The Berrics - Clinical Research

Why haven't you kept any of your old pro models, ads, etc?

Sounds lame, but when I was growing up I never thought I would live that long so saving things really wasn't big on my list of to-do's. Then, when I got to be about 25, I realized that I wanted to be around for as long as possible. When I had my son that's when it really sank in that I should have kept it all, if just to make it easier to be 'the cool dad'. Having all this cool shit to show him would have made my job a lot easier. "Look, see? I jumped a van, now go feed Cutie Pie." Jason Jesse sent me my first deck some years ago and a few others have pitched in to fill the holes. I have enough now to show him what I was up to so its cool, but as it turns out he really doesn't want to hear his old man wax poetic all that often.

I want to use Glen E. Friedman, and I apologize if he's a friend of yours, as an example for something. I read in one of his books where he was talking shit about flipping your board and how that's not skateboarding which is essentially like living in 1920 and saying, "bah, cars? That isn't transportation! Fuck cars!" All he managed to do at that moment, to me, was to instantly become our grandpa because the only viewpoint he had was a stuck viewpoint, and now a dated one. It's the whole No Country for Old Men philosophy. The sense of entitlement because one was born earlier than another. I guess my question is, how does one go from being a revolutionary to being a grandpa and how does one escape it?

One of the things that really drew me to skateboarding in addition to the freedom it brings is that it doesn't ask anything of you than to just do it. You didn't have to know who did what, didn't have to do things a certain way, just doing it was enough. Sure, there were tricks and guys you wanted to emulate, but you could (and still can) just go and define skateboarding for yourself. A 12 year-old kid' s version of skateboarding is just as valid as the guys who have done it their whole life. That's the coolest thing about it. Maybe the 12 year old will learn a bit of skate history and will appreciate it, but then again he doesn't have to and that's fully cool too. To think that just because I'm older, been doing it longer, sweat and bled skating my whole life entitles me to shit is just nuts. No one's more right in this deal than anyone else, maybe some are totally crazy, but it doesn't make em wrong.

When I hear people try and say Skateboarding should be this way or that, it's crazy. We all have this precious spot in hearts of what skateboarding is and should be and we would easily fight to defend that spot, but that's the way it is to OURSELVES. Everyone's little interpretation of that definition is different and special to them and none are more valid than anyone else's version of it. Sure, we may disagree with the way someone's doing something, or something we see, but that should motivate us to go and do it our way so that we can create our own version of skateboarding. The above applies to everyone except that one dude in tights who carves and dances and the magnet guy who gave my 8 year-old kid his card when I wasn't looking. They are the exceptions to the rule, their version of skating is just plain wrong.

As far as remaining relevant, for me at least, I don't try to stay relevant and make no bones about the fact that I'm not relevant. I'm just a old guy who skates. Just try to keep at it. Hit it every day as hard as the prior. I look to tomorrow as a challenge to push myself to keep rolling when there are so many things that take my time up and my body slowly falls apart. I find motivation from and for that next session. It won't keep me relevant in any way, but it does keep me going.

REAL has seen many changes throughout the years yet it's probably the strongest squad I've ever seen and they're still as relevant today as they were when they first started. Explain...

It's easy, the guys on the team now all get it. They are doing it for the right reasons. We don't take anything for granted and the guys define the deal. We keep it rolling by never resting on any laurels. The van is always on the road. The guys know they have a support group of people who believe in them and are busting ass so that the work they do benefits them.

Explain to me the transition out of pro skateboarding.

For me it was real easy. I always knew that I got lucky as fuck. I skated every day with Julien, TG, Natas, Jovantae, Rick Ibasetta, Mic, the EMB guys. These guys were like fucking gnarly, right? Like seriously heavy fucking duty. The fact that I was in the mix was nuts. I think it was like 93 or 94 and one day I went up solo to Wallenberg and I started having trouble with frontside tailslides on the block. At the time frontside tailslides were like my go to trick. But that day I sort of felt like I was behind them some, like I couldn't keep up. I tried for like half an hour and they just felt different. Thats when it hit me that my body was actually slowing down. I called down to Deluxe right then and told them that I wanted to come in the next day and do my last board. I didn't want to be the guy hanging on. That was it. Last deck came out a month or so later. Maybe it was easier for me than others as I was working at Deluxe more and had something lined up, but more importantly I knew that with the whole ride I had been lucky. Lucky to have been around so many sick dudes and lucky to have even had a board in the first place. It was a great run.

Well, Jim I'm going to have to say that you were not lucky. Spidey Demontrond or whatever the hell that guy's name was, HE was lucky. You were and are an integral part of the equation of skateboarding. Alright, moving on... When your guys get injured, how do you deal with it, having been injured yourself?

It's the toughest thing to deal with. I know how on a million levels being injured makes you mental. My most recent knee surgery and problems have been a mind fuck. Doing something your whole life that you love and then as you get older stuff starts breaking down and you feel it slipping from you in little pieces, it's tough. We all live and breathe skating and it's tough to deal with not being able to do it the way you want, not being in the mix. Getting hurt is part of the deal though. If you skate, you will get hurt. Besides being there when someone gets hurt if they need anyone to talk to, refer Doctors, help with rehab etc, I think the most important thing I can do for anyone who gets hurt within our gig is to make sure that everything is tight as hell and they have a solid foundation so that when it happens the amount of time they need to heal they are covered and don't have to worry at all. John Cardiel's injury though was something on a different level. I think the way, to this day, that he handles it teaches me and gives me the truest inspiration about dealing with injuries way more than I ever could have imagined or could pass on to anyone who gets hurt.

I've been pro now for a long time. I've seen a lot of second coming of Christ's come and go and it pains me because there has been so much that particular person could have offered the world of skateboarding and did for a short time. If there were a recipe one needed to ensure their longevity as a skateboarder, what would be some of the ingredients?

It sucks when you see guys who clearly have so much to bring to skateboarding, especially when they bring the elements of skating that you love into the mix. You hate to see 'em fade cause you know how great a ride it is and you know how amazing a life they could lead if they just kept at it. Then there's the totally personal and selfish level, like, "Fuck! I wanted to see that dude do this or that." or, "How sick would it be if so and so was here? Think what he would be doing."

I don't know what the secret is. Probably different for everyone. Shit ask Koston, Julien, Reynolds, BA, guys like that have that secret. End of the day though, I know you gotta love it. You have to wake up and want to skate. Sure there are days when you want to smash your board in half or go walk with your dog or whatever, but when you're out there on the walk and you're feeling all relaxed and content and out of nowhere a thought of a spot, or session, or trick will pop into your head, as long as you never tune that thought out and always follow it, you're going to be fine and have a good long ride.