brian caissie
interview David Ehrenreich // portraits by Brian Caissie // design Kelly Litzenberger
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hen you look at his portraits, it’s easy to derive some knowledge about Jamie; he loves metal and skateboarding. He even has “Good” and “Times” inked across his knees, a sort-of tribute to both. A 22-year-old from Mission, B.C., Jamie slid into the Vancouver skate scene three years ago with infectious positivity. Whether with buds or solo, he’s always on his own trip, and I would put money on the fact that if Jamie’s not out skating under the day’s light, he will be tonight.
We’ve been friends for almost 10 years, and despite being four years his senior, I’ve always looked up to him. He’s friendly and approachable, fun and mischievous, and won’t back down from a fight. What impresses me is his ability to balance social and personal freedom with responsibility and regular life. I’m envious. He’s always living on his own terms. C1RCA Canada TM Elliot Heintzman puts it best: “Jamie will make decisions better than you do, and even if it’s a bad idea, it’ll still be rad and you’ll
end up wishing it was your idea. Sorry about your luck. Everyone should be more like Jamie. All you can really do is go out, buy a mickey of Bacardi White and learn to not give a fuck, passionately, while giving all the fucks in the world about your friends.” So, three years into city living, Jamie and I sat down with a couple beers to discuss skateboarding, memories and the future in his first print interview.
Concrete skateboarding
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dylan doubt
Do you still leave your house without a shirt? During the summer time, yes [laughs]. But it’s a little sticky driving around in my car because of the leather seats. I’ve witnessed the phenomenon since my first day of high school, but I’m hoping you can shed some light for me; what attracts metal heads to wearing exclusively shorts? Great question, but I have no fucking clue. Maybe it has something to do with cuttin’
things off… like cuttin’ off shit to make it your own. I see the trend, have taken part, but can’t seem to answer that. It’s confidence, I guess—show your legs off. I remember when you trucked a drug dealer skid and they rolled by the skatepark in Abbotsford for weeks looking for you… I was defending a friend, but then they were looking for the “skinny, fluffy-haired kid” [laughs]. I went to the Abbotsford park one weekday and our friend Randy was like, “You
can’t be here, those guys are looking for you.” They had a stakeout, waiting for me. Did they end up finding you? I was working at McDonald’s at the time, this was about Grade 10, and they rolled in, so I had no choice but to take their order. I was as surprised as they were [laughs]. One of them made a comment, because I had a black eye from the initial fight. They were pretty reasonable and told me I had it coming. I agreed, and gave them their Big Mac or whatever. Eventually I got jumped, but then it was over.
keith henry
Do you remember when you were sleeping in the grass at the 29th Street SkyTrain Station? I was hung to the hills, and wasn’t too keen on that first spot, so I took a little nap in the grass. While you guys were skating, I woke up to some dude standing over me going, “Hey! Hey!” and asking me for weed. I’m like, “What!? Weed? I’m having a nap, leave me alone!” But he wouldn’t leave so I gave him a little bit of lip, and I guess I offended him. He’s like “Keep talking to me like that and I’ll stomp your face in!”
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brian caissie
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Dope moves, dirty pants, bong rips, road trips, granny smokes, Mount Zeus and Mother Hastings. There’s an epic guitar solo in Maley’s mind 95 percent of the time. —Kevin Kelly
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Concrete skateboarding
What happened? I’m still laying on my back and he’s overtop of me. So I start to get up, and happen to see him pulling a knife out of his pocket. So I jump back just in time as he swipes at my face! I picked up my board and squared him up; we’re all yelling at each other. I guess someone called the cops and thought the skaters were the bad guys. Next thing you know, the dude with the knife took off and there’s cops in S.W.A.T. mode swarming us at gunpoint. After some explanation they finally clued in that we were the wrong dudes and sent us on our way.
What type of work would you find fulfilling in the future? If I could do it, I’d fly a jet. But that’s never gonna happen, so building skateparks would suffice— concrete art. What they do is awesome, the only thing is you need to be committed: 16-hour days in the rain if the job requires. It’s something I’ll be looking into later. Right now, if I want to go skate, I can. Do you skate every day? I always try to, and if not I at least stand on a balance board every day for 15 minutes—watch TV and stand on a two-litre. Make sure to put Duct Tape around the cap, otherwise the water can leak out.
Do you know the only other two Mission skaters to have interviews in Concrete? Well, Dustin Montie is a guarantee. I wouldn’t even strike a guess at the other one. Oh yeah! Moses Itkonen is from Mission, I forgot. That’s so awesome! His dad was a teacher in Mission, he ruled. He would give out product if you answered questions right. You’d get an RDS tee or whatever skate product. It made him a popular teacher, but I was never actually in his class. I just knew the legend of Moses’ dad.
Down at Leeside, do you clean or help with the builds? I’m down there on the regular skating for sure—it’s the best. I help out a little with the park, but in all honesty, I’m not the number one dude for building and cleanup. Baxter, FC, Gary Harris, Chris McCallum, those guys are the champs that are always sweeping then shredding.
What’s your day job? CBR Products. As far as chemically staining your wood goes, it’s an eco-friendly business. The job is kinda fun. I rip around on a forklift all day and work with a couple homies. It’s the best possible gig because they’re really supportive, and with no notice, I can ask for time off to skate. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not a slacker, I really like working hard.
It’s cool to know there is always a place to go skate… It funny, the city sort of shuns us down there. For example, they won’t give us a garbage can, so we play little games, like with the 911 station that’s right beside the park. We’ll fill garbage bags after a full clean and throw them in front of their gate. We’ve never heard about it and it always gets taken away, so I guess it’s an unspoken agreement.
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When someone brings up that name, Jamie Maley, I instantly have an urge to go to a show and push people over, help them back up, then Deer Hunter a couple of beers to my face. —Elliot Heintzman
No one ever questions this, because everyone seems to want it, so I thought I’d ask: Is being sponsored cool? The funniest thing is, it doesn’t change a fucking thing. If I could say anything to kids: “Who cares about getting hooked up?” Just go out and skate. I appreciate everything I’ve been getting, and it’s cool to do what I love for free, but that’s basically it. I don’t want a monthly paycheque. I don’t want to be some superstar and attach responsibility to it. What do you want from skating? Skating is all I want from skating. Some homies twist the idea and try to turn skateboarding into something it’s not. 52
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Twenty stairs or a slash grind, it’s all the same—fucking awesome. Who’s helping you out? C1RCA Canada, Anti Hero and Spitfire (through Supra Dist.), and BLVD Skateshop. So much help from all those guys. Some of those dudes don’t even know how much they’ve helped me out, for a good two or three years, before I ever got a photo run. Has shooting this interview been fun? Hella fun! It’s funny, at the end of last summer, I’d been working way too much, so I took a month off work to skate, but ended up chilling with this chick the whole
time and barely skating. I felt like I blew it. In the summertime it’s just nice out, so easy to relax… So I called it off with the chick, went back to work, got mega stoked on skateboarding, and started shooting with Brian Caissie… just having fun being productive. What’s the worst tattoo you’ve ever seen in real life? I was in Buy-Low on Kingsway, getting my cereal and this guy reached for the same box as me. He was nice and insisted I take it. When he turned to grab another box, I noticed his neck tattoo—a bee wearing kneepads that says: “The Bee’s Knees” across his neck. It was amazing [laughs].
brian caissie
Do you want to talk about Wolf Girl? Oh yeah, she’s a saint. She taught me how do to Rockfords. You see them a lot in action movies, where you reverse in a car as fast as you can, then rip a 180 powerslide and end up going forwards. I met her at a moving dance party downtown during the 2010 Olympics after you and Benny Stoddard dressed me up in a chicken suit and handed over a two-six of vodka. She was dressed as a wolf and I was the prey. It was awesome.
If you could stack Mount Zeus [Jamie’s fictitious band] like a fantasy football team, who would be in the lineup? I’ve thought about this very deeply but the lineup consistently fluctuates—always homies, though, and always Seb Templer playing the chainsaw. Do you wanna thank anyone? Betty and Blaine obviously? Ah yeah, Mom and Dad! Bloody saints—best humans that ever lived. Apart from that, anyone that needs to be thanked already knows. You know who you are if you’re my bud.