How did the Toy Machine hook up happen? I made a few sponsor tapes along the way, which helped. That was a big step for me. Is having an acoustic guitar compulsory for getting on? [Laughs], I don’t think so. I got onto a couple of trips though and from there they were making the Brainwash video, I was just filming to film but it all ended up going towards a part. Do you have any input with how things go down or has Ed [Templeton] got it all figured out? Oh no, we do for sure. Kevin Barnett is pretty open to ideas too. Everyone can talk freely. It’s rad.
Good to know. In what ways do you think about how you improve your skating or go up a level for the next part? I don’t know if I necessarily want to go up a step. I’m trying to progress for sure but it’s more that I’m trying to do something I haven’t done before. I want to skate cool spots that you might have to think about a little more; you might not see the trick you want until ten minutes after first finding the spot. It’s way harder for younger skaters to get themselves out there now too. Everyone is just so good now that it doesn’t matter; you have to have something else. I know you grew to like a lot of the spots here because of their ruggedness after a while. How important is it for you to find new and different spots?
Has he ever photographed your dick?
It’s super important for me to feel that I’m doing something worth doing. It gets me hyped.
[Laughs] no. Not yet.
Are there skaters that inspire you in that way?
Have you ever been offered a money incentive by Ed to land a trick?
Shit. I guess Van Wastell. He would just do what he wanted, he didn’t care. But I feel like I’m not even that good so I have to go and find spots that I can do tricks on. It comes down to the fact that if you find a spot and you know no one has skated it then it’s all yours, you know?
I think maybe on my first trip he gave me twenty bucks to land a trick in a certain amount of tries. He’s never given me lists or anything [laughs].
Definitely. What about that “Jordan’s Night” video? What have you been filming for lately? [Laughs]. What about it? I’m in the process of putting out a solo web part for Toy Machine. It’ll hopefully be out within the next six months. After that there’ll be a full length Toy Machine video so I’ll be filming for that too.