Interviews | Quartersnacks

An Interview With Gino Iannucci

Features & Interviews August 28th, 2012 · 9:00 am · 17

We had a chance to speak with Gino about filming for the new Girl/Chocolate video, music in video parts, 360 shove-its, tennis and some other things.

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As an older dude who’s still a pro skater on the east coast, what is an average day for you?

When I’m in Long Island, I wake up at five or six every day. I usually play tennis in the morning with a friend of mine from 7:30 to 9:30. I’ll hang out for a bit after that, but it’s mostly a lot of skateparks in Queens, Manhattan or out on the Island. If I have a clip in mind that I’d like to film, I’ll try to link up with R.B. [Umali]. For the most part, it’s a lot of parks, and trying to keep the legs warm. It’s kinda boring, you know? I’m in early, I go to sleep early, I’m up early.

Do you have any kind of crazy stretching regiment or does the tennis take care of that?

Every time I skate, I have to stretch nowadays. I do go to the gym pretty often because I had a knee injury about a year-and-a-half ago. I just go to ride the bike, do some weights for the legs to put some strength in them. As you get older, they get a bit weaker. That’s another part of the day, usually after tennis.

How does it work when you want to go film something?

I could be aimless for days, but then I’ll come up on a spot or get motivated to do something. I usually hit up R.B. the night before and we wing it from there. When I feel it, I feel it, and try to take advantage of it.

You’re mainly focusing on the Girl and Chocolate video that’s coming out, right?

When it comes to filming, yeah. I’ll do little things here and there. I did a clip for DQM and another one for Nike. But when I come up with tricks that are film-worthy for myself, they’re going to Chocolate for the next video.

An Interview With Lurker Lou

Features & Interviews May 3rd, 2012 · 10:51 am · 28

Lurker Lou ruined skateboarding. When he snapped Matt Militano’s board during Slap’s One in a Million show (not even first try!), he singlehandedly took away all the fun there was to be had in riding a skateboard. We sat down with Lou to discuss why he is so hell-bent on destroying skateboarding, and why he hates America’s children.

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Where are you from, and how did you get into skating?

I’m from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The actual town is Dennisport, which is a small town, kinda white trash, dead all year, crazy in the summertime. My dad used to own a liquor store, and it had a drive-thru, and all these kids used to skate in there. My older brother had two friends who skated, and they sold me a used board for super cheap, so I started going out with them. I was turning 11, and they were 16.

How’d you end up moving to New York?

That was all Zered.

When did you originally meet him?

I met him when I was in 8th grade, he was the talk of Cape Cod. I never got out of my town to skate much, but as I got older, I’d go to other towns and link up with different dudes to skate. I met Zered at a contest. He won, and I think I got 3rd place. He lived two towns away, and after that, I just started going to his skatepark. He got on Zoo, and they got him an apartment here with Billy [Rohan] and Brian Brown. I’d just crash on an air bed, then Billy got kicked off and I took over his room. As soon as I moved here, we started filming Vicious Cycle.

An Interview With Shawn Powers

Features & Interviews February 15th, 2012 · 9:43 am · 27

A friend recently put Palace’s first (and for now, only) American acquisition in great context: “For a British company that seems pretty intent on staying British, you have to hand it to them. Out of all the Americans they could have put on the team, they chose Shawn Powers.”

The following is an interview conducted with Shawn at Tompkins Square Park late this past fall, by Lev Tanju of Palace Skateboards, with some help from QS. Photography by Brian Kelley and Emilio Cuilan. Videos by the Flipmode Media Empire.

Unlike past interviews from talkative, heavily opinionated individuals, Shawn’s personality yields brief, sometimes bizarre answers. His eccentricities have been well-documented on video, but this is about as close as you can get with words. At least 20% of the things you’ll hear him say in real life are Drake and Big Pun lyrics, so this came out surprisingly coherent.

Where are you from?

Queens.

You lived there all your life?

Yep.

Growing up in New York, who got you into skating? Who were the first New York skaters that you looked up to?

My friend Joey from Queens had a skateboard, and it started there. I’d see Harry Jumonji, sometimes Quim Cardona, Billy Rohan. But it was mostly people in older videos [that I looked up to.] Christian Hosoi, Jason Dill, Lennie Kirk, Fred Gall.

How long have you been skating for?

About ten years. Oh, Rob Campbell, too.

You seem like a lone wolf sort of dude, you keep to yourself. Do you skate mostly on your own or with people?

Both. When I come to Tompkins, I skate with everybody. Usually, I like to skate alone at night, and film with Joe Bressler and Peter Sidlauskas. I wake up at night, I feel more alive at night.

What’s your favorite spot?

Tompkins, Washington Square Park, Flushing, the Triangle in Queens, that’s where I learned how to skate.

An Interview With Jake Johnson

Features & Interviews November 25th, 2011 · 9:30 am · 38

Photo by Emilio Cuilan

Sorry this took so long, but here’s an interview with the always talkative Jake Johnson. Some of the answers are long, and took a different turn from the questions, but you can treat it as an open-ended thing. Not having to worry about space is one of the good things about the internet. Read it in two sittings if you have to. Enjoy.

Just to backtrack a little bit…Everyone seems to move to L.A. or New York, why did you move to Pittsburgh?

After I messed my knee up, I just decided to get away for the recovery. In New York, you’re paying for your ability to move everywhere fast, and share space with tons of people. It just wasn’t worth it for me. My ex-girlfriend and my brother lived in Pittsburgh. I was seeing doctors there, I just felt comfortable moving there and hibernating. I think I work better in New York, but there’s a lot of value in having more space and you save a lot of money living out there. I don’t want to be a victim of rent forever.

You’re trying to buy a house?

Eventually, but my rent is really cheap as it is.

Is that where you’d most likely settle at?

I don’t know yet. I just signed another one-year lease there. I actually have a pretty sick skate house out there now, because I live with two young kids, Justin and Zach Funk. We have a mini ramp in our backyard, a whole house to ourselves, and central air.

You think you’re going to stay in Pittsburgh after this next lease runs out?

I do need to move back to New York, but I’m going to be traveling so much this next year. Right now, I’m paying $400 a month to have a whole house and a mini ramp.

Since you’ve been posted out there, do you want to talk about the scene they have in Pittsburgh a little bit? It seems like New York, Philly, etc. are nowhere near as rough as Pittsburgh is spot-wise. How was it adjusting out there?

It’s really small, I adjusted well. There’s One-Up Skateshop, and a crew of guys that skate for that shop. It’s like a dozen core skaters of all ages. There aren’t lot of people out there that are skating for any image, and most of the skaters out there are from very rural areas around the city. They’re just resourceful, country-type people. In New York, there’s a “scene” to everything, and you’ll bump into skaters everywhere. Being a skater puts you into a scene, like a network, night clubs, this and that. Out there, there’s nothing to skating except gnarly rugged street spots and a small skate shop. They drink just as much as people do here [in New York] or anywhere else, but there’s no scene to it. I relate to people from those sorts of areas real well.

An Interview With Black Dave

Features & Interviews November 9th, 2011 · 10:15 am · 11

As we approach the end of the year, the Quartersnacks Rap Desk‘s vote for “Rapper of the Year” is torn between 2 Chainz, Future, and Black Dave. On Monday night, Dave performed at some random lounge in the Financial District (appropriately a block away from C.I.A. Ledge…it wouldn’t be right if it wasn’t next to a skate spot), as an opening act for some members of ASAP Rocky’s crew. This performance may be the tie-breaker that puts Dave ahead of the competition. Torey Goodall claimed that “watching Black Dave perform was like that last scene in The Karate Kid where he kicks everyone’s ass.” Switch Mike equated the event to seeing your own child accomplish something great. Taji Ameen interviewed Dave and was kind enough to send it our way.

Photos and Words by Taji Ameen

So what the hell were you thinking when you decided to dress up in a suit and call yourself The Black Donald Trump?

I have a lot of ideas going on in my head that I’ve been trying to expand on. The whole reason I decided to enter the music world was to release them for people to see and have a good laugh to. I’ve been skateboarding for nine years and it has been a great way to express myself, but with music I can show a bit more of my humor and personality. Being The Black Donald Trump consists of balling out on a budget, missing cabs, going to the chicken spot, drinking 40s, and smoking blunts on your homie’s roof.

Yeah, we have seen Heath Kirchart and Jeremy Klein skate in suits in Birdhouse’s The End, but never Black Donald Trump shredding Tribeca in one. What is the story behind that baller-ass suit?

Well I called myself the Black Donald Trump because I’ve always seen myself as an entrepreneur, which just makes the suit necessary for the video. I needed a fucking wig, but I blew it, and couldn’t find one in time. His crazy hair style wouldn’t work too well while I was skating anyway.

The video kind of reminded me of Harold Hunter raps from old Zoo York videos. I was backing that.

I most definitely look up to Harold Hunter as a New York legend, as a role model in a way. Not only because he was a great skater, but he had a successful career in acting at a young age with his role in Kids, and that’s something I always wanted to be, a well-rounded person who did it all, and had a damn good time while doing it.