Thrasher Magazine

The Panda Posse is back on the road with some fresh faces and a terrifying new demo obstacle—the Pulizzi-inspired High Wire. Enjoi OG Caswell Berry jumped in the van for this mission, bringing with him his wisdom, wisecracks and hot-skillet ass. Louie debriefed him post-trip to get his take on the new kids, tension-wire sessions and to discuss the magic of the Muska. Read up, kids. The Dingleberry has seen it all.



So, Caswell, you were basically the veteran of this trip. How did it feel jumping in the van with a whole squad of new kids? Michael Pulizzi—even though he’s been around—hadn’t been in the enjoi van yet. Did you feel like it was your duty to instill some road knowledge in these dudes?
I don’t give a shit. Like, if I’m tripping and knocking over someone’s beer and it’s spilling on the carpet—you don’t want to sit in a van full of beer. And I know I’ve pissed in cans; I’ve pissed in bottles and I’ve missed and I’ve pissed on the seat and I fuckin’ sat in it. And I just let it soak up into my pants because I didn’t want to be telling people, “Hey, I pissed in the van.” But you just learn these things over time. And yeah, sure, if people want to sit down and talk, we can get drunk and share stories. For sure I’m down to do that.

Caswell, ol’ chaffed cheeks

The road warrior shows the children how to front feeble a pit in the Dirty ’Burgh

Big snaps in the Steel City, Gus Bus hucks an O into the parking lot of the building where Alex Papke’s dad works. Small world, yo

I do recall driving one night and hearing something going on in the back of the van. I was like, “What’s going on back there?” And someone said, “Caswell is teaching Gus how to piss in a bottle.”
Yeah, Gus needs a lot of help. He’s a good boy but he just needs some guidance. Some people do. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.

So do you think it’s your duty to teach dudes like that how to piss in the bottle so it doesn’t jam everything up?
For sure. There’s rules. It’s like, you don’t snake somebody; you wait your turn. There’s just etiquette to certain things and some people—they just don’t have the common courtesy, they don’t have the common knowledge or they just don’t know any better. I don’t want to call anybody out, I don’t want to make anybody feel bad, so I just try to be as cool as possible.



Van Tetris

As a young kid, who was the first dude to take you under their wing and show you how to do it?
I don’t really think there was anything like that until enjoi. But I remember going to Japan with Powell as a 16 or 17 year old and I don’t even know if I had left the country before that. Everybody was smoking there. You smoke before dinner; you smoke afterwards. So we were eating and I was smoking at the table after eating my food and Danny Wainwright harshed me out super hard. He was like, “What the fuck? Why are you smoking a cigarette at dinner?” So it was kind of just trying to figure things out without really having somebody to be like, Here’s how you do it. I just kind of had an understanding of how it worked by getting harshed out by lots of pros, so it was kind of an accumulation of trial and error and dudes being like, You’re being a fucking idiot and me feeling really embarrassed or bad. Like, I’m gonna remember forever Danny Wainwright yelling at me and treating me like shit about smoking. He smoked, but apparently at the dinner table it was not okay. And I get it; I understand. I’m an older dude now, but at the time I was like, Fuck this guy. He’s a fuckin’ kook. Now I’m older and I’m like, he had a right, you know? He was the older dude.

So who are these new kids on enjoi? Who was in the van for the first time?
Do you want me to name them? Oh God. Okay, Tony Latham—he’s really fuckin’ good and he’s wild. A little burnt but he’s young and he’s dumb and he’s probably full of cum, I don’t know.

Tony, crispy critter

What part of you do you see in Tony?
He can skate a lot of things. He tries to skate every single spot, which is cool. I like that and I’ve always tried to make that my shtick, if you will. Like, you go to a pool and you can skate a pool; you go to a set of stairs and you can skate a set of stairs. You’re gonna be able to do some moves everywhere, which is cool and I like that. That’s respectable. It always freaked me out and bummed me out when you see dudes at demos running as fast as they can at the pyramid ’cause they couldn’t drop in on a quarterpipe. So he’s got my blessings as far as that goes. I appreciate that.

Tone yanks out of a frontside wallride in his good luck shirt

How about Ryan Connors?
He is a wildcard. You don’t know what the hell he’s gonna do. He jumped off a roof straight onto his heel and bruised it. He didn’t even ollie off of it, he just jumped. But you know, he’ll do a hardflip or something and then get into a manual and it’s just like, I thought you were hardflipping on flatground? Or it’s like a kickflip and then he goes into a nose manual on flat. His moves, it’s like a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater—he connects three tricks to get three-times bonus points.

Ryan, rooftop rager

What about Gus Bus?
I feel like he is the definition of happy go lucky. He’s just fuckin’ happy to be there. You look at him and he’s always smiling. Seriously, there were so many times when I’d look over at him and he’s staring at me, just smiling, and I’m like, What the fuck are you looking at, you weirdo? And he just starts laughing. I’ve never really seen him get bummed out. Everything is brand new to him. And he’s really good at skating, too. He may need a little bit of nudging in certain directions, and I feel like it’s the same thing with me. I can’t necessarily think of the tricks I should try at certain spots and people will be like, Well, how about you try this? And I’ll be like, Okay. And then I get a trick and I’m like, I wouldn’t have even gotten a trick unless you told me to try this. It’s the same for him. It’s like, Hey, maybe you should try this trick here, and he’s just like, Sure. And then he’ll do it and you’re just like, Well, that was fuckin’ easy; must be nice.

Gus, supervision required

If you were on your last joint, which one of the three would you share it with?
Myself, that’s it. Nah, I’d share it with everybody. I would even share it with people I don’t like. That’s the way it goes on road trips, ’cause I want them to share their joint with me.

Do you kinda feel like they should all be buying you beers since you’re the veteran?
They did, absolutely they did. I bought a 12 pack here or there, and I don’t think they were buying me beer per se—they were just buying them and it was just plentiful. You’d just grab one and it was community beer. No one caught any feelings and no one was ever like, Oh, we don’t have enough. It was community.

Gus Bus rides the wave to a broken board, backside flip then ollie off

Did you find hints of old enjoi riders’ personalities in some of our new guys?
Sometimes looking into Gus’ eyes you get a little hint of Clark Hassler. There’s a spaciness, but you know there’s a lot behind it.

Like still waters run deep?
Sure. I would say if you cracked the beer there’s some substance to it, but if you never cracked it you don’t know what you’re gonna get from it. And then there’s those special times where they share just a little bit with you and you’re like, Oh, man, I am fuckin’ intrigued. You left me wanting more. So then you’re always trying to dig and poke and get a little bit more from them. I feel like with Gus you get special moments—same thing with Clark. It’s like they divulge little tidbits here and there and it make you feel special.

The kids are hyped on the kids

Fun fact: when we announced Ryan Connors on the team, Clark hit me up and he was like, “Dude, I love that guy. I’m so stoked he’s part of enjoi.”
That’s so cool.

There were a few times during the trip where dudes were like, Caswell, skate this with us! Do you think they were pushing you more than you were pushing them sometimes?
I feel like with those dudes, the only thing that’s stopping them is either a bad hangover or some bad decisions.

Rock to kickflip to fakie, there's no stoppin' Tony

We were trying to eat healthy on this trip, like Whole Foods every day, but I remember getting breakfast at Cracker Barrel and you were just sitting at your table drinking a Budweiser first thing in the morning.
Yeah, the guy next to us was probably 65 or something, or maybe he was 45 and looked 65. I saw that he had a can of Budweiser and I didn’t realize they served cans of Budweiser at Cracker Barrel. It just looked so tasty—and I was wearing a Budweiser shirt so I was like, It’s meant to be. So I ordered a Budweiser and I tried to give him a cheers but the guy never looked over. But he also looked like he was gonna die, too, so I dunno. I thought you were gonna talk about when you guys went to Whole Foods and I went to Arby’s.

Did anyone else from the team go to Arby’s with you?
No, but when I came back people were jealous, you could tell.

Down the drop and through the kink, Deedz boardslides everything in the Buckeye State

So day two of the trip you got hot skillet. Can you explain what that is?
Oh, man. Alright, so you go to the South in the summertime and it’s humid and really hot. I don’t know if this is a common occurrence with most folks, but my thighs and butt cheeks rub against each other and they sweat and they dry, they sweat and they dry. You get in the van and they dry out, then you start skating and eventually it just turns into like the backsides of a sticker and your legs are just rubbing against each other and chaffing. And it gets to the point where it’s so bad it feels like your whole nether region is like a fuckin’ fajita. It comes out sizzling. So you start walking bow legged and doing anything to try to separate your skin from rubbing together. The best thing you can do is go and get some body powder, but if you’re mid session you can’t just be like, I’m gonna go to Target, guys. There’s no Target to be found and you don’t wanna jam up the whole production. So you just run it and the next thing you know it’s beyond help and then it’s burned for two days straight. No matter how much powder you apply the damage is already done.


Soothing the sizzle

So what is the best powder to get?
Cooling powder—something that has maybe some menthol to it or something like lidocaine because it cools it. You can use corn starch but there’s no cooling to the corn starch.

Was this the worst it’s ever gotten?
I think that was honestly the worst. There was one time before when enjoi was in France and it was in the summertime and I was tripping. I’d never had it before so I didn’t know what to do. I was putting lotion in my crack and trying to keep a thin layer of that going but it gets absorbed within 15 minutes so it really didn’t help. But yeah, I think this trip was the worst I’ve ever had. I was walking back to the van and seriously just swiveling my hips instead of putting my legs forward. I was walking like I was riding a horse for weeks. It was so bad.

Pulizzi, the live wire

Pulizzi, kilty McKickflip in Kentucky

How does the skillet compare to some of the other injuries you’ve had?
Oh, dude, I’ll take that all day long. It sucks but it’s not debilitating. You can still skate. If you get the powder in there—you just gotta apply it a lot—you can still skate so it’s fine. The second that you sweat and it starts dripping then you gotta get a new layer and apply. So I’ll take the fajita pants all day long over any injuries that I’ve had ’cause it goes away after a couple of days.

As the veteran of the trip, you were still killing the demos. What motivates you to keep ripping demos that hard?
Maybe anxiety or maybe it’s just pride. I also have a competitive nature. I know what I’ve been able to do and I know I’m not gonna be able to do that, but I don’t wanna walk away feeling sad for myself or feeling bad. Before it was never even an idea of getting smoked, but now it’s like, If I can survive this demo I’m fucking hyped. Then there’s like four days when I’m so sore, but I don’t want to feel useless and I don’t wanna go on a trip and have people feel bad for me. I don’t want it to seem like, Oh, man, that’s so cool they allow him to come on this trip, you know what I mean? I wanna earn my keep. But I think mainly it’s just anxiety and I don’t want people to think bad of me. I’m here and I want to make an impression.

Jackson, the actual dad

Poppin’ Pilz, Jackson gaps out to 5-0 shortly before the 5-0 got called on us

Who taught you how to skate demos? You clearly don’t go out and do your 360 flip lipslide right at the beginning. Somebody had to have told you to build up all of your tricks ’til you hit your crescendo.
I think it’s maybe a combination of skating contests growing up and just watching the older dudes. You can learn a lot from watching and not saying things. If you just shut the fuck up or if you’re not on your phone you can seriously pick up real stuff.


Did you try to skate the High Wire obstacle?
A little bit. Enough to where I was like, This is not safe. I don’t need any extra help getting smoked. I did some boardslide variations and I tried one feeble attempt and there was just no way in hell—there was no way. When Pulizzi skated the wire, everyone’s thinking, Ah, that’s sick, and then afterwards it was like, Okay, kids, try to skate the wire, and you’d see kids try and you’d just divert your eyes because it looked so scary.

Oh yeah, ’cause they’re seeing Mike do all the tricks first try on it and they think it’s super easy.
Yeah, like the crooked grind pop over. To try to crooked grind something that moves like that? I didn’t try anything with a truck on it.


Cue the CKY—Deedz blasts a colossal frontside flip in Bam’s driveway. Thanks for the gate code, April!

What was the sketchiest moment associated with the wire?
Every trick, every try, because every try was different. You have to hit it in a specific spot and you have to pop out at a specific spot. I’m heavy footed as fuck, so when I jumped on it one time and the cable slipped a little bit, that scared the living shit out of me. It’s like you’re walking on a suspension bridge and it gives out underneath you. You could feel your footing drop and then your body drops, too, and I was still back on the wire. It dropped like an inch maybe, which isn’t much but, dude, you could die.


How was it at the demos having so many people come out with old Caswell memorabilia for you to sign? I definitely remember seeing a deck that you had signed on a C1rca trip ages ago. The guy brought it back to show you.
I trip out on that stuff just because holding onto something for five-to-ten years, 20 fuckin’ years, that’s a feat in itself. Think of how many times you moved or maybe you left it at your parents’ house and they could have thrown it away. There’s so much stuff over the years that I wish I still had. So to be honest, everybody who does bring stuff, it makes me almost wanna weep with happiness. It’s super cool. They don’t have to do that, they don’t have to show up, but they’re sharing their different stories with me and I still can’t believe people even care or give a shit.

Do you feel like there are Caswell super fans out there?
I hope not.

Frontside channel hop, Tony Latham keeps the Nashville vert scene alive


When you were young and on enjoi tours, how did the nightlife differ from how the young guys are now?
I don’t think it’s much different. We could drink like they could drink, you know?

On that same token, how has the skating vibe changed on enjoi tours?
I don’t see much of a difference to be honest. I think it’s the same gig, you know?

J-Pilz, macho wallride nollie flip out at the PG banks

How many more skate tours like this would you really wanna go on?
All of them. I don’t want to stop, man. Everyone is different so it’s like a choose-your-own adventure. You don’t know what the hell you’re gonna get into but you want to get into something. I don’t want to stop being surprised, whether or not it’s a really cool spot that I’ve never been to or hanging out with dudes and watching them. As much as I don’t want to see them doing their trick because I wish it was me doing it, I wanna see them do their trick. You know, meeting new dudes in different states, you’re meeting different crews and it may be a cool crew, it may be a really shitty crew. I know that the dudes in Nashville, those dudes were super cool. I loved all those guys, man.

Ryan Connors brought his board with him for this roof ride. He’s learning! Wallie

So will there ever come a point where you just know it’s time to stay home?
I don’t ever wanna think about that stuff. ’Cause, I mean, there is gonna be a point in time, but it’s also like dying—I don’t want to think about it. It’s gonna happen but I don’t want that to be the case.

You got some really rad stuff on this trip and all the dudes were so stoked every time you skated. Were you picking up on that? Like when we were skating the pool and there was a moment when you were the only dude skating it and everybody was like, Yeah! every time you got closer and closer. Were you feeling everybody’s energy?
Yeah, but I was dealing with stupid internal shit to where I couldn’t allow them to be stoked for me ’cause I felt handicapped. Like, I’m handicapping myself—me being out of shape is handicapping myself. So when they’re super excited I’d be like, Don’t patronize me. But now, looking back at it, it’s all me being in my head and freaking out.


I get that, but you have to remember these dudes grew up skateboarding and watching you be the best dude. So you being around them, they just wanna see Caswell Berry do something in real life. It was really rad to see those dudes feed off of you when you were skating. I think that was a really high moment for me on the tour—watching you skate and then getting all the young dudes motivated and excited. And you have to admit, being a veteran does have its perks. Like you made one phone call and the next thing you know we’re all hanging out with Muska on his farm.
Yeah. There’s lots of downsides to being the veteran but there’s an upside here or there, and when it does present itself or it does fall in your lap it feels good.

What are some of your favorite Muska memories from the old C1rca days?
He brought an insane hype to every session. He’d just be yelling and you’re like, What the fuck are you yelling for? He was just so hyped. Or he’s just bouncing around like a ball of energy or whatever. Growing up and watching him skating and then somehow being in that guy’s world was fucking awesome. So now, looking back at it, I guess it’s cool to see some of these dudes fucking hyped to be skating with me. But I don’t look at it that way—I’m skating with them. I’m just trying to keep up but these dudes are pushing me and I guess I’m pushing them, but I don’t realize it and I don’t see it in the moment. But we’re working together and we’re making things happen and that’s a fuckin’ beautiful thing right there.

FARM$KA!


This was based on the wire that new enjoi rider Michael Pulizzi had skated in the streets, right?
Yeah, Mike Pulizzi is our new pro and he’s kinda known for the wire stunts. And it’s not really an obstacle you see in everyday life, so we thought we’d bring it out on tour and show kids what it is.

What were some of the challenges building it?
Well, the biggest challenge was nobody had ever built one before, so I didn’t even really know where to start.

Right. ‘Cause you need tension on that wire.
Yeah, it’s not like a flat bar that it kinda holds itself up, there has to be tension. So we had to figure out how to keep it spread apart without it just collapsing on itself. Also, I’d never been to the spot so I was going off of Michael describing it to me. When you’re building something you want to have inches, not like, Oh, it’s right around my knee height, you know? So it was kinda difficult to figure out the actual sizing of it. Like the first attempt was way too tall, he couldn’t even get on it. The second one we got the height correct and we revised it by putting turnbuckles on it. After that it was game on.

Captain Lou, heela monster in the ditch cuts of Nashville

Can I assume you have a killer set of tools?
My dad. My dad has this awesome set of tools.

What about welding? Did you weld to make this happen?
Yeah, about ten years ago we had an enjoi warehouse and I was making the benches and stuff for the warehouse. So I learned how to weld basically by doing that.

How heavy was this thing?
They were 66 pounds, each side. I know exactly how much it was because I was trying to figure out an airline that we could fly with!

Don’t worry, I’m sure that was probably just as heavy as Daewon’s bag in the World days.
Oh my God. It was no different than one of the Osiris guys asshole roller bags back in the day, for sure.

So how did the kids handle it? Everyone survived?
Yeah, Mike was doing everything first or second try, so it made it look super easy. It was giving dudes a false sense of security. I thought we were gonna lose some teeth a couple times, but nobody got smoked too bad. Actually the very first trick to get landed by a kid was a crooked grind, which I thought was pretty savage. Some boardslides went down, I think a dude actually noseslid it. Everybody was going for it. Actually, Deedz wouldn’t touch it. He was like, “Fuck no, I’m not even gonna try that thing!”

Skinny ride up, huge drop, tall-ass rail—Deedz lives for danger! Roll-on lipslide in Ohio, the Panda Posse keeps the party pumpin’


Catch every sketchy rip and bouncy clip from their tightrope-enhanced trip, then go make your own crazy shit