Robert Brink - Writer

Gareth Stehr Full-Length Interview

June 16, 2006 | Skip To The Comments (3)

I interviewed Gareth Stehr a while back for TransWorld's Am Issue. The piece that ran was about half as long as this actual transcript. Enjoy the unedited interview:

How often do you go back home to see friends and family?

I haven't been home in a while, the last time I went home was for Christmas. Because of the process of getting my work visa, I can't leave the country. I was allowed to leave the country at one point, but if I left within this last year, I wouldn't be allowed back. But hopefully I am getting my visa next week.

Did you view coming to the US as a big risk? Or were you confident you'd make it in skateboarding?
When I first came over, I just had money saved up just to come and skate and I was planning on going home. I wasn't really planning on making it or anything. I was just going to come and skate and then go home. Fortunately it all worked out with Foundation.

Do you see yourself staying in the States or eventually returning to New Zealand?
I'm not sure at this point. I like it a lot out here. I think I probably would end up staying. I like Chicago a lot. It's fun to see how cities are so different. In Chicago you can go to shows every night and see cool bands.

You're pretty well known for doing big shit. All week long I've been hearing about is the Backside 180 El Toro attempt. Is it possible that it may stick with you for a while as your big move? Kind of like how Darrell Stanton had his backside nosebluntslide down the Clipper ledge?

I never really thought of it that way. It'll come and go if you keep skating and busting out. I mean now Darrell is killing it on everything. It's still awesome that he did that—but it's not the main thing—he didn't just disappear. It's good as long as you keep going and try to up the ante.

On an average day, are you always doing huge stuff? Or do you just do that when you're feeling extra gnarly or filming.

Recently, I have been skating with Ethan Fowler a lot and just doing it like when you're a kid—skating around and finding new places. If we find something that's big and I feel like trying it, I will, but I don't like doing stuff that's planned a week in advance, I'm kind of over that. There is totally stuff you need to plan out sometimes, but I enjoy more spontaneous skating.

Have people come to expect gnarly stuff from you when you skate?
I don't know, maybe. But I'm not worried about it or stressing that I have to find a set of stairs that's one stair bigger than the last. I like skating different stuff. I don't just jump down stairs.

What's the most stairs you have ollied?

21.

And the most you've attempted and didn't land? That's the biggest one.

I haven't tried anything bigger.

How does your body feel after a day of that?
The 21 was just a spontaneous thing one day, we were skating a manual pad, and someone was like “Hey Gareth, ollie these!” So first try I got wheel bite and ate shit and on the second go I landed it. But I wasn't going to try it much longer anyway.

Could you ollie that set that Ali tried in the Flip video?

I don't know, that's huge. It's like he jumped off a mountain.

While you're about to bail a huge ollie, do you think about how the bottom of your feet are going to feel in about one second?

That sucks. It's like “Oh shit!” And something big like that, you actually have time in the air to be like “Oh fuck, I'm fucked.” Like I kicked out at El Toro a couple times and that wasn't fun at all.

Do you just land on your feet and try to roll over and absorb the shock?

Yea, try to. Pretty much just end up pile-driving yourself into a ball at the end of the stairs.

When trying something huge, how do you overcome that initial fear that enters your body before popping into a trick or committing to it? Do you just say, “Fuck it!” and go?

Pretty much, I just try not to think about it really.

I saw you at Tampa Am this year and I noticed you smile a lot. What's the secret to that? Do Americans smile too much or too little?

I don't know, I'm skating, doing what I like to do. Most of my friends are smiling most of the time.

How do you feel about contests?

I enjoy going to contests because you get to see friends you don't see a lot and all the people who usually go to contests. The parties are fun to go to too. Sometimes it gets pretty hectic. Like Tampa is a small, confined space and 200 people are trying to skate it. It's kind of crazy.

When you were skating Tampa did you think to yourself “I'm gonna win!”?

(Laughs) No! Not at all. I just go there and try to think of different shit to do. Instead of doing the normal front board on the rail and a grind on the other thing—try to do something a little different.

Do you get a lot of girls with your accent?

Everyone always asks that. I guess. This one girl told me she wanted me to talk into a tape recorder, so she could have my voice on tape to sleep to. I usually tell people that my accent is fake and I'm from Idaho.

What's one great thing about America and one bad thing?

I like root beer and In & Out Burger. Traffic is what I don't like. I am up near LA a lot, so driving to spots is hard. All my favorite cities to skate have subways or trains. Like Spain, London, and Chicago. LA's metro—like, no one rides it. Me and Daniel started riding it, and for us it was like a day trip, like going to Disneyland. In every city that actually has trains where people use them, everyone is just sitting there bored as hell, looking all depressed. We were like on the train like “Yeah! Woo Hoo!” Jumping around and skating around.

What do you miss most about New Zealand?

Mince pies or steak and cheese pies. We have pies and we eat those like burgers. So you get a pie at a gas station or a pie shop or a bakery. And it's just like a burger I guess.

If you could take one think back home to NZ with you, what would it be?

A case of root beer. No, if I want to take anything back with me? Daniel Shimizu. He wants to come so bad. I've been here for two years and I have been trying to plan a trip for so long.

What's your favorite country to skate in?

Probably here I guess. I've skated all around Europe and stuff, but this is where my friends are. Any country is good to skate in if you are with your friends.

Favorite skate spot?

The mini ramp at Skateboard.com. It's perfect and really fun. I usually go there every Friday night and drink beers and skate.

Favorite trick to do?

I just learned backside laybacks, so I am pretty psyched on those. And crailsides.

Frontside?

Yeah, I can only do the frontside ones. Every time I see Charlie Thomas I always make him do the backside crailslides because I can't do them. When we were at Tampa Am, everyone was dorking around on the vert ramp. So Charlie was doing two foot backside airs and tailslides and I was like “Whaaaat?” So then I made him do a backside crail and he did it third try. He had never even tried it before.

Trick you wish you knew but you don't?

Probably backside crails or stalefishes. I can't get down there. I need to take some yoga classes or something.

Worst slam?

When I was a kid I broke my ankle, that kind of sucked. One other time I tried sliding this rail with a kink on the end and I kooked it and landed on the kink on my nuts. That sucked. I went back to it recently when I was home for Christmas and I looked at the rail and I was like “What the fuck was I thinking?” I wouldn't even try that now. You know when you're a little kid, you're like Woo Hoo! It had like a stupid pebbled-ground run-up, so it is all shitty and like, chest high.

Rails or hubbas?

Hubbas, I don't skate rails that much. Hey, there's a truck driving next to us on the highway and the guy has a sticker that says “Show us your boobs.” That's pretty funny.

Yeah it is. Flat ground or ledges?

Ledges I guess.

Pressure flips or late shove its?

Late shove its. I started too late to get into the pressure flip phase. I can't even do them. I can do the straight one, but not the varial flip one that everyone does.

Are bigspins too trendy right now, like they got resurrected and then played out?

I think that happens with a lot of shit. There was a while where no one was doing backside smith grinds or frontside feebles. Now its like, “If you can't frontside feeble down 10 then don't talk to me.” But I think it's good. It's rad when you haven't seen something in a while and lots of people start doing them.

If you weren't a skateboarder, what would you most likely be doing with your life?

I was working at a hospital in New Zealand saving up to come here. I was a clerk in radiology, basically a librarian for x-rays. So I would probably still there and I'd probably be psyched on having a flashy car or something. Before that I delivered pizza at night and was a laborer, building houses during the day.

Were you up on the roof and shit?

Yea. It's scary. I'm not that good with that stuff, but you have to be. When you are building the house, its just 2x4s and you have to walk from one side of the house to another on 2x4s, it's scary. The thing about that shit though, is that if the 2x4 was sitting on the ground, you could run across it or walk across it with no worries, but because it's a little higher up, you shit your pants.

Well that's just like skating right?

Yea, well you skate a flat bar and you don't even sweat it. Like “There's no way I'm gonna fall out of a 50-50, then you go to a big rail and your all scared.
Did you ever see any gnarly X-rays?

Nothing like when you look and there's a pair of scissors in the person's chest, but some people had three files and each file is like two inches thick. You kind of wonder “What happened to these guys?”

Are you eager to go pro? Or do you want to be am for a while longer?

It would be cool, I don't know if I deserve it or not. I guess with this and the video coming out, and Leo Romero is going pro, so I guess a little while after Leo.

How do you think things will change once you turn pro?

I'll probably be able to afford and apartment—that would be nice. I want to buy a motorcycle. So maybe that'll happen. I prefer the old fashioned ones. I buy the Cycle Trader every month and look in there, and get all excited but then I have no money to buy anything. A lot of my friends have bikes.

You have a signature wheel on Pig, doesn't that kinda make you pro already?

I don't know, Beagle just thinks its funny to do that shit. I think I get royalties.

Can you make a living being an Am? Or are you broke? Do you have another job?

I can't get a job because I don't have my visa yet. I do fine, but if I had to pay for an apartment that would be hard. But I'm fine.

So you just cant be extravagant?

Yea. But I get to skate every day.

I don't want to name names, but some people seem to be am forever. How do they survive financially?

I don't get it either. People come and ask me all the time “When are you going pro?” but I'm like “I just got here.” But its cool that people ask that or are impressed and think I deserve it.
Not that you can't skate for fun, but with no job and just being am for all those years, I sometimes wonder how people make ends meet.

Yea, like don't quit your day job? I don't know, it's a bummer. I've been skating for the fun of it, not going and training like “I gotta make the big bucks.” I am just happy to be over here and not deported yet.

Do too many skaters stop pushing it and slack off when they turn pro?

I guess there have been cases of that, but it does get a little annoying when you see dudes rolling in nice cars and you hardly ever see any footage or anything. But maybe it's not their fault. But can you blame them? They deserved to go pro and they make all this money so they are like “Fuck it! I'm going to Disneyland!”

What's the worst thing about skateboarding or the industry today?

The way it's been exploited on TV and shit. It fucking sucks. I saw some TV show and Tony Hawk is doing a trick tip and he's teaching people how to ollie and telling them to practice in the grass and to wear full pads. I understand he has to say that for TV, but it sucks that he has to say that. How are you gonna learn to skate on grass?

What's the best thing about the industry?

There's quite a good variety of people in skating right now I think. There are also more opportunities for things to happen and companies to do different stuff. Like Dekline is making totally different shoes, they are so different but still selling a bunch and people are psyched on them. I think it's cool that they can do that.

What's bothers you the most while you are trying to skate?

Wind, or Lurkers man.

Like, people watching you?

Well not like people I'm with, but just lurkers. Dudes just walk up like “Oh hey what's going on?” and they try to talk to you. “So how's that working out for you?” “Well I just ate shit so how do you think it's fucking going?”

The other day we were skating this nine stair, and this one dude came up like bouncing around everywhere—obviously on some kind of drugs, standing at the bottom of the stairs, lurking in the frame, he was crazy.

Literally lurking in the frame, like while you guys were trying to film?

Yea, standing right at the side of the stairs by the filmer. He was psyched on it. He told us he was on ecstasy, so he was like “Woo this is awesome!” and I landed a trick and he runs up and hugs me. And I'm like “Dude, I don't want to touch you.” Once it was over, it was kind of a novelty, but while you're skating and all that is going on…

If you could change one thing about skateboarding, what would it be?

Make it not so hard to skate. I guess that's a stupid answer, but skatestoppers and stuff. The fact that it's such a frowned upon thing, but it's so commercial at the same time. Like “Yeah we love skateboarding! But don't think about doing it here. It's ok on TV, but not here.” And every single time you get kicked out of a spot, they are always like “Oh yea I used to skate.” And it's like, why don't you be cool and let us skate then.?

That makes it worse.

Yeah, they think that they are going to be our buddies but they are kicking us out and being a dick. “I can hang right? I used to skate?” No.

Who inspired you most in skating when you were growing up?

Ethan Fowler, Heath Kirchart, Brian Anderson.

Did you ever try to emulate those skaters? I see a lot of kids now who try to look just like a certain pro. How do you feel kids doing stuff like that? They even try to copy the style…like the way they skate and hold their arms and stuff not just their clothes. It's kind of strange to see kids trying to perfect someone else's style.

I never really tried to do that. I was just looking up to them, maybe try the tricks they were trying, but not try to make mine look like theirs. I'm not ever going to manage to make anything look like Ethan's style. I probably wore all black because Ethan did. But I normally wore all black because it's easier, you don't have to think about matching. Not that I really think that anyway but it's just easier to throw on a black tee shirt. It's good in some ways I guess. It's helping the kids out. And when your 15 or 16 you don't really know yourself. So when you grow up you can get your own style.

What video inspired you the most?

Tincan Folklore by Stereo—that's cool to watch now. When I was growing up, probably Welcome to Hell.

Who is inspiring you today in skateboarding?

Same people. I still look up to the same people but it's weird that I skate with Ethan every day. Daniel Shimizu has the best style in the world.

Anyone you've met that is so much better in real life than you thought they were from mags and videos?

Diego Buccieri was weird. Not that I thought he wasn't good, but he can do every single flip trick and he's really consistent. For the Thrasher road trip contest, one of the tricks was a switch laser flip. And he knocked it out in a few tries and then wanted to land another one because he thought the first one looked funny.

Well yea, you wouldn't expect that because that's not how the “skate media” portrays him.

Which is weird—that media can portray you so everyone thinks you are this certain person. Like everyone thinks I just jump down shit.

Well I haven't seen the new video, but I don't think I have ever seen you footage of you doing a flip trick in my life.

Yeah, that even weirds me out. Because I tell myself I don't do flip tricks. I am always like “Fuck it.” But watching my part now, I realize got a good mix of tricks. I am definitely psyched.

Was That's Life the first video you really went out and filmed for?

Yeah. It's my first part ever not including New Zealand videos.

Are you happy with your part?

I‘m pretty happy with it. You know, of course you paint a picture and you're never going to be happy with it. I always think “I could do something better” or “I shouldn't have done that.” or something. Overall I'm super happy with it, Josh did a great job. I'm really psyched how the whole video flows though. Everyone has different music and everyone skates differently.

What is it about a skater that gets you psyched?

Style and the way they approach skateboarding—their attitude towards it. It's cool when you see dudes that are just like “Fuck it!”

Where does your sense of fashion come from?

Me?

Yea you.

Definitely music. Mick Jagger and stuff. And just from being a kid, that's my point of view of life. I'm just a big kid that plays skateboards. I know I look like a fucking kook, but its fun.

Where do you buy your clothes and accessories?

Thrift stores. I have my clothes from my sponsors and everything else is from a thrift store. That's like the “going out thing.” Going and getting weird ass shit to wear out that night, and spend $20 at a thrift store and get a whole outfit, it's just funny.

Does dressing up like that kind of help you get in a frame of mind for skating? Almost like performance or something?

Definitely. When me and Daniel go out, that's the funnest—because he lives in Hollywood. We just put on the weirdest shit and go out and laugh at ourselves. I think people need to laugh at themselves more, rather than making fun and laughing at other people. Life doesn't have to be all serious all the time.

What is your favorite item of flair?

I have a collection velvet jackets.

Which is your favorite color?

The black one. Daniel started calling me “flairer.” It's my new nickname I guess. One time I had to wash my jeans and I had to borrow someone else's and they were all baggy, it feels weird. It's like a safety thing. I know I'm wearing my jeans, because I can feel them. I find it more comfortable. Everyone always asks how I skate in them. Well the aren't halfway down my ass, I'm like “How do you skate with your pants below your butt and you have to pull them up every two seconds?

People's tight pants seem to be the big topic of discussion lately.

If you go on the internet, it's like the kid's main thing, “Who wear the tightest pants in skateboarding?” When did skateboarding's main interest become what kind of pants you are wearing? It's like “Oh did you see him do that trick?” “No, but he was wearing some tight ass pants though!”

Who are the most fashionable skaters out there?

Ragdoll's got some good fashion going on. Daniel always has some interesting shit lately.

Do you think skaters party too much?

You're asking the wrong guy (laughter). It depends. If you are taking care of business, it's fine. I go out a lot, but I still skate every day, getting a few tricks a week. As long as you're skating and trying, it's fine. As long as you don't turn into a pile and sleep until five pm every day then start drinking again. I think its part of it. Skaters are in their prime, its only going to last a little while, so might as well have fun doing it.

Name a few things you can't live without?

Vegemite, beer, skating, music, sleep.

What's coming up on the horizon for you other than going pro eventually?

Me and Corey Duffel are going to France, then the US RV tour. That's going to be awesome because I have never done an RV tour or a US tour. So I'll get to see tons of small towns and states that I've never seen before.

Ok well that about does it then, unless you want to add anything else?

Is it cool if you write this up and then send it to me? I just get scared of interviews because I think I'll say something stupid and sound like a douche bag.

I don't think you said anything stupid at all.

Yea ok. I should be fine. Don't worry about it.