Cairo Foster interview.

What the fuck is taking so long with the Lakai video?

That's really the first question?

That's what I just said.

Damn. You're gonna have to redirect that question to Carroll or Howard or Ty. I don't know.

It's the most anticipated video since Yeah Right or Dying to Croak or whatever. Videos are changing. It's a marketing tool.

I would agree with you that they're changing...

Since Satva helped you out with your video parts.

They've changed a lot since then. There's obviously a lot of weight beating down on all of our shoulders. Everyone wants to make it perfect. I mean, no one's gonna make it totally perfect, but you know. Everyone who's done a video knows that you just have to put a deadline on it.

But that's already happened two years over.

That's my understanding from the advertisements.

So it's been 10 years pro now for Cairo Foster? Yeah, almost.

So that would be the Supernaut days. Take me back.

It was funny, I went to the last tradeshow and someone actually had a prototype of my pro board on Supernaut. I had quit before they came out.

That was when it was over in the East Bay.

Yeah, Systems in Pinole.

The team was Aaron Vandenbulke and who else?

It was Vandenbulke, Matt Palles, Matt Rodriguez, Paul Sharpe, and myself.

Does Paul Sharpe still skate?

He's still skating and working at Dwindle.

So Supernaut, then it went to...

Mad Circle.

That was the end of Justin Girard. Pontus Air, six-foot-four coming for you. He was a good skater. He's still out there, doing whatever, getting weird. What was great about those times? The city was new to you.

The city was new; it was rad, because the majority of the dudes lived in the city. That was a big thing for me, tiding for a company that was kinda near by. And I liked Marcus, I like the whole team. I was hanging out with Rob a lot. So I got on Mad Circle and then within six months, Gerard and Giant had a falling out so no one renewed the contract, I guess. That's when my first pro board came out.

Then the company went sour.

It went sour, and I was chilling out on a board sponsor for a while. Then I got on Real.

And how'd you get on Real? Jimmy asked you?

I seriously can't remember. I was getting hit up by different people; like I said, the main thing was that I wanted to be kind a near someone. That's the funny thing. After Mad Circle was done, I think it was three months or so that I didn't have a sponsor, everyone's like, "Don't get on Deluxe, don't get on Deluxe. Deluxe mafia ..." And I'm just like, what are you guys talking about?

You were sitting right here on this couch and I remember I told you, "Hey dude, shit's coming your way, you can do a lot."

I don't think it's as gnarly as everyone said. Every company in California has their problems. Deluxe got aired out as being the mafia, but all kinds of bad shit happens at other companies.

Ain't that the truth. Especially now with it being this huge juggernaut. You're like "Huh? It's not just me and my friends?"

That's why it's different for little kids. When I see kids skating, they always ask, "How do I turn pro?" "Well, why don't you just actually go have some fun first? You don't have to turn pro within two years, buddy." But they see how much money's in it.

Well, if their parents are at the bar, and they're like "Hey, your kid boards, right? How come he ain't makin' you any money? "Damn right he ain't makin' me any money!"

I can see how the parents get involved, just seeing it on TV. Like ESPN. "Shit, my kid should be on ESPN."

You had a pretty good run with Real. How long? Six years?

Yeah, it was good.

So now you're working on three video parts? Enjoi has to come with bonus tracks, right?

Matt wants to do a Tiltmode video, so my idea is to share a part with Paul Sharpe. I've known Paul a long time.

Since before he had a mustache.

Yeah, I've known him all my career in skateboarding. I just thought it'd be rad because he was one of the first dudes.

He had some great stuff. Tall skaters look good. Brian Anderson still looks gnarly on a board when he does a 360 flip.

That's pretty amazing.

You're kinda tall and lanky. You look kinda scared, but it looks good. A lot of people, they don't age well in skateboarding. "How come you didn't run that shit of me at Donald Creek?" It's like, "Dude, you look ... big."

I definitely look at some photos and think, "Ooh, I'm not looking to hot in that one." That makes the photo more memorable sometimes, like if I've got a real scared face: "Oh God! Please! Let me make it!"

Julien told me that one time when he was a kid, like 1990, he saw a Cardiel picture and said, "I gotta find that dude, and skate with him." Who was it in your career that pushed you to those levels?

Hanging out with Rob Welsh was really good, after Mad Circle. I skated with him a lot. We skated a lot of ledges and stuff. When Diego Bucchieri was living here I hung out with him a lot. He and I were of the same mindset. "Let's just kinda carcass toss. Let's go for whatever." I remember when Jim changed a lot of things at Real and he brought in other dudes, new dudes like Peter and Darrell, I was really hyped on Peter because he wasn't trying to have a lot of flair. Not to say that anyone on the team was trying to have a lot of flair, but he just came in--straight board skater--and just did his thing. That was really inspirational. And then I hung out with Steve Nesser. Going on trips with him got me hyped. And then I moved to LA, I did a lot of the Pop War stuff, and I really didn't have someone who could motivate me in that sense.

Jon Newport wasn't the guy.

I mean, he skated his way ... If you look at Diego and Nesser, that's the type of skating I'd want. When I moved to New York, I really didn't have that going on. We had a kid and I had a lot of transition right there, trying to figure out how to be a dad and everything.

Being a man, fucker, what are you talking about? Try that again.

Yeah, being a man, being a dad. So that was a huge transition. And I guess I got kinda freaked out and thought, "I need to be back in California." Being back here and having hung out with Corey, it's kinda like a Godsend, I would say. It's rad hanging out with him.

He doesn't do anything else. He's not sidetracked by fucking getting wasted. He might be flaired out in costumes, but he's still down to bust. That's gotta push you.

You've mentioned it to me in the past, that I need to align myself with people that get me hyped.

What's harder, front blunt or backside noseblunt?

Frontside bluntside.

That's Jerry's spot, right?

That's it. Where Jose got worked. Leaving there, in Daryl's car, they got side-swiped.

And Daryl Angel, he rides for the Chocolate army now?

I really don't know. I feel like he's still in the flowgram. I think that's what I learned over the last six months or so, hanging out with Daryl, hanging out with Corey, Those kids--they're not even kids anymore, but everyone's a kid in the beginning and they all have this bad rap. People would probably think, "Why is Cairo hanging out with Corey?" Well, he's no longer a little kid, he gets me hyped--that's important--and Corey's actually a really honest person. He's not gonna hold his tongue about anything. This dude's not the 14-year-old kid that everyone wants to remember him as.

Tricks or technique, which one's more important?

I'm gonna say technique. And that's me getting older, saying that. Because the way the majority of the skate industry is, it's all about tricks.

We created this monster. We've run 236-page mags every month for four years straight. The mag's a fuckin' ace, but as far as the digital age ... Reynolds backside flipped Wallenberg and the shit was on the web that night; somebody snagged it. We've got to stay up on things. Do you think the magazine's still relevant?

Yeah, but I think they could be slimmed down. There are pros and cons to everything, but you've gotta weed out the stuff that sucks. You guys started doing the Burnout on the website, and that's really good because I know kids want something new every time they go onto the site. So every time I go on, it's something new. "Oh look, Mike hung out with so-and-so today." That's pretty cool.

Mike's the only guy that's driven enough to do it. Very few people are.

It's another avenue that every magazine, Thrasher included, has to look into. Like, '"Okay, we gotta do this web stuff."

Anything. Have just a constant tape loop of people getting served, people love it.

Dude, people always check out that Transworld thing just to see the kid slam. "Did you see Jimmy Kickstand do that thing that totally tipped his ballsack?" And I'm just like, "What the? Okay, you guys watch that. That's awesome."

How has your daughter changed your life? You don't sleep until noon anymore.

Yeah, the schedule's changed. The best thing about babies is that they're really patient with you. They don't know everything that we know at 25 or 30, so they're not always like, "I need it. Why don't you understand me tight away?" If you get upset with them, they're really forgiving. Then as you start to understand them more, they inevitably become less patient, usually. But it balances out and I think that's the best thing about her. I'm just trying to be more patient, and trying my best not to instill all the things that I think are right or wrong.

Where do you skate the majority of the time? East Bay? Walnut Creek?

Third and Army still. I think I'm the only person holding it down from the old Third and Army days.

Busenitz doesn't skate through there?

He does every once in a while.

He just doesn't skate with you, he skates at you.

If I call him, he'll skate with me. He's called me and I'm like, "Yeah, let's hang out." But we all know, like you know, I have a different schedule with a kid.

There's nothing worse than down-time, especially as you get older. How long have you been skating? Twenty years?

17 or 18 years.

And the origins of Cairo Foster? You were an Army BRAT?

Air Force, but the Air Force came outta the Army. I just found that out.

Why don't you ride for Force trucks? They got the logo. The Air Force.

I'm staying on the Krux thing, just so I can get some flap from you about the Krux ad, the Krux commercials--you know I wanna make you laugh and make you say, "Hey Cairo, what the fuck are you doing.?" You should stick to switch flipping streets, bro.

I'm trying to ensure that we always communicate. We're both busy as we get more things going on.

Is the vid dropping now?

It premiered on April 18th, so it's out. I haven't seen it yet.

Are you gonna get your own truck? Gonna put your baby on the truck?

No, I don't think I want a truck. But I'm happy for everyone that has a truck.

What was wrong with the Pop War experience?

It just went off wrong.

I look at Andrew Reynolds and I know he's spoiled in the whole Baker thing. He's the guy in the van, he's fuckin' doing the big shit. His dudes are just doing flatground and this guy's backside flipping Wallenberg. I'm the one at like 50 saying, "Hey, Do it! Fucking do it!"

At first, Pop War was going good. There were multiple things that went well. With Baker, I'm sure Andrew has a backbone. Like, people within the offices that no one sees. Andrew is the face of Baker, but the business side is kinda boring stuff that no skater really wants to do--but it's part of it, you know. You gotta do the spread sheets and crap. We had a good infrastructure when Bod Boyle was at Giant and Yogi Proctor was doing the art. Then Yogi went off to art school, and then Bod just left to work for Dwindle. Then Paul Schmitt sold Giant to Four Down, and ... Those guys are awesome, they love skating, but I think running a business is a lot different than loving skating.

I think you're very lucky. Few people understand that it is a "skateboarding business." Those people went to college to be like that, by the way.

That was another thing I learned. It sucks hanging out with your friends and having to say, "You're getting coverage, but I want you to do a few interviews." It sucks dictating that for someone. You just hope that people are like, "Oh, I wanna do things that are gonna better my whole run in this skating thing, so I'm gonna do an interview here, as well as this other stuff." I think that Chad Tim Tim, last year, took it upon himself to do all of that--came out with a video part for Transworld, got a lot of coverage. He really dedicated himself.

He went for it because he realized that they're not giving away fucking checks, bro. I hate to say it.

I never felt like I had to tell Chad to do things. That's the kind of rider everyone would ideally want if they were running a company.

Which three guys have the best frontside flips of all time? I went through this yesterday with three different people and I have three names that keep coming up.

Carroll. Even just on flatground. Not even a picture, just every time you see him doing it on flat. I'd say Carroll, Reynolds, and Ryan Hickey. Ryan Hickey, for real?

In the old Eastern Exposure video he does a wallride nollie out and he does a frontside flip.

Shipman had a sick one, too.

Shipman did have a sick one.

What was the first board you had?

I had a Nash Executioner way back in the day, but that didn't even really count. That was like a fucking dust collector and then, before we moved to Egypt ...

Do you remember it hitting home that you were actually moving to Egypt?

Well, my dad had moved us around so many times, it was no big deal. "Oh sweet, we're moving to Egypt." He wouldn't let me take my bicycle with me and we were at the mall, so I was like, "Okay, I want this Gator. I gotta have that one." It was that, some white Tracker ultralights, and, probably some Slime Balls. All our stuff came two or three weeks after we got to Egypt. I remember pulling that out and it was still Christmas break. I found some skaters right in front of the school I was gonna go to, jumping off the jump ramp. Never ever went off a jump ramp before, went off the jump ramp, straight to my tailbone, couldn't walk straight for like a week. Hobbled home, like, "See you guys at school." And that was my outlet. Obviously I couldn't earn any money in Egypt mowing lawns, because there are no lawns. So, my dad said, "If I'm gonna buy you skateboards, you're gonna have to do a sport." So I swam. And that's why my dad would buy me boards.

Are you still swimming? It keeps you in pretty good shape.

I just started again because I need to rehab my ankle.

Your ankle? Did you get surgery?

Yeah.

Give me the list of breaks.

I haven't really broken anything.

You haven't broken anything?

Ankle surgery to remove a little bit of cartilage and a lot of scar tissue. I broke my thumb learning how to slappy back in the day.

Seriously, the thumb is the gnarliest injury.

I felt like I needed to learn how to slappy. I thought, "This is dumb if I don't know how to slappy; I gotta learn how to slappy." I'd been skating for years and years and I'm like, "Why can't I slappy?" I came to San Francisco and saw all the shit that Danny Sargent had done slappies on, thinking, "How did he slappy that? I gotta learn how to fuckin' slappy." Slipped out, broke my thumb, Awesome. Cool. Then I broke my wrist. I'm sure it's still fractured, but it's doing all right ... And that's the list for broken stuff. Sacked on a rail really bad and bled out, blue ballsack.

Top five skaters of all time, Cairo.

I'm gonna go with Carroll and Rick because those are the dudes from Plan B.

Those guys took it to a whole 'nother level. They found each other as well, started their own deal. The genesis of their company and their friendship. Which is, to this day, solid. There's two ...

Gonz for everything that he's done for skating and still keeping things fun. That's the thing, all these kids get into skating and that's what they're lacking. Mark is still having fun.

He's gonna have a kid.

Really? He's gonna have fun with that, too. He's really gonna have fun with that. He just called me up and said, "Guess who's gonna have a kid?" I was like, "What are you gonna name it? Popcorn?" So you have two more ...

Man ... I'm probably gonna change it. When I see the interview, I'm gonna be like, "Really? That's what I was thinking that day?" But I'd probably say Rowley, for everything he's done, and Pat Duffy.

Pat Duffy. That's a good one. What about the new photographers? The guys coming up?

I like working with Dan Zaslavsky because he's super energetic and is always down to go out. You gotta have a crew--and it includes your photographer and videographer--that gets you hyped. If you've got someone filming who's like, "Goddamn, we're doing another day of this shit?" you're not gonna be hyped. You're gonna be like, "Fuck, why am I here doing this?"

It's like a dinner party. You gotta have the right people, the right conversation; you don't wanna have some kook who sucks. Will you live in the Bay Area forever? You like it here?

I like it here, yeah.

Compared to Manhattan?

We didn't live in Manhattan, we lived in Brooklyn. My friends who aren't part of skateboarding lived there, which is pretty rad. We had a lot of friends that kinda helped with the community side. It was good there, but to live comfortably you have to make a lot of money. I'm not making a lot of money. We're gonna be here at least until 6th grade. That's what you think about when you get a kid. She's dictating already.

I have one more question. When did you know you were good?

When I moved from Egypt to Florida. I wouldn't say it was an epiphany, like, "Aw, I'm good!" We lived in Egypt for three years and it was completely isolated. We were doing pressure flips a year behind the times. But I remember coming to Beach Plus in Florida and skating the Foundation spot. Skated there and thought, "I'm not in the dust, I'm in the know. I can catch up to whatever tricks they're doing. This is kinda cool." That helped out with my confidence, which then probably helped out with wanting to skate more. I'm sure there are skaters who know at a certain point that they don't have much of a gift with skateboarding, so they get out of it. When I moved to Florida, I was like, "Wow. I'm on par."

PHOTOS BY DAN ZASLAVSKY