Mike, in his hometown of Edison, New Jersey, on the Glory Bound 2010 Tour. Photo by Mark R. Sullivan; swooped from the By The Sword dailies (www.bytheswordskateboards.com).
Last week, I made arrangements with Jason Filipow (Mike's partner at By The Sword Skateboards) to interview Mike Vallely at the Frankfort, Kentucky stop of his "Glory Bound" tour. Before the interview, I spent the day largely observing our subject in his element (no pun intended)… without the aid of a camera, or any other "recording equipment". With the overabundance of filmers and photographers on hand, I figured that it'd be "easy swooping" to find a few workable photos, and/or video clips to illustrate the storyline. Turns out, I was right.
So, instead of hustling my ass around to fully document my experiences, I got the rare chance to quietly watch, learn, and take notes. Most of those notes will be the basis of the introductions to the "other parts" of the interview.
If I had to pick any one trait that impressed me about Mike, I would have to say that it's his brutal elegance… whether it's on, or off of his board. His skateboarding is pretty self-explanatory. If you haven't seen it before, well, you've probably been living under a rock for the last twenty-five years or so. I would describe it as "Demonstrative discourse". It's a visually communicative monologue that emboldens and italicizes the words that he lives by, and the ideals that guide his way. Whether you're watching him attack a flat bank, or having a conversation with him on his tour bus, the messages are always the same: Go out, get creative, be yourself, have fun… and never, ever take any shit, from anybody, for being exactly who and what you are.
As for the words he speaks, they are almost uncomfortably straightforward, direct, uncompromising, and sincere. He doesn't fuck around, and he doesn't pull any punches, either. It's that "live intensity" that caught me a little off guard... even though I really should've been more than prepared for it. After all, watching Mike in action isn't unlike watching an episode of "Drive" (his television show on Fuel TV). What you see is pretty much what you get, regardless of how you choose to experience the "Mike V." phenomenon.
That's not to say that Mike is in any way "contrived", or "manufactured". If anything, it made the show all the more "real"...
Re-reading the final interview, versus what was actually recorded on the tape… I can now see firsthand why he's so mis-interpreted, mis-read, and mis-understood. In the flesh, the guy is the definition of an eternal optimist. His only real "crime" in life, is of believing that he has the duty… and, the ability… to change the skateboarding world around him, for the better. But, the transcribed words… if read wrong… could just as easily paint the picture of a bitter-ass pessimist.
Believe me: Nothing could be further from the truth.
I thought that was important to point out, before we got on with the interview.
Mike V., doing what Mike V. does best: Stoking People Out. In this case, it's Jason from Straight Up Skate Shop (in Indianapolis, Indiana). People drove for miles to see Mike V. in the flesh, and I don't think that anyone left disappointed...
Okay- I'm sitting here with Mike V, and I just explained that there's this "echo chamber" effect online. And everyone is talking about you leaving Element. But, what noone is talking about, is where you're going to go from here, moving forward.
So, those would be my first questions: Why did you start By The Sword? What are your intentions? And, where do you want it to be, like in five or ten years…?
(Laughs) Truthfully, honestly, I don't… there's no plan. There's no "We're gonna do this, we're gonna do that, it's gonna be this, it's gonna be that…" I have no expectations at all. I have no… I'm not interested in this company being anything that has been before, y'know? What I've entered is a period of my life, of being unsponsored…
(Hecticness in background, from the rear of the bus… a crowd moves through, and Mike continues….)
… so, I mean, I really don't know how to answer the question. Because, to me, it's not about "what comes next". You know, you're saying that noone's talking about what "the next thing" is… but to me, I'm not talking about what "the next thing" is, because I'm just not about "what comes next". It's not about what happens with this company, it's not about what this company represents, or what kind of mark it's gonna make… if any.
For me, it's just about the simple action of just doing it.
Right.
Leaving Element… that just had to be done. And, I didn't feel like there's anyplace else I can go, and I didn't feel like there was anyplace else where I wanted to go. I didn't want to be under anybody's thumb- as a pro skater- and I don't ever want to be there again.
Well, you've had a lot of years of being under various people's thumbs…
Yeah, I've been on the end of a lot of strings. And I did it willingly, and gladly… and, I was a great soldier. The best soldier that any company could ever want. But… they just asked too much of me.
What would be "asking too much of you"…? If you don't mind me asking…
Just, wanting me to jump through the hoops that every young skater coming up today has to jump through. Having to answer to the flavor of the month, having to answer to the trend of the day. Having to answer to the politics, or the talk of the day. I'm fuckin' beyond that, man.
I've paid my dues, I've done the mileage, I've paved the way for all these things to even exist. So, I don't have to answer to them. Leave me the fuck alone, and let me be me. And, that wasn't gonna happen.
Not with Element…?
Not with Element, not with anybody.
Again, if you don't mind me asking, but… why wouldn't they let you, be you? I mean, they're sponsoring you because of who you are, in principle… right? They're like, "Well, we want Mike V. because he has something to offer us!" But then, why would they want to change who you are, after the fact…?
They want… I don't know. That's a good question. You're asking the wrong guy! You're asking the guy that lives it…!
(Mike thinks for a few moments…)
Why? Because, the people that are asking these things of me, aren't even skaters. The people that are asking these things of me, are people who sit behind desks and read internet messageboards, and think that I have to answer to that bullshit. Which, I don't. And, I won't.
Or, they're the numbers guys that are over counting the beans in the corner…
Yeah, well, listen… naw, I wouldn't be in business, I wouln't be a pro skater right now if they didn't have beans to count. I give 'em beans to count…! But, y'know… I believe in value for value. And, the trade-off just wasn't enough anymore. They couldn't pay me enough money to stay under that thumb.
So, no… it's not really about "what comes next" for me. I'm not really thinking about it. I have no real "major plans". This isn't like, some "master plan" or anything…!
(laughs)
This is just the simple act of turning the car around. I think it's important, just turning the car around. Just hit the brakes, and turn it around. That's it.
A whole new direction…?
Just, backwards.
Oh, really…?!
Yeah. I ain't gonna change what doesn't need to be changed.
I did notice that your boards, for example… there were only 125 of those made, right? Of the "DIY or Die" boards…?
Right.
But, they're made in America, I believe... right…?
Right…
And, they're silkscreened by… Screaming Squeegies…?
Right…
Was that the little sticker I saw [on the boards]…?
Right…
And it's like, that is such an almost…I hate to use the word "regressive", or "old school", but… it's like, such a "traditional" way of doing things…
But, what it is… is that, "The Industry" has this way that they operate today. So, if you're gonna start a skateboard company, they're gonna go "Okay man, you're gonna get your boards made here, and your heat transfers here… you get this guy to sell your boards, and off you go!" And, I don't wanna do any of those things. I don't wanna do any of the things, that anyone else is doing. Because, they know that it has simply become supply and demand. It has simply become generic product, for generic people. And, that's not the "skateboarding" that I grew up with. That's not the "skateboarding" that I still embody. And, that's not the "skateboarding" that I care about.
Here's the board, and the sticker, that I was referring to. The board is the limited-release "DIY or Die" deck, and the sticker says something to the effect of "This board hasn't been subjected to the torture of the heat-transfer-application process..." Instead, it's screen printed...! You don't see that very often any more...
I did notice that… and, I think that it speaks well to this point… that when I was looking at your crowd today, there was almost like, two extremes in your "demographic" I guess… for lack of a better phrase for that? But you had a lot of older guys- like, guys from my generation. And then, you had all of these little kids...
And then, you had the void in between them… like, all of the "regular teenage kids"…
Right…
… and, I actually asked Larry (Ransom, the tour's manager), I'm like, "Where are all those kids at…?!" And, he was very candid with me! He was like, "Well, they're too cool to show up for something like this… because, we're almost 'too positive'? And they're living in, like, an 'apathy world' or something…"
Hey, if I came to town, and sat on their curb, and smoked cigarettes? They'd like me more.
(Big pause).
But… that's pretty fucked up…!
(Laughing!)
Fuck them! I don't want them to come! I'm not interested in them…
So, do you think that we've almost lost a generation to apathy somewhere in there…?
Yeah, it's a real slacker kind of… ummmm….
(Mike thinks..)
… it's just really yeah, apathetic or something… I don't know what it is, man. There's a lot of kids that got into skating along the way, and lost the thread. Y'know? They lost the point. They don't why they're even skaters anymore… and they all will eventually quit.
Because skateboarding is the cool, trendy thing to do. I mean, that's what it's become…!
Yeah, it's the cool trendy thing to do.
It's an extreme. It's like baseball now. And, apple pie… an American icon…
I think my skating is still, counter-culture.
Y'know, I was actually talking to some kids about that! And they almost refer to your "type" of skating, like "That's 'Mike V.' skating!" Like, you've created a whole paradigm that…
Not by design! Not like, because I wanted that to be the case! I mean, skating at its best is "Come One, Come All, And Do Your Own Thing"…
Express yourself…
Yeah, express yourself…
… not, every other dude.
I didn't set out to stand out that severely. Y'know? And, I don't think that I should. I think I should just be "another one of the guys, doing his thing". But, because everyone else follows, everyone else is cookie-cutter skateboarding… everyone else does whatever the "demands of the day" are… my skating continues to stand out, as something… y'know, as something vastly different from what other people are doing. But, it's not… I don't think that it's vastly different!
To me, skateboarding is skateboarding, y'know?
Right!
I appreciate all styles of skating, y'know…?
And, you used to skate vert! Like very, very competently…
Well, I also used to do… up until the mid-'90s… I followed what was happening. I did every new trick that came along. And, people mistakenly think that I can't do these things. I choose not to do them! Every trick that I do, I choose to do…!
You invented a lot of what they're doing now…
A lot of them! But, y'know, I…what it comes down to, is… by the mid-'90s, it was no longer "my job" to progress, or evolve the tricks that people were doing. I didn't have as much to offer any more. There were new faces, new skaters, and new energies…
New styles…
… so at that point, I just wanted to skate the way that I want to skate, and do what feels right to me. And the tricks that I do, I select… they flow out of me, they're very organic. Nothing's forced about what I do, I'm very comfortable in my own skin. I love skating, I love the way I skate… because, it's my style, y'know? But, I didn't really set out to… it's not purposely, or this manufactured thing to 'carve a niche', or anything like that…
Or, "marketing"…
Yeah! I just wanna skate, man! And, this is how I skate. Take it or leave it, I don't care.
I mean, I don't hear anyone actually dissing it or anything. I think that they're stoked on it! Because, they don't get to see these things, ordinarily…
The teenagers? The guys that aren't here? That's who's dissing it. That's who doesn't appreciate it. Because, they're caught up in following what is 'currently happening'. Because, what is 'currently happening' is that skaters are just… very talented. Very "skilled"… okay? They have the guys that would have ordinarily gone to football, or baseball, or basketball… or, done some other "traditional sport", who are athletically gifted? They now pick up skateboards. Right…?
Right.
And, they're able to manipulate these boards better than others, because they have these athletic abilities. And, the emphasis has been put on the "manipulation of the skateboard". It's very trick-centric. So, because it's very trick-centric, it's about one stair further, one inch further, one foot higher…
A round rail, instead of a square…
Right! The focus is on these kinds of things…
"Metrics", almost. Like, things that you can actually add, and calculate with a slide rule…
But, there's no "creation". There's no "inventing". It misses the point. And, a lot of times… not the time, but a alllot of times… it has no style. It has no attitude. It embodies no spirit. It's just, manipulation of a piece of wood with wheels. And, that's a part of skateboarding… but, it's not "skateboarding". "Skateboarding" is… Duane Peters. Y'know…?! That's "skateboarding"…!
And the other thing, is skateboarding moving into the realm of "sport". And that's cool and all, but… it's not for me.
"The Detractors" might want to consider some fun facts, before they start talking their shit: Mike Vallely has been a pro skater for almost twenty-five years now. That's longer than most of the skateboard companies in existence today, have been in business. That's longer than most of his "detractors" have been alive. It's repeated so often, and becomes so cliche after a while, that we sometimes forget the significance of the facts. This is Mike's first-ever video part: Powell-Peralta's Public Domain, circa 1988.
In their defense… so much of what our pastime and our lifestyle has become, has been laid down already by the guys of your generation. Or like, Rodney [Mullen] for example…
Sure…
So, how much more is there really left to "invent"…? It seems like they're regurgitating things endlessly now…!
There isn't. But, to move away from appreciating the people that did invent these things…? That's... disastrous. That's moving away from who we are.
And, they can go! They can have the corner on that market. I'll just go to a new corner. I'm not really fuckin' interested in standing around in Shit-Talkin'ville with a bunch of bitter people…
Counting those stairs…
Like, I still love skating. I'm still gonna skate 'til the fuckin' day I die! And, I'm gonna do it my way. And, I'm not askin' for anyone's permission, or anyone's blessing. I'm just gonna fuckin' do it.
And, whoever's on board…
Yeah... I'm not askin' for anyone to be on board. But, at the end of the day…
There's a lot of kids in there, though, that looked like they were pretty 'on board'!
Yeah… yeah…!
I mean, they were pretty stoked…!
Hey… I know I have an audience! I know that I have a fan base! And, I appreciate it more than anyone could even possibly… imagine. I'm not doing this out of obligation, I'm not making money doing this. I'm this because I absolutely love doing it. And I love to come out here, and stoke these kids. And show them new lines, and show them new possibilities, and open their world up through skateboarding… which, I know I do. And I know, can be done. I learned it from the best, and I'm continuing to pass it on.
Stay tuned for Part Two, coming next week.
