Focus Skateboarding Magazine #52 - Nov/Dec '13

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Table//ConTenTs

Table Of Contents novemBer/DeCemBer 2013 VOLUME nine ISSUE six

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forewords A ChristmAs story

14

guest editor Kevin CoAKley

16

insta-favs instAgrAm pulls

18

hammertime triCK oF the month

20

fresh find DevAn riCe

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fresh find JArroD BrAnDreth

24

fresh find mAurio mcCoy

26

finger painting JonAh miller

28

humble bragging Convenient truth

30

rap sheet KmAss

34

shop stop holistiC

36 AgAinst the grAin photographer’s eye

40 intimAte proCessing photographer’s eye

44 Dillon ConstAntine small talk

46 timmy Knuth small talk

48 BrAD Cromer small talk

52 inCentives photo section

on the Cover: Chris puertA [ollie] phOtOgraphy :: stephen Knight Contents: Chris KeeFe [frontside 5-0] phOtOgraphy :: stephen oliveirA

[GEOFF ROWLEY]

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p.O. BOX 31628 phILaDELphIa, pa 19147 215.310.9677

www.Focusskatemag.com

Co-oWner / miKe mAZur eDitoriAl DireCtor mazur@focusskatemag.com Co-oWner / Justin heister Art DireCtor justin@focusskatemag.com eDitoriAl AssistAnt / ZAnDer tAK t etomo senior photogrApher zandert@focusskatemag.com WeB / online stephen oliveirA Content mAnAger stephen@focusskatemag.com WeB support mAtt A Kosoy Att gonzo@focusskatemag.com Copy eDitor JAmes WilliAm ContriButing photogrAphers

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MIKE BELLEME, DaNIEL BLECKLEy, rOB COLLINS, SEaN CrONaN, LUKE DarIgaN, aNDy ENOS, ryaN gEE, NICK ghOBaShI, KarIM ghONEM, MIKE hEIKKILa, JaSON hENry, BrIaN KELLEy, BEN KILpatrICK, StEphEN KNIght, SCOtt KraMEr, rIChIE McCOrKLE, ChrIS McDONaLD, StEphEN OLIVEIra, aLEX papKE, DaVID StUCK, XENO tSarNaS, aLLEN yINg, DaN ZaSLaVSKy

ContriButing Writers BUDDy BLECKLEy, aNDrEW CaNNON, LUKE DarIgaN, ryaN gEE, JONah KINg, CLaIrE LaVEr, ChrIS NIEratKO, StEphEN OLIVEIra, aLEX papKE, ZaNDEr taKEtOMO, XENO tSarNaS Interested in advertising and Supporting your Local Scene?

Call 215.310.9677 for more info Want to submit photos, editorial, or hate mail?

send submissions to info@focusskatemag.com or via snail mail to the address above Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/Focusskatemag Join us on t twitter at twitter.com/Focusskatemag Join us on you y tube at youtube.com/Focusskatemag Join us on Instagram at @Focusskatemag

NEW read full issues online at issuu.com/Focusskatemag Focus Skateboarding Magazine is published bi-monthly, six times a year

by Focus Skateboarding Magazine Inc. all contents are copyrighted by Focus Skateboarding Magazine Inc. 2013. reproduction of any material requires the written consent from the publishers. all letters, photos, editorial contributions, and advertisements are accepted upon the representation that they are original materials by the author and/or advertiser. the author and/or advertiser accept full responsibility for the entire content and subject matter of their ads and/or editorial contributions. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author and may not reflect the views and opinions of the editor, staff, or advertisers of Focus Skateboarding Magazine. any similarities between persons or places mentioned or alluded to in the fiction and real places or persons living or dead are purely coincidental. advertisers assume full responsibility for the entire content and subject matter of their advertisements. the author and/or advertisers also will indemnify and save Focus Skateboarding Magazine harmless from any legal claims. Now either read this magazine, or go skate!

PHOTO: JOE BROCCOLO

T O N Y M A S S E Y , 5 0 - 5 0 , O L L I E O V E R S I D E WA L K

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Alex Papke

Fore//Words

A Christmas Story

Corey Huber [frontside smith]

WORDS :: Mazur

It was a very cold New England morning at grandma’s house. I can still remember the smell of the wood burning fireplaces roaring strongly throughout the neighborhood. Snow was about a foot in depth and still piling up. Yes, it was a white Christmas! My first I had every experienced, at least that I could remember of my childhood.

I was a young whippersnapper of about 8 years old and more excited than ever. So much to the point that I had even awoken before my grandmother, who was notorious for being up before everyone with a cig in hand and a Crown Royal on the rocks. God bless her soul.

Santa had come and just dominated the Christmas tree with gifts all around. The glimmer of the brightly wrapped presents that surrounded the whole living room was just a sight that no child should ever go without. Santa had even demolished the cookies and milk that my cousins and I had left for him the night before. We had made the ultimate sacrifice of not eating a single cookie, leaving them all for the jolly old fella in red.

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This would be the Christmas that I would first be introduced to that awesomely made piece of wood with some skates on the bottom of it. As I tore through the gifts like an Irish man goes through a bottle of the finest whiskey, I spotted it in the corner. But when I got to this one, I just stopped to marvel at all its glory. It was exactly what I wanted. The Ninja Turtles skateboard. Complete with slide rails and tail saver. I think the trucks were actually plastic too, but that didn’t stop the smile from spilling out across my face.

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At this point it was about 7:00 in the morning and I just couldn’t wait to try it out. I threw on my one-piece snowsuit I had and flew outside to the garage to test this new bad boy out. No breakfast for me, no quality family time, no helping clean up the piles of wrapping paper…

I was too excited. Once in the garage I was disappointed to see it was packed. Both cars parked in it and just piles of stuff everywhere.

“Golly, gee this stinks,” I thought to myself. But no more than a few

minutes later did I get the idea to shovel a small section down the driveway of snow. I didn’t care if it was still snowing; I just wanted a couple goes on my new found love.

New Hampshire driveways, at least where I was, were more like their own roads. They were long and hilly. I shoveled out part of it where it would lead downhill and into the garage. At the time, I thought this was a great idea… I could bomb my first hill, before I even knew what bombing a hill was. I was young and not adapted to standing on the board yet, so first few times down were sitting on it.

I soon got bored of that and wanted to be like the kids I had seen in the development. They were so cool, I thought. Keep in mind I was like 8, so I looked up to all the older kids. I wanted to coast down that driveway slope standing tall.

BAM! Crash and burn! I didn’t really think about it, but the snow was still falling and it was damn near 10 degrees out. I hit an icy patch toward the bottom of my epic ride. This would lead to my first ever battle wound as a skateboarder. Big ol’ goose egg on my head, and probably my first ever undiagnosed concussion. I didn’t touch that damn board for days afterward. I was so bummed out. But something in me just wanted to keep going. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to “thrash” around the neighborhood like the older kids said, and did.

So, I got back up on the hill days later, when it wasn’t snowing anymore and tried again.

Success! And from that day forward I never really looked back.

Skateboarding was all I thought about and did. Every year around this time there are days that I step outside and smell the cold, crisp air and the roaring fireplaces and it brings me back to this memory.

It ignites my love for skateboarding again. Not that I ever lost it, but sometimes it’s a reminder… Reminder of memories, like that of the first time I stepped on a board, that make me grateful for skateboarding being introduced into my life.

EMMET DUFFY BLUNT TO FAKIE MANUAL

TEAMICECREAM.COM

JAMEL MARSHALL #CALILIFE

Rob Collins

Guest//editor

Kevin Coakley [backside boardslide]

East Coast Uniqueness WORDS :: Kevin Coakley

Skateboarding, to me, has always been a creative outlet that allows us not only to just skate, but to be able to express ourselves in ways that are reflective to our environment.

What and how we skate a spot identifies a particular style of our own individual skating. Skateboarders have grown up in different areas, all around the world, that shape how and what they skate. The skaters you watched when you were young, also have a huge influence in the way you skate today.

Everything stems from the early childhood days of what you were exposed to when you first started.

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We often wonder why certain areas breed amazing skaters…

And I’ll tell you that it isn’t the water. There’s something about East Coast skateboarding that stands out beyond anywhere else. From the spots, style and trick selection, it’s safe to say that it is aesthetically appealing to the eye. Aside from the cliché of the East having rough spots and harsh winters, the actual look of everything is much more appealing. How you utilize the spot for what the spot actually is has a lot to do with it. It’s not always just about the trick but it’s about every aspect of the tricks surroundings.

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How it is documented is just as important as the trick itself.

I believe there is much more thought into how people on the East Coast skate a particular spot. Certain tricks are meant for certain spots and how you approach it can make all the difference. It’s also refreshing when you see a spot that you have never seen before. I feel as though sometimes that actually jumps out at you more than the trick.

The East is still uncovering amazing looking spots even today.

They may not be the easiest to skate, but they sure do look good! The history of all these older cities created architecture that is much more beautiful than your modern day building.

When I started skating in the city, I began to look at everything with a much more creative eye. I started noticing the style of the skaters around me and the particular spots they skated and how they skated it. I feel I was very fortunate to have the right people around me to tell me what tricks to do, and what not to do.

There are unwritten rules to so many aspects of skating and I feel skaters from the East particularly understand them.

It’s not about jumping off the tallest set of stairs or doing the most technical flip in flip out maneuver. It’s about what looks good. Jason Dill couldn’t have said it any better “Skateboarding is an art, not a sport.” I feel like kids these days don’t appreciate the art form of what skating to me has always been.

I grew up buying VHS videos and watching the same ones over and over again. I would study them and I knew every little inch of everything in it. This helped me see what I thought looked good and what I thought didn’t look good. The Internet has destroyed the uniqueness of what skating has always been to me. Clips are here today, gone tomorrow and are watched once, maybe twice, if you’re lucky. It’s just the consistency of putting out clips over the quality of the actual clip.

It has become so saturated that people don’t even know what they like anymore. We are exposed to so much every day that it is extremely hard for anything to be unique. I believe the East Coast still has the ability to produce that uniqueness, and has been the whole time.

insTa//Favs

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instA-FAVs #FoCussKAte sKA mAg #eAstCoAstexCellenCe sKAte

1. @kinsercathey photo: @black_on_black_on_black 2. @dan_hetrich photo: @ryangee_photo 3. @chillydagod photo: Unlisted

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4. @john249hill photo: @lukeshootsphotos

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If you’re not following @FocusSkateMag on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media networks, you’re missing out on some cool stuff. But now isn’t the time for lectures or regrets, it’s time to get involved! We’re always pulling and reposting photos from Instagram that are tagged using our hashtags: #Focusskatemag and #eastCoastexcellence. So, if you’re not using those tags, you might want to start.

From the images we repost, we’ll now be choosing nine of our favorites each issue to feature in the mag. Enjoy the East Coast excellence above, and maybe next issue you’ll be getting some props with a repost and print!

5. @rath610 photo: @skookill 6. @starheadbody photo: @lukedrigan 7. Matt Brokaw photo: @realmikeford 8. @splaudamnright photo: @mothafizzy 9. @jimmymastrocolo photo: @jasonhenry

Wallet shown is holding 4 credit cards, a driver’s license, 2 paper bills, and still less than a single bearing thick.

THE

Slimplistic

A slim minimal wallet designed for skateboarders, by skateboarders.

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ryaN MILLEr

HaMMer//TiMe

mikE ColAntUono [sWitCh FrontsiDe Bigspin]

focusskatemag.com

WOrDS :: mAZur

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this spot is located just blocks away from the place I lived in, in philadelphia, for about 7 years.

I literally skated or drove by it a thousand times, and it always intrigued me. From time to time I’d see kids trying to skate it, and on occasion some kids would even send photos to Focus of the ollies they’d stuck into it. Even that I thought was sort of impressive ‘cause of the spot itself. there really isn’t much of a roll-up, and the cellar door you land into not only gives in a lot, but also has this nasty looking lock on it that I just see as a constant hang-up problem. Some of you know this spot, but for those of you that have never been here… No. It is not a fun spot. It looks great, but it’s not fun.

It’s hard to skate all-around! and of all the ollies and basic 180’s I’ve seen pictures of, this one of Mike Colantuono switch big spinning into it takes the cake!

[Kickflip]

Hometown: Jacksonville, NC Sponsors: Lakai (flow), Another Skate Shop, 3CCD Spot you’re sick of seeing in videos: I’m tired of seeing any spots skated the same way. Get creative.

Trick that always gets you a letter in S.K.A.T.E.: Nollie Hardflip Guilty Pleasures: Billiards and golf.

Worst injury: My skateboard hit me in the mouth, knocked my tooth straight up into my nasal passage.

One word to describe the future of skateboarding: BIG!

focusskatemag.com

“Devan’s a little monster. Always hyped. He’s almost 20, but if you didn’t know him he could easily tell you he was 14.

The dude stacks. Take him to just about any spot and he’ll have something for it. He’s got a full part coming out in Ryan Rullman’s new video that’s like 3 years in the making.

Prepare to have your mind blown.” ~Luke McKaye Friend/Photographer

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Luke McKaye

FRESH//FIND

Devan Rice

FRESH//FIND

Jarrod Brandreth [Backside Smith From Flat]

Hometown: Toronto, Canada Sponsors: Zoo York, Direct Wheel Co., After Midnight NYC, CJ’s Skatepark Spot you’re sick of seeing in videos: Southern California Trick that always gets you a letter in S.K.A.T.E.: Hardflips Guilty Pleasure: Frozen Treats Worst injury: I’ve been lucky. Knock on wood.

Just the usual ankle tweaks that come with skateboarding.

One word to describe the future of skateboarding: Suciu

“Jarrod definitely lives up to the Canadian stereotypes of being crazynice on and off his board. He was actually born in Cape Town, South Africa, but his family moved to Toronto when he was 7 so that he would have every opportunity possible. Jarrod definitely takes full advantage of that. As often as he can, he takes the greyhound 12 hours from Toronto to New York to skate the city, shoot photos and stack. I’ve done that God-awful trip before, so I know that’s real commitment on his part.

Judging by the photos and footage he’s been getting down here, it’s all worth it. Looking forward to your next trip, Jarrod.”

focusskatemag.com

Ricardo Napoli

~Ben Oleynik Zoo York, Brand Manager

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Ed Delahunty

FRESH//FIND

Maurio McCoy

focusskatemag.com

[Front Noseblunt]

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Hometown: Reading, PA Sponsors: Emerge Movement, Elsewear Apparel, Holistic Skateshop Spot you’re sick of seeing in videos: I don’t mind watching everything being skated.

Trick that always gets you a letter in S.K.A.T.E.: Heelflips Guilty Pleasures: Bojangles chicken, Xbox, kickflipping Everything.

Worst injury: Never had one, knock on wood.

One word to describe the future of skateboarding: Nyjah

“Maurio is always hyped and does a good job staying out of his own head. He just goes for it every time. The first time he ever skated a “real street rail” I took him to this sketchy 13stair rail in Jersey and he was just like, “You think I got this?”

I said, “Yup,” and there he went. He made an unheard of park-to-street transition that most kids struggle with. Definitely keep your eyes peeled for this young Reading native.

You can find him kickflipping over your house.” ~Ed Delahunty Emerge Movement, TM

FinGer//PainTinG

JonAh millEr WOrDS :: stephen oliveirA

For those who may not know you, who are you and what do you do?

I’m Jonah Miller, I do design and illustration work, and I recently started a hardware company called Bolts premium Nuts & Screws.

Do you strictly do design and illustration, or do you do other forms of art too? Any painting or sculpting in your free time?

I’ve always liked drawing, so I do a lot of that. painting is cool, too. Design has always been my number one interest though, so a lot of the time I’ll do those things in connection with a design project. nice, that’s what’s up. Does art pay all of your bills or do you also work somewhere else to help make ends meet?

I actually work at Nike doing product graphics out in Oregon. So yeah, you could say that design pays the bills, ‘cause that’s what I do at Nike. oh, nice! how did you get linked up with nike?

I was doing freelance work after I finished school and I had a Nike connection from way back. I hit her up to see if I could connect on a freelance project and it ended up turning into a full-time position. sick. is it all-around nike, or nike sB work?

I work in Nike Sportswear. It’s like their classics/ heritage category. any time retro Nikes from the 80’s and 90’s come out it’s usually through Sportswear. air Maxes, griffeys, weird Barkley and penny shoes...

Stuff like that.

focusskatemag.com

have you ever seen any of the big athletes around the nike offices? i know if i saw Kobe walking around i’d have to ask for a picture, and i don’t even watch sports haha.

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y yeah dude, I met Lebron once. I actually presented some product to him in a meeting. he was cool, super nice dude... I wasn’t really a fan before that but after that, I’m backing him more. I like the Celtics though, so I’m not repping the heat or anything like that haha.

It’s funny when you see those dude ‘cause they’re usually surrounded by like a whole squad of their crew, it’s kinda wild.

Who was the first brand that you worked with? raW was the first company I really connected with. ra What is the most rewarding thing about doing art that gets printed on skateboards?

I love seeing kids skating boards whose graphics I’ve worked on. there’s also a part of me that hopes that kids who see some of the graphics I do get psyched on them and become interested in doing design stuff themselves. that’s pretty much how I got into doing what I do, through my interest in skate graphics when I was a little kid.

Do you have any advice for kids who want to be a future generation’s skateboarding artist? yeah, draw a lot. Drawing is where it’s at. and the y point of it is to have fun, be creative and do something different, so do what you want to do and what you like doing.

Are there any artists that influence you?

Don pendleton, Joe Castrucci, and Evan hecox. pretty cliché answer to that question for someone who likes skateboard graphics, but it’s the truth. I started skateboarding right around 2000 when I was about 12, so that was the era I took a lot of inspiration from starting out.

one would normally ask a photographer or filmer “What’s in your bag?” As a graphic designer, what’s in your “bag?”

Set of drawing pencils, ball point pen, Micron graphic #1 pen, regular Sharpie, brush and ink, Illustrator and photoshop. I actually love drawing in ballpoint pen, that’s probably my favorite one if I’m choosing. how many of those tools go into running Bolts?

What made you want to start Bolts anyway?

I drew the bolts logo with a ballpoint pen, so that’s the origin of that I guess. I started Bolts because I wanted to do something fun and cool that all the homies could back, and that kids could be psyched on. there are tons of great skater-run independent companies out there right now, but I thought there was room for a fun hardware company to exist in that mix. I want it to be a way to give exposure to skateboarders who care about their local shop, skate in the city & represent real skateboarding. Doing freelance work is great and I love doing graphics for the companies I work with, but I also wanted to try and do something that was completely my own project too. hopefully bolts can give other skateboarders, filmers, photographers & designers a platform to showcase what they do, the same way that raW, Boulevard and the other brands I’ve worked with ra have given me that opportunity. hell yeah, that’s what it’s all about! Do you have any last words before we wrap this up?

I just want to thank everyone that I’ve skated with, worked with & otherwise connected with in Minnesota, Boston, New york, y portland, and all the cities that I’ve visited. ra raW, Boulevard, 5Boro, Zoo and all the other companies I’ve worked with, thank you guys! thank you Focus for the interview, appreciate it!

Humble//Bragging

Convenient Truth WORDS :: Mike Steinkamp

Just because something is convenient doesn’t automatically mean that it’s better, and just because something is inconvenient doesn’t mean that it is not worth doing. I have been looking at this roof and wanting to skate it for the past 10 years. I would have to drive past it twice a day, and every single time I would think about how cool it would be to do a trick on it. The roof was ideal for skateboarding; it had perfect transitions and a metal cap on the top that kind of resembles coping. Unfortunately the building that housed this amazing roof was a lawyer’s office right off the side of a busy road, so if it were going to be skated it would have to be on a weekend when no one was around. I always fantasized about skating it, but would talk myself out of it with ideas of me falling off the top, or getting arrested, and could never get up enough motivation or guts to actually make it happen.

I realized though that this roof was going to haunt me every single day that I drove by, and I would regret the fact that I never climbed up there and tried to skate it. So on a Sunday afternoon I begged my photographer friend to drive 30 minutes out of his way so I wouldn’t be embarking on this adventure on my own. Luckily I had someone else with me when we got to the building because I was tempted to bail out right then and there. Knowing that I would have to go for it now, I began to try and figure out how I was going to get up there. Fortunately I spent my childhood years climbing trees and buildings because we didn’t show up with a ladder. I had to pull myself up onto the roof, all the while tearing my arms up on the shingles. I tried to wait for a break in the cars before I would try it, and after a few goes I finally landed one.

focusskatemag.com

Justin Mcleod

Sometimes we tend to get lazy with skateboarding, like instead of going out and finding or making a new spot skatable, we just conveniently end up back at the skate park or the same old skate spots.

This trick for me was by no means convenient, and was borderline one of the more stressful and awkward sessions I have ever been a part of. I don’t regret for a second though all the effort that went into shooting this photo. Whenever I have to try real hard at skateboarding, or put a lot of effort into landing a trick or making a place ready to skate, I have to constantly motivate myself with the reminder that the outcome is always going to be far greater than the sacrifice that it took to get there. Be excited, and get motivated to take skateboarding and your abilities to the highest possible level that you can, and just because it is going to take a lot of work doesn’t mean that it’s not worth working for.

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Mike Steinkamp [5-0 to drop]

raP//sHeeT

there were many times you compared underground hip-hop to punk. Do you see those similarities still, or has it changed since we last spoke? yeah, the comparisons are still there because to me those were the last two hUgE y youth movements. Especially before the extra resources of the Net. Sure you have stuff like EDM and rave culture for the youth since then, but those two movements have been the staples and foundation for a lot of stuff that has followed. I feel like hip-hop, since we last spoke, went through a “hair metal” phase. It became increasingly more about spectacle and allusion. y you had so many people trying to label shit as something other than hip-hop and still do. Same thing happened with punk after the 70’s early 80’s. after their heyday, you had a sort of revival, they both had a resurgence due to the youth taking the call. It happened with punk in the 90’s with bands like Less than Jake, Bouncing Souls, Fugazi, Blink 182 (I’m just sayin’), Offspring, green Day (I’m just sayin’ again), rancid, etc. In hip hop the same thing is happening now. there are a lot of jokesters out there. lets not say any names, but i think we all can agree if you wear multi colored contacts you’re suspect. how have these clowns helped hip-hop and/or damaged hip-hop? yo, I feel you. I’m not going to even give that shit any run. I know who and what y you’re talking about. Dudes got enough hits/likes. honestly man? I just don’t know anymore. I mean, on one hand it’s great that they are using their shit to expand the platform. But it comes off real minstrel show to me personally. Like I’m not going to start rocking tight-ass full body suits and blonde wigs and start singing in a high pitched voice talking about I’m doing some ‘metal’ shit. the issue is that nobody pulls anybody’s card anymore. Or people only fight battles they know they can win.

Or if you call someone out? It seems like you’re taking shots to try and increase your visibility. I’m not an advocate for beef or drama. But unless one of these well-known cats says something about jokesters, then nobody will give a fuck.

kmAss WOrDS :: miKe lAs

so what’s new with the project Big shell?

Not a whole lot. We wrapped up recording our Ep and did a little West Coast minitour earlier this year. My partner Ollie moved to San Fran from portland. So it’s been a bit… Complicated. We played a whole lot last year and made some waves. this year the goal was to finish up the record and try and push it.

What is the difference between having major label support and being independent as fuck?

Well, that’s something that has evolved in the last decade or so. Before, in the early millennium, you could count on a label to take you to places you had never been, all due to promotion and resources. Whether it was recording, mixing, mastering, and video, whatever. When you were independent, you just carved out your own niche, as well as turn that into a major/minor label deal where you weren’t working to invest your own money into stuff and increasing your base. Now it’s like complete reversal. Labels are investing in what you’re bringing to them base-wise.

Not music-wise. the Internet and increases in recording/filming tech; has leveled the field tremendously. y you have people that already have a million-plus install base off of some shit they posted out there on the Internet. the crazy shit is there are tONS of artists now that haven’t even rocked a single show, but got a gazillion downloads or likes on there net pages, deals, or offers and are doing it off the strength of being independent as fuck. In 2000-and-now? Independent as fuck is more than a sound bite, it’s the way to go and get things done.

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Do you still work with Cramske?

Nope. Well not on the level that we were on before. I saw him on the tour I did with Big Shell. he hooked us up with a gig in the Bay area. I love that dude. We fell out for a while, but reconciled before I moved out West. We were both younger and there was a lot of shit happening and we both wanted the premium Underground to be the biggest possible thing that it could be. In the end, for me anyway, it just got overwhelming. It became this competition that I was in with myself and other stuff that I was trying to establish where I had this negative chip on my shoulder about everything. I got so enamored with chasing what I thought I wanted, or what I thought we should be doing, and not just enjoying the ride.

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What’s your record collection looking like these days? Any new scores you want to brag about? yo, I always had a so-so record collection because I would always purchase shit y that we would incorporate into our live shows. But it was always the classics, or hot instrumentals for the moment, or something like that. But up here in portland?

Vinyl is KINg! It’s very rare outside of the super high post spots to see someone spinning off of their laptop. It’s straight up all vinyl everything. there are about 23 functioning vinyl stores that are flourishing. In terms of cream of my record crop?

I just got the Cardigans Life on wax. yo! y that shit is super rare and worth a grip of money. their songs are all different versions than the CD/digital release. that is the most expensive record I have to date and by far my favorite score to boast about.

if you could go back and sign with that major, would you? this was always a common misconception of my whole shit. Even though I was ‘independent as fuck’ I NEVEr had an issue with major labels. there was a time around the Jet Set radio Ep when I was getting major run from Warner Bros. and Interscope. things just never materialized. that was a very important learning experience for me. I maintained then and now, it would have to be the right type of situation. I wouldn’t want to be in a situation when I had a label telling me what to wear, what to write and how to be. But a lot of that went out the window as hip-hop became more financially viable. i’ve always respected your taste in music. have you ever thought of changing the game and going straight producer? absolutely. I’m not going to be able to rap forever. Maybe if I was Slick rick or KrSONE I could get away with that shit. But I’m nowhere close to being a g.O.a.t. t t. in this game, and I love music. I’m way into soundscapes and sound crafting. So in the future, to keep my ties to passion, that’s going to be the next logical step that I take.

When it’s all said and done, what do you want to be?

Everywhere, like dirty air.

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sHoP//sToP

holistiC skAtE shop

WOrDS and phOtOgraphy graphy :: ryA y n KoChel yA

ho-list-tic • /ho’listic/ • adjective • Characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

When I contacted the owner of holistic Skate Shop, J.D. turner, about what he wanted to discuss in this write-up, he said skate parks and DIy y skate spots. I almost expected that he wanted to talk about how well the shop is doing or maybe how the shop has had a complete face-lift with new and improved product. But no, J.D. wanted to talk about skateboarding and giving back to the community. this is a testament to J.D.’s mindset and how he wants to help in any way possible to improve skateboarding in the City of reading.

If you were to walk into holistic Skate Shop in West reading, pennsylvania, you would get the vibe of a successful skate shop that is welcome to all skateboarders, from the very beginners to the core skateboarders. the shop feels like the way a skate shop should, with kids hanging out after school and all the local skaters meeting up, with talk of skateboarding all around. y you would most likely get into a conversation with one of the locals and talk about anything skateboarding or hear about one of the many ideas going on in reading. One thing I can tell you is that you would most likely get on the topic of DIy y skate spots or cement parks or what is going on in the community. With a strong community of skate and a history of people coming from the City of reading, such as Sergie trudnoswki, Kyle Nicholson and Dan hetrich, J.D. knows the importance of a skate team and keeping the locals a part of the shop.

J.D. turner [owner]

[a peek inside]

although J.D. is a new owner of a skate shop, he is observant and smart enough to know what it takes to run a successful skate shop. he has wisely taken advice from other local skate shop owners, such as andrew po, the owner of homebase Skate Shop in Bethlehem, pennsylvania, and Brannon and Ben, the owners of Kinetic Skate Shop in Wilmington, Delaware. J.D. looks to these local owners as mentors as they know what it takes to run successful skate shops in their respective local communities. he also sees how these owners have created a strong skateboarding base in their communities by building local skate parks and working with the community so the community has a better understanding of skateboarding. although the City of reading has local pre-fab skate parks, these parks are not for your typical skateboarder. Seeing as other shops such as homebase and Kinectic have been able to get local skate plazas built with the support of local skateboarders and fundraising, holistic hopes to do the same for the City of reading. With an iconic skate park like Magic Skate park previously being in reading and not being around for over a decade, the City of reading needs a unique skate park to call its own. With holistic having a strong presence in the community, the City of reading has a skate shop owner who is determined to bring a cement skate park back to reading.

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I decided to put the definition of “holistic” in this write-up as the meaning of holistic accurately describes how skateboarding and the interconnection of a skate shop means so much. the shop has grown leaps and bounds since J.D. became the owner. holistic Skate Shop has a strong future in the City of reading and will continue to give back to the community.

34

If you go into holistic Skate Shop, make sure you give J.D. a high five and hopefully after you leave, you spread the word of what is going on in the City of reading. holistiC sKAte sKA shop 516 penn ave.

West reading, pa 19611 (484) 577-4183

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Photographer’s//Eye

Against the Grain WORDS and PHOTOGRAPHY :: Stephen Oliveira

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I’ve always wanted a Bronica. Even when I first got into photography, I saw them and thought that they were incredible little machines. The crispness that the images had as they were shot on film, the way the shots had to be composed to fit into a square frame, and the overall look of the camera were all very intriguing to me. Sure, I may not have had any idea what to do with one when I first started shooting, but for as long as I can remember, I was dying to get my hands on one. A few years have passed and I finally picked one up off of eBay and I couldn’t be happier. I’m a cheap person though and only use it when I know that a shot is one that I want to use a frame on. This article is based off of my cheapness. Enjoy!

36

One thing that I love to incorporate into all of my photos (if possible), are foreground objects. No matter what it is, I try slapping something in the foreground. Cars, tires, garbage cans, trees, a single leaf, a dog, old ladies, you name it, I’ve probably tried slapping it in the foreground of a shot at one point or another. Has it always worked?

Of course not! But has anything other than the tactics brought forth by the American government ever worked 100% of the time? The times that I’m able to walk away with a shot where I don’t feel like the foreground objects overpower the skateboarding are the best ones though. It’s all about finding that perfect balance with anything

in life, but especially when inserting foreground objects into your photographs.

Too much distracts, and too little looks too off balance and out of place.

I know that a lot of people shoot through their medium format bodies to test their lighting, but I saw it as the perfect foreground object. I mean c’mon, you have a super photogenic camera that you can look through and see the action out of.

Why not plop this thing on a tripod, shoot through it, and make some (in my opinion) really cool looking shots? My favorite part of shooting through it is allowing a good portion of the camera to still be seen in the shot, letting the viewers eyes wander all around and notice every fine detail of these beautiful cameras. The ISO numbers, the etchings on the lens, the dust it has gathered from my dirty bag, it all, in my eyes, makes the images that much more powerful. The first time I shot through my Bronica, I did it because I couldn’t find a shot at a spot while on a trip, and I was getting so over it and discouraged on the very first day of our trip. After sitting around for a bit, curiosity struck me and I wanted to see what a Broni’ shot would look like. I started walking around with it, hunched over in the waist-level finder, trying to find out what a shot with it would look like there, just so I wasn’t wasting my time sitting around and doing nothing. I was able to compose a shot that I liked, but knew that I didn’t

Left: Mat Call [wallride] Above: Nick Noel [front feeble pop-over]

want to use one of my shots on it, so I decided to just shoot it with my digital camera, aiming through the waist-level finder of my Bronica. I know I’m not the first person to do this by far. But once I did it, it was game over for me, and before I knew it, I found myself on medians of packed Miami streets, aiming my digital camera into my Bronica while drivers and pedestrians passed by wondering what on Earth I was doing.

Personally, I love when photos show more than just “the trick.” Cool, we get it, there’s a guy flicking into a grind on a rail, but what else is going on around him? What’s going on around you, even? That secluded view is not skateboarding to me. That’s a concealed way of viewing something that should be free and open. I fully back anybody who shoots more long-lens shots than fisheye and gets creative with their surroundings.

Because lets be honest, after a while, the “same” fisheye shot at the bottom of a handrail gets boring.

I’m super hyped to have been able to include shots of two of my favorite people to shoot with in this feature; Mat Call and Nick Noel. Nick Noel is a four-foot ball of energy with a seven-foot man’s bag of tricks, while Mat Call is also a four-foot ball of energy, but with the power of a dump truck. Both of these guys never seize to amaze me.

Nick was blasting these perfectly poked front feeble pop-overs like they were nothing, and Mat of course was just living another day of somebody who practically does wallrides for a living, leveling them out on the wall trying to beat his “high score” marks on a bright white plaza wall in his backyard. I was pretty tired that day and was kind of over shooting because I would have much rather been sleeping, but decided that these tricks were perfect ones to be shot like this. All in all, I’m glad that I did end up shooting these instead of pigging out on dollar store brand Goldfish crackers and falling asleep, for I’m pretty proud of how they turned out.

I can’t lie, I was pretty worried about shooting shots like this and being attacked by “film vets” for not using a Bronica “the right way”, but instead using it as a foreground object.

Then I remembered... This is skateboarding. Have fun! At the end of the day, disregard any unwritten “rules” pertaining to photography, skateboarding, or anything else that evokes creativity. Go out and shoot butt-shots, mall grab if that’s what you’ve gotta do to comfortably carry your board when your hands are full, let your crooks dangle, shoot loose fisheye shots, let the world around you benefit your shots, and never put $20 on the “next try” of a trick. There’s nothing worse than paying for your own surprise.

BZafa, <WdW_k 4aY^[S

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WORDS and PHOTOGRAPHY :: Austin Shafkowitz

40

Top Left: Daniel Shepard [frontside rock] Bottom Left: Daniel Shepard [powerslide to fakie] Right: Julian Laker [frontside slash]

In today’s day and age, digital imaging and Photoshop are certainly very useful tools. The digital camera and Photoshop makes life a whole lot easier than it was back in the days of film, especially for those of us who photograph skateboarding. Whether it be the most skillfully edited digital photo, or the most simplistic film photo, there’s just something so much more exciting about looking at a photo that was shot and printed with film. There’s just certain aspects of a film photograph that can not be re-created with the digital process. Shooting film is a far more intimate process which requires an immense amount of patience, practice and skill as well as offering superior results and attributions that not even the most expensive digital cameras can match. There is also still something extraordinarily rewarding about the meticulous effort it takes to create images on film. Especially when techniques such as cross processing, push processing, physically burning your negatives, or any effect that can be added in the darkroom printing process are used to create effects.

With digital imaging, all of the editing is done after the photo is taken and uploaded to the computer.

With film, there are ways to start the post processing as soon as you develop your film. These are push processing and cross processing.

The push process is similar to changing your ISO in a digital camera. If you have ISO 100 film but its too dark and you need to change your ISO to 400, you would set your meter to ISO 400 and shoot as you normally would. Now when you go to develop your film or drop it off at a lab, instead of developing it for the normal time, you would adjust your developing time. The amount of stops you push will determine how much longer you need to develop for. The effect that pushing has on your film is increased grain, and loss of detail in the highlights and shadows in both black and white and color film. It can also create color shifts in color film.

While push processing works with both black and white film and color film, cross processing only works with color films. When you shoot color film you can choose between two types of color film: Slide film, which is the E-6 process, or color negative film, which is the C-41 process.

Cross processing is developing either slide film in the C-41 process or color negative film in the E-6 process. Cross processing slide film in the C-41 process is generally more popular because it tends to look better than when color negative film is cross processed. Color negative film usually looks very orange when cross processed. Cross processing creates color shifts and muted colors.

Both push processing and cross processing were used for the photo of Daniel’s rock ‘n’ roll.

The added grain from the push processing can be seen in the sky and so can the loss of highlight detail on Daniel’s skin. In this case the loss of detail is not so bad because the film was only pushed two stops and the lighting is not so contrasty. The cross processing didn’t have as harsh of an effect as I would have liked it to have in this photo, but you can still see the oranges and yellows are slightly off colored and the blues have taken on more of a cyan or green tint.

While push processing and cross processing are both ways to manipulate film before you see a final image, there are also ways to add unique effects after you develop your film. Physically burning your film with a lighter is one, and once you are in a darkroom and get to making analog prints, there are endless possibilities.

Burning film is easy to do but it’s very hard to get consistent results. The outcome will also look very different on color and black and white films. Just hold a lighter up to your negative or slide and be careful not to burn the part with the skater. Because the film base is made of a type of plastic, your film will curl up when you burn it. It will also melt in some places. It’s really difficult to scan your film when its curled up so you have to flatten it out. Proceed with caution when doing so because your film can crack. Printing burned film is also much easier than scanning because when you print, the enlarger works in a similar way to the camera and you can get the part of the negative with the subject in focus much easier than with a scanner. In the photograph of Daniels’s power slide to fakie, the top left of the negative is where the film was burned until part of the film actually melted.

The bottom left and right corners are where the film was burned for less time and the same goes for parts of the top edge. The curling of the film is what caused the out of focus areas and made this negative slightly more difficult to print.

Last but not least is print manipulation. This is possibly the most fun part of working with film.

When you work in a black and white darkroom there are 3 chemicals, all of which are in liquid form.

Number one is the developer, Number two is the stop bath and number 3 is the fixer. After you expose your paper using the enlarger, much the same way you would expose film in a camera, the paper is fully submerged in the developer. The developer is the one chemical that can totally change the outcome of your print depending on how you apply it. Instead of just being boring and developing your photo as everyone else would, get creative! You can just drop developer onto the print and see where it lands! This is called splatter printing.

Splatter printing creates a very unique look that looks like some one dropped the photo onto the paper and it just exploded all over. Splatter printing is tough because you don’t always know what part of the print to drop the developer on. The paper is just white before its developed and you have to remember where the subject is and just hope for the best. Even though its almost impossible to make a splatter print exactly how you want it to be, it’s always exciting to see what happens because often times you end up with something far better than you imagined! With the splatter print I made of Julian’s slash grind, I had already set up my empty tray and beaker with developer. Once I exposed the paper I put my finger over where I thought the initial splatter would look best. Then I put the paper in the tray, tossed the developer up in the air, pulled my finger back and hoped for the best! The areas where the image is fully black or grey, like the statue or like Julian, is where most of the developer landed and stayed. The areas where the blacks and grays look faded, like just to the left of Julian, is where only a small amount of developer landed and was not able to develop the image fully. The white areas are where none of the developer landed.

Working with film is definitely more of a hands-on approach. It can be a bit costly at times, but it allows the photographer to take a much more hands-on approach as well as a more technical approach to make creative images while at the same time offering the highest standard of image quality. So, if you want to go out and shoot some film, go ask your parents if you can borrow their old camera and go shoot a roll. And if your high school or college has a darkroom, sign up for a class! Just like skateboarding, it takes patience and time, but you will end up with results!

And remember to have fun when you shoot!

Scott Criv // Nolan Munroe

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Small//Talk

“Seeing as how he knows almost everyone, the legend of Dillon Constantine grows with each passing day. I was sad to see him move out West for an undisclosed amount of time, but I’m sure he will come back with amazing stories for everyone. Like the one time he and I were at a ramp party in the middle of Newark, and we all thought he finally gained entry to the “ungettable” girl. Dillon and this girl, who he had been working on for months, went into the scum filled bathroom with a nod to me to watch the door.

They stayed in there for close to an hour. My buddies and I are outside the door watching a line grow longer by the second, thinking he had finally achieved what not many had before him. Out of nowhere, Dillon comes out of the bathroom smiling and grabs a porno mag he saw laying on the nearby table. Without saying anything, he tells us it’s time to go. We headed to the car ready for the scoop.

“She sucked my neck for 45 minutes,” Dillon says.

“Why else would I grab this porno?” These stories go on for days, and I’m sure everyone would agree that this world we be a hell of a lot less interesting without him. Cheers, bud.” ~Bill Marshall Friend, Teammate

Dillon Constantine WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY :: Daniel Muchnik

focusskatemag.com

Alright, Dillon. Who are you, and why should anyone care?

I don’t know man, a ball of energy trying to live! Haha, who knows?

44

I’ve heard that nothing good comes from New Jersey (with a debatable exception for the Misfits).

Do you agree?

Awe, shucks. I disagree. We have Springsteen, pork roll, and beautiful seasons.

Do you think that coming from the East Coast has prepared you to skate a wider variety of spots compared to our Californian brethren? Or do you think it’s more up to the individual rather than the

environment? You know, nature versus nurture…

I like this. It’s definitely up to the individual. If you love something you’re going to skate it. I know people back East who say Cali is perfect and they [Californians] couldn’t skate our spots, but if you really think about it, a lot of the best tricks done at many spots are by people from Cali, so maybe, just maybe, if you’re from Cali you can skate anything! I’ll definitely catch some shit for this answer.

How much does one’s functional alcoholism play in this equation?

If you drink more than 5 beers a week you’re considered a alcoholic, so let’s just say we’re all in the same boat.

So, last year you drove your car from New Jersey to the SF Bay Area. I remember for a while you were living out of that car; parked in front of Dan B’s place, right? How was that?

Super mellow! He’s my brother; he knows everything about me, good and bad. Let’s just say he keeps me on my toes. I love you brother!

And now you’re in San Jose. You seem to be taking to Cali life pretty well, but what do you miss about the East Coast?

Family, girls, spots… I really miss spending rainy days at NJ Skateshop seeing what’s new, then partying with everyone afterwards! And the weather… I miss the rain.

Dillon Constantine [360 flip]

It sounds crazy, but I love rain and thunderstorms.

It barely rains here, and when it does it’s just a sprinkle.

And yes, I do run out and soak up every inch of it.

I miss that.

Okay, you’ve got $7.50, no cigarettes, and one tall can on a Friday night. What does the rest of the night look like?

Split a pack with the homie, buy one more tall can, play rock-paper-scissors and try and get your homies drunk.

Then go to the bar and talk to a chick and see If she’s down to spend her money on you.

And the next morning? Are you an early riser, or do you wait ‘til it’s getting dark to start hucking?

Wake up and try and get it! It’s all about getting it.

Whether it be a trick or just there living the moment with your friends; just get it!

How are your filming and motivational skills coming along Dillon? What’s the best way to get someone else to huck?

I like to film. It’s always kept my mind off of other things.

So, that trait is there. Dude, it’s all about the homies!

Definitely let out some war chants and a lot of, “Yeouyyyyyuuuus!” Another technique that works, depending on the person, is betting. We’re all broke in the long run, chasing a dream that pays off very little, but a tall can will usually make someone say, “Fuck it.”

Nothing makes me smile more than when a homie lands his trick and takes my money. It sounds jaded, but it’s the truth.

What’s the best part of the Bay Area? Best homies to skate with?

I lived in Oakland, and I really like the people there.

They came from little, and are the most positive people with really good vibes. So many people skate, so I’m bound to forget a few on short notice. All the San Jose homies, all the Oakland homies, all the Hayward homies; they’re all so rad. Even Sac homies. There are just so many good people who are genuinely happy and down.

Love you all.

Any plans to head back East?

That one hits heart. I definitely want to see my parents

and homies back home. They molded me into the person who I am today. It sounds cliché but my heart is in New Jersey, and always will be. 20 years there taught me a lot of do’s and don’ts, and for that I love the East.

Alright, get outta here. You’re done. Just your last shout outs and thanks!

I really want to thank my dad. He’s my best friend; best human alive. I pray I can be half the man that he is.

I want to thank Chris Nieratko and Steve Lenardo for everything. They helped me so much. Def Darin, Nate, Bram, Damon and everyone at DLX. I’m so grateful for those dudes helping me out whenever I needed it.

Griffin Collins from Vans, dude rips so hard and has my back. I couldn’t ask for anything more from them!

Thanks to you as well, always putting a smile on my face, Dan. It’s really been a pleasure to call you my friend. Last but not least at all, Shaun Baptista and his fiancé Michele, Danny Nguyen (Dank Tank), and Jose Ruiz, they took me in and treated me like family.

Hell, they are family! And Sloan Palder, NJ family, so many to list. I’m grateful for everyone I’ve met in this life!

Small//Talk

Timmy Knuth [wallie backside tailslide kickflip out]

TIMMY KNUTH WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY :: STEPHEN OLIVEIRA

So, what’s up Timmy?

Just hanging out man, about to go cruise around in a little.

Hell yeah. Are you still in Florida, or somewhere randomly across the globe?

I’m in Florida right now, but going back to California in a few weeks.

focusskatemag.com

You must like California, there’s no airboats to leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere. What happened with that, you little shipwrecked damsel in distress? Haha.

Hahaha damn... So, most of my friends have boats, so every Sunday we take them all out in Lake Washington, and every time something crazy happens.

This day I went out on David Watson’s boat and we’re all hanging out on this dock off some channel in the swamp. He takes a few people out on a little cruise through the swamp and doesn’t come back, so we all have to jump on the other three boats. There’s like ten people on each of these like 4-5 person boats. All three boats run out of gas… We light a flare and luckily some other boat across the lake comes and tows us in. Me and my buddy Kyle Fisher get more gas and go back and tow the rest of the boats in, and then his motor falls off the boat. So now we’re fucked again out there. He jumps in after his motor and we just can’t find it. But this time it’s dark, it’s three boats floating together in the middle of the lake, light another flare and another random boat comes and tows all three of us in. It was hectic.

46

Haha damn. So we should probably expect to see a “Thank you” to flares and good Samaritan boaters, right? Well let me ask you this...

Would you rather deal with being stranded in a swamp again, or deal with being stranded in a parking lot due to your car’s push-to-start not working?

Haha, I’d way rather be stranded in a lot with my car. The swamp gets sketchy at night. It was sick at first, but now I’m so over it. My whole car in general to be honest. I’ve been riding my bicycle everywhere.

“Like the well-known line from an old famous Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, “I’ll be back,” describes the path one of Florida’s pro skateboarders has been on over the past few months. Timmy Knuth is back and ready to shred (as some might say). Coming out of a fairly gnarly injury that required some hardware placed in his ankle, Timmy is pretty much all healed up. After weeks of therapy and miles and miles on a bike, he is riding his board again and already getting new tricks down. All of us here in the south are hyped to see him back doing what has been a life-long passion and. Timmy has always been one of the most determined and hardest working skateboarders I know, and with all his continued progression and success, still maintains a very humble attitude. So glad this dude is back, and stoked as always that he has always been a part of our big family here at GSZ.” ~Dan Hatcher Owner, Graffiti Skate Zone

I feel you. Ballin’ out’s hard, man... I’m on the bike tip now too. You trying to be the next Cardiel and we’re gonna go shoot some fixie photos soon? Did you get the bike to help get you back in the swing of moving after your ankle blew out recently, or just wanna cruise and save gas?

Can’t compare yourself to Cardiel. But yeah, I got my bike during physical therapy just to get all the motion back in my ankle. It was so stiff, but now I’m back to having 100% movement.

Yeah, I guess that is kind of blasphemous to do in skateboarding. Forgive me, internet forum posters who may see this. Do you think you’ll ever go back and try the trick that took you out? Conquering the deeeemons!

I honestly have thought about it, but I don’t think I could get myself to try it again after that. One of the worst days of my life.

I feel you. Do you think you’ll ever change your name to “Tim?” I know I’ll never go by Steve, but Tim’s not nearly as creepy sounding as “Steve.” It’s not trying the trick that took you out, but it seems like would definitely be a pretty life changing decision.

Hahaha, I get asked that all the time. I’ve been introducing myself lately as Tim, but people call me Timmy all the time, I don’t care.

You think that when a “Tim Knuth” World deck comes out that people will think

its some super rare misprint and jump on buying it? Could be a pretty good marketing strategy for those dudes to test out... Haha. Speaking of World, what’s it like traveling around with Shetler and Andrew Cannon, two of the East Coast’s finest?

Hahahaha might hop on that. It’s honestly family over at World, and it’s always the greatest time. So much wild shit goes down on trips. Stoked to be a part of it.

I’ve gotta ask, what’s the babe-factor like from skateboarding on national television? Did girls of all shapes and sizes flock to you, drenched between their... As if you were a red-headed Ryan Sheckler back when you were skating contests on TV? HAHAHAHAHA I had a lady at the time, for a few years during the time I was skating all those contests, so I didn’t really pay attention to any of that. But if they were, I blew it.

True, true. Well yeah, I mean that pretty much wraps it up. Thank who you wanna thank, shout-out whoever, and let me send this out before I get in trouble for being late or something. You know how cranky Heister can get in his old age...

Hahaha yeah my Mom, Dad, my brother, Dan Hatcher, Scooter, R.P., Mike Franklin and everyone at World, Mark at 8103 Clothing, Independent, Nixon, everyone at Graffiti, Focus, Stephen Oliveira, TJ Gaskill, Daylando, David Watson, and everyone else I forgot, thanks guys!

Brian Kelley

Small//Talk

“Brad is a profound thinking, meat and cheese eating, 90’s music loving, Florida lifer. He loves his East Coast town of Jupiter, Florida and I can see why… He’s constantly sending photos over that could easily pass for a Corona ad! It’s rad to see him get a Pro deck because he’s been at such a professional level for so long. When you watch Brad do flip tricks in person you can hear his board whip and his feet catch the board… It’s amazing.

Basically, everything Brad does is super efficient.

He puts so much thought into everything he does and it shows. He is a rad dude to work with and a true friend. We’re very lucky to have Brad apart of the HUF family and are looking forward to seeing what he has in store for 2014.” ~Tyler Cichy HUF, TM

Brad Cromer WORDS :: Mazur PHOTOGRAPHY :: Dan Zaslavsky

So, tell me about being a Florida lifer.

Florida is just great. I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s just part of who I am. I travel very often and it’s a great place for me in between trips. My family, my friends, my girlfriend, they live here.

My friend Joe “Pang” Flannery, who films, is always around and down to go skate. There are a ton of spots from here (Jupiter) down to Miami. There’s a lot that I feel can still be done, and I really like the way the spots here look on film. Nothing’s too blown out, and not to mention the beaches are amazing.

When and how did you get into skateboarding?

I got a yellow plastic skateboard as a birthday present when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old from my grandma. Rode that down the driveway immediately! I tried a few other things here and there, and just ended up back wanting to ride a skateboard. I got a more legit skateboard and went from there. I was lucky enough to have a big concrete driveway as a kid. I would set up all sorts of crazy obstacles and was obsessed. Then came the skate videos and I was blown away with what could be done on a skateboard.

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Did you ever think about, or want to go pro? How does it feel being pro for Krooked?

Honestly, I never thought too much about being a pro skateboarder up until maybe a year or two ago. I didn’t know that was a possibility for me. As a kid, that wasn’t even in my brain as something that I could be. I just wanted to be a skateboarder. Of course it was a dream…

But it didn’t seem real to me. And a little under a year ago I was told that I should start saving up footage for a pro part for Krooked. I was speechless! I love Krooked. I love the team and everyone behind it and I couldn’t be happier.

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That’s awesome! Someone told me you think you look dumb skating on the West Coast...

What’s that about?

I mean, I’m just very picky with what I’m skating, and what I’m going to look like skating it. I don’t mean the whole West Coast, but just wouldn’t want to see myself skating a lot of the spots that I see people skating there. There’s tons of spots there that I have skated and filmed tricks at, but I’m just not one to just go to any spot and just throw a trick at it. I want the spot to look right, and I want it to look right for the trick that I have in mind. I was referring more to a lot of the L.A. hot spots. It seems like someone will go out of their way and find a really cool spot, skate it, and then when everyone see’s the footage or photo they want to go there and one up what the other guy did. It goes on and on until the next spot. It’s like, where is the creativity? Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of AVE photos where he seems to just go out and skate everything.

Like all the shit people would point at and be like, “It’d be sick if someone did something on that,” and keep driving. I really like that.

I hear you are a picky eater... What are some things you won’t try and why?

I am. I could sit here all day and list the things that I wont eat.

It’s a big list! But yeah, it’s pretty bad. I seem to have trouble eating on trips, and I get a lot of shit from people about it.

Everyone’s always like, “Just take the pickles off and eat it.”

But I don’t think they understand that the bread is basically pickled bread now. It’s mostly condiments and toppings that I have problems with. I’ve been a little bit better about it lately, but yeah I’m a difficult person to feed.

What sort of tunes are you jamming to when you’re out shredding?

I don’t listen to music when I’m actually skateboarding…

But pretty much every other second of my life am. I feel like it just makes everything better. Like if you have the right tunes goin’, everything’s good. Lately, I’m jamming out to, My Bloody Valentine, Pixies, Nirvana, The Verve, Mogwai, Talkdemonic, Radiohead, and tons of others. What I’m listening to depends on what I’m doing at the time, but yeah, I can’t skate with headphones. I like to be aware of my surroundings and hearing my wheels on the ground works for me best.

Do you have any other hobbies outside of skateboarding?

Just hanging with my family, friends, and girlfriend. I like playing pool a lot. I also go to the beach very often. Lately, my hobby has been trying to take better care of myself. I quit drinking almost 6 months ago and I’m a week without a cigarette. I’ve been trying to eat better too. And, I’ve been traveling so much lately that in between trips I’m mostly just trying to relax and heal my body to be ready for the next trip.

Is there anyone you’d like to specifically thank or shout out?

Family, friends, Bre, Pang, Marty, Tyler, Keith, Mark, Bram, Taylor, Joe, and everyone at Huf, DLX, and Brixton.

Last words of wisdom for the youngin’s?

If you want to do something, then do it! Don’t just talk about it...

Don’t let people make decisions for you. Be yourself. Oh, and, watch old skate videos.

Brad Cromer [backside flip]

focusskatemag.com

Karim Ghonem

PHOTO

IN CENTIVES

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Corey Goonan [ollie]

Sean Michon

Marco Mahony [backside 180 nosegrind]

Rob Collins

Nate Greenwood [kickflip]

Buddy Bleckley

Joshua Baker [hurricane]

Sean Cronan

Kevin Tierney [back lip front 180 out]

Rob Collins

Dillon Buss [backside smith]

DaN thOMpSON

ADAm BArton [kickflip into bank]

AUSTYN GILLETTE

HUFWORLDWIDE.COM