January 16, 2010

(From the SwampArchives; Santa Barbara Morning,09, heading North)


So I hope you all enjoyed Chris's interview, as well as Nuckol's which was before Chris's this year. There are a handful of interviews from last year located under "Older Posts," so if you click that it will give you access to those.

Looking forward; I have a sick line-up of interviews in the works right now, I'm trying to set something up as to where I can knock them all out around the same time, and post them like every other day or so... either way, it's a sick line up and they should be good interviews. I also have my first real music piece coming up with Austin Tirado of North County's ARROWS, and that should be one of the better stories I've covered.

Also, in the skateboarding world, I'll have Eric Bennett answer a few questions for me, as well as put together a new Montage of the madness he's been filming lately for his upcoming/long awaited video, Wheels Of Misfortune, that will be in his interview that should be up by Friday--hopefully.

Other than all this, it's Saturday... it's ripe and early, 7am on the dot, I'm getting all my shit together and getting ready to head down to CV park to do some warming up and hit downtown for the day...

I'll have a case and a cooler and hopefully a smooth posse roaming around downtown today, so if anyone wants to meet up give me a call.

Happy Skateboarding, adios.

-BBswamps.

Chris Mohney Interview

“I'm gonna continue to skate until I can't anymore, but that'll take a lot.”
-Chris Mohney



Well this is the second interview of 2010, and I still find it weird typing “2010,” it just still hasn’t hit me. Well Chris has been my friend since I started skateboarding. He’s always been a few years older than me, and his skill-level basically speaks for that. Anyways, this interview is a very humble one indeed. I spent some of the most exciting and fun years skating with Chris and the old posse we you used to roll around with. (Many whom I still do) and Chris has always had it though. He’s one of those kids that can just do the wildest flat-ground tricks all day, switch or regular, nollie or fakie—whatever. And besides these incredible magic tricks that he seems to pull off on his skateboard—his consistency with super hard tricks that he can take down big sets of stairs or huge gaps is overwhelming dude. Not to mention, my belief that he is the official possessor of the three-sixty flip. Even though he’ll never admit it—whatever, I’m taking it to the grave--he is.

“Take him to anything—he’ll three-sixty flip it.” –ME.

I’ll let this quote sit alone. (laughing). It’s true though. But honestly, besides his effortless three flip, Chris has handled business on all types of shred-terrain, all over. He can skate a handrail, huge sets of stairs, a ledge, a manual pad, a parking block… you get my point. And before I was even into skateboarding Chris was having fun and rolling around, man.

But above all, Chris is inspiring. The dude has honestly broken so many bones, or dislocated so many “somethings,” sprained this and that, and honestly taking a beating, time and time again, and still continues to kill it harder than a lot of people I see. I’ve literally seen him snap his arm in half—yeah. Anyways, working full time at Syndrome, Chris surrounds himself with skateboarding on a day-to-day basis, as well as skating Syndrome Park on his off time. When you see him skate though, you wouldn’t think otherwise.

The fact that Chris is still on his skateboard would honestly shock some people if sat down and told the damage he’s done to his body, but he’s done just as much damage to a number of spots simply because he kills it. Determined, aggressive, and consistent is Chris.

So without further ado, let me introduce, my good friend, Chris Mohney…

BB) Chris, first and foremost, how’s everything going man? What’s going on?
CM) Yo Beebs. I'm glad you decided to do this with me. I'm doing alright. Livin’ that everyday struggle. I've just been skating as much as I can and working everyday. Gotta make that scrilla. Been working on a project car. It definitely has gone as planned. Way to many problems. Pretty much just chillin.

BB) So this is my 2nd interview of 2010, did you have yourself a good New Years?
(what’d you do)
Damn son sloppy seconds… I thought we were tighter than that (laughing). My new years was real mellow. It was my mom’s birthday as well so me and my girl made her a cake. I basically just chilled with my girl and my mom all night. I enjoyed it a lot. It was cool hanging out with my mom.

BB) Anything broken on your body right now? (laughing)
CM) (Laughing) Nah, nothings broke right now (knock on some skateboard wood). It's actually been a while since I broke anything. Last few injuries have been rolled ankles and dislocated shoulders…those are a bitch. But all in all I've been healthy and glad to say skating as much as possible.

BB) Good to hear man. K, so tell me where you learned those dictionary three flips (360 flips) fool? How long have you had that trick as your property? (laughing)
CM) (Laughing) I remember the first tre-flip I ever did. It was right in front of my house and I was riding parallel with the curb and popped it of the curb into the street. So funny. Dan (Carbajal) filmed that shit too…Man I miss those days. I don't even know how I really got it. It just kinda came to me and I never knew how to varial flip. I hate varial flips, but that was the beginning of the tre-flips. I don't even know how old I was…it was in middle school though…probably like 6th grade was when I got them. So back in 1999…damn over a decade ago (laughing) time flies.

(Snap, swoosh, crack; hardflip over ten stair handrail... this was a cover for Concrete Wave by the way)
BB) Are you working right now? And if so, where at?
CM) Yeah I'm working... Going on 3 years now at Syndrome Distribution. Home of: Plan b Skateboards, FKD Bearings and Silver Trucks. It’s in Vista, CA in the business parks. It’s a good job. It’s kept me straight and on track in life. And I think it’s been a big part in me still skating to this day. I get to skate with some of the sickest dudes ever and there's a skate park inside the warehouse that's fun as fuck. It's pretty much the dream job that I could ever ask for. I get to be around skateboarding all day and I get to skate all day as well.

BB) So what in skateboarding sparked your attention when you first got into it? How old were you?
CM) I've always seen skateboarding as that next level thing. It's the one thing that would drive me to push myself everyday and keep me in line. I love challenges and I knew that skateboarding would be a gnarly one. I got into it when I moved out here in like '97 or '98. My first board was from Toys-R-Us or something, it was a Nash board (laughing). I have the funniest photo of me holding the board. I've been on a board and having fun since then.

BB) How old are you now?
CM) I'm 22 years young about to be 23 in May…Cinco de Mayo fool!

BB) Have you ever thought to yourself, “I could maybe do something with this one day…?”
CM) I never really thought of going big with skating. I never wanted to get my hopes and dreams up and have them crushed…if I did I'd be bumming hard right now. I've always liked having skating there as a stress free place I can go, have fun, and kick it with the homies.

BB) (Laughing) So give me your personal perspective from the good ol’ FC days? What were a few of your favorite times from back then?
CM) The FC days were the shit!! Such fun times doing random shit and skating. Those are the highlights of my life. The little trips we'd go on to LA and SD were sick as fuck. I catch myself reminiscing about those days and wish sometimes I could go back and do it all over again. I wouldn't trade any of those moments for anything.

(BIG kick flip)
BB) Yeah dude, those were rad times, I agree. Wow, so tell me about the Knob Hill Arm Break Massacre that occurred however many years ago, I know I was there, but I mean, what was going on in your head? How old were you when that happened?
CM) That day sucked (laughing). I remember I just got home from a trip from Maryland and I had no intentions of skating that day because of jet lag and shit but as soon as I pulled up to my house, all you guys were chilling outside waiting to skate. So we all cruised over to Knob and the day was going pretty well until that fatal ollie (laughing). I remember it was July 22, 2003. I was 15 at the time. I remember it like it happened yesterday. I landed right on my arm and it buckled right under me. I got up did my little "OH SHIT" scream and the first thing that went through my mind was to be as calm as possible.

BB) Man, I was only 13, crazy. I’m glad you reminded me yesterday that I told you “it was ok to cry, and that we wouldn't think you were a pussy,” (laughing), but you were unbelievably mellow about it, not a tear shed, you were the calmest one there dude… crazy day.
CM) Yeah man I wanted to be as calm as possible because I didn't want to freak everyone out and shit. I remember getting a pretty good laugh in once you said that.

BB) So who’s hooking you up right now?
CM) I've been riding for Allied Board shop in Escondido for a while now. Crispin the owner holla'd at me one day and asked me to ride for him. I was surprised I didn't expect that at all. But that's all the hook ups I got going as of now. I'm siked though, Allied is a good shop and everyone on the team and that work there are down as fuck.

(360 flip over Knob Hill 8 stair's handrail--wonder how many times he did this?)
BB) Who have you been filming and skating with a lot—as of lately?
CM) I've been skating and filming a lot with Vicente Rosales. He kills it, he’s always down to skate whenever and he’s a real good homie. Same with the homie Chris, he took pretty much all the photos for this interview. Nuckols is around a lot and destroys everything he touches. I get to skate with the real good homie Tim Tom every now and then. Life's tough now so it’s hard to actually get out and skate with all the homies.

BB) Are you filming for anything?
CM) I think there’s some projects in the works. I'm filming for Vicente (Rosales’s) video Greedy Monsters. Not sure when that's gonna drop but it'll be dope. And I think I have a syndrome part coming out soon. Vicente's in the works of putting that together as well.

BB) So even though I might already know the answer to this one, what’s your favorite trick?
CM) Ha I'm gonna have to say tre-flip, but I've been feeling hard flips. That's normally one of my go to tricks now down stuff.

BB) Yup, called it. Do you still have that super proper kicker ramp that we used to shred back in the day?
CM) Dude I don't even know. That ramp was fucking awesome. I haven't seen it in years. It probably got broken up and thrown away to make space in the backyard.

BB) Who built that thing? It was amazing.
CM) I gotta give the credit to my dad on that. I wanted something to skate and he built that thing with all types of legit-ness. That ramp lasted years man. It was one of the greater things I had to skate growing up.

BB) How long have you lived in San Marcos?
CM) Well I lived in the Marcos for about 8 years or something around there. I got booted when I was 18 and lived out of my car for like a year and a half. Then I had an apartment in Esco for a while but the lease was up in February '09.

(Hardflip down 6 block, Temecula. Cheers.)

BB) Where are you living?
CM) I'm living at my girls pad in Vista, Ca. But I still say I live in the Marcos…Gotta represent.

BB) What’s your favorite spot to skate these days? Where do you go for strictly fun?
CM) My favorite spot would have to be the skate park in Syndrome. It's the most convenient place for me to skate and it’s a lot of fun. There's of variety of stuff to skate so it helps out my skating a lot. I definitely learn something new everyday, or at least try to.

BB) What would your dream spot be? (DETAILS HOMIE)
CM) Damn my dream spot...I don't even know where to begin. It would have to have a variety of stair sets ranging from 2 to 11. Some decent sized gaps... Gotta have my gaps (laughing). A few buttery ass boxes that are all different in height and length. Some manual pads and some tranny. Like 2 different sized mini ramps, a pool and a couple big ass quarter pipes. I don't skate tranny but I gotta look out for the homies that do. It'd be free and absolutely no hassle from the cops… because that shits weak. I don't know how the layout would be, but it would work out so everything has a proper amount of runway and landing. Smooth ass ground is a must.

BB) Off your board you’re doing:
CM) Off my board I'm either working or chilling with my girl. I don't really do too much these days. I go out on the weekends every now and then but I just like to lay low and chill. I work on my car every now and then. Chilling with my mom whenever I can get over to her house.

BB) So what’s the future looking like for Chris Mohney, in skateboarding, as well as life in general, man?
CM) I got no clue man. I just live day by day. I have plans of finishing up my car and getting back on the road. Eventually get my own pad again. I'm gonna continue to skate until I can't anymore, but that'll take a lot. Basically take what’s given to me in life and handle the biz.

BB) Shout outs:
CM) I gotta holla at my girl Haidee for supporting everything I do and being there for me, Allied for supporting me, Vicente for killing it at filming and being a homie, Chris for taking my photos and filming, Tim Tom for being a true G ass homie, and inspiring me to skate like him, Nuckols for bein my Nigga (laughing), my mom and the rest of my big family, my job, the homies I work with, and everyone that’s been true and has helped me along in my life to be who I am today.


BB) Chris man, good looks! I appreciate it, lets skate soon! Adios.
CM) No doubt homie. Stay up. Peace!

Interview By: Brian Blakely
Photos by: Old School Chris

bangers, bangers, bangers...

Well sitting in my inbox, as I type this, are Chris Mohney's photos from this weekend, and a few others I had on deck to use. Chris went out with Old School Chris and shot a few sequences and a few stills, and my reaction is hyped, hyped, hyped. Today I'll be shooting the questions over to Chris, and by Friday the whole interview will be up and complete. It will be super good, Chris is my good friend of many years man and I'm hyped to be doing this!

Well, keep checking in, and Friday the Interview will be up.

ALSO! keep checking back at some of the older interviews I've posted from November and December... There's some cool ones that I wish I could bring back... Alex Pedroza, Waylon Hendricks, Bobby Johnson, Greg Valencia, Alex Zarate, Vicente Rosales, Stephen Lawyer, and of course Anthony Nuckols is the most recent one. So check them out if you're bored.

-BBswamps

Adam Rage Knight

"Its hard to be a hippy when your dressed to kill"

Adam Knight - Santa Barbara Pool Shred

Adam's cooler than you, if you see him, give him a high 5










-BBswamps

January 9, 2010

That was the first time I've had to write "2010" this year, weird.

Well it's Saturday, we made it. Today I have Chris Mohney out shooting some photos and handling business for his interview that will be up on Friday, the 15th. I've known Chris forever, and though I unfortunately won't be out there on the sesh while he's shooting the photos, there is not a drip of doubt in my mind that Chris won't come back with bangers, bangers, bangers...

Um, other than that, I want to thank BEN CANO for coming up with a grip new headers for me. In time I'll be changing it up every so often, as will I post the ones he's sent me so far. He refuses to do an interview with me, but one day I will get one so I can post more of his work because it needs to be seen.

Well as the week unfolds I'll have a few things to post, Bob if your reading this hope your having fun out in New York--send me pictures soon.

Welp, that's about it for now... keep lurking, keep spreading the word, and I'll keep finding stuff to blabber about.

Adios!

-BBswamps

Chris Mohney

Interview coming within the next week. Chris is basically the mix between really hard tricks, and big sets of stairs, with a hint of perfect consistency, and a few dabs of smooth style. Yep, this will be a good one.

-BBswamps

Anthony Nuckols Interview

Skateboarding requires patience, motivation, a unique eye, and the majority of the time, that “I-DON’T-GIVE-A-FUCK” attitude. Skateboarding also takes time, a lot of time, especially if you want to make something of yourself within it. Regardless, I think skateboarding requires skateboarding. The attachment every skateboarder has to his skateboard is a rare affection that not everyone can understand, but I’ll tell you one thing—the ones who do know, know exactly what I’m talking about.

Skateboarding has the tendency to mold people into who they are; the things they see, people they meet, places they travel, et cetera. It’s all due to skateboarding, and you get as much out of it as you let yourself, ya know?

I’m not sure where I’m even going with this, I’m excellent at fading off subject, and I seem to be good at placing my own words in everyone else’s stories. Ha Anyways…

Anthony Nuckols--Just pause real quick and let this name imprint itself in your brain, and do me a favor—don’t forget it. When I first got into skateboarding, to my knowledge, Nuckols was OG as they come. I have a weird respect for anyone who was raised in the Marcos, and though Nucks was born in Texas and spent about the first 4 years there, he’s still been in San Marcos as long as my short 19 year old life, so nonetheless—he’s a straight loc. When it comes to skateboarding in San Marcos, Nuckols name would pop up in the “made-up archive” of skate history more than a handful of times, more than two handfuls man.

Having rode for all the OG shops in this valley of discovery (San Marcos), Nucks has been riding to his full potential forever, never once slowing down, and letting his sponsors, clips, and photos do the talking for him. A modest dude, Nuckols keeps it real, and is always an excellent person to have on the sesh. His bag of tricks is awesome, his smooth style leaves you in awe, and you just feed off of his positive attitude.

(Hardflip in enci)
From the rawest parking lots of downtown San Marcos, (as some would call Mini TJ) to the legendary Stater Bros parking lot and loading dock on Mission, even to demos of all over, Nuckols has handled business every where he goes, keeping the flame lit the entire time. Constantly filming and shooting photos, Nuckols stays busy, and continues to keep his sponsors happy. Never have I seen the dude slow down or lose interest, and never do I think I will.

I would have it no other way than to start the New Year off right by getting Anthony Nuckols officially sketched into The Swamp, and it's no ones fault but mine that I lagged on posting this a day after the New Year, haha. Anyways, enjoy the photos, enjoy the exciting words of Nucks, and be hyped that you get a front row seat to Marcos Skateboarding 101, featuring Anthony Nuckols… a good buddy of mine, and a San Marcos ripper who wears his pride on his sleeve! So with that said--cheers to the New Year, and cheers to Nucks man.

(Kick flip, back... Nose Grind, bitch!)
BB) Yo Nucks! First off, how bout your age, years skating, and where your living
AN) Age: 24
Years skating: 10 and counting!!!
Where I’m livin’: In the Marcos but for you out-of-towners, San Marcos CA

BB) Where did you grow up? (where were you born)
AN) I grew up in San Marcos, Ca, but I’m from the great state of Texas, son. Third coast!!

BB) Where did you grow up skating? What were the first OG spots you recall?
AN) I grew up skating in the streets of the Marcos (San Marcos) with all the homies i played pop warner football with. One person got a baord and soon after that we all got tired of sharing the same board, so we all got our parents to get us our own. We would cruise all over the Marcos... to petco five flat, to knob hill, to san marcos high school, or go to escondido high school, like all in one day... just havin fun adventures, and just havin plain fun.

(I've seen this spot for years but never skated it--Nucks thought otherwise, FS flip into bank, in the Marcos)

BB) How long have you lived in San Marcos?
AN) Wow, I think I’ve been in San Marcos for like twenty years. (Laughing) I feel like a lifer, or like I should run for mayor or something.

BB) Give me your favorite spot in San Marcos (past or recent) that you've skated?
AN) I’ll give you both… in the past--Stater Brothers loading dock was the spot. We would get back home from school, skip homework and anything that had to do with school outside of school and go meet up with the homies and skate there until you couldn’t see a thing… or until a truck came and parked in our way (Laughing) Oh myy, did I hate when that happened!

BB) (Laughing) I know exactly what your talking about...
AN) But now a days I have to say my favorite spot is probably gonna have to be… hmm... I would say any spot where I could be productive. I like it all and we never really enough spots to be able to call one a “favorite” cause its like you'll go to a spot and you wont go back for like another month or so, or even longer, where as when you're first startin out, you go to one spot mainly and just practice all the tricks in your bag with friends at that spot.

BB) Word man, how bout some name-drops of a few old SM locals from back in the day that you used to kill it with?
AN) This is a good one! So many fallen soldiers man… but Tim-Tom (Tim Thomas) who I still skate with of course—I’m sure I would quit if I didn’t have him to push me all the time, and there’s Kyle Brogan, homie is an animal on a board and off, Sean Vogt always a good time, Ricardo Rabago, Mike and Ricky Coronado, Adam Smoltz, Ryan Jenson, Elliot Brown, Bryloski, Jose, Juan, Indio, James Reid, Joseph Avila!!(oh my, this fool ripped!!)… Wow this list can go for ever (Laughing). It sucks that they all quit. I was always the worst one in the group…

(Front Crook from afar)

BB) What shops and companies have you rode for in the past? and who are you riding for now?
AN) In the past I rode for: Schmidts Boardhouse (that my very first sponsor), Urban Boardshop, Adio, World Industries, Cowboy Punk wheels, Krew clothing, Split, Ergo Phobia, I-path shoes, Kontrol Wheels

But now I’m riding for: Active, Silver Trucks, FKD bearings, and Orisue clothing at the moment… but I really want to ride for Adidas and Toy Machine!!

BB) What are your earliest memories of skateboarding?
AN) Oh wow, I have so many, but the earliest I have is I remember goin’ to my homie Ricardo’s house for a weekend sleep over and I remember noticing he had a skate board and he was showin me how he could ollie and do 50-50's, he gave me the board and told me to try to ollie and I did it first try! Since then, I knew I was hooked for life.

BB) What are your plans for skating in the future?
AN) My plans for the future is just to roll until I can’t roll anymore… hopefully travel a lot more, get back into having fun at contests and just have fun with it in general... if I can make a living off of it—cool, but if not, I wont be mad cause I know I made some life-long friends doing it. What more can you ask for, right?

BB) True shit man, How was your New Years by the way?
AN) My new year was super fun!!! I went up to long beach with my neighbors and partied at a house up there… handled lots of champagne (cause that’s what you should be handling on new years) and I got my first kiss of the year from an amazing girl--who I’m really feelin’ (Laughing) Man… not gonna lie, I’m running on like an hour of sleep at the moment.

(Kick flip front nose)

BB) Any plans for the future other than skating?
AN) Well yeah, other than skating I would just love to get a girl and settle down and make life even more amazing. I mean other than skating, that’s the only thing I actually want, as weird as that sounds… but I’m not trying to do that anytime soon. I’m not some love-sick fool you know.

BB) When you’re not skating, what are you usually doing?
AN) I could be up to anything when I’m not skatin. My whole thing is to just keep a smile on my face and keep the good times rollin... so if it sounds fun—I’m all for it. Especially when it comes on to making and eating food. I’m always up for that! I love to cook

BB) Favorite skate trip you've taken?
AN) My favorite skate trip has to be the AZ trip I took with World Industries like two years ago. We went out there for like a week and just skated spots and chilled and watched the Pheonix AM contest. All the homies were there, it was like North County in AZ. It was too tight! Oh my, and we had to drive the World Industries ice cream truck out there and it broke down like twice dude it was nuts! I could go on forever on this trip--new friends, memories, and just good times all week

(Nuckols and the World Inudstries Posse--Arizona)

BB) What was it like filming back in the day- as apposed to filming these days?
AN) filming back in the day was purely for fun and only fun. One homie would come up on a camera, and then the word would get around and sooner or later you're makin a homie video, just cruisin with the homies, no pressure, just fun skatin, and when the video is done its just done.

But nowadays, its kinda the same but after you get all hooked up with sponsers you gotta make sure your shit is tight and crisp. No sketchy landings, proper colors, good angles for filming and shit, cause you never know when your gonna need the footy, so it adds pressure just because you have to put all of the those other aspects into the equation and still try to have fun and not trip out cause your not landing shit. It can play with your mind on some days, but you cant let that stuff get to you. or at least try not to (Laughing)

BB) Who's the usual posse you head out with these days/who are you filming with usually?
AN) I usually go out filming with Chris Mohney, Tim Thomas (tim tom), Vicente Rosales (from the November interview), Christian Amaral, negro and just all the homies. Whoever is down to skate and can help keep us motivated, I’m always down for anyone like that

BB) Filming for any videos?
AN) Yes actually I’m filming for an episode for “Civilized Sundays” on the Transworld website (www.skateboarding.com) Its gonna be Dan (from balitmore) Tim Tom, and myself sharing a section that will come out one of these Sundays, so keep an eye out for that, and im always filming to get new footage up on the Active Army, which is part of the activemailorder website. It’s for all the shop riders for the various Active’s out there.

(This photo SCREAMS San Marcos--Nuckols and Tim Tom, posted)

BB) Ever plan to move out of North County?
AN) To be honest I think about that all the time, but there would be no point to do so, because we live in such an amazing place to skate or just do whatever. The weather doesn’t get any better than here, at all. But all the college kids blows except for my mammoth family. They're the tightest group of non-marcos locals I know. If the other college people would leave i wouldnt think about leaving ever (Laughing)

BB) Favorite spot to grub in san marcos?
AN) Favorite spot to grub in the Marcos would have to be hands down, Pimos Pizza--best spot for calzones ever! If you haven’t gone there yet, try it… you wont be disapointed at all. Sooo good. I actually want one now just talkin about it. (Laughs)

BB) Favorite music tunes?
AN) Um, I listen to anything and everything but country--I hate that crap to death, and same with radio shit cause all these so called rappers live in the month of February with all this lovey dovey bull shit. It’s so played out and girls eat that shit up like its going out of style or something.

BB) (Laughing) So true, so true… What drew you to skateboarding in the first place, and what keeps you doing it today?
AN) What drew me in was the fact that it was something I wasn’t good at, at first. I’m the type of person that if I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna be good at it or just not do it at all. But what keeps me going is just that its too addicting to quit. I’ve never done anything like this before I started skating. So many ups and downs, broken boards from not landing a trick, high fives for landing a trick… the feeling of accomplishment or of failure, You never know what will happen the next time you step on your board. The mystery of finding out what happens the next day you step on your board is just too addicting to me. Oh, and plus the fact that its nothin but good times in general. Good day—or bad day.

(Backside flip at Sunset)

BB) You said it best Nucks, good looks homie! Cheers!