Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 116: Tony Hawk

Episode Date: March 9, 2021

Andy runs southbound to find communion with his demons but discovers his true self instead. Mike Gantzer introduces his band DEATHKINGS. And the Man; The Myth; The 900 aerial ICON: Tony Hawk is on the Interview Hour! Listen in to hear the gnarly details of life as a young professional skateboarder and what it means to grind the metaphoric rail of an ever-changing career. Dolav yells at Andy about sports. Nick Gerlach helps close us out. This is the Tony Hawk ep. SickTIGHT. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Shout out to my childhood hero: tonyhawk.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Brian Schwartz Ahri Findling Dolav Cohen Nick Gerlach Arno Bakker

Hey, it's Schwartz. Why am I getting notifications from Amex that my card is being used in Mexico? Whatever you're doing, stop. I don't want to... Use your own card. You're the only other idiot besides Ted Cruz who's going to Mexico in a pandemic. Please, Andy, you're going to give me a heart attack. Can we at least have some fun and do something amazing and have some success before you give me a heart attack, please? Enough is enough. I don't have to leave messages like this for anyone else. Come home and stop using my credit card.

Mr. Andy, this is Hector down at the desk. I charged the credit card for the helicopter tour you asked for. And, uh, I just wanted to tell you that the, the brothel in town doesn't take any, uh, doesn't take cards or American express.

But if you want to go to the bank, I can, I, whatever you want, man, I just want to make sure you have a good time. Call me back. Andy Frasco's World's Saved Podcast.

I'm Andy Frasco. How's our heads? How's our minds? Are we staying out of trouble? Are we letting people know that we are our own person? That's important. I think, you know, we could be individual, but unless we own it ourselves, it's fucking hard.

How hard is it to be yourself all the time? I'm in Mexico right now, actually. I'm in San Miguel, Mexico. It's a Friday night. I left the dinner early. The place that I'm hosting they brought a chef in and um it was nice but my head wasn't there and I was wondering like oh fuck what's going on with me today and um I've been realizing that for me it's important to be in

And for me, it's important to be completely content with how I approach the outside world with what I have in my inside head. And I think that's with a lot of people. And sometimes I'm afraid to be on that outside world, what I am in my inside world. It's kind of fucking me up a little bit because this idea of who are you, we always have to put subcategories into who we are.

Well, maybe we could be everything. We don't need to put ourselves into thinking that we only could be one person. I've been away from my band for a year because everyone is having their relationships and everyone's having time off. I mean, we've been a band for 13 years. We all need time off from ourselves so we could cherish the thing that we love so much. When you do something too much, you forget why you love it. And that was happening to me. So I started doing these comedy shows, started doing more interviews, just starting to try to find myself again. Because when you overdo something, I think you forget why you're doing it in the first place.

I got into entertainment because I just love the way entertainment did to me when I was a kid, when I was feeling sad. It's hard to reciprocate that when you put yourself in the position to make what you cherish a business, people get burnt out from this music industry or this entertainment industry. And now I slowly get it. I'm not saying I'm going to quit or all that stuff. I'm just trying to think about the idea of what makes someone who they are and not putting limitations on who they are. So don't be afraid.

I'm saying this to myself because I am in this, I'm a little drunk, and so I'm trying to get these thoughts. By the way, we have Tony Hawk on the show. I'm really pumped up about that. It was such a great interview. I really loved it,

but let me get back to this. I think the idea that you forget who you are because you're trying to survive. And don't forget that. This is a hard time for everybody. This is a hard

time for your parents, your fucking aunts, your hyperactive friend like me. But through this, don't forget who you are. You know, it's important because this is going to give you this whole fucking quarantine, this whole idea that we can't be the people we are destined to be, don't let that distract you for who you can be after this shit's over. It's stressful. I don't know about y'all, but when I can't be myself, I'm hollow. I can't do that for too long So maybe it is the idea that I miss what I do

And maybe that's why I'm having this conversation That's why I left the party We miss it We miss the camaraderie We miss the idea that we are Exactly who we need to be So through this last year I know we've been in this thing a year.

It sucks. We're going to make it through. We're going to be better people. We're going to be stronger people. And we're going to make sure that whatever we fucking learn from this is fucking heartbreak. You know, a lot of musicians can't play.

They're overthinking. Like myself, I'm doing it too. You're hearing it. Don't forget who you are. It's important. I always tell myself that I'm not a good musician. That I don't deserve this. That I need to like deflect on everything else

because I'm not that type of person that I see, you know. All the fucking jam dudes and like they're studying charts and they're fucking doing fucking, you know, set lists and shit. I'm like, I'm definitely not that person. But I am a musician and I am a songwriter. I just don't approach it that way. Don't look for happiness through other people's lives. Look inside to find happiness for yourself. I'm not just saying that to you.

I'm saying that to myself. We look everywhere else. I think this is why I'm in Mexico. Because I run away. I run away when I'm confused or I'm in an existential crisis. And because of that, I am just distracting myself from trying to talk to the demons that I want to talk to.

And I did it for a year. But, you know, you keep forgetting that there's a soul inside you that needs you. So stay focused on yourself. Be poetic with the love that you have towards yourself and the ideas you have i i'm dreaming of this idea that i could be everything i'm not going to stop until i do that you shouldn't either all right i'll stop ranting for a little bit um shit show this week

um it's been great. Thanks for watching episode two. Fucking Kurt Vile was badass. Everyone is commenting on the comment boards and being badass and I just appreciate all the love. You guys have been super good to me. But episode three is a banger too.

I'm telling you, we got a banging season. You could subscribe to the whole season on no cap shows uh go to go to shitshow.nocapshows.com and um subscribe watch the show you know even if you like the long my longer format shows this i'm really proud of what i did with this shit show and you know from all the comedy to the writing to the interviews. I'm just really proud of it. So if you guys could support that, that'd be fucking tight

because we got Billy Strings on the fucking show. We got Billy. We got Keller Williams doing a sketch. We have our best friends in the whole wide world, Big Something as the musical guest. It's going to be a fun one. And we're introducing some new characters you haven't seen yet on the

show so go see it every thursday um for the next 10 weeks i'm giving you as much content as you can and we're getting podcasts on tuesdays don't get sick of me yet and um speaking of that how you doing with your career a lot of bands out there still trying to figure out how to get through this pandemic, trying to maybe have a brand new band you started and you don't know how to get out of your hometown and play gigs elsewhere. I think you should go and check out this website, Repsy.com. It's like an online booking agency. You could set up a cool profile where buyers and venues and festival bookers, they're all going to be looking in that region at Repsy to see if they want to book your band. I mean, it's worth a shot.

I remember when I was a fucking kid, booking my band for fucking seven years straight. I wish I had a website like this. So go check out Repsy.com and sign up your band. It's worth a shot. Mine as well. All right, guys. Enjoy Tony Hawk. And I hope you stay healthy out there. We all go a little nutty. Don't forget who you are. Oh, shit. What up, world? It's your boy, Uncle Mike Ganser here. And I am stoked,

fired up, straight up honored to be on Andy Frasco's world-saving podcast, debuting a brand new project, a brand new punk trio, Death Kings. Let me introduce the members to you because you know these guys, you love these guys. We got Mikey Ox Caruba, the drummer for the funk powerhouse Turquoise on drums. We got Ryan Little King Stasek from Umphrey's motherfucking McGee holding down the bass. And we've got myself, Uncle Mike Muerto-Ganser playing guitar and vocals on this project.

And again, we are death kings. Shout out to our boy Andy Frasco for having us on the podcast and giving us an outlet to debut this new music. Shout out to Tony Hawk, the icon Tony Hawk, who for me, I can't overstate his influence on my life. I grew up skateboarding. I'm still a skateboarder to this day. Watching him land the 900 live on TV

was like the same thing as watching the fucking moon landing or something. And incidentally, all the music on his video games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, is the music that most influenced this project. So this is some full circle shit right here. So again, we're Death Kings. The track is Fight.

Check this shit out. Much love, y'all. You chose a fake motherfucker to get with, not a real man. I ain't the one. Bye! Sonic's turning, world is burning, it's all coming down People screaming, insides bleeding, you can't stop it now Fight each other, reach like hell We all know this can't end well Fight for nothing, show that beat and tell In the bloody times, I'm what he knows

In bed with who? Fuck your power, world's gone sour Now your time is through On your knees, you're begging please But it's too late by now Beaten, senseless and defenseless Time to kill the cow Fight each other, rage like hell We all know this can't end well

Fight for nothing, show that we turned down It's really sad to think of myself When I was born and I was a baby We're friends and my mom will fit in the end I'm pretty hard to president No! It's really starting to pain my soul It's pouring out in front of me We're friends in my own family I'm putting on a good fight today We'll finish you This is your own mess now For he has a friend like everybody in my whole family Wow. The GOAT is on the World Saving Podcast. Tony Hawk, how are you, buddy?

Thanks, man. How are you? I'm doing good, man. I'm looking forward to this conversation and thanks for being part of the show. How's it going? Where are you at right now? being part of the show. How's it going? Where are you at right now? I'm at my house in San Diego. And I've just kind of been here for the most part. I'm either here or at my ramp, which is about 15 minutes away. It's been weird to be in one place. I travel usually half the year. place. I travel usually half the year. Making it work, though. How is that in your head? You're a proactive type of dude.

How is quarantine treating your headspace? I have enjoyed that I get to be closer to my family and spend extended periods of time with them. be closer to my family and spend in extended periods of time with them um it's uh and it made me realize that maybe i don't have to travel all the time for my job um because uh been able to figure out ways to do it without being in different places and you know live stream and video content things like that so i think that's taught me that um all of this constant motion is not necessary but uh you know it's challenged super hard for everyone and everything is just we're a year you know it's been a year i know it's fucking crazy dude it's crazy yeah i i travel for my living i'm in a music i'm a musician and i i travel 10 months a year too i've been doing that forever and to take a stop from the things you love you

know i don't know if moving is something you need in your life but like for me it was it it's it's got to be a hard transition yeah i i get musicians have got to be hit some of the hardest yeah because that that is that is literally your livelihood is is is being on tour and playing gigs and um i know some people have figured out ways to to uh subsidize that but not very many and you know the whole the whole live stream thing is it's just not the same. Yeah. Is it hard for you to do these live streams and shit? Um, I've enjoyed yes and no.

I've enjoyed the ones that we've done because there usually has been a theme to it. Like I did one, um, a few months ago, it was, it was for Airbnb because they were a sponsor for the Olympics. And they wanted to create programming because the Olympics weren't happening. Because skateboarding is going to be in the Olympics. That's fucking awesome. Yeah, it's crazy. How does that make you feel? Like something you've worked on and you've built this community and this sport.

And I think you're one of the spokespersons for this sport. How does it feel to make it finally make the Olympics? I have mixed feelings about it only because I feel like they hold that merit so highly that it's like, oh, you guys are lucky to be here. And at some point it's like, you know what? Skateboarding has come so far in the last 40 years or so 50 years that that you're more lucky that we're gonna be in your

summer games let's fucking go because you finally have a cool factor yeah in your summer games you know what i mean like you're gonna get youth tuning in because you have skateboarding and so there's a little bit of that attitude from my behalf that's more cavalier like you know you need us more than we need you but at the same time it's going to open up skateboarding to a huge audience to ones that have never seen it before and ones that will appreciate it going forward and countries that will suddenly support skateboarding and provide facilities. So I realize it's a good thing overall, but, but you know what I, there's, there's a part of me that

still has that attitude of, of the skater that when I started skating, skating was like the antithesis to sports and it was the furthest thing from cool you could do. So I still have a little bit of that attitude. It's like, whatever, we're still doing this. We got this. Talk that shit, Tony.

Let's go. Let's get a big dog. That's what I'm talking about. You know, but it's so true. I mean, like I hate people when they get on that high horse about like something that's grown a community.

I mean, this is a sport that is so important to youth and it's so important to growing your adolescence, you know, it's a, it's a way to get away kind of like music. It's, I feel that it's, it's very, uh, parallel, you know, so talk to me about your first time you heard about skateboarding or give me, give me, give me some inside scoop about young Tony. Um, I don't remember when I first heard about it. I know that it was, it was like mid late seventies and skateboarding was on a,

it was sort of on the rise of popularity in terms of being a fad. And, you know, largely because of the dog town Z boys era and that whole movement of people skating pools. And, and and you know largely because of the Dogtown Z-Boys era and that whole movement of people skating pools and and you know you saw skateboarding on tv a little bit and so that's that was my introduction to it but mostly it came from my brother my older brother was a surfer he's 13 years older than me and he started skating because it was an extension of surfing so he had these skateboards lying around and he would cruise and you know he really did years older than me. And he started skating because it was an extension of surfing. So he

had these skateboards lying around and he would cruise and, you know, he really did very much skate like he surfed. It was more about the carving and the motion and looking cool. And one day I just picked up one of his old boards and asked if I could ride it. And I rode it down the driveway and I kept yelling, how do I turn? How do I turn? And then I ran into a fence and I got splinters in my fingers. And I picked up the board and turned it around. And then I eventually figured it out because some of my friends were doing it too. We were all nine or 10 years old. So I don't know. It didn't feel like it didn't feel like it was some great epiphany for me. It was just more that, Oh, this is a new thing I can do with my friends. And it's a mode of transportation. And then not long after I started skating, I went to a skate

park for the first time and I saw people flying around. And that's when when that's when it clicked where I saw these people flying in and out of bowls and over things and I was like how do I do that I want to fly that's that's all I care about now were you always fearless um yeah I think so to a, to a fault because I would get hurt a lot and might like, I was always, you know, I would join the, the team sports with kids way bigger than me, way more, way more, way stronger than me and just go for it. And, you know, like broken fingers and things like that. And then, um, uh, I always wanted to, you know, I want to hit the trampoline and do the flips and do the high dives and stuff like that. I don't know if I was fearless, but I was definitely liked to do the daredevil stuff. I mean,

Evel Knievel was my first hero. Tell me about it. Why was he your hero? Cause he would just go for the impossible. He would envision something and then make it happen, even if he wasn't sure of the outcome. And I love that. I mean, as a kid in the 70s, that was amazing. And we didn't care if he made it or not. We just were happy that he went for it. I heard you're very hyper.

And with that being said, are you also competitive? Um, yeah, I think that I, I definitely would have been, you know, I don't know how old you are, but in the seventies, you know, everyone was diagnosed as hyperactive. I'm hyperactive, but there was no cure for that. It was almost like a badge of honor. Like I'm hyperactive. And so, you know, it was more like nowadays they'd have some very specific diagnosis for whatever that was, but I had a lot of energy for sure. And I think that what pulled me out of all that was that I was never satisfied with my performance, no matter how, how I did,

no matter how far I went. And, and I think that that's what carried me through and kept me motivated was like, I know that I'm capable of doing more than this. I know I'm capable of doing better than this. And I'm going to keep figuring this out until I get to that point of, it's not perfection,

but, but at least of, of something that feels accomplished. And so through those years, um, I played baseball and basketball and I did pretty good, but I never felt like I was doing that well. And yes, I was competitive, but it was more that I didn't like that, that I had to rely on the team for my success. And I didn't like that I had to rely on the team for my success. And I didn't like that the team was relying on me for their success. And, you know, I don't want to, I'm not trying to just bash team sports,

but it just didn't, it didn't fit for how I, how I was more into like setting my own goals and skateboarding fit right into that mode. Cause it was like, I can set my own challenge. I can figure it out on my own terms in my own goals and skateboarding fit right into that mode. Cause it was like, I can set my own challenge. I can figure it out on my own terms in my own time and feel that sense of accomplishment, even if it wasn't appreciated by anyone else. I didn't, that, that didn't matter to me, but, but so it was like competitive. I was competitive with myself. Yes. So with the, with that idea, like what was your childhood like were you was it never good enough were you never good enough for your parents or what was that like um it wasn't that no they

were happy with what i was they were just happy that i found some some place to exert my energy my hyperactivity you know they were they were happy that I wasn't in their hair. Cause, cause when I was home, I was always just like, I want to do this. I want to go to the arcade. I want to, you know, I want to, I want to ride here. I want to be like, my friends are coming over. And it was always just nonstop. And, and I was the youngest of four kids by the time I was born, my parents were, were the age of grandparents and, and I was a surprise. And so they were just exhausted. And so when I found skating and they were supportive and it was, you know what I mean? It wasn't like they were, they were harsh on me. If anything, they were just, you know, it was

seventies. They just let me go. Yeah. And at that point, like when you're, I'm a surprise too. My, my parents, my sisters are eight and seven years older than me. And, you know, and my parents are a little older. And at that point it was just like, just let him do whatever the fuck he wants. Just don't get in trouble. You know, that was it. Yeah. No.

And, and I, and I think that they had already been through enough challenges with my siblings because they were kids of the sixties and seventies. And so by the time I came along, you know, it was just like they've already been through all of it. And they were very supportive of my skating. So that was very lucky because most of my friends' parents didn't want them skating. They thought skating was either a bad influence

or too dangerous or no future. And my parents saw how it finally gave me a sense of self and they were all for it. That's beautiful. Did you always feel like there was a future in skating, even at that young of age? I was too young to care about if it was going to be a job or not there was that was never in the cards and even the best skaters at the time weren't making a living at it yeah i mean i knew them because i was hardcore into the scene but i also knew that that you know they were not superstar athletes of any sense um in terms of how other people saw them or that they could even make a living doing it into their adult life. So that was never the goal or the dream for me

and never something I thought was possible. So it was, you know, I mean, I literally turned pro at skating when I was 14. Yeah, it's fucking crazy. And, but, but in your eyes, that's some great accomplishment for me. It was, it was filling out an entry form of a competition. And instead of taking the amateur box, I took the pro box. That was it.

It was easy to become pro like that. You just, that was it. Yeah. Fake it till you make it voila you're pro well that's I mean that's beautiful like what what was the first moment you felt like did someone talk to you did someone say damn you you have a chance at this or like what do you remember your first moment of like kind of yeah I am a fucking pro. Um, I think it was the time when I felt like someone really believed in me was, was when I first got approached by Stacy Peralta, who at the time put together one of the most legendary skate teams, the Bones Brigade, and he was already forming that team he was already like the the bones brigade

was already a thing and he was very um picky about who was on there and i remember him coming up to me at one of the events i was sponsored by dogtown at the time and when i say sponsored that means like i would get a free skateboard once in a while from dogtown, and he came up to me at one of the events. He's like, Hey, how was Dogtown treating you? And I was frozen. Like, why would Stacey Peralta be asking me about Dogtown? And I was too naive to understand that he was even, you know, that he was even courting you courting me. Yeah. And then, um, it was but i did feel a sense of excitement like holy shit stacy prolton knows who i am and and so that was probably the first time i ever felt like i must be doing something right because this guy who is the the mastermind of one of the best teams

no even i'm even on his radar and then then about six months later, he called me. I mean, you know, it was back like, Stacy Peralta's calling long distance. What did he say to you in that phone call? And he called me and he said, hey, Tony, I heard that Dogtown went out of business. And I was like, they did? Okay.

And you're fucking 14? was 14 yeah and and and i i didn't know no one had formally told me that they went out of business and the only reason i i had an idea that that was happening was because um i didn't get any skateboards for the last month or two man you didn't even care you just wanted to skate yeah for sure and so the crazy part about that was i was also being and like i said i was really naive i was also being courted by gns so gns gave me a skateboard and they said hey why don't you ride this and see what you think of it and i was just just such a little kid, like, okay, I'll ride your GNS skateboard. Like I didn't think that this meant I was going to be contractually obligated or anything.

And then Stacy said, why don't you come up to Marina Del Rey? And Marina Del Rey at the time was the epicenter of the coolest of the cool skate, the hardcore. That was the Dogtown Park, right? Yeah. And I'm, I'm this 14-old scrawny kid from San Diego. And he's like, why don't you come up to Marina Del Rey and we'll talk about maybe putting you on the team,

on the Bones Brigade. And so my brother drove me up to Marina and I basically had this sort of tryout with Stacy at the skate park in Marina del Rey, which at the time was not crowded. And I remember, I think it was around then, I learned to do a caballero, which was probably one of the most progressive tricks at the time.

And the only person who could do it was Steve Caballero who invented it. And I learned it there at Marina keyhole while Stacy was watching. And that was pretty much it. I was on the team. Do you think, do you like the idea of a father figure? Do you think Stacy was one, one of those in your life? Um, no, I mean, my dad was, was, he was a devoted father he was there you know he wasn't the most affectionate but but he was very very supportive especially of my career so um i had a father figure i think stacy was more of a mentor to guide me through making a career out of it because he had already done that what and like he he had a

career as a skater he was a pro skater i mean he was on he was on charlie's angels you know like and he was in commercials and stuff he had his own signature model and then he left his sponsor to go be behind the scenes at Powell Peralta, like combined forces with George Powell who created Bones Wheels. And then he decided that he was going to curate his own team. And so he knew at the very least the path to becoming a pro and how to handle yourself as a pro skater. And so in that sense he was my mentor because he told like he was the one i would be at a contest or a big competition you know

somewhere i don't know in georgia or something i'm freaked out because like i never really even left san diego as a kid and i'm in a new state i'm'm, you know, I'm underage. I'm not with my parents and some kid would come up next to me and he's got my signature skateboard. Right. And I'm all right. I don't even feel comfortable in my own skin. And then there's this kid who I didn't realize at the time is looking up to me, you know, wanting to connect. And so I just looked like I was standoffish because I didn't really even understand how to handle that situation. And finally, Stacey said, hey, man, I want to go say hi to him. Go talk to that kid. He's got your skateboard.

And that's all I needed. You know, I needed someone to put it in that perspective. And then it was like, oh, what's up, man? How's it going? Hey, man, how's it going? Dude, I saw you at this and that. You learned air walks, you know? And it was just like, and just, I mean, he taught me many other situations like that, like how to handle it on the situations. But in that one moment, I realized like,

oh, you actually have fans. Yeah. And you should engage with them. It's fucking beautiful because like, when you say you're insecure in your own skin, what was making you insecure? Like, what were these ideas that you were uncomfortable with? It was because of my experience at that time

before skating was that I was the scrawny kid i looked younger than my age i you know in our day we got picked on yeah what they would say is bullying now but you know i got picked on a lot um when i was in when i was in eighth grade my my school was eighth through 12th grade. And I looked like I was in sixth grade. Holy shit. So I looked like a child going to high school. And I just got hassled all the time. And so that was my experience. And so I never thought that someone was ever going to look at me

with respect or with admiration. It was more like, oh shit, here they come to pick on me, you know? And then when I, when I found skateboarding, I kind of experienced the same type of vibe because at the same time I was, I was younger than most of the other skaters. I was scrawnier than them and my style was more about tricks. And so they called me a circus skater. That offend you. And so, um, at first, but then I had a crew that I skated with that were more my age and, and of the same kind of vibe. And we all were just loving learning tricks. And so at some point I didn't really care anymore, but, but it was hard. It was hard to read that about yourself because skateboarding was like,

it was removed from the mainstream. It was, you know what I mean? You, you, you identified yourself as a skater. You live in this little, in this little click that you loved because it was so progressive and it was so cool. And then I was an outcast in that little bubble. And so group no i just mean like of skaters because the skaters are making fun of me for my style and it was like fuck i just can't fit in um but like i said i found a couple friends that that were into the same type of type of skating type of vibe and and i just hung on to them and and off we went and at some point

our type of skating became the the type of skating people wanted to do that's so yeah that's fucking insane so it's it's kind of man it's so parallel with music like when when you want to be an original band you're going to get shitted on and the idea of individuality, it's so funny how the idea of individuality is at first, like, like shoot upon, you know, when that's the goal in life is to be individual, right? Yeah. And also when you choose to, in those days, if you chose to skate, you were, you were already choosing a life of separating yourself from what people think is cool and what people accept as normal. So when you're in that world, you've got to have some sense of confidence and some sense of individuality because you've chosen that path. And then when I chose that path,

I was shunned from that world because of, like I said, because of my style, but, but I wasn't the only one, you know, and, and it really was more, it's sort of, my dad used to call it, it was the changing of the guard, you know, because the old school skaters, like their, their style of skating was not as progressive. Um, and they were still awesome and they were pioneers in their own right, but they couldn't do the big aerials. They couldn't do the acrobats, the acrobatics that started to come along with skating or the board maneuvers. And so they got left behind in terms of competition. So tell me about your first couple of competitions. How'd you do? How'd you feel? Were you getting your ass kicked or you were just kicking ass right away?

Uh, no. Well, in, in the beginning it was painful in the beginning. Like I, in the beginning I learned that no matter how much I think that I've got something wired or that I take it for granted, I couldn't do it under pressure. Um, which was a hard lesson to learn that like at that time, it was just more like, I didn't, I got my, I let the nerves get to me. Um, and so I had to figure out how to block out that element and figure out a strategy. And, and, you know, you're coming from a world of skateboarding that everything is counterculture. So strategy should not play into what you're going to do. But I had to figure that out through those years.

And eventually I did. You know, like I said, I turned pro when I was 14 because I had reached the top of the amateur ranks. So I learned all that very quickly. But my first few competitions, I remember, I do remember my first competition as an, whatever whatever as an unsponsored amateur as just some kid with a skateboard and I uh I remember falling on a trick that I had dialed like every time um and I went up to you know this is skateboard competition at the time felt like like a disorganized little league event and so you had to go figure out like what what heat am i in when when do i skate and no one really

has the right answer so you just have to hover around the bowl until they call your name um and then when i finally skated whatever i knew i didn't skate well and i went up to the counter where they were giving out their results and stuff. And I said, can you tell me what place I got? And this woman's like, oh, sure, honey. What division are you in? So I don't know, I'm 12 and under, unsponsored. And she finds that sheet of paper and I see her looking

and she looks through all the names and then she goes to the next sheet of paper and she looks through all the names and then she goes to the next sheet of paper and she looks through all the names and she's like oh honey I'm sorry you know you didn't do very well and so I had to look over kind of peer onto the sheet to realize I got second to last place oh fuck um but at the same time it was more like I don't know what I expected. Um, but it just, yeah, it was crushing, but I needed, you know, I needed to experience that to, to get a dose of reality and to realize that you've got to figure out how to, how to skate better in competition. How, how important is defeat in life?

Um, well, I think it's important just in terms of it one teaching you a lesson to a sense of humility and three to to know that you can't overcome um i think that those you know that that as crushing as all those experiences were to me they only made me more resolved to to get better and to to prove myself who are you proving yourself to yourself or others uh well i think at the time others for sure at the time it was more like you know not not to the competition in the competition and to to me to do better in competition, that was to prove it to myself, but in terms of learning tricks and getting my stuff kind of out there, um, that was to prove to others. Cause like I said, my style was ridiculed so harshly that it was just like, ah,

like I think this stuff is hard and I think it's cool. What, how, why, why, why is it, do you think it's so lame? Um, and as I developed my style and as I got stronger and as my tricks got harder, it was sort of undeniable that these were progressive. Yeah. You think, uh, you know, being progressive in life is going to have those downfalls with misunderstanding? Yeah, I think so. Especially if you're, if you're trying something new, um, and if you're trying something that hasn't been done or hasn't been understood or accepted, then, then yeah. And, and it wasn't like I was fighting for acceptance. It was just more that I knew that what I was doing,

I really enjoyed it. And that was enough. How many times did you lose until you won your first competition? I would say within the first year of competing is when I finally started to do okay. And that's when I made the, um, I made my park team. So I was skating for my, my local skate park Oasis, um, which felt pretty cool. Like I still have my Oasis team shirt. Holy shit.

Yeah. Um, and so, but what I realized then was that, okay, I figured out how to skate in competition, but mostly at my home park, when I'm out at a place where I don't feel comfortable at a different skate park, I was not doing well. And so that taught me that I've got to go practice other terrain that I'm not comfortable with and to figure out how to do these tricks in other places. And so each one of those, each one of those hardships were, were things that I had to learn and, and things that, that helped me in getting more well-rounded in in being more versatile and so by the end of my third year of competition is when i reached the top of the amateur ranks

fucking sick so were you a bit did you understand business when you're a kid or like who was like kind of managing your career? Like who was like, so you wouldn't get fucked by anybody. Stacey, Stacey Peralta was, was the one that I put my trust into because he had been through it. So at the very least he's looking out for the skaters. And at some point everything was, and at some point everything was everything got kind of crazy in terms of the the amount of money we were making the amount of attention we were getting and so then we had a more sense of self importance than probably we should have and it was like well we're doing that we should be getting

this and we should be getting that and at some some point, Stacy, you know, it came. There was there was definitely some friction because he had to answer to the corporate side of things. He had to answer to the company. He had to answer to people who were on the phone all day trying to sell our skateboards to trying to support their family and trying to justify to them how could these kids be getting ten thousand dollar checks a month oh fuck and you know and to us what's that and you're like we fucking deserve it we're we're putting it out yeah well wait what i mean at some point you know you start taking that for granted when you're 17 yeah and you don't have any sense of reality yeah I mean, at some point, you know, you start taking that for granted when you're 17. Yeah.

And you don't have any sense of reality. Yeah. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Sports with Dolab. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's Sports with Don't Love.

Woo-woo! This week we're going to be talking some NBA. Let's go! That's right. We made it to the halfway point of the season. And guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Utah Jazz, number one in the fucking league. I told you, motherfucker.

2021's our fucking year. Number one in the west, number one in the league, best defense, best three-point fucking team, fucking number one, bitches, fucking destroyed the Lakers a couple weeks ago, won't even fucking talk about it, because he got fucking embarrassed, fuck you, Frasco, and my fucking fantasy team, we're number one in the fucking jam band league. Overall 16 fucking dumbass motherfucking jam band motherfuckers. That's right. Fuck you, Taz. Fuck you, Jack Brown.

You little bitch. Fuck you, Gerlach. Fuck all the Knicks in that league. Except Big Dick Nick from Big Something. That's right. Fucking love that guy. It's Sports with Dola. Fuck off, frasco

you think getting famous young like that like how did that affect your personality were you a dick or were you good guy or what um probably i probably uh was a bit off-putting in those in those heydays like 17 18 because like I said you know we thought we were on top of the world we were invincible we're making tons of money and we're traveling you know we had fans and and all of the excess and so for sure that could come off as pompous and probably i i went through a time where you know i thought that i was sort of above the not above the law but just above everything else and so um i think it was it was the time when things took and that was very short-lived like those years maybe we had two or three years of riding high and things came crashing down very quickly.

What happened? Skateboarding. Skateboarding just went, you know, it was cyclical. So it went through another cycle of popularity. It started to drop. Skate parks were closing because of insurance. And skateboards were not selling anymore. And I was, I was, uh, 20, let's see,

I was 23 with my first child on the way to mortgages. And all of a sudden my income was dropping by half every month. And that was when I got a taste of reality. And that was when I think that I found a more, a better sense of self. You know what I mean? Where you're, you're not the shit anymore. And you got it. You, you have, you have a family to provide for and get your shit together. you have a family to provide for and get your shit together. So what was the next move then? If like in your game plan in your head, all right, I'm not making money right now. What is the,

what is the next game plan for the next three years? Did you have like a five-year plan or did you? I was doing whatever I was doing, whatever I could to, to, I was, I was, you know, kind of living hand to mouth, um, in terms of trying to pay the rent pay the mortgage i um borrowed money from my parents to buy an editing system um which at the time was it was already outdated when i got it so i bought i bought a three-quarter deck editing bay uh-huh um i don't know if you know a three-quarter decade but that was like before even beta sp yeah yeah johnny tapes were this thick and and god i started doing editing for other skate companies and that's what i was doing and and that that paid the rent for a little while. Um, and then I started, it was weird because like I said,

I was 23, 24. Um, I was a vert skater, vert skating. Wasn't cool anymore. You know, everything was about street skating. So I, it was very much like, well, your, your career is over. So you got to move behind the scenes. And so that's kind of what I did was, was, like I said, I was editing video. I started doing consulting consulting like i consulted on a couple commercials but i was i it was like i was too old for to be cast in the commercials because they wanted skateboarding and skateboarding was associated with like tweens yeah so they would hire me to consult like, what is possible? Who should we hire for the commercial? And can you build a ramp that can get a kid in the air right here so we can go through

the frame? And that's what I did. Did you, did that, how'd that take a blow on your ego? I mean, you knew you were the greatest. I didn't really, you know, like I said, it it wasn't i didn't think in those terms at all you're just survival or that it was survival yeah and it wasn't like i said vert skating was no one cared they used to they used to say that um if you put a vert what was it if you put vert skating in a in a skate video at the time, then people would hit the vert button, which means they would fast forward.

So there's actually a podcast right now called the vert button. Oh my God. So when did it start getting popping? You were still skating though, right? You didn't give up. I was skating a lot. Yeah. I was lucky that I lived in Southern California. There were still a couple of vert ramps around. So I was still skating cause I loved it a lot. Yeah. I was lucky that I lived in Southern California. There were still a couple of vert ramps around, so I was still skating cause I loved it. Right. And I was still learning tricks and creating new tricks because that's how I really, that's, that's how I got off. So, um,

but it was just to know audience and to know there was no financial, um, there was no, there was nothing financial about doing that like i was not going to make money because i was creating new tricks but i couldn't quit and so what i did was um when finally things started drying up in every sense i sold my house um, the second one that I had bought, that I actually bought to build ramps on the property. I sold my house and took that money, the very slim profit that I made from it, and I started a skateboard company of my own. Okay, so now we're getting, okay. So you started your own skateboarding company. Um, were you making dough in the beginning? Like you, you still had a name, right? Or no, I had, yeah, I had a name and I had a, I put together one of the best teams at the

time. So we had some, we definitely had some momentum with our company because it was like, Oh, do you know that, you know, Willie Santos skates for them and Jeremy Klein and Ocean Howell and Steve Barron. And so we had this insane skate team that was very progressive at the time, but skateboarding and skateboards just weren't selling. So it made it, and skateboard is just what weren't selling. So it made it,

it made it really hard to be, have a skate company, but my partner and I, um, pair Wielander, who also put his savings into this brand, we just took the minimal salary. We had one sales guy. Um, and we had a, well, i was the skate team i was doing marketing team management um travel tour like i was the tour manager i was you know i was i was everything else other than sales um and uh we survived on a minimal salary probably for the first three or four years of being a brand. But we made it work. And so in my, as far as I was concerned, we were living the dream. After four years, what happened that vert got popular again or skateboarding got popular again?

There were a few different things. One thing is that the reason that we started Birdhouse, which Birdhouse is my brand, all this stuff behind me, we're coming up on 30 years. Let's fucking go. Let's go. Let's go, Tony. Yes, I'll take that applause.

Thank you. I'll take that fabricated applause. It's quarantine, baby. take that applause. Thank you. I'll take that fabricated applause. It's quarantine, baby. So yeah, exactly. So we felt like skateboarding was going to come back around in its cyclical form again, just because it had every seven or eight years, but it took longer than we had hoped. And somewhere around 95, you felt like there was some energy back in skating. Skating had gone through a whole evolution of street.

And so it emerged into this new form of skating that, that involves the urban landscape. And so it was like rails, benches, stairs, everything goes because we didn't have any skate parks. So we learned how to skate, you know, downtown areas. And that combined with X Games. X Games started in 95. Luckily, they had vert as a discipline. So I was right in the mix because I had never quit and never slowed down.

And then I did really well in all the vert events through those years. And so I think that because people knew my name from the 80s, and now a new generation was recognizing my name because of how well I was doing X Games, or their parents knew who I was in the 80s, that was a big boost for our brand. And that's why Birdhouse started being profitable.

It's pretty amazing because you got into X Games. You started killing it, right? Were you ever bad in the first couple years? No, I did well. I did well through all those years, yeah. You're going through this and then in your head did you feel

like you're the fucking old guy yeah for sure so how'd that make you feel like a competitor i didn't care i was stoked i was stoked that i was just stoked that i still got to skate or that that people even appreciated what i was doing again yeah. I didn't feel old in the sense that my physical abilities were fading. Cause I did feel like I was still getting much better and much stronger on my skateboard. It was just that there was the stigma attached to skating in my day. That was like, you can skate until you reach an age of responsibility and then you got to

get a job. Yeah. That's that is the normal cycle of life here. And so when suddenly i started making good you know decent living into my later 20s i was all into it you know but but it was it was a weird it was it was a weird paradox for people because it was like how could you be skating at this age yeah it's like well i because i have the opportunity to um and i think it's funny like when i um you know a lot of people

associate sort of my i don't know i i guess my tipping point of of becoming more of a mainstream name was when I did the first 900 at the X Games in 1999. I was 31 then. Holy fuck. That's what also I want to talk about, aging. Because I think there's got to be this philosophy about aging where if you're doing what you love you age uh less um i think so but also just that what i do is is very active and strenuous so that's kept me in shape for sure so why did why did you decide on the 900 was that what's that what was like why was the dream the 900 or why does that why did why are you popular for that well in terms of skateboarding um and and aerial tricks that was the progression of spinning it was something that had happened all through the years right so when i told you about the cavallerio that was one of the first 360 aerials so that was around 81 82 um and then uh 540 was done by mike mcgill in 1984

um and that changed sort of the landscape of whoa these guys can do actual flips in the air. And then in 1985, I created 720, which is two spins in the air, right? So that progression happened very quickly. Over the course of five years, we went from 360, 540 to 720. Obviously, the next stage in that would be a 900, which I ended up trying a few years later and just couldn't figure out the landing of it. And so I tried 900s for almost 10 years up to that point. Did you ever eat? Often not. Hard? Like what was the hardest you ate? Yeah. I, I broke my rib. Um, I really, I really threw out my back one time to the point where like I could, I had to go to a chiropractor for, uh, six weeks or so. Um, and so, and there were a few other people in the,

in the vertical spectrum that were trying it too through, through those later years. So I would say in the years 94 to 98, there was an active collective chase to do a 900. And, um, and there had been no trick like that. There had been no trick that, that there was a, there was a collective effort to try to make happen and no one could figure it out. So, you know, if you, if you look at skateboarding, it was like, there's kickflips and there's all these, and there's, and there's all these different variations of tricks but they all get figured out in a in a relatively short time and in 900 it was it was kind of like the 900 saluted us all yeah and then when i when i finally made it it was right there during the x games and it was actually during the live broadcast and i think that my, you know, now that I have some perspective on it, I think it

was more that, that it showed, especially kids that perseverance can pay off and determination. And what they saw in that moment was someone focused on a goal and something that seemed impossible yet little by little they figured it out and and finally was successful and i think that that transcended just skating um but it definitely inspired a bunch of kids to try to learn how to skate i mean and i know it inspired a bunch of musicians to get better at their craft too because i have have a buddy, Mike Ganser, he's a Buffalo kid. He was a skater his whole life. You're his biggest influence. And from, he told me this from the X games made him want to play guitar better, made him want to be a better shredder, you know, listen to be meticulous about

like improving on your craft. And like, I, cause I was, I watched that live. I'm, I'm, I'm 33. So it was a 90, 98. I was probably 13 or something, but like it took you three or four times to try it. Right. Uh, it actually took, it took about, I think 10 or 11 tries, but I guess I'm telling you this because I have this sort of this better perspective on it now with all this time. But at, this sort of this better perspective on it now with all this time but at during that time that was not a lot of tries for a trick really you know what i mean like we're used to trying tricks for hours 50 60 attempts until you're just beat up and exhausted yeah and so it for me when i when that happened it was super cool i mean you know know, I was stoked just finally doing 900. I really didn't think, I had reached the time limit before that of the event.

So I didn't think it counted towards the competition. I didn't really care. I didn't know it went out on the air. Like I thought they just cut the feed. And so for me, it was just like, oh, I finally did it. And it was weird to think that that was another, like when I learned the seven twenties, I was on a backyard ramp in a little town outside of Stockholm, Sweden with three people watching me. Right. So, so to, to, to compare that to

14 years later, it's live on ESn and there's a home audience that are watching it is just absurd to me so i i didn't i didn't think of it in grandiose terms it was more like oh sweet i finally did a 900 and um a lot of the skate community congratulated me they're just like oh sick yeah we someone finally did it that was that was kind of the attitude. Um, and then I would say within that first week, I realized how many people had seen it and had appreciated it. Do you think that changed your life? Um, I think that, that in combination with our video game release later that year,

that's what changed my life. Yeah. So tell me about that. So that was already in the mix before this. Sure. Yeah. I mean, that take you to, yeah, there's, there's plenty of, there's plenty of conspiracy theories that like I plan to do 900 that day and then release a video game three months later. I wish that I was that methodical with my life. That'd be amazing. No, we had been working on the game for a couple years so why why why the funny thing is is that there was i i've told the story before but uh there are a few special

tricks in the game i clearly was not going to put a 900 in the game because i hadn't done it yet so that was that was off the table and then I knew that when the X Games happened and when I did do a 900 finally, we were in the very last stages of the game. It was about to be submitted to Sony and to the console manufacturers. And I emailed Neversoft, who was developing the game, and I said, hey, you guys, I did 900 last night.

You should try to probably get that in the game because i think people are going to expect it now yeah and i'll never forget the email i got was from the president of never soft and he's like way ahead of you you fucking rule dude that is so tell me about this idea was this your idea to did you to start a skateboarding video game? Because I mean, it's pretty generational. I wanted to work on a game. I had actually been pitching, doing a skate game with a PC developer who had a very crude mock-up of a skater kind of going in and out of pools. Yeah. Um, but I didn't have some great plan. I just, he asked me if I want to do a game and if I wanted to go pitch this with them and I was like, yeah, skateboard game. Awesome. Let's go. Yeah. Um, and then he gave up cause, um, we just got a lot of pushback from, um, the companies saying that skateboarding isn't popular. Why would a skateboard game be popular? You know, we're not going to put our resources into this. And so he gave up. But because I had

already sort of been through that, that machine of pitching the game, my name was already in the mix for these other companies and Activision, who was a publisher of games said, Hey, we are working on a skateboard game. We heard that you were pitching a skateboard game. We'd like you to come see what we're working on. And so I went up to their offices and they had, they basically a basic engine of a skateboarding game but the character was uh

was bruce willis because they had just worked on a game where they licensed the image of bruce willis called apocalypse so it was bruce willis on a skateboard with a gun strapped to his back um going through this sort of desert landscape and but, but it had tricks like you, and it was intuitive. So when you, you would skate, you would actually like hit a button and do a kickflip, hit a button to do an Ollie. He would do hit a button, do a grab. And, and immediately I felt like, oh, this is it. This is, this is what we were trying to do in the first place. um and so i signed up to help them um you know because i obviously i could guide them through how to make it authentic with in terms of tricks in terms of locations bringing on new skaters um bringing in the culture of skateboarding including music. And so I signed up right away and, and the game was released in that,

what was it? September of 99. It's pretty amazing. So did, did they, did you believe in the game at first or you, you, you felt like this is,

this is the right partnership right away. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. But sure but but also i i had i had already heard so many people in the video game industry say skateboarding is not popular that i only hoped that skaters would appreciate the game that was it that was the goal yeah you know with my input i was like okay if skater sees this, they're going to be inspired to go buy a PlayStation. Yeah. Like for me, that was the mark of success. And then within, God was within like the first few months that there was this buzz going

around that I understood it was much bigger than anything we'd ever imagined. When you first saw that royalty check, you're like, what the fuck? It wasn't, the royalty checks weren't huge at first, but the buzz of the game and the reviews were so great that they immediately signed on to do a sequel and they offered me a buyout of future royalties. That's when I knew things were rolling. Is that the most money you ever made? Well, it's the most money anyone's offered me at one time.

Yeah, at one time. That's what I mean. Then, yeah. So they offered me half a million dollars to not get royalties going forward. Just a lump sum right then and there. Did you regret that or did you take that deal or no? I didn't take it. Yeah. Fuck. Yeah. Good job. And, and it's crazy. Like at the time I wasn't like, I wasn't rich by any means, you know, I, I definitely was living comfortably. I was making money on doing other things, birdhouse competition, earnings, sponsorships and whatnot. on doing other things, birdhouse, competition earnings,

sponsorships and whatnot. And I had just bought a new house. And I think that because I had bought that house and I was doing well enough to pay the mortgage, that's why I turned it down. And had I not bought that house at the time, I probably would have taken the money. Holy fuck. Damn, that's heavy.

God, you seem like, are you a workaholic? Damn, that's heavy. God, you seem like... Are you a workaholic? I'd like to say no, but I definitely feel compelled to always be busy. Do you think that affected your love relationship? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Just constantly chasing the carrot, yeah. Because I've never had a girlfriend and, um, I've always just like, just hooked up with, you know, one night stands and kind of lived in the moment that way. What did you learn from your, how many marriages were you in before that happened before that? Uh, well three, but you know, they were all know they were all they were all um i don't know how to explain it they all failed for different reasons and obviously i'm one of the biggest reasons but um it was uh you know there were just i was constantly like i said sort of chasing that I was constantly, like I said, sort of chasing that career.

And a lot of times to a fault, sometimes because I was desperate to try to earn the keep and to, to provide for the family. But also just not willing to, to accept my own discomfort and not to, to be, to accept intimacy. Yeah, that's awesome. So all those things, I learned that stuff late in life. And obviously, things were difficult through those years for me as well. And I feel like I finally have come through the other side of that and gotten a better perspective on it and accept my own faults, but also to understand that I can be present and I can be effective as a father, as a husband, and as someone with a career.

What'd you learn about intimacy later in your life? To not be afraid of it. Same, bro. Yeah? Do you feel like, what'd it take? Do you remember the moment where you finally let your guard down and let love come in? Yeah. And also it was, it was, you know,

meeting the right person was a huge part of it. And, and so I can't say enough about my wife and what she, the support she provided me, but also the understanding she provided me and that she continues to provide me and And, and, um, but also that, that we respect each other's individuality. And so I think that I was just sort of barging through life through the years and expecting like people to, to bow to my time. Yeah. And that's not fair either, but, but also just the idea that she and I see eye to eye on so many things including our priorities

obviously parenting but our past and I mean she grew up in Detroit as a punk rocker so our lives are parallel in many ways So you felt like you're just being in your past life you're just being selfish just thinking about yourself?

Sure. And not really accepting that I was not truly connecting. Yeah. And then do you just feel like you just picked the wrong people for the first three marriages? Um, yeah. But, you know, it's not, it's a two way street. So you can, you know what I mean? It's not like, were you difficult? It's I think that I was very closed off.

Why do you think that, why do you think you, I think it's a lot of it has to do with, with my upbringing. My parents were not, they were not affectionate to each other nor to me. And so that was sort of, you know, I don't want to blame them because that just seems such a cop out. But for sure, that was the world I grew up in. So it's the idea of like, that's not, my parents were like that too. I never felt like they were affectionate towards each other. So the idea of a relationship.

They were roommates. They were like co-parent roommates for sure. They didn't break up? They stayed together? No. Yeah. But it was like, why? Yeah. I was, you know, I felt that way towards my parents as well in a sense. Cause yeah. But that, cause of that, I wasn't affectionate and I just kind of was a one track mind through business. And I think that's why i got successful and i think maybe that's the reason why you kept pushing through all your fucking ups and downs of life yeah probably but like i said you know to to to be with someone that you connect so deeply with um and want to be a better person with and for,

that could change everything as well. Do you think if you met her early in your life, you would have fucked it up? Probably. Probably, yeah. I mean, that's- Yeah, probably. Yeah. And she knows that.

Yeah. God, Tony, what a fucking story. And then what's- Okay, I got a couple more. I know you're busy, man. I got a couple more for you. What strives you to keep going for it bro keep going for skating keep going for you know you just did 720 i mean what what keeps you uh i i don't know i i guess it's because i still enjoy it so much you know i'm not trying to i'm not out to prove something i just i i truly

enjoy getting on my skateboard trying to to push my limits. Um, and yeah, I'm way older than most skaters. Um, but I'm still good at it. So I'm not, you know, I'm not, um, embarrassed to be out there in public doing it. Uh, I think that if I feel like my skills are truly fading, then I won't be doing it in public. Yeah. Um, and you know, just, I'll be, I'll still be doing it, but I just won't be doing it in public yeah um and you know just I'll be I'll still be doing it but I just won't be putting it out there on social media um but but also like yeah like I said it's I just enjoy it too much and um it's what you know it's what's given me so much enjoyment through my most of my life almost all my life do you get

nervous when your kids start doing risky shit it depends on which one tell me which one are you most scared of well they're um so between my wife and i we have six kids and they're all different. They're all talented. They all skate. But a couple of them really had no sense of mortality. And we just try anything. Is that frightening as a dad? Yeah. Well, mostly because you realize that there is a nature and nurture.

There isn't just one way to raise a child and they're all going to be the same. And so you want to encourage them to expand their limits, but at the same time, you don't want to be careless and they all are so different. And there was like one of my kids, And they all are so different. And there was like one of my kids, I used to say like, if you were babysitting him, you weren't babysitting, you were just going on death watch.

I mean, you just have to keep him alive. That's it. Fuck God, I would have inside like a motherfucker. Like is legacy important to you, Tony? I get asked that a lot recently and i don't i don't think of it on those big terms like i i think if i were to want a legacy it would be as someone who helped to um bring skateboarding to new levels of, of acceptance and popularity. Um, but mostly,

uh, my work with our foundation and the skateboard project and the idea that I've helped to provide more facilities. That's probably the most important legacy that I can think of. Yeah. Can you talk about that a little bit? Cause I wanted to get into that before we closed. Um, little bit because i wanted to get into that before we closed um yeah well it's so our um our foundation uh we help to support public skate parks in underserved areas and we started in 2001 it started with me being on who wants to be a millionaire celebrity edition and i won 125 grand and that was the seed money for the foundation. Um, and so, uh, we have learned to be very effective with our funding. We've, we have, um, a really good vetting process for projects and we help to support communities that, that, um, are trying

to get parks in. And the reason that I started is because in the in my career in my youth i was very lucky to live near one of the last skate parks in the u.s you know like truly um that was my my place of belonging that's where i connected with people that's where i found my tribe it It wasn't that I was, it was like training grounds, which is more like, that's where I belonged. That's when I was my home away from home. If I wasn't at school or at home, I was at the skate park. And I wanted to provide that same sense of belonging to kids who feel disenfranchised and kids who have chosen skateboarding, but don't feel supported in, in the choosing the thing they love to do. Like,

you know, plenty of kids, especially in, in, um, challenge cities where they choose to skate and they're told to go get out of here. Yeah.

I can't skate here. I can't skate there. And it's like, they're not doing anything harmful. They've just sort of found their calling. So we need to provide a place for them to do that. That's beautiful, man. I mean, and it's in the ideas, like you want to give them the solitude that you gave yourself when you were skating too. Yeah. We're not trying to build, like I said, not trying to build training facilities. We're just trying to build places that they feel like they're looked after and that they're in a place that they feel like

their, their community cares for them. That's beautiful, man. Thanks for being on the show, Tony. I'm it's, it's, it's an honor to talk to you. And, you know, I looked up to you since I was a kid and, you know, I know you've in my my music community you've kept a lot of people going and for me as well you kept me going too just uh never giving up and I got one last question for you what advice would you give young Tony Hawk if right now if you had to give him advice um what advice would I would say um keep playing violin fuck yeah dude i would you like violin i mean keep skating but i i actually gave up violin for skating what why because my music teacher told me i couldn't do both and i believed him

like an idiot fuck well get on that fucking violin he literally said that he i said you know well i'm gonna go there was one i was gonna go travel for a competition which never happened at the time it was one of my first times i said oh well i'm going to florida this weekend this competition and he said well we wanted you to play in this school concert on saturday and i was like why you know he said well you can't do both you can't, you can't choose a skating thing and play violin. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess I quit violin.

Yeah. Well, fuck. I mean, with that, that's kind of fucked up that people make you only do one thing in life. You know, why, why? Yeah. What? Well, that's, I'm here to tell you, if you're young enough, keep, keep doing it all be a renaissance man it's way more fun i fucking love it thanks for being on the show tony hawk i appreciate you man and good luck with all your endeavors and um i'll

be watching from afar because you inspire all of us bud so thank you all right man thanks for having me thank you okay see ya later tony motherfuckingucking Hawk on the world saving podcast. Loved it. Um, taught me a lot about relationships, taught me a lot about, um, just ups and downs of life. I didn't know that skateboarding had a little turn when he was popping and then he had to fucking work his way back. Um, beautiful. Um, thank you. And that interview is from Mike Anser. Love you, buddy. All right. Talk to you soon. Before we continue on with the podcast, I want to talk about

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And there you have it. Thank you, Tony fucking Hawk. Unbelievable. Tony Hawk was on our show, Nick. I love Tony Hawk. Hi, Nick Gerlach. Hi. How you doing?

I'm good. You're back in Denver? Yes. You miss me? Sure. I mean, compared to, you know. Relatively, yeah. How's it going out here? What are you doing? Um, I've been practicing my saxophone a lot. Weirdly. Yeah. You said that you're like, I'm not going to

practice today. I'm getting, I'm already good. No, I didn't say that. I was just kind of over it. Um, you know, but I already put in a couple hours. Uh, I think I've just been, um, first of all, gets me out of the apartment for a few hours every day I've been going five days a week or so three to four hours you just go it's sort of meditative and you get more done because you're sort of there's no distractions

my TV's not there my porn my other porn and then my third porn do you feel like you're like ramping up? I feel like this quarantine is rounding third and we're going to play a lot more music lately. I'm feeling that vibe too. And I think demand is going to be through the roof. Yeah.

And I'm kind of hoping that I want to come out of this just sounding as good as I ever have. You know, I already have the reputation of on time knows the music you know yeah but now i want to be good too yeah yeah i have a feeling um you're gonna be uh we're all gonna be fucking booked for the next uh you know four months straight i'm ready to just not be home for three months you know yeah same i mean my band's like that too. I've been getting more and more FaceTimes of them at midnight saying, bro, we got to get the fuck back on the road. Yeah. They're probably even...

And their girlfriends are saying that too. Get these motherfuckers back on the road. Oh, dude, that's my other thing. You got to give people some space. That's another reason I like to go practice. How do you master something like Tony Hawk did? I think you just Like anything else, you just do it a lot

Well, first of all, you're naturally gifted Like Tony I could skateboard As much as Tony Hawk did as a child But I would never be as good as Tony Hawk But that doesn't mean he didn't work Like there's a very good parallel To music with that, right? Or just anything.

It's like you working in the work, you know, your work shed. Yeah, woodshed. Woodshed. Working in the woodshed to get your chops up, you know, because it's like it's almost time. I feel like it's like summer camp, you know, like I feel like, you know, like when you have sleepaway camp in the last three days of sleepaway camp,

you're just sad because it's almost over. Yeah. I'm going to miss the pandemic. There is going to be a weird thing where there's going to be a weird way where people miss the pandemic sometimes. Yeah. I got back from Charleston before I went to Mexico

and fucking bars are starting to open at 2 a.m. again. You mean close at 2 a.m.? Close at 2 a.m. I mean, whatever. It's Charleston. It's already a party town. But it's like slow.

If the South slowly comes, then all of a sudden it just moves. Yeah, that's generally how it goes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like the opposite of human rights. I don't know how late

shows are going to be anymore because we're so used to like a 6 o'clock show and a fucking 9 o'clock show. I'm't know how late shows are going to be anymore because we're so used to a six o'clock show and a fucking nine o'clock show. I'm okay with that. I think shows were a little late towards the end there. I don't think that headliner should go on at 11 p.m. anywhere. We're just saying that because we're old as fuck.

No, I didn't like it when I was... I think you'd have bigger audiences if it started earlier, first of all. All the biggest shows, when you go see Umphreys, the more tickets a band sells, the earlier they start. Have you noticed that? Yeah, yeah. So why don't we try to be more like the successful bands?

Because we're worried about alcohol sales. Oh yeah, that's true. We're playing bars. But they sell alcohol at those things too, but I get it. I think maybe just like, I'm not saying like three hours earlier, but maybe like just a little earlier. What is going to be the hardest part about transitioning back on the tour?

I don't know. I don't know. Cause I haven't done this ever. So I've never gone this long. Yeah. I think probably the sleep schedule I would think. Right. Cause it's like a very, so you know how like when you go on tour,

you ever have this thing where okay let's say you had a month off like the night before you go on tour you kind of don't want to go in a weird way but then like three days in you're like this is the shit because you get in your little routine of like we go here and then we eat and then we go to the hotel

whatever I think that it's going to be kind of like that it's going to take some adjusting to get to the tour schedule but then once you're in it you're going to be like of like that. It's going to take some adjusting to get to the tour schedule, but then once you're in it, you're going to be like, fuck, yeah. What do you hate about touring? I don't really like being super close to the same people all the time,

every day, all day, sometimes. And I know that people, the thing is, I get it. I'm the annoying one sometimes. Yeah. And I like to annoy people. It's fun. Yeah, yeah. That's part of your MO. I like to rile people up. You know what I mean? More than annoy them. I like to get them riled up about

something. I did miss you, man. I swear like, you know, we hung out every day and we did hang out a lot. And then this has been a couple a month or so or maybe two. We've been less. Well, you know, you've been promoting the show. You've been getting interviewed by Ryan Stasek. You proud?

All I wanted to talk about was, what do you like better, pussy or asshole? Hey, I'd like to ask you about your brand new TV show you just spent your whole life making. Here's my final question. Ass or pussy? That's why I love him. I low-key want to move to Charleston. I could see you...

Here's the thing with you and Charleston. It's kind of like the thing with you and New Orleans. I don't think you would last. I think you could have a place you go there every once in a while for a week or two. You think my alcoholism... I don't think there's enough people there for you. I was thinking that too. You're single.

You need to be in a big pool of women. Not literally. Not like a swimming pool But the women there are so fucking beautiful I do like attractive women And they have a lot of them down there But maybe it's just me maturing I gotta mature

I can't just fuck everything I doubt it's you maturing No I get it You know what I'm saying though Alright Nick thanks for being on the show. Bye, everybody. Thanks, Tony Hawk. That was awesome.

Who's on the show next week? Alan Stone. Alan Stone. Don't forget to check out. We also made a TV show that we're doing right now. We should probably promote that a little. Shit Show is going on. Nick, help me write it.

We are writing partners, extraordinaires. If you haven't listened to the, um, never seen it podcast as well, you should because, um, Nick and I, uh, wrote our list. I listened to Nick basically talk shit.

He wrote the script and it was just about just frasco bashing. That wasn't that mean. It was very real. That was pretty cool. How I wrote a whole parody to Christmas Carol in like 45 minutes. I just realized at the end when

when fucking Kyle snuffed it and like you know the joke that we wanted he's like oh you could have

just done this fuck well shout out to shout out to that shout out to Nick shout out to the shit show and shout out to y'all for listening to us

Tony Hawk. Yeah, we got Alan Stone. We got Kamasi. I'm interviewing Kamasi Washington. Oh, dude. Yeah, pretty crazy. He seems just so cool. He seems cool as fuck.

Yeah. And then Eric Johnson from the Fruitbats. And we got John Badesky on the show. We got a few others. Oh, you got them planned out for a while. I've just been stockpiling because I know about the stockpiling interviews because I know that I'm going to stockpile on interviews because I know that I'm going to be on tour for fucking five months.

Two musicians I really admire. Who? Kamasi and Medesky? I was really into Medesky when I was like 21 or 22. That's kind of one of the first bands that got me into the jam scene, I think. I didn't know him until I interviewed Billy Martin. You know what I like about him? He's weird, but it's not for the sake of being weird. It's just how he is.

It's honest. Well, shout out to Honesty and shout out to you, Nick. Thanks. I wish you luck while we still promote the fucking shit show. You're with me. Nick's going to be doing live streams with me

for the rest of the weeks before the shit show. We're going to be talking. You can ask us questions. We'll do Lakers trivia. We'll do movie trivia. We'll try to get people. He's going to interview me. I'll interview you.

Ass or pussy? Shout out to Stasek. The Ryan Stasek story. Chronicles. I know he's listening. He's obsessed with me right now. He loves you. I just talked to his wife too. His wife was like, Nick is so fucking funny. I love hanging out with Mel. He's obsessed with me right now. He loves you. I just talked to his wife, too, and his wife was like,

Nick is so fucking funny. I love hanging out with Mel. She's just a vibe. She's a bad bitch, and she's got a new HD TV show. I know. She's going to be more famous than all of us. Yeah, she's going to be more combined. Well, she's smarter.

Because she's smart, and she's got swag. Yeah. All right, guys. Have a good day. Thank you for coming out. We'll catch you next week with Alan Stone. You tuned in to season number four of the World Saving Podcast with Andy

Fresco. Just listen to episode 116 produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelone, Chris Lawrence. Help us save the world and spread the word. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify. For more info on the show, please find us on Instagram at worldshavingpodcast. Crassco's blogs and tour dates you'll find at andyfursco.com. Check our socials to see what's up next.

Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert, or whatever springs to Andy's brain. Oh, and the shit show has returned. Find it. Big thank you for this week's guest, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Find him on TonyHawk.com or play his pro skating games. The co-host is saxophonist Nick Gerlach. Find him on Insta at Gridlock27. Gridlock27.

Our special guests this week were Brian Swartz, Harry Findling and Arnon Pucker. And there was a punk rock song by Mike Ganser and Ryan Stassin. Fluctual story. Mr. Gerlach, my brother in horns, bearer of beards. Are you aware of the holy man Gerlach? Once a night, but after having seen the light, he turned to penitence and lived in a hollow tree for the rest of his life as a hermit.

Under his armor, he wore an itchy garment and I believe his beard to be itchy too. In my younger years, I've done some research on this guy and it appears they chopped down his tree hoping for a pot of gold at its root. All they found was this magical saxophone. Since no one knew how to play it, they threw it in the river. We're talking the 1100s.

About 700 years later a guy called Adolf Sax dragged it out, but that's a different story. Alas, he never got to be the saint for saxophone players. But if you're fearing the kettle plague to go zoonotic, you can try him. So now you know.