Andrew Reynolds: the Thrasher interview.

MOST PEOPLE WOULD SAY "BOW-LEGGED!"

WHEN ANDREW WAS BORN he was quite large--9 lbs 4 oz--and at the time I was very thin. Basically he just ran out of room in my stomach and got all crunched up in there. So when we went for his first well-baby check-up the doctor caught the condition right away. She was afraid it could affect his overall development, so she prescribed special open-toed infant shoes with a steel bar in the middle that attached to the inside of each foot. He was six-weeks old when he started wearing this crazy get up, and he had to wear the shoes and the bar for about a year. Even then Andrew could not be still--he actually taught himself how to crawl, pull up, and walk while holding on to furniture. At first I was a little embarrassed to take him out in public because people stared--that was pretty weird because it really wasn't all that bad. But you know how people are sometimes. I figured either way he would be famous, either as a skateboarder or a rodeo star; and just look at his legs today! Long, lean, and perfectly straight . Those special shoes and that steel bar are the reasons he can do the big fat gaps and win $10,000 dollars!

Love, Mary (Andrew's Mom)

INTERVIEW BY JAKE PHELPS

A lot has happened since 1998 when you were Skater of the Year. Give us a brief synopsis of what's happened to Andrew Reynolds.

Well, is that before or after I started with the company?

1998 was when you were Skater of the Year. That's pretty much the last we saw of you around the magazine.

No, not really. Since then I started a company with my friends, and I skate sometimes.

Who's your vote for Skater of the Year now?

Tony Trujillo.

What was it like, the transition from Birdhouse to Baker?

I had a bunch of kids that I skated with all the time--all the guys that now ride for Baker--and I saw that we had something going. I don't know what it was, some sort of breed of street skaters that liked the same stuff. The Birdhouse thing was getting kinda--I didn't like the look of it. I didn't like their whole thing. I wanted to ride for a team that didn't have any vert skaters, and just had young guys that were killing it.

Do you think it's weird that even though you now distance yourself from the drunken partying-type image, a lot of other companies are still biting your shit?

When we did it it was the right time, but now it's kind of late. At first we had ads showing people partying and having a good time, and now we have to back it up with the skating. It's a whole new thing now; we've got to skate and kill it. So now when I see ads where kids are drinking and doing whatever they're doing they look out of it. To me, that's old.

Is it the same team since the beginning, except for Terry?

Yeah. We got a new kid, Braydon.

Braydon Szafranski? Where's he from?

He's from Las Vegas.

How good is he?

He's amazing.

PJ Ladd amazing?

He's a different kind of skater. PJ Ladd's not human with his board.

PJ's got all this crazy board control and can do anything. Braydon is more like, he'll go and try this trick--and just jump off anything. He's not all there when it comes to trying stuff. He doesn't really think; he just goes for it. He tried to do a kickflip frontside boardslide down some big rail. He bashed his head on the ground and was bleeding and had to go get staples in his head, then the next day I see him and I'm like, 'Are you alright?" And he wants to go try and 5-0 grind some 20-stair rail.

Do you still have the same feelings today about skating as when you were a kid, in 1990?

About just going out and skating, and nothing's on your mind but skating all day? Yes, that's always the best, but I've just tried to use it to my advantage since I've been pro. This is something I love to do and I never want to stop it, except now I'll call a photographer or filmer. Then I'll be doing work at the same time.

Does it stress you out when you think about the already-been-dones? Do you go through your mind and say, "I can't nosegrind it 'cause somebody else kickflip lipslid it."

I try to never do things that have been done at the same exact place. If someone did it already, it's done. But if some kid does the craziest shit on rails all the time, does something and completely kills the spot and I go and I'm not known for doing a certain trick--let's say, I'm not known for, switch crooked grinding a rail--and I do it it's different 'cause it's a surprise.

Do you think that the pressure to video--it seems that everyday you wake up, whether you're working on the Emerica video, or the Baker 30, how do you figure out where you want to put the majority of your energies?

I just try to work on one thing at a time. So far I have never run out of things I want to do, I keep thinking of new tricks, and trying to do something bigger than last time. So I try to not go completely nuts and get it all done in a month, but rather try to get something, take a break for little awhile, then try to get another thing so I don't wear myself out or get bored.

Who do you respect in skateboarding to the point where you'd say, "That'd be sick to have you on the team." Who would stoke you out?

I wouldn't want anybody else on because they weren't there from the start. That's half the thing of being on Baker, we all thought of it sitting down in a house and no one else was there, except Ali Boulala. If the person doesn't ride for anybody, then obviously they're not someone that I would really want.

What do you think about skateboarding going so mega? Do you ever trip out when you're watching TV and you see it?

There's that side of skateboarding, and then this side of skateboarding that we're in. It is two, whole different things. There are skaters that want to get in the magazines and do crazy shit in the streets, all these young kids like Paul Rodriguez and Spanky and Herman. They're involved with the real side of skateboarding that matters to street skaters, that matters to kids who look at the magazines. That other stuff, I don't think it matters whatsoever. You can be the biggest star, winning every contest and being on TV everyday, but that's not going to make the kid who looks up to Jim Greco look up to you. The kids who are livin' in the streets skating, they don't care about those people.

Who did you look up to when you first started?

Natas and Gonz, Jason Lee. Matt Hensley was my favorite. I saw him and then I had--I was a little kid, I looked up to him--I went and got cutoff army shorts and chain wallets and shaved my head just like Hensley. Everything was Hensley. Mike Vallely when he came out in Public Domain. He had all that footage. And anything from the Blind video.

You're lucky. And when you met your heroes, were they cool?

I went to Germany when I was 16 for some contest I entered, and I was kind of nervous to be there. I didn't know what to say to any of these guys. These were all the guys I'd been looking up to, but Ed Templeton--I'd looked up to him as a skater--he came up to me and said, "What's up? I heard you're moving up to Huntington Beach. Let's start going skating." He was just so cool right away. So I was just like, "Oh damn, these guys are alright."

The Baker thing has got the reputation for the hi-jinx. You've had a lot of well-publicized animosities towards--let me just say a few names and you talk off the top of your head: Fernandez.

I've got no problems with Fernandez. I've always been cool with him, but for some reason he seems to think we don't like him. He's cool with me Gershon.

Ah, well, that happened recently and that's just something that drinking--my life, it was getting out of control with the drinking and being a complete maniac, talking shit to people when I shouldn't have been. That's my fault.

Do you remember what you said to him?

I don't know, "Fuck you." Something.

Does it ever trip you out that you're the boss?

The whole thing with Baker was, I wanted to start something where it wasn't some team manager guy telling everybody: "You've got to go here on this date and shoot these photos." I just let them work how they want to work. I understand more. I couldn't imagine having someone tell me when and where to do something. If they want it, then they'll go get it. That's it.

Where do you think skateboarding is going when you see the shit that's happening? Do you ever see the magazine and say, "Wow man, this shit's gnar. Somebody might die."

I don't worry about anyone dying. Skating's progressed gradually, I learned how to jump ramp and I learned how to go up to a parking curb, and do tricks and come back. And now, when a kid first gets a board, they look in the mag and see big rails. That's all they know. I see kids that maybe have been skating a couple months and they're trying to go down a rail, and I want to tell them to practice their ollies first.

The only thing that teaches people skateboarding is the concrete. That's pretty much the rule of the road.

That's awesome.

What do you want to be remembered for in skateboarding?

What I do is bring out old skate videos that I used to watch, and I watch a Pat Duffy part or Mike Carroll's part or even further back, like Gonz' part. Those are the ones that you watch and just think, "This is never going to be bad. It's always going to be good, forever and ever." Like if you showed a kid right now Pat Duffy's part in Questionable. I don't want to be someone who just came and was good for a little while, then leaves. I want it to be so that a skater kid in 10 years can get out a Baker video and watch it, and be like, "That was some amazing skating."

What do you think about Thrasher and what we've done so far?

It's amazing. It's more straight to the point, not prejudiced towards one type of thing, like 'This is the type of skateboarding we like." I saw some photos in there just now of Toad, who is like one of my favorite skaters. You guys will gladly put him in the magazine anytime if he has amazing photos. When other mags would maybe be like, 'Who is this guy?"

"Where's the kickflip?"

Yeah, exactly.

How long do you see yourself being pro? The only competition is probably in your own self.

Exactly. I want to continue to do the stuff that I do, skate how 1 like to skate, until I realize I'm not going to be able to come out with better stuff than I have in the past. And then I'll know it's time to chill out. I'm not going to try to hang on. I'll do my thing and then....I'll be out of here.

What do you think about the old pros coming back? They retired and now they have boards again?

It depends on what type of situation they're in. I can't hate on somebody who says, "Skateboarding wasn't doing too hot back then" when they were pro and they were the most amazing guy around, and then they didn't see any money from it. Then they get to come out with a board and make a little bit of money from having a board out, what am I going to say?

You grew up in Florida, so when you read the mags did you ever think you would be pro? You just sent a sponsor-me tape to Birdhouse. How'd it go?

Well I rode for--before Birdhouse, around the time of this one G&S video that came out called Stun, do you remember that one?

Yep.

Right when that video came out Kris Markovich was one of my favorite skaters...I just saw his coverage. ollieing huge gaps and doing all this stuff. That's what I like. So, they had this thing going. I thought it would be a cool company to get on. I made a video with my friend and I didn't send it anywhere. I don't know why, I was just too busy skating, and then I went to some skate contest in Daytona Beach and some team manager guy was there from G&S, and John Montessi was there. I knew him pretty well and he just told those guys, "Check this kid out." I don't know how old I was, maybe 13. Then they came up to me afterwards and gave me a couple Kris Markovich boards and avid, and said they wanted to start sending me some stuff. So I started getting free stuff from them.

Then you got to meet the Bird, right?

Then Willy Santos, he was their new pro on G&S and he had told me that he was going to go ride for this thing with Jeremy Klein and Tony called Birdhouse. He had said they wanted some am kids, so what do I think? I knew Willy and I knew he was the best kid on the team, so I was like, "Well, I want to go wherever you go cause I don't want to be stuck over here by myself." I went, and Tony was real good to me the whole time.

All the kids in the world want to know: What's the secret to flipping big shit?

I don't know. I just do it, If you have a certain kind of kickflip, which I see a lot of kids have these days--if you have one that will come up to your feet real good, then you'll probably be able to max it out.

If you were to take three videos and say, "This is skateboarding," which ones would they be?

Probably Come Together, the A-Team clip video. Baker 2G video, of course. And Blind Video Days.

Ever had a real job?

No.

Never in your life?

Never. At one point right before I was going to move out to California when I was 17, I knew school was getting out soon and I was going to have a board out soon. My mom, I guess she started to think to herself "Maybe he should learn a little bit of responsibility" before I turned pro and just got money from skating. So she sent me out to try and find a job. I'd go in some dirty skate shirt, take my shoelaces out of my shoes and blow 'em ail out, pants sagging, and walk in looking so sloppy that I'd know I wasn't going to get it.

Your mom's pretty much behind you all the way? A lot of kids out there don't have the parental support behind their skating.

Yeah. I meet a lot of kids and they tell me that their parents are psyched on it or the other way around, that they don't like it at all. For me, when you have parents where you can say "Drop me off downtown, I want to go skate," and they do it and they're cool with it, it rips. You don't feel like you're doing something bad.

Some parents are like, "My kid's going to be the next Tony Hawk." People don't understand that Tony Hawk, that is not ever going to happen again.

No, it isn't.

Is there anybody you want to thank, Andrew?

I want to thank everybody on Baker.

And your mother. Say "Mom, I love you."

Mom. I love ya.