GoSkateboard Magazine by Nic Bott

PHOTO // UNSPLASH.COM

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A young skater rides the street in Chicago, USA.

NOVEMBER 2016

CONTENTS 06

Credits & Acknowledgement

First Words

The Road Less Traveled

Street League

Moving Forward

A Year Abroad

From The Outside In

Roll Call: Ishod Wair

Last Words

The Philly Comeback

Futures

ON THE COVER This young skater rides down the street on the way to work. “Push, don’t pollute,” is what he told us as we asked him why he chose to ride. PHOTO // UNSPLASH.COM

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EDITORIAL

ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER

TWS MARKETING DIRECTOR

Mike Fitzgerald

Paul Kobriger

ADVERTISING SALES

ADVERTISING MANAGER

AD SALES COORDINATOR

Matt Sims

Christina Tryon

Samantha Heering

David Jurusik

MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

MANAGING EDITOR

Damian McClelland

Kalina Danielsen

Taliba Westbrook

VP, MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

ARCHIVIST Thomas Voehringer

Greg Parnell

SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT MANAGEMENT

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ONLINE EDITOR

VIDEO PRODUCTION

Lilian Van Amelsvoort

Taryn Floyd

Moses Joossens

SALES & MARKETING

DIGITAL

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

VP, SALES

DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING

Kasey Kelley

Kristen Ude

Jeff Kimmel

FINANCE DIRECTOR

SALES ANALYST

Adam Miner

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SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER

EVENTS

MARKETING DIRECTOR Scott Woodruff

EVENTS DIRECTOR Scott Desidero

BRAND MARKETING MANAGER

VP/GM, DEW TOUR

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PHOTO ASSOCIATE

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

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COPY EDITOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER

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GRINDER

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IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bart Jones CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Roberto Alegria, Mike Blabac, Jon Coulthard, Jake Darwen, Brian Fick, Richard Hart, Bart Jones, Alex Papke, Kyle Seidler, Yoshio Yoshida, Ray Zimmerman

Canada Post: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to IMEX Global Solutions, P.O.Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Contributions are welcome. All photos and stores must be acompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope if they are to be returned. GoSkateboard assumes no responsibility for unsolicited contributions. All photos should be carefully packed and marked “press photos-do not bend.” Advertising rates are avaialbe upon request. Contaact advertising dept., GoSkateboard Magazine, Phone: (123) 456-7890 FAX: (123) 456-7890, 1234, Corte Del Nogal, Suite 100, Carlsbad, CA 92011. Any submissions or contributions from readers shall be subject to and governed by TEN: The Enthusiast network’s User Content Submission Terms and Conditions, which are posted at www.goskateboard.com/submissions/ Occasionally our subscriber list is made available to reputable firms offering goods and services we believe would be of interest to our readers. If you prefer to be excluded, please send your current address label and a note requesting to be excluded from these promotions to TEN: The Enthusiast Network, LLC, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245, Attn: Privacy Coordinator. To order back issues, visit TENbackissues.com. For high-quality custom reprints and eprints, please contaact The YGH Group at 800-123-4567 or TENreprints@theyghgroup.com. Copyright © 2016 by Grind Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the USA.

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GSM | ISSUE #26 | NOVEMBER 2016

MOVING FORWARD

PHOTO // UNSPLASH.COM

First Words

Take the time to remember where you’ve been. See where you are now. Do what you can to get better.

Tyson Peterson takes on a stairset in Encinitas, CA.

When I was 13, I got my first skateboard. It was an Element mini-deck, with some non-branded trucks and some of the local skateshops wheels. I was the happiest kid in the world. As I look back at all the spots that I’ve conquered and shredded since that day, I can’t help but think about the journey. A lot of us don’t think about the road we’ve taken; we just look at where we are right now and towards the future. We can’t help but imagine in our minds that trick we’ve been dreaming about landing, or

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traveling to that dream spot halfway across the world. Of course, this isn’t bad. We need to imagine ourselves progressing in order to progress. The point I want to make is this: If we don’t know where we’ve been, we can’t know where we are going. I think back on all those times as a kid skating and getting in trouble and landing my first kickflip, and I remember thinking that I could start landing harder tricks and trying new things. The little memories fueled, and continue to fuel my thirst to keep skating and keep pushing. Remember that first time you pushed

NOVEMBER 2016

a board under your feet? Let it fuel you. Remember that time you 180’d that 8-stair by your house? Let it push you forward. Remember when you competed in the local skate comp? Let it push you to get better. That’s really what it’s all about. We skate because it’s our passion and our life. Take the time to remember where you’ve been. See where you are now. Do what you can to get better. Become the best skater you can be. Get out there. A lifetime of memories and progression await you.

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The Road Less Traveled

Words by the Fallen Skateboard Crew

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For most of us, skateboarding is a way of life. But somehow the focus of almost every skate video is based around single tricks that come together to make video parts. While Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always enjoyed watching and making these types of videos, I think thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something special about knowing what went into a project and what it was life for those who experienced it firsthand.

Therefore, when we set out to make the new Fallen video, we wanted to document every aspect of our missions with the goal of taking the viewer on the journey with us. we picked unlikely destinations that none of us had ever been to, so the enthusiasm for adventure would be high. Over the course of two and a half years, we traveled to Turkey, Croatia, South Africa and Portugal. The following pages and stories are a glimpse of our journey, and we invite you to join us on the Road Less Traveled.

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NOVEMBER 2016

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CROATIA

PHOTO CREDITS // ISTOCKPHOTO

“I think the first trip I went on for Road Less Traveled was Croatia. I honestly knew nothing about it leading up to the trip. I heard from a couple people who had been there before. They went on trips there and they were saying it was rough to skate but there were some spots. That’s really it. I had no idea what I was getting into, what it even was. I was going in kind of clueless. But it’s Road Less Traveled, so you want to go in not really knowing what to expect. You don’t really have much to base it off of either because no one really goes there. I kinda liked it

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- you just go there and figure it all out once your there. Probably the best part of those trips was going to the clubs - just get in there and it’s super crowded, playing the craziest techno music ever. One night we ended up walking to some club. It was like a `50’s night or something and everyone was dressed up in `50’s gear and they were just playing straight `50’s music. That was probably one of the most fun times on a trip I’ve ever had, dude. It was pretty good.” - Tom Asta

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TURKEY “Turkey’s f**king cool It’s not that crazy of a culture shock like how i t is wi th an Asian country or something where you g o t he re and shit’s just super haywire. It’s a little bit different. I like it a lot. I didn’t really take anything in, I was just there to skate, just in spot-searching mode still. Ever ything was m a r b l e . I t ’s w e i r d , i n a l l t h e s e o t h e r countries everything’s made of marble. Maybe it’s cheaper there or

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something. I don’t remember getting kicked out of anywhere. They didn’t really know what skateboarding was, so they didn’t really know how to take it. We only really got kicked out of one spot, and it was j us t t hi s r andom old dude who for some reason was really pissed about it. It wasn’t like we even got kicked out. We just left because we were over the dude, then we came back. It was fine.” - Dane Burman

PHOTO CREDITS // ISTOCKPHOTO

“They didn’t really know what skateboarding was, so they didn’t really know how to take it. We only really got kicked out of one spot, and it was just this random old dude who for some reason was really pissed about it.” -Dane Burnan NOVEMBER 2016

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PHOTO CREDITS // ISTOCKPHOTO

SOUTH AFRICA “So I run around this security guard and I run in and try to 180 the double-set, and then I landed and slipped out and my board went right into a security guard. I ran over there and grabbed my board from him and as soon as I was ready to get out there, I was like, ‘Oh shit, there’s a guard in the middle of the stairs waiting for me.’ I tried to go left, then I went right, I tried to juke her. But then all of a sudden she busts out the mace and it was a direct shot. It got me directly in my eyes and all of my face, and just my whole chest area right below my face. All my senses went numb. So I’m panicking while my eyes are on fire and I don’t know what I’m doing.I run outside and I forgot how traffic works over there, `cause traffic is on the other side of the road. I

can barely see, I’m holding both of my eyes open with all I got, and I can barely see a slight blur of what’s going on. I run into the street and I almost got smoked by a car, and then these dudes are still chasing my, so I run a couple blocks away. Go into a bar, washing my eyes out with water, milk, and everything. Finally the other dudes caught up and picked me up. I was like, ‘Oh, we need to go to the store, my face is on fire.’ We got this half-and-half, like milk cream. I poured that all over my face, and soaked my eyes with ice and shit. After a little while it kinda calmed down, so we went to a couple more spots that day and I ended up getting a couple more tricks.” -Tommy Sandoval

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PHOTO CREDITS // ISTOCKPHOTO

PORTUGAL “I slipped back and landed perfectly on my elbow. I thought I broke it, but it was just weird looking. I popped it out. I didn’t know what to expect with the hospital, but it was mellow. They saw me pretty quick. I was in and out in an hour. There were other patients and then they kicked them out of the room and put me in there. I guess out there it’s free health care. I didn’t have to pay for anything. I just needed my passport. They just popped it right back in and that was it. Everybody was just real laid back there, and over here everybody seems like they

have a chip on their shoulder. Over there nobody cares. You can think whatever you want, skate whatever you want. The spots were amazing. The food was good. The best sushi I ever had was over there. The wine was good and people were cool. It’s just a real nice place. I used to get really bad anxiety while traveling, but now I’m just super stoked. Always looking forward to going out of the country. -Tony Cervantes

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STR E E T L E A GUE FROM

THE

OUTSIDE

INTRO BY MACKENZIE EISENHOUR WORDS COMPILED BY MACKENZIE EISENHOUR, BLAIR ALLEY AND KEVIN DUFFEL EVENT PHOTOS BY JOEY SHIGEO

Love it or hate it, the phenomenon that is Street League has undeniably continued to grow in scope and influence since its inception in 2010. Traditionally, few things have stirred more intense debate within our ranks than the idea of contests and corporate/mainstream crossover. SLS - now international and fused to the X Games - seemingly takes both to a level perhaps never seen within our pastime’s history. But Rob Drydek’s promise has always been that somehow this time it’s different. An exclusive invite-only world of a mere 20 pros to boot, this article set out to ask a healthy sampling of outsiders - pros not currently involved with SLS - what effect they believe the emergent contests series is having on skateboarding and the industry it supports at large. In testament to our diversity, their opinions are about as varied as you will find. From the outside looking in, welcome to skateboarding’s version of Any Given Sunday. Top four scores count.

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N Y JAH HU ST ON C H R IS C OLE T OM M Y SAND OVAL MIK EY TAY LOR PAU L R ODR IG U EZ T OREY P U DW ILL AU S T YN G ILLET T E DAV I D G ONZALEZ RYAN SHECK LER BAST IEN SALABANZI ISHOD WAIR P E T E R R AMONDET TA S E AN M ALT O L UAN OLIVEIR A M AT T M ILLER T OM ASTA S H ANE Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; NEILL BILLY M AR K S BI L LY R IEDER C HAZ ORT IZ

JIMMY CARLIN “I was in it last year and it was a blast. It’s life you’re watching a demo. I’ve seen so many crazy tricks go down there that I’d never even see done on the streets, like for video parts. So it’s pretty cool to see that and it’s pretty cool to see these skateboarders actually win these contests and make a lot of money from it. It’s kind of interesting to see how much more success financially these skaters are getting doing a contest like that versus how it’s been in the past. I think it’s going to start a chain reaction where other contests are going to have to compete with this idea. Skateboarders are gonna skate the contest where they can win the most money. They’re going to have to match what they’re doing or go higher. “I did really bad the year I was in it, but I made more money than I’ve ever made coming close to winning contests when I was younger. There are a lot of people in those arenas. It’s a lot more pressure in the idea that it’s more serious. It’s reaching out towards a bigger audience than just a group of buddies that are coming to watch you skate a contest. I noticed a lot of kids are there with their parents and that’s one cool thing. Parents are going to start realizing there’s a lot more to it than just getting skateboarding tickets every other weekend. “When I grew up the brands that we all supported where just brands within skating and they seemed to be doing very well. Now what’s happe ning i s corporate companies are coming in and they’re taking over. It’s to the point where if you can be within that loop, if you can be in that circle of what’s going on, career-wise, you’ll flourish. Street Le ag ue as a c o n t e s t , t o m e , r e s e m b l e s t h a t . I t ’s anot he r corporate way of taking over, but I’m not saying it’s for the worse; I’m saying it’s for an area where a lot of things are changing rapidly. I do miss the days when skateboarding wasn’t as huge as it is now, but now that it’s getting huge it’s benefitting the people that are still in it - to be able to be taken care of and stuff like that. Skateboarding is always going to be skateboarding, but I think a lot of skaters now are starting to realize they’re getting in to these situations where they could actually retire from skateboarding. So I look at it as a good thing in a way, you just have to be willing to accept that it’s changing.”

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ALEX OLSON “It’s unusual to see skateboarding in such a huge production. But it’s cool, too. The only thing that sometimes bothers me is trying to corner skateboarding into a sport and making it marketable. That’s the only thing that really bothers me about it. I just hate hearing that skating is a sport, because it’s so completely not. It’s more interesting to watch people who reinterpret the course differently instead of all skating it in the same way. I think Dennis Busenitz and guys like that should be invited. It’s just very sterile. I think they need to pick a better bunch. I asked Dylan [Rieder] to get them to invite me. I told him like, ‘I’ll go skate that thing with you.’ I’ll get last place and get knocked out, but whatever. I will say, there are people in it where I’m like, ‘Why the f**k is this guy in it?’ There’s some favoritism going on. But there’s some good from it. Like how [Mike] Carroll and all of them saw skating in Police Academy 4 when they were kids. It can work as a gateway to skateboarding. That’s what’s good about it. Regardless, the end result is that it’s promoting skateboarding. Maybe some people that have been around longer don’t like the way that it’s being portrayed, but it’s like - here’s the cheesy way of putting it - it’s like digging for records or even just finding music. First you get introduced to the Doors or Led Zeppelin, then you get curious and dig deeper and start finding all the less obvious stuff. It’s not a bad thing at all. Plus, it makes everyone money, so I don’t know why anybody is f**king complaining about it. Even if you’re not in it, in some way it works to your advantage if more people skate or get interested in it. Who’s complaining about it? People that don’t get invited. I mean, yeah, it’s cheesy. We all know that. But it’s not for 27-year-olds or 35-year-olds, it’s for the f**king 12 to 15-year-olds. So they have a favorite skater to root for and all of that. It’s a way of making it understandable for them. “[I’ve never been to one in person]. I stay away from that stuff because it kind of makes me not like skating so much. I choose not to subscribe to that stuff. Not in any negative way, but I just know that it would bother me. It’s not the way I would want to see skating portrayed. It’s cool for what it is and introducing skating to kids, but I’m too old for it basically. I’ll put it that way.”

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“Skating is kind of changing in a way and you can’t really stop it. It’s just going to keep going like that. Contests used to not matter one bit. Now they kind of do again.” -Mike Mo Capaldi

MIKE MO CAPALDI “I think Street League is f**king cool, just the fact that you can create a buzzerbeater effect out of a skate contest. I like sports, so I think that’s cool. Some people don’t ;some people like to keep it more raw, but I’m all for the point system. Street League is actually the first contest I ever skated, besides Battle At The Berrics. I’ve never actually skated a contest where you have to do a line. So Street League was my first line that I ever had to do, in a contest. I’ve done the Maloof, too, but those are just like jam format, you know? “It’s a great opportunity for everyone to get exposure. It helps everybody out with their own career. Nyjah’s made, what, like two mil off of contests? But at the same time I feel like all the new kids are gonna skate based on little street plazas and just trying to learn tricks because it gets more points. I like all that because it’s fun, and it’s cool to experience that ‘if you land this right here, you win the whole contest.’ At the same time it’s creating a whole new breed of kids that only learn certain tricks because it’s going to get them more points or skate for the wrong reasons - not skating because it’s fun, learn this because it gets more points. That’s the weird part about it. Skating is kind of changing in a way and you can’t really stop it. It’s just going to keep going like that. Contests used to not matter one bit. Now they kind of do again.”

NICK TRAPASSO “I don’t really pay attention to Street League. I don’t want to hate on it or nothing. I’ve never been to one. I’ve only watched it on TV like once or twice maybe. I’m down to watch it for a little bit, but it just gets boring, like here comes whoever and they just do the same thing and then they go to the biggest obstacle eventually. I just don’t like watching it. But I think those guys are nuts. Just do a whole bunch of crazy shit back to back. There’s a bunch of people there that are really amazing, and the course is a lot nicer. No wooden ramps, a bunch of landscaping and stuff. It’s more official [than a normal contest], I guess. I didn’t really care [about it when it started], I just thought it was tight they we’re having another big contest for skating that people can go to and see how it really is.”

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ANDREW REYNOLDS “When I grew up skating, skaters weren’t really into sports - so the whole thing is a little weird to me. Back when I skated [contests], guys like Kareem [Campbell], Ed Templeton, Ethan Fowler, or [Tom] Penny, and other guys like that would win them. Now there is a drastic difference between the guys that win Street League and an average pro street skater out there. I think all the companies that don’t come from skating - like the sports companies and television channels and all the people that don’t really care about skateboarding when it’s not popular - they will be gone and all the real companies that are owned by skaters and support real skateboarding will still be there. But at the end of the day, a grind and a kickflip still feel the same.”

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BRAD STABA “I was at the one where Shane [O’Neill] won. My first thoughts were that it was really quiet. Then the more beer I had, the quicker everything turned a bit more fun. It was a fun time though. “I think it’s a great opportunity for skateboarders to get great exposure while making some really good money. Hopefully those single guys on ‘the circuit’ are enjoying themselves. So I think there’s a ton of perks that go with it, but I do think all these added qualifying stop things are a bit much. It makes it hard for skateboard companies and other sponsors to plan any trips in the summer if you have guys skating in these things. So maybe back to the old shit where it was less stops and more money. But that’s just me and I’m right 99.9 percent of the time. So don’t listen to me. “In my head - where I’m always right - I see black tar parking lots with ramps to dumpsters, skating f**king cars and shit again. I see white wheels turning black on the sides, then even tu a l l y ye l l o w. M o re people attacking people during their runs. The crowd is able to throw shit at the skaters if they don’t make a trick in so many tries.”

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JOEY PEPPER “For me it’s kind of hard to get a grasp on. It’s really just not my thing. My instinct is to talk shit on it, but I honestly can’t because I’m just so far removed from it. It’s so far out of my realm, and the way that I perceive skateboarding. It’s cool for those that do it, but to me it’s just a whole other sport or pastime or whatever. I’ve never watched on through, but I’ve definitely watched a few minutes of it and it can look really goofy. Just ungraceful. Someone just trying to rattle off tricks over and over again - it just doesn’t really seem to have much soul to it. It’s not my thing. It’s not skateboarding to me. Contests when I was growing up were either for no money or for a couple hundred bucks, more or less. This is for big money, you know? I think it’s totally different. “There’s no doubt that it’s affecting the s k a t e b o a r d i n g m a r k e t . But I don’t think it will affect the amount of people that stick with skateboarding. Whether somebody can feed it to you or not, it’s still going to take that certain kind of person to stick with it. It might affect people’s first taste or whatever, but in the long run, a skateboarder is a skateboarder.

“I think now it’s more about the level of difficulty of the tricks that are being done, and I think that has a lot to do with the contests.” -Silas Baxter-Neal

SILAS BAXTER-NEAL “My opinion on contests in general has changed over time. I used to be kind of anti a little bit. I would go to them and I would feel uncomfortable. I prefer to do more video part type things, but I think that just works better for me. Lately, I’ve been wanting to do more contests. I’m going out to that Copenhagen contest this year. Down the road I might start entering more of them. I think it’s really increased the public attention in skateboarding, but it’s created this different [aspect]. When I first started, skating was so social about just going out and exploring and hanging out with your bros. My favorite part of skating is still going out with my buddies and exploring new spots. I think that aspect of skating isn’t as important to people anymore. I think now it’s more about the level of difficulty of the tricks that are being done, and I think that has a lot to do with the contests - just judging people by how hard of a level of a trick they’re doing, and people are doing really hard tricks on these spots. I think it’s a double-edged sword, like with anything. People are able to keep skateboarding into their 30’s, which wasn’t really a possibility 15 years ago. So I think that is cool, but it’s weird to see Monster and Red Bull everywhere. Corporate funding helps in a lot of ways, but it also brings a weird side of things. It’s not terrible though.”

CHRISTIAN HOSOI “I remember the first time I saw skating on TV. ESPN showed highlights from a skate comp and my friends and I thought it was the coolest thing we’d ever seen - it made us feel like skating was more than just something we did for fun. I loved skateboarding before I started competing, but it was the competition element that really put skating at the forefront of my life. I’m blessed to have watched and been a part of skateboarding go from local contests at skate parks all the way up to huge arenas with big prize money and screaming fans. Back when we were competing in stadiums, I think we really embraced the whole situation. It was theatrical. Skaters had huge personas that carried through in their graphics, their tricks, the music they listened to, and even what clothes they wore. I think it was a lot like what Street League has become. We made good money, traveled the world, and became widely recognizable in the mainstream during that time. In a lot of ways, I think Street League is doing that for this new generation, and I love that. To me, there is no downside to Street League.

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NICK GARCIA 360 FLIP PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

WWW.ELEMENTSKATEBOARDS.COM

R O LL C ALL

ISHOD WAIR The Philly Comeback WORDS BY MACKENZIE EISENHOUR

Philadelphia never really went anywhere. But the LOVE Park glory days and City of Brotherly Love’s status as a skateboard mecca most definitely ended with the fencing off, remodeling, and outright ban at JFK Plaza on April 25, 2002. Skaters moved away from the city in droves, and one of the richest downtown skate communities on the planet was declared by Josh Kalis not long after the Plaza’s demise to be plainly “dead.” In the decade since, Philadelphia’s skate scene has repeatedly shown signs of life; however, the former glory (and spot on the map as one of the top-

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five skate travel destinations on the planet) has never truly returned. Until now. Recent video parts from Ishod Wair or Mark Suciu almost seem to be channeling and waking the spirits of glory days past. Ishod’s lines in Sabotage 3 mark a new chapter not only for LOVE, but also for Philly’s scene at large. Backing the city with everything he’s got, here is his take on his upcoming part in The SB Chronicles, Volume 2, Rihanna rocking his socks, and the rebirth of the Philadelphia skate scene when I called him bright and early on the morning of Go Skateboarding Day.

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R O LL C ALL Do you have plans for Go Skateboarding Day? I’m out in NYC. We’re going to skate around town all day. Then at the end of the day we’re going to skate on this crazy barge out in the water. Nike got like a 100-foot-long boat with a big skatepark on it. Sounds solid. Did you grow up between Jersey and Philly? How did you end up in Philly? I grew up in Jersey, and then there was a skatepark in Philadelphia where I pretty much met all my friends that I kick it with now. Just skating the park through the winters. It’s pretty close - like 30 to 45 minutes away. They all lived in Pennsylvania, and a lot of the people in my area moved to Philadelphia anyways. It’s a big city, so it’s obviously better for skating than a suburb. Were you born and raised in Bordentown, New Jersey? Yeah. It’s a pretty small town. Nothing’s really going on every day. It’s nice. It’s mellow. When were your first trips to Philly? Was LOVE Park already past the glory days or still going? The first time I went there, LOVE was no longer popping at all. You couldn’t skate there. I didn’t start skating until it was already pretty much over. I had seen it in videos and all that. The first time I went to the city - not the first time I went to Philadelphia, but the first time I went to LOVE - I walked over just to see the park and there was basically nobody in there. But Bobby Puleo was in there filming a line on this little ollie up ledge and there’s like the little quarterpipe up there. I talked to them and was like, “Hey, are you allowed to skate here?” And they’re like, “Not really.” I just watched him skate for a little while and the left. A Puleo sighting is always a good start. What got you interested in skating to begin with? I saw it on TV. I’m pretty sure it was the X Games contest or something. But I saw it and immediately I was like, “That’s cool.” After that I tried getting a board but didn’t get a real board for a year. My mom bought me a Mongoose at Walmart, and I knew it wasn’t a real board[laughs]. I felt bad, but I was bummed. I met this kid Chris who lived down the street and another friend Dylan who skated. But Chris gave me this super old Tony Hawk board with like no nose and tail. It was probably worn down to two inches on either side. But I knew it was a real board and I was so stoked on it. My next birthday, my mom bought me an Element Tosh Townend board with Grind King trucks, Spitfire wheels, and some Black Magic griptape and Reds bearings. I still remember all the parts. First video you saw? The first one I remember was Yeah Right! [`03]. It was that, Adio One Step Beyond [`02], and Sorry [`02]. I didn’t see videos for the first couple of years. Nobody had them, but eventually my mom would buy them for me. From Yeah Right! though, I remember Paul Rodriguez was my favorite. When did you decide to move to Philly? Did your mom move there? It was a little later. But I would go out there for weeks at a time when school was out and stay with my friend that lived out there. I was really fully into it by then. I wasn’t hooked up for a while, but I was already going full force.

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GSM | ISSUE #26 | NOVEMBER 2016

Frontside Lipslide. Philadelphia, PA

NOVEMBER 2016

39 | GSM

Frontside Lipslide. Philadelphia, PA

40 | GSM

GSM | ISSUE #26 | NOVEMBER 2016

R O LL C ALL Jumping around, how much of your SB Chronicles, Volume 2 part have you filmed? Are you still going? We’re still filming. I have enough stuff for a part, but I want to keep adding more and maybe the next clips I get are even sicker - have stuff in there that I’ve never done before. You have been known to rock some boardshorts here and there. Comfort first, or just ready to surf? [Laughs] Oh yeah. In the summer it’s so hot and I sweat so much. If I wear pants, they’ll just be soaked. I’m hitting my shins either way when I’m skating, so I don’t even think about that if I’m wearing shorts. But I’m 10 times more comfortable in my boardshorts. Plus I’m all set to jump in the pool or water when I’m done. That’s the best: jump in the pool, then dry off, and I’m ready to skate again. Skating seems somewhat split now between bigger sponsors and contest dudes versus the super core independent brands and raw street. You seem to be one of the rare dudes able to juggle all sides of it. Does anybody really need to pick sides? I don’t know. It does get a little hectic at times. There are a lot of those contests now. But I’m a skateboarder, so if someone sends me to skate somewhere, I’m gonna take advantage. When I’m at a contest I’m not just doing nothing. I’m skating the whole time. Are you having fun skating the Street League stops? It looks like you’re just kind of cruising around. It looks like the other guys take it more seriously sometimes. There’s a lot of money involved. But it’s hard for me to just turn that on like that in the situation. There’s all these people watching. That doesn’t really trip me out too much, but I’m out there skating with people that I grew up watching skate. So for me I’m not even thinking competitively. I’m just out there thinking, “Damn, I’m getting to skate with the sickest dudes right now and this awesome course that I’ve never been on!” It’s hard for me to think about just putting together a run and putting together this whole strategy like, “Yeah. I’m gonna win this.” I still try my hardest in the contest, but it’s actually a lot more strategy than it seems. That’s my take on it. On the other end of the spectrum, were you surprised at the attention that Sabotage 3 [`13] part got? I wasn’t really surprised. I thought it was going to be sick. All my homies were in it. For some reason I feel like VX videos get better feedback no matter what anyways. For me, growing up, everything I watched was VX. So in my head, anytime I think of a trick or think of anything on video - even the sound - I’m thinking in VX. That’s what’s in my head. It just seems way more natural to watch that than the HD stuff. I think it just sounds cooler. Spots look cooler. Everything looks better. Not in any actual sense. But in my head I want it to look like that, even though it’s grainy and lower res. You look like you’re going faster too. Everything is quicker paced. First video you saw? The first one I remember was Yeah Right! [`03]. It was that, Adio One Step Beyond [`02], and Sorry [`02]. I didn’t see videos for the first couple of years. Nobody had them, but eventually my mom would buy them for me. From Yeah Right! though, I remember Paul Rodriguez was my favorite.

NOVEMBER 2016

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VX footage kind of looks and sounds like you’re right there with the skater - in the trenches. Sometimes HD footage looks like you’re on the outside looking in. Like it creates a divide. Yeah. I never thought of it that way, but HD usually looks like they’re about a mile and a half away from you [laughs]. I just think VX looks way better. If you think about all the videos that come out, the ones using VX still get better feedback usually. For some reason, even though the video sucks, people almost like the gritty look more.

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Has anything changed since you turned pro, or same deal? People come up to me more and ask for like a picture or something. Did you trip on Rihanna wearing your “F**k Yeah Ishod” Stance socks? That was cool. I don’t know how she got them. I just seen a picture of her with them on. Eventually she probably flipped the sock over and just went, “What the f**k is Ishod?” She’s probably writing a song about me right now [Laughs].

GSM | ISSUE #26 | NOVEMBER 2016

How often do you skate LOVE Park these days? How many tickets have you racked up? I live four or five blocks away, so I skate there a lot. I skated there a couple of nights ago. You do get tickets, but I don’t know how much they are because I ain’t getting them. Nighttimes after 10:30 are the best bet if you want to be safe. Does it mean something skating there to you with all the history? Yeah. It’s pretty different. I mean, there are all these planters there now and they took out the tiles and put down grass. But it’s crazy to look at

stuff and think like, “Yo, Josh Kalis nollie flip back five-0’d this ledge back in the day.” It sounded crazy back then too - like if you weren’t a local, you’d get your board jacked. What do you think Philadelphia has brought to skating over the years? I don’t know, but I will say people are starting to go there again. Since LOVE closed down I think this is the first time it’s sort of coming back. Back then LOVE was kind of the whole thing, but there’s actually tons of unseen spots and the vibes are good. It’s a big city, so you can get around easily.

I saw you mentioned Ricky Oyola in some old interviews. Were you a fan? Eastern Exposure? For sure. That one line when he’s ollieing up the city hall stairs and talking into the mic. That clip is so funny. “I’m gonna beat this if**king street cleaner.” [Laughs] I see him around. I catch a sighting here and there. All-time best trick down the LOVE fountain gap? I got a couple. My homie Ian Smith from Baltimore did a back bigspin down it. It was crazy. He did switch pop shove-it too. Classics, Brian Wenning’s switch back 180 and [Andrew] Reynolds’ frontside

NOVEMBER 2016

flip in This Is Skateboarding [`03]. He under-rotated it and made it homehow. He lands sideways. Landing like that going that fast is insane. I still don’t get how he did that to this day. It’s almost like the intro to his Baker2G [`00] part when he ollies down like a sixstair and does the dead stop. He pretty much did that down the LOVE gap except he doesn’t even lose speed. In the leather jacket too.

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Last Words

FUTURES

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Last Time you Watched SB Chronicles 3: Probably like 5 months ago. Last Celebrity Sighting: I saw Kobe while filming a part in LA. Last Dream: I was being chased by the bad men from Stranger Things. Last Time You Were Scared: Walking through LA with a Rolex on my wrist. Last Fight: College frat party. Last Concert: Vans Warped Tour. Last Skater Who Got You Hyped: Daewon Song. The dude shreds. Last Person To Inspire You: Ghandi.

Loud cursing, that switch heel, long weekends, McDonald’s and sandstone pebbles are forever burned into my mind when I think of my summers of skating. And every summer that passes makes me want to experience it all again. - Steve Barlow

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Last Song Stuck In your Head: “Half Alive” Last Laugh: Just barely when you asked me what song was in my head.

Last Time Someone Laughed At You: I tripped over a curb about a week ago so... Last Trick Filmed: 360 flip down a 8 stairset.

Last Regret: Eating chips and chocolate for dinner.

Last Movie: The Finest Hours.

Last Failure: I don’t fail.

Last TV Show: Stranger Things

GSM | ISSUE #26 | NOVEMBER 2016

Last Book: “How Not To Die” Last Time You Hung With a Friend: Like a month ago at a barbecue. Last Major Purchase: New mountain bike. Last Time You Were Selfish: All day, everyday.

Last Thing You Learned: That you learn something new everyday. Last Thing You’d Tell The Next Generation Of Skaters: Skate or die.

Trent McClung Switch Flip

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