if there was ever anything you've wanted to know about AVE and Dill over the last 15 years in relation to skateboarding, but hadnt read or heard yet, chances are its answered somewhere within the text written below. ben and i got a chance to sit with these two from the perspective of 16 year skate fans for almost an hour and half, and asked as many questions as we possibly could. the result is roughly a 7,900 word interview that only true skateboard nerds will appreciate and actually read ALL of. this is dedicated to you, the skateboard fan.
words and fotos : jeff potocar
additional words : ben ross needleman
words and fotos : jeff potocar
additional words : ben ross needleman
 |
| 9/30/11 9:30:23 PM |
Jeff: So you guys met in Huntington Beach?
Dil1: Yeah.
AVE: Yeah.
Jeff: That was before 23?
Dil1: Yeah.
AVE: Yeah. I’d see him around occasionally when he was on Black
Label but we didn’t really know each other that well.
Jeff: (to Anthony) But weren’t you from Costa Mesa?
AVE: No, at the time I think I lived in like Irvine, and then he lived in
Fountain Valley in the Huntington area, and we ran into each other
here and there. But I don’t think we like really skated together
until like ’96, late ’97. I know we did during the 101 days.
Dill: Yeah, because I feel like I was still filming for Trilogy when I first
saw you – but I remember there was a time that, (Anthony) he nose
slid that rail at Huntington High at the kink and I was like – like
that was my move. Like who’s this fucking -‘cause the hallway at
Huntington High, there’s light coming to the end, there’s light
coming from where you go in, and I remember just seeing like
some guy coming off the rail, and like who the fucks nose sliding
that. You came up at the end –
Jeff: (to Anthony) And you were on Channel One at the time?
AVE: I wasn’t even sponsored at the time I nose slid that rail. I
remember when I did, I nose slid on– who’s that asshole that rode
for think?
Dil1: Mike Santarosa.
AVE: Mike Santarosa’s slick bottom with weed all over the bottom that
Mark Oblow sold me.
Yeah, it’s funny. Of course when you do a trick like that, you remember
the board you were on.
Dill: Totally.
AVE: It had a pink top.
Dill: That was scary. When I did it, I was probably around your age
when I did it, and I shot it with Rick Kosik and it never fucking
came out. I was scared doing that. [Laughter] that Kink was like
a fucking foot long.
AVE: Well then I went back the following weekend and my boy didn’t
believe me that I nose slid it and he told me to nose slide it, and I
was like, “fuck , I don’t want to.” One footed ollie straight to my
balls and the kink, to flipping over onto my head, and blacking out
for a second. Straight fucking rodeo ride. Feet didn’t even touch
the ground. It’s straight to the balls, and then teetered over onto
my forehead.
Dill: And from what I remembered, that kink is like stomach high.
Jeff: It’s the one that Jason lee backside grinded right?
Dill: No. No, we’re talking about the big ones on the inside in the
hallway.
Jeff: Oh, down like the six stair?
[Crosstalk]
Dill: Not the old one Jason backed 50/50 and Ed Templeton nose
grinded, someone had backed into it and bent the kink down so it
was a mellower kink. We’re talking about the ones that were like
seven stairs and it –
Jeff: Like if you go straight back from that handrail, it’s that little –
[Crosstalk]
Dill: Yeah, six stairs that you can go down, and then on the other – and
then this side was seven. Yes. It was the biggest rail in
Huntington. It was like the long big one. Jamie Hart, kick flip,
Channel One ad. I think it was a half page ad.
AVE: I can’t remember. I think it was at night though.
Jeff: And then you guys started skated together and …
Dill: I saw him at – when I saw Anthony – Anthony was trying to nollie
crook this rail at ocean view and I was like God damn, this kid,
he’s – he’s like on it. He was ripping. And I knew he was sponsor
less at that time. I was like, “Look, I ride for this, you could ride
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for this, whatever.” So it was like a short period that he was on 23,
and then with – the whole Alien thing came out, it was like I got on
Alien, he got on the next day.
[Crosstalk]
Jeff: You guys both had boards out on 23?
Dill: I did.
Jeff: (to Anthony) You didn’t?
Ave: No.
Dill: He wasn’t there yet.
Ben: (to Anthony) But didn’t you almost skate for Real for a second?
AVE: Yeah, actually I was getting boards from Real when – and when I
started to do the 23 thing, I’d been getting boards for Real for like
7 months, maybe a year almost. I don’t know.
Dill: That’s so weird. I don’t remember that at all.
AVE: I remember I went up to Real and talked to like Thiebaud and shit
Dill: You did?!!! [Laughter]
AVE: They were dicks to me.
Jeff: [ahahaaa]
Dill: Yeah. Oh, wow.
AVE: Totally. Me and Jim have never talked about that but I’m sure he
remembers. But hey, whatever. I was just a kid. Yeah. That’s
what you got to do. Yeah, I know I remember I went up there, like
flew myself up there like – I don’t know. At the time I wasn’t –
my mom was leaving the country. I was 18. Like I needed to
figure something out as far as like just – am I skating or am I
getting a job? What am I doing? So I was kind of real serious
about what I was doing.
Jeff: At 18……
AVE: Yeah.
Jeff: That’s insane.
AVE: Yeah, my mom was selling the house and leaving the country, and
it was like fucking sink or swim buddy. Like, “I want to skate.”
Dill: I don't remember you going to Real.
AVE: Yeah, that was before we were skating together though, so. I had
footage up there and I – something like, I don’t know. I remember
talking to Jim. He’s like, ‘Yeah, everybody fuckin talks, talk is
cheap.” He said something to me I don’t know . ahahahahaa
Dill: Fantastic. [Laughter] Shit.
AVE: Whatever.
Dill: Was the story – did it go like this? Did it go that Carter called the
house the next day and you talked to him, right?
AVE: Yeah.
Dill: Yeah, pre-cell phones. Or no, he called..
AVE: It was like the next day.
Dill: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ‘Cause I got on the Workshop with
full intention, like he’s (anthony) definitely gonna ride for the
Workshop. ‘cause we already spoke to Sal and he was gonna start
Aesthetics, and he was like, “Do you guys want to do it?” And I
was like, “No, we’re gonna ride for the Workshop.” And I was
pretty sure about it already, ‘cause we said no to this actually. Do
you remember that?
AVE: All of that shit came down so quickly. I remember Sal was like
working and deal like on a pay phone on the side of the road
calling us, and we’re like, “Do we …..”
Dill: We wouldn’t have met up with him. We went and met up with
him. I don’t know if it was after Carter had said, ‘cause I – it said
in Slap Magazine that I rode for Workshop, and I called Carter to
be like, “I didn’t say that.” But I just came from this contest in
Canada and I was with Dyrdek and John Drake and them like,
Kalis was in the mix a lot. I remember that time I was in Canada,
all I did was hang out with them.
AVE: Yeah.
Dill: I think Fred too. And I fucking wanted to ride for Workshops
since – I’ve always wanted to ride for the Workshops since – I
mean well before the government brainwash ad came out. The
government brainwash ad came out in like ’96 and I was like,
“Everything else sucks. This is it.” I took that and put it on my
wall in my first apartment.
 |
| 8/7/11 3:20:13 PM |
Jeff: So what year did you get on Workshop?
Dill: ’98. But yes, that what happened. So I called Carter to be like, “I
didn’t say that I ride for Workshop,” because I didn’t want him
thinking that. I just got scared when it said it. It said it in a printed
magazine. This is pre-Internet, pre-cell phones, pre anything. It’s
like what was said in a magazine was gospel. That was true. You
read it in a magazine, it was fucking true. So I called Carter like,
“Man, I didn’t say that.”
He’s like, “I said it.” Ahh! [Laughter] It’s like – he’s like, “You
want to do it or not?” I was like, “Fuck yeah! Totally.” And it
was on. We were doing it. They were like already working on a
graphic and everything. I was like holy shit, real – I was like
totally freaked out. Like wow. But so happy. And then the next
day, Carter called and he talked to him. Carter said something
along the lines of the same thing, right. Like, “So you want to do it
too?”
AVE: Yeah, more or less.
Ben: (towards anthony) Did you know all those guys, like Dyrdek and
Kalis and –
AVE: No.
Ben: So you were the new guy
AVE: Oh yeah, so new. Yeah. And I remember I went to my grandma’s
house for Christmas. She lived in Solana Beach and I called
Dyrdek from there to see if he wanted to skate, and I never met
him before.
Dil1: That’s amazing. [Laughter]
AVE:: And I think he was like, “Yeah. I totally would.” No, he was
playing golf or some shit. He was doing something.
Dill: Dyrdek probably had a cell phone back then too.
AVE: Yeah, I think he had a cell phone.
Dill: He probably had a car phone.
AVE: Something. And then I remember the first time I went to his house
and actually met him, it was insane. He had like an Audi and a
house, and I was like "he's doing it, he's rich"
Ben: Now like when you went to New York, you and Dyrdek got like
pretty cool and you guys were all hanging out a lot, right.
AVE: Oh yeah. Dyrdek became my boy like really quickly. Like I
remember I moved – we were in LA for a bit on the Workshop.
Dill: That was ’98 though.
AVE: Yeah.
Dill: And then I left that tour, and that was New York after that tour.
AVE: Oh yeah, that’s right.
Dill: Yeah. That was ’98.
AVE: But I remember even before you left, I went and moved to San
Diego ‘cause it was free rent at the Workshop house down there.
Dill: Workshop apartment .
AVE: They had like Mike Hayes was living there and like –
Ben: the Laser flip guy?
AVE: Yeah. Yeah. Laser flip guy and the filmer .
Dill: [Laughter] Oh my God. I forgot about that.
 |
| tijuana 6/28/11, 2:54:58 PM |
AVE: And Dyrdek lived right over the hill from there. That was in
Hillcrest, and then Dyrdek lived in Old Town, San Diego. So I just
fucking moved down there ‘cause it was free rent, which is so
insane to me now. Like I packed up a U-Haul, moved out, never
met those dudes, just moved in, just regulated on the whole scene.
[Laughter] I moved in, three months later, that was place was
fucking done. I was like, “What are you guys doing man? You’re
paying all these guys, they don’t do shit.” This place sucks, and
then I moved back to LA, and I think Dyrdek moved up to L.A.
[Laughter]
Dill: We got on the Workshop. It was just instantaneous. Everything
was just so like – they let us know that they were stoked, I mean
that they were happy that we did it. We appreciated it, but then
also I remember people – I remember us going skating to people
were like, “You guys ride for Workshop?” And remember people
at first were like really weird-ed out?
AVE: Yeah.
Dill: Like Workshop had their day and their fucking period, and some
people would be like, “Like you guys are for real?” but we were
like just, “Fuck you. Fuck yeah, the Workshop.” Like are you
fucking kidding me? The Workshop’s the fucking best. Like
everyone forgot. But don’t forget with that time period, it was like
there were so many alien movies and all that shit, like Will Smith
and all that shit.
The Workshop got all freaked out and they were like at one point
calling themselves just the Workshop because it was so attributed
to like their theme. Like they were booming, in the early 90s. But
yeah, once we got in there man, we were, I don’t know. I feel like
we brought something to it, and we were so –
Jeff: That was a rebirth.
[Crosstalk]
Dill: Yeah, we were so gung ho.
Ben: Yeah, like when you guys got on like within a year, like guys like
Bo Turner weren’t on anymore, and like Mike Hayes weren’t on
anymore. It was all those new kids like Wenning and – you guys
were kind of ushered in, in like within a year or two, it was like a
total new era.
Dill: Yeah, it’s weird. We were just talking about the period between –
AVE: I think that stuff happened like before, we got on the team and then
Carter made those calls.
Dill: Yeah. Conklin was still on when we got on and John was still on
when we got on.
AVE: Oh yeah, that’s right, ‘cause they were in the industry section.
Dill: Lenny wasn’t technically “off off” the team when we got on. He
wasn’t off. They still had Lenny Kirk Alien Workshop boards.
But I just think that we were like the first – when you think about it
back then, we were still younger than everybody, which is
[laughter] so crazy now. He (Anthony) was fucking young. I was
20. He was 18. And we’re talking younger than Alex Olson and
Dylan Rieder.
Like this is like pinnacle age, and we were so fucking hyped. Like
we let them know, I think that new energy really like – not to
fucking smell our own farts, but I think that really took Alien after
that. ‘Cause we were so fucking gung ho, we were so fucking
skate that it was – Alien Workshop industry section, Feedback and
Photo was all two years.
Jeff: Yeah, that all happened pretty quick.
Dill: We did that in two years. I mean now –
Jeff: I mean the change from Timecode to Photosynthesis was like night
and day.
Dill: They hate Timecode by the way.
AVE: I love Timecode.
Dill: I love Timecode.
Jeff: Love Timecode.
Dill: Alien Workshop itself hates Timecode.
AVE: That’s one of the first times I thought it’d be cool to ride for
Workshop. But I’ve got to say –
[Crosstalk]
Dill: Yeah. They hate time code.
Ben: So like ’97, ’98 was when you guys were like together all the time,
hanging out.
Dill: Yeah, we got on Workshop in ’98.
Ben: and even 23 days, you guys were still pretty tight
AVE: Yeah, we skated.
Dill: Yeah.
AVE: Yeah, ‘cause we moved to LA and we rode for 23. We lived in the
same apartment. That apartment is where we got on the
Workshop.
Dill: Yeah. I didn’t have a license or a car. I still don’t have a license
or a car. [Laughter] Anthony had a license and a car, still does.
Jeff: So you guys did Feedback, then Photosynthesis within –
Dill: We did the Alien Workshop industry section.
Jeff: Right.
Dill: Then we did – which was a fucking video part for that time. And
then we did –
AVE: Feedback.
Dill: And then we did Feedback, and then we did Photo.
Jeff: All within two years.
Dill: Yeah, but me and Anthony, we was just talking about this with
Greg (Hunt) earlier, it’s like, it’s so weird. Photosynthesis just
happened. It really wasn’t like some huge plan. Like I don’t
remember one time during that period at all being like, “Oh, I need
to get more lines,” or “I need to get one more trick,” or “I need an
ender,” or “Fuck, what am I gonna do.” I fucking swear, we were
just skating. Like there wasn’t a period where I was – I don’t
remember being worried or anything like that. Photosynthesis, for
as big as that video is, it just happened. It just happened. All that
stuff just happened so fast. Like I was in New York and he was
out here, and I started skating with Bill.
Bill man filmed almost everything in Photosynthesis. Castrucci,
Hill filmed one line in my part in Photo. Yeah, and then he started
coming out to New York, and that all happened so fast. It’s insane
that that all even got put together. But it just trips me up that it
wasn’t planned. It wasn’t like some big – they did the ad saying
like the hours is near and shit, but I don’t remember any time ever
being like, “I need a last trick,” or like even wondering what my
part looks like. I think maybe it was the excitement of riding for
the Workshop. We knew it was gonna be super sick and we didn’t
give a fuck.
 |
| 10/11/11 5:11:39 PM |
Ben: How was skating with Wenning and Pappalardo back then, did
those guys stoke you out?
AVE: Oh yeah, totally. They were fucking – Wenning was – I remember
the first time I ever – I picked up Wenning in San Diego at the
airport and took him to the little TF Workshop, TF that Dyrdek had
down there, and I was just – who is this kid? He had a broken arm.
His board was just shattered, and he just looked like such a little
fucking sloth. Like zits and I was just like, “This kid sucks.”
Dill: Totally.
Jeff: [Laughter]
AVE: And I took him to the Dyrdek park and he was ripping.
Dill: Unleashed it.
AVE: Actually, you know what? He was kind of like – ‘cause you
remember his style was really like slow and sluggish. It was kind
of funny, but then – at first, and then he like started like
repetitively doing switchback tails perfectly on this pretty high
ledge. I was like, wow.
Jeff: That was the first TF, right?
AVE: Yeah. It was tiny. You had to like skate from outside to the
inside, and then –
Dill: Yeah. I only went there twice.
AVE: Yeah, so that was – fuck, that was so long ago. That was so weird.
Dill: Those kids got so good so quick. That’s weird that we were so
young at one point, and then by the time everything came around
and then Photosynthesis was came out in 2000, like those kids
were – like Wenning and Pappalardo as a duo came in, and they
brought the nose grind pop-out to the skating world. Not pros, not
like the head pros. They did. They were doing nose grind pop-out,
regular, switch, nose grind shove it pop-out early.
They were doing – like Wenning did his switch backside 180 nose
grind pop-out in his video part. That’s in Photo fucking Synthesis.
Like his part in Photosynthesis is so psychotic, it’s insane. If you
go back and look at that trick for trick and you remember what
time period exactly that’s being filmed, like that’s being filmed in
1999, and he’s switch back smithing the ledge off the three stairs at
Love? That’s insane. Switch back tails with that – the kid was a
fucking phenomenon when he came out.
Ben: And nollie back nose grind on the rounded fountain thing, pop-out.
Yeah.
Dill: Yeah. Dude, they were so inventive, like we – yeah.
AVE: I remember getting freaked out by their footage, and then Joe had
to talk to me like, “You guys are better than these guys.” No we’re
not. [Laughter] Do you remember that? We were over at Joe’s
house. I think he lives in apartment here in LA. Maybe it was me
and Dyrdek. I don’t know. We were freaking out though watching
their footage, like dude!!! And it was coming in by fucking
truckload at the time.
Dill: Yeah. Footage. Yeah.
AVE: And like I was just fucking like, wow. And Joe’s like, “Dude,
don’t trip. You guys are better than these guys.” [Laughter] No
we’re not.
Dill: No we’re not, and still not. I’m not that good as Wenning was in
Photo. I’m not.
Swish swish swish, bam! Like every – he did the craziest lines
there. Good bless that kid.
AVE: I watched the raw tapes. They were fucking insane. He would do
the most psychotic lines, tricks over and over and over again with a
big water jug in his hand. And he’d switchback tailing for like
miles with the water jug. And then he’d go in circles and he kept
doing it and doing it and doing it. Switch tre-ing fucking –
Dill: God bless those kids man. Both of those fucking lunatics lost their
fucking marbles. What the fuck man?
Jeff: Damn, that was 12 years ago?
AVE: 14? No, wait, then 2000.
Dill: It was 1,000 years ago.
AVE: It was a long time ago, it wasn’t supposed to happen.
Jeff: I think it was roughly 13 years since all of that happened.
Dill: I’ve lived two lives since then.
Jeff: Yeah, a lot has happened since then.
Dill: I’ve lived a whole life in the last two years.
Jeff: I mean a lot has happened for YOU guys since then.
Dill: It’s all been pretty much downhill since then Jeff.
Jeff: [Laughter]
Dill: It’s all been rrrrhhhh, rrrhhhh.
Dill: We made like – me and him, he made one video part, I made one
video part, and it was all a catastrophe after that.
Jeff: You did DVS, He did DC…..
Dill: No, I did Mosaic.
AVE: Mosaic.
Jeff: Oh that’s right.
Ben: What about that, ‘cause you were in LA for some of that footage?
Dill: Well I came to LA to – I tried to move back to LA.
I came back to LA to try to live here, and I actually paid for a place
and everything, this place off Lincoln Boulevard, super nice. My
friends lived in the front huge house of Lincoln Boulevard, and I
lived in like this super sick back cottage house. Like if you were
sitting up on the deck, you wouldn’t even know you were in LA. It
was so pretty and nice.
AVE: Was that the one that was across from the Cock n' bull?
Dill: Yeah.
Jeff: I went to that one!
Dill: No, no, you definitely have been there.
Jeff: I was blacked out, but I know I went there.
Dill: You gave me a lot of pills there that night.
[Laughter] But yeah, So I came to LA to live
here again, and I paid for six months of rent in
advance and stayed for three to film. And then at
some point ended up in Barcelona for the rest of
Mosaic.
Ben: And what about those years? Like when you were in New York
and you (anthony) were still here, you guys were still kind of
skating together?
Dill: Well he came to New York sometimes. That’s the thing. I mean
this friendship, I mean fucking whatever, you know. We go long
periods without talking to each other. Sometimes we go five
months without talking to each other. Either he’d have a chick, I’d
have a chick, and we’d just be like, were doing our own thing. Just
Doing it on other sides of the country, you know.
Ben: But then it’s always the same as soon as you guys got back
together.
Dill: Yeah. And then we’d come back and I’d come out here, and we’d
be fully skated, and he’d come out there and be fully skate. But
there is definitely a period once he came out to New York, and I
was getting less and less skate. I just did a lot less skating than he
was at one point. But then we do that back and forth. He was not
skating when I’d be skating.
Ben: So now you guys are living together, roommates. What’s the daily
routine?
 |
| tijuana 6/27/11 1:40:59 PM |
AVE: Do we really got to talk about that sadness? [Laughter]
Jeff: No, this is where we’re going. We’re starting way back there and
then we’re coming right to here.
[Crosstalk]
Dill: I mean, fuck. I’ll tell you what. I was in New York, and I just was
so freaked out. I was in New York and there was nothing fucking
happening. I woke up one day and it was snowing outside, and I
was like, “Are you really gonna do this again? You’re gonna sit
here all fucking winter long? What are you doing anymore?” And
I swear, it felt like only a couple days, I called him, was like, “Can
I come out there? I just need to skateboard. I want to skateboard
again.” And I hadn’t been doing it. And I hurt my back real bad.
And he had been out there like a month before and I had only –I
hurt my back so bad I was only skating like once a month.
And I asked him, I was like, “Can I come out?” And he was like,
“Sure.” He wanted to be super skate again. He was already being
skate, but he wanted to be super skate I guess is what he said. And
now the point we’re at is the fucking, you know, he has luckily let
me stay with him and he’s at his place, and we’ve been on the
same schedule pretty much and just skate, skate, skate. For a
minute there, we were skating like everyday like it was the fucking
last day to skate. You just go do it. And now we’re in a period
where it’s like, fuck, I’m tired, I’m going to bed, and I don’t really
want to hit the streets tomorrow.
Ben: Right. Well ‘cause both of you guys have been on a tear lately.
Dill: We’re trying.
AVE: It’s been pretty solid since fuck, last Christmas. You (Dill) got
here, you’ve been at my house since before Christmas.
Dill: I got here in December.
AVE: Yeah.
Dill: ‘Cause I got here – you know when I got here, was the two weeks
straight, rain. I got here the day of the two week straight rain. You
remember that? Remember it rained for two weeks straight last
year in December? That never happens in LA. It rained like
torrential downpour for two weeks straight. Ben, you don’t
remember that?
Ben: No, I do now that you bring it up. And you came here just wanting
to skate. [Laughter]
Dill: I flew here, the day I got here was the start of it. ‘Cause when I
got here, I wasn’t even staying at his (Anthony) house first. I was
staying at Jamie’s house.
Jeff: So now you guys are full skate. Skate commandos
Ben: Last year, Covers, like trips, sequences in trip, articles… oh also
you guys are obviously stoked on Workshop right now.
Dill: Once I got out here and him and I were so gung ho, I mean it just kind of
came together. It’s like we got to fucking pull the Workshop
together. Not that the Workshop was lost or it was like lame, but
there was something wrong at Workshop.
There was something internally wrong with like what has
happening. It wasn’t like a huge bad thing, but it was like we need
to fucking do this. There was definitely a time period where like it
wasn’t that we didn’t care about the Workshop at all, but there was
definitely a time period where it was like, I’m doing my thing.
We’re out, like we’re doing it and it’s happening, but it needed a
heave ho. It needed a fucking – the Workshop needed like, hey,
let’s fucking – how about we kick ass again? How about we be the
real deal Alien Workshop.
AVE: I think it’s only natural after videos of like long projects with any
company, it’s like you got all these dudes that are together for
three, four years, and there’s just so much attention and everything,
and then it fucking all comes out, and then everyone just splits
away.
Dill: People quit.
AVE: People usually end up leaving. So much shit happens with
companies.
Jeff: The first big thing that happened was Heath?
AVE: Kalis.
Jeff: Oh, was it Kalis first?
AVE: I think Kalis left, then Heath retired.
Dill: Arto.
AVE: Arto had came on board and then left.
When I rode for DC after the DC video, same thing. Like it just –
everything, it’s just weird. I remember Stevie left. What else
happened down there?
Dill: Bunch of weird shit.
AVE: Weird shit happened. I just remember – it just seemed like the
whole – I feel like – well, I don’t want to get into DC, but I feel
like it never recovered after that. I mean it has in its own way, but
like from what it was. But like the Workshop is too strong for that,
but it’s like any big project. Things get stagnant, people move on
to other projects and stuff, and it’s like, you know. Then Mind
Field, that’s where it was until I feel like recently, we kind of did
some of these summer tours and made some changes to the team
Dill: Put some new people on.
AVE: Put some new faces on and stuff. And then it just like, now it’s –
Jeff: What happened with Berra? Do you wanna talk about that
anymore?
AVE: I mean I don’t know why. I think really we’ve talked….
Dill: I don’t see the point of bringing up something, like an individual
so irrelevant to anything –
Jeff: No, we were just talking about team changes, its relevant.
Dill: Oh, well, I mean –
AVE: I mean he’s not on the team anymore.
Jeff: [Laughter]
Dill: The thing is, as I was saying, we just wanted to fucking kick some
fucking ass, and if you ain’t kicking ass, get the fuck out. I mean
there was a period I probably should have got kicked off the
Workshop. I mean I was close to not living regardless of kicking
ass. The furthest thing I was doing was kicking ass. The only
thing I was doing was fucking drowning myself…which was
bitchin. I had a great time. But you know, it got to the point
where it’s like you ain’t kicking ass, it ain’t cool, get the fuck out
of here.
Ben: All right. I got one. So you guys at you're respective ages, 32, 34,
when you guys were younger, did you even fathom that you guys
could be this age and still be killing it?
Dill: No. No. No. No. [Laughter]
Jeff: How does that feel?
AVE: It feels good. It’s – I don’t know. It changes though. Fuck dude,
it’s been so many ups and downs. I mean I don’t know.
Dill: I feel like I was living a borrowed time for a while anyway, like
me personally in my own life.
AVE: I mean I had too.
 |
| 4/20/11 6:54:37 PM |
Dill: Him (anthony) too. But I feel like I’m making up for lost time. So
I feel like filling the combined time I was off the board in my 20s,
which was probably like a solid three years, [laughter] giving up
my board in my 20s, I’m afraid that now in my 30s, at three years
I’m gonna come off like Cinderella like, pop, oh, you just used all
the time that you were off your board for your 20s. Guess what?
Can’t do it. [Laughter] It’s just gonna go away.
No, I’m fucking blown away man. There’s this whole like –
there’s this whole group of over 30 (years old) killing it right now
in skateboarding. I’m so fucking proud to be right there with these
people who I’ve always respected immensely. Like Guy over 30,
Marc Johnson over 30, Carroll – Carroll’s arguably the best street
skater that ever fucking lived, you know, like over 30 kicking ass.
Like all these dudes that are over 30 doing it, it’s so sick to have
that crowd of that going on. I said it recently, I was just watching
this film about Sugar Ray Leonard. This dude had his best fight at
37.
He kicked the shit out of some 21 year old. But they said that toe
to toe, everything, his measurements; everything was the fucking
peak of him. It’s like you can see it in people’s skateboarding, and
not to say this only because I am in my 30s, but it’s like there is a
big, you know. Me as a fan of skateboarding, I watched some kid
like flailing around doing the fucking 360 flips and doing the air
walk thing, and catching them and riding around with his sleeves
tucked in his hand shit and bullshit.
AVE: [Laughter]
Dill: I’m like dammit man, all these newbots. Who knows what they’re
gonna be like when they get some fucking balls and muscle. But
like [Laughter] [Crosstalk]
AVE: Muscle balls…..
Dill: But I’m saying like you see these young kids and like, whatever.
Like they’re just like flipping around like they’re bothered by their
board. And then when you see someone like Julian, you can see
that many years of skateboarding come out so eloquently and so –
it just looks so incredible. You have to skate for that long to get
that. Brian Anderson, you can’t beat that. Like you cannot beat
Brian Anderson. You can’t. That’s just fucking rules.
Is there new kids that come out looking like that? Few and far
between. What do we got? Dylan, Elijah, Grant, Raven. You got
that, which is so sick to see those kids. But usually when you see
the young kids, they look like feeble and waifey and they’re all
caught in whatever Lady Gaga world they’re caught in now. I’m
an old man in a young man’s world. I’m just happy to be here.
Jeff & Ben: [Laughter]
AVE: I remember Dyrdek telling – we moved to this apartment in like
’90 – were we working on Photosynthesis? Yeah, for sure. It was
like ’98 or 9, and he was like, “You know, play your cards right,
save your money, you’ll probably have a board ‘till at least 26.”
And I was like – I might have been like 20 then. I was like
freaking out. Yeah. And I could barely pay the rent in this shit
box apartment I wasn’t even pro yet.
Dill: So at the time – so Dyrdek’s statement at the time, you’re like, “Oh
my God, that’s only six years.”
AVE: Yeah, I was thinking that, and then I’m looking at Dyrdek and he
was like 24 I think.
Dill: God dammit I wake up everyday and go, “I only got fffffffffffive
years left now.” [Laughter]
AVE: I know. No it’s psycho. It’s not what you thought it was gonna be
at all.
Dill: But then there’s times you look back, it’s everything I could ever
ask for.
AVE: No, that’s what I mean by it. There’s been like – it’s more than I
could have ever asked for or dreamt that it would be, which is a
trip, like being 20 and having Dyrdek say, “Well, I’m pulling this
to about 26.” And then I’m thinking that, you know, I got free
boards and make a couple grand a month and this cool. It was a lot
different than that.
Dill: And then you’re in your 30s in a parking lot
watching a 16 year old rip and you’re like,
“What the fuck is going on?”
Jeff: [Laughter]
AVE: Yeah, it’s a scary age.
Dill: What the hell. Is it 2012? Shit. I gotta pay my taxes.
AVE: It’s so strange. I wasn’t supposed to be in my 30s and …..that
happened.
Dill: No, we’re kicking ass. Hey, we’re gonna keep riding this truck till
the wheels fall off. [Laughter]
AVE: I don’t know how to do anything else.
Ben: 30s partied out, all that crazy shit out of the way, like what do you
guys – that’s just what you guys do now. You skate. You wake
up. You drink coffee and say hey, where are gonna skate today?
Like that’s the daily routine.
Dill: No, no, I mean no, no, that’s all we do. I read. Anthony reads.
AVE: the golden girls
Everyone: [Laughter]
Dill: He reads. I mean we read the same book recently. That was good.
Jeff: (to Dill) I was gonna ask you about that. Did you finish it?
Dill: Yeah. We both read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. She wrote
Seabiscuit.
Jeff: That’s the book with the ship wrecked guy? Unbroken?
AVE: Louis Zam –
Dill: Louis Zamperini.
Jeff: He got lost at sea right?
AVE: Yeah, for 40 something days.
Dill: Yeah. He was the greatest living American ever.
AVE: He got into skateboarding in his 80s.
I might have a photo of Louis.
Insert louis photo here >
 |
| Louis Zamperini |
Dill: Yeah, we skate. We do. We skate. We skate as if everyday is the
last day, except for if we’re in the parking lot on a weekday. We
like to sit there. No but it’s good. It was great.
AVE: Yeah, that’s pretty much it. That’s about all of it.
Dill: What else do you want to know?
Jeff: I think you guys have pretty much nailed it.
Dill: What else Ben? Ben’s got more.
Ben: How about this. Okay, 10 years, 15 years later, what’s the same
and what’s different about you guys as people?
Dill: I mean person-wise, I’m not speaking for him, but guaranteed he
Dill: I mean person-wise, I’m not speaking for him, but guaranteed he
can fucking relate to all this. I don’t even know that fucking kid I
was. I don’t know the kid from Photo. I don’t know who that
psycho was. He was out of his fucking mind. I don’t know what
that fucking asshole was doing. Who was that kid? He was
fucking bored.
Even the kid in Mosaic, I kind of know that dude, like a little bit. I
even feel – I used to say fuck, I feel like the dad of the kid that was
in Mosaic. And really, really, I fucking feel like that was so
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fucking long ago. When I really think about that time period, and
then Mosaic, I’m like I actually feel like that kid could be my son
now. I mean am I really that much different? Yeah, I think I am.
I have my Good days and bad days.
AVE: I’m a little stronger and a little fragiler all at once.
Ben: (to Dill) so how do you feel about New York now?
Dill: I just – you know what? New York’s for the kids. And if you get
there when you’re a kid and you get to do it, God bless you. I got
to go there and I got to do it, and I love that place. Like the first
time I went there when I was in my teens, I still have aspects of
loving New York that I really love. It became such a huge part of
my life. It was almost like – at one point, it was almost like half
my life was New York.
So I have so many deep, dear friends and it molded me so – it was
almost like I was born in California and New York helped raise
me. I just learned so fucking much there. There’s so much shit
that I learned outside of skateboarding that I just feel – it just
became so much a part of who I am. Now when I’m on the streets
in New York, I don’t mean sound like one of those fuckers. But I
feel like I walk around, I feel like I see places I recognize but I
don’t see the things that used to be there. Fran Lebowitz once I
said, "of course anywhere you were in your 20s was better when
you there".
You can’t go back and expect it to be the same thing, ‘cause of
course you liked it more ‘cause you were in your 20s. Of course it
was better then. So of course. People in the 1900s used to say,
“Oh my God, this place is –” Talking about New York, they used
to say, “Oh my God, this place has changed so much, you can’t
even believe it. It’s terrible now. It sucks.” That’s been going on
forever. But no, I hope New York survives. But it ain’t for me,
it’s for the kids.
 |
| anthony, cody green, and acosta 8/7/11, 3:44:48 PM |
Ben: All right. I don’t know how much this has to do with this, but I’ve
always wanted to know. What was the deal with the company with
you, Lotti, Sloshbock and Gino? What ever happened with that?
[Crosstalk]
Dill: That’s funny. Well –
[Crosstalk]
AVE: that was supposed to be out of the Workshop, right?
Dill: No. World. You know this story.
AVE: I’m thinking of when they were thinking about bringing 101 the
Workshop.
Dill: Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. Yeah, that is true. But I feel like
that was like 90s, the marijuana thing.
Ben: So this was after Color? When Color faded away?
When did this whole thing with you, Gino, Schlossbach go down?
Dill: okay, so right before Girl, all those guys were still on World and
Blind and Plan B. Gino Ianucci and I were sponsor-less basically.
So Gino and I are together skating, whatever all the time, and we
met Brian Lotti, and Brian Lotti really liked us. I don’t remember
where we met Brian or how, and Brian had a filmer guy with him
at all times. And Brian proposed to us like, “Hey, we should do a
company through World Industries, and I’m talking to Kris
Markovich, and I’m also talking to Rob Dyrdek. I’d really like to
do it with you guys, and maybe we could get even get Jeremy to do
it, Jeremy Wray.” I was like, “Wow.” Fuck. He was like, yeah,
become pro-gram, like pro-am, it’s so 90s corny. But whatever.
AVE: Pro-gram.
Dill: Pro-gram.
Ben: And he was still on Blind at the time?
Dill: Right, Brian was still on Blind. So poor Carter got a call from
Dyrdek like, “I’m doing it.”
AVE: I’ve never heard this fucking story.
Dill: Yeah. Dyrdek wasn’t making any money. It was the end of when
Alien was booming big time. Dyrdek was like, “Dude, my dad
needs fucking dough. I need to do this.” Markovich was like – I
think Markovich was in on it. He was like on board. And I think
Jeremy was on board. I was just floating. Gino was like, “Yeah,
sure.” He didn’t give a shit. I was probably more excited than
Gino, as always with everything. We never – like Gino didn’t
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care. He didn’t give a shit. And it was all happening, so weird.
Rocco was signed up. Yeah. Do it. It’s happening. To the point
where we were about to print boards and like –
Jeff: Did you already have graphics and shit?
Dill: Not graphics but like experimental, kind of like the World type
shit. And then one time I just remember we were just filming,
filming, filming, Brian was gone. Brian went to a Buddhist colony
in Hawaii. And when we went to World, they were like, “Hmm.
You’re getting boards through Natas now.” And we were like,
“What? What? What the fuck do you mean?” We went into the
fucking warehouse, they’re like, “Here, take your slips” We’ll
count the board, they count the boards, we take our slips to Megan,
Megan will sign it. Natas ended up calling Gino’s house and was
like, “Hey, do you guys want to ride for 101?”
And we were like, “What the fuck?” And we were like, in our
minds, Eric Koston, like no way. We went up to that SF Back to
the City contest, the last one that was in the fountain. I’m there
skating. I was all Stereo-ed out. I love Stereo, ‘cause I love Mike
Daher and Greg. So I wanted to ride for Stereo. Gino’s like, “Just
fucking go along with this.” In like two days, I was like, “I want
to ride for Stereo instead.” [Laughter] So finally we go up to the
Back to the City contest, we go out to eat with Natas, Natas is like,
“You’re on.” We go to FTC, we see Rick Howard and all them
and they’re like –
Ben: “We’re on Girl”.
Dill: “We made Girl”. Me and Gino were like,
“Oh.” [Laughter]
Jeff & Ben: [Laughter]
Dill: But then all the footage we’d accumulated while skating with
Brian Lotti became Snuff.
Jeff: So….God we just covered a lot of shit. It’s
gonna be like a fucking 50 page interview. So now,
13 years later you guys are still close friends, you
still skate together all the time, and now you guys
have a pack of shoes coming out together.
Dill: Mine’s a snakeskin one.
AVE: Mine’s Steve Olson’s pro model
Jeff: And then you guys have a –
AVE: Then we have one that looks like they both barfed on each other on
the inside.
Dill: [Laughter] And no one wanted to make it.
AVE: When they see them on – no one would like them on.
Dill: No one wanted to make – every time we turned around, we were
like, “No, but the front that is snakeskin and the walls of the inside
of the shoe are fur cheetah print.” And your brother would just be
like, Jay would just be like, “Uh-huh,
Yeah”. Even that kid Neil would be like, “No.” And we’d be like,
“Yeah. Oh yeah, my shoe has that sole. The whole thing, it’s
clear.”
We made them all clear sole on the bottom. Yeah. We basically
made three shoes for Syndicate that are sick.
AVE: Oh yeah. I think people are gonna like them. I like them.
Dill: No, they’re super sick. They’re psycho.
Ben: What about the rumors of another Transworld part?
Dill: [Laughter] No….But, but, but, we are, as Alien Workshop, we’re
signed on to do a Transworld project right now.
Jeff: No shit.
Dill: Yeah.
Jeff: That’s sick!
Dill: The next Transworld video, now seeing that this is very late
September in 2011, the next Transworld video they’re doing, it’s
people that film people making the parts, instead of the individual
guys. So we’re doing an Alien Workshop section for the video.
Jeff: Who’s your skateboard filmmaker?
Dill: Alien Workshop.
AVE: It’s Benny.
Dill: It’s Benny. Benny’s the one that said he wanted it to say by the
Workshop. If you look at Mind Field, it says by the Workshop.
That was Greg’s decision. I think that’s sick.
Ben: So now is every other part gonna stick to a team, or is it essentially
gonna be like a new cinematographer?
Dill: Well think about it. Everybody who films – yeah, like a new
cinematographer. But everybody that films, they work for
somebody. So we’re all gonna be in it, but our two focal points are
gonna –
Jeff: That’s gonna be sick.
Dill: So there’s like individual filming for that, and then there’s all the
stuff for Vans that won’t be for this. Meaning there’s footage for
Vans that won’t be used for this at all. That’s kind of cool. I’ve
actually never been in that position before ever, where I’ve had
footage for one thing and then gone and done a whole different
thing. It’s kind of exciting.
Ben: How long did it take you to film your A1 Meats part?
Dill: 48 hours.
 |
| 8/7/11 3:26:10 PM |
[End of Audio]
