Favorite thing about Philly?
Everything man, just the streets. Everything’s a skateable distance. It’s like a little big city. You can skate from one side of the city to the other on a cruiser board like it ain’t shit, no hills all flat land.
What does dropping trees mean?
That’s what I do on the weekends. My grandfather’s got a couple acres up in Reading, up on the old mountain. He burns wood for heat so I go up there and drop trees, split shit by hand. My buddy and I go up there and just handle shit. It’s like a second hobby, chopping wood.
Favorite spots?
Stonecliff, little skatepark in Reading. Banging. It’s right next to a river so you can go skate, drink beer there all day, and then there’s a river right next to it so you can go fish. And then probably just Philly in general, the whole fucking city I like skating that shit just ripping the streets. I like it all, as long as you’re on four wheels doing kickflips, it don’t matter where you’re at.
How did you get on Selfish?
Brain Wenning actually hooked it up. Right when they were starting out he was on that shit, he just hit me up one day said he had some shit going down with Jereme Rogers, Selfish, and I said I was down. He hooks it up, He’s always looked out, good mother fucker.
What was the Mi Amor tour like?
It was tight man I had just come off a two month Axion tour, I saw Jereme at the New York trade show, he said, “You wanna go to Spain, we’re going in two weeks?” I was like yea, I’m down. So he just tossed us out there, he had an apartment out there for the month just skated everyday. Got it crackin.
What do you think of contests? Have you skated any big one?
I don’t really like contests much. It’s cool to go out to them, get to see a lot of people you don’t see much. I’ll admit I’m not big on contests but the biggest one I skated was out on the Dew tour for a little bit that was tight. I just kinda slid in there and then they asked me back for another one out in Utah. It’s tight out on the Dew tours, got fucking catered food, got a medical room where you go in there, say your back hurts, you get free back rubs and shit. It’s banging just kinda live large for a bit, ha but beyond that contests suck, you know. It is what it is, you gotta do it.
What’s the best trip you’ve been on?
Probably one trip we took with Axion it was cross country we drove from Philly to Cali. The homie Jay Strickland, he lived in Philly for a few months prior and he was moving out there so Plain, the dude that runs Axion, set it up to rent a van and drive us out there. We stopped at a bunch of shops and demos whatnot. It was me, Austin Kanfoush, Jay Strickland, and Mark Brandstetter, and Nelly Mundo the filmer homie. We took a van out there, just slept at rest stops and skate parks and shit the whole way. It was tight real low budget trip, sleeping wherever the fuck.
Favorite place you’ve been to?
It’s hard to say… Philly is pretty tight. I like Philly, and I like where I’m from Reading. We got the mountains. Beyond that probably San Francisco they got the hills. Just fuckin bomb hills wherever you’re going, just mash. Leave the bar and next thing you know you’re fuckin going 30 down a hill, nothing beats that shit. I’d say probably San Francisco and maybe Barcelona cause you can drink on the streets out there it’s pretty tight.
Were you on the news the other day?
Yea we were down there skating Black Diamond fuckin channel 6 news rolls up. Dudes are standing there with the mics, and fuckin big shoulder camera and the dude workin there’s like “yea they’re filming some shit for the 6 o’clock news just go out and do some tricks.” So we were in there filming. We had like a 15 man feeble grind on the flat rail, everyone got on that shit, I don’t know if it’s gonna be on there, but there was probably like 6 fools on the rail at one time.
What’s it like chilling with Jereme Rogers?
It’s tight he’s a… I don’t really know how to put him, he’s one hell of a human being. Excellent mother fucker. A lot of people may hate on him or what he’s done or what he’s doing but if you ever actually chill with the dude he’s fuckin one of the smartest dudes I know, just hang out with him and you learn shit. Every other thing he says is quotable. He knows what he’s doing. One of my favorite human beings. You seen him rap? Oh yea when we were on that trip he’ll bust out in some rhymes like whatever. It’s sick you know, he just does that shit cause that what he likes to do. That’s what he wants to do. Can’t hate on a mother fucker that just doing his thing.
Who are some of yr favorite people to skate with?
Anybody that’s just trying to shred. Most of the homies I hang out with. I skate with KT, Kevin Taylor all the time he’s fuckin one my favorite skaters. I’m influenced a lot from him. He’s been in the game. He’s been skating since before I was even fuckin born. He’s still doing it still shredding harder than anybody probably even knows. That fool’s out every fuckin day shredding. But yea, all my homies, Axion squad, homies from back in Reading that don’t really skate as much no more but they’ll come out on the weekends. I like skating with them cause they still got that old mentality about skating before it became what it is today.
Were you in the circus?
Ah, never in the circus but I did some acrobatics from the age of maybe like five to ten, like forward tumbling and shit, back flips. It helped a little to learn how to fall, and really just become more agile but I stopped doing it when I was 10 years old. I can still do all the backflips and shit. Learning how to just slam your body into shit is good especially for skateboarding.
What’s up with the benihanas?
I love em, just poke that shit out. They just feel good. I like the bennys, a lot of people hate on the benihana but I love it. I back the benihana. Fuckin still do a benny when I’m 50 years old.
