Concrete 118 - The Hashbrown Interview

Mike “Hashbrown” Schulze The Man Behind The Name

Mike “Hashbrown” Schulze The Man Behind The Name words Matt Meadows photos Rich Odam design Kelly Litzenberger

G

etting noticed in today’s skate world is no easy task. First off, you need to have the skills. Given the fact that nearly every little tyke with a board can three flip perfectly means this is no easy task. Second, you have to be a hard worker. There is no slacking off while on the road to the big leagues, kids. Lastly, you have to be marketable, even if that means taking on a less-than-desirable moniker.

Take Mike Schulze for example. He’s been paying his dues since Day 1. Coming up the ranks through the talent-filled parks of Langley and Surrey, BC, has meant Mike has never taken a day off from skating.

Accepting his lumps and even undertaking a branding from older BMX kids at the park in the form of a nickname, “Hashbrown” has by way of blood, sweat and tears carved out his own place in the Canadian skate industry.

Catching up with such a driven individual is no easy task. Although once you have, Hashbrown is more than happy to break his often skate-serious demeanour for a few laughs, even if at times it could be at his own expense. So pick up a beverage, have a sit down and get to know the man behind the name. This is Mike Schulze.

Backside kickflip Concrete skateboarding

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Backside Bigspin flip

“I introduce myself as

Mike...”

Starting off, I know the “Hashbrown” thing has been done to death. Is it something that you’re bummed on or do you just kind of take it in stride now?

Well, I used to be bummed on it. I mean, I was getting called Hashbrown, dude!

But eventually I’ve just learned to go with it. There was really no stopping it and no one would stop calling me that no matter how many times I asked.

Some other people just told me to go with it, like it’s a good way to market myself. So yeah, now I just go with it.

It seems like it works out for a lot of dudes who embrace the nickname thing, kind of like Trainwreck, Sluggo or Alien.

Yeah, man. It definitely does. I get lots of kids coming up to me like, “Oh you’re Hashbrown! I’ve heard of you!” And I’m just like: “I have never heard of you before.” So I guess it does work.

Do you think you would ever take the route of someone like Trainwreck and start introducing yourself as Hashbrown?

Well, right now I definitely don’t introduce myself as that way. I introduce myself as Mike. But I will say, “People call me Hashbrown.” But I don’t go out of my way to have people call me that. It would be kind of weird, you know?

So You’re on Coastal Riders and are pretty well associated with the Surrey crew even though you’re from Langley.

How did that come about?

Well, we used to always come out from where we were from to Surrey just because there was better skateparks and more of a scene.

Is that how you got on the Coastal team?

Pretty much. I just started skating with everybody and eventually started shopping at the store a lot. I was actually at this one party they had; the team manager came up to me and was like: “Yo, you coming on this trip?” And I said: “What trip? I thought that was only for the riders.” Then he said: “Oh, you didn’t get the email? I thought I sent you one. You’re on the team now, man!” It was pretty slick the way he did it. I was stoked!

That’s awesome getting picked up via memo. What was it like for you to find out a legend like Paul Machnau had joined the team?

Dude, that was unreal! When I first heard I couldn’t believe it. I grew up idolizing Paul, he is one of the gnarliest skaters and to have him on our local shop team, it’s pretty overwhelming. The crazy thing is, now Machnau is one of our friends! I mean, at first when I would see him at the park I was in awe, I would just sit down and watch him skate. Now we all have games of SKATE together and all hang out, it’s really cool.

So you’re on Deathwish and Shake Junt as well through Mehrathon Trading. Did you get to join in on their summer tour at all?

Not really. They stopped by at Chuck Bailey Skatepark and the TM Raj [Mehra] sent me an email; it just said to come down and skate with everyone. So I just rolled by and it was fun. It was pretty crazy to skate with all the people I grew up watching though.

Did you get involved in the Booty Shaking contest?

Uh, no. That’s not really my thing. I don’t really booty shake.

Concrete skateboarding

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Frontside rockride to Gap

I didn’t mean enter it yourself, I meant as a guest judge!

[Laughs] Oh, no! I didn’t have any say in the judging. But it was pretty self explanatory as to who won.

Fair enough, I saw on the Coastal Riders team page that it said if you weren’t a skater than you’d be a scientist.

Is that something you hope to get involved in outside skating?

Did I say that? Crazy. I guess I just threw that out there ‘cause I have no idea what I would be doing. I just kind of live by the minute, you know?

So you don’t have a secret chemistry set up in your closet like Bill Nye the Science Guy? No, I kind of wish, though. Science is truly very interesting!

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Concrete skateboarding

Alright, so let’s try this question again then. If you weren’t skateboarding you would be…

Skateboarding [laughs]. I don’t know, man. If everything got taken away today I would still be doing the same thing I’m doing. Nothing can compare to skateboarding, any skater can vouch for that. It’s just the feeling of landing a trick. I will always be skateboarding ‘cause it’s so fun. To be at the park with my friends, having a good time is way sicker than sitting around a TV and drinking beer.

Funny you should say that. I read in an interview in which your C1RCA Canada TM Elliot Heintzman said: “Hashbrown.

He’s emo. He just sits around and plays Call of Duty.”

I had my phase [laughs]. It was winter and there wasn’t too much to do, so I just sat at home and played Call of Duty when it would rain lots. If nothing was going on, I’d just play video games or watch movies.

Noseslide 360 shuv photos joel dufresne

I can understand that. Truth be told, you seem really dedicated to your skating. So who were the influential people in your development?

It was actually this old skate-club in Aldergrove that I used to go to when I was younger. The youth leader Andrew, he would always just talk to me about skateboarding and about how your personality matters and all that. Also, the older kids that used to go there; I would be the younger guy, so after getting pushed around a bit I learned my place.

Was this a religious program?

Yeah, it was—Young Life. It’s a Christian organization for youth. Back in Aldergrove, like seven years ago, they would have a skate club every Thursday night. I would just go there ‘cause I could skate at night, it was really just something to do on a Thursday night. But it was pretty cool minus the fact they would sit down and talk about God afterwards. I just wanted to skate the whole time.

So, basically the spiritual aspect wasn’t your main draw.

Did it get awkward when they got into that?

Oh, definitely, dude. It was like skateboarding then church right afterwards.

It took a while for me to get used to it. I would just sit there and throw my iPod on or just think about skateboarding. I don’t really believe in religion per se but it’s a good way for people to be good people. It’s hard to explain.

Yeah, maybe we will leave that one to the philosophers.

So, on that note, anyone you want to say what’s up to as we close this out?

Yeah, man! I would just like to say thanks to my Mom and Dad, Andrew from Young Life, if you’re reading this. The old Aldergrove, Murrayville, Brookswood, Surrey, and Fleetwood crews. Elliot at C1RCA, and Raj at Mehrathon for Shake Junt, Deathwish, Brigada, and Quintin. ONE Distribution for KR3W, Craig Williams at Ultimate for Destructo and Momentum, and my friends and family.

Concrete x Mehrathon Trading x Hashbrown video coming to concreteskateboarding.com on april 24th