Tony Cervantes.

Tony Cervantes. That's your name?

Yup.

How old are you, blood?

Seventeen.

Thugging in Whittier?

Yeah.

What's up with doing vert tricks down double sets?

Nothing much.

Can you do a stale fakie 720 down a double set?

Nah.

No? Do you sing in the shower?

Nah, I don't sing in the shower.

What's your favorite Thrasher cover?

Probably the one with the Gonz doing that back 5-0 on the fence.

That is tight as fuck. What do you think's the trick of this year? What was the most shocking to you?

Probably Tommy lipsliding that rail naked.

I'll give you that. I think Garrett Hill's three-flip 5-0 is pretty fucking hurl squad.

Yeah, it's crazy.

Are you down for ams getting paid?

Fuck yeah.

If you were going to do your own contest, what would it be like?

No one-minute runs. Probably just jams.

What do your parents think about you dropping out of school?

As long as I'm skating, they don't care.

How much is a dozen? Do you know what a dozen is?

Twelve.

That's right. What's a baker's dozen?

Thirteen.

Yeah. Is it true your dad had to leave a demo once because there were too many white folks there?

Yeah, that's true.

You can verify that?

Yeah. Do you want me to give you my mom's number? You can call her up.

No, you don't want to put your mom's number in the mag. Then people'd call your mom, and be like, "What's up with Tony? Where's Tony? I want him to ride for Yahoo. I want him to ride for Red Bull." What about your first skate trip with Zero to Miami? What was the ruckus going on up in there?

Nothing much. Just skating, having fun.

Do you have any stories? C'mon, this is an interview, fool. Quit giggling about this shit and tell us what's up.

We just skated all crazy. Fucking Tommy, ripping it, doing some gnarly ass shit. Winterberg stole a fire extinguisher, took it to the beach and was shooting it off at the beach. Joey got all pissed at him and was ready to beat his ass. The fools from the hotel were tripping on Joey.

Do fools in Whittier ever try to bite your shit?

That's why I cut my hair.

Everybody was trying to get the Alfaro look going?

Yeah.

What's up with Alfaro? You skate with that fool?

I seen him yesterday, driving. That fool don't call me to skate no more.

You guys used to be tight.

He used to call me up once in a while to go skate some parks.

So that's why you shaved your head, everybody was trying to look like your ass?

Kind of. Shit was getting real long,

Shit was getting kind of long. But Tommy's growing his hair 'til the end of time. That's what he said, right?

I didn't hear that. Did you hear that?

That's what Tommy said. I heard he's not going to cut his hair 'til the year 2020 or some shit like that. He's going to have dreads. How'd your friend get the name "Potato"?

When he was little he had sunspots on his face. That's how he got his name.

You got a car yet?

Yeah. I got a Volkswagen bug.

That's some hippie shit.

Not a bus, a beetle.

Oh, a beetle. A new one or an old one?

An old one, '68.

Can you fix it? Could you MacGyver it if you got into a tight spot, had to fix it and get out of town?

Yeah, it works.

Do you have a license to go with that car?

Nah.

Where'd you pick up all these old tricks like judos and airwalks?

Old H-Street videos.

Which one?

Shit, I don't even remember. The whole box set. I watched it all.

What was the first pro model that you had?

The first board I had was some Acme board, I don't even remember.

That was probably, what, early '90s?

In '98?

You first started skating in '98? Oh, it's like I keep forgetting how old I am. Shit, sorry. Who was your first sponsor?

Project Boardshop.

Can you do handplants?

I'm learning. I try to do them.

Which ones?

I don't know, the sick ones.

Learn the eggplant. Eggplants are tight.

Well, whichever one I can land, that's the one I'm going to start doing.

You just say, "I'm going to learn that." Who's your best friend on Zero?

Probably Tommy.

Tommy's pretty badass. He's a regular dude; he's repping pretty hard. The shit he's doing now is pretty much parking everybody else.

Rattray's pretty cool, too.

John's a good dude. Straight up. He's a lot smaller than I realized. He did a fucking 540 at King of the Road, blood.

Yup.

What's your favorite Jimi Hendrix song?

Damn, they're all sick. l don't think I have a favorite.

If you can name one song, c'mon, let's hear it before you fucking die.

"Love or Confusion."

Oh, that's tough. Are you going to be skating 'til the end of time? Are you down for life?

Hell yeah.

Why is Thrasher the best mag?

Aren't you guys the first skate mag ever?

Well, not the first ever, there were some others that didn't quite make it. We don't like to brag about it, but, yeah.

Wasn't skateboarding dying and Thrasher made it all sick again?

Fuck yeah. We brought it back from the grave, man.

Yeah, it's definitely back. It's here to stay.

Exactly. Do you think the X-Games and all that shit's gay?

The tricks that go down are cool. The money's probably alright, but it's kind of weird.

What's one spot you skate everyday?

Probably down the hill.

The hill by your house?

Yeah.

What's it called?

It's on Orange Street.

Do you go down to the shop and hang out, meet up with your clique, and then go out rip dogging it?

We go to Chino a lot, Chino skatepark.

Chino's a good park. I been out there. I seen Molinar there. He skates out there. But he don't live out there no more?

I never seen him.

How often do you go down and see Tommy?

I don't really go down there that often. I try just to avoid it.

Why? It's just too much ruckus?

I just like to stay here.

Tommy says he just likes to stay in Chula. That's all he likes to do. He's like, 'Tuck it, why go anywhere else when I got it all right here?"

Pretty much.

Who do you think are some of the best pros ever?

Hosoi. Jamie--who else? Bob's pretty damn good, Bob Burnquist.

Yeah, I got that.

Chris Cole, he can do any trick.

His arms, he's like a gorilla--big gnarly dude. He wins all those best trick contests. Did you go to the Rob Dyrdek Skate Plaza?

Nuh-uh. I had to go to fucking Tampa Am.

Tampa Am? What did you get?

Like last or something.

So are you on the come up now? When will you be pro?

Like six years.

So by the time you're 23. I guess that's a pretty good idea. What do you guys talk about in the Zero van? You guys just all rock iPods, or do you guys talk about the world situation and busting big?

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Sometimes listen to iPods, watch movies.

What's the one move you got to have when you're on the road?

Just a backpack full of clothes.

Anything you want to say to kids out there skating that think you're alright?

Skate or die.