Interview by Jawn Cena.

Yo, what’s good? You in the car?

No, I just rode my bike over the bridge to my job to get my board before going to the airport. 

Where are you going?

I’m about to go to L.A. for a week or so. Just figured I’d go now before it’s too late. I’m trying to see all of my homies who just moved out there.

How was living in Seattle?

It was really sick. I lived in Seattle for about three years, kinda starting in 2015. It was the polar opposite of living in a suburban town in North Carolina and then just going to a city with hella skaters, hella skate friendly and way more diversity. It was really sick. So many people I met out there I still talk to all the time. Some live out here now. 

What made you come to New York?

I originally grew up on the East Coast and a bunch of my friends and family I grew up with were all on the East Coast and moved to New York. It was kinda isolating, being the only one on the West Coast, and it was so expensive trying to visit all the time. It kinda got to the point where I wanted to move to L.A. or New York to try to pursue skating. I figured that the skating I liked to watch was in New York, and all of my friends and family were over here anyways, so it just made sense to come out here. 

What kind of skating do you like to watch?

When I first moved here I was super into watching the Quartersnacks edits and the Johnny Wilson edits. It was the first montages where it seemed like everyone was skating one spot, kinda way more relatable, seeing or hearing about those dudes growing up on the east coast, like Nik Stain or people like that. I feel like now I only watch videos from the ‘90s. Old 411s,  stuff like that, or old FTC videos. The apartment that I live in right now has so many old skate video VHS’s that have been collected by all the people who have lived there. It’s crazy, I feel like I haven’t even watched all of them.

You live in a skate house?

I guess so. Everyone who lives there skates. It’s me, Neil Herrick, Neils Bennett, and Sam McKenna. Sam shoots photos and both Neils are pro!

What’s up with Titus?

Titus (one of one?) is a project I started towards the end of lockdown. I started printing a bunch of bootleg band tees. There was a tee I wanted that was $100, so I thought that it’d be so much cheaper if I just printed one out super shitty through some tee shirt service online. It turned into me finding a way to print on clothes at home and making my own shirts. I got super inspired to make collages and more art pieces after Covid and it translated to trying to make collage art pieces on the clothes. I think it was just me trying to make clothes for myself and people would just ask me for it. I started making more than one copy whenever I’d make something for myself and it’s kinda just like that right now. 

Have you ever made a zine before?

I made a zine one time in Seattle of iPhone photos, and then a little playlist at the end printed out on the back. I made maybe  20 copies. I’ve actually been working on a risograph print out zine this past week. My friend Patrick has a studio in Bed-Stuy and I’ve been printing a bunch of scans of my drawings on risographs. It’s super easy to print out a bunch of copies at once so I’ve been collecting photos until there’s enough to make a zine out of it. 

I hear you’re working on an all drop in part?

Haha yeah actually. I feel like I’ve been working on it for two years. I don’t know if it’ll ever come out. I have so many drop in clips on ice. I don’t know if it’ll be a drop in part, but maybe a part without ollieing, for sure. I feel like that hasn’t really been done. 

How many times has your moped gotten stolen?

Fuck dude,  twice? It got stolen once from outside my apartment. I had it back for maybe a week and then it got stolen again from in front of my job, even with the back tire locked up too. I was working one day and had it locked up in front of the store, just the tire locked. I came out after work and that shit was gone. I was so shocked after just getting it back and had no idea what to do just feeling so defeated. 

But you got it back, what happened?

I missed a call from my friend Levi from Seattle. When I hit him back he sent me this photo of this dude with dreadlocks and a banjo riding my moped. He said that when he walked up to the dude he wasn’t intimidating at all, and that he bought the moped on Craigslist. Maybe 10 days after that I went to this coffee shop to meet my homie Deandre to get a jacket from him, and he was like not trying to link up with me at all, he was like, “dude just meet me after work.” For some reason I just wanted to get the jacket from him right then so while I was waiting for him at the coffee shop I just saw this dude playing the banjo with dreadlocks and I figured this would be the only dude in Bushwick to fit this description, but when I walked up to him he was completely nice and was like, “yeah, I just moved here from SF and I bought it on Craigslist. I’ll go home, just watch my banjo real quick, I’ll be right back.” The dude was like, “I’ve had my moped stolen before, I just bought this to have a bike to work on,” or some shit, and was just the least aggressive dude ever. 

It’s still January, starting the year off. Got any goals for the year?

That’s a good one. For the year I feel like I definitely want to try to film more and put out another part. I’m working on getting my passport right now. I want to go to London and see some homies I know out there. Work on filming and skating more. Focus on being out all the time and not just chill, you know?