. I aspired to be a good skater, but wasn’t sure what to expect from it otherwise. Skating taught me to get good at what you like to do. I later found a career in construction. At 25 I jacked my knee and was out for like three years. I’m grateful for every session these days. How did you get sponsored? I got my first sponsor from local shop, and then G&S. I think Ken Fillion helped me get on G&S. I rode for Zorlac for a bit. I was blown away to get to skate on the same team with Phillips. “Life’s a beach” It was amazing to travel with him. He was a huge influence on my skating. He is the icon of Texas skateboarding. I was fortunate to know him. I also rode for tracker and speed wheels for a number of years. Now I ride for Conspiracy Skateboards. What were some of the hot tricks and which were your favorites? I got into doing bonelesses, inverts, ollies, lip tricks…whatever felt fun at the time. I remember the first time I saw you skating was on the Kahuna with Nielsen and thinking these guys are the next Texas legends. It was a few days before a big contest. What was it like skating in the presence of such talent like Jeff Phillips, Craig Johnson, John Gibson, Todd Prince etc.? It felt sureal at the time and it somehow still amazes me that I got to skate with those guys. Their styles and skills are still unique to this day. That’s what’s so cool about skateboarding. We are all individual breeds influenced by each other. The thing about that generation is that they invented the core of what everyone still trys to recreate these days. They made their mark. Who still ever compares with what Chris Miller does in a pool, Phillip’s power, Craig’s thrill, or Johnny’s Style? True legends of skateboarding… I remember the certain magic that they all had. I was blown away every time I saw them skate. I looked up to and respect all those guys. The new vert skaters have continued to progress to a nearly flawless level that will continue to reinvent itself to another level each decade. I do miss watching the old contests though. I don’t remember a sketch deduction back then. That was all part of the package. Like Phillp’s said ”I llove watching Craig Johnson skate because he scares the shit out of me!” It’s hard to imagine what skating will look like in 10 years.  When did you get to start traveling and what are some of your best memories? I guess when I was about 17. My best memory is going to Tahiti with Phillips, Monty, Mouse, and Reese Simpson. We were guests of the government and when we showed up the president (Rambo) had on flamed Life’s a beach pants. haha!. That was great! We went surfing and hiking to waterfalls. That trip was the best. Traveling through Europe with Life’s a Beach was great too. What accomplishments in skating are you most proud of? My first pro contest, I got second place. That felt really amazing. Just skating with all the pros was sick. Jeff asking me to be on his team was huge for me. What's the hardest tricks you tried to learn? I only made one or two 540’s, so I guess that was the hardest trick for me to learn. I love lip trick combos. Alley-oop cab to 5050 to board to grind was hard. I did channel indy-oop disasters at one point. I used to be able to do blindside handflips to fakie over the channel. There was plenty I tried but never made. What are the best things or places you've ridden? Oregon, Bucky’s bowl, the combi, Hailey Idaho, Colorado springs... There is so much good stuff out there now. A lot of great parks are popping up now. If you could design one what would it be like? I like big concrete walls. The concrete has to be done right though. Bucky’s bowl is awesome. There is so much potential when the walls are getting so perfect. Bucky should be designing parks. That thing is amazing. It’s ahead of it’s time. Smaller pools with tile and pool coping are fun also. I do prefer round walls to vert ramps. Dreamland is hands down my favorite park builder. They seem to be the most creative. Who are some of your favorite people to skate with? Gene Hare, Dan Jones, Jason Espeseth, Chris Nielsen, Brett Roper, Mike Martin, Frontside Jed, Peter Furne, Ken Fillion, Hubba, the gold brothers, Gentry, Lindsey Kuhn, Jeremy Smith … Schroeder… too many… My son Lucas and my daughter Ava. What would be your dream session? The spoh crew, Chris Miller, Bucky Lasek, Mountain, Fillion, Brett Roper, Jason Espeseth, Grosso, Peter Hewit… What music/bands do you like to skate to? Metal: Sabbath, Motorhead, Kyuss, old punk, Minor Threat, Monkey Wrench. Stuff like that. Nothing too mellow while skating.  What do you like to do when you're not skating? Hanging with my family, camping, wakeskating, snowboarding, surfing, working on my house or in my metal/woodworking shop… Who are some of your favorite skaters? ... Now it’s Bucky, Rune, Alex Pearlson. Brett Roper, Jeremy Smith, Kevin Kowalski. There’s so many rippers these days. Favorite videos? Bones Brigade, The old Gullwing video, the Planet Earth video, the DC video. The Northwest video. I know you have to work and have a family - how do you manage to balance all that and still rip like at Rock the Cradle? It’s more quality than quantity for me these days. I skate more in the warmer seasons. Salt Lake has a lot of snow in the bowls in the winter. We haven’t had a vert ramp in like 8 years, but we have tons of descent concrete parks. We go and skate mini ramps some times. I keep hoping for an indoor pool or vert ramp. There’s a lot of outdoor parks with pools here. Snowboarding is fun in the winter.  Are there any places you'd like to skate or people you'd like to ride with?
I’m actually trying to do that exactly whenever I get a chance. I want to skate it all. There are so many great parks to skate, and I have a list a mile long of people I want to skate with. I haven’t skated pierpont. That looks good. I need to start another annual Oregon trip. There are so many good parks out West. I dig skating with and reconnecting with old friends. The rumble in Ramona was fun. I saw a ton of people there. Hopefully soon I’ll get on the road. Colorado’s always fun. Idaho’s great. Montana looks good…I’d like to go to Florida. Any young rippers you think we should be on the lookout for? There are so many! Jeremy Smith, Ben Rayborn, Kevin Kowalski… Any final comments? Go skate!! Come check out Utah. Thanks to Lindsey Kuhn for supporting my skating the last several years and thanks Greg for the interview. Christian Hosoi a skater that needs no introduction, a master of style, high air and more. Interview at meet and greet in Houston TX Saturday 10 2 2010. Hear what this legend had to tell us. Skating, Punk shows, and tearing it up like the legends before - Texas Style. His skating does the talking. But he let us ask him some questions anyway.  Photo NTXskatepunk Here we go the usual when/how did you connect with skateboarding? Was it from a hyped up video game? Some kids on my bus made fun of me for rollerblading, havent looked back since. Why not baseball or something? I guess i wasnt into it. Did you ever want to be a vert jock or street flipper? I skated street before we had a park but i was still really into launch ramps, i ended up getting a gator reissue and it was all down hill from there. What are not your goals in skateboarding? To make money, or sell my soul to the industry, i cant stand televised contests, skateboarding has lost its meaning.  OK we'll get deep and serious for a moment... you have a style that's old but are young, intentional i'm sure, so how'd you pull that off? old guys heckled me, they still do. Who are some pros worth drawing style and influence from? old Texas skateboarding, todd, gibson, roper, pennington, donalson, and phillips of course. jason jessee, bod, monty, ross goodman, mike conroy, blaize, the guiterrez brothers, and all the east coast dudes were way sick too Ever skate with any of them? Pennington, that dude still kills it at 39. Craziest andrecht to fakie ever, and basically anything else you wanna see. What's the best thing you've skated? worst spot? slappy curbs? kinked pools? i dunno, the worst is usually the best.  Photo NTXskatepunk You've hit every skaters goal and got sponsored, so I imagine you thought you'd be jet setting the world in expensive skate clothing brands and going to demos in limos - what went wrong? you can make money off skateboarding? What is the proper way to carry your board when cruising the mall? well if you hang out at the mall youre obviously too cool to skateboard! When are you going to get your own reality show about how hard is to be a rich and famous pro skater? It used to be punk rock and hated. What will you do when the sk8 media hype bubble bursts and you may have to get a real job? I'll live in my van in the northwest and mow yards to get gas to drive to orcas every couple of weeks. Seriously though, ever thought about building skateparks? luckily joe dirt went and did it so i kinda got into it, you gotta build shit when youre sick of the 12 year old kids smoking cigarettes at the skatepark.. What would you design? pool replicas everywhere! Here's some random thoughts for you to respond to. Ditches or Pools pools! Skatelite or Crete plaster.  Time for the obligatory music section with AlecTXPunk questions. What's your favorite emo band? is justin beiber emo? What's your favorite lady GaGa costume? when shes naked, but i heard she looks like a dude? What's your favorite outfit from Hot Topic? the eyeliner makes everything, Vnecks help out too. Who's better Motley Crue or Wasp? RATT! Oh you like sk8punk so what's your favorite Avril Lavigne song. I bet it's skaterboi... nope, thats way too punk for me. alright...If you could take over a radio station what bands/songs would you play? Fearless Iranians From Hell. Best bands to skate to? im really into maximun rocknroll by NOFX right now, everything after hat went south. Favorite spots. the ones we havent found, preferably vacant backyards. Favorite tricks. the tricks i can do Places you'd like to skate and haven't yet? the arizona desert. Anyone you'd like to thank. thanks to mike and fat kevin at cockfight, lloyd and carol at surfhouse! coolest people ever! brewster at circa, and ken at pinks pizza. Brandon my brother, adam wiggins the dyslexic kid, and my dog, gallero. Did we offer to pay you enough to give the right skate politically correct answers? Its cool, i got to use the computer while everybodys asleep. Any closing comments or nonsense? Dont take the money, build stuff yourself, dont wait for it, go get it on your own.  We've sent multiple interviews off, so hopefully those will be answered ready to post soon.
Two legendary Texas skaters that rose up behind John Gibson putting Houston on the world skate map. Skating, playing in Contortion Session, and hitting shows is the deal. Backyard ramps, ditches, pools, S.U.A.S., NSA, worldwide events to more recent Soul Bowls, Rock the Cradle, Pro tec Pool party these guys are still killing it with that big bold Texas Style! Filmed 6/19/2010 outside the Lee & Joe Jamail skatepark in Houston after a great set by their band Contortion Session. Parts 1 and 2 from the old days of YouTube   Tom is a true skater in the purest form riding for the love of it. His ability to flow smooth solid lines in pools, on ramps, pipes, ditches and parks continues to be a style worth emulating. Any session with Tom is a great session watching him rip inspires you to go for more and leave stoked!  Randol Mill over deathbox by Greg/ Innovation When did you start skateboarding? I can’t remember not having a skateboard, though I do remember my first one. I’d say the early 70’s was the starting point. What was your favorite thing about riding or place? My favorite thing about riding is standing on my board and using gravity and momentum to propel myself up, over and out of any smooth terrain. My favorite places to ride are pools, pipes and parks. Downhill is a blast too. Who were some of the skaters you looked up to and did you ever get to meet any of them? I’ve been inspired by so many and have been fortunate enough to meet most of ‘em - early on. It was the surf/skate rats at the monster bowl in NJ. Later at Cherry Hill it was Brad Bowman, Victor Perez, Jami Godfrey and Steve Herring. When/How did you get sponsored? My first sponsor was Brad Bowman of Sims flowing me boards etc...we skated at cherry Hill in 80-81. I was stoked!  Culver City by Geoff Graham You have one of the most fluid powerful pool styles of riding even on ramps. Coming from NJ how'd you develop that? Thanks man. NJ has it’s share or surfers brah. I’ve always enjoyed the flow and smoothness of certain skaters. I don’t surf, it’s just my translation. I know the east coast had a cool scene, lot's of diy, brotherhood and a killer style of riding as did Texas where you moved late 80's. What lead to the move and How did the scenes compare? Being outside of california and the parks closing is where and why the DIY/Brotherhood thing came from. We had no choice. I’ve always had a great time visiting Texas in the past. I wanted to ride with the locals more. Plus there were killer pools and the ramp at the skatepark was a favorite of mine. Geography and climate is where the difference lies. The approach and attitude was/is quite similar.  Metro Bowl session with Salba, Phillips, Murf grabbed from Texas Style dvd I remember the time we were skating metro bowl and we saw security driving up and ran off. Then when we went back to skating he snuck up and told us he was trying to find us to say it was alright to skate until they fenced it. So many fun sessions happened there. You had such rad lines and runs and were killing it the day Salba and crew came out along with Phillips and Murf that was in the Texas Style video. What was it like to ride with all those guys there? Great friends skating a killer pool equals a great day. Easily my favorite pool. Salba opened up the shallow step line - I’m glad to see you captured some of it on film! You used to get a picture of every pool you skated, how many pools have you ridden? I’d try and snap a shot or two, I usually would end up skating and forgetting! As for a specific number, it’s hard to say. Not as many as I’d like.  Ridiculous Pool by Geoff Graham  Metro Bowl by Troy Rodebaugh Now they are building so many parks with bowls etc like a new one in Houston that's supposed to have a Texas shaped bowl. How do you like this compared to the days of hunting down, cleaning and riding pools? Backyards are a different animal...there’s so much more to it than just showing up and having everything handed to you. I appreciate both and am stoked to see all of the parks popping up, but it’s hard to get a really good backyard. If you could design your own pool or bowl what would it be like? I really like right hand kidneys, Not real deep, wide open deep end, rolled lip in the shallow- tile and pool block. Basically the end pool at Cherry Hill. Who were/are some of your favorite people to session with? A handful of friends from anywhere make for a fun session. My new favorite pool is in our park in New Smyrna Beach Florida. Who would you like to ride with now? I’d like to go back to that day at the Metro - or any day at Cherry Hill.  Metro session with Salba, Phillips, Murf in Texas Style dvd by Greg/ Innovation I know you and Chuck Treece from McRad go way back and interestingly enough I'm also interviewing him to kick off the Interview page. What are some of the coolest moments skating or hanging with him. Hanging out with Chuck's always cool. Our early road trips stand out, punk shows in Philly stand out, sessions at my ramp really stand out. Favorite tunes to skate to? Seventies rock, Early Punk/Hardcore, Early Metal.  Vans Combi at the Block by Geoff Graham With all the parks being built there seems to be a renewed appreciation for bowl, tranny and vert riding. who do you think are some people to watch? I enjoy watching the masters, seeing the young guns kill it is really fun though. Ben Raybourne, Jake Reuter, Pedro Barros from brazil and mike barnes of florida are my favorites to watch. You ride for Pocket Pistol how did that come together? Chuck Hooked that up - I have history with most of the guys on the team. A lot has come full circle, so much so that it’s really cool. I’m happy to be a part of it, there’s no pressure just fun. Get out and skateboard. Any plans to do a skate tour? As for tours, I try to take a trip somewhere once a year - Oregon, California, the east is always a good road trip. A trip to Texas has been long overdue!  Ridiculous Pool by Geoff Graham I like how all the older pros and skaters are still riding and knocking down the age barrier. Do you think it's possible to progress after the late 30's? I like it too, though I’m thinking in the 40 and up range. I do think progress is possible, it depends on what your after as to what that definition is. I’m really just out to have a good session, maybe doing something where I’ve never done it - ride some new terrain and live to do it again. Skating’s so young that the boundaries have yet to be defined. Any final comments? Skateboarding has given and shown me so muc. I’m forever grateful and i owe bigtime. Stoked to do the interview, thanks Greg!  Oviedo FL by Don Routly Chuck Treece is a rad individual, musician and skater in the purest form. Doing it with heart and soul for the fun of it. He's played/collaberated with artists like Bad Brains, The Goats, Bob Dylan, Mike Watt, Billy Joel, Pearl Jam and the list goes on. In addition his groundbreaking skaterock band, McRad has been featured in the legendary Powell videos and more. Along with skating for co's like Madrid, Gullwing, OJ wheels, Santa Cruz, and Airwalk.  How/when did skateboarding enter your life? Age 13 I lived in Newark Delaware- in the suburbs. Bought a plastic skateboard for 15 bucks. What was it like trying to come up in the skate industry being from theeast instead of Cali? My friends and I didn’t focus on the East or west we just loved skateboarding and eventually made it out to see what the west coast was all about. What pros did you look up to or influenced your style? The pros that I looked up to were Marty Grimes, Shogo Kubo, Stacy Peralta, Freddie Desota, Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Mike Jesolowski, Steve Olsen, Steve Alba, Mickey Alba, Steve Hirsch, Christian Hosoi. Coincidentally I'm also interviewing tom Groholski to launch the interview page and know you are friends. What were some of the best sessions or memories you had/have? Every session with Tom was a great session. Never a dull session unless we couldn’t skate. We skated in the 80’s until now- when He comes in to town we skate.  Once you became Pro you brought a whole other dimension to the industry with your musician skills contributing to many videos such as the Powell Peralta Bones Brigade ones. Did you think both of these would merge in the skate industry? I never thought that both of the things that I love to do would merge but because I had love for them equally, I made my own way. What was it like contributing music for the videos? IT'S Amazing to work with Stacy he is the king of collaboration in skateboarding. McRad is a must for any skate playlist, did you ever write a song in your mind while skating? Tons of them- Weakness, McShred basically every song that I write has skating in it. McRad played the 2009 Rock the Cradle Johnny Romano event in Houston, how did that come about? Some people that were running the competition got in touch with me and I linked up with Lee who was in one of the bands that were playing. They made it easy for us to come play- let us use their gear and treated us great.  Of course you took some runs in the park too. have you thought aboutdoing a skaterock tour with McRad and maybe some other bands where everyone would play and skate? Yes- I would love to do a skatepark tour- it is a big dream of mine. To play all the skate parks all over the word and to be able to play benefits to build parks. You have a McRad board out. Tell us more about that. The board was released on Keystone Skateboards. It was a goal of mine to collab with a Pa based company and to also have an awareness of what is going on in the Pa skate industry. Any plans to enter a masters event? I would love to enter a couple of master events. Being accomplished at 2 creative activities is very cool. Tell us some of your best moments. Best moments of music and skating is to just keep my mind and body healthy and my dreams healthy, my energy healthy so that I can keep doing it.  What's next for you as a pro, musician and McRad? To release the next MCRAD record Neverending Dominant Force and also getting things ready for “How We Roll” a 6 month exhibit at the African American Museum in Los Angeles highlighting ethnic skateboarders. Any words of wisdom for aspiring skaters or musicians? Words of wisdom- keep your head forward and keep focused on your life. Never back out of what you love to do just make sure you don’t hurt anybody or your self. Final Comments. Thanks to everybody for supporting me throughout the years and put a hand out when it was needed. I love music and skateboarding- they have taken me around the world.  |
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