Interview by Zach Moeller

Photos by Ricky Aponte

What’s your most controversial opinion on skateboarding?

Belt-less clips are not valid. You need a belt. I’ve gotten into a couple arguments recently about that one…

You’re originally from Connecticut?

Yeah, I grew up right outside of Hartford in this town called Farmington. It’s pretty much in the center of Connecticut.

What’s skating like over there?

There’s a pretty good scene and good spots for sure.

There’s also a lot of skateparks, right?

Yeah Connecticut has so many good parks. My local park growing up was Rockwell, in Bristol. To this day it’s my favorite skate park. I’d go there every day after school. We have every type of park you could want. You can pretty much do park tours all of the time and hit multiple parks in different parts of the state, which I miss.

Now you’re living in Boston. Do you feel like skateboarding or school was a bigger draw when it came to moving there?

Both reasons went hand in hand. I only looked at schools in New York and Boston, but at the time New York was a little too hectic for me and Boston felt a little more mellow, almost like Connecticut. But I definitely had to be in a city for school, I wouldn’t have even considered anywhere not in a city. It wasn’t a super hard decision.

Last year you graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, what did you get your degree in and what do you hope to do with it?

Photography. Right now I’m a digital retoucher and printer. I work in a photo lab where we do fine art services. I do a lot of restoration and Photoshop and also scan film and print photos. It’s a pretty good first job to have right out of school, I’m definitely gonna keep it for a while. Maybe someday I’ll look for something to do more with photo stuff, but I’m super into the post-production side of things.

Favorite spot in Boston?

JFK Plaza. Unpopular opinion for sure.

Most overrated spot in Boston?

Everyone’s gonna say Eggs but I love Eggs. I don’t know if I have an answer for that. I’ll say Lynch Family Skatepark.

Is it true that you are the most willing dog sitter in the world?

Dude, it’s very true. If anybody in the greater Boston area needs their dogs watched let me know. I got references.

Why don’t you have your own?

I have my own dog at home but it’s my family’s dog. I work all of the time and if I’m not working I’m skating. It wouldn’t be fair to the dog. When I’m taking care of dogs I put my life on hold. But when I’m skating it just wouldn’t work out. It’s for the dog’s sake. It would be selfish of me to get one right now.

Tell me about your ever growing VHS collection.

It’s kind of a new thing. I had to get a VHS TV for a photo I wanted to make, and it ended up working when I got it. I thrift a good amount and started realizing, “oh there’s a lot of VHS tapes” and I’ve been growing my collection. I have certain ones I’m really searching for, but it’s pretty much just any that I like or think look good. They’re only about 70 cents now. It’s not really the skate video route, more like movies. I refuse to buy anything online, it’s all about the hunt for me. Now I have a VHS TV at my house and one at my studio, so wherever I am, I’m trying to watch something on VHS. I think it’s because of the tangible aspect of it. I like having a physical copy of something and not having it be in a computer.

Favorite tape you have?

Probably Blue Velvet. My studio mate, who I kinda got into VHS with, got it for me. She got that online so it’s technically cheating my rule, but that was the one I really needed.

How did you first get hooked up with the Theories homies?

My homie Shawn Mac from out here in Boston rides for Dialtone. I was trying to figure out something to do for boards and was a huge fan of Theories of Atlantis and all the Static videos. So he was like, “yo let me send your footage to Jake,” he’s the Theories TM, but he does way more than that over there. At the time there was no space, but a year later Shawn sent more of my footage and Jake was like, “let’s see what we can do. We’ll flow you boards and see if a space opens up.” It turned out that Nyle Lovett, Nick Rainey, and I were all in a similar position. Jake wanted to film a video and see what happens, and now it’s developed into a legit board brand. So it was through Shawn Mac and then Jake taking care of me.

What’s up with Ted’s video? I know he’s been working on something.

Ted and I have been working on a homie video for probably three years now. We kinda put it on pause to film for the Theories project. It’s pretty much the same deal though, just doing what we were already doing. There’s technically a deadline for that but none of us are really pressed for it. Right now we’re grinding, trying to finish it up this summer.

Does typical roommate drama ever get in the way of going out and skating?

I mean it does sometimes, but that’s my best homie for sure. He’s a very straightforward person, so if he has a problem he’s not gonna just mope around and not bring it up. He’s helped me to be like that too. We fight all of the time but we never stay mad at each other. We’ve lived together for three or four years so we know what it’s like.

Last year you put out a photo zine. Are you ever going to make another?

I’m actually sitting at my desk right now staring at InDesign because I’m making one for Orchard. Most of the team just went on a trip to Pittsburgh and Ohio. Armin gave a camera to everyone who didn’t have one already and gave us all a bunch of expired and unexpired film.We all shot photos and I processed them all at work. Now I’m putting together a zine that will hopefully come out with this edit we made from the trip. So that’s what I’m doing with zines.

Who are some of the people who keep you going or support you?

Obviously, I need to say my parents and family, nothing would be happening without them. My sister Katie, she just got married so congratulations to her and Lucas. Shawn Mac and Ted, they do so much for me, Ted especially. He cares so much about his filming and puts in so much effort that can sometimes be overlooked. Jake Todd and Josh Stewart at Theories for giving me opportunities I never thought I’d have. My good homie Leif Hauge, I need to shout him out. My boss and coworker, who let me leave work for long periods of time to skate, Armin at Orchard. I need to acknowledge everyone at Cutting Edge, that’s the shop in Connecticut I rode for before Orchard. They did so much for me and still do. Everything that happened before I moved to Boston was thanks to all of those dudes, especially Brian, he deserves a shout out. Everyone else I film with, Ricky who’s always shooting photos and gets truly stoked on his photographs. And to my therapist for sure.

Do you plan on staying in Boston? Would you ever move to New York?

I’m chillin in Boston right now and really love it here. My whole support system is here. I love the smaller city aspect of it and I love my job. But honestly, I just took this trip to New York and had a really good time. Now that I have lived in a city I feel like I can handle it better. It would be sick to be closer to Theories, closer to Philly where Jake is, closer to where my parents are. Also for photo work that’s the place to be. I can’t lie and say it hasn’t crossed my mind over the past week. Either way I’m gonna start taking way more trips out there.

What do you plan on doing when this call ends?

I’m pretty much done with this zine, I just need to send Armin a proof of it. After that, me and my roommates have plans to watch VHS on our porch. My life is pretty predictable.