Hey Josh, what have you been up to today?

Pretty much every day I get to the office and I’m gonna work on editing some projects and then plan on getting out early to go film around 4. Then the emails start coming in and the problems start happening and I never open Final Cut Pro, I never go out skating, and I’m stuck in the office until like 8:30 or 9. So today was another one of those.

So when’s the last time you had a steady job that didn’t involve skateboarding?

It’s weird, almost every job I’ve ever had has been skate related. I was the first skater to work at S’nice. that cafe in the West Village that literally every skater has worked at. Aaron Herrington, Puleo, Sabback, Tierney, Shawn Powers…any skater that was part of the scene 8 years ago worked there at some point, but I was the first. I mean I’ve done contract work that wasn’t skateboarding, just like anyone that can hold a video camera in New York.

Would you say it’s unlucky or lucky to have your entire career based in skateboarding?

Um, I wouldn’t use the word luck. I guess it depends on what your goal is. If it’s to make a lot of money, definitely not. But a lot of jobs that normal people do aren’t really worth a lot of money to me anyways. I think what’s cool about working non-skate related jobs is you get to meet people, and broaden your horizons a bit. Be forced to do something you weren’t comfortable with or meet people you would never talk to otherwise.

Would you ever move back to Florida?

Ha, I used to say never just cause I can’t stand the climate of Florida, and when I would go back and visit my family I would just hate it cause it was so slow and boring. But now, I go and for about a week I just love it. You do everything with a car, laundry is in your house, things that you don’t even think about when you live there but here that’s such a luxury having laundry where you live. It’s incredible.

Do you have a favorite up and coming skater in New York?

You know what, there’s this one kid that I really like the combination of his skating and his personality. Kyota Umeki. He’s just this 15 year old little kid who lives in the city and it’s great watching his Instagram cause he is just having more fun than anybody. And he skates really well too! Look him up.

How about your favorite skater who doesn’t skate enough?

Ha, I guess Brian Clark or Keith Denley? Both notoriously good skaters who seemingly don’t skate enough. I mean, they just don’t care about filming, they’re probably skating a ton they just don’t care about getting clips. Which is awesome, but I always like to see those guys.

So how often do you get to skate nowadays?

It’s pretty rare man. My back’s been pretty fucked, so basically it’s like once a week at best. But I try to preserve it, or keep it as little fucked up as possible so I can go out and film with people. If I skate my back is done for a week, and it’s basically the same with filming. So if I skate it feels selfish cause then I’m not gonna be able to film anybody.

Damn, quite the dilemma. So when did you pick up a camera to start shooting photos?

I mean, me and my friends started filming probably when I was like 13, but I didn’t start shooting photos until I was 17 or 18. What I remember it being was living in a city like Tampa and there was just no outlet for the talent and the friends around. There was just so many sick skaters, and a lot of pros there, which was weird too, but there was just no way for these guys to get seen. So after filming, you start seeing clips getting used in 411’s or Transworld videos, or even doing my own, but magazines were really significant back then. I mean getting a photo printed in a magazine felt awesome, it was such an accomplishment for me and for the guys in our scene. Having a Tampa skater get a photo in 1998 in a magazine was a pretty big deal.

So a quarter page photo in a Transworld was more satisfying than having a single clip in a 411?

Yeah, I think so. Back then it was seen as more of an elite media. Things have changed a lot, but back then it was a finite thing, it felt like if you made it into a magazine you were more accepted by the industry.

And what do you think about the current climate of magazines today? What are they here for?

I know…it’s interesting. I guess you could relate it to what’s going on with board brands, where skaters almost feel like indie print magazines have more value or more relatability than the mainstream print magazines. It’s weird because I want to see Transworld make it, I like the guys behind it, and maybe it’s because I grew up in the ’90s, but I still feel a sense of accomplishment if one of my photos gets used. Where in the indie mags I think I appreciate them more and what they’re offering…

So what you’re saying is that the “larger” magazines have a stigma where it’s just not as special or thoughtful as something independent?

Totally, it obviously feels more mass produced in the same way where a big board brand does. There’s a whole generation of skaters that don’t care about a certain mainstream brand, no matter who rides for it or how long it’s been around, because there’s too big of a gap between them and the companies where things are mass produced by children or something. Then there’s the indie mags which feel like a throwback to the DIY side of skateboarding, where it’s more personal and you can feel a closer connection to the people making it for purer reasons instead of just a business. I don’t want to criticize these big magazines or board brands. You want to see them stay so there is a balance, because if you lose these more established entities than the smaller, indie stuff doesn’t feel as special. It’s like the rise of Street League and the Olympics. I don’t like that stuff but it existing makes our culture more valid to us, it gives us a reason to exist.

Very well said. Would you go to the Olympics in 2020? Like if someone offered you a ticket.

I don’t know, it’d be such a weird thing cause I’m not trying to be some activist protesting skateboarding being in the Olympics, but it just doesn’t jive with my view of skateboarding. Growing up in an era where you might as well have been a leper in my high school being a skater. So to see skateboarding accepted that way…I always compare it to hip-hop, where something becomes accepted by the mainstream and it almost becomes the opposite of what it stood for. So hip-hop in the ’90s and the stuff that resonated with me was positive and provided guidance, and now it’s flipped on its head and it’s huge! It’s more powerful than basically any other culture in a capitalist view.

I mean, I just saw on national TV a skateboarder pissing in his mouth while shitting. So apparently that’s where we’re at…

Exactly! I mean I could go off all day about this stuff, but in modern skating there is a huge part of it that is fully jock culture.It has fully adopted the jock culture that the part of skating I identified with was the antithesis of. Cause to me I thought skaters didn’t drink, they didn’t party, they skated and they cast that whole side of things away, They didn’t go to the gym and get buff, and all these other aspects that I guess I consider jock culture. But it made me realize that everyone has their own interpretation on their subculture in skateboarding, but I still think overall that jock shit…it’s just so embarrassing and so no what skateboarding should be standing for, or what attracted me to skateboarding.

But I mean there’s nothing we can really do except like you said, cultivate the other culture that feel is important and forget the rest.

The way I look at it with TOA is I worry that a lot of people see it as some established thing and think it’s bigger than it is. I try and cultivate most of the stuff that I think is important, but does it have the same value? Like if something seems successful, people of my mentality tend to veer away from it. If we were a huge success and making a lot of money I wouldn’t be afraid to say it, but we’re not. I fear that people viewing us as something bigger than we really are could hurt our cause.

How long have you been doing Theories of Atlantis?

I built the blog in conjunction with Static 3, so the site itself has been around for 11 years or more. It always had a little webstore that basically just had my videos and like Joe Perrin’s videos, or some Japanese videos that I thought were cool. The distribution thing started basically when Magenta started. I already had random products on the site, and since I was friends with those dudes, I started carrying a few things and then it just blossomed from there. Shops started asking me how to order the boards and it just slowly grew from there.

Let’s talk some Static shit. What’s the deal with spelling Wenning’s name wrong in Static 1?

It’s funny cause you look back and think “how could you spell that wrong!” but at that point nobody knew who Brian was! I think that footage was from that New Jersey filmer Jim Hodgson. But during the first two Static videos there were dudes that would just call me. I don’t even know how they got my number but they would just hit me up and want to send me footy. So I would get access to all this footage, like Poppalardo and Wenning clips when people didn’t know them yet. And there’s a lot of weird names in the northeast, so I was just making up the spelling and hoping I got it right. Steve Durante was another one, I think Andrew Petillo sent me his footage and I was thinking “is this guy wack or something?” Cause he was so good and no one had ever seen him before. Like I was thinking should I not use this footage? Cause if he’s this good and no one’s putting him on he must have done something wrong.

People would just call you and then mail you a tape?

Yeah, I must have met Strobeck in Philly or something, cause he filmed all kinds of shit for the first video, like the Love Park section he filmed almost the entire thing. Then Andrew Petillo would call me all the time, just asking about how the weather is and shit! It was so random just cause I didn’t know him at all, but then I finally mer him and he was awesome. Everyone knows each other through the internet or Instagram, but back then it was just an underground network of people doing the same thing and there weren’t that many outlets for stuff. Thankfully Andrew I guess thought his footage would be treated well in a Static video or something I could name so many filmers that helped just up down the east coast.

How often do you film on your phone? You make phone edits?

Quite a bit now. Let’s say we go on a trip to Chicago or something. While everyone is warming up I’ll film clips on my phone and then save them, then break out the VX and film the real tricks, then I’ll shoot a photo, then go home and make a little edit for Instagram. But now I feel like everyone puts that initial phone footage right onto their story. And really I just can’t believe the shit people post on Instagram.

Alright, so trend forecast 2019?

You’re talking to the wrong person. But I guess judging by the way pants have been going, I think we’re at the very end of the ’90s fashion-wise right now, so next is going to be the beginning of the iPath era, where everyone is just wearing brown corduroys, a white tee, and some Kenny Reed hat.

Any advice to filmers nowadays?

I’m assuming you mean video makers, not just filmers. I had the same complaint about two video that just recently came out. Everything was filmed long lens and there was no lines! I’ve done a couple of these classes before where I’ve talked to younger kids, and the thing I said to them is “do something different.” Like the Bronze videos, or the early Palace stuff was so unique. I feel like now, more than ever, in a sea of the same thing, if you do anything different it’ll help. If you’re a young filmer and trying to get paid the big bucks move to California and try to work for Primitive or some shit. But if you want to do something different and get noticed, make sure it’s unique to your scene and your culture, and crete some kind of different experience. Because that’s what’s going to make someone remember it.