Enh… Make em skate than I’ll be impressed, or maybe Chris Cole is a GM/Nasa robot hmnnnn. AGK

NEPTUNES KILL MUSIC.. Hands down. AGK

Stop motion animation maybe seen as an over used technique nowadays, but this recent short moving image piece called Digital Analogue refreshes the format in a ground breaking way. The clip was made with over six thousand still photos and carefully edited to get the maximum effect. AGK

Pharrell shows off his latest bling gadgets. Known to be into everything cartoon/pop culture related, Pharrell Williams chose to turn his favorite Mario Kart characters into jewelry. Of course the jewelry is covered in diamonds from all angles. AGK

Marty Murawski is now pro for Blueprint! AGK

AGK LONGSLEEVE BLACK/RED LIMITED EDITION AVAILABLE AT ANTIGRAVITY SKATE SHOP

Interview and Photos: David Christian

So, where are you from?
Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Did you live there your whole life?
Yeah, up until I was eighteen. And moved out here, to Vancouver, then.

What was your reason for moving out here?
I just wanted to get out of that small, shitty town. Be in more of a skate
scene, I guess. Just to skate and pursue skateboarding.

Who did you grow up skating with?
In the beginning, when I was a kid, I skated with my friend, Alec Booth. We
grew up together with our parents being friends, and so I kind of knew him
my whole life. He picked up skateboarding. I skated mostly with him and my
buddy, Steve.

When I got a little bit older I skated for this skateboard shop
called Sud Skates and I mostly skated with that crew. It was based out of
St. Catherines, Ont., so I mostly skated with them in St. Catherines, and
stuff like that. I miss all those dudes. I don’t get to see them very much anymore that I’m
living in Vancouver, but we keep in touch, from time to time, through email
and stuff.

Who were some of the guys that you looked up to in your town, in your scene
growing up?
Mostly, a lot of the Sud Skates team, the older guys, before I even got on.
I’d see them around. Phil Shore, nice guy, he actually moved to England.
Chris Foote, he was older- mostly just guys that I’d see around at the
skateparks, and stuff like that. I just like the way those guys did their tricks.What kind of terrain did you guys have to skate growing up? Like, was there
a park, or mostly street skating?
Yeah, when I first started skateboarding it was mostly on the street with a
couple buds, just skating a local school up the street from my house with
manny pads and just random street skating. We got a park a few years after I
started skating in this town close by called Thorold South, and I pretty
much grew up skating that. And, actually, we got the Niagara Falls skatepark
the year that I moved out here, so I didn’t really get to skate there much.
Do you think that the skatepark is the centre of the skate scene in Niagara
Falls? Or do you think the kids are hitting the street much?
Definitely, the ones who love it are still hitting the streets, and the
parks, too. But there’s not a huge skate scene there, really. I can only
really think of a few main guys who really love skateboarding. There are
actually quite a few kids coming up there now, just ripping the park. I’ve
noticed over the last few times that I’ve gone back to visit that there are
definitely some kids who are getting progressively better.

What’s the scene like in Niagara Falls now?
Well, at the park, there’s a lot of bikers. And it’s kind of a small,
dirtbag-ish kind of town. A lot of my friends who I used to skate with are
still skating, so that’s good, it’s cool to see that they still love
skateboarding. I think the park is good for the scene, for sure. It keeps
people skating.

Devin Morrison is from the same area that you’re from. He turned me on to a
blog from out that way, alonelikeastone.com. Are you familiar with those
dudes?
Yes. Mike Todd is the guy who’s blog that is, and he’s just an amazing
person, really genuine. He had a skateboard shop called Cyril- that’s his
middle name. I got introduced to Mike through another friend of mine, Joe
Cleary, and those guys are fuckin’ really cool guys. They were definitely
mentors for me for skateboarding, and life in general.So, when you moved out to Vancouver, what did you notice as the biggest
difference between the scene that you had come from and the scene in
Vancouver?
My first impression… Well, I came to Vancouver in October and I had just
planned on staying a month. I came at the worst time because it was just
raining non-stop, like, for months straight. At the time I was just
beginning my life on my own, so everything was new. I had a new job; working
for this carpenter. So, I was just busy with working, and going home, and it
was dark and it was always raining, and I was like, “Wow, when the hell is
it going to get good!?” I had all these hopes and whatnot, but as soon as
the sun came out and it came time to skate, I would just go to the plaza
every day. And, just the whole scene, with the mountains, the ocean, and
just geographically. Just the variety of different things to skate. There
were so many more possibilities. There was just so much to take in at
first that I was blown away.So, when did you start to get sponsored? Were you sponsored when you moved
to Vancouver, other than just shop sponsored?
I first got hooked up with the East Coast rep. for Emerica and Es, who was
actually the owner of Sud Skates and he ended up hooking me up with Emerica
shoes. And, actually, I ended up going to this contest and met the guy who
repped Vans, so I ended up switching from Emerica to Vans. And then I came
out here, to Vancouver, and hooked up with Mike Pragnell and started to get
Osiris shoes. And then I found myself skating a lot with guys like Stacy
Gabriel and Judah Oakes, so I switched skating for Osiris and hooked up with
the guys at Timebomb and I started getting Etnies shoes. And that’s pretty
much where it progressed. And then I met Geoff Dermer and got on Kitsch. And
then Bones Wheels, and Independent, through Ultimate. I recently got sponsored by Quiksilver. Bones Wheels and Quiksilver were thanks to Jordan Hoffart, so big thanks to Jordan!What are your travel plans for the winter?
Right now I’m saving up for a Kitsch trip to China. It’ll be me, Geoff
Dermer, Stacy Gabriel, our friend Max Fine from Toronto, Derek Swaim, Kevin
Lowery, Brian Caissie and Jordan Mayfield. Our friend William is from China
and he’s coming with us and will be our tour guide. We’ll be going to China
in January. Thanks to Trevn and Judah for helping me out with funds for the
trip!!

 What’s it like skating for a Canadian board brand?
It’s great, really. It’s nice to be involved, because, first and foremost,
Geoff Dermer is just a good friend of mine. So right away I wanted to be a
part of it. My friend Lee Robert gave my video part to Geoff, and he
actually gave me a call and asked me to be a part of the crew. And I’ve been
down ever since. It’s a good thing goin’.

What do you like to get up to in your free time?
Mostly just hanging out with friends, walking around or biking around the
city snapping pictures, or whatever. I keep my options pretty open. I don’t
usually make too many plans, I just usually go with the flow.

Tell us about how you found photography?
Being around so many photographers for the last few years, photography is
really interesting to me. It’s just cool to experiment. I look forward to
getting the rolls of film back. I just like the act of shooting pictures.
And with going on trips and stuff like that, it’s just nice to document
things. It’s fun. It’s just a little side passion. I think it’s good to have
passions and hobbies outside of skateboarding where you can just forget
about things and put your energy into something that’s interesting to
yourself.

So what’s up with the Kitsch video?
Well, there’s nothing set in stone, yet. We still need to come up with a
name. There’s a few guys on the team that need to a bit more footage. So, I
would say it’ll be coming out in about another year. But there should be a
teaser coming out soon, after this China trip. Jordan Mayfield is the filmer
for it and he’s doing a really good job. He’s really motivated. We’re all
really thankful that Jordan’s inspired to make this video, so we’ve been
going at it pretty strong over the last bit, so probably in the next year
it’ll be complete.

What do you see yourself doing after skateboarding?
Well, I need to finish school. I need to get my high school diploma. So
that’s definitely something that I want to get pretty soon so that I can
possibly go to trade school, or something. Possibly carpentry, but it’s
still up in the air right now.

What do you think you’d be doing if you hadn’t found skateboarding?
I would probably be working. Probably still be back in Niagara Falls. Owning
a truck… But I moved out to Vancouver, so it’s hard to guess about what I’d
be doing if that hadn’t happened. I’d probably just be working if I hadn’t
happened.

Do you plan on living anywhere else? Do you plan on moving to the
States to pursue skateboarding?
I don’t plan on moving to the States… But I don’t think I’ll ever buy a
place in Vancouver because it’s a lot of money, but I don’t see myself
moving back to Niagara Falls. I like British Columbia and living in
Vancouver, so maybe somewhere close to here. Possibly somewhere more
secluded, like somewhere in the country- that’d be the ultimate dream living
situation, like when I’m done working and all that stuff.What’s the biggest change that you notice when you go back?
Nothing. It’s the exact same every time.

How often do you get back to Niagara Falls?
Lately, I’ve been back two times this year. But normally I try to get back
there once a year, or so.

Sick tat on Rob Scott. AGK