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.








-8th

Steve Olson Interview: Part 1

It's difficult to accurately describe the unique vibe of Melrose Ave. It's as if every conceivable sub-culture decided to set up shop on one street. Graffiti pieces adorn the walls of buildings that pulsate with music and life. Everywhere you look there's cutting edge hair salons, exotic eateries, art galleries and record stores (that actually carry good music) with the scent of Nag Champa drifting from their doors. Melrose almost makes me not hate driving to Hollywood. In the heart of this hub of art and culture lives Steve Olson. He lives and works out of a small studio next to a tattoo parlor filled with trendy hipsters smoking Sampoernas and Dunhills. His home is filled with pieces of his art as well as a bevy of skateboards and surfboards. He's polite and friendly. As we stroll to the store later in the evening to grab a pack of Parliaments, I notice that every person we encounter seems to know him. He greets them warmly with a smile and engages them in a brief chat. He's likable and charming. He loves to cook but doesn't believe in recipes. He has some of the coolest looking cowboy shirts I've ever seen. He uses speed rings in place of riser pads. He still skates and surfs as often as possible and he's very proud of his son, Alex. We sat down and chatted for a couple hours and discussed his life as a skateboarder, surfer, artist and father...just don't call him a journalist.

So how long have you been in Hollywood?

I’ve been coming out to Hollywood since ’78. I grew up in Rossmoore. Not too many people know where Rossmoore is, it’s very small and suburban.

Isn’t it like a part of Seal Beach?

Well it’s kind of like the inland part of Seal Beach. Back when I grew up there it was a middle class neighborhood.

Do you see yourself in Hollywood a lot longer?

I see myself wherever it happens to take me, wherever that is. To say that my 5-year plan, 10-year plan or 20-year plan don’t exist? That’s true. It’s more in the now.

Where have you been skating locally?

I don’t really have one spot. I’ve been to this place over here at the Supreme Shop.

That’s a wood bowl, right?

It’s a wood bowl with coping. It’s really convenient and easy to get to.

Was that from The Skateboard Mag cover with your son?

Yeah, exactly. It’s close and those cats at Supreme are really excellent. I like all the dudes that work there and the bowl is totally fun. It’s like a fishpond with coping and you can really lay into grinds.

The transitions look tight.

It’s tight but it’s totally amazingly fun. Then there’s Culver City that’s 15 minutes away and then there’s Glendale that’s 25 minutes away, you have Belvedere and you have Pedlow out in the Valley. You got Simi, Santa Monica, the East L.A. bowl, Highland Park so there are a lot of places within a half hour radius which is tight.

There’s some good backyarders out in LA still?

Oh there’s a ton. Tons.

Is it pretty easy to get a permission situation going out here?

Yeah, homeowners don’t trip as hard as they used to. Skateboarding is more readily accepted which is excellent. We’re gonna get a skatepark in this park down here hopefully. Pan Pacific.

Is that already in the design phase or any shit like that?

No, not at all it’s still with the city council.

I know Schroeder, Lance and Salba have helped in designing parks, have you ever given your input on park design?

No, I’d like to but I have not.

What would you do differently?

I would make a really amazingly fun place.

What kind of stuff would you put in the park? Lots of pool coping blocks I hope.

Well, there’d be a lot of pool coping but there’d also be oververt pockets snake runs. Fun areas, cool street shit because street is a huge part of skateboarding. A good long reservoir channel run…a lot of different types of things.

I did help make a pool back in the late 70’s at this place called the Concrete Wave. I think it was the first pool in the skatepark but they did it weird. They didn’t plaster it. They left it rough and a lot of it was shot. They didn’t do the final coat. They came in and dug it with maybe a bobcat or something but we were in there patting it down and making sure that the transitions were good and everything and it turned out to be a piece of shit. Not from our work on it, but due to the construction dudes.

Out of the public skatepark bowls, which ones do you dig the most?

I really like Glendale.

The kidney?

Not so much the pool, I like the other parts of the Glendale park. I like the oververt pockets, it’s really got a surfing kind of feel to it and I still kind of like to have that surfing feel.

You still surfing a lot?

Yeah, I’m going tomorrow morning at 6am.

So you’re getting in a few sessions a week?

I’ll surf whenever, yeah but I’m really focused on making a lot of art lately, I mean that’s kind of my livelihood so that’s what I do and skate for fun, race and ride the parks and whatever.

Was art something you slowly transitioned into?

No, I have an older brother, Bucky that was an an artist ever since I was a little kid and he’s an amazing person. We were doing films throughout early 70’s and my brother was way talented. Then he got into making surfboards and he was a shaper and he was probably one of the best airbrushers.

Didn’t he do Pocket Pistols Surfboards?

Yeah, but he also worked with a lot of different companies. He was in the production world of surfboards. Homeboy is so much more talented than most people and he’s just a dope ass brother.

How did he feel about Chicken coming out with Pocket Pistols?

Well, of course his reaction was, since we come from the same mold was: “What a kook!” Like the fucking guy can’t come up with an original idea? I feel the same way, that name existed before. I should probably shove my fist down your throat but I like you too much so that’s….boring. Yeah, whatever it’s chill. I’m not really interested in re-hashing the old shit and we live in a re-hash world, but whatever it’s what it is.

Was is just you two growing up?

Yeah, it was just Bucky and I…and we got cool parents. I’m one of the luckiest people I know.

Are your parents native Californians?

No, my mom’s a hillbilly from Tennessee and my dad’s a Viking from Minnesota. They’re just dope people. I have a great family structure, I feel beyond fortunate and everyday I’m grateful.

What’s your setup for pools/transition?

I ride the same board basically in everything.

What board width?

Like the 9 ¼ to 9 ½.

Like a 16 inch wheelbase?

I think so, maybe it’s a little less maybe 15 ¾ maybe even 15 ½ .

You seem to always be riding a board with sidecuts and a punk point.

Yeah, I dunno I always liked the point and I always tried to push the point. A lot of times the point got denied. Like back in the early 80’s I’d say “Let’s put a point on my board” and they’d be like ‘Hm…I don’t know.” I’m like “Fuck you man, fucking put the point on!”.

Independent 169’s?

I think they’re 149’s. I’m totally into the Bones Bushings setup too. I’m totally into the mediums and really that comes from racing. Giant slalom, tight slalom, park slalom. I like good, fast bearings. There’s a lot of good bearings out there.

For fast, I dig the Bones Swiss or the RocknRon’s.

I’m rocking RocknRons right now and I dunno they don’t seem to be rockin’ as fast as I thought they would be. Oh, plus you also got Oust and Bones….

So you’re riding Indy’s in parks and shit, but what are you using for slalom?

Radikals or G.O.G.’s. They’re far advanced trucks as far as racing is concerned.

Radikals aren’t cheap.

They shouldn’t be either.

They make an amazing slalom truck.

At the same time, it’s sad to say but Independent came from slalom racing and had nothing to do with bowl riding. They still don’t get it, they never will get it because all they care about is moving units, and that’s fine and understandable, but they came from racing and had nothing to do with pools, banks, reservoirs, ditches whatever. It had to do with racing. They had Independent suspension trucks. They say Blackhart and I were the dudes…it was slalom racing. That was their deal. They didn’t realize that pools and parks were going to be the thing back in that period of skateboarding. I dig em’ though. They’re good guys.

So NHS is doing a re-issue of your Santa Cruz board?

I think so.

On a modern concave?

I hope not. They should do it with a cool concave. Not such a modern, steep concave but they should definitely upturn the nose.

Why did it take them so long to re-issue your board?

For a long time I had no interest in re-issuing the board. I didn’t want to do it. Whatever. I hope they use the correct graphic.

Do you have a collection of them still?

Me? I have a couple. I need the red dot one. I couldn’t care less about the last one. It was a drag because all these kids push out graphics every three months. I wish it would’ve been like that back then because we could have done some fucking dope ass graphics. I’m not into pictures on a board. I don’t give a fuck about a skull on the board even though I did one which turned out wack.

Was the skull with S.O.S. (Steve Olson Skates) or Skull Skates?

No, but Skull does a cool looking skull. My brother did all my graphics when I was on Santa Cruz.

No shit?

Jim Phillips fucking puts it in a book, in print that he’s the guy who did it. Fuck you hippie, you fucking lying piece of shit. You have enough of your own work to go off of. Why do you have to bullshit? He’s a fucking knob. That shows what type of character he has. He has to sit there and has to come up with a back-story of how the graphic came about. He had nothing to do with the graphic. To have someone write this is how the situation happened? It’s fucking pathetic. It makes me sick to my stomach. It’s such a joke. Enough of the fucking lies. How does it make me feel? I’d like to fucking choke the fucking faggot out.

How does Bucky feel about it?

Oh Bucky is angrier about it than I am but at the same time he doesn’t give a fuck. He thinks the surf and skate industry is a joke and he’s absolutely right. It’s run by lame goons, period. It’s always going to be like that and that’s just the way it is because the people that can do something about it obviously don’t care that much. They also have the audacity to ask me to come to a signing so I can come and sign this lie? His art is so fucked. There’s a lot of bad art out there and he’s one of the worst, lamest lowbrow artists I’ve ever seen.

There was a period of time that it was easy to go to a lot of skateshops and buy a wider board with a bigger wheelbase because you had a model out on Emergency.

Yeah, and you have John Lucero who says that that part of skateboarding is not that important, there’s no market for it. That’s what it’s become. He’s another wack graphic artist that just steals, blatantly steals. When he did my graphics I was like, “Wow that is so wack!”. There were a couple that were really horrible. I said “All you have to do is just call me and I’ll come down and we can get it done in an hour!” I was so not against collaborating but I’m not into someone just doing them. My brother did all my graphics for S.O.S. and we did it together.

Was it an amicable parting with Label?

No, I was just over it. I was into it in the beginning. I’m almost 50 years old. I’m not worried about skateboarding being my livelihood. I was cool with riding with Duane though. I was more like “Let’s do a limited edition, one off deal.”

Do you see yourself riding for a new board sponsor again?

Not unless they pay me millions of dollars. (chuckles) No, that’s definitely not going to happen. I have no sponsors. I get shit free from a lot of different people and I do a lot of different boards with a lot of different companies.

I was stoked to see you had a wheel with Spitfire earlier this year.

Yeah, but they couldn’t pull off the wheel I wanted to do so they just stuck it in the “Lifer Series”. It’s so mundane.

Did you like the way they rode?

I never rode them once. I couldn’t be more honest. I never tried them. I don’t know how they work. I don’t even have a set.

They didn’t send you any?

I don’t think they sent me any.

So you’re riding the Bones wheels?

I like Spitfires a lot too, I ride whatever, I have no commitment to anyone. Spitfire made me a wheel but I really didn’t have much to do with it. I wasn’t really interested in having vato writing on my wheel.