Neck Face.

YOU EVER PUNCHED AN OLD LADY IN THE FACE? LET ME TELL YOU THAT WHEN YOU DO THAT TRICK IS GONNA HIT THE FLOOR LIKE A BOOK!!! OH YOU THOUGHT I WAS GONNA TALK ABOUT SOME ART STUFF? YEAH RIGHT, THIS IS THRASHER. I SKATE MORE THAN I PAINT. I AINT READING NO ART MAG FOOL, IM IN YOUR FRONT YARD KILLIN YOUR CAT, ROBBING YOUR MOM AND BURNING YOUR CHURCH!!!

OH YOU SKATE? WHO CARES LETS SEE HOW LONG YOU LAST.

I CANT LEAVE IT, ITS LIKE CUTTING YOUR ARM OFF ... YOU CANT CAUSE YOU'VE BEEN WITH IT TOO LONG. --NECK FACE

The pope is dead ...

He owes me 20 bucks. I don't know how I'm gonna get that. Gotta talk to some nuns or some shit. What do they do when one dies? Do they take out all the stuff?

Embalming?

Some shit.

Embalming is where they pump you full of fluid, preservatives and crap.

They didn't do that to him, That's what I heard. You see him though? All posted up. Fool was BIG.

You know how they choose a new one? They call a conclave and lock like 180 Cardinals in a room. It's all by secret ballot and they burn all the votes.

No food?

Maybe back in the day, but now they're all hooked up in luxury Vatican City hotels. Have you ever been over there to Italy?

International, just Mexico and Japan. Japan was tight. I got up a lot, cuz the time is all messed up anyways. You're waking up at four in the morning and you're just like wide awake. I would just go out by myself and write on shit.

What about Mexico?

Mexico is sketchy.

Where haven't you been?

All kinds of places, the whole middle of the country ... I'm goin' to London in May though.

Which came first the chicken or the egg?

The skate.

When did you get your first one?

My brothers used to have a quarterpipe in the front of the house. They were in to Hosoi, so I was in to Hosoi. We'd go to the skateshop and I'd buy stickers. The hand, Santa Cruz; back then those stickers were fresh.

Did you start out buttboarding?

Yeah. Then I got an Alva board with some dude killin' a cat on the bottom of it or somethin.' All I remember was a blond-haired dude holding a dead cat. It had clear griptape, Tracker trucks, and black Hosoi wheels. My morn got it at a garage sale, it was all set up.

Once when I was first kneeboarding, my shoelace came untied and got caught under the back wheel and I just stopped--slid and scratched my face. I was like "I'm done, I'm not skating no more." Two weeks later, "I wanna skate again." I was finally standing up, just pushing around and stuff and then next thing I know I was getting pulled by a bike, caught speed wobbles, fell off and broke my arm.

I wasn't even crying or anything, but I went to show my morn and she just starts yellin' at me cuz we didn't have insurance ... then I started crying. And I was like "Alright, I won't skate no more." By the end of the year I was skating again.

Do you remember the first time you drew Neck Face?

Probably at the tennis courts I used to skate at. It's still there, too.

Scribbling on shit and skating kinda go hand in hand when you're young.

That's true, so I don't really know what came first. I've always been more of a skateboarder than a serious artist or whatever.

There's just something fun about both, and you get a rush off 'em too.

Like skating somewhere you're not supposed to skate, it makes it more fun.

Any close calls for you?

This one time in New York, I had just gotten a Coke and as I was skating across the street this cab comes out of nowhere and skids, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. You know how you jump off your board and it stays there? I jumped off the board and it was in the middle under the car, and I had jumped the front corner of the cab.

Like a hippie jump?

I fell and scratched my hand but still had the

Coke in my hand. That and some Superman sliding bombin' hills, nothing too gnarly.

How'd you go from a dirty skate rat to someone who's getting pictures in magazines and selling out books?

I don't know. Everyone always asks that but I didn't plan any of it, it just happened. When I first got to New York I didn't know anybody. All I was doing was skating everywhere and just writing on stuff. That's how I met everyone, just skating.

What's your ...

My favorite thing to skate? The City, dude. Just dodging thru traffic, jumpin' manholes, powerslides, escaping danger like "I can't believe I just made that." That's what I like to skate.

You know Leo Romero and all those guys? I stayed out there for like a month, out in Costa Mesa. That place sucks, but the RVCA ramp's fresh. We'd be skating that thing every day. I don't really have any tranny skills but all you need to do is learn some grinds and you're good to go.

How about that wallride spot?

At first I thought I had to go super fast, but I figured it out. Then Luke was all "No hands, that's the first thing Phelps is gonna look at is the hands." That thing is fun though; did you see that one sequence?

That's gonna be our Contents sequence this month.

That's so gnarly, and when you hit that tranny ... that dude's rad.

Do you have a favorite skater?

Leo, Spanky and the guys I'm hangin' out with, just seein' them do all this tad stuff in real life. Those dudes are my favorite now.

I went with Spanky and Alex Parker and we went and skated that bank behind the Radisson in LA--Natas had a trick there back in the day. It's a bust spot during the day but we went at like one in the morning. They lit it up and turned it into day. It was the first time I had experienced that--it was dope. And recently I skated the stuff at Sole Tech.

That skatepark across the way?

Nah, nah. They got stuff in there where they test out the shoes with a landing pad that measures stuff. They got a mini-ramp too. that place is siiiiick. We checked out samples and stuff.

So is there a Neck Face shoe in the works?

Not yet.

Toys?

No toys, I wanna do something different. Everyone has toys. I want something new. That whole thing is all blown out. I'm gonna make my own mac and cheese or some shit.

Neck Face got a website?

My website is on the streets. Get the fuck outta your house to log on, get out and skate.

Do people trip on your stuff sometimes?

I guess, but that's what I'm tryin' to do is get a reaction, because that's what is gonna stick in your head.

Just like skateboarding, you can tell when someone is having fun.

That's their fault for taking it so seriously. I'm just out there having fun, lookin' for another good time.

Photos by Neck Face