Thrasher Magazine

Photo: Schmitty

Okay, so just off the top, do you know who Llewelyn Moss is?
He’s a character from No Country for Old Men.

Okay, but who is it in your life?
Oh, it’s Josh Brolin.

That would be your uncle?
Yeah.

Would it be safe to say that you could call him Dad?
Dad? No.

So he is your uncle.
Yeah, he’s the father of my cousins.

And do you know that Josh Brolin skateboarded?
There’s a skater named Josh Brolin?

No, he knows how to skateboard. 
Oh yeah. He skates, yeah.

That’s the best thing ever. Okay, so 
your mom’s mom married him—
My mom’s sister.

Do you think that he’s witnessed just 
one vert run that you’ve performed?
Yeah, I think so.

Okay, name some of the movies you’ve seen that Josh Brolin has been in. 
I know this isn’t about him, it’s about you, but we’re boiling it down here.
Um, Goonies, there’s Thrashin’, there’s American Graffiti.

He was in American Graffiti?
Pretty sure he’s, like, one of the gay cops or something.

And then what do you think his all-time greatest one is? Besides Thrashin’.
No Country for Old Men.

How’s the video going?
Good.

How long have you been at it, filming it?
Like a year.

A year? It takes that long to do a part? I used to do this shit in like a month. Okay, so you’ve been at it for a year. Are you pretty stoked with where it’s at?
Yeah.

Later, you’re not gonna look back and be, like, “I kinda shouldn’t have done that?”
Nah.

Okay, so you’re in Encinitas it’s a real big town for, like, snowboarders, hesh surfers. You know, like, PLG lives there, I think, and some other vert skateboarders. But it’s a Mecca of just, like—it’s like Orange County at the beach. Do you feel more comfortable in Encinitas or Carlsbad?
I don’t know; it’s kind of all the same.

It is all the same. It’s corny.
Yeah, it’s corny as fuck.

His uncle was in Thrashin’, his new friend Jason just plain thrashes. Stale over an invert fake     Photo: Zaslavsky

I’m glad you said that. That better stay in the interview. Hey, I grew up down there. I grew up in like—all down there so I’ve taken notes. So that was a good answer. Do you ever feel compelled to go on these Skate Rock trips or King of the Road things or a SOTY trip after whoever gets SOTY? Do you want to get on those ever? Have you thought about it?
Yeah, those would be fun. But fuck, I kind of only skate like vert so—

Don’t narrow yourself down to that. Don’t pigeonhole yourself into just that.
Yeah.

Look at Gravette. He’s pretty incredible. He’s like one of my favorite skateboarders. Okay, but you like to skate transition and vert?
I mean, I skate everything. It’d be fun to go on a trip like that but I don’t know how much shit I’d get.

How do you feel when you hear people talk about skateboarding in the Olympics? What is your personal feeling on it?
I mean, I don’t really like it but I don’t know much about it. The Olympics seems kind of fucking weird.

Okay, here’s another question: if somebody, I don’t know who it would be, but I guess somebody in the world that’s involved with the Olympics, maybe they do know about skateboarding and maybe they don’t, but if they approached you and said, “Do you want to be in the Olympics?” what would you do?
I mean, I don’t think it’s really for me.

Would you give it a shot or not?
I don’t know. That’s not like—

It’s not something you live for?
No, I don’t like that. I don’t even really like doing the contests that I do but it’s just a way to make money. But like what you said, it’s just, like, skating was an alternative. 

Is it personal to you, skateboarding?
Yeah, for sure.

Because, man, it’s personal for me too. It’s very personal. What’s the best you’ve ever done in a contest?
I’ve won a couple of them.

What contests? Bondi?
No, not Bondi. I won the X Games and, like, a Dew Tour and some Maloof shit.

Fuck. That’s pretty impressive. 
Did you win money?
Yeah.

So technically are you pro?
I do, like, pro contests.

And you win them?
Yeah.

That’s amazing. So now we gotta pull off some publicity stunt where you, like, push dogs back into their own turds or just do something crazy so people are, like, “Oh shit, man, that guy is kinda crazy. And he wins contests and he’s only 23.” Next Level Jimmy where it actually turns into, like, you have your own little skatepark in the back of your house like Tony Hawk. that type of shit. Only because that’s what you’re passionate about, right?
Yeah.

Who was your favorite skateboarder growing up? Who did you look up to? 
We all have heroes.
I really liked Alex Perelson and I really liked Chris Miller.

Fuck yeah. Chris Miller—both of them are great, but Chris Miller, that’s a great answer. Do you know one of his sons that rips too?
Yeah, I skate with Zach all the time but his son Lucas is sick too.

I heard Lucas is really good.
Lucas is fucking gnarly. Super gnarly.

That is amazing. Have you met Chris Miller?
Yeah.

He’s really nice.
Yeah, he’s a sick dude.

Have you ever met Neil Blender?
Yeah. Or I’ve seen him around.

Okay, but you’ve seen him. 
Was there a time when you wanted 
to just learn handplants?
Yeah. Well, I don’t know. I never really did them and then last year someone just got me to try them and it was the funnest shit ever.

So where do you go to meet sluts? 
Or girls. How do you approach that?
Just fuckin’ through friends or just like—


That’s always a good go-to. 
Do you have Tinder?
I was on Tinder for a minute. Tinder kind of sucks.

Yeah it’s stupid. Here’s my advice to you: hang out with your bros, choose which girls are hot that they go out with, then when they break up with them you swoop in and you fucking see how much your friend hated them. And then you’re cool. I want you to try that if you can. Also, you’re gonna get a lot of flak from your friends in the aftermath but you’ve got to kind of prepare them for that point, like, “You know when you guys break up I’m gonna fucking swoop in.” Let them know ahead of time and then it’s actually a buffer. And for the record, I’ve humped two of Andy Roy’s ex-girls. I don’t have AIDS, though. I got checked 14 years ago. Have you ever been to the doctor and got checked for anything?
Nah.

Do you live alone?
I’ve got roommates, just some other skate kids. 

Do you talk to your parents often?
Yeah, I talk to my mom because she kind of lives close.

Oh, she lives in California? How did your dad die?
My dad’s alive.

Good to know. Have you ever been to Josh Brolin’s house in Paso Robles?
I don’t think I’ve been to the Paso Robles house. I’ve been to his Venice house.

Does Navarrette, when he shows up at a session, is he in character? Like a 70’s character. Or is he his normal self?
He’s his normal self.

Alright, cool. Has he ever yelled at you?
No.

Okay, out of Al Partanen, Darren Navarette and Sam Hitz who would you want to be stranded on Highway 17 with for six hours when they close it? In a small car.
Oh my God. This is like a marry, fuck, kill question.

Okay marry, fuck, kill out of Sam Hitz, Partanen and Navarrette?
Kill myself.

Alley-oop tailgrab 540, then time to meet some sluts    Sequence: Burnett

He finally thought of suicide. Good answer. Out of the entire 
Creature team who is your favorite top ten? What is your ultimate trip with the Creature guys? Name top-five that you would go with, and it doesn’t mean you like these dudes more than the other dudes but let’s hear it.
Fuck. Well, Darren, Gardner, Conover, Bingaman, Willis, Rye Rey. I’ve never met Gravette.

You don’t like Gravette?
I’ve never met him.

Really? Maybe don’t ever meet him. 
I love Darren Gravette. Have you ever seen the sequence of Steve Claar in transworld from, like, 1990 or something doing a frontside ollie at Fallbrook 
across the whole ramp?
The one where he comes in all sideways and stuff?

Yeah.
Yeah, that’s a sick photo.

So you’re familiar with Steve Claar’s frontside ollies?
Yeah, they’re fucking great.

Classy backside air    Photo: Zaslavsky

Okay, so your frontside ollies I have heard, and I’ve witnessed, but before I witnessed them I heard, “You gotta see this dude Jimmy do frontside ollies. They’re better than anyone that’s ever done a frontside ollie in the world.” And I was, like, “No shit,” and then I witnessed it and it was true. I was wondering, did that come naturally or did you study some shit? Like, did you look how people move their fucking front foots? Do you scrape your tail?
I just wanted to learn them straight up and down and that’s kind of how I got better at them. I used to travel them and land primo and suck at them so once I learned them straight it was way easier.

How much do you weigh?
145 or something.

Stay at that weight your whole life. 
I’m not even joking around because once you go past that, when you go to board there’s so much inertia, like, you will throw up. You will come un-assed is what they say. You will come un-assed. So keep it at 146-149. Don’t ever go past that. Don’t grow anymore and stay at 149. 
I’m not even joking. Like, monitor that for as long as you can because that frontside ollie feels good, right?
Yeah.

Okay, good. What if you looked back, you saw how me and Lee are sitting, then you went to grab your board out the back and you noticed we were holding hands? How would you feel about that? Listen, knowing Lee has children, I have a child, he’s married, I have a couple sluts that are gonna get me in trouble soon. But how would you feel? Would you say something?
I’d probably keep it to myself.

Would it kind of trip you out?
Oh, it would for sure trip me out.

We’re holding hands and one of them 
was showing perspiration. Can we end 
it there?

The world’s highest backside disaster     Sequence: Burnett