Thrasher Magazine

You’re back home in Minnesota right now. How come?
I got broke off trying to grind the rail that I tried to grind on King of the Road. I tried to do it again and fucked up my knee.

What happened?
I jumped off the rail early because I was sticking and I aimed for the stair but my heel slipped. Like, I landed on a stair and my leg was straight and it slipped down a stair and that made it go backwards.

Ughh!
Like hyperextended? Is that what you call it? Yeah, hyperextension. It felt crazy. At the time I was, like, “Whoa!” It happened really fast. Then I kinda walked off and I was like, “Oh, I think I’m alright. I think I might be okay.” And then I pushed it back a little bit and it started on fire. So I’m just chilling here. I’m getting it checked out tomorrow. I’m pretty flexible, so hopefully it’ll just be a strain.

I hope so. So the last couple of years you’ve had some pretty heavy injuries. Have you always gotten hurt here and there or is this more unusual for you?
I’ve been getting robbed I feel like! It’s pretty unusual. When I broke my leg it’s not like I broke it on something. It was more like over time it broke. That was pretty stupid. I guess I roll my ankles all the time. I’ve got weak ankles.

The thing with your leg was crazy. What was the deal? You had cracked your leg bone but were still skating on it?
Yeah! But it was King of the Road, so usually I would go in and get it checked out and not skate because it was hurting. But I was on King of the Road, you know? It’s not like I really wanted to skate because that shit hurts really bad, but I was just pushing it.

Dang it. How long did it take you to come back from that one?
A year. Ten months maybe. I was out for pretty much a full year.

What did you do for a whole year without being able to skate?
Nothing, honestly! It sucked. I got a cat. 
I was so bored ‘cause all my friends would go skating. I needed something to chill with. Pretty much just hung out. I did a lot of physical therapy. I did that every day.

What’s that like?
It’s pretty cool. It’s actually kind of inspiring. Dr. Dave’s a cool guy. I’d go to him and he kind of inspires you, you know? Like, the whole time he’s telling you to do these workouts for your legs and he says things like, “See! You’re gonna come back with way more pop now, watch!” You get hyped off these workouts like, “Alright! Let’s get it!”

So it’s mental therapy as well.
Yeah, for sure.

What’d you name your cat?
I named him Shwayze, but it’s fucked up ‘cause he actually died. He got hit by a car on his first birthday.

Ah, dude!
I bought him because I was so bored and needed a companion and had him one year and on his birthday he died. Yep. But then I got two more cats: Tarzan and Mary Jane. They’re brother and sister.

I don’t mean to get personal, but I heard you broke it off with your high school sweetheart recently.
I didn’t break it off with her, she broke it off with me. I don’t know. She moved out to Cali and stuff but she said I traveled too much. I guess I wasn’t a super-serious boyfriend. I wanted to chill with my friends all the time. She’d get bummed.

Don’t stand in line. 50-50 at the pyramid    Photo: Burnett

Was she your first girlfriend?
Yeah, we dated for a long time! Four years. But, you know, it’s for the better. We’re still friends. We talk still. It’s for the best.

How’s single life?
Pretty good so far. I’m pretty excited. It’s gonna be cool.

Are you swiping right?
No, but we’ll see. I’m turning 21 soon, so it’s gonna be alright, you know?

So how many videos do you have coming out right now? Three or four, right?
Yeah, three. Real Street comes out in a few days, then Aways Days, then Holy Stokes.

Dude. Which one’s gonna be the best?
I don’t know, man. Holy Stokes and Away Days are pretty close, I guess. I’ve gone on a few more Away Days trips, so I think there might be a little more of a variety. But Holy Stokes should be good too. I put a lot of hard work into both of them.

So what’s that like? Do you have to get super organized to meet all those deadlines or do you just take it as 
it comes?
I try not to stop and really think about, ‘cause it gets kind of stressful. I try to not really think about it and just skate, you know? Just skate as much as you can. It definitely gets stressful when adidas wants me to go on a trip and Volcom wants me to go on a trip. It’s, like, “Shit! I can’t be on both.”

Which one do you pick?
Usually whichever one I didn’t go on last.

You’ve got some kind of race car, right?
Nah. I’ve just got this Subaru and I got beat in a race one time with all my friends in the car. I’m all, “Shit, man! This sucks!” I don’t want to get beat so I decided to soup my car up and got a turbo for it.

I don’t know anything about cars, but what kind is it, for the car nerds?
It’s a Subaru BRZ. It’s nothing crazy.

So you’re not at Nyjah level, yet?
Nah, this is a cheap car. I’m not at Nyjah level.

Just wait. Do you get a lot of speeding tickets?
No, actually when I lived in Minnesota I used to get speeding tickets all the time because it’s a small town with a lot of cops. But out here I feel like I drive even faster and I never get pulled over. There’s so many cars and not so many cops, I guess.

What was your hardest trick for this Volcom video?
A lot of them were hard! I had a lot of battles. Oh, honestly, one of the hardest ones was that kickflip crooks.

The hardest trick? Really? That says a lot for A-Maj. Kicky crooks, caught and slammed    Photo: Burnett

You were dropping down so hard on the rail.
I know! I guess I’ve never done one on a rail that big before so I was flying out too far and had to slam down on it. Going too fast. I couldn’t figure it out.


What’s the question people ask you about the most?
Honestly, the question I get so much is, “Are you American?” Everybody thinks I’m European. That’s probably the most common question I get asked.

Where do they think you’re from?
Probably Europe somewhere. Or Norway. Which I am. My family is Norwegian but we’re from Minnesota.

You ever fuck with lutefisk?
What’s that?

Some sort of fucked-up pickled fish in a jar. Norwegian people eat it.
Nah, nothing like that! I wouldn’t eat anything like that.

How come you don’t have a funny Minnesota accent?
I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve lived in Cali so long.

You shook it?
Maybe. I don’t think I ever really had one. But Louie used to make fun of me when I first moved out. He claimed I said “Minnesota” funny.

Gap to Christa McAuliffe. Too soon? Front blunt then    Photo: Jones