October 13, 2010
New Jack: Justin Figueroa
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, December 2010
Interview conducted March 4, 2010
“They say there's gold but I'm lookin’ for thrills”—a lyric from Pink Floyd’s “The Gold It's In The … ” is tattooed across Justin Figueroa’s forearm. Fitting, considering he’s declined offers from companies in order to be where he wants to be, rather than skating for the company that pays the most. Admirable indeed. But when you’re hand-picked by Andrew Reynolds to be a part of Baker, Emerica and Altamont, like Figgy was—you’re more than admirable—you’re downright golden.
Figgy isn’t the kid that knows he’s golden though. And that’s what makes him amazing. For example, if you were to say to him, “Hey Figgy, you’re amazing!” He’d smile really big and respond with something like, “No way fool, you are!” Then go back to figuring out how he’s going to break into his car because he locked his keys inside it … again.
You have some epic classical music for your ringback tone …
That shit’s whack. Fuck that. It’s someone else's phone. My phone … I went into the ocean with it. Yeah, I fucking blew it.
You forgot it was in your pocket?
I just walked in there.
Keeping your cell phone in your pocket kills your sperm and gives you ball cancer.
Shut the fuck up. I’m gonna put my shit on a necklace.
You’ll probably get chest cancer.
We should just delete them from our lives. It’ll save us all some stress.
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October 13, 2010
Storefront: Epidemic
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, November 2010
In 2001, Glen Coy was a senior in high school when he and a couple friends decided to open a skate shop.
“For some reason, my family went along with it and gave me a huge loan. I don’t know what they were thinking,” Coy jokes.
Almost a decade later, Coy and staff are strictly skate and still holding it down at Epidemic. They spent their first year in a small 600-square-foot spot in Cathedral City, California, then upgraded to a 4000 square foot location in the center of town a year later.
“It was so crazy looking at that much empty space and thinking we could fill it up with product. Now we’ve practically outgrown it again,” says Coy.
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September 3, 2010
New Jack: Ben Hatchell
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, October 2010
Interview conducted October 2009
After surveying many powerful and important people in the skateboarding industry, the general consensus is that Ben Hatchell’s part in Powell’s 2009 release, Fun, is officially awesome and ridiculous.
In 2008, Ben won Tampa Am Vert and placed second in Street. In the last two street-centric decades of skateboarding, that’s not something many up-and-comers like himself (or even pros) have accomplished. In 2009 Ben won the Make-A –Wish bowl contest. Early this year he placed second in Tampa Am Street … again.
He will cab flip a pyramid nearly every try and never misses blunt kickflips out. Pretty enviable, kinda like Ben’s newly-acquired spot on the Zero team is.
"Ben's in his own world, he doesn't get caught with who's done what and what's cool like most people in his position. He just simply wants to skate with his friends in Virginia, which is admirable. I've never seen anyone be so mellow, yet so gnarly. I just hope his body can hold up to the carnage he has in store for it."
—Jamie Thomas
So Ben, I hear you didn’t even know you had an interview coming.
I don’t have a "New Jack" do I?
You do actually.
Really? Shit! That’s awesome. I probably should’ve known that.
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August 3, 2010
Pro-Tec Pool Party 2009
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, September 2010
You know how sometimes you listen to a song that you’ve liked for years but for some reason, on that given day it sounds and feels better than ever and you play it for hours?
You know that feeling of excitement leading up to something you’ve been counting down the days for? Whether it’s a holiday weekend or a night with friends, you simply can’t wait for it to get underway as you head out the door.
You know what its like to get all cheery inside when you look at photos of old friends, family and good times and wish you had it all back?
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August 3, 2010
Storefront: Allied Board Shop
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, September 2010
In the spring of 2006, Crispin Barraza abandoned running Asylum skate shop in Oceanside, California to open Allied Board Shop in nearby Escondido. His goal was simple: To have a down-home skate shop that supports skateboarders, where they could cruise in, chill, watch a video and talk about skateboarding.
Catering to mostly core skateboarders in two locations, one in Escondido and one in cyberspace (alliedboardshop.com), Allied’s “skateboard and shoe walls speak for themselves,” according to Barraza. “We have everyone to beat when it comes to selection and pricing.
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July 6, 2010
Clark Hassler
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag August 2010
“He's really good for skateboarding, even if skateboarding doesn't know it—everyone loves him,” says Matt Eversole, brand manager of enjoi skateboards.
“He’s like, borderline crazy,” says Jerry Hsu. “Old-fashioned crazy—really quiet … and then he just fucks you up.”
Not much more really needs to be said about Clark Hassler. However, there are volumes to be spoken about him. When asked how he feels about interviews, Clark explained that it’s simply a minuscule sample of how he’s feeling on a given day and at a certain time, that’s captured for a single magazine article. So please don’t think this is the end all-be all of Clark, because, believe us when we tell you, it just barely scratches the surface.
Put bluntly, if Clark doesn’t pique your interest, you might wanna check yourself for an active pulse.
So you’re in Atlanta filming for the new Nike video?
Yeah. There’s gonna be three different videos or something like that. Like, seven dudes per video if you include the foreigners—Wieger and Louis. Just kidding.
We just had an earthquake in Cali.
No way! Daniel Shimizu just had a dream that there was a big-ass earthquake and I’ve been having dreams about the end of the world where I’m trying to find land ‘cuz it’s all water. Chet Childress is here and had some apocalypse dream last night. What the fuck is going on?
You heard about how terrorists can put explosive gel inside breast implants and airport X-ray machines can’t detect it?
No. Holy fuck. I’ll be on a plane tomorrow. Gotta look for those fake tits! Actually, I already do anyway.
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May 26, 2010
Kevin Long
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, July 2010
With the final countdown to Stay Gold underway, the Emericans recently embarked on one last filming mission to China. Upon returning home to Los Angeles, Kevin Long battled illness, a broken phone, video deadline stress and more than three days of jet lag-induced insomnia and deliriousness.
Not so good.
You see … these kinds of distractions interfere with Kevin’s agenda as a professional skateboarder. He’s got a lot going on, both on the board and off it. His quest for un-boringness makes him one of the more interesting personalities in skateboarding today. Every pro is a good skateboarder in one way or another, but not every pro is the type of person you want to be friends with. Kevin possesses a special kind of magnetism and he’s a tremendous asset to our present day microcosmic skateboarding situation.
Any good stories from this China trip?
Atiba just blowing my mind constantly. He decided to introduce the renegade shotgun to China. Almost every day he would grab a beer, have the translator gather the crowd and show them the renegade. But it wasn’t well-received—just crossed arms and frowns.
You’d think they’d be impressed. I always am when he does it.
I think they were just absolutely confused by the whole situation.
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May 7, 2010
Milestone: Ray Barbee
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, June 2010
“When someone’s heart isn’t in something, you can see it. They’re just going through the motions. I don’t want to be that person,” says Ray Barbee, now pro over twenty years, reflecting on the thought of eventually retiring from professional skateboarding.
“My good friend Salman Agah once said, ‘Skateboarding is like food. You just keep eating until you aren’t hungry anymore.’ I’m just not done yet,” continues Ray. “And I’m not ready to be done.
“I had a friend named Randy Smith who was a big influence on me when I was a kid,” Ray says. “He just looked so good when he skated. His style was kinda loose—like a ragdoll. So when I met with Sean Cliver to do my first pro model graphic I told him I wanted a ragdoll and that’s what he came up with.”
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May 6, 2010
Storefront: Supreme LA
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, June 2010
Since first opening its doors in New York City in 1994, Supreme has never had a problem being cool. Seriously … the name is cool; the logo is cool; the location is cool; they’ve always been affiliated with cool people and cool brands. In fact, Supreme was so cool right out of the gate that they pretty much set a new standard in skateboarding retail and became a direct influence for so many of the “skateboard boutiques” and skate shop/skate brand collaborations that have become so commonplace today.
But Supreme is more than just cool and more than just retail—always has been. With five shops in Japan and a location in Los Angeles that opened in September 2004—a decade after the NYC store, the shop has become a brand and the brand has become a vibe. Or maybe the vibe became a shop and the shop became a brand—actually, come to think of it, any combination of those three elements in any order is almost applicable.
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May 5, 2010
Contenders: Kevin Terpening
Words: Rob Brink
theskateboardmag.com, May 2010
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