K: What’s your favorite skateboard company outside of the Foundation conglomeration?
Swank: There’s a bunch. Enjoi is good. Anti hero, Actually there are not a bunch. There is no one really pushing the creative envelope. It’s just repeat and boring. Its just business now. All ads are photo, logo. Nobody is saying anything.
K: Nostalgia overload: What do you miss most about skateboarding during the eighties?
Swank: Probably the fact that you could travel anywhere and if you ran into other skaters you pretty much instantly had a friend. Nowadays I just like to pretend that I am a used car salesman. I’m just kidding. It’s always cool to meet people that are into it. It’s just that now that there’s so many skateboarders some of them are enemies. Does that make sense?
N: Have you seen “Dogtown and the Z-Boys” yet? Thoughts? (Oh man- that’s how old this interview is… k-ed)
Swank: I am going to see it tomorrow. I am excited. (Three days later) Went and saw it. It’s a lesson learned. I wonder what would of happened to skateboarding if those events and those people were not there? There is something unforgiving and un-relentless about it and that’s what makes it unique. There’s some mysterious context that is hard to nail down. I am honored.
K: Do you know where GSD or Dan Wilkes are, not that you should?
Swank: I saw GSD’s truck parked in front of my house one morning not to long ago. Sometimes he crashes out there. He hangs out with Mark Waters a bunch. I think they are getting married. Dan Wilkes emailed me not too long ago. He wanted to know when Deathbox was doing the 80’s series!
N: What do you think about the old deck collecting frenzy going on right now? Do you have a lot of old stuff at home?
Swank: Oh man, that’s my retirement stash. Watch, I will get old and go to sell my shit and it will be passé. I will be homeless and shit hauling around a bunch of worthless crap. I will make a little lean to down by the river and the kids will pelt me with rocks. Shit that’s kinda sad. I hope I will be ok.
K: What is the worst skateboarding or other fad that you’ve ever succumbed to, and can we have pictures of it?
Swank: Probably making zines. They are pretty scary to look back on. I never did the Jimmy Z thing. Never been that flamboyant?
K: Who’s your favorite artist? What are you listening to these days?
Swank: Andrew WK Get wet record! (Ah ha! I doubt he’s still listening to that. k-ed)
K: Who, if anyone, are you often mistaken for?
Swank: This guy Matt Barker. He is my friend now and the GM at TY. We didn’t know each other but hung out in the same circles. People used to think I was him and vice versa. We just ended meeting at a gig. Oh yea people think I look like Russel Crow too.
N: How have you changed in the last 15 years? Would you trade the wisdom of age for the athleticism of youth?
Swank: Whoa that’s a toughie. I gained about twenty five pounds. I am starting to get weathered. Though I still get carded all the time. Skateboarding keeps you young in mind and spirit. I still want to have fun. I was always pretty mellow. Wisdom for youth? Hmmm. The purity of youth and the idea that there are no barriers, no walls, blockades at what is possible and feasible. I love that. To be older and appreciate that is a virtue too. No, I think, you are young, you get older, you live life. It can’t get much better than this. I am just glad that I met that skateboarding thing. I probably would be some fucked up dude if it was not for that.
K: Any thoughts on the recent rash of old pros going to jail and then finding Jesus?
Swank: Hey you don’t have to go to jail to find Jesus. I haven’t found him yet. One day I thought I saw him at Bud’s Liquor down the street but I was mistaken.
Last words and anyone you’d like to mention?
Swank: Thanks to skateboarding. Thanks to you guys. It’s really cool to re-meet people like you even though I have never actually met you in person. It’s like there is a bond that never dies. It really makes you feel good. Like you’ll never be alone in this strange and weird universe. Keep on rolling. So long and thanks for all the fish. – Tod
That was AWESOME! Now read the first interview from 1987 here. Wait… where?
0 comments.