Daniel Castillo’s eclectic trick selection has been shaped through decades of shredding his own path but his moves have been continually influenced by skaters he’s met along the way, skate videos he watched and photos he’s seen.
His varied appreciation for all types of skating is clear in his sick clips in Girl and Chocolate videos and in the dope shots taken of him over the years. So we were stoked when we hit him up to ask about the skaters, videos and tricks that have stoked him out since day one and that he’s still got on rotation and he had lots to mention.
So here’s the first of a series of favourites interviews we’ve done with Daniel, this one focusing on all of the different eras he’s rolled through, from the 80s to now, to get you hyped to go and watch these classic and recent bangers for yourself.
Daniel, Handplant, Shot by Yoon Sul
So, what was the first video part you saw that got you stoked to skate?
Okay, the first part that I can remember that I was really stoked on, where I was like, what the fuck? That was Tommy Guerrero‘s part in Future Primitive. He has the first part in it, just skating street.
That part was so rad because he’s just skating in a neighbourhood. He’s not even skating on any ramps or shit. That’s probably the first street part; it’s one of the first street parts ever, maybe, you know, and that part was definitely hard for me to get past that part, I would always just watch that, stop the video, and then rewind it.
Sick, so everybody talks about his bush Ollie that he does. What made Tommy’s Bush Ollie so special in your opinion?
Well, honestly, at the time, you weren’t seeing many Ollies, probably, you know? Definitely, I wasn’t. So that was fucked up, you know? But honestly, that’s when I first started skating. So that was just when I saw the Ollie. I was like, oh, I gotta learn that.
You know, maybe somebody who had been skating a lot longer than I had at the time was like, I don’t want to learn that. You know, who knows?
I mean, I felt probably a lot of people liked that part because anybody could just skate down the street and do tricks, and just them showcasing that was really cool, you know?
For sure
I remember thinking about that and his gear. I remember he had that sick yellow shirt. He had a yellow button-up. I remember thinking, damn, his gear is sick. I felt like that about Tommy Guerrero for a while. I was like, dude, he’s always dressed nice. You know what I mean? I could watch any old footage of Tommy and be psyched to go skate. There’s old footage of him skating Jim Thiebaud‘s Ramp in the late ’90s, and even now you’re like, fuck, this is sick.
What was it that got you stoked on Hokus Pokus?
Yeah. So Hokus Pokus. The Visalia skate camp section. Dude, I would always want to go there back in the day. But that section would get me stoked to skate. Also, any Matt Hensley footage obviously would get me stoked.
So, you could throw this video into it too. It’s another video I used to watch a lot. It was the ‘This Is Not The New H-Street Video’. It was like an H-Street promo video. They skated to some classical music in that one. Dude, that video was such a progressive video, I felt, because they were doing a lot of new shit.
Who had your favourite part in Hokus Pokus?
Matt Hensley, yeah.
Which other parts in Hokus Pokus still stand out to you?
Sal Barbier‘s part. He had the first part in that video. Swamp Rat. Super good. I remember him saying that.
I can’t name the tricks he did off the bat, but I just remember he had short hair, light blue shorts, and Boardsliding a lot. I think he has the last section in that This is Not The New H-Street Video.
That’s the video where he does a Kickflip Boardslide down a rail and a Blunt Kickflip on a mini ramp. I think he does a bunch of stuff. So that part used to influence me a lot.
Sick. What other videos from the 90s still inspire you?
Sean Sheffey’s life video part was so good.
Also, the Donger and John Reeves, their video part in that video was fucked up. Also because Donger does a Front Three on flat in that video part, and that made me want to do that. I think I learned Front Threes right after that, honestly, off a curb.
Kien ‘Donger’ Lieu had one of the most stylish Front 360s
Dude. I feel like looking back at Donger‘s footage, dude, he was so good, you know?
Everything he did was fucking amazing. I saw a clip of him where he’s doing an Ollie Method Grab pretty much off a curb. That was so fucked up. I’m like, how do you do that? You know what I mean? Just everything that guy would do was so sick.
Donger, Curb Cut Ollie, Shot by Ed Dominick
Donger and Jeremy Wray were nailing huge Ollies casually at a time when basically nobody was Ollieing that high.
Yeah, he was going bigger than a lot of people, getting high and gap-wise, you know what I mean?
Donger, Curb Cut Method, Shot by Deville Nunes
I feel that yeah, he just went big. That dude was sick. I remember out here in the States, at schools, janitors drive these little carts, you know, to clean the schools and dude, he either Ollied one or Kickflipped one and that’s still crazy. I can’t believe he did that. He pretty much did it over a car, a mini car, you know? It was off flat.
Donger, Car Ollie, Shot by Ed Dominick
So what, these were convertible cars?
Oh no, it was over the back, the back of a flatbed truck type deal? It’s crazy, man. That dude was a superhero too, you know, the stuff he would do.
Yeah, there are multiple photos of him just straight up Ollieing over cars.
Crazy, right? I think he Ollied a huge bar that kids would play on in the playground. I remember some crazy photos of him doing that, you know?
Donger, Bar Ollie, Shot by Ed Dominick
He was such a big influence. I mean, even though by that time I wasn’t looking at skaters like that because I was already sponsored. But he has a Hosoi vibe.
Right. Did you ever meet Donger?
I haven’t seen him in a long time, but when I would see him as a teenager when I went to San Diego, I was like, whoa, you can see that dude’s aura, you know what I mean? He was sick.
That car is pretty much the same size as the Tyshawn Car Ollie. It’s a two-seater coupe and he’s boosting an Ollie right over the middle of it!
Yeah. Crazy. I remember one time Reese Forbes came with us on a Girl and Chocolate tour. I think we were in Atlanta just skating down the street, and dude, that guy. You know, certain people you see in person, you’re like, holy shit, that dude’s gnarly. That’s Reese Forbes. Have you ever seen Reese skate in person?
Never had the chance
Reese is just one of those dudes, just power. I remember skating down the street next to Reese, and it was probably like a three-stair or two-stair handrail, you know? And it goes to the sidewalk, right? And it has a kink. So just, rolling on the sidewalk, he Ollies over the kink. You know what I mean? And dude, to me, it was over waist-high. I was like, what the fuck? That fool just Ollied that shit, like we’re going down the street fast. You know what I mean? I was like, wow, that’s some raw power, dude. I always trip out on that.
Also, about a year or two ago, I was hanging with Danny Hamaguchi. That dude is good too. We were leaving a bar. I remember I was kind of drunk. You know the freeway barriers on the street? Dude, he Kickflipped it, and I was like, you just Kickflipped that? That’s crazy. Dude, we’re just skating. I was like, dude, you’re fucked up. I can’t believe you did that…
Right, how tall are those?
Basically, dude, that’s waist-high. I was like, I can’t believe you just Kickflipped that, dude! We were just skating down the street. I was like, dude, you know, that makes me so stoked about skating. You know what I mean? Just random gnarliness that no one films.
Yeah, Kyle Wilson’s been killing it like that in London
Yeah, Kyle Wilson has that line in the Beyond The Third Wave video, dude, this line where he does a Backside Flip over this gap. He does a Switch Front 180 over something, and he does this sick Backside Powerslide where he almost slides it into these people. Dude, that line is amazing. That makes me want to go skate. Yeah, that Powerslide gets me hyped. You know what I mean? I watch that and I’m like that was so sick. I just want to skate. Dude, he is so good.
Kyle and Heitor Da Silva, those dudes get me hyped to skate with just their raw talent. I mean with all of those guys I just mentioned, Danny included, you’re like, damn, dude, that’s why you’re so good.
Any other parts and videos you’ve watched over the years that you’re still hyped on?
Honestly, when I was 15 or 16, I would just watch all the World tapes that we had. Shit that never came out.
So the stuff we would film between New World Order and before everybody quit, I guess. We would have these transfer tapes; I would watch that a lot and get stoked. Just even though dudes like Socrates Leal, you know, the filmer, would say, “Don’t be watching the tapes. You’re fucking up the footage.” But we would still do it anyway.
It would be so cool, man. It would be a bunch of Rick Howard’s footage. Or it would be like the Blind video that was supposed to come out but never did. You know what I mean? I’d watch all that because, around that time, there was a World skate park, you know?
Yeah, I’ve heard stories about that place, a lot of new tricks were done there
Yeah, they had all the editing equipment there. So we would just bug out and watch all that shit. It was sick. Ronnie Bertino footage that no one’s ever seen, you know? All that stuff was so cool. I felt like, around that time, that was very influential. I know nobody else really saw that. I mean, some of that stuff came out in videos. But then, yeah, I would say that was influential for sure. You know? Then after that, I’m gonna just say stuff from the ’90s, right? I mean, you know, the Mouse video. Even though I was in it, I’d watch it a lot.
Mouse is a legendary video to be in.
Yeah, dude. At that time, we were all skating together. You know, that team era, we were together so much. You know what I mean?
