Thrasher Magazine

 

SAN FRANCISCO has always been the Mecca of hill skating, with legends like Julien Stranger, Sean Young and Frank Gerwer dominating the slopes for years. As the new generation moves in, it ushers in a wave of fresh meat to dive headfirst into the city of hellish hills. A few of these fresh faces are Sean Greene, Matt Finley, Andrew Torralvo and Adam Taylor, who are all transplants from across the US that live and skate together. No doubt you've already watched the GX1000 Adrenaline Junkies vid a few times. Now get to know the guys who are risking it all for the need for speed.
 –Lui Elliot


From left to right: Sean Greene, Matt Finley, Andrew Torralvo, and Adam Taylor


What are your full given names?

Sean Greene: Sean Clarke Greene. Funny enough, I was actually named after Sean Connery.

Matt Finley: Matt Aaron Finley

Andrew Torralvo: Andrew Tyler Torralvo

Adam Taylor (JM): Joogy Fucking MACK!

Adam “Joogy” Taylor


Joogy, where did your nickname come from?

JM: One day I was talking about that basketball player Jerry Stackhouse and I just ended up making my Instagram name Jerrymackhouse. Then from there it turned into Joogy Mack.

Sean Greene

Where are you originally from?

SG: Irving, Texas. It’s a town near Dallas, where the old Cowboy’s stadium was.

MF: Boynton Beach, Florida.

AT: Pompano Beach, Florida.

JM: San Diego. Right next door to Ron Burgundy. He’s a G.

Andrew Torralvo


What’s the skate scene like in your hometowns?

SG: The skate scene is sick. It’s grown so much! There’s a bunch a parks out there now. There weren’t so many when I first started. It went from four to, like, 20-something. It’s a big community. The kids out there rip. There’s a video called Valor coming out by Nicolas Marti with all kinds of sick DFW heads. I miss skating with all those guys out there. Southern hospitality is a real thing.

MF: Boynton Beach is a rusty bag of potato chips. Place is straight garb.

AT: It was the illest shit ever but then it died out. Apparently MIA skateshop went under a couple days ago, which sucks. Shits poppin’, though. Danny Fuenzalida's running shit, which is going to be good. He started a skatepark out their called Lot 11, so he’s got something going.

JM: It’s pretty dope. Everyone made it. Shouts out, everyone.

Matt Finley



You all come from places that have no hills. Was skating all of the hill spots a natural thing or was there a learning curve?

SG: Yeah, I’ve always been a speed freak. I always wanted to go fast and in Texas I couldn’t do that because there aren’t any hills. I always skated spillways as a kid and coming out to SF was like going to Neverland, to me.

MF: It was not natural. It’s very unnatural, actually. The act of going down a hill itself is natural but getting used to it is hard for everyone. Unless you just have it and you’re gifted. You just have to get the hang of it and say fuck it. When I first moved out here I had a gnarly slam, which was a pretty good wakeup call. You gotta fall sometimes to learn how to do shit.

AT: No. That shit was hard. It took time. I came from Florida where it’s flat. The closest thing we had to hills was parking garages. I pretty much didn’t know what I was getting into until I was here. You never know until it's right in front of you. You kind of have to go down a hill to figure it out.

JM: Pretty much if you feel natural on the board. You stand and go down the hill.



 

Adrenaline Junkies – watch it again! 

 

What goes through your mind before you go down a particularly scary hill?

SG: I just want to go faster. Besides that, look for cracks, cars and homies.

MF: Fuck. I just turn off my brain.

AT: Not much. I hope there’s no cars at the bottom.

JM: I pretty much just hope I don’t hit a crack or I hope I don’t get splat housed from a car. You have to be mentally prepared so you can run it in at anytime.

If the cars are perpendicular, then you know it ain’t soft     Photo: Palozzolo
 

What are some of the gnarliest hills in SF?

SG: The crusty hills and the ones where the cars have to park sideways because it’s so steep you can't parallel park. Just North Beach in general.

MF: I’d say Kearny or Bowdoin.

AT: Shit, all of them are pretty gnarly. You just need to know how to go down a hill and after that they’re all kind of the same. 




Is there a holy grail of hills, the gnarliest one of them all? Has anyone conquered that hill?

SG: Lombard Street! There’s also this hill that Pablo Ramirez, P-Spliff, and I want to bomb but I can't say more than that. Ha!

MF: Shit, I think Bowdoin. I don’t even know if anyone’s gone down that or if it's even possible. It’s four or five hills that are completely fucked. If you powerslid your life away then maybe. If anyone could do it, it’d either be Frank Gerwer, P-Spliff or Sean.

AT: The gnarliest one I’ve seen in person that’s been bombed was 24th street off Grandview. I saw Pablo go down that one. The craziest one ever was the one where Frank did a tailslide on the fence. That was insane.

JM: This one by Grandview called Elizabeth. She's a heffer; that's for damn sure.


Sean soars straight into a 4-way     Photo: Palozzolo


Who is the king?

SG: Right now, P-spliff and Taylor Nida are my personal favorites. But there’s people that have done it before that are incredible: Sean Young, Frank Gerwer, Julien Stranger, Coco Santiago, Toad, Chris Senn, Eric Dressen—I could keep going but I don’t want to miss anyone. It’s all subjective. These are just my favorites.

MF: I’m going to say Sean fucking Greene.

AT: There’s two kings. Pablo and Sean. They share the kingdom.

JM:  Sean Green, P Spleezy, Taylor Nida. They go fast.




 

What is a spotter and how do they work?

MF: It’s a friend, a brother, a teammate who has your back and watches for your life. A spotter is someone who sits at the bottom of a hill and stops cars when someone is coming, no matter what. We’re not waiting for cars to go and leave. You get in front of them and stop them when you have to. Sometimes people are being burnt. A lot of the time everyone wants to skate but no one wants to watch for each other so it gets kinda gnarly. Having a spotter skating hills is always something you want. It’s peace of mind.

SG: Yeah, people aren’t always thinking to do it and that’s how they sometimes get hit. Gotta stay on top of watching for cars and trying to save each other’s lives. Especially with the people who bomb through red lights! No one should be playing Russian roulette with their own life. I mean, I don’t know, I cherish my life so I like the idea of a spotter.


Joogy and Sean


Got any stories of any spotters blowing it?

SG: Oh, plenty, but I wouldn’t want to call anyone out. People stand in the way sometimes; people are burnt; shit happens all the time.


What has been your closest call to getting fucking annihilated when bombing hills?

SG: Breaking my neck is the closest. If I hit it at anymore of an angle I could be in a wheelchair right now. Although I’m fortunate to have had that experience where I’m more aware now.

MF: Dude, so many times. I mean, I’ve gotten hit by a car before but haven't been hit too bad. Like, four days ago we were going down Twin Peaks and a biker dude—I couldn’t hear him or anything—zooms past me and is centimeters from running into me full speed. He went right between Taylor and I. If he had clipped me I would have gotten fucking smoked! I mean, he probably would have gotten really fucked up but that was something else. That’s another thing! Fuck bikers and cars. They are the enemy. Bikers are in the road and act like cars; they just don’t give a fuck. I’m being a hypocrite but they act so entitled. As for cars, so much shit can happen. Threading the needle between two cars happens a lot. Like, a car will be going one way and the other another, so there’s no way out but through the middle. There’s not much you can do but go for it because if you jump off it’ll fuck you up and you can get smoked.

AT: There’s two that are tied: the first was on New Year's Eve. I was going down McAllister heading to Ryan’s house and some dude blew through the stop sign. I was inches away from getting smoked by him. The second was when I bombed down Page and a car turned right in front of me after an intersection. He just cut me off and I couldn’t stop so I smashed into the back of white BMW. Luckily, I was fine from that one. I have no idea how I got out of that one.

Pablo is known for his fat snap. This one starts the beginning of a gnarly ride     Photo Palozzolo


How do you ride your trucks when taking those hills?

SG: I ride em 60/40, with the more turn in the front, more stability in the back. It’s really good until you start bombing hills switch, then it makes you wish you just broke ‘em in in the beginning.

MF: Loosey goosey, baby.

AT: My trucks are medium loose. I think Sean rides the loosest trucks.

JM: I skate my trucks a little looser. I don’t bomb too gnarly.


Here’s a scenario: starting at Geary, you’re going fast down Gough, passing Eddy, and you realized you didn’t time the light right at the bottom. It’s turned red halfway down, at the point of no return, and you’re going too fast to powerslide. What do you do?

SG: Foot drag and sus the situation. If there’s no cars, you just keep going. I’m not against foot dragging. I skate to travel as well. I’ll foot drag, push, powerslide, not powerslide—it’s all skateboarding. It’s just tools to use when the time is right, but it’s always just by each individual case.

MF: There’s two decisions: you go for it or you don’t. I’d just go for it 'cause it’s all I can do. Bust or bail!

AT: Well outside of hypotheticals that’s not possible because I’ve seen Sean powerslide at any speed ever. But for me, I just hope I make it, though. It just depends. If I was following Pablo and he went through the light, he would make it and I would get smoked for sure. I mean, there’s just a point where you just have to go; you can’t stop.

JM:  Figure that shit quick or seńor bodied.



What’s the general do’s and don’ts of skating hills?

SG: Do have fun. Do look at the road. Do pay attention to your surroundings. Do go faster. 
Don’t get scared.

MF: Do whatever you want. Personally, I don’t bomb by myself.

AT: If you’re bombing some gnarly shit, do scope out the hill. Don’t go without homies having your back spotting for you.

JM:  Do make sure no one is behind you if you’re gonna powerslide.

When you get bodied, it’s best to have a homie around. Joogy helps Taylor Nida out with a minor head injury     Photo: Cruz


What is one of your worst injury from bombing hills?

SG: Breaking my neck.

MF: Not that long ago, I was bombing Quintara on 27th in the sunset. It was the first time I could step on a board in, like, four months but I couldn’t fully skate yet so I went to go hit some hills. Most of time when you get to Riviera you’re chillin' 'cause there’s a four-way stop sign at the bottom. After that comes Santiago and I was just, like, fuck it. It’s a little sketchier because it’s a two-way and people come up the hill blindly all the time. Coming in from the right, there’s this dude going super fast through it and does not slow down—at all. It wasn’t until I got to the middle of the intersection he kind of barely slowed down, making me swerve to the left. On the left side of Quintara, the ground is super shitty which really spun me out of control. I had no choice but go onto the sidewalk, which had a curb and I couldn’t ollie up in time. I tried to run it out, but my foot was not ready to do that 'cause I hadn’t skated in a while. My legs just buckled like a little deer and I slid on my chest to home plate. My hat actually saved me because I had it in my hand and when I fell I put it down to help break my fall so it didn’t shred my hand. I fucked up my hip and shit but I was good. That was fucking scary, though.

AT: I don’t remember which hill it was but it's the one where you make a left turn at Balboa. I took the turn backside—the fastest I’ve gone on a turn and just started powersliding. Out of nowhere, I hit a dead stop and just flew. I hit my hip and couldn’t walk for, like, two weeks. I had a foot-long bruise along it. It fucking sucked.

JM:  The usual spills. I’ve have lots of close calls, though.

 

Sean Greene highlights


Sean, you broke your neck. How did that happen?

SG: We went to the Sprinkles video premiere and we drank a bunch in celebration. Everyone wanted to go bomb hills but I wasn’t really feeling it 'cause I drank too much. I was about to take the 800 bus back to Oakland, hollering at this chick, when I saw everyone take off so I followed ‘em. We usually take McAllister but this particular time we took Page. I had never been down it. There’s two blacktop hills that get you going pretty fast into a grey-top hill. Andy Dicker also got smoked recently on the same hill. Sometimes I wonder if we hit the same crack. Anyways, my trucks were too tight and I had a way bigger board than I normally do, so I didn’t feel comfortable doing powerslides. I just straight lined it, cause it’s easier, but someone did a slide in front of me so I tried to dodge him. I ended up hitting a pothole, hit my head, knocked myself out on contact, hit my head again in between the ground and a parked truck tire. It spun my body around 270 degrees, breaking the C2 vertebrae in my neck. It's called a hangman fracture. I was in a hard collar for three months, sleeping in it and everything. The main thing that sucked about that was it caused me to be unable to express myself physically, nodding yes and no. For the first month of the injury I would take the BART as far as I could, walking home, trying to find skate spots on the way back. After the first month the doctor said my neck wasn’t healing right, so I changed my diet and stopped drinking. Definitely ate a lot of red meat. Next time I went to the doctor they told me it healed up. I didn’t feel comfortable, so I took it easy and I just got back skating around New Year's. I still have nerve-damage issues, but it’s nothing compared to being paralyzed in a wheelchair or even dead. It’s been uphill from there. It definitely opened my eyes to be a little smarter when skating.

Powerslides are fun. Spice it up!     Photo: Palozzolo


Do you prefer powerslides or no powerslides?

SG: Powerslides are fun! Anyone can go down a hill and just stand on the board. If you go really fast and do a powerslide, that shit is fun as fuck. If you didn’t it would be so much easier to keep going.

MF: Depends. If you want to go fast and spice it up, you don’t powerslide. But I enjoy both.

AT: I slide for sure when I have to. I was talking to Sean about this the other day but sliding is fun. Those dudes that never slide are definitely gnarly, like Taylor or Jesse Vieira.

JM: Do whatever’s natural.




Who is the scariest person to watch bomb a hill?

SG: I would say it’s a toss up between Pablo Ramirez and Austin Schultz. When they go I’m just, like, “Oh, here they go—” They bomb through reds, which is the scariest thing. It makes you sick to your stomach 'cause it’s like watching Russian roulette.

MF: I would say Pablo Ramirez. Sean is for sure scary to watch 'cause he’s doing gnarly shit, but whenever I see him land a trick he’s trying to do, I know he’s going down the hill no problem. Pablo is a maniac. I love that guy. It’s all power and rawness, but he scares me sometimes. You can’t tell on film but watching the shit he does in person is out of control.

AT: That’s a hard one. Sean and Pablo are the gnarliest. Anything they bomb, it’s not scary 'cause you know they got it. It’s always just going to be the gnarliest shit. All the dudes I’m with everyday are the best at it. I’m probably the scariest one to watch.

JM: Probably Sean, for sure.

Andrew and Sean


You ever go down a hill only to be passed up by those techies who ride those weird-ass electric longboards? How do you feel about them?

SG: I’ve never gone down a hill with one of them, although I do see them all around town. I’ll be at a hill spot and see them going up in their weird business suits and their weird-ass stance uphill. They press the button like they’re hot shit, look at you with this smile. They’re just hyped on it, like, “Yup. I know you want one of these things but you can’t afford it.” They’re funny to me. I don’t really care. To us it’s like a joke, but they’re happy so whatever.

MF: My favorite quote to tell them when I see them is, “Why don’t you fucking take a push? Don’t be so fucking lazy!” To me, it’s like taking a chair, putting it over a treadmill and just walking while sitting down. Are you fucking kidding me? You’re going to do that in San Francisco? You’re going down a hill and you have a remote to slow your ass down! That is so fucking wack. Those dudes are kooks. Full kook.

AT: Those dudes can save it. They will never pass us. The one time I saw one go past me, some crackhead lady jumped in front of him to fuck with him and they just collided. He clipped her foot, went out of control and just got bodied. I just pushed right by him and passed him back up.

JM: Never heard of 'em.




Would you ever run their speed kit to optimize your performance as an athlete? Like the spandex with the aerodynamic helmets 'n' shit?

SG: Never! I just like to go down hills in SF. I’m not really trying to race anybody.

MF: Fuck no!

AT: Uh, no.

JM: I still have no idea what you’re talking about. Never heard of ‘em.

Gotta check for cracks and railroad tracks. Sean hops a double     Photo Palozzolo


You ever had a downhill wet dream?

SG: Unfortunately, I hardly dream. Maybe I have but I can't remember. Mad concussions, man. Memory’s a little fuzzy.

MF: Not necessarily, but it's funny you should ask this question. I haven’t been skating or even been around skating, which is super weird to me, so I’ve been having dreams about hanging out with everyone I skate with. Sometimes it’s not even about skating. I don’t really dream much, but when I was in Texas, I smoked all my weed in, like, two days causing me to actually have some dreams. There was this one where we all went out skating together but I never got out of the car once, just watching everyone skate. After that dream, I got back to San Francisco, my foot was starting to get a little better and it got me excited for when I could get back on my board. Just having those weird dreams about hanging out with everyone got me super motivated to heal up and go out with the boys.

AT: I’m living one right now.

JM:  Hell nah to the nah, nah, naaaah.



 

Thoughts on the new revolution of hill bombing, with all the kids on social media also trying to go down the biggest hills?

SG: I’m stoked we had a disclaimer for the full-length. Ha! I grew up wanting to be a stuntman—I guess I am now—after watching Evel Knievel videos. I don’t know how I feel about all kinds of kids going out getting strawberries, concussions and maybe even getting hit by a car. Just know you have to protect yourself out there. I mean, gotta gamble, but you have to play it smart as well. That’s just skateboarding; everything is a gamble. Just be smart. Keep yourself from getting hurt.

MF: I don’t know what I think about all that. Wear your helmet, kids. Nah, I’m just kidding Ha! You can try; you can do it; go skate; go have fun. Doesn’t matter what anyone else says and thinks. Just fuckin’ skate. Shit happens.

AT: I think it’s fucking gnarly. People have no idea how fucked it is until they do it. It’s super sick, but I personally like when people do tricks into hills. Don’t get me wrong, just rolling down a hill is insane, but to me it just looks better when you do tricks into it. Either way it’s sick because it's skateboarding.

JM: I think it’s dope. Do tricks and go into hills. 


Skating faster is the goal. Sometimes you gotta make do     Photo: Elliot


What inspired you to pick up a skateboard for the first time?

SG: I used have this stupid scooter. But before they were those razor scooters, they were just skateboards with handlebars. But at some point I just took the handlebars off. Funny enough, there’s this old photo of me pushing goofy, which is weird because I’m regular. At that time I was always playing with Tech Decks and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Someone finally asked me, “Why don’t you actually skate?” I was thinking that it was a damn good question. I had an extensive knowledge of skateboarding tricks and a genuine interest, it just took someone to bring it to my attention that it was something I could actually do. When I really picked it up, I had a homie who I hung out with to talk to girls, and another that I would go skate with. I love girls, but skating is the most fun thing ever and it just took over.

MF: I saw a Thrasher in an Albertsons once and on the cover was someone doing a noseslide on a brick quarterpipe and I just thought, "Damn, that is so tight. I want to do that."

AT: When I was younger, I saw my older sister’s boyfriend ollie down a six stair and I was just losing my mind. After that I got a skateboard and it stayed with me.

JM: I seen the next door older homies getting it.




What made you move to SF?

SG: My friend Ceno. He’s a graffiti writer. He’s the illest and the realest. He helped me get a spot; he helped me get a job. In fact I’m still working a job from that connection. Life out here is great all because of him and the people I met being around him. When I was 16, I had a car, had one spot open, heard about Ceno. People talked shit on him but I saw the passion. He was skating a kicker by himself so I picked him and ever since that day we’ve just been really good friends. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here today. I fucking love that dude.

MF: Homies, mostly. Just skateboarding in general. It’s a hub so I just ended up here.

AT: To film with Ryan Garshell. I’ve know him for a long time and he’s one of my best friends so I came out here.

JM: Just skating with the goons! You gotta see what’s out there.


Joogy, switch frontside flip. "Just rolling down a hill is insane, but to me it just looks better when you do tricks into it" —AT     Photo: Palozzolo

What’s your current living situation?

MF: Crammed up with my dogs. We all live together in a double loft. Stacked house. It's me, Sean, Taylor Nida, Adam and Andrew with two big-ass dogs in a studio apartment in the Tenderloin. It’s really small but all the beds are off the ground. Andrew has the kitchen and he built a door so he has a private space. He ended up building a loft that raises his bed six feet off the ground. Sean, Taylor and I share another room together. I’ve recently been staying at my girlfriend's so I’ve been subleasing my bed for $200 a month. It’s so weird: we haven't all gone out skating together on a session since we moved to this spot. Someone has always been hurt or out of town. But it’s happening real soon.

 



Do you have a day job?

SG: Currently I’m just doing what I have to make it work. I saved up some money so I could skate for another couple of months before I find out what I want to do for work. But I usually like to have a balance of work and skating. I’ve always worked until I broke my neck, so after that I quit my job and just have been doing odd jobs to make ends meet.

MF: Sometimes I deliver pizza in the Sunset district, but not an official one.

AT: Not really, but let's say I’m a weed connoisseur.

JM: Nah, no day job. But 365 we be on the job.


Footy check 



How did you initially link up with Ryan Garshell?

SG: Through the Floridians, through Matt Finley. The first time I went skating with Ryan, I bombed the Kearny hill. Spitfire had posted something about the how they were about to put stairs all the way up the hill and if anyone thought they could do it, they should do it. I saw it on Instagram and thought nothing of it, but I had a few friends just tag me to do it. It made me feel like I could do it because I trust my friends' judgment when it comes to those thing more than my own. Ha! At first I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to offend Frank 'cause I look up to him. As soon as my friends told me I could do it, though, I was, like, why not try? At some point after they posted that, I ran into Ryan and asked if he would be down to film it. My homie Phil Peralta called me at nine in the morning, saying he was there. I was still sleeping but I got out of bed and met him. I was scoping out the hill for an hour before Ryan got there, just figuring it out. Initially I wanted to do a line, starting at the double set that Rowan did the Chinese nollie flip, but there was a car in the way. When I did the ollie in I was thinking I was going to try another line down the hill but I didn’t get a full powerslide in. There was this ongoing joke of how I would bomb Kearny in a line, all the way to the Chinatown banks and go over the bench. I made it all the way and fell on the second wallride over the bench and when I fell I just started laughing like crazy because I had just done the longest line in my life. My favorite part is no one saw the second part of that line.

MF: Mostly through the Florida connect, knowing Ben Gore and Brian Delatorre. Just going out skating with the right people. Going out with Sean. We were living in Oakland at the time so we would  occasionally skate with him. But as soon as we moved to the city, we were a few blocks from him and it was on.

AT: I grew up with Ryan. He was the first person I ever filmed a skateboard trick with in my life. I met him when I was 12 or so at this spot back in Florida called Blacktops. It was this spot that everyone would go to in West Palm Beach that had a bunch of orange plastic barriers you could knock over and build ledges, kind of like a DIY. First time, I was skipping school, took the train up and met some homies, then met G. After that I started skating with him from then on.

JM: Through all the homies that I live with.




 

Worst slam filming with Ryan?

SG: When I rib racked doing the double ollie in North Beach. The next day it hurt so bad I couldn’t breathe, but someone gave me some Arnica and almost instantly I felt a bit better. Probably should’ve gone to the doctor but I didn’t.

MF: I was hurt for the duration of the video. Some of the clips were a little older.

AT: I clipped on the gap onto the rock in Union Square. I was trying a trick, constantly sticking it and slipping out. A cop came out and told me I could get one more try so I just went for it. I guess I wasn’t going fast enough cause I clipped the corner, flew back, hit my head and gashed my elbow.

JM: The Denny’s grand slam. I don’t fall.


Sean getting tech on the walls and taking it to fakie     Photo: Zaslavsky


Matt, what happened to you?

MF: Dude, it was on some dumb shit! I was in Baltimore skating this pyramid bank thing. First spot of the day halfway into the trip, I tried to go up this bank and do a 180 fakie manny all the way back into the bank. I bailed my board halfway through the manual, literally walked down the bank backwards not paying attention, all burnt, stepped on a curb halfway and rolled my ankle! I thought I just rolled it. The next day my ankle wasn’t swollen and didn’t hurt or anything, but for some reason I still couldn’t walk, so I got it x-rayed when I got home. Turns out I fractured the metatarsal bone towards the pinky toe. Ended up getting a short ankle boot. Wore that for six weeks and I felt like I was chillin’. But I kept hurting it again and again, with the last time being a week before Christmas. It got better a couple weeks ago and tried to film some stuff with Ryan. But I hurt it on some stupid shit again, trying to do a backside powerslide off a curb on the way back to the crib.




Favorite trick from the video you witnessed?

SG: I would have to go with Taylor’s double ollie in the dark! The one with Ryan was follow filming him. That was so sick!

MF: All of Taylor’s footage that I saw. I see him as like the modern day Nate Jones. He’s just so smooth and powerful.

AT: Probably Taylor’s front blunt into the bank on the rail. That was actually my favorite trick in the whole thing.

JM: The last trick. Sean’s frontside wall jammer to triple hill bomb. He was going.


@hillandwalls is an apt Insta handle. Joogy, frontside wallride     Photo: Palozzolo


 


What would you say to the people who say you go too far with house spots, security, endangering lives by bombing hills—

SG: It’s just what we do. It’s what we love. I know people don’t get it, but San Francisco is a wonderland and one of the most lenient cities in the world. Also, it’s not as bad as it might seem. I was skating this spot and this dude comes out pissed off. But then he started just watching, so we talked to him for a little bit and he went from pissed off to being super friendly and bringing us a bottle of champagne even though I didn’t get the trick. You just never know with people out here, skating their houses and stuff. You just have to talk to everyone like they’re actually a person. Half the time people kicking us out are super respectful to us so we show them the same sentiment. But to answer the question, it is what it is. It’s up to you to choose what you want to skate and we’ll do the same.

MF: A lot of people think skateboarding is bad and all this shit. But look at all of the rest of the problems around you. There’s way worse things to worry about than some kids just trying to have some fun. It’s crazy, though. People trip. The other day we were checking a roll-on grind at a house, but before we even popped our boards up to check it out, some dude opens the front door and yells, “What the fuck are you guys doing? You messing up my stairs?” coming in pretty hot at us in a purple-ass robe with a glass of vodka in his hand and purple velvet Crown Royal bag. His eyes were buggin’ as if he was doing mad blow or some shit. I didn’t know what was in it, but we tried to leave and he followed us to the car. When he got closer to us I noticed he had a gun in that Crown Royal bag with his finger on the trigger. All the while, Taylor Nida is talking mad shit to this dude. I tell everyone, “Yo, this dude is about to shoot us. We need to get the fuck out of here.” Ryan starts the car and as we’re pulling away, he says, “It’s all good, player. Enjoy that robe, man,” and we pull away. Shit escalated so quick. This guy was about to shoot us for checking out a spot.

AT: Sometimes it gets crazy. Some people aren’t hyped; some people are happy. We don’t take it that overboard. If people want us to leave, we’re going to leave. But we definitely try to keep trying. Ha!

JM: I feel like we’re pretty mellow. We keep it pretty respectful.




Last words?

SG: Tomorrow’s not promised so love your family and love your friends. Skate faster.

MF: Go skate. Go have fun.

AT: Life’s good. I’m happy.

JM: GX1 thowowow gang gang.