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swimmer’s ear magazine issue number ten -SONG OF ZARATHUSTRA -AARON MEZA -MARK WHITELEY -SONNY MAYUGBA -THE BOOK OF DEAD NAMES -3RD LAIR VS RIDE -JOAN OF ARC -FIFTEEN YEARS OF THE HOT SPOT -BRIAN PERRY -SIGNAL TO TRUST -STACKED CHICAGO -ROB NORLAND FREE

Swimmer's Ear Magazine #10

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This issue of Swimmer's Ear features interviews with skateboarder Brian Perry and Rob Norland, bands; Joan of Arc, Song of Zarathustra, Book of Dead Names, and Signal to Trust. Plus interviews with skateboard magazine editors Aaron Meza, Mark Whiteley, and Sonny Mayugba and a 15 years of the Hot Spot Skate Shop articl

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Page 1: Swimmer's Ear Magazine #10

swimmer’s earm a g a z i n e issue number ten

-SONG OF ZARATHUSTRA -AARON MEZA -MARK WHITELEY -SONNY MAYUGBA -THE

BOOK OF DEAD NAMES -3RD LAIR VS RIDE -JOAN OF ARC -FIFTEEN YEARS OF THE

HOT SPOT -BRIAN PERRY -SIGNAL TO TRUST -STACKED CHICAGO -ROB NORLAND FR

EE

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magazine #10 earswimmer'sEditors

Adam SeverChris Pernula

Contributing WritersJack Boyd

Contributing PhotographersNickie KesselBenji Meyer

Michael StenersonJason Dickman

Matt RezacCover: Jesse Reed, 50-50

Photo by Jesse DemartinoHere: Den Davey, Smith Grind

Photo By Michael Stenerson

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MAGAZINEswimmer’ s ear

What’ s Inside Issue # 1 0 March 03

MEMO: THANK YOUto everyone who contributed pictures - Michael Stenerson, Jason Dickman, Matt Rezac, Benji Meyer, and Nickie Kessel.

to everyone who contributed writing - Jack Boyd.

to everyone who advertised in this issue - Tommy at Medium Control, Jack at Stacked/Fonix, Jesse at True Ride, Linda at The Hot Spot, Matt at Thurman Lewis, and Tom at Modern Radio.

Thanks to Brian Schmickle at Insty Prints for donating 500 sheets of glossy paper for the cover.

Big thanks to the following: Brian Perry, Travis Bos, Signal to Trust, Aaron Meza, Mark Whitely,Sonny Mayugba, Linda, Mark Muller, Rob Norland and Tim Kinsella. Without you we’d have no interviews.

Welcome to Issue #10 Thank you.

MEMO FIRST VARIANCE NINTENDO SKATE SONG OF ZARATHUSTRA

AARON MEZA MARK WHITELEY SONNY MAYUGBA

THE BOOK OF DEAD NAMES 3RD LAIR VS RIDEJOAN OF ARC FIFTEEN YEARS OF THE HOT SPOT

BRIAN PERRY INTERVIEW SIGNAL TO TRUSTSTACKED CHICAGO ROB NORLAND

PHOTOS

THE END

Phot

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iche

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tene

rson

Pete Larson

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For a limited time, we are re-releasing Issue #1 for $3 to anyone that wants one. Contact us at [email protected].

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Ester Drang - Infinite Keys - Jade Tree - Oklahoma’s Ester Drang is about feeling. The feeling you get when you’re driving down a country roadon a bright sunny day with the window down. The big fluffy clouds are rolling along the rich blue skyline. Or the feeling you get when you’re waitingfor the bus. When there are cars and people rushing to their jobs and whatnot. Their music is synchronized with every day life. Whether you’re driv-ing down the country road or waiting for a bus in a busy suburb, Ester Drang’s music will amaze you. Cursive - The Ugly Organ - Saddle Creek -You could call Cursive’s new album a concept album, because it sounds like nothing I’ve heard before. Each song is dramatically different. The firsttrack opens with evil, scary, carnival music that leads into a fast paced song with a cello. This then leads into track 3 with an up beat feel, but thentrack 4 slows it down and makes it good. If you like Cursive, you’ll most likely enjoy this record. Cave In - Antenna - RCA - Cave In’s new albumis a musical assault on today's crap rock like Creed and Nickelback. Every song on the album is rock. Not the sissy whiney rock, but brutal guitarpounding rock. Lifter Puller - Soft Rock - Self Starter Foundation - This double disc features all of LFTR PLLR music except what was on “Fiestasand Fiascos.” Lead singer, Craig Finn, has an easily recognizable voice with lyrics that are something to listen to. They have the most unique lyricsI’ve heard. This is one album you should have if you’re a Lifter Puller fan, or if you’re collecting music by some of Minnesota's best musical artists.Songs: Ohia -Magnolia Electric Co. - Secretly Canadian - If you couldn’t get into Songs: Ohia before, after listening to this album for one secondyou’ll be rocking it like a 12 year old girl at a Nick Carter concert. Magnolia Electric Co. is more upbeat than his previous albums and there are manydifferent singers that take the lead of many of the songs. It’s not country music, but it’s more of a folk. Songs: Ohia can be easily compared to NeilYoung and Bob Dylan. Foo Fighters - One By One - RCA - Foo Fighters could record pure silence for an hour and give it to the record execs. andstill sell a million copies of it. Everyone says that this is their best album yet. It’s hard for me to say that too. At first listen I didn’t like it, but then itkind of grew on me. There are too many tracks to skip over, which isn’t good. AFI - Sing the Sorrow - DreamWorks - AFI has been making musicfor ten years now and it shows on this album. Any AFI fan will be pleased to add this to their collection. Great songs and great guitar solos equal agreat album. Joan of Arc - So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness - Jade Tree - After breaking up and starting other bands, Joan of Arc is backwith a new record done completely without the help of computers. Recorded in an analog studio, Tim Kinsella and crew laid down the tracks to theirbest album yet. Joan of Arc - In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust - Perishable Records - How many bands do you know that release 2 albumswithin 3 months of each other after breaking up. Recorded in the same sessions as “Lovelessness”, this album starts where “Lovelessness” left off.Pure genius. Even if you don’t like Joan of Arc, you still have to give Tim Kinsella some respect; this is his 16th release since 1996, which comes outto being more than one album a year.

HIP HOP IS DEAD SUMMER TOUR 2003SAT., APRIL 5TH AT 9:00 PM AT 3RD LAIRJoin the Sodalicious Skateboard Team and Company for a 2hour skate jam from 9:00 - 11:00. Entry is 5.00 per head.Enter a raffle to win some sick prizes:- GRAND PRIZE - 5 Sodalicious COMPLETE Skateboards.1 year Membership to the 3rd Lair.20 Tickets to a Timberwolves B-Ball Game for you and allyour homies.- SECOND PRIZE -Hook-Up from Supernatural Clothing Co.- THIRD PRIZE -Gift pack from Cal Surf Skateshop and Fifth Element.

CINCO DE MAYO 'OUT CHAMPIONSHIP'AND 7 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY!

SATURDAY, MAY 3RDThe 3rd Lair will celebrate its 7 year anniversary - can youbelieve it?! Thy’ve worked hard for seven years to bring youthe best facility for skateboarding and every year theyreward their members with a free skate day and bar-be-que!Non - members get in for half price. 3rd Lair will be cele-brating all day and will have their second annual 'OutChampionship'. This is a head to head tournament and thewinner will walk away with 320.00 bucks! (10.00 to enter). They only allow 64 competitors for this, so you need to signup IN ADVANCE at the 3rd Lair. Placement in the bracketis totally random. So far they have about 40 entries still open- don't wait to long or you'll have to be a spectator.

3RD LAIR 1ST ANNUALSKATEBOARD VIDEO FESTIVAL

Saturday, July 20th at 6:00PM - Deadline for submissions isJuly 13th. Videos must be made by local filmmakers. Only20 videos allowed. Go to 3rdlair.com for more information.

CHECK OUT OUR ADVERTISERSThurman Lewis - thurmanlewis.comStacked - midwestbrand.com/stackedFonix - midwestbrand.com/fonixHot Spot - hotspotworldwide.comTrue Ride - trueride.comMedium Control - mediumcontrol.comModern-Radio - modern-radio.com

Check Swimmer’s Ear out online at swimmersear.homstead.com

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Skate or DieA fun game with hard controls. If you ever tried to skate “goofy footed,” left was right and vice versa. What was up with the HighAir, you needed a turbo controller to even get off the ground. The funnest part is the Joust game, where you have to skate the pooland tri to knock of opponites.

Skate or Die 2A large improvment over its predecesor. The halfpipe game was worth 2 weeks lunch money along.There is nothing cooler than doingbackflips over the spine. The “street” portion of the game is cool, the mall level being the funnest. This game is almost a RPG com-pared to the skate video games nowadays. Skate Straight

720°This game is probably the coolest looking one Nintendo released. It was like skating a skatepark. This was originally aarcade game. The skater is a bit hard to control, but all in a ll a fun game.

T & C Surf DesignsThis game is cool because to the charecter names. You had Joe Cool and Tiki Man on the skate, and Thrilla Gorilla andKool Kat on the surf. T & C is a very fun game. The levels stay the same but get more difficult the more you do. I have noidea how many levels there are, I’ve been as high as level 12, and it keeps going. This is the only game of these four thatyou could actually to board slides on rails. You can also do shove its, but you have to go through the oil slicks first.

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Song of ZarathustraWhen did Song of Zarathustra form? Originally, March of 1997. How many albumshave you put out? 2 full lengths, 5 seven inches, a 10"/cd picture disc, a few differentcomps, etc... Where did the name Song of Zarathustra come from? 2001 SpaceOdyssey What is Song of Zarathustra's biggest influence? Things that don't suck.Who makes up Song of Zarathustra and what does each member bring to thegroup? TJ = guitar/vocals, Mark S.= bass, Travis = vocals/keyboard, Mark J.= drums.We all write and add opinion. Some songs certain people do more than others. Whowrites the songs, and where do the lyrics come from, are they personal or fiction-al? They're generally fictional portraying personally moments. Musically, TJ and I didmost of the writing and composing. Where has Song of Zarathustra traveled to?Most of the U.S. and 13 countries in europe. In what country do you get the bestresponse? Germany. Then I would say France or the U.K. At what point did youdecide to pursue music as a career? When you realize that, that is what makesyou:music. When you live, eat, breath music, you may tend to lead more of a lifestylethat centers around just that. At least,that's how I think. I,personally, would like to bemore active as a band(tours,etc.) What do you do when your not playing music?Handling emails, mail orders, band stuff for a few hours a day, work, have a drink ortwo at the bar here and there. Random show,etc... What kind of music did you listen

to when you were growing up? When I was a young kid, I grew up with 3 older brothers. They were 10,11 and 12 years older thanme. So, I grew up on the Sugarhill Gang, Journey, Boston, AC/DC, Queen, David Bowie, Run DMC, etc, etc... Middle school,highschool,I listened to metal, thrash metal, death metal, punk/hardcore, as well as goth, new wave, death rock, noise,etc... What do youlisten to now? The same stuff, as well as brit pop, glam rock form the 70's era, hip hop... What's worse, long drives or long planeflights? They both suck.......probably long flights....cause you have to deal with tons of passengers...

D E C 2 0 0 2 , S O N G O F Z A R A T H U S T R A B R E A K S U P

What are you planning to do now? Well, itdepends on when this magazine comes out. It'sDec. 20th right now. I'm talking to a few peopleabout starting a band. A few others are in a bandright now. Why did you decide to break up?It was just time to. I think we all can agree onthat. What can we expect from the lastshows? Jan 11th. sat. 2003 at the 7th St entry.All ages show at 4PM and the 21+ show is at9PM. It will be So Fox ( ex Selby Tigers ),theSoviettes, End Transmission and us. $6 Whatdo you want people to remember about Songof Zarathustra? That it all started in a livingroom in Sioux City, Iowa. Was this the bestband you've played in? To date,yes. I'veaccomplished more and had more memorablemoments with the group. How do you feel nowthat its over? Relieved and sad. Do you thinkyou will play in another band like Song ofZarathustra? I hope not. that would feel real-ly generic. It's time to try something different. I like many genres...We'll see what happens. Song of Zarathustra has broken up beforeand gotten back together, is there any possibility of that happening again. That would be obsurd. Please hit me if that happens.Would you like to thank anyone? Anyone who gave a damn. Thanks.

Interview with Travis Bos in Dec. 2002, Photos by Matt Rezac

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How/when did your the magazine you work for start?In the 60s, then it went out of business. Now it's back.

How many issues are put out in a year and what is the numbers ofissues printed (circulation) per month?

12 per year, over a 100 thousand is our circulation. I think we printmore though. Who knows. Lots of dead trees. So sad.

How long does it take to get an issue out start to finish?Two months.

When did you become editor?Summer of 1999.

What did you do before you became editor?Filmed for skate videos.

What exactly does the editor do?Little this, little of that. Yell at people.

If there was one thing you could change about the magazine youwork at, what would it be?

The paper stock and raises for everyone. That's two things, sorry.

What issue are you most proud of?All of them, none of them.

What are your favorite articles about?The ones that I didn't do.

If you started your own magazine, how would it be different from theone you work at?Not much different.

What kind of training do need to be an editor at a major skateboard-ing magazine?Know every little trivial thing about skateboarding. Have people skills.

What advice can you give kids who want to do what you do?Just do it. Don't write to editors and ask for a job without actually doingsomething. It's better to do an article and show it to them instead of actu-ally saying you want to do an article.

What's the best/worst part of your job?Best part is it's skateboarding. Worst part is dealing with deadlines andtelling people you don't want to run one of their photos. Also sometimesyou're really into doing the magazine and some of your co-workersaren't. That's depressing.

What do you think the importance of underground zines is?Very important to the local scene and for the people making them. It's funto do and that's always important. People need to have more fun.

What is your favorite underground zine?I used to like this one called Skate & Create, it was in San Francisco, butit's gone. I don't get that many zines.

What makes a quality magazine?Good skating, interesting stories.

MezaAaron Editor ofSkateboarder Magazine

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Adam, here's my $.02

H ow/when did your the magazine you work for start ?First issue was April 1992, tarted up as a concept a few months before.

H ow many issues are put out in a year and what is the numbers ofissues printed (circulation) per month?Monthly, or 12 per year. Circ is somewhere around 60,000/month but I'mnot totally sure.

H ow long does it take to get an issue out start to finish?Hard to say. Sometimes we work on stories for a few days, sometimes ittakes a year. The actual production of the physical mag takes about threeweeks of assembly in the month cycle.

When did you become editor?Started working here August 1998 as managing editor, officially became edi-tor in about November 1999.

What did you do before you became editor?Before the mag I worked as a videographer for a lot of companies in thearea while I was in high school and college and got to know a lot of peoplein the industry that way. Lance Dawes, the original editor, was looking forsomebody to help run the mag day-to-day and help out with all aspects ofthe the mag. My name was brought up to him by some friends and skaters,and eventually I started here as managing editor, which was basically every-thing I do now except with less final say.

What exactly does the editor do?Can't speak for how other mags go, but basically I oversee the entire deal--writing, editing, photography, production-- everything that goes in the magmust go through me.We have Joe Brook as our photo editor, so he is most-ly in charge of photography decisions, but we do that end of things togeth-er. He and I share a lot of responsibilities as far as determining what happensin the mag especially because skateboarding is such an image-driven thingand he's out in the world with the skaters every day. but basically I have toknow what's happening with every aspect of the mag from start to finish--ideas to writing to shooting photos to interviews to reviews to design tokeeping contact with the staff and contributors too payment and on and on.

If there was one thing you could change about the magazine youwork at, what would it be?Have the owners feel like it's good to be a smaller mag who doesn't needto compete with the guys in the grocery store where your grandma shops.

What issue are you most proud of?Can't say really, there are parts of many mags that I'm really proud of. If Icould only choose one I guess it would be our "how-to" issue fromNovember 1999, but really I wouldn't want to choose one.

What are your favorite articles about?Personally, my favorite articles are about people who skate and see thingsdifferently. A good example from SLAP would be the Bobby Puleo interviewwe did a couple issues back. Skaters who have something to say, not justhandrails to grind.

What kind of training do need to be an editor at a major skate-boarding magaz ine?None. A love of skateboarding first and foremost is the real need, angermanagement skills, an interest in diverse subjects, ability to do a little bit ofeverything, some dedicated friends to help make it happen, know a coupleskaters, a few decent ideas here and there, a phone, and a desire to want togive something back to a community which has given you so much.

What advice can you give kids who want to do what you do?Skate and meet people. Learn how to write about people and places. Knowskateboarding's past. See skating as a way of life, not an activity.Appreciateall the ways people skate and all the things that it means to them. Skate asmuch as possible.You can't be legit if you aren't out there dong it.

What ’s the best/worst part of your job?Worst: It's largely an office job and I'm on the computer and the phone alot. My eyes hurt. I deal with skateboarding all day but don't get to skate allday.Best: It's skateboarding and there isn't anything I know better. I get to showpeople around the world new things that might stoke them out or changetheir lives. I get to give back. I get to travel. I get to make a decent living doingsomething that deals with most of the things that have made me who I am.And if I come to work looking like I joined fight club the weekend before,all I have to say is "I hung up on the 4th Street Ramp" and everybody knows.Skateboarding has become more important to me than ever before sinceI've been here.

What do you think the importance of underground zines is?An expression of passion, a way to push the local scene, a way to documentyour life and the things that are important to you, a way to create with noother desire involved other than the want to create.

What is your favorite underground zine?These days I like "Paying in Pain," but my all time favorite is "City One."

What makes a quality magazine?Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Mark WWhhiitteelleeyyEditor ofSlap Magazine

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H ow/when did your the magazine you work for start ?1992. It was started by 4 guys (Sonny Mayugba, John Baccigaluppi, MattKennedy, Chris Carnel).We were skateboarders, musicians, snowboarderswho wanted a creative outlet and a way to get free snowboard gearbecause snowboarding was expensive.

H ow many issues are put out in a year and what is the numbersof issues printed (circulation) per month?12X year, 30K per issue.

H ow long does it take to get an issue out start to finish?Actual production time is about 6-10 weeks, but that's not including ALLthe time the photographers and writers spend working on a story. Somecan be shot in 2 weeks, some take 2 years. Example: Ryan Johnson took 4weeks, Mark Gonzalez took a year and a half.

When did you become editor?As a founder of Heckler, I've always been on the editorial board, I was thefull-fledged editor from 1998 to August 31, 2002.

What did you do before you became editor?Everything. Mostly sold ads, ran the business.

What exactly does the editor do?Champions the voice of the magazine, guides the overall editorial, design,and photographic direction.They distill the message.

If there was one thing you could change about the magazine youwork at, what would it be?Hire all my friends to work there with big salaries.

What issue are you most proud of?The Handwritten Issue.

What are your favorite articles about?Intimacy, heart, feeling, humanity.

If you started your own magaz ine, how would it be diffe rent fro mthe one you work at?I would work there.

What kind of training do need to be an editor at a major skate-boarding magaz ine?Charisma, knowledge, respect, ideas, and vision.Where do you "train" forthese things?

What advice can you give kids who want to do what you do?Don't do what I want do, do what YOU want to do. Do what you REALLYwant to do. Follow your heart. If you want to be an editor of a magazine,either:1. Start working at a magazine you love and respect in hopes to climb theladder.2. Start your own magazine.

What ’s the best/worst part of your job?Best: Letters from readers, the feeling of getting an issue back from theprinter, tons of free shit, traveling, all my friends.Worst: Low pay, limitations from brain ideas to print media, limited promo-tions budgets.

What do you think the importance of underground zines is?VIP. Heckler started as an underground free zine.They're pure (most ofthem) and are the breeding ground for talented people.

What is your favorite underground zine?For skateboarding, Paying in Pain.

What makes a quality magazine?True vision, great content, a sense of humor, exposing people's insides onpaper for everyone to see...

Sonny MMaayyuuggbbaaEditor ofHeckler

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How did the Book come together?James R. and I worked together, Andy wasfriends with James M. and I when we movedhere from Sioux City, IA, after Song ofZarathustra broke up (for 2 years.98-2000 ). Wejust decded to start a band. We weren't doing shitat the time for bands.

How many members have their been?A total of 10

What other bands to the Book's members play in?I play in Song of Zarathustra, James and Beckyplayed in Cadillac Blindside, Andy and John playin The Crush, Eric plays in Heads N'Bodies, andthe rest are either nowhere to be found or doingthier own thing.

With people paying in other bands, how didyou get everyone in the same place to record arecord?Ha,ha! It's not that easy. We broke up in 2000 so Icould rejoin S.O.Z. We decided to record what wehad left over, which was 6 songs. 2 years later, wedecided to finish it and make it an Lp/CD (which is on Blood of the Young Records )

Is the Book a side project, or a active band?It's not active at all. I mean, it could be if we had the ambition but, our main bands are thefocus at the moment. Who knows, maybe we'll play again.

How many shows has the Book played, and are they going to play some in the future?I have no idea if there'll be more. As far as shows we played, I dunno....We went on a U.S.tour, several mini tours, shows in town, etc... Probably around a 100 or so. Not to much.

How is writing songs for the Book different than writing them for S.O.Z.?The style's are different, people have their own ways of explaining parts, etc..... There's thelittle differences. Nothing exciting to talk about though.

When people hear the name of the band what is their first reaction?"......Oh,really...?" "Oh,the necronomicon! Hey,do you like evil dead?"

What do you want people to think when they hear The Book of Dead Names?That it's not Jimmy Eat World.

What is the musical and lyrical influence behind BODN?Musical influence? hmmm, fast, hard and entertaining live bands, I guess. Lyrically? I likeenemies for that. They are always helpful. They actually are a good source of inspiartion.

What musical genre does BODN fit into?Metal based Free Jazz with a Mid 70's Glam Rock feel, but not to be confused with soul orska. It's more like ABBA really...

The track "it never ends" did you do the ending in one take, and why didn't you make itlonger?Yes we did it in one take. It started to drive our friend Eric Olsen completely nuts. Werecorded both sessions in 2 days....Thats not a lot of time to do 6 to 8 songs each session. Ithink adding anymore to the length of that song would seriously have damaged his sanity.

Since BODN isn’t an active band, what do you want people to remember about it?That it was fucked up.

The Book of Dead NamesInterview with Travis Bos, Photo by Matt Rezac

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Page 19: Swimmer's Ear Magazine #10

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RRiiddee

RRiiddee ooffffeerrss ttwwoo mmiinnii rraammppss.. TThhee oonnee sshhoowwnn iiss aa 55 ffoooott mmiinnii

wwiitthh aa ssppiinnee aanndd aa 66 ffoooott eexxtteennssiioonn.. TThheeiirr ootthheerr mmiinnii iiss

ssuubbmmeerrggeedd iinn tthhee ddeecckk nneeaarr tthhee bboowwll.. TThhaatt mmiinnii iiss 44 ffeeeett

hhiigghh aanndd 1122 ffeeeett wwiiddee.. BBootthh mmiinniiss aarree ffuunn ttoo rriiddee.. YYoouu ccaann

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mmiinnii..

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ssoo bbiigg iitt hhaass iittss oowwnn rroooomm.. TThheeiirr mmiinnii aallssoo hhaass

aass ssppiinnee..

Why did you decide to start a skatepark?It really wasn't me. I picked up a business plan that couldn't get off the ground; it was having trouble. I basically dove in and thought it was acool thing for the kids and to sorta have another place to go that's safe and fun, hopefully challenging enough and that was really why.Obviously not in this business to make money. It’s a full time hobby.

What did you do before this?I wish I came from a skateboarding background. Through the right people and having the right people get things organized. It will be a parkthat will provide what it should provide. We don't do the job that 3rd Lair does; they’re well entrenched and know the business. We just have anice park and it’s safe and it’s in the middle of Plymouth, Minnetonka, and Wayzata.

Why will skateboarders come to the ride park opposed to other parks?It’s smaller, it has smaller ramps. They can skate without being intimidated by the size of the ramps. The traffic is pretty much back and forth;we haven't had any collisions.

Do you skate?I did a little when I was in high school. I go out there fourteen or fifteen minutes. I can’t do a whole lot.

What do you think of 3rd lair?I don't know much about it. I just know that they’re the foundation of skateboarding in the Twin Cities. Their park is different than ours; it hassome things that we don't offer. Between the two, we have vastly different parks that compliment each other. I don't know them and I hope usbeing here isn't reeking too much havoc on them. I’ve got no ax to grind and I hope they don't with me. I hope we can have some friendly com-petitions when we get a team together, and hopefully we will get a chance to work together.

TTHHEE

MMIINNII RRAAMMPP

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Give us a brief history of 3rd Lair - The 3rd Lair opened inFebruary of 97 in the same warehouse of Mpls.'s previous 2skateparks - we were the 3rd & it our Lair - so 3rd Lair seemed likea logical name.What is the square footage? - About 20,000 sq. ft. indoor and5000 sq. ft. outdoor = 25,000 sq. ft.What are the dimensions of the bowl? Keyhole 6 feet and 9 feet,3 foot waterfall.Size of street course? - 14,000 sq. ft.What else does 3rd Lair offer for those not skateboarding? -Some arcade games, a lounge, and a pro-shop.Mini Ramps Dimensions? - 24 feet wide3rd Lair Team? - Jeremy Reeves, Brian Godfrey, Justin Weiner,Mike Guy, Tom Beggs.Hours of Operation, Fee? - $10.00 for non-members & $5.00 formembers.What kinds of events does 3rd Lair offer? - All kinds; contests,skatecamps, music, video premieres, all-nighters.Average # of people per week and what is the age range? -Couple hundred riders per week; 5 - 35 yrs.What do you think of Ride? - Typical competitor feelings. They’retoo close to us; what do they put back into the scene? They are justcorporate moguls trying to make some money off of skateboarding.It’s pretty obvious that I'm not telling you something you don'talready know. Why are we in it? We've skateboarded our wholelives; it’s all we know. It’s all I wanna know. - Mark Muller

Give us a brief history of Ride: Opened Dec. 8th.

What is the square footage? - 36,000 sq. ft.What are the dimensions of:

Bowl - 6 ft. custom bowl.Street course - 22,000 sq. ft.Mini ramp- 2 submerged 4 ft. high 12 ft. wide, and 5 ft.

high 24 ft. wide, with spine and 6 ft. extension.

What else does Ride offer for those not skateboarding? -Climbing Wall, Go Cart Track, Party Rooms, Arcade and Pro Shop.

Ride Team? Currently No.

Hours of Operation: Mon. - Fri. 11 -10, Sat. 9 -10 and Sun. 12 - 9.

Fees: Memebers pay $6 Mon. - Thurs. and Friday mornings. $7 onFriday night, and all day Sat. and Sun. Non-members pay $12 Mon.- Thurs. and Friday mornings. $14 on Friday night and all day Sat.and Sun.

What kinds of events does Ride offer? - Skatepark, ClimbingWall, and go-karts.

Average # of people per week? Right now I would reveal that,because we’re building it up.

TTHHEE

PPRROO SSHHOOPP

TTHHEE

SSPPEECCIIFFIICCAATTIIOONNSS

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sshhoopp ccaatteeggoorryy..

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1. Why did you chose not to use computers on this album? The record start-ed out on computers with me and Casey Rice. After about a year of piling it onand chopping it up I ended up with an unmanageable pile of songs and no actu-al band. So when we started over with Graeme we were already doing so as ameans of simplifying and diversifying the process. This is also the first recordwithout Jeremy as part of the band contributing his homemade electronic gadg-ets and computer - so partly out of respect for him I wanted to leave that sortof space open for now instead of attempting to mimmick him. 2. Was thisalbum harder or easier to write/record than previous ones? It was #1 - noharder or easier to write than the others since they each become life-consum-ing obsessions throughout their formative stages.It was #2 - easier to recordthan the others because Graeme is young and hungry and focused and we'd getsuch a head of steam behind us we'd work for 14 or 15 hours at a time withoutbreaks and enjoying every surprise as it would occur. It was #3 - harder torecord than the others because I have no head for business or business skills 3.Do you think fans of your previous works will like this record? I guess Ihope so since I don't seem to picking up any new listeners along the way and Idon't want to stop doing it. I seem to know most of the audience by name mostof the places we play at this point. 4. What is it about music that makes youcreate so much of it? I don't know - I never really ever think to do anythingelse. I'm probably a lousy, unhealthy, self-absorbed human because of it, butnothing else really interests me much at all. I pretend to care about other thingsbut I get impatient and restless to get back to working on or playing musicwhen I have to stop to eat or check my e-mail or get an amp repaired or what-ever. My lady friend and I started making a documentary together last year -that's what she does and we thought it'd be good to get me out of my room. Wespent a couple months and shot 170 hours of footage and then it was like beingoverwhelmed by panic to get back to music and I just left her with the pile -which in my defense is a situation she loves - and I was so recharged and excit-ed to play again. I live in a warehouse with 6 other humans and we're all alwaysplaying music. It's just what my friends and I do together and what I do on myown. If I get bored after playing guitar for awhile I could play drums and whenthe drums begin to offer less moments of invention I can go over to the com-puter and get the headphones on and in between it all I'm writing little notes tomyself of nonsense phrases and when the computer gets old I try to put theday's phrases together and by the time I hit a wall there the guitar will be newagain. Sometimes I try to just hang out with people but then without exception- people I'd never expect it of - eventually everyone starts talking about TV andit's not that I'm so righteously opposed to it - I just don't care at all. I like towatch Charlie Rose a couple times a week but mostly just cuz he looks like mydad and meets all these interesting people so then I get to imagine my dadhanging out with authors and diplomats and tennis stars, but I don't know any-thing about these shows people talk about so I shut up and then I get bored andthen I start playing again. 5. Does playing music ever get old for you? No.Maybe it will someday. I like to think about trying something else but I'm stillwaiting for whatever that something else might be to reveal itself. Playingshows and touring like a little trained chimp playing the same songs everynight gets really old for me pretty quick but I have to do it I guess - it must bea kharmic debt. 6. What kind of influences (musical, personal, etc...) helpedshape the "...Lovelessness" record? EarWax's Daily Vegan Stew, Sultan'sMarket Falafel Sandwiches, Irazu's Vegetarian Platter, Amitabul's Dr. K's Cure-All Soup and Mandoo dumplings, The Bi Bim Bop and vegetable pancakes atJim's Grill, Yellow American Spirits, Maker's Mark, Pilsner Irquel, Spaten,Kirichi, Weed, John Cale, John Cassavetes, John Coltrane, Jean-Luc Godard,Jean Moreau, Bauhas, Bob Dylan, Salon.com, My uniquely white Americanmale sense of entitlement, The Rainbo Club, Lula, The Atlantic Monthly,Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, My house mate David Rowley's Robot Army,Lungfish, Steppenwolf, My Bloody Valentine, Black Sabbath, Will Oldham,Brian Eno, Need New Body, Hella, A trip to Europe, The new kids gettinguppity. 7. So far you been in bands that have released an album a year forthe lasts 7 years. Are you going for some kind of record, and how many

more years do you think this will last? This is a real consistent theme ofquestioning for you huh? There's 365 days in a year and 24 hours a day. Isn'tthat a whole lot of time? What are you doing with all that time? I like playingmusic and I like recording songs and I like making records. If the average toolong record is 12 songs, that's still just one song a month and songs are writtenin an instant. Every song I've been a part is suffered over for at least a year,sometimes 2 or more before I'd ever surrender it to an already oversaturatedentertainment industry, but they're still all written in a single moment. I'm notparticularly interested in selling records or breaking records or anything else -I'm trying to keep myself happy and engaged in my own life each day. There'sno lack of records to buy in the world that I'm trying to right - this is what I dobecause this is what I can do so I try to do the best I can at it. And I've neverreally thought about how many more years can I do this - I'd be just as happyif I stood up from my computer right now and never thought about music again- it just so happens that music is how I've been able to think since I was 2 yearsold and how I continue to be able to think. If I could think or feel in anotherway that made me as happy and engaged in my life as music I'm certainly opento it. 8. How does it make you feel that in every review or interview aboutyou, there is a reference to Cap'n Jazz? It's nice and very flattering that itmade some kind of impression on some people. I haven't heard it since we mas-tered the jade tree reissue and I was surprised then by how it sounded. I have avague idea of how I think it sounded but it was a long time ago and memo-ries, especially memories as impressionistic as music, mutate and fade, so Idon't really know what it sounds like to people or why people have reacted toit beyond the shockingly bad name. As far as I can tell the impulses are still thesame for each of us, but of course we'd be the last to really know. 9. Are futureJoan Of Arc albums going to be recorded without the help of computers?Probably not. By cultural design it's tough to do anything anymore without thehelp of computers. Whether or not they'll end up all self-consciously comput-ery sounding remains to be seen. 10. How is In Rape Fantasy and Terror SexWe Trust different than the So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessnessalbum? They were both recorded as the same big bundle and we didn't knowuntil all the songs were done what either record would become - we just had abig pile of songs. As we sorted them out it became clear how to approach get-ting everything to settle right. It's all intuitive really - so it's easy to say that theRape Fantasy and Terror Sex record is stranger or more confrontational, buthow that all fell into place and ended up as such is impossible to say. 11. Isthere a different message that you try to convey with each album? I tend toprefer to let the means lead the ends. Like there's a pendulum that's swingingto keep me on balance and the approach to each record is dictated by this, ie;we've been playing looser and noisier, let's tighten up for awhile and see whereit gets us or we've been recording live let's piece this one together or vice-versa.None of the records have ever had an explicit message - (though the first onedid suffer from a lack of explicitly sarcastic typography so what I thought wasa dumb joke liner note became a common question to us about our 'conceptalbums' and easy point for those who'd rather just disregard us as pretentious.)To bog any of the albums down with an explicit message would be reductive Ifeel and not allow each song whatever breathing room or potential it maydemand on it's own. Joan of Arc is now me, my brother, my cousin and my bestfriend for the last 15 years. 3 of us still live together. It's a small shallow poolbut our trust couldn't be more well established so what we have left to push isall in the approach, and hopefully that's enough to diversify what also hopeful-ly comes across as a cohesive whole. 12. Now that Davey Von Bohlen is nolonger playing in TPR, is there any chance of a Cap'n Jazz reunion? If acap'n jazz reunion could stop the war in Iraq or somehow empower all theworld's oppressed and help usher in a universally egalitarian utopia I'm certainwe'd all be doing it in a second. But as far as learning covers of ourselves asteenagers just for the nostalgia or vainglory of it all goes, I don't imagine it hap-pening until I'm bald and driving around in my red convertible and still can'tget laid by girls half my age.

a conversation with Tim Kinsella

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15 Years of the

When did the hot spot open?My son, Michael, and I opened The Hot Spot in April1988.

Why did you start the hot spot?We moved here in 1983 and soon realized that theTwin Cities needed a skate shop. It was tough to findwhat you needed if you had a skateboarder in thefamily, so we took it from there.

Has it always been in the same spot?We have always been in University Creek Plaza, buthave expanded through the years.

What are some of the differences from whenit first opened and now?

Skateboarding, in general, was much more “under-ground” in the 1980’s, a very tight group of kids. Wehad a skatepark back then, and it was like a big clubto them. It is different now with the media breakinginto the action sports. Now everyone is aware of theskateboarder and snowboarder ripping it up behindeveryone’s back.

How do you feel about mall stores likeZumiez?I don’t.

What has been most rewarding in running theHot Spot?Having our big skateboard family.

Is it true that everyone at the hot spot is relat-ed, or is it a rumor?We are all brothas from different mothas. Seriously,the most family we have had here is three at one time-Jer, Josh, and Sister Sam.

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How do you feel Hot Spot compares to other skateshops in MN?We do our thing-having fun andjust enjoying what we do.

What kind of response didthe Hot Spot get when itopened?The Hot Spot soon became theneighborhood place-away fromthose who didn’tget it.

What kind of promotions doyou have?Coupons- Give-aways- andstuff…..

Whenever someone buys aboard, you take their nameand board down and you putit into a database. For everyten boards you buy what do you get?It depends—Free Deck, Trucks and Wheels, Shoes, etc.

How many decks do you think you've sold in 15 years?A grove or two of maple trees.

What has been the hardest thing about running the Hot Spot?Not having a drive-up window.

The Hot Spot was one of the first shops in MN to run commercials on TV with skateboarding in it. Whatprompted you to run those commercials?We wanted to have fun with our advertising and we do. The best was an interview on a local cable talk show… Josh real-ly hammed it up. Serious ads aren’t half the fun of watching ones like that on TV.

What are the future plans for the Hot Spot?We’ll just keep being “The Hot Spot”. Having a skatepark again would be slick--you never know---right now we areresearching robots--having fun is what it’s all about and we do that every day.Thank You.

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BRIAN PERRYBR I A N PE R RY

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When did you start skating?I started in about 1984. I was in 7th grade and my first Jr. High friend named MattHauer had a Variflex 'Chaos' and he's spin 360's in his driveway.

Where did you skate?I'm from Stillwater so I skated there for years.

Who did you skate with?Back then there were only about 10 or 12 skaters in the whole town. Blake Peterson,Tyler Lamotte, Mike Cain, Bunny, Dogger, God... it's strange to think about.

Who were the top quys in MN when you first started?Eric Froland (Woody), Greg Bahn, Dave Stout, Pat Murphy, Even Mark Muller waspretty rad back then. But Woody was the best.

Who most influenced your skateboarding?Definitely John Muldoon. I've skated with him for a super long time. We've alwayspushed each other and had the most fun skating together.

When and why did you start Hardflip.com?I started it in like 1999 I think. I may have launched it in early 2000. There are tworeasons I started it. The first is that Glen Jones used to put out a zine a long time agoand he put a picture of me in it doing a backside smith. I was so stoked to be in there.Glen didn't know me at the time and it was the first time that I actually considered otherpeople looking at my skating. Everyone likes to be acknowledged for what they doand I guess I wanted to have a local outlet that did thesame thing. I've been skating in this town forever soI kinda know everyone and I'd like to think that itkeeps us tight. The second reason was that I got abunch of photos of Darren Navarrette skating withstrippers. It was my first story. Full nudity and every-thing. Those pictures had to be on the internet.

What kind of response did it get?It was ridiculous. Basically overnight I had shitloadsof traffic and emails and all that. People from allthese skate companies in California were emailingme, little kids from everywhere wondering what theirboners were for, parents bitching about pornography.It was crazy. Transworld accused me of stealingtheir logo. Not that I wouldn't have but at that time Ihadn't even seen their logo yet.

How many visitors do you get to Hardflip. com?Honestly I don't know. I stopped counting about ayear ago. It's not a business so the numbers don'tmean much to me. I have some ads on there but it'sjust to help out friends in the same way they help me.Every so often I'll see what the hot sections are. It'susually the stupid video clips.

BRIAN PERRY

Frontside Air

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Who do you think are MN's Most Influential?Overall I'd say Dave LeRoux. Clint Peterson is making a name for himself and Nesser is rad as hell. The whole Iotateam is sick but LeRoux changed the direction of skating. It's a long time ago now but he was one of the first switchskaters that was natural both ways. He had an SMA video part years ago where at the end it said something like ‘By theway, Dave LeRoux is regular foot'. It seriously blew people away. After that video he was without a doubt the most mod-ern skater in the country. Justin Lynch was large in a different way. I also have to point at Joe from Fobia, Scott fromCal and the 3rd Lair crew. They'vebeen the foundation for a long time.

Do you think art and skateboarding and music and skateboarding go hand in hand?Absolutely. I guess first I'd say that the popularity of skating now sucks. Sure it's good for business and all that but it alsoeats away it's soul. I fucking hate the way it's used in commercials and all this extreme bullshit. Kids now play hockey,football and skate. It's very strange. The only reason I point that out is that people who skate have generally been somesort of outcast either by their choice or societies. I think it's a combination of creativity and energy that melds skating andarts. I notice it's thinning with popularity but under the surface it's still there. Skaters are some of the most creativegroups of people there are. What's really interesting to me are questions like 'would you do a hard trick if no one wasthere to see it?' Or 'Would you finish a painting just to throw it away?' It's rhetorical of course but fun to think about.Personally if you answer yes then you gain myrespect.

What kind of mediums do you like to paint with?I've only used acrylic paints. Sometimes I combine ball point pens, screwdrivers, pencils, whatever's around.

Do you paint a lot, or is it more of an occasional thing?It's pretty occasional. I was a glassblowing major in college. Aside from skating it's the funnest thing I've ever done.Some day I'll be doing it again but it's expensive as hell so I fill the time by painting or drawing or whatever. I feel like Idon't have a choice about that stuff. I'm an elementary painter but doing it is somehow a release for me. I've got a spazroom in my house where it's messy all the time and if I feel the need I can run in and throw paint around.

What do you do for a job?I'm the web master for City Pages.

How old are you?30

How did you get interested in building websites?I was working at a restaurant in Stillwater that wanted a web site. I lied and told them Icould do it. I'd never even been on the internet at that point. But they paid me so Itook the money I got (not much - $500 I think) and used it to pay people for informationon how to do it. I really don't know much about computers but I'm smart enough to fig-ure anything out.

What is your favorite terrain to skate?Although there aren't any real vert ramps anymore I still consider myself a 'vert' skater.I've lost 80% of my skills but we're all getting older. You can tell when you see meskate that I'm a super unnatural skater. I had to work on it a lot. Clint Peterson makesshit look so easy.

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What do you think is harder, Vert or Street?I can't compare them. I can say that skating is harder than theother so called 'extreme' sports. It's why they shouldn't be lumpedtogether. The difference is small but it's that our feet aren't attached.That one fact ads a completely different mental aspect to skating.Of course a snowboarder is going to try and land a rodeo. He hasno choice. Of course a fruit booter is going to try and land his queer-mo wheel grabbie grind. Bikes are gnarly but you're still holding onto it. Skating is hard no matter what you ride. People should skatea little of everything. It helps street skills to be able to ride vert andvice versa.

A lot of the older skateboarders from Minnesota skat-ed more vert, and all the younger skaters skate street,Why do you think that is?Street skating is just so much more accessible. I got addicted tothe flow of vert skating. Something as simple as a backside air isthe raddest feeling in the world. When I started there weren't real-ly street pros. Gonz and Natas were just skating what they liked.The street skaters were what was then called freestyle.

What was the first trick you learned?Well, I did street skate for years at first so I learned ollies and Iremember hearing rumors about people being able to flip theirboards in mid air but it wasn't in magazines or anything yet but Ilearned kickflips pretty early. I can't do them any better now than Idid then.

How was it dropping in for the first time on Vert?Again you have to remember that things were different then. Therewas no such thing as a mini ramp. That hadn't been invented yet.

It was either vert or nothing. I'd watch these guys skate and they'd all drop in so naturally that's how I thought you hadto start. I never even considered starting at the bottom. It was at Ramp City and I remember Nate Sheggaby madeeveryone stop and he said 'let this kid drop in'. I ate shit of course but didn't know that I should be afraid. It took a fewtimes but I got it.

What are 5 things that distract you from skateboarding?Good question. Number one would be Women. I was with a girl named Nadia who I loved very much. I was with her forfive years and during that time I didn't skate much at all. It became second to her. Dooner calls those 'the dark years'.Other than that there's the usual work, money, booze, drugs and family but they don't really distract me. They're kindalumped together. I like to think of them as 'responsibilities'.

In the video game Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1, how do you think Minneapolis was portrayed?You know, I always wondered why they picked Minneapolis. A that time we didn't have as much coverage as we do now.I wonder if it was just a random Midwest pick to get sales up here to increase. Probably. It sure didn't look like the cityI live in.

Who has helped the MN skate scene grow?I think it's the guys who focus more on having fun. Seth McCallum is super fun to skate with. He's not abrasive, he'sjust skating. There are a lot of young skaters now that blow me away. It's rad to see Nesser, Seth and them helpingthem out. This isn't California so there's no reason for fucked up attitudes.

Indy

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Where is your favorite place to skate?Right now I don't have one. I'm on injured reserve for a few weeks. Ismashed my face apart at the new 3rd Lair and then after a few weeksI went back and jacked my ankle. My favorite all time MN spotwould've been PISS or the Oasis when the vert ramp was 44 feet wideand the two spines were hipped around it. That was fun as hell.

Where has skateboarding taken you?I've traveled a lot and skated some amazing places. I used to go outeast a lot & skate with my friend Nathan. We'd go skate with littleDonny Barley and Judd Hertzler. I'd go to California once in a whileor Texas but we'd stay around here most of the time. When we wereyounger it was a treat to go down to Omaha and skate. We'd hook upwith Danny Mayer and Steve Berra and skate all day. I've been toparks in Europe, even Tahiti but didn't skate much. I love traveling.

Do you think you'll ever stop skating?I'm sure my body will put a stop to it some day. I get aches a lot nowbut I have my own house so I got myself a whirlpool tub. I can sit inthat thing after a session and my old bones feel a little better. I'm sureI'll be pushing around for many more years.

What is it about skateboarding that draws you to it?It's the speed and danger I guess. It's relaxing to me to focus on justone thing. When I'm skating it's the only thing I'm thinking about.When I'm sitting home I'm thinking a thousand thoughts at once. I feelneurotic. Now I've learned that if I start thinking about slamming orworrying about it then I stop skating right away. If you worry aboutgetting hurt inevitably you will.

How has the MN skate scene grown since you started?It's so much bigger now. But we've done a good job of sticking togeth-er. It used to be that you knew pretty much every skater. Honestly, thegroup was pretty big but still almost all the skaters knew each other.That's impossible now. It's like a family tree. Minneapolis has alwaysbeen kinda the

Godfather that branches out to the other cities. Each community has theirgroups of skaters and if they're good enough the kids float up to the top.It's rad for me to watch. A few years ago a guy emailed me telling meabout this kid from North Dakota named Brian Heck. He sent me videoclips and I was shocked. I wanted to help this kid out so I made a wholepage for him with all these clips and soon everyone here was asking abouthim. I knew he'd be able to turn some heads. Of course he now rides forIota and is doing very well.

How has skateboarding changed for you since you started?I feel like I've lived an entire skateboarding lifetime. I started just havingfun, spinning around in driveways. Then skating ramps and getting better.Coming to Minneapolis to get to know and skate with the best skatersaround. I started entering contests and all that. Dave LeRoux would flowme products from Santa Cruz until I got sponsored by Small Room.Getting sponsored was the biggest deal in the world to me. It was my goal.But then suddenly I wasn't having much fun. I was bitching at people, try-ing to video everything, I was afraid of contests, worried about making spon-sors happy, all that shit. Then everything collapsed. I lost my sponsors,vert skating died and I went into a funk. But all the while I still skated andlearned to forget about all the serious weight I put on myself. Now I'm backto spinning in driveways and I try and project what I've learned to theyounger skaters around here. The lesson is not to take yourself too seri-ously.

Madonna

Mute One Foot Off

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How did you guys form?Dave: That’s the worst question youcould’ve asked. Jon: He’s not sayingthat because it’s a bad question, it’s justthe history of this band is so convoluted.Brian: Allow me to answer that ques-tion with a story. The story involvesPete Biasi who’s on parole inWisconsin, for flipping over a collegesecurity guard. Pete: Probation. Brian:Sorry, he’s on probation in Wisconsin. Iwas playing in another band at the time,and he called me from the MN side ofthe border, he would drive here twohours to practice, and was like “Dude Igotta get back to Menonomie tonight,my car broke down I’m not supposed toleave the state”. Pete: And I gotta go towork at the plastic factory. Brian: And Igotta go to work at the plastic factory by8 o’ clock at nite or something, can youcome pick me up, and give me a ride,and like before the cops find out I’m outof the state. Before a cop stops andoffers to help me and looks at mylicense and figures it out. So, I drovelike all the way to the border and thenlike another hour or whatever toMenonomie and dropped him off. Pete:Then we formed Signal to Trust. We hada different singer at first, and then part-ed ways with Brandon, who was thesinger, and then Brian joined the band.That was like last May, not this last Maybut the one previous, so that prettymuch brings us to now.How is playing in Signal to Trust dif-ferent than playing in previousbands?Pete: Well even playing in Signal toTrust has changed, just as its gonealong. It is just a little more relaxed Iguess. We’ve all been playing together

so long, kinda know how each other work and we are more open about offering different things up or trying new suggestions. Usually in other bands you have to get tothat point, so there’s a lot of just figuring each other out and kind of testing your limits with the different members of the band and there is not really that now in the band.Jon: Everyone has played in more than one band, so we kinda of know that everybody's different to there little idiosyncrasies, so we kind of know what to expect thatway. This is the most, for me, the most people that have been involved in the creative process and its a different way of writing. When we get together and we just playuntil something comes out. Whereas maybe other bands we’ve been in, somebody else will come in with a song and play with the rest of the band and let them interpretit. We don’t have time to interpret anything really, because we get together and play and sometimes it works. I threw up my hands, just a couple of weeks ago and said“Does anyone here know how we write songs, cause if you do please tell me”. I’m really frustrated and then like that night we wrote a song. Like you have these littlebreakthroughs. Brian: I think it’s very much about knowing how not to piss each other off. What each others idiosyncrasies are and how to avoid pushing the right but-tons. In some form or another we’ve all lived with each other, so we know each other intimately. Who wrote the lyrics to Folklore?Dave: Pretty much Brian wrote his lyrics and then the couple of songs I sing on, I wrote those lyrics. Brian: I sing on 5 of the songs, maybe 5 and a half and Dave singslike three.Where did you get the inspiration for the lyrics?Brian: When I was a kid my parents were into camping and fishing and outdoor activities. It’s something that took me a while to reinterpret, something that belonged tome and something they raised me to do. As I reinterpreted it, it became something I was interested in, in terms like, the fictional element and something I thought I wasinteresting to study and take part in, in whatever way I thought.

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Will future songs follow the same song structure, no verse or chorus?Brian: Well we just recorded last weekend and we did 3 songs that are, I think sort of interim between the last album and the next LP, which we have like 7 songs writ-ten for and its somewhat like a cross. We’ve started putting more chorusy type parts in, but still the songs are still somewhat abstract. The songs we’re writing rightnow have much more epic proportion, and maybe there not choruses, there more rhythmic and repetitive, and defy a chorus more. Jon: You get better at not steppingon one another's toes musically. Brian: I can’t write as many lyrics as I wrote for Folklore. Not repeating the same line ever gets really intense, and hard to remem-ber. Pete: And Brian’s in school, he slept 3 hours last night. Dave: Jamming 30 syllabeles into like 4 measures. Brian: Another thing, I’m kinda of getting more inter-ested in singing like, singing in a rhythmic way, with the music and less singing or talking my way through things.When do you think the new LP will come out?Jon: When someone gives us a bunch of money. Dave: We probably won’t even have enough songs to record an LP until next summer. Pete: It’s a ways off, it’ll prob-ably be a year from now, or a year and 4 months. There’s a 4 month bumper zone from when you record it to when it actually comes out. Brian: The 7 inch is gonnacome out in the spring and they’re putting out Folklore on vinyl and it’s gonna be a limited run of 300 with hand screened covers for it. Pete: If the record writes itselfreally fast then it could be sooner. It kinda depends, like if we don’t write a song for 7 months. It’s really hard to tell just how we do it, hopefully not more than a year.Jon: Money is an issue too, it’s economically getting harder and harder to put out a record. I mean Tom, who does Modern Radio goes out on a limb for us every time.It’s just really difficult, so you gotta be patient with that aspect of it. My point being, Tom is the only guy who does Modern Radio, it’s just him, but he’s in school so,he is kind of part of the process of putting out a record. We haven’t had anyone come along and offer to release our stuff, except this kid Colin, just came along andliked our band and offered to put it out on vinyl, part of me actually thinks... Pete: I don't think it was actually him. Brian: Yea, I think that wasn’t Colin. Jon: Oh itwasn’t. Brian: It was his friend, he said. Jon: The point is we we’re broke. Brian: We’re hoping someone offers to pay for it Jon: We want people reading this to giveus a whole bunch of money.Why did you decide to do two versions of the cover, one for tours and one for the release?Brian: Well I guess technically because we couldn’t get the jewel cases by tour and I have school work to do. I said that if we can’t get them printed by tour, I’m justnot gonna do them and I’ll do them when we get back from tour. We wanted the CDs in time, we wanted CDs to sell. I’m sort of a fan of handmade artwork and espe-cially mass produced, but handmade work. I found all these great opportunities to go nuts and spend way more time than we should, handmaking like 100 covers. Afriend of a friend of ours actually printed them. We assembled them after they were printed. Pete: It was pretty much a necessity in order to have stuff ready. Brian: Ithink it’s actually something that like, the next few things we’re gonna be doing, will be hand screened, and that’s not a matter of not paying for printing or not havingdesigns done but actually handmade artwork is really beautiful and it lends a personal feel to it.With Folklore only being an 8 track CD that come in just over 20 minutes, why did you call it a LP instead of an EP.Dave: I think there is some discrepancy on that, I would have never called it an LP. I don’t think its an LP. Pete: What are the criteria for an LP, I have to see officialdocumentation. Dave: I’m sure there is no set rules. If I bought an 8 song cd that was 20 minutes, I wouldn’t think it was an LP. Jon: Was that 20 minutes Dave andPete: It was like 24 Pete: I think it rides the cusp of being and EP and an LP, cause there’s 25 minute LPs out there. I don't know, that's a really good question. Jon:I’ll look it up. Pete: Yea, see what the internet has to says about EP and LP. Brian: Infact lets look up all our answers on the internet from now on. Jon: The internethas all the answers Pete: The internet says there is no answer.

A side conversation starts with someone asking how much the EP is selling for. One of the guys said 8, the other said9. John states that you should by the record fromModern Radio, and Pete says not to buy it from Cheepo Records. This turns into a conversation about stealing it from Cheepo. But don’t steal it get it from ModernRadio

Most CDs you can burn to are 80 minute CDs. Why do most bands choose to 12 songs that fills up only half of that time. Dave: I’ll take this one. I mean how many bands could you really stand 80 minutes of their music. Brian: I would follow that up with, I think a LP length, I don’t knowsound wise, if I prefer vinyl to cds, but I really like listening to vinyl, cause there is a side break. I think listening to music in 15 to 20 minute portions is a much moredigestible amount and then you have a rest and you flip it or change. As soon as a CD gets over 40-45 minutes, I start to tire of the sound. Jon: I think you have to bea certain kind of band, you have to be somebody, to have an 80 minute album, to have some kind of concept or continuity to it. Dave: Most bands put out 13 songalbums with 3 hits and 10 songs of filler. Pete: I mean just because you can put 80 minutes on a CD, doesn’t mean that you should. Dave: Sorta like cloning, likedinosaurs, like Jurassic Park, like they were so obsessed with if they could. Brian: I think the one exception to that, would be Can. Their LPs are edited down to fit ona CD. Their songs are like 22 -24 minutes long each. Jon: Several of my favorite records ever are EPs. Its interesting that were talking about this because were tryingto figure out to do the 7 inch.Are you gonna do hand printed covers for the 7 inch then?Pete: We hadn’t talked about it, there is 300 hundred of them. Brian: I think the idea of a 7 inch is to get it out there and make it special in other ways, like were bat-ting around cover ideas right know. The possibility of fabric covers to paper to felt. Dave: Covers made out of sticky buns. Pete: With the record between it, put icingaround the outside to seal it, so you’d have to take the record and wipe off all the carmel, ohh that’s fucking hot. Brian: That would be really great for the needle. Jon:I’d throw a brick through all of our windows if we ever did that. Pete: Yea dude, 4 bucks and you get 2 cinnamon rolls and a 7 inch. We’d have to get a big Colemancooler to take on tour, to keep those buns fresh for 4 weeks.

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Do you guys plan on going on tour again after the new LPs out?Pete: We’re planning on it but we’re not planning it. Jon: It’s a really tough time to be on tour, practically, its winter, but Brian’s in school, I just started a new job.Dave: I’m starting school. Jon: We’re all pretty financially strapped right now, I mean we’ll recoup, but its gonna take some time. What do you guys do for jobs or school during the day?Brian: I go to MCAD right now and I have like a year left and I work at a comic book store. Pete: I work with autistic kids doing behavior therapy. I have two kids thatI work with now. Dave: I deliver pizzas. Jon: I’m an administrative assistant.What does each member bring to the band?Pete: Beer gut... Musically. Low frequencies. Dave: I bring the money, I pay for everything. Pete (to Dave): Loan Officer. Jon: We both pay for things, come on. Pete:Dave’s got the golden egg, I think Jon brings a real super strong rhythmic sense to the band, also like a super wider mental scope of music that punk rock or indie rock.He’s the one guy in the band that’s had some kind of music schooling, so he has a different angle that he originally came from. I mean not that he didn’t play music beforehe learned it about it, but he still has that where we all just kind of were playing music, playing punk rock and sorta developed from that. That’s the one thing I can saythat one member uniquely brings to the band. Jon: Pete and Dave, I think have known each other for a long time and have played together in a great incarnation of thisband. Brian: Did you say Pete and Dave? Jon: Did I say Pete and Dave, I’m sorry, I meant Brian and Dave and they really, there’s a lot of interplay between the guitarsand I think for that reason and even vocally sometimes, on Folklore, even though it may not have been intentional, there’s that kind of relationship. And Pete and I haveknown each other for a long time. So, you kind of got the rhythm section and the guitars and there will be times where we’ll be practicing and me and Pete kind of breakoff and discuss the rhythm section and Dave and Brian will work out the guitar. Dave: I have some idea on how other bands write songs, the 4 of us I think it’s becomeunconscious. A lot of time when your in practice, we will just start playing and a lot of times nothing comes out, but when they do, it’ll be things we don’t necessarilyknow what all of us is playing, but some how it works. I think that’s really interesting and sometimes magical. Pete: If we work on a song more than the original timewe would spend on it, it’s trying to recreate something that we all accidentally did. Like we’re trying to work our way back to this one single part that we all thought wasamazing, but nobody was really paying attention to what they were doing. Jon: Frequently you get a like a 50-50 deal where all of you may like one thing at one giventime and other people might like certain things about that part of the song. It’s kind of a compromising for the sake of putting together two and then conversing themoment where it does come together and your all really jazzed about completing the song or some songs come out like in 5 minutes.With any band you’ve been in before, have you ever called Radio K and requested a song?Dave: No, I don't really listen to Radio K, not out of any dislike or spite, I just cant it in my car. Pete: I listen to it when I drive, but that’s the only time. Dave: Usuallyif I want to listen to music in my car, I will listen to a CD or a tape and if I want to listen to the radio, I’ll listen to talk radio Jon: I will say this, that’s interesting youasked that, cause somebody accused me of that at one point, by way of rumor or whatever. There have been times where I have called to see if they’re playing what we’vebeen sending them, or if they got it, because I hear other people talk say “Oh I heard this on Radio K” cause I don’t listen to it either. Then my friends tell me they heardit. Were the kind of band that doesn’t have, when I did college radio, people would call up or hire promotional companies to call up and DJs and say did you get what-ever I sent you and what are you playing off of it. I called Radio K once to ask that question and somehow it got interpreted that I was calling up to request my ownmusic, and this is the second or third time somebody asked that. I’d say to that person, were a fucking small potatoes band. We don’t have people that we hire to call upand find out if our fucking records getting played. Sometimes we gotta call and find out ourselves because we don’t know what's gong on, we can only depend on whatwe've been told from people we know. I don’t listen to that station. I don't listen to the radio at all. Brian: Yea, I don’t listen to Radio K, ever, let alone call and make arequest really of any band. Although sometimes I think I might be more informed about new music if I did listen to Radio K more often. On that subject, the thing thatreally bugs me, is this current wave of street teams. Especially small bands that are maybe trying to get bigger. I would imagine like having a team of people who youroffering like merchandise in exchange for calling, not even merchandise but discounts on merchandise in exchange for calling Radio K and requesting your band is evenmore despising, than calling and requesting it your self. Dave: Taking advantage of kids when your at that age when you get excited about, when you start getting intomusic, and your really excited about it, and you want to know about the bands. When your 15 or 16, and the idea that, people in a band to who’ve had the same experi-ence growing up, yet those kind of people would take advantage of that, I think is really disgusting. Its just a way for those kind of bands to market themselves cheaplyJon: If you want to market your band, that's just a different thing, that's not something that, I don't know how to market shit. Dave: I feel sorry for those kids because Ireally think its, those kids should be out handing out flyers, they should be buying guitars, or making zines or something. Its fucked up.What bands do you enjoy playing with and what bands do you enjoy seeing?Pete: Ten Grand, for both questions. Dave: As far as local bands playing? I think Ten Grand, we always have the best time playing with. Brian: I’m still really intoHeads N’Bodies. Dave: Hopefully soon they’ll start playing out again one of these days. Jon: It varies, sometimes you bond with bands over musical reasons and per-sonal reasons, sometimes over personal reasons and sometimes over musical reasons. Pete: I was honored to play with Sweep the Leg Johnny and Mike Watt. I was hon-ored to play those shows and I would go see those bands even if I didn’t happen to be playing with them. There's lots of bands that were friends with and sweet bands,but then there is also bands that we like playing with. Like would kind of recognize whether its through your own experience, or whatever, you feel this way just to seea band and to be playing with is like “Oh my god, what the hell.” They make these songs that are just so amazing and they play so well together, it inspires you to throwit out, inspires me more than just going to another place and playing another show and that kind of thing.What is in store for the future of Signal to Trust?Pete: The 7 inch is gonna come out. Its like our version of the band operates on more of a grand sense. Brian: After we discover the last herd of unicorns and the curefor cancer, we’re going on tour to the moon. Dave: Were going to tour the satellites of Saturn. Pete: We’re gonna tour MIR. Brian: And were gonna take on the DahliLama, four on one. Pete: And show him what's up. Jon: We’re gonna play for the Dahli Lama. Brian: He has one of those double neck guitars, like he totally rocksbecause he’s omnipotent and shit. Pete: We met a couple of dudes, who live in Europe , that are really into our band, that set up tours. I think in the grand scheme ofthings, maybe we could go to Europe. We might sometime in the future future like past the 7 inch and our maybe tour next year and all that stuff. And playing a lot ofshows. Jon: The point being when you network with people, the longer you start doing it, things pick up a little momentum if you keep it up, and that kind of been demon-strated by a lot of the bands we really like, Ten Grand have been around for 4 years now, you know the shit takes time. Dave: And were like, I think were starting to findthat there is people that like our band, that always help when people like you. Pete: If people say they like your band, they want you to play more and sell more recordsBrian: Or they pretend to like your band because they think its cool, that works too.

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6 Parks & 5 Days in ChicagoWords by Jack Boyd Background photos by Nickie Kessel

Steve Steitz, Boardslide

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Five Days

We’re sitting outside of Casey’s woman’s house waiting for abouttwo minutes before I feel the surge of sickness hit. Instant sweat anda watery mouth indicate that whatever is in my stomach is comingup and there’s no stopping it.

When Casey arrives, I’m standing van-side dry heaving over asmall spit puddle...the results of a Blue Ribbon night. Pabst usual-ly allows you to drink yourself senseless and at the same time stillallow your body to properly digest and pass your food through. Thismakes for a puke fest, without the puke. I think I was more stokedthan anything. Sorry guys, can’t drive. Me sick.

About a week before this scenario unfolded,local Duluth buff BenOlson received a call from TrueRide. They had been in talks forsome time about doing a more accurate portrayal of skate videos foruse at their annual tradeshows, rather that cheap looking run of themill grom footage shot on a windy Saturday morning with aPanasonic VHS camcorder. So with the promise of a meal ticketand a ride, Shades Productions grabbed some of the local Stackedheads and a bag full of Fonix gear and set out for Chicago on aweek long park binge courtesy of TrueRide. Jake Hackfeld, PeteLarson, Steve Seitz, Diet Morrisey and myself would be handlingthe skating side and Ben would be manning the bail gun. The ideawas to hit five of their best built parks, obviously located in andaround the Chicago area. That gave us five days to get footage at sixparks.

Steve Steitz, 5-0

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The theme for the trip came from a Big Brother spoof pic, entitled “411 Chairs,”that Benjamin had ripped out and placed on the dash that morning. Ex: “411 cigs.Pull the van over I need a pack of cigs.” Obviously, this is an observation that 411has expanded its coverage to include about every subject know to man. Everythingfrom shitty restaurant to grumpy ass gas station clerks was tagged with a “411”before being thrown into the conversation hole.

Before reaching Chicago, we took a detour to stop at the Four Seasons Skateparkin Madison. None of us had been there yet and everyone yearned to go, so go wedid. Everything about this park was top of the notch. The front desk help, theskateshop, the locals and especially the layout. Cement ledges and a double set ofstairs indoors? Hell yes.

So onward we pressed, or rather Jake did. He took the wheel since everyone elsewas being pussies. No one ever wanted to drive, especially in Chicago. That placeis a zoo...Zoocago. Upon arriving we spent the night in the first dive that we couldfind, before setting up at the new spot for the remainder of the stay.

Our first day of filming we realized an obvious problem...five skaters and onefilmer. Ben faced constant peckering at the skaters’ hands to “get this” or “comeover here.” He may feel like a hot shot at his editing bay, but he knows who’s real-ly boss out in the real world. On this first day, we decided to get two parks done. Ithink the majority of us were expecting less of the parks. If your familiar with mostof Minnesota’s parks, thing are usually under three feet and have goofy set-ups. Notout here in Richie Rich, IL. They have some cash to throw around so they got thebest set-ups that could be afforded. Tons of room and a shitload of variety. So ifyour park sucks, get more money.

Jack Boyd, Crooked Grind

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swimmer’s ear 38

Each day consisted of pretty much the same routine. Wakeup around 10:00, see the cold October out the window, goback to bed for another hour only and be re-awakened to thesmell of the Red Bull and cigarette breakfast that a few ofthe crew took a liking to. Then we would hit whatever parkwas on the list for the day and stay until the locusts swarmedfrom their schools and cluttered the course with their gob-bles and hoo-haws. After fighting traffic and finding thehotel again everyone would pair up and spilt to separateeateries. Since Case and Jake actually care about theirhealth, they would usually find some civilized place nearbyand return with stories of grandeur and satisfaction. Ben andI found a mutt of a take0out joint right next door to theliquor store, so we kept to that basically the whole stay,Steve and Pete would be content with sitting in a cloud ofsecond hand smoke chomping on Funyons, Snickers andwhatever scrapes were thrown their way. You would thinkthat their bodies would eventually filth out and quite coop-erating with them but everyday they effortlessly contributedto the footage pile.

One of the things most looked forward to during the day wasthe hotel hot tub. There is nothing like a good sulk in warm,bubbly water. We pretty much owned that thing too, until theweekend fell and the whole place was taken over by aboutfive thousand kids, no doubtedly peeing and farting at will.It stayed brown for the remainder of our stay. But that’swhat chlorine is for...

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The only downfall of this trip came when we lostPete about three days in, to a sharp box corner.It’s bad enough just getting stabbed, but thenhaving to feel the cold steel scrape your bare andexposed knee cap is a whole other story. I hadnever seen a knee cap in person before, andthough it looked like a fine cap, I can live with-out ever seeing one again. Between the “aaahh-hhs,” “fucks” and “shits” Pete described hiswound as being “gnarles in charge.” How hehappened to think of Scott Baio of the Charles inCharge fame in a time of pain and grief isbeyond me, but I think everyone shared an assshaking laugh on that one.

Eventually our time came and we had to pack it all in and head home. Weplanned to stop at the Four Seasons, Milwaukee but that stop ended upbeing uneventful due to the eminent park burnout everyone was facing.We opted for hitting the streets instead and found out quickly that thespots there rip. Go to Milwaukee. Then after catching wind of the Zeropremiere that same night we stuck around and were greeted by superamped up lady rapping on the van window. Turns out her son was star-ring in the video, the first part nonetheless.

It’s usually not until you get home that you realize how fun a trip was.The Chicago Cluster is definitely TrueRides’s best built parks to date.Beggers can’t be choosers, so it’s max stokage when you get to roll witha crew of your good friends on someone else’s budget. Special thanks toUprise in Chicago and Upfront in Botavia for they’re friendliness. Not tomuch and not to little, just right. These are what real skateshops are sup-posed to be like, so stop in if you find yourself lurking around the city.411 props to both establishments. And 411 The End to all of you...

Pete Larson, Frontside Flip

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rob norland

When did you start In the works?Intheworks was established in fall of the Roman empire as the common folk stuggled to take control of the patriarchal

oppression of the ruling class. So we have been around for a while.We opened in Jan. of 1 999, 4 years ago.

Why did you start in the works?My friend, Aaron, and I started Intheworks to give Mankato skaters a place to go locally to get a skateboard. At that

time there was no place to get skateboards in Southern Minnesota. I'll have to give props to Supa Stix Mankato's first 'coreskate shop, unfortunately it's owner Kevin Thompson moved away and closed the shop only after being open an entire sum -mer. Aaron and I later parted ways, but he still remains my friend.

What was the response when you first opened?We opened up shop inside of the 2 year old Woodworks skatepark , Thus the name In The (wood) Works. We set up

the shop inside the maintaince closet of the park , it was small, and some of us jok ingly called it "In the Closet" instead of Inthe Works. The response was favorable,k ids were coming from all over to skatethe park because it was free and openall of the time. When they showed upthey were stoked to find a place theycould get a pair of shoes, replace abroken board or get some clothes. Wehad a lot of loyalty toward the shop,but dark forces tried to invade our ter-ritory and take over, change loyalties &put us out of business, but we prevailedbecause we are the good guys. ThanksMankato skateboarders.

Why did you sell In the Works?I guess it was time to move on,

take a step out, take another risk ...so myw ife and I moved out here to Californiaso she could pursue acting and I acareer in the skate biz.

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DDiidd yyoouu ggeett aalloott ooff ppeeooppllee aasskkiinngg ttoo bbuuyy iitt,, wwhhyy ddiidd yyoouu cchhoooosseeRReeggaann??

I had alot of people looking into it, some super serious, somejust looky lou's, but in the end I felt comfortable with Regan becausehe is young, totally into skateboarding and was looking to make acareer out of skateboarding. Regan's committment to skateboardingreally caught my attention when I first saw him. He was driving upfrom Iowa to the Woodworks(now called The Chesley Roller sportfacility) every weekend and skating all day, non-stop. He was actu-ally one of the first few people I installed on to the shop's skateteam. We had several serious long talks before I was even thinkingof selling the shop, so I knew he would be right for the job whenthe time came to sell.

WWhhoo wweerree ssoommee ooff tthhee sskkaatteebbooaarrddeerrss tthhaatt iinnfflluueenncceedd yyoouu??Skaters that influence me are Regan, John Peitz, Dom, Steve

Davis, Skipp, Chris P, all of the young kids out there like Joe & DanWilliams, John A, & Andy. I have tremendous respect and love forall of Twin Cities brothers, Scott at Cal Surf, Pete at Fobia, John atCal Surf, Steve & Mark and the 3rd Lair guys, Ryan Hansen, &Chad Benson.

HHooww lloonngg hhaavvee yyoouu bbeeeenn sskkaattiinngg??I started skating in 1985. I was influenced early by Scott Tuffte

and Jeff Schnobrikt(sp?)because Jeff liked my sister. Those guyswould come over and do boneless' over each other in the street andlooked so rad doing it! After Back to The Future came out skate-boards became easier for me to get and thats when I became com-mitted.

II’’vvee hheeaarrdd ooff aalloott ooff sskkaatteerrss mmoovvee oouutt wweesstt aanndd ggeett aa jjoobb aatt tthheesskkaatteeddiissttrriibbuuttiioonnss ((ggiiaanntt,, ddeelluuxxee,, eettcc......)) iiss iitt pprreettttyy eeaassyy ttoo ggeett aa jjoobbiinn tthhaatt iinndduussttrryy??

It's not super easy , but if you know someone it can be prettyeasy. I had a few connections through the shop, so I used those. Afew years ago it was easier because skateboarding was booming,but now skateboarding is scaling back a bit, so it's not as easy.

HHooww iiss wwhheerree yyoouu aarree nnooww,, ddiiffffeerreenntt tthhaann MMaannkkaattoo??I live in Long Beach. It's definately different because of traffic,

the mass of people, more and diverse cultures. I love it out here.There was never a period when I was adjusting because I had beenliving and breathing California skate culture nearly all of life. It kindof preped me for living out here. It's funny too, that you could seea skater on the street and you are like,"hey there is a skater overthere! Cool.", but then you look at him and he doesn't have any ofthe tell tale signs of a true skate culturally driven skateboarder. It'sfunny becuase they are just using it for transportation. I guess I'vechanged because I don't get excited about seeing another skate-boarder out skating on the streets anymore.

DDoo yyoouu mmiissss tthhee MMiinnnneessoottaa WWiinntteerrss..No.

WWhhaatt ddoo yyoouu mmiissss tthhaatt yyoouu ddoonn''tt hhaavvee iinn CCaalliiffoorrnniiaa??Friends,Family, getting around without lots of traffic.

DDoo yyoouu eevveerr sseeee pprrooss aatt GGiiaanntt??Yah. It's sick, because most of them are super cool. We have a

skatepark here at Giant and they come by all of time. It's like adream come true. I'll do a little name dropping now , I really respectthese guys now that I've met 'em. Ben Gilley, Tosh, Jeremy Wray,Kenny Hughes, Bill Pepper, Linsey Robertson, Lance Mountain, NealBlender, Svitak, Agah, Hensley, Rob Gonzales, Chad TimTim, Cairo,Stephen Attardo, Justin Reynolds, Kenny Reed, and of course MikeV. These guys have always shown repect to me and all they comein contact with here at Giant, much love.

WWhhaatt ddoo yyoouu ddoo aatt GGiiaanntt??Sales Representitve for the Midwest and So Cal.

IIff IInn TThhee WWoorrkkss ddiiddnntt eexxiisstt,, DDoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk iitt wwoouulldd bbee eeaassiieerr ttoo ssttaarrttaasskkaatteesshhoopp iinn ccaalliiffoorrnniiaa,, oorr mmaannkkaattoo??

Definately Kato, Cali is way saturated.

WWhhaatt ddoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk wwhheenn ppeeooppllee ssaayy tthhaatt yyoouu wweerree aa iinnfflluueennccee oonntthheemm bbeeccaauussee""hhee pprraaccttiiccaallllyy bbrroouugghhtt tthhee sscceennee ttoo MMaannkkaattoo""??

I feel humbled, because all I really did was skate.

HHooww hhaass sskkaatteebbooaarrddiinngg cchhaannggeedd ffoorr yyoouu,, ssiinnccee yyoouu ffiirrsstt ssttaarrtteedd??I love the way skateboarding has gone. It's all about progres-

sion. These days skateboarding progression means taking a lookback at what was important in skateboarding in the past. I like thefact that things are going tech'r and bigger , but style and person-ality has become realy important lately. Just look at Tony Trujilo -skater of the year for Thrasher, he isn't super tech , but he has pas-sion and style that skaters are noticing now, I like that.

IIff ssoommeeoonnee aasskkeedd yyoouu ""wwhhaatt iiss sskkaatteebbooaarrddiinngg"" hhooww wwoouulldd yyoouuaannsswweerr tthheemm??

"Shredding and having fun"

HHooww ddoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk IInn TThhee WWoorrkkss CCoommppaarreess ttoo ootthheerr sshhooppss iinn mmnn??Intheworks fits in there somewhere. Intheworks is skater owned

and run, so you'll never get anything else but pure skateboardingfrom it. I have much respect and love for all of the other MN skateshops that putting back into their skate scenes, becuase that's whatthe business is all about in the end.

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Seth McCallum, FeeblePhoto: Michael Stenerson

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Neil Erickson, BluntslidePhoto: Michael Stenerson

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Fike, LipslidePhoto: Michael Stenerson

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Den Davey, Crooked GrindPhoto: Michael Stenerson

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Sam Jacobson, KickflipPhoto: Michael Stenerson

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Dan Jackson, Crooked GrindPhoto: Benji Meyer

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Steve Nesser, BoardslidePhoto: Benji Meyer

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9487 Polaris Lane NorthMaple Grove, MN [email protected]

PLACE

POSTAGE

HERE

the end.

Ryan LeegePhoto: Michael Stenerson