The owner of Volume, demolition and Streetriding has his say
The owner of Volume, demolition and Streetriding has his say
Interview by Mike Ardalein (MA) and Markus Wilke (MW) – Photos by Kay Clauberg
MA: Why do you love Japanease cars and you
hate German cars?
MA: Are German cars just not as good?
I don’t know. I just stick with what I know.
MA: If you could date any famous chick, who would it be?
Um, that’s a tough one…um, Julia Roberts.
MA: Now that you have a crip, and a dog, and some
cars, what’s the next step in going up?
Some more cars. A basketball?
MA: Take us through your 9 to 5!
My 9 to 5?
MA: Okay, your 6 to 5.
7 to 8? Well, wake up, play with the dog for a
bit, go to the skatepark at about 8 o’clock, go to the office at about noon, work till about 3, hit up some schools till five, go home, eat, sleep, do it all over again the next day.
MA: Do you work better after you’ve ridden, or do you ride so early, because that’s the only time you can ride?
That’s the only time I can ride, because I ride skateparks in the morning. If you ride them any later than 12, you just get busted by cops.
MA: What’s the last ticket you had, and where?
I haven’t gotten a ticket in a while, because
lately I’ve just been running. Last ticket was at
Brea.
MA: From that chick from your highschool?
Yeah, she got pretty pissed. And then she knew my name without asking me for i.d. or anything.
(laughter)
MA: What about speeding tickets? Have you gotten any of those lately?
Yeah, I got two within a two week period! So, I think I lost my licence.
MA: But you don’t know for sure? You didn’t check into it?
Well, I figured something would come in the mail.
MA: So, what do you do when that happens? Just drive your go-kart everywhere?
Huh, keep driving!
MA: Do you slow down a little?
I don’t know. It’s something in the blood. I can’t slow down!
MA: When Jimmy Levan made fun of your diet in RIDE, that probably wasn’t very accurate. But it was kinda close. So, maybe you should clarify!
I just eat fast-food every day!
MA: Aren’t you scared that your diet might be lacking something, because you don’t eat any vegetables at all?
No.
MA: Who’s your favorite rider this very second?
I don’t have any.
MA: Who inspires you right now?
Uhm, good question! No one, really.
MA: What’s your job at Volume?
Bitch and moan.
MA: What else?
More moaning and more bitching. (laughs)
MA: Why do you hate all bike riders?
I didn’t say I hate ‚em all.I just don’t think
that even one gives me inspiration to ride my bike! That one guy is pretty good, though. What’s his name? Dave something…Dave Mirra!
MA: How do you pick your team?
Probably personality number one, then riding, then see what the lowest price is that they’ll go for. (laughs)
MA: How has having a girlfriend changed your life over the last year and a half?
You mean my dog?
MA: Just answer the frigging question?
Dude, I’m not gonna answer any questions about my personal life!
MA: Who do you ride for?
Volume, Demolition, and Duffs Shoes.
MW: Aren’t you getting a signature shoe or
something?
I should have one in the middle of March. It looks good, came out good. It would be nice to have it on my feet right now, but I don’t!
MA: Did you draw it yourself, or did you just tell
them what you wanted and let them do it?
No, I drew like three pictures, and then I worked on it with the designer at Duffs on the computer. Then I just made changes from there. So I pretty much designed it from start to finish.
MA: Tell us about some of the parts you have designed,that are still being offered by other companies!
Let’s see here. First one was the S&M bar, which is called the Castillo Bar. Second one were the Moe’s Bar, which is the same geometry as the Castillo Bar, from Primo. Can I say that? Can Greg sue me for that? Who knows, right?! Then the Primo Casket stem, uhm,shit, pretty much I had a hand in a lot of Primo stuff. I mean, it wasn’t necessarily all me, but I had a hand in helping out, putting in my two cents or whatever.
MA: You guys wrapped up the Demolition video today. Tell us about it! When is it gonna be out?
It should be out at the end of March.
MA: So end of March of next year for Germany?
Yeah. Well, we don’t even have a distributor in Germany. So, good luck readers! (laughter)
MA: Do you wanna thank some people?
That’s it? There was not that many questions!
MW: You had a lot of video parts in the past years. How are you so productive?
I don’t know. It’s just my job. Other guys have contests, I have video parts and the magazines. That’s all I have. So, it’s like, I don’t have a choice. I Have to bust my ass for a video part. But I don’t really like the whole process of making a video. I think it sucks! Just because I hate the camera being on me. It stresses me out. Obviously, I mean, you’ll see that it stresses me out in the Demolition video.
But it’s part of the job, I guess. It’s still cool to see the final outcome, and what people think, or whatever. So…
MW: Why do you choose not to do any contests?
Ahh, because I think, if you’re gonna go to a
contest, I am gonna go to get top three. If I’m not getting top three, there’s no reason in going! And plus, I get nervous. Even if I think I can make top three, I start busting my ass and I get real nervous. And then I completely blow it, so it’s not even worth my time, or fucking ESPN’s time, or whoever the fuck is doing that shit over there, you know.
MA: Do you have any favorite designers?
I don’t know. I’ll flip through a magazine and
say: that’s cool. But I’m not gonna be like: wow,
that’s so-and-so. Usually I don’t remeber their names anyway.
MW: What kind of music are you into right now?
I like Classic Rock right now. Probably the latest thing I bought was Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. What else? Let’s see here. The Strokes, Creeper Lagoon,Thursday, Three Mile Pilot, and Pat Benetar.
MA: Last five movies you’ve seen!
Shit, I seriously don’t even know. I’ve to check. I seriously forget as soon as I get out of the movie theatre. I’ve seen so many fucking movies that I forget.
MW: Do you like travelling? It seems like you’re
always here in California, and you don’t go anywhere, really. Do you like to see the same things around you everyday?
No, not at all. Like, I always travel for the
videos. But I seriously haven’t travelled since that September-11th-shit. That’s not because of the plane, but I haven’t had a reason to go anywhere, you know. Hopefully I’ll go on the road again soon. Right now it’s kinda sporadic. I don’t have to go anywhere, I don’t have to go to contests, I don’t have to travel, so…I like it here.
MW: The riding spots around your house are pretty
good. It seems like you produce a lot of your stuff around here. You don’t seem to burn out on your environment.
No, I thik there’s still spots to be found, as far as street. I mean, I’m not burned out at all! There’s so much more shit I can learn, you know. Even all the public parks. It’s like endless.
MW: Do you also return to spots and look at them
differently and try to come up with new tricks at
them? I mean, there’s always like five spots in your video parts that keep popping up.
Yeah, I like to keep going to those old spots,
that you were riding when you were a kid, and you’re like: oh, shit, I didn’t see that line. You progress over the years and you’re like: oh, man, I used to be not able to do anything on those banks. But now you got a whole list, and you’ll probably session them.
MW: Is that more your style: sessioning instead of
hit-and-run?
Yeah, yeah, I much rather go to like a schoolyard or something, and just hit it like a skatepark. Get a full session down. I’m not just gonna show up at a rail and just do it a couple of times, get back into my car and go to the next spot, you know. That’s not riding, that’s like video or taking photos or something. That just sucks! I actually like riding the spots.
MA: Do you have any upcoming projects?
Probably the next video is gonna be the Volume
video. That’s probably gonna take another year, or so. But that’s definitely next on the list!
MW: What parts are German riders not gonna get in the future?
We’re working on a pedal, that should…well, who knows when that’s gonna be out. We should get samples soon. We’ve got complete bikes. Hopefully next year, we’re gonna have complete bikes for kids, that are more affordable than the signature-limited-edition bikes right now. I don’t know. Just bettering everything.
MA: Do you wanna thank anyone?
La, Alain, Toki, RP at Duffs, and the team.
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