January 7, 2010
Storefront: Push X-Change
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, February 2009
On August 15, 2009, Craig Glover decided to put his livelihood in fate’s hands and open up a skateboard shop in Santa Clarita, California… smack dab in the middle of the sketchiest economic climate of our lifetime thus far. Of course, having a brand new 40,000 square foot skatepark less than five miles from the shop helps out a bit… but still. As if that’s not enough of a feat… the shop’s construction… to opening day, complete with ordering inventory, took less than 30 days.
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December 12, 2009
Nick Trapasso
Words: Rob Brink
November 2008
This was the original 2008 Year's Best Am Nick Trapasso interview for The Skateboard Mag. When all was said and done, Nick asked that the interview be redone with someone he knew better and it ended up being assigned to Mike Sinclair. No hard feelings or anything like that. It's not drama. It just is. Nick's amazing. I'm a fan. Enjoy.
“I wish I knew Nick.”
-Ed Templeton
“Nick has been one of my favorite skaters since Suffer the Joy. It always confused me that I won Years Best Am last year when Nick should have easily got the award. If he didn't win this year I’d whoop someone’s ass! Well deserved. Congratulations, Nick.”
-Sean Malto
“Nick stands out from the herd because of how original he is. He's not a new version of this guy or an amalgamation of these two types of skaters or part of some skate trend movement—he's just Nick. Skaters, young and old, pick up on this refreshing originality and relish it.”
-Kevin Barnett
Nick Trapasso is a quiet fellow who doesn’t seem to trouble himself worrying (or caring, for that matter) about much in life. He doesn’t have answers to many of the questions presented to him… not because he’s clueless, but because he seemingly knows that none of it really fuckin’ matters in the grand scheme of things—which is somewhat admirable actually. It’s apparent he’d rather be kickin’ it with his crew or out skating than sitting on the phone talking about himself. Which is just fine, because in the last year or two, his skating’s been speaking volumes anyway. So make Nick proud: Grab a beer or twist one up and enjoy a glimpse into the modest world of 2008’s Year’s Best Am… “fo’ sho’.”
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December 1, 2009
Photo: Zach!
Peter Smolik
Words: Rob Brink
August 2008
Another one that was supposed to be for the Berrics over a year ago... enjoy.
Are you at The Berrics filming your part right now?
Ya. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m trying some tricks I’ve never tried before.
Back in the day, when people were doing stuff on ledges and flatground, Pat Duffy hitting huge rails and stairs... way ahead of his time... and some people didn't get it. By the time people were starting to do what he was doing you were in the midst of coming up with some of the hardest ledge combinations of the time. Flip in, flip out... tailslides to noseslides, etc. A lot of people are just now catching up to you. At the time, were there mixed reactions to your bag of tricks? Did people hate on you? Was it accepted?
It was definitely respected, because you can’t knock it. Once you spend that amount of time trying one trick you got to get respect for that shit, homey. ‘Cause that shit’s fuckin’ like a battle. It’s a mathematical equation to just deal with the weight, balance, gravity, speed... all that shit mixed into one thing... one moment of time... one movement. I mean, ain’t nobody really hatin’ on it, but it took them a little while to catch up and shit.
When you see something like all the ledge tricks in Fully Flared, do you get psyched? Get frustrated? Seemed like a ton of stuff in that video, you and Daewon and some other guys did ages ago.
All of that comes into play. And it hypes me up at the same time cause it’s like, “Damn I want to increase my skills and do some shit I haven’t done, and that nobody’s done.” And those motherfuckers in that video... they did some shit nobody’s done either. And that psyched me up because it’s always good to see a new trick go down in the vocabulary of skateboarding.
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November 24, 2009
Thanks for the photo, Evs!
Daryl Angel
Words: Rob Brink
April 2009
About a year and a half ago, some people at The Berrics and I had an idea for me to do monthly "Clinical Research" interviews for their site. Well, sometimes people get busy, ideas change and things fall to the wayside. And that's exactly what happened. Not one to waste a good interview, I figured I might as well post it. So here's a Daryl Angel interview that was intended for The Berrics the week he got the boot from Skate Mental and got on Habitat. An unseen Peter Smolik interview is to follow...
Daryl! What’s up?
I just found out Michael Jackson died.
And Farah Fawcett…
Really? Both in the same day? What the hell? Everybody is dying. I’m so bummed, dude.
Were you a Michael Jackson fan?
Nah. Have you seen the Nike video yet?
Just downloaded it and only saw your part so far.
You liked it?
Hell yeah. You’re kinda hot right now.
I haven’t skated in a month. I rolled my ankle pretty bad.
Debacle, Nike ams "United Nations," Slap web interview, Crailtap guest poster of the week, Skate Mental-to-Habitat gossip and now you’re the first Berrics interview I’m doing.
Really? That’s pretty cool. I guess I should feel honored.
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November 23, 2009
New Jack: David Reyes
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, December 2009
Imagine you get called to the principal’s office one day and get told that your estranged father, who you hadn’t had contact with in years, has died. Then, a few years later, find out he’s trying to contact you. It happened to David Reyes. Isn’t that reason alone to continue reading about him?
If you need further coaxing, consider that David carries a dictionary with him at all times. He likes to look up words that he doesn’t know when he reads or hears them. The number of skateboarders, or even people in general, who actually do that can most likely be counted on three fingers. And no, Dictionary.com on your iPhone doesn’t count.
Contrary to much of what we see in skateboarding, you don’t have to go to great, contrived, labor-intensive lengths to be an individual. Sometimes it’s the little things that provide a world of differentiation. Here’s your chance to get to know a little more about David and a few more of those “little things.”
So Leo Romero is one of your favorite skaters?
Definitely.
I heard he just took you to Disneyland.
Yeah! Me and him and Julian Davidson went. It was my first time. So sick!
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November 18, 2009
Flick: Flip’s Extremely Sorry
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, December 2009
I lost track of how many times I’ve been asked: “So what did you think of the Flip video?” since it premiered four days ago. And, to be honest, most of those people are only inquiring so they can reply with their opinion anyway… the quintessential segway into “Well I thought it was…”
Reviews; critics; opinions… does skateboarding really need ‘em? It is bettering skateboarding? Is some “writer’s” sophomore year-esque term paper about Extremely Sorry going to change whether or not you’re going to rush out and watch it? Probably not… and rightfully so. Guess what? That very writer busted his ass to get a ticket to the premiere or an advance copy and rant about it before anyone else anyway.
Should we be thinking less analytically, yet more creatively about skateboarding?
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November 4, 2009
Wrote this piece on/with Mike Manzoori and Sharon Tomlin about their work on Boxton Square and it got shut down by etnies... resulting in my inspiration and writing of the Legend of Boxton Square fiction that ran in the mag. If at first you don't succeed...
Anyway, thought someone out there might be interested in reading... so here ya go.
The Story Behind Boxton Square
By Rob Brink
“There were supposed to be clouds made of corn starch packing peanuts, but there just wasn’t time. I’m pretty gutted about that… they would’ve been awesome,” says etnies Skate and Create art director, Sharon Tomlin. “But Mike [Manzoori, director] did a pretty good job of reminding me to keep it as simple as possible—otherwise I'd still be barricaded in the etnies TF making overly detailed buildings, cityscapes and sniffing glue. I'm amazed we made as much stuff as we did in the time we had.”
“To be honest, my heart was not into this project at all until the concept came together and got me sparked,” says Mike Manzoori, “Having done Skate and Create with Emerica last year, my main goal was to create a dream world that would be easy to configure around the skateboarding that would occur when the etnies team (Sean Malto, Mikey Taylor, Kyle Leeper, Tyler Bledsoe and Davis Torgerson) rolled in.”
After talking in circles with the crew at countless creative meetings, Manzoori turned to Tomlin for a bit of inspiration.
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October 26, 2009
New Jack: Jake Johnson
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, December 2009
Admit it. You like Animal Collective now. Why? ‘Cuz Jake Johnson’s part in Mind Field is amazing. Jake is to Animal Collective what Duffy is to Primus... what Mariano is to the Jackson Five… and so on. It’s the stuff legends (or future legends) are made of.
Don’t worry. You aren’t the only person who wasn’t into the band before the video came out. Millions of others listen to it now while they skate and get just as stoked as you... wishing they could be cruising around NYC on a skateboard. Jake actually needs no introduction, so enough of this… let’s just get on to knowing the kid behind the most breakthrough video part of the 2009.
So you were just in Rotterdam for the am contest?
Yeah, my first contest. It was pretty nerve racking. It’s funny… there are European doubles of American skaters and they look just the same… like the European Lutzka.
Is there a Euro Cole?
Not yet. European Jamie Thomas needs to get a hold of one of those kids and then there’d be a good European Chris Cole. But there’s some gnarly dudes for sure. It was pretty wild.
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October 26, 2009
Milestone: Sierra Fellers
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, December 2009
It may sound boring to some of you jaded and cynical folk out there… but Sierra Fellers is happy. You know why? Because he’s living a life of skateboarding; he’s pro for a company he loves that supports him; he just got married; he’s got great friends and family; and he’s completely comfortable with himself being a dork in the skateboarding industry.
Sounds simple enough, right? Just peachy. Except you’d be amazed by the amount of people in skateboarding, or the world for that matter, who aren’t nearly as happy, appreciative or have the piece of mind that Sierra possesses at only 22 years old... despite the fact that he’s had a few setbacks. Setbacks that might have caused any lesser-willed man to go running back home to Montana with their tail tucked between their legs. Wanna know what really happened and how he’s achieved and maintained this skate-nirvana-esque mind state? Well, the story goes like this:
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October 26, 2009
Desillusion interviewed me. Thanks, Sebastien!
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