Interview and Photos by Zach Parks

Tell us how old you are, where you’re from, and how long you’ve been skating. 
I’m 23. I’ve been skating for I think 14 years, and I’m from Gaffney, South Carolina.

I know where Gaffney is because we both live here in Spartanburg, but for the people who aren’t familiar with Gaffney, what was it like trying to skate in a small town like that?
In Gaffney there aren’t a lot of spots, big busts everywhere. You’re not getting much time to skate anywhere. Everybody stays pretty mad about it, because nobody else is really skating. You’re like one out of the three kids in the town, so they know you. But traveling to Greenville, I get to enjoy the skate scene there, which is a lot bigger.

I want to bring that up next. Being in Spartanburg, and Gaffney especially, which is a small town, there’s not a lot of skate spots, but we’re like an hour away from so many of the “major” cities like Charlotte, Asheville, and Columbia. What’s it like having access to so many different, bigger cities around the Carolinas?
Growing up, I didn’t really think about it like that. I was just skating, but I met this guy named Michael who was at the park, and one day he was like, “Hey, let’s go street skate.” So, we’d do that, but then he was like, “These spots are getting stale, let’s go other places” and he would take me to Charlotte a lot. We’d go to Winston-Salem, we went to the beach for contests, and just all over the place.

Do you have any specific rituals before skating?
Stretching and looking at spots for ideas normally gets me right, of course watching a video or two. I’ve been listening to some 90’s rock and BigXthaPlug recently. 

What was the first skate video that made a big impact on you?
That’s Life by Foundation. Bro, I watched a lot of skate videos before that, but once I watched that video, I would just analyze it. I had it on DVD and would just pop it in my PS3 and pause it, slow-mo it, just staring at the spots out in Cali. It’s just completely different from over here. The sets look way bigger than they actually are. 

What is the perfect day of skating for you?
An ideal day is stacking clips and hitting news spots. Waking up in a new city, prepared with new spots, screenshots, and pins ready. Also, just staying active. I like to hang around here a lot and skate with the homies at Companion and whatnot, but there’s nothing better than finding and skating a new spot.

How did you find skating?
I was probably six or seven years old. My sister had a skateboard, and she was into it, kind of getting good, like kickflip and tre flip on flat. I would always want to ride her skateboard, and it was this big thing; like, “No! That’s hers, don’t mess with it, you’re gonna break it” or whatever. So, they eventually bought me one, and then she quit skating, and I just got attached to it from there.

How significant do you think being affiliated with Matt, Tre, and Companion Skateshop and skatepark has been for you?
Skating alone certainly isn’t the best, so when I finally got around to going to Greenville more consistently and getting in with those dudes, it eventually just sprouted into me being on the team. It was really nice to have friends who were like-minded, who were trying to skate, film, go places, go to contests, trying to really do it. It’s helped a lot, not only with progression, but just getting it done. Someone’s always skating or trying to go to a spot. It has certainly helped a lot with understanding how to go about filming and promoting myself as a brand. 

Let’s talk about Eastern Hour for a second, because that’s the new new. Boards haven’t officially dropped yet, but they’re coming, and you have been riding for them for how long? What’s that been like for you?
At least eight months. Eastern Hour has been hooking it up with boards, and that’s been really nice. Not only is it consistent boards coming in, but also consistent shape since they are through Chapman Skateboards, which is super important to me, especially when you’re trying to do things you’re not as comfortable with. You don’t have to get used to a new board shape from the shop before you try the new thing. You can just set up a board, bam, right back to it. So, consistency has really helped out a lot. And then also having like-minded people trying to aim towards a goal with you and get it done. They are really motivated to do that, and I think that it’s helped me to kind of figure out where I’m trying to go, what I’m trying to do with it. 

Your friend Ben Swehla is who you have been filming with, yeah? I know sometimes it can be a difficult transition from filmer to skater when you are at the spot. How do you guys keep the vibes right when you lay the camera down and pick your board up to go after a clip?
Still working out the kinks, but everyone is really helpful, even on the stuff aside from skating. So I might skate around at a spot for a little bit, but if somebody’s really feeling it, they got a trick in mind, and it’s sick, then yeah, it deserves to be filmed. I’m more than happy to film another skater, bar them up, if you will. 

What do you think it is about skating that keeps you hungry for more?
Simple. Finding out you can when you thought you couldn’t.

I have a message from Austin and Luis at Eastern Hour. With this first chapter dropping soon, Austin wanted to find a way to “better” support Ams. So they wanted you to know that you have been killing it, busting your ass, keeping your head on, and always handling your business professionally. You are inspiring, so they have dedicated an Am inspired graphic to help you keep pushing forward. It’s tough out there these days in the industry, and most Ams don’t get paid. They figured out a way to make that something that can actually happen. The graphic should be out by the time this comes out. 
Crazy. I certainly didn’t expect this, dude. It looks sick too. Luis kills it with the artwork. That’s the only art piece, outside of the graphics I’m skating right now, that is from this first chapter. It’s really sick. 

So congratulations, and outside of the homies that already know, congratulations on getting married in April!
Thank you, I appreciate it. 

Are you working on any projects that people can be looking for this year? Anything you are stoked on in 2025?
Sitting on a good bit of footage and still going out. Companion videos are on the way. Stoked to travel a bit more this year and get these parts finished. Contest circuits are gonna be fun too. Me and Ben have a lot of footage, we’re kind of trying to figure out where we need to put it and how we want to sort it. We’re going to probably drop that pretty soon. And then we’re working on the main Companion video.

Five years from now, will you still be out there in the streets, at the parks, filming, contests?
I’ll be skating till I physically can’t anymore. The body only lets us do this for so long. So go as hard as ya can now. It doesn’t last forever!

You have been able to skate the West Coast and the East Coast. For people who may not have had that opportunity, can you share some details on the differences between skating the two?
LA has so many spots that are just perfect and still blow my mind. but the East Coast has some of the coolest rail spots I’ve ever seen, just crusty as fuck. A lot of proud history over here with NY, Philly, and Tampa. I’ve only been to Tampa so I still have a lot of ground to cover over here on the East Coast. 

How important do you think it is to keep that culture alive?
Got to represent the East Coast, too many good skaters and amazing places to skate to just sleep on it.

Any shoutouts or thanks, now is the time.
My wife’s been amazing, very supportive, so big shout out to her. And all the people who support me, Austin, Matt, Tre, Luis, you–you’ve been helping out a tremendous amount being a part of that whole process especially, with me getting on Eastern Hour. Thank you to all you guys, Shoutout to God.