Interview with Seth Zwick by Corey Gibson
Photos by Aaron Sterwerf

Seth Zwick is wrapping up his second full length video, Frog’s Mountain. Over a nice tall boy, and after a sundown session in the streets of Cincinnati, Seth talks about his video, how he is filming VX until the day he dies, and how Google Maps has unlocked some Midwestern gems.

You have to explain the name of the video. Why Frog’s Mountain?
There’s a local radio station called WEBN. They put on this crazy fireworks show every Labor Day weekend. Their mascot’s a frog and the slogan is “Coming to you live from high atop Frog’s Mountain W-E-B-N!” They play crazy music and it’s basically Cincinnati lore.

How long did it take to film Frog’s Mountain?
Coming up on two and a half years. And the last project took about the same, two and a half years. Just keeping it steady when it comes to filming. After this one, we’re gonna be filming for a couple months and then putting out edits every so often.

What’s the difference between this video and your last video Skyline? Or is nothing different and this is just Cincinnati skateboarding?
The difference is I took a little more time when it came to editing for Frog’s Mountain. With Skyline it was more or less just putting clips over top of music. And with this I want to add the photos people have been taking. I want to make a zine that goes with the video. So when people get the DVD they can see the photos and be with us on the session when they’re watching the video. Like they can see some of the behind the scenes stuff. It’s not just about the skating.

You got spots in Cincinnati, Chicago, Puerto Rico, where else?
Indiana, the tri-state, there are some spots there too. There are some clips from New York too. I guess just all over really.

Where was the best spot? Or what was the best trip?
I don’t know what the best spot is. But the best trip for filming was probably to Puerto Rico. We spent a week there. We had a ton of dudes, the vibes were high. We had a crazy story with our Airbnb host. He wasn’t expecting us to show for some reason and the Airbnb was trashed from the night before so we had to basically chill outside until he cleaned it all up. It was a huge mess. To compensate us for having to wait around he gave us, and I’m not shitting you, like a pound of weed. It wasn’t good weed but hey, free weed.

Wasn’t everyone calling it skante?
Yeah. Spanish for skunk I think.

Have you lost any footage?
Knock on wood, no. Because I’m filming with the tapeless recorder for the VX so it’s really easy to lose footage because you can lose track of clips and film over them accidentally. But after every session, I go home and upload everything so next time I go out, I put the card back in and I know all the footage is on my computer. I know I can just start fresh.

Any tricks that got away? Any tricks you wish someone landed?
Scotty Z doing the backside tailslide at Jane Hoop. The spot is basically gone now. It used to be these concrete banks over a flat bar. It was pretty buck. The bar is tall, the ground is rough, typical Cincinnati spot. There’s footage of it in old Habitat videos. Danny Renaud and Tim O’Connor skated it in Mosaic. So it’s a classic ‘Nati spot. I was showing the DC dudes around and Brian Panebianco knew about the spot. I told him there was no runway anymore. It’s all grass. He said “fuck it, let’s get some plywood to put down” so we went to Home Depot and got tons of wood for the runway. And after the DC dudes got their tricks on it, he told me to keep the wood. So, we stashed it in the woods and Scotty Z tried the back tail maybe four times. But who knows? We still got time so maybe it’ll happen.

Let’s say someone is coming to Cincinnati to skate, where do you tell them to go? Do you tell skaters to go to Skyline?
For eating, yes. And Thai Express. For skating, when you come to visit you have to go to The DO banks. That’s a given. That’s the most famous skate spot in Cincinnati besides the EPA hubbas. The EPA hubbas are unfortunately knobbed now. Actually that same time with the DC dudes, we took the knobs off the hubbas. But right after that trip, they reknobbed it and they really knobbed it this time. If you were to try and unknob it, you’d be taking chunks out of the hubba. But skate spot wise, you have to check out DO. That’s where the boneless was invented.

What’s the worst part about being a Cincinnati skateboarder?
I guess we all do this, but getting stuck at spots. Whenever someone finds a good, new spot here, we get stuck there for days in a row. I guess people are just dediskated. They want those tricks.

Alright. Let’s keep it positive. What’s the best part about being a Cincinnati skateboarder?
The best part is spots are not blown out how they are in L.A. or wherever. There is random stuff everywhere. You can find some weird crusty gems that no one has ever skated. It looks different. It looks unique. Like if you watch a New York video, you know it’s filmed in New York. Skating in the Midwest, the spot could be in Cincinnati or it could be in Gary, Indiana. You never know where the spots are. So many good, hidden gems in the Midwest.

Frog’s Mountain is filmed with a VX. Is the next video VX too, or are you done with VX?
I don’t know man. I’ve already had more complications trying to get my HD camera to work than I have with my VX.

So VX for life?
I mean personally, I want to film VX for the rest of my life. If I can, I will. I’m not converting to HD any time soon. Sometimes I pull out the HD camera if someone is in town and they need a second angle. But for the most part, I’m filming VX.

Tell the readers what it means to be a Google mapper.
Google mapping has unlocked a lot of spots here in Cincinnati. I mean everywhere really. For our trip to Puerto Rico, we Google mapped the entire trip. We didn’t ask for spots at all. We just watched videos, looked for stuff in the background like addresses, street names, buildings, statues, whatever and then tried to find them on Google Maps.

Those are the tricks of the trade huh?
Yeah, you gotta be on high alert and you gotta be patient. It’s tedious. You might be in a neighborhood but then you end up in a cul-de-sac with nothing and you just wasted 15 minutes going up and down all these streets in street view mode and striking out. Every skater knows most spots are at schools, or churches, or downtown. You just have to lurk around those spots and see what’s out there. Sometimes you don’t find shit. That’s how skating is. That’s how Google mapping is. But sometimes you find some gems. Just got to keep that third eye open.

Alright let’s wrap it up. Any shoutouts?
First and foremost, shout out to my wife, Rachel, for letting me do this video and taking so much time with it. I want to thank everyone who is a part of the video, the dudes in front of the lens, and the guys taking photos, and the guys helping with titles. Thank you to the skate shops in Cincinnati. Shoutout Mom. Shoutout Dad.

Last thoughts?
If you come to the ‘Nati, just hit me up. I’ll be here. I’ll be out skating.