Who are your favorite skateboarders
of all time?
Ricky O, Danny Renaud, Fred Gall,
Jason Lee, Cardiel, John Marshal...
anyone who pushes real fast.
How far are you willing to go to search out spots? Are you the type of guy to drive around on rainy days or even take trains into unknown boroughs of the city?
I don’t have a car. I usually find spots getting lost on the way to work riding my moped. I’ll go out on random subway missions occasionally. N.Y. is still new to me, so there’s always something just around the block.
On a typical day, who do you usually find yourself out skating with?
Well everyone has such different schedules because of work. A good portion of my friends work at bars while others have day jobs, so it can be random. Dave Mitchael, Clark Hassler, Dave Caddo, Brian Delatorre, James Frankhouse and Josh Dowd are good friends that I shred with on the regs.
What do you miss about living in the USA and what are you glad to be away from?
Lets see, what I miss the most is my friends and family. It's the worst only seeing people you care about once a year or so. Oh and there is some food you can get in America that is pretty impossible to get here in the UK. Every time I go to New York I eat a slice of pizza at least once a day for one of my meals. You just can't get pizza like that in London. Must be something in the water.
What am I glad to get away from? America's crap healthcare system. The last few years I lived in America I didn't have healthcare. Living here with free healthcare through the NHS it's a really calming feeling. It takes a lot of worrying out of everyday life. It disgusts me how so many Americans are opposed to socialized medicine. They have no idea what they are missing.
Also I hate dealing with the police in America. Being a skateboarder is such a law-breaking activity it seems in the U.S. I've lived in the UK for 2 1/2 years and have been kicked out of spots maybe 3 times ever by the police. Skateboarding is just looked at differently over here. Don't get me wrong, you still get the boot from places, but it's like people here realize they shouldn't waste their time and get the police involved with something so trivial as skateboarding.
So when did you decide to make the move to Brooklyn from upstate New York? How are things going so far?
Well It wasn't an immediate decision. I didn't wake up one day and think to myself "I want to move to The BIG Apple!". It all started when my first year of college ended, and I realized that shit sucked. So when I returned to school to apply for the following year’s classes, I made my life changing decision by just walking out. It was awesome. I traveled around a bit, eventually driving down to Brooklyn to visit my homie Damon Vorce. I soon returned with a Duffel bag full of clothes and asked if I could stay for two months. I had just enough money saved to spend two Summer months in NYC and now I’m his roommate. I got sucked in real quick. There’s just too much going on here at all times to leave so things are good. I skate a lot, babes, art and hipsters are everywhere... What else could you want?
How do you feel growing up on the east coast has shaped your skating? Do you feel you’re more tolerant of shitty ground and harsh weather because of it?
Well there weren’t any skateparks where I grew up, only street skating existed. Luckily there weren’t any skate Moms or Dads either, I hate that shit. But yeah, of course it shaped the way I skate. You learn to adapt to your surroundings, and my surroundings happened to be shitty, crusty spots. I would just watch a Ricky Oyola or Fred Gall part and get psyched!
Do you think red head’s have it rougher than other people? Ever encountered any haters because of it?
Everyone hated until I was about 16. Then for some reason it was embraced, especially after that Southpark episode on redheads. But I did just read in the paper about some 12 year old ginger who got beat up by 14 fellow classmates. They claimed it was “kick a ginger day”. Thats some seriously weird shit to follow through with, you know? And the headline of the article was “Carrot-Tops Beware”. But hey, like I said, now ladies are loving this big red head of hair.
Off the top of your head what comes to mind concerning your life after skateboarding all day? Do you have any plans for your future?
Nothing really, except having tons of loot. I’m into carpentry, which is what I do for work right now. I’m actually doing renovation on the penthouse from the movie “Ghostbusters”, which is pretty sick. I want to start working on my own projects though and start making custom furniture. I’m just lacking access to a woodshop so its hard to really get anything going.
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• interview by Brian Mollot