I get him the day before I leave. He spots the Dictaphone. His mouth is full with the usual breakfast bagel. He nods and shrugs, finally giving in. “Just gimme a minute though, OK? You don’t wanna be writing this down when I’ve got a mouthful of food.” I start with Don’t Quit, which was the first time I’d seen Bob ride.
[c] Hip Tuck, Jersey City.
Albion: What happened once that video had come out? Bob: I ended up moving here, to Philly on and off for a little while. I traveled around a lot aimlessly for a while. When Animal started, I wasn’t really a part of it. Jeff Z [Zielinski] was filming it and it was all based back in Jersey and NY and I was out here in Philly. I have a part, but it was actually filmed really fast. After that I kinda jumped on with Animal at the tail end. I did a cross-country trip with the team and when we got to California I ended up capturing a load of the footage with Glen [PP Milligan] and I really enjoyed doing that. I didn’t mind that side of video making. Even though back then I didn’t know how to edit, I liked being around people doing it, just watching what they were doing. Jeff was getting seriously into photography and got a full time position with Ride US.
Do you think that it’s actually an East Coast thing though? No, not really. For us it was simply because there was nothing to ride. I think anywhere that is part of a metropolis and doesn’t have a bunch of skateparks then this sort of thing will happen. Like with Animal, people credit us with being this definitive East Coast crew, but it’s not entirely the case. There were guys in Long Island that were incredible. Vic [Ayala] had friends who were incredible who all rode like that too. We just happened to start a company. It’s a natural thing really. People will adapt to their surroundings. How do you feel your own riding has changed over the years? It’s definitely changed, but with my own riding, I’m perfectly happy with it. I never expected myself to have crazy video parts or try and be at the forefront of something. Progression was something I never chased. How do you see street riding in a general sense?
"everyone is about self-promoting. all the taboos are gone. People think it’s normal to want the world" Did Jeff get you into filming? Not really. He kinda did, but he wouldn’t let me film because he said I had a bad attitude, so he used to get George to film him. It was in the sense that he had a camera, in the same way that he had a stills camera. My high-school didn’t have that stuff and I couldn’t afford one so I guess that created a desire have one. I used to be really into skate videos too. You mentioned that two videos the other day, the Zoo York Mixtape and Underachievers. Yeah, I love those videos. You can see where I got some ideas. That was the first good use of East Coast cities that I’d seen. I could recognize the spots, they looked like the sort of shit that was in my hometown. Did everyone else think like that? I don’t know… George, he didn’t ride like that. He was more influenced by mini ramp stuff, stalling tricks. I was much more into rolling and staying in motion. He’d laugh at me when I’d watch a video and go ‘shit, I wanna go to that one day!’ He’d go ‘yeah, but what are you gonna DO on it?’ Jeff thought more like me, although it’s probably more accurate to say I thought like Jeff, because he was older than me. He could see spots.
82
The Freewheelin’
How I do it, or as a whole?
Both. Street riding is what happens when I leave the house. It’s as simple as that really. It’s manualing a ledge on the way past, just cruising around hitting a bunch of different spots. Then occasionally I’ll find something that amazes me or just feels good hitting and I’ll get the urge to try something on it. I never had the motivation to be pushing to get clips in any way. You were never like that at all? – The phone rings and it’s Tom. He’s at Bob’s waiting to go riding. He’s constantly getting messages from people. I don’t know how that shitty phone handles it. He recounts the times he’s bailed team riders out, getting calls late into the night, “all part of the job, I’m always dealing with other people’s shit” he’d tell me. “How many other team managers have to go bail out their team?” He lies to Tom and says we’ll be two minutes and we carry on… BOB: I mean, I have things I want to get accomplished with riding. I think that’s important for you to have that mindset, but I never wanted to get them done in a way that… how do I say this… that kinda kept me up with the rest of riding. For