Photos by Geoff Graham
Were you born in Baltimore?Yes, I was born in Baltimore but my mom always wanted to live in Florida so me, my stepdad, and my mom moved. I did third grade all the way to the start of ninth grade there and then moved back. I started skating in Florida and then I moved to Dundalk, which is a suburb in Baltimore. That dude Jason Chapman, Rodney Jones, Bucky Lasek, and tons of skateboarders were from there and I met them all and I started skating with all those guys.
What was the local shop back then?It was called Sports Elite and that’s who all the higher up’s skated for, like Bucky, Sean Green, all the heavy hitters skated for them. It was like a soccer store that sold skate shit, you know how they had those back in the day? And then after that, Jason Chapman opened Charm. I rode for them for a little bit and that was a falling out, and then Kelly’s Boardshop was in Fell’s Point and I skated for them and worked for them.
Did you ever skate for Pitcrew? There was a video part, right?Yeah, so I befriended Mark Nichols early on when he was in college. Basically him, Pat Smith, and Jake Rupp, we would all meet up in Baltimore, so I filmed that 153 part. Was I ever really on Pitcrew? No, because I rode for Theory, but they’re my mentors and the best people on earth.
Do you remember your first photo or ad in a magazine?Yes! There was a company on the East Coast called 13 Colonies, which was a dope ass name and me, Brian Seber, Donny Barley, I Kenny Hughes all rode for them. So anyway, Geoff shot the photo and it was in a Big Brother, I think issue two. It was a switch flip sequence down a six stair that’s still here in Baltimore.
So when did you leave Baltimore to do the California thing? For a while I spent time going out to California and then also going up to New England a bunch. I got sponsored by a company called Media, which was me, Tom Krauser, Jonas Wray RIP, Dave Duran, Josh Neher, JP Jadeed, and Ryan Denman. Back then there were no cell phones, no internet, so those dudes are like “what the fuck are you doing in Baltimore? We don’t know if you’re skating.” I’d never been on a plane in my life and they paid for half my plane ticket. I had just graduated high school in 1995 and flew to California to meet everybody because I was just on flow for the company. After that trip I came home and got on Media fully.
Would you just kind of bounce back and forth between Baltimore, California, and New England?Yes, until I turned pro. I don’t remember what year it was but I made pretty decent money. That’s when Transworld was like milk and army ads, thick as shit. So I was able to get my own place with a dude that I worked with at a cheesesteak place in Long Beach. Eventually Media went out of business and I was working at a Sears. So I decided to move back home to Baltimore and I met back up with an ex-girlfriend from when I was like 18 and that’s my wife Trisha now. But I actually moved back to Philly at first. I knew Philly had more for me and more limelight I guess, and I always liked Philly, it’s fantastic.
How did you link up with the New England scene?So me, Toebee Parkhurst, Rodney Torres, Dan Pensyl, Vinny Ponte, we all rode for NSS, Nice Skate Shoes. They were fucking dope. So I get a call from the TM and he’s like “Hey there’s a demo in Portugal, you got a passport?” and I did. So that’s where I met Toebee and then I started going on NSS trips to New England. My first time up there I befriended Adam Clark, who built all the ramps. Amazing skateboarder, but he also filmed, so I started staying at his parents’ house. That’s when I met Dan Dziuban, that was 2000, and I started doing skate camps with Dan at Junction skatepark.
Dan wanted to shoutout that you filmed four parts for Theory vids and he was wondering which video was the most fun?Oh the best one and best part I think I’ve ever put out was the Four Seasons video. Tobee edited that and he did such a good job. He did all daytime clips and then it switched into all nighttime stuff. That premiere was huge. It was awesome.
Alright, so back to California. You were in tons of 411’s, how did that come about?Dave Duran lived in Costa Mesa with Ricki Bedenbaugh. They had this amazing apartment that was rent controlled, in a beautiful neighborhood and that dude Ryan DeWitt, RIP, amazing human, he was living in the garage. He moved out and I took it over. Ricky was the main editor for 411, so he would come home and be like “Gary, got any footage for chaos?” I got an opener in 53 which was like a cover of a magazine for me.
I found this crazy old spread ad for Volcom where you and Bam each have a sequence on it. How’d you get on the Volcom team?Dude funny story about that. So when I rode for Kelly’s boardshop, the owner made a sponsor-me tape and he loved Volcom and apparently loved porn too. So at the end of the sponsor-me tape he put porn after the skating and I guess the dudes at Volcom were stoked on it. So yeah, me and Bam had that ad, it was in Baltimore. I think it was a switch 180 that Frank Allen shot at the pavilion gap downtown where the skatepark is now.
Pat Smith wants to know why are you so damn good still and is it because of Maryland crabs?Well I don’t think I’m that good. I just love skateboarding and that’s all I do. You know what I mean? I skate more skateparks now, and it’s definitely not the Maryland crabs.
So you opened Vu in 2008 and you now have two locations?
How has it been?I talk to a lot of shop owners and I feel like we’re all numb right now. We all don’t know what to do. We’re all okay, but it’s not great. It seems like the ages of 13 to 20 aren’t skating. My skate camps are completely full, but those kids might not be diehard skateboarders, you know what I mean? We’re in, I wouldn’t say a recession, but people are just scared to spend money.
Skate camps are a big part of what you do. What sort of impact does that have on your business and your community?
What’s the best and worst thing a customer can do coming into the shop?I think the best thing is when a kid is extremely stoked to be in the shop and buys his first board and picks every piece out. There’s nothing like it, it’s like watching a kid learn his first kickflip. It does it for my soul. I think the worst thing would be, and it happens often, is somebody comes in with a bunch of shit that they bought either on Amazon or Zumiez or whatever and wants me to put it all together. I try not to be a dick, but I always use the analogy, if it’s an older kid, I’ll be like “You don’t bring a beer to your local bar and ask them to open it and put in a glass for you.” So what we do is charge a $10 service charge.
Best and worst thing a brand can do for a skateshop?I’m not gonna call anyone out, but basically you get their new product and then you see an ad on social media where the shit’s 20% off with free shipping from their website. Companies need a shop because we’re cool and we’re core, and the backbone of skateboarding, but at the end of the day we’re the middleman. They don’t fucking really need us. You can just go direct to that company. Except Deluxe. Deluxe is the best in the world of skateboarding.
Shout out Jim Thiebaud.Obviously. Absolutely dude. They don’t even sell online! If you hit up Deluxe and are looking at Spitfires and you live in Maryland they’re gonna go “Oh you live here? Go to Vu or go to Embark” You know what I mean? So they’re probably losing tons of money by doing that shit.
Yeah, but they’re gaining cultural cache. People know that they’ve got the deepest understanding of the ecosystem.Exactly, yes. You can run a shop off of Deluxe only. As far as hard goods. If you just carried Deluxe, you could probably stay in business. I’m gonna say Skateone too, they’re absolutely amazing. I’ll hit up companies to get stuff for skate camps, like whatever they can give me. Skateone will send mini logo decks, they’ll send completes, they send so much shit, and they continuously do that. And the dude from Skateone, Jersey Mike, he’ll show up to my camp and he’ll give out Swiss bearings to my instructors and do a best trick contest. So Skateone is the next best, as far as my business and what they do for me.
Any last words, shout outs, or things you wanna say?I just wanna thank anyone that’s ever walked into the shop. Without people supporting us we wouldn’t be here, and I just want people to know how important that is. It’s everything. Thank you guys, obviously. My wife and my kids, and skateboarding, it’s the best thing on earth.
