Steve Olson Interview: Part 2

Part 2:

Did you know in advance that Alex’s first pro graphic was going to be a tribute to your graphic or was it a surprise?

I love my kid. I was so hyped on my son. I like their graphics. There are some companies with graphics that I really like. Not that they sometimes steal, but at least the cat at Girl has some continuity and consistency. His graphics are good and clever. The execution is really well done. I don’t give the graphic too much thought. I’m just lucky to have such a cool kid. I’m not your typical father type, but I was raised in a world of morals, and right from wrong and to not fuck people over. I’m stoked on my kid. He skateboards and he truly loves skateboarding for skateboarding. He gets all the credit for what he’s accomplished. He’s worked to get where he is and it’s his skill and his talent and he is his own person. He just happens to be my son and I just happen to be a lucky motherfucker.

You two are a professional skateboarding family legacy. You'd think companies would be trying to cash in on that.

I don't think they get it. They're fucking idiots. That's my point. I don't think skateboarding gets it. It doesn't happen that much in any sport. Looking at it from a marketing standpoint I think what fucking idiots they are. If I were them, I'd be thinking, "Wow that's pretty amazing!". Lance Mountains kid Cyril, he can skateboard. He just chose to do music but they were definitely on their way to being the first legacy. Indy doesn't get it though, they fucking run one ad with us together? My kid has been ripping for a while. They're retarded. Point made. Do any of the smart, corporate giants know? I don't know. They do a show about Ryan Sheckler? Sorry, we have a lot more interesting shit going on in our scene than theirs. Then again, shows have been offered. I just don't think those are going to happen.

How long have you been doing interviews for Juice Magazine?

I really don’t know for sure. The people at Juice are down to do what they’re doing. They don’t do it to try to be the next big thing or whatever. They do it because they truly dig skateboarding and the different types of characters involved. I know they like the politics and the music that goes along with it. They work their asses off and they’re not working for a paycheck.

One thing I’ve noticed is that when you interview musicians, you seem to have a very thorough knowledge of their genre regardless of who the musician is. As far as your tastes are concerned, are there any genres you stay away from?

No music is music. I like classic to rap. Punk rock to rock and roll. Big band to reggae and dance music and drum and bass. I like all kinds of music.

Do you ever have to do research before you interview certain people?

Not really. I kind of go from gut instinct and reactions. From my heart. I have never written a question down. It’s only happened twice actually where the dudes are dicks. One guy called me a journalist. I was like “Bitch, I am not a journalist. I’m just asking you some questions for this magazine but if you call me a journalist again I’ll come through the phone and choke you.” I did another guy who’s not a musician, he’s just a dick, and that interview will never be run because he’s so lame. I don’t need to mention names. Everyone knows who he is….and he’s not very much of a "vandal".

Were there any skaters that were difficult to interview?

Yeah, Natas Kaupas.

How come?

I don’t know. He was like “I don’t believe in the history of skateboarding” and I feel it ain’t about if you believe in it. It just is what it is. I like Natas. Maybe he could have just shared his experience and not have been so serious. I was kind of bummed because I like Natas so much. Homeboy would not open up. He’s a nice person. He wasn’t a dick, it was just a hard interview. Sometimes you try to talk to a person and they’re so tightly wound.

Do you plan on competing in any masters contests?
I don't know, I would have to learn some new maneuvers to feel like I can compete with them. I wouldn't want to ride unless I could compete at that level. I mean look, Miller's amazing and Duane still fucking kills. I think "Let the younger guys compete." but then I go watch I think "Fuck, what am I thinking? I should go learn 5,6,7,8 new tricks and go and compete.". Duane's always telling me "Go in and do a frontside air and ride they way you ride and they'll dig it.". I tell him, "If I go, I want to be able to compete with you. C'mon, that's how we were brought up."

I think we'll be skating into our 70's so never say never. Yeah, it would be dope, I'll definitely enter a contest someday.

I just like riding with Hackett, he's like a brother. Duane's like a brother, Salba's like a brother. Salba and I were in the first pool contest together. I love Salba. I'm just not interested in his slob air. At all. I can't reiterate that enough. Salba is Salba and he still rips. If I was going to learn a new trick I just wouldn't be like "Let's put the slob in my repertoire."

How did the Krooked guest model come about?
My kid is really good friends with Gonz. I've also known Gonz since way back. It was cool and I like the dudes at Deluxe. Do I like the graphic? No. C'mon Gonz, get a little more creative.

What about the Deathbox board?
That was great too. I love Hackett. To do a guest model with my bro, and do the graphic and the Indy cross where the circle was? A totally excellent "Fuck you!" to those guys. In a fun way, but whatever. Then they came out with an Eric Dressen model that was my old graphic but they just swapped out the signature.

Do you think they did that to bum you out?
I don't know but I like it so much. I have one, I dig it and I love Eric Dressen so it's cool. It just dawned on me that it could have been a response to the Deathbox board because we used the Santa Cruz lettering for Deathbox and instead of the circle it was the Indy cross.

You've had all these boards out but I always see you riding blanks.
Yeah, but I've always ridden blanks. Chuck Hults bangs my shit out for me and does a great job. Chuck rocks, I love his boards. Schmitt presses them and it's Schmitt wood so it's excellent.

I also have one of Hegstrom's Skaterbuilts with some 215's. It's like a skimboard, it's so fun. I just pull the sticker off and it looks like just one of mine since we both use formica....or mine look like one of his.

You were on the Independent tour this summer?
Yeah, I went out with my kid and Navarette, Hewitt, Partanen, Guzman, Baca, Grosso, Lance Dawes, Omar, Dan Drehoble, loads of other dudes....it was fun.

So you got a good story from the road?
There's a lot (laughs) but I'll tell you about Skatopia. Brewce Martin is an amazing wildman. He's really cool and practically out of his mind; but he's a good dude. He'd definitely be in my army or I'd be in his.

First I rolled into North Carolina and they has two big 15 passenger vans and they had the 1940's Indy Truck. The truck was losing oil so Dawes had to split and I rode in one van and we hooked up with him as we were going up to the D.C. area. When we hooked up with him and we were all in these air conditioned vans, and not that the vans are plush, but at least they have AC and it was really hot. We meet Dawes at a gas station and we've been on the road a couple hours and I was like, "Is Dawes going to be driving the truck by himself? That's so uncool.", and they were like, "Whatever, some people have done their time in the truck but they always come back to the van." That guy shouldn't have to ride alone, so I joined him in the truck.

So I roll with Dawes all the way on the truck for the tour and I remember one point when there was the was the cool guy van and the other van. The other van wasn't a nerd van though. Chet was like "Yo ride in the cool guy van.", and I was like "Nah, I'm going to stay in the coolest fucking vehicle we have on the trip and that's the truck." It was just to keep Dawes company because making him drive solo is fucking rude. We went from FDR to Skatopia. FDR wasn't on the original itinerary, and the truck broke down so the vans got there first, like an hour or two before we did. So they had a little head start on getting into the spirit of the festival.

Anyhow, Skatopia has a very...open vibe because what goes on there. I've known Brewce for a long time but this was the first chance I've had to go there. There was his museum in an old, one level country house. Then you get up to the barn where the bowl is and the ramp. You can go up the hill and the concrete they poured up there is amazing. So we get there I see Hewitt, Navarette and Chet and they were like "Wow, we just crashed a limo into this car pile and Brewce got out and doused it with gasoline and lit it on fire!" There were like 5 different cars down there burning.

There was this guy. Pyro I think was his name, he supplied all the fireworks. I just remember a ton of fireworks. I'm talking bottle rockets and bombs and it was a never ending supply. Now it's dark and everyone's had a little bit of whatever they were doing like drinking or whatever and lighting fireworks and shooting sky rockets at people. People were getting stoked on the rockets coming close or hitting them. There were no serious injuries but obviously someone could get hurt.

Well my kid is a pyro and loves the adrenaline behind the possibility of blowing your finger off. He was shooting these cannon things but then he got this tube and ties these two rockets together so he can shoot a double load out of the barrel. We were a little hammered and I had a lighter since I smoke and he's like "Light it, light it, light it!" and I'm like "Whatever, here you go.", and he lights it and it blows up on us. Going through that with my kid was totally amazing. It was dope, we just had these bombs blow up on us. Then it went to being a dad and making sure he was cool and that he didn't get badly burned or sulfur in his eyes or something. The parent instinct kicks in . He opened his shirt and he had some burns and thank god that was it, but it was definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

There was this other time when were in Kentucky and this one kid came up to me and was like "Whoah. Dude, you're Alex Olsons dad.", and he was giving me the biggest props just for being Alex Olson's dad. The kid didn't know who I was and it was awesome.








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