Spanky is a skater, artist and Art Director who’s pro for Baker Skateboards and Emerica footwear.
Shooting to skate super stardom as a teenager in the early 00s, his ever-evolving bag of sick, stylish tricks has consistently been the focus of every nearby filmer and photographer whenever he has put his board down ever since.
Maturing, pushing himself to learn new moves, as a skater, photographer, video maker and creative professional, his art, photography and videos have become just as unique, defined and recognisable as his skateboarding.
So we were hyped that he was down to join The No Comply Network and have a chat about how he got sponsored by Baker and Emerica, the story behind his Baker 3 and This Is Skateboarding parts, back stories on a series of standout tricks and clips, his thoughts on the skating of Andrew Reynolds, Bryan Herman, Heath Kirchart and Casper Brooker, his art, his personal aesthetic approach to editing photos and creating videos, how he manages Art Direction for Baker and Emerica whilst consistently stacking dope clips, skating in Birmingham, England, James Woodley, Mike Manzoori, coming up in the skate industry as a kid, City Stars, Kareem Campbell, Jeremy Wray, and his favourite skaters, styles, videos, filmmakers and spots of all-time and a lot more.
Read the Spanky interview below to find it all out for yourself.
What’s your full name?
My full name is Kevin Michael Long. Some people call me Spanky.
I remember first watching you skate back in the early 00s, you had a part in a video called Logic?
Yeah, that’s a deep cut.
Your section was dope, the song was rad!
I definitely couldn’t even tell you the song at all.
There were some rad tunes on those Logic videos.
Yeah.
Why did people end up calling you Spanky?
That happened long before I even started skating. As little kids running around with my neighbours and my brother’s friends.
Everyone kind of was giving each other nicknames, just like neighbourhood shit and then for whatever reason, mine just stuck. I think they were referencing this old TV show and then later there was a movie – It’s called Little Rascals and in it there’s a character named Spanky, a little kind of chubby kid and I don’t know why, it just stuck!
It’s funny your nickname followed you into adulthood and it means something different now
Yeah.
What part of California did you grow up in?
I grew up in Southern California. It’s about 40 minutes north of what you would think of as proper LA. It’s still LA County, but it’s called Agora. Small suburban town. It’s on the north edge of the Valley, if you’ve heard of the Valley? Just super small. What you think of if you imagine a California suburb, just a bunch of houses that look the same and strip malls and boring shit.
Is that where you discovered skateboarding? Just seeing a kid skate in your neighbourhood?
Yeah, you know, in that sense, it was pretty ideal. A lot of just fucking hanging out outside all summer long, like most of the year actually.
Yeah, we would ride bikes or do whatever outside. Then eventually saw some neighbourhood kids skating and just thought that it was way cooler than anything else cause they looked bad and they looked just like a little different and it looked a little dangerous.
I befriended some of them and actually, I don’t know if you know of the skater J.T. Aultz?
Yeah
When I got into middle school he was the first real skater I met. He kind of taught me how to skate and taught me to you know, stop riding bikes around and doing all that shit. If you want to be a skater, you got to just be a skater and taught me how to do a bunch of tricks. He had some ramps and a box and shit and that’s kind of how I got into it. I was super lucky, you know, he was already really good.
Was JT already sponsored?
I think he was on flow for that brand Evol at the time. So he was filming and making sponsor me tapes and doing all that. So that was it, I had a crew of older kids that I looked up to that were doing it.
Man, that’s sick. JT Aultz is that dude who’s got skateboarding down, you know? Sick Nose Manuals, sick Noseslides. He does tricks everyone can do, but in a precise way that most people will never be able to. For him to teach you must have been rad.
Yeah. I mean there were actually just a handful of really good skaters. Especially the next couple of years, as I stuck with it, I was lucky to have a lot of really good skaters around that area to look up to.
Spanky, Frontside Wallride grab: Shot by Kyle Seidler
When you see a skater doing something tough in person, you’re like, oh, sick, that’s possible. Whereas if you see it on video, there’s a barrier like, fuck, how did they do that? It looks different. So it probably pushed you to try stuff. How old were you when you started skating?
Yeah, I was. I was 11.
So JT Aultz, was he a part of your crew from the start? Was there anybody else who I’d know who was part of your first skate crew?
Yeah, it was around that time. I was skating with JT Aultz when I first started because he was back and forth from San Diego. His dad lived in San Diego and his mom lived where I lived, so I was skating with him.
Then I also started a crew within my school. Really close to me, but at a different school, was Mike Taylor. Mikey Taylor and his younger brother Matt.
I would skate with them a bunch. Same thing. They were really good skaters who knew a lot and at that time had access to videos.
That was the most important thing, having skaters who know a lot about skating and are really part of the culture, and then they have the videos to show you, magazines and they just put you on to the whole culture.
Everyone was kind of a little bit spread about in these little towns. I started skating with Van Wastell a lot, and he was amazing. Van was a really good skater from a super young age. It was just a crew. Skating was smaller back then, as I’m sure you know, a lot less skaters.
So even if people lived in different towns, we would all meet up, join forces, and skate all day to a different town and hit up stuff in another area, and do all that. It was pretty cool.
What was your first board?
The first one I had was like a blank Mini Logo, I think.
A Blank!?
Yeah, sadly. I just ended up with a blank to save money or something. I got it for my birthday and yeah, it was just a green Mini Logo.
Did you go into a skate shop to buy it or was it like a mail order?
I’m pretty sure it came from the shop Val Surf. That’s still around here in the Valley and I helped pick it out. But it was my birthday present.
Yeah, that’s good. So you feel doubly invested in it. I was gonna ask what kinds of art were you making at first?
At first, I mean, I always liked drawing. I think even the first step, I was probably drawing comic book characters and trying to draw Ninja Turtles and GI Joe’s and stuff like that.
I enjoyed doing that from the beginning and just kind of drawing my own little characters and guys. But I wasn’t taking loads of art classes or anything, a little bit of that, but I was really interested in it and always did it to sort of calm down or just space out.
Then I was always drawing. Once I started skating, I was trying, like a lot of kids, to draw Wet Willy and all the stuff that I saw in the magazines and logos and Misfits skulls and all that.
Spanky’s drawings
What were the first skate videos that you were watching?
The first ones that I remember really making an impression on me were Welcome to Hell and Mouse.
Then I was kind of going backwards a little bit. I was seeing a lot of the Plan B videos and Trilogy and all those videos, but that was a little bit before my time.
But, as I said before, I was lucky to have some mentors who were older and showing me what was happening. But, yeah, Mouse, Welcome to Hell, Rodney Mullen versus Daewon. Those were big ones.
Oh, man, they’re all just epic. I think videos just meant so much more back in the day…I think they put a lot more time into it. Some of them took four or five years to make. Which skaters were you looking up to in the early days?
Yeah, I mean, I gotta admit, when I first saw Jamie Thomas and Ed Templeton, they blew my mind completely. There was just something about their skating back then that seemed like there was more.
I don’t know, they were a bit hesh. Maybe Ed especially seemed like he had that artfulness and something that really stood out to me.
But then Jamie Thomas’ skating, I just was like, damn, handrails! Looking back at it his skating just appealed perfectly to a little kid. His sense of grandiose editing, the songs, it was just like easy to grab onto as a kid.
You were in the background of Atiba’s photo of Jeremy Wray’s Frontside 360 down the Santa Monica triple set. You’re on the stairs in the back. How did you end up being there for that?
Yeah, that was insane.
That was the very first of many really surreal moments in my skateboarding history. For me, it was one of those things. It was probably one of my friend’s birthdays or something, and their parents took us to Venice Beach to go skate.
It was just a destination where you could go to the sand gaps and the Venice pit, and you know, that was the best chance you had of running into Muska or Jeremy Wray or somebody like that.
It turned out that we ran into a bunch of pros that day and saw that shit go down and couldn’t believe it. We were just in awe. I couldn’t handle it. It was too gnarly.
Jeremy Wray, Frontside 360, Santa Monica Triple Set, with Spanky in the background: Shot by Atiba Jefferson
Yeah, I bet. Because he’s done stuff over the water tower and the Carlsbad Gap and he blew minds in this era. To be a kid seeing him do that must have been sick!
Absolutely. I mean, I was already a skate rat at that point. Everything was skating. I was there. I was there with. I think I had a 411 shirt on or something. I knew every single person in their crew. Bill Pepper was there, all these people. Yeah, it was crazy. It was really nuts.
Yeah, I think there was just a session going on. That whole Element crew at the time were just skating there that day. I don’t know what the deal was. It was fucking crazy and he did it so well so many times. He kept doing it, and then he would land it and then do an extra Powerslide 180 Out and then just get back up there. It stuck to his feet every time. It was unbelievable.
So, being inspired by that, at that point, were you thinking, I want to be sponsored and be pro, or is it something that just happened?
Yeah, it’s tough to say. I think growing up where I did, it was sort of all around me, and I was really fortunate to be sponsored by a local shop probably way sooner than I deserved to be
Was that Val Surf?
No, it was this other shop called IG. That was a surf shop-skate shop that I’d been going into since I was a baby with my dad because he was a surfer, and it was real close to our house.
The owner, Dan Egan, was just super cool. He and this other guy, Bert Zdenek, who was a really good skater, just gave me a chance and some discounts, stickers and clothes, just to be like, you’re sponsored, you’re on our team.
But looking back, it probably didn’t mean much to do that. But really, when you’re young, it kind of sets it into your identity. Oh, I’m a skater. I gotta pursue this. I gotta do this. Not as a job, but just as I want to get better. I want to try to enter a contest. I want to try to do this and that goes a long way when you’re just starting out. It was the catalyst for some sort of drive, I suppose. I never really thought of it like that, but I think it definitely started that. Then, yeah, I don’t know. I had no ambition to be famous or make money. I just wanted to be a good skater and if that meant being sponsored or having a video part, I just wanted to do anything it took to be a real skater.
Yeah, for sure. I understand. These things just lead one into another. I think everybody kind of starts off with a vague idea of what skateboarding is. It might be different for kids now actually, because it’s more clear. There’s a progression path almost, you know, but back in those days, it was just keep skating, you get some free stuff, maybe win a local contest or something and then get flow, a photo in a magazine, maybe. So things would steadily build up and you’d be like, oh, this is almost a real thing, you know?
Oh yeah.
So your first sponsor was Sixteen Skateboards. How did that go down? You send out a tape?
No, actually that came about from skating a contest. I was just in a contest for the 14 and under division at the skate park called Skate Street that was really big back in the day in Ventura, California.
I remember Skate Street, the indoor park with the vert wall
Yeah, it was amazing. The coolest skate park. I was skating in the parking lot, warming up off a little kicker ramp, and this dude, Rodney Johnson, was there. I guess they were smoking weed in the van and watching me skate, and Neil Mims, was there too. Then they just came out of the van. They were like, dude, we’re gonna send you a box. It was an Invisible board brand, and then some Physics Wheels. They started around that time, but they were like, we’ll send you a box of wheels!
Then I think I ended up winning the contest or something, and they sent me a box, and that’s kind of how that all started. So it went from getting Physics Wheels stuff to getting on that team of little kids.
Back in the day you’d have these brands that were made for kids. Did Sixteen ever do a video? Or was it just ads and product?
No, they did a video. It’s called I Hate Children. It’s pretty funny. I don’t know what kind of reach it had, but I still talk to a lot of people who are still kind of into it. Especially in the San Diego area where that was based, and I think it made the rounds in that area a lot because, as you were saying, it kind of appealed to younger kids, too, because there’s probably something relatable and accessible about it. It was not a bunch of adults skating. It was kids like them, and so, yeah, I still hear a lot of people say, dude, I grew up watching that video.
Like you said, it seems relatable and somewhat achievable for you at the time
You see the kids, and you compare yourself to them. I would do the same thing. I would see Ryan Bobier who skated for Zero and I was like, damn, dude. He’s so good and I could almost do that and he’s probably living the best life ever. He gets to hang out with these guys. It’s a fantasy or something.
So how did you end up going from Sixteen to City Stars? Did Kareem see your part in that video and ask you if you wanted to skate for City Stars?
No, actually, there was a period because I was so young during that time, we did some travelling and filming and all that, and I continued to skate, but Sixteen, kind of dissolved. The guy who got me on ended up leaving, and he started working for World Industries, and I was getting some flow from World Industries.
Then right when I got into high school, a lot of my friends stopped skating. Things kind of slowed down. It was harder to film, and there was just a period where I lost my main crew of skaters. People had moved away and stuff, and there was just a slower period where I was just as obsessed with skating but didn’t have the access to progress anymore or to film or to pursue it in the same way.
Then I can’t remember exactly what happened. But I met some people who had a car and got out of my town a bit and started skating with those skaters that had moved away. I started skating with Mikey and Van and Paul Rodriguez, and they were all getting hooked up with City Stars.
I just started skating with them and began filming. They were trying to help me get sponsored, make a tape or something, and send it out. I wanted to send it to a Toy Machine or somebody like that.
After I’d gotten a little bit of footage, they put it together. I can’t remember if it was Paul or Mikey, but someone asked if I would consider just skating for City Stars. I was like, yeah, of course. But it just seemed weird at the time because I was kind of hesh. City Stars was such a fresh company that didn’t….there’s not such a distinction these days, but at the time, it was more like you’re into one or the other.
Spanky, Backlip: Shot for City Stars
Hesh versus fresh
Yeah, dude.
You can skate and wear pretty much whatever you want now but back then things were different
Yeah. It’s funny to think about now, but it was such a thing. I always thought it was really cool. Kareem was very conscious of that, but he was like, we think it’s cool. It’s like, you should skate exactly how you skate, dress how you want, we think it’s sick you’re doing your own thing!
Was that a fun experience of filming and tours or was it kind of short-lived? How long were you skating for City Stars?
I did some tours and filmed a lot. But it was also pretty short-lived. It was really building quickly, and I feel there was a lot of hype behind the whole crew, especially since there was this whole younger squad that was coming up and all skating together.
I can’t remember how long it was, but it started really hot, and I probably came in at the tail end of that. So it was extra short. I can’t remember how long, but probably just seven months or a year or something.
Then, Paul went to Girl, Mikey left for Alien and then as it dissolved. It was natural for me to leave as well because the main thing that bound me there was that crew, and I think it was very easy for Kareem to see that, and he was really cool about all of it. He was cool with them, and he was really extra cool with me. I don’t know, it just didn’t seem like very hard feelings at all.
Spanky and Kareem
I remember thinking you guys were a crew within that brand. It’s dope Kareem got that. So did you instantly get on Baker after?
Yeah. I kind of took a minute to figure out what I was going to do, but I was on Emerica skating and touring with all those guys a lot and just kind of on the road nonstop with different sponsors.
There was a second when I was maybe going to ride for Toy Machine, just because that was my dream since I was a child. But then the moment Baker started, I was a huge Baker fan, so I was in a weird position where I thought, wow, now I happen to find myself in a place in skateboarding where I can actually choose one of two of my ultimate dreams, and it was really crazy actually.
I had a close relationship with Ed Templeton, and I really looked up to him. I think the part of him that was an artist and what seemed to me like an intellectual, you know, he just knew about books and music and all these things that seemed so appealing to me.
So, yeah, I don’t know, I was kind of unsure what to do, and I ended up going on this tour with Baker. I think I was already out on the road and I just joined up with them in Australia, and then once I was with everybody, it was one of those things where it just became the obvious option at that point, and I was really close with Bryan Herman. Yeah, I don’t know. Luckily, they asked me. They kind of just said, yo, you doing this or what? And I was like, yeah, this is sick!
Yeah, man. Definitely you and Herman. It felt like you two were close homies, so that made sense, but when did you get on Emerica?
I got on Emerica probably right around the same time that I got on City Stars, which must have been around 2001.
Spanky, Back Smith, Shot by Ben Colen
You must be the skater on Emerica for the longest now?
Yeah, definitely.
So getting on Baker and Emerica, having that connection with Herman. What was it like filming for This is Skateboarding for you?
Yeah, I mean, that was just crazy. This is Skateboarding. I think the filming process spanned the time of me being flow and just sort of really crazy to be on the kind of periphery of some sessions and filming a couple tricks with them to all of a sudden the Emerica Mansion happened and we were staying there a bunch and all of a sudden I’m happening to stay the weekends, sometimes like weeks at a time at this big house that Andrew Reynolds and Heath Kirchart lived at and Jon Miner.
I don’t know, it all just kind of happened really quick and then it came to the final pushes of filming the video and that was the time when me and Bryan were just like such skate rats.
We were skating every moment of the day and trying to film every moment, really progressing at that time. So it was capturing a moment of progressing from being a kid trying to keep up with the pros around them and film a part for a big video.
But I don’t remember it being stressful or anything because it was just time for the video to come out, and we had amassed enough footage, and they were luckily down to put us in there and really feature us. Our footage could have easily been a sidebar in the video, but they put us in prominent portions of that really big video, so it felt crazy. Then, all of a sudden, I went from being a fan to seamlessly being at the premiere, and now we’re on the other side of it. It was really surreal.
You dealt with it incredibly well and just knocked out so many amazing tricks and parts. Did you feel much pressure at the time, or was it more like you just went with the flow?
Yeah, I think to those guys’ credit, they’re all actually so cool and welcoming. They were just also skate rats.
You know, they were also just in that same place where they’re obsessing over the video part and obsessing over the video, and I think we fit in well into that. Yeah, I should have had a lot more imposter syndrome at the time, but I think it was all happening so fast, I didn’t even get a chance to. I was just living it up and happy to be there, and at that point in your life, it’s easier for someone in their late teens to just feel great, and you could skate all day, all night. You know what I mean? I was happy to try to learn how to jump down bigger things and push myself and get to go on trips with these people. It’s just like you want to show off the whole time and earn your place. So it was quite fun, actually.
What was it like skating with Herman? Was it inspiring to have somebody who was kind of your age on that level?
Absolutely, and you know, I think that was a really big part of it for both of us. We were so close, and we had such a friendly level of competition where we were really pushing each other. There were so many things at that time, like those things you mentioned. I had never done them before, and I really didn’t do a lot of that stuff after. It was just that one moment before any injuries or anything where you feel great, and you can just try things out and have endless amounts of energy. You could bail tricks forever until you learn them, and the first time you learn it ends up in your video part. You’re just muscling it through, and yeah, I would see him be able to do it. I think Herman was just a more naturally gifted skater. He could pinch things, grind things longer, and jump down bigger things. He taught me a lot just by trying to keep up with him.
I don’t know, man. I think you’re selling yourself a bit short there. You guys were definitely two sides of the same coin. I think you were bringing different kinds of tricks to the table, and you definitely had a more easy-going style, you know what I mean? Looking through your part, that Switch Front Biggie down the big old MACBA 4 was tight.
I’ve seen you got a bunch of footage in Barcelona. Were you hyped to be there and that’s what kind of motivated you to do that Switch Frontside Bigspin? Or was it just another place you hit up on tour and you didn’t really think much about it?
Pfft. Barcelona at that time was just unbelievably surreal. As a skater there in the early 2000s, it seemed like paradise. There were spots everywhere. The spots were so good, and now we think of those things as they’ve been around for over 20 years in the skateboarding zeitgeist. But at the time, it was so new and novel that every pro was there, and you’d go in the summertime, and it was like you’d be at a cafe next to MACBA, and every pro skater you’d ever seen in the magazine was just sitting there, and you never wanted to leave. Those trips were truly like that.
I think Bryan and I went on some Emerica tour or something, and then we ended up just staying for weeks. We stayed at Enrique Lorenzo’s house with his mom, and we just skated. We were doing anything we could to stay out there and film, and we got a lot of footage. At that time, we were doing that everywhere we went. We had the fortune of having no responsibilities and a lot of opportunity, and we just took advantage of it and showed up every day, trying to show off in front of our favourite pros and getting clips.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, it’s an amazing situation. Getting paid to skate with Reynolds, Heath and Bryan. But on the art side of things were you getting any inspiration to make work then?
I was definitely interested in all that. I wasn’t pursuing it in a way where I thought, okay, I need to focus on this aspect of things. It’s just something I enjoyed, and I think at that time, rightfully so. I think I would probably have not expected any other reaction, but it was more just, oh, you’re trying to do your Ed Templeton thing. It was really written off at the time, I think, which is fine. I was just, keeping a journal, doing doodles on the plane at the airport. Not really trying any serious expression. But that’s always been a comfortable place for me, to doodle and draw.
Spanky’s drawings
Travelling inspires you to make things
Definitely. Yeah and I was just being exposed, to a lot of things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Like a lot of fascinating culture, definitely.
So by this time, around 2004, you were on Baker. When did you start filming for Baker 3? Did you know it was going to be such an epic video? How did they approach you about it?
I can’t really remember what year it was. But after, I think around the time Kids in Emerica came out I got my first kind of major injury, a knee injury. I had surgery and I was out for a bit. It wasn’t bad. It was something that, we could bounce back from easily at this time. But at the time it was definitely a turning point where I started partying. I started learning about stuff outside of skating. Girls, partying, going out, all that stuff.
Distractions!
Yeah, all the distractions. Started skating for Baker. But I was still young, so I bounced back pretty quickly and then I think we just started filming Baker 3 and had a push for that towards the end.
I just tried to get as much as I could. I kind of felt a little bit like I still was skating big rails and big stuff. But I started thinking a little bit like okay, I want to look at other ways to skate as well, compared to the way skating is now. It doesn’t really show that much in that part, but I definitely was. That was on my mind already, and yeah, I don’t know that just kind of came together. It was another version of just being in that mode and being really close with Bryan Herman and being really close with Andrew at that time. Just giving it our all, and then we had no idea it was going to be any different than any other project. But there also was a sense that this was our first Baker project, so it meant a lot in that way.
Yeah, it was the first time you were going to be putting something out for the brand. So, whether it was going to become this legendary video or not, you were just like this is something I’m going to put a lot of focus on because I want people to know that I’m trying to do my best and you definitely did.
Thanks. But there was also this aspect. Filming for any Baker project is less rigid, and there’s less pressure from above, and there’s nobody telling you that you really need to do this and that. You have to take care of yourself on that level and be in charge of your own motivations. Whereas maybe for a shoe video, there’s just a little bit more structure, where the people making the video are a little more, I don’t know, professional or something, whereas Andrew’s just kind of throwing it together, which is the charm of those videos. So it was a different atmosphere.
Knowing that there’s no rules or there’s less of a structure probably made you skate better because you were kind of just like fuck it. I’ll try something different. Speaking of, your Backside 360 Kickflip off that bump in Paris is still next level, how did that one go down?
Yeah, I remember at that time it was when I learned that trick over a pyramid corner and was doing it at Tampa Am. I ended up winning Tampa AM somehow and then I just was like, oh, I can do that trick over a pyramid hip. Maybe I could do it off a bump and then we were there and maybe somebody shouted it out or maybe I just thought, this seems like a perfect spot for that and yeah, at that time it was just that. It was like I just learned a trick. Where can I do it? And I happened to be at one of the coolest spots ever, I have to try it!
What’s your favourite clip in your Baker 3 part?
I don’t know. I mean, all of it is almost like a postcard of that time. I think a cool one was where I did a line and Eric Koston’s filming me. I do a Back Smith down a rail and then I Ollie over an 18 stair rail. That kind of always stands out at that time because that was another instance of me being like, I can’t believe I’m at a session with Eric Koston and he’s filming me! I don’t even know why he ended up filming me and that was just another really surreal moment.
I remember just looking at it and thinking that’s next level. The drop looks huge. The fact you did it in a line just had that double impact. I didn’t see that coming. But I’m sure in all of your tricks, there’s a rad story behind them
There’s plenty of points in my life where I kind of can’t remember why or where certain things happened. But for whatever reason, that period of my life, it seems like every one of those moments were real standout moments just how surreal they were at the time and how significant it felt and it was not lost on me that I was having these opportunities. So I don’t know. I just kind of, really remember all those sessions, which is fun and cool.
Going back to what you were saying about skating differently for your Baker 3 part. You did a Caveman Darkslide and a Pole Jam Nose Manual. They’re all tough tricks even now, and they blended really well with the bigger tricks you were doing. But they were different for the time. The only other person I’d seen do a Caveman Darkslide was Gonz at that point.
I loved Gonz so much, and I was just watching those videos a lot, and I loved Boulala so much, and I just had become friends with him and I really loved Dan Drehobl.
I was just super inspired by some people just, you know, nowadays, it seems like we all kind of skate like that anyway, where it’s like seeing a Pole Jam to Manual is just kind of regular filler trick for a part now. But at the time, it was a little more. I’m not trying to give myself any credit for being conceptual. I was just copying other people. But I was at least making a conscious effort to have something other than just stunts.
Oh, definitely. But those tricks still stand out today. One of my favourites was your Switch Backside Boardslide Revert on that uphill ledge bank in Australia. Is there a story behind that, or was it more like you did it quickly, and there wasn’t much to it?
I remember being on that trip in Australia. Yeah, I was looking for stuff to skate. I was looking for steep banks, and I think at the time, everyone was planning out their tricks, and I remember it being a bit of a side mission where I wanted to skate this thing. I think I have a trick for it, and it seemed like. Yeah, I don’t know, a little bit out of the ordinary to be almost wasting time at something like that. But it was such a cool, beautiful spot, and I also remember that I had to go a little bit uncomfortably high on that in order to get all four wheels into the bank or in order to just slam it down, Switch Frontside Rock like that. Because I was trying to do it at regular speed, and I didn’t have enough room to come down on it.
It’s just a really, really steep bank, too. So it was a little bit difficult, but I was just kind of into that look of spot and that kind of trick at the time. But again, just trying to figure it out as I go and learn on the spot. I probably had never tried that trick before in my life.
Man, you’re just one of those lucky people where you can do stuff for the first time and it looks like you can do it quite regularly.
I think part of that is just skating with people and video makers, and other skaters who had really high standards. So I learned from the beginning that if I land a trick, it doesn’t mean it’s over. A trick like that, I probably already did it several times before I got the one I liked. Because that’s kind of how I grew up. It’s being around people who are, you know, not that I was a perfectionist, but being around perfectionists really teaches you to go until the clip looks good, not just until you landed the trick.
Who had your favourite part in Baker 3?
Yeah, I guess it always probably changes, but, I mean, Andrew’s stuff at the time was just so inspiring to watch him take down every flip trick down every big set of stairs, and I don’t know, I really love Jim Greco’s part. I love Erik Ellington’s part, I love Bryan’s part, and I don’t know, those are all my favourite skaters. Even though they’re some of my close homies, I was just as big of a fan of all of them. Still am.
Yeah, definitely. I mean for me, it’s probably Antwuan.
Yeah, I was gonna say Antwuan’s. That one was a special moment.
Did you skate with Antwuan a lot and see him land a lot of those tricks? Or was it as big a surprise at the premiere to see his skating for you as it was for everyone else?
No, I was skating with Antwuan at the time. I remember seeing him even before he was sponsored and being really shocked by the way he skated. I hadn’t really seen that. It almost looked odd to me when I first saw him, to be honest. Hs style wasn’t fully formed yet. It looked so different, and then as he got on Baker and stuff, I started seeing some of those clips go down, and I was like, oh, wow, this is somebody special. I think it was a little bit of a surprise to everyone when we finally saw all that footage together, just how impactful that was.
And yeah, seeing him, I’ve been lucky enough to see him skate a lot, and I skated with him last week at the Baker Park. He’s still around all the time. He’s still fucking killing it.
Oh, that’s dope, man. Yeah, no one’s ever mentioned that to me before and you’re absolutely right. He didn’t start off as smooth as he is now, and he eventually acquired that style.
I think that’s exactly how he naturally skates, and he was growing into his style, and that’s the case for a lot of skaters. They didn’t just come out fully formed. But, I mean, he already had an element of that. It was just once it fully formed, you were like, oh, that’s what sets him apart. It’s unbelievable.
Post-Baker 3 were you getting into making art, skating or just partying?
Mostly the latter. Partying. I mean, you know, still skating a lot. But yeah, those years definitely involved celebrating. I don’t know, we were just partying a lot. It was really part of the culture. Yeah. I don’t know. I was staying in New York a lot, partying a lot, squandering my time. Doing what you do.
Progression was a lot slower back in the day. Years would go by and people were still catching up to tricks you did in videos years before. But what was it that brought you back to skating?
I mean, I think at that time I was just trying to do both. Yeah, I think, as you said, it was a different culture where there wasn’t this feverish need. You didn’t have to stay so steadily in the spotlight, maintaining your relevance. Even the most skate rat out of the bunch. You’d put out a part and could take a break for a bit. You wouldn’t have any pressure to film anything for a while.
Sometimes, for years, you could just go and not feel the need to do anything. Then the real pros would set everything aside, get their shit together, and really buckle down and do it again when the next part came. I think I was somewhere in between. I didn’t want to put everything down, but I also wanted to have a good part and be a pro skater. So I just tried my best and, yeah, tried really hard.
Yeah, your Stay Gold part was so dope. The line you do with the Frontside Flip is so sick.
Thanks. It’s like over the rail or something, right? Where I do the Switch Front Shuv up the stairs?
Yeah. You said making Stay Gold you were trying to blend the two worlds of partying and skateboarding which can become worst enemies at times. But you did bust out for it. So many sick tricks on the LA High Bank. Like, the Back Tail Biggie and Back Tail Flip out are still so gnarly. What stood out for you from filming for that part?
Those LA High tricks were what I really spent a lot of time and focus trying to get those ones. I just really love that spot, and it’s really hard to skate, so I probably had to go back a lot for those ones, and they definitely didn’t come easy because that’s just the kind of spot where some days it works and some days it’s just hard no, I don’t know what it is.
I’ve always talked to Jerry Hsu about that. It’s like you could come in there with a plan, but it’ll set you straight right away.
But, yeah, I don’t know. I just remember really trying my hardest but not feeling at my full capacity. I was dealing with a lot of injuries, and I wasn’t taking care of myself.
But, you know, compared to the way video parts are filmed these days, I think I was taking it quite seriously. But compared to how we were doing it back then and compared to my peers, I think there were times where it was a little bit disappointing. I think I had a little bit more to give in that area. You always kind of feel like that. But I think it was pretty apparent.
At that time, I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, and I just thought I should be able to get drunk for five days in a row and try to get by with a couple of tricks. Then I remember just thinking, I’ll sort it out at the end. I’ll get all my bangers at the end and just not being healthy enough to get some of the things I wanted. I tried super hard on a couple of things, and there were some ones that got away.
But that’s, again, any part, and that’s part of growing up. So it was ultimately a good experience. But I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the premiere with my footage.
Yeah, I understand that. But I kind of think from the viewer perspective, the Paris line and the LA High bank tricks, those ones have stuck with me. Your part was banging dude
Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, I know it’s also different, with some time separated from it and some different perspective.
I was still young enough to where I could kind of balance both things and we had the fortune of being in Paris for a couple of weeks and just out skating every day. so you are skating all the time. Even if you are still drinking wine all day, you’re on your board all day, and so you get some stuff and I don’t know, I like some of that footage and I was happy to be in that video. No huge regrets.
You know, it’s also hard to sustain being really hungry for a really long time. You get a little bit. Or some people get a little bit fatigued with the pressure of filming video parts.
What inspired all of those LA High Bank tricks? Were they all a battle or did a few of them come easier than others?
Yeah, the one I remember being really hard was the Back Tail Kickflip, and I wanted to get it a little cleaner and just stomp it a little more like that Back Tail Big Spin. But the rest is just like, that was kind of my favourite spot to skate at that time, and there were portions of that video where it really hurt to Ollie and jump down things because I had a couple of knee injuries, a couple more knee injuries during that point, and a couple more surgeries. So I just wasn’t on my top physical game, and so yeah, that was that.
Spanky KSL III – Shot by Peter Sutherland
You’ve got a new Emerica Shoe out and you’ve been on the brand longer than anybody else. What’s kept you at Emerica? I’m sure other shoe brands have hit you up to skate for them.
I think I’ve just always loved Emerica. The fact that I loved it long before I skated for them. The fact that I’ve always really loved the shoes. I grew up skating them. I don’t like changing those kinds of things. I’m loyal, and if I didn’t have any sponsors, I’d probably just buy Emerica’s because it’s what I like to skate. Yeah, as a brand have had ups and downs and been through all sorts of different points, but it’s just kind of my home and I love it.
Spanky KSL III – Shot by Peter Sutherland
Sick. So it’s the KSL III but it’s not your third shoe for the brand right? There’s been more?
Yeah, yeah, it’s called the KSL III, which is probably my sixth or seventh pro shoe, but it’s called the KSL III because it’s more back to the same elements of the first two shoes wich were called the KSL and the KSL Dos.
Sick. Yeah. I mean, I remember because, we talked a little bit about James Woodley from Birmingham before this interview and he gave me 12 pairs of Emerica back in the day when he skated for them. They’ve always been solid. Emerica has always had a creative angle to the brand.
But what was it that inspired you to make creative videos where skaters fly off and into the screens and create these quick-hit CGI skate clips that you put out there?
I think it was mostly I felt like the job of skateboarding was turning into something where you have to incorporate social media and post. Just posting videos of yourself skating on Instagram and I think it just felt a little bit embarrassing at first and to add things to it to sort of maybe cut the earnestness of bragging about your own skating. It helped to make my head fall off or fly away or something like that. Just to ease the pain of putting my own footage out there, which now we all do that and it seems we’re past all that. But I think it really started from that feeling and then I just realised I really like to edit. It sort of created a little bit of a surreal language that was fun to do and fun to do with my friends and yeah, I just got really interested in sort of learning how to do that stuff in a really self-taught and unrefined way now.
I love it. I think it’s sick. I like those kind of things where like somebody’s like taking something creative and different and then used it to make skate clips that are unusual.
Do you usually film a clip and then you think, oh, it could work like this where I can add a transition or a fade or effect like that. Or do you like think about the spot or something first and then go there and then do it?
Yeah, totally. There’s been a little bit of both, and definitely when I first started doing it, there was more of an intention of, oh, I could do this here and that there. I still like to do that, but to be honest, I just don’t have the same amount of time I did, you know, so now being a dad and doing a lot of work at Baker and also at Emerica and just having a lot more responsibilities, I just don’t have enough time to edit all those things as much.
So a lot of times it’s an afterthought. If I think it fits somewhere, I just continue to do that because I think it’s a fun way to present it. But yeah, it’s more of an afterthought these days, I guess.
What software and stuff do you use to make your videos?
No, I think I’m using pretty low-tech stuff, and I kind of combine a lot of different apps. But a lot of the stuff I do is in an app called Juxtaposer.
What I’m doing a lot of the time is basically in a light version of Photoshop, making them frame by frame. That’s why it’s so time-consuming all that animated stuff. I’m taking a screenshot of an image and then recreating it multiple times until it’s like stop-motion animation, and then putting it all together in a video editor and speeding it up. That’s why it has that kind of shitty look to it; it’s like stop motion.
No, I love that stuff when it’s like not completely smooth and you know, there’s bits cut out and there’s quick jerky movements and things like that. I think it’s quirky and I think it looks cool. But it’s funny because I honestly thought you were using Photoshop or After Effects to create it. Never heard of that one before.
Yeah, I use that and Procreate, but just light versions you use on your phone. I think if a real video editor saw my process, they’d be horrified because there are probably much easier ways to do it, but I have been doing it a lot, so I work kind of fast for how backwards the process is because I don’t have a lot of time. But yeah, I don’t know, it’s just become like anything. I believe sometimes doing it the wrong way creates a look that’s unique, and you have to stick to that, and yeah, it’s fun.
You were on an Emerica tour and came through Birmingham and you made one of those videos with James Woodley in it. What was it like skating in Birmingham at Fastlands and stuff?
Oh yeah, that was really cool. But yeah, I mean, first of all, I just love Woodley. He’s such a legend, and skating with him was so great. I really liked the spots there a lot. All around that mall with the steep kind of transition banks. Those were so cool, and the spot under the bridge was really great. I don’t know, I just had a really good time! That was a fun trip all around. That was one of my favourite destinations on that trip.
He doesn’t skate for Emerica anymore but I still keep up with him, but, yeah, instantly got on with him. Love that place and love that dude.
Sick, those Jersey bank barriers. They’re rad, man. They’re so good. I think they’re one of the best natural transition spots I think I’ve ever seen.
Are they still going?
Yeah, yeah, they’re still going
Yeah. I want to go back. I want to go back to Birmingham. That’s a good spot.
Yeah, Fastlands is too. Mike Manzoori who did stuff for Soletech, was the first person to Ollie the double set at Fastlands.
Mike Manzoori is a fucking legend, dude.
Yeah he did this incredible Frontside Boardslide line on this foot wide long ledge, second or third try or something too, have you ever seen that one?
Yeah, I think I know what you’re talking about. Yeah, he’s a magician.
Yeah, he did it over 25 years ago?
So sick.
So you’re not only Emerica’s longest standing pro skater but you also have a creative position with them and Art Director job at Baker too?
Yeah. I’m just trying to help out a little bit creatively and it’s kind of, you know, it’s all hands on deck and just being more involved with the creative side of things with videos, ads and a little bit with Shoes and everything. I just think with my work at Baker over the years, it’s kind of turned into something that I’m really familiar with, I guess marketing and behind the scenes creatives stuff. So as much as I can, I’m just offering a lot of help on that end of things recently.
Yeah, I mean you’re the best person for the role. You’ve been skating for them longer than anybody. You make your own videos, you can draw, make art, and helped build the brand to be what it’s become. So I don’t think realistically there is anyone who’s as qualified as you to suggest how they should lay out ads, make videos and things like that.
We’re lucky we have a big team of people who have their eye on those things. But yeah, they’ve incorporated me more and more recently. Especially super recently.
I saw you recently did an Etch A Sketch inspired graphic for Baker. At what point did you become Art Director for Baker?
That’s a good question. I think it’s been about six years or something like that. It’s been a while at this point. It started as a softer, ceremonial title where we had a bigger team art department, and I was just kind of helping out.
Then, I think for the last probably five years or so, it’s been mostly me, Mike Gigliotti, and Andrew giving final say on things.
We have a small team, and we just make a lot of stuff, and it’s pretty fun. We’re figuring it out as we go every season.
Baker’s output artistically is so solid. Like the rad graphics Mike will draw or Jacopo’s recent graphic tied to his family history. What’s it been like working as an Art Director while skating, filming, doing tours and demos for Baker?
Thanks. I’m more involved than I’ve ever been and now it’s more. It’s literally less taken for granted because of the other things that I’m focusing on day to day, so it really feels like even if I’m putting in way more work to do less, it’s more. There’s almost more. It’s more gratifying and yeah, it’s been nice to have lots of projects to work on this year. I have a lot of stuff coming out and yeah, a lot of it’s linked to products and it’s shorter videos and stuff and it’s not the same as filming a part for Baker or something like that. But it’s also fun to do short projects and have a lot of opportunities to carve that time out and still be on the road.
Spanky, Frontside Tailbash, Gap Out: Shot by Atiba Jefferson
Yeah, I know that’s kind of a long answer, but it’s kind of been really all over the place lately. This year especially. It’s been a lot. A lot of stuff to work on and it’s been fun and I’m feeling my age some days, and then other days I feel as good as ever. So yeah, just grateful to be able to do both.
Over the last few years and recently you’ve been doing some of the most interesting and creative tricks I’ve seen you do and from Baker’s latest releases, it’s easy to see you’ve been burning the candle at both ends and it shows. Specifically though, you’ve been doing some of the gnarliest Slappys and Wallies I’ve ever seen. What’s the secret to doing Slappys and Wallies on big ledges?
The secret? Yeah, I think honestly I learned that stuff by skating LA High so much because it’s the same technique, really, skating a really steep bank. You just sort of go. Your legs kind of go limp and you jump up and you just get it. It’s almost like snowboarding. You get a path up to it and you’re on the right edge, and then you just get your wheels up on there.
Spanky, Switch Wallie Crooks, Shot by Oliver Barton
But I don’t really know. I’ve never been good at explaining tricks. When I think about it too much, I stop being able to do it. But I think skating steep banks for a long time, the banks kept getting steeper, and then eventually it was a wall and then I liked the idea of doing curb tricks on basically, like giant curves, where you’re just slapping a curb, but it’s a big, giant red wall. It seems so visually compelling to me and I did that a couple times and then maybe I’ve kind of overused that at this point because it’s something I really started visually to be drawn towards.
Yeah, I don’t know, it’s just one of those things where you sort of follow what’s working and what you kind of maybe excel at. at that point. I can’t really do anything that’s gonna be better than the next person. Not that it’s about that, but it’s hard to be impressive going down a nine stair right now. So you just kind of follow your strengths and sometimes you find those by accident.
As far as how it works, I don’t really know!
Backside Hurricane for Ace
Fair enough! You’ve also definitely got one of the most solid Frontside Flips too. What’s the first thing that crosses through your mind when you are trying those?
I don’t know. That’s just always been one of my favourite tricks. I was such a big fan of Andrew growing up, and obviously that’s his money maker, and it’s just one of those tricks where even if I wasn’t naturally good at it, I would have tried them forever. It’s always the trick I try on flatground the most. Probably it’s just one of the best feeling tricks. So I try to do them as much as I can because it’s my favourite feeling trick, and I hope I can do them for a while longer. It’s fun. It’s just a fun ass trick.
Spanky, Frontside Flip: Shot by Kyle Seidler
Casper Brooker skates for Baker. Do you have a favourite thing about him, his skating or a graphic you’ve made for him since he went pro for Baker?
Yeah, I mean, I just love Casper Brooker so much. Huge fan of his skating, but even bigger, just a great friend.
When he got on Baker, it was just instant. Andrew asked me about it. He was thinking about putting him on. I was like, hard yes. I had known him for a long time, since back in the day, and yeah, he’s just my pal. I love Casper.
As far as skating with him, especially recently, I feel he’s really blossomed into such a great version of his own style. It’s just like he’s in a real sweet spot right now and just crushing it. It was cool to stay with him in London for a bit a couple of summers ago and really got to spend a lot of time watching him do a lot of really good tricks for Baker Has a Death Wish Part 2, and I love his part in that.
Yeah, he’s just a great guy. Making graphics for him is pretty easy because I just try to pick the toughest, most hesh skulls and whatever else. It’s easy to tell sometimes what he would like and dislike. I like someone with a strong opinion and aesthetic, and yeah, he’s just a great guy. I can’t speak highly enough about Casper.
Yeah, he did that Bluntslide Flip out on JKwon in that. It was so dope. He also did a Bluntslide on the ledge to Manual and Ollied down London Bridge 10. Those two things are not close, at all. That was fucked!
Yeah. Casper’s skating is just so incredibly powerful and graceful. It’s just like the best combination.
For sure. So back to your artwork, I haven’t mentioned your photo editing and the ways you displace people’s body parts or enlarge their heads or warp bodies and stuff. Do you like David Cronenberg body horror films and things like that?
Absolutely. Yeah.
Beagle and Murdy: Shot by Spanky
Yeah like Scanners. Your photos reminds me of that very specific era in 80s and 90s horror films when it was all about practical effects with gore and stuff just looked real and freaked you out. Does some of that inspiration go into these?
Yeah, I think you hit it on the head. That’s definitely it. Film, especially of that era. Especially practical effects. Especially things that have a sort of uneasy surreality to them. Things that seem scrappy. Filmmakers who just kind of seemed like they’re. making low budget best out of what they had in front of them type things. Yeah, anything that takes the form and kind of takes you out of reality a little bit.
I’ve just always been so attracted to those things. Whether it’s super serious kind of body horror and stuff like that but also just funny things and old Pee Wee’s Playhouse type things and old MTV videos from the 90s. A lot of that claymation and so much of that stuff just kind of seeped into me and a lot of it was coming from pop culture and the pop culture of that time was some sort of almost outsider artists getting a spotlight. I think all that stuff just is really soaked into my aesthetic and that’s what I like to see.
I’m just such a huge fan of movies, and I think world building in general, that’s my favourite thing in movies is just when they just build the world out. I don’t have any notions that I’m doing something as grandiose as that, but that’s my inspiration aesthetically at least,making a little world where things, you know, have a sort of tone and visual language.
Andrew Reynolds and Jason Dill: Shot by Spanky
It’s nice to have something where you can just place all that stuff and get positive feedback and stuff and get a little laugh out of it, but it just a place for expression.
But yeah, it’s like people’s time’s valuable so if you’re gonna make them look at a photo of your dog, you might as well try to give them a little chuckle.
Tino Razo and Aidan Mackey: Shot by Spanky
What do you think about AI? Do you think it’s cool or bullshit?
You know, I read some book about AI that totally freaked me out, and I think about it less in terms of creative jobs and artistic integrity. Because with those things, maybe I have an optimistic, maybe overly optimistic view that it will push people more into experiential and real tactile things. There’s this element, no matter how good things get when they’re computer-generated, it doesn’t matter if they look almost indistinguishable. There’s just something human that we’re after, and it’s been like that, I think, before computers, is that you want the human behind the art.
Nelson Mandela Etch A Sketch by Spanky
Yeah, I agree completely. There’s something that’s just soulless about it all.
Yeah, yeah. To me it’s just more scary we’re at the beginning of something that is not going anywhere and is going to grow exponentially and more where we have to be. I try not to think about it but, but in order to have regulations as far as safety around AI, I think there needs to be a lot of cooperation globally and that’s kind of scary.
Love Park Etch A Sketch by Spanky
Yeah, hopefully it won’t be telling you what the next Baker boards are going to be in five years or something.
We’re far too low tech for any of that. I don’t even have a computer. I mean, my phone does all that, but I’m pretty behind, technologically speaking.
Spanky, Backside Wallride grab: Shot by Kyle Seidler
Any advice for people reading this, who want to make art but are unsure how to start?
My advice is absolutely to just start. Doesn’t matter if the idea is right or the project is right. The idea is to make things all the time and grow into your language. Because people aren’t fully formed as skaters or as artists or filmmakers. You have to just work at it and so if you like doing that shit, you just make things. You make them until you end up liking them and you rise to the occasion. Even if you have to create the occasion.
I think that even that first thing, even if it doesn’t look good at first, it might never look good. You just have to be up for the fact that if it’s something you love, as corny as that may sound. You have to love the process and you have to love failing, and you have to love every part of it. You have to love working at it and putting your energy behind it.
What’s your favourite skate video of all-time?
I’m gonna say Mouse.
Who had your favourite video part in Mouse?
Yeah, that’s a tough one, actually, because so much of what I love about Mouse is just the whole thing. I know that sounds ridiculous to say, but it’s, the music, everything. To me, that time in skating was not so much, about video parts like that but I’m going to go ahead and say Guy.
Who’s your favourite skater of all time and why?
It changes every time I think about it.
But right now I would say probably. The Gonz, obviously Andrew Reynolds and Heath Kirchart, Mike Carroll and Jerry Hsu.
What did you think of Sci-Fi’s Endless Beauty video?
Yeah. Loved it. Absolutely. Love it.
Who has your favourite style?
Yeah, I think like at whatever you’d consider his prime. I think Alex Olson had just so much power and skated so fast and it really seemed to come really easy to him in a way that looked really tasteful.
Also Heath has one of my favourite styles too. I think because he has a really good Kickflip and going fast and a good Ollie just goes a long way for me and being able to have so much power that you can do basic trick. Like have a basic bag of tricks that just always looks so good to me.
Spanky, Kickflip Noseslide, Paris: Shot by Julio Sola
Do you have a favourite artist?
Not really. More just inspired by people around me who are making stuff. I think in visual arts, I’m more inspired by film.
Right, who’s your favourite filmmaker?
Paul Thomas Anderson, the Coen Brother, Ari Aster’s movies. I really like Paul Verhoeven. Yeah the list just could actually go on forever. Robert Altman. I like Spike Jonze a lot.
Do you have a favourite skate filmmaker out there?
I’m biased, but, being a part of the process of Baker videos, Andrew’s vision and the way he highlights people. Like, if I could take myself out of the situation, that’s my favourite kind of filmmaking. As far as skating goes, he knows how to focus on people’s, personality strengths and make you want to be a part of it. So, really, I think he is my favourite video maker. He’s always been the voice of those videos.
Besides him, Benny Magliano, who does the Hockey videos. I think, he does the most amount of visual tricks that I wish I could do stuff like that. That’s so cool. He just has so many cool transitions, overall colours, tones, textures, and things that are so impressive and harder to do than they look.
Also, I love Jake Harris’ stuff that looks so good, and I think Jon Miner is a classic. I think he helped build the form.
Also most recently, Matt King, who made the Sci-Fi video, has been making a lot of stuff for Emerica. He’s my new favourite. I think he’s one of the most raw, creative people I’ve ever met, and he knows how to make a skate video. He can make something compelling out of almost nothing, and it’s just pure creativity.
Where’s your favourite spot in California?
LA High.
Do you have a favourite skate spot in the world?
Definitely Sicily, like Catania. It has really cool spots but just one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. For sure.
Yeah, the people, the food, everything is so sick there.
Any news or announcements you want to make?
I’m just working away on stuff. I’ve got a collection coming out of clothes for RVCA that comes out I think in a month and so we’re doing stuff for that.
There’s just a bunch of pieces of clothing that incorporates my art based off some stuff in my wardrobe and the new Emerica KSL III shoe that’s a big thing. I’m doing a lot of work towards that and that I’m really excited about that, it’s my favourite one to skate and so I hope people like it.
I’m also working on a part right now like a joint part with Tom K and we’re starting a new little thing but you’ll see more about that when it comes out. But it should be finished pretty soon.
That sounds interesting. Is it kind of spot related?
Yeah.
Any shout outs you want to make to people reading this?
My shout outs go to my family and they’re not really going to read this, but my kid and my wife. When I’m not skating, that’s my whole world. That’s just the mode I’m in right now. But yeah, other than that, I don’t know. Just shout out for anyone who’s checking this out and shout out to you for having me!
Any last words Spanky?
I think anything I would say here is probably pretty cliche, but life’s kind of like that sometimes and it turns out those things are there for a reason and ultimately I think if you just are remembering that life’s really short and it happens fast and just follow the things that you love to spend your time doing, then everything will fall into place.
