{"id":29464,"date":"1999-07-01T15:49:56","date_gmt":"1999-07-01T20:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=29464"},"modified":"2022-06-13T20:25:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T03:25:10","slug":"salba-pools-pipes-punk-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/salba-pools-pipes-punk-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"SALBA – POOLS, PIPES & PUNK ROCK"},"content":{"rendered":"

POOLS, PIPES AND PUNK ROCK WITH SALBA<\/strong>
\nINTERVIEW BY MURF<\/strong>
\n PHOTO BY RHINO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steve Alba, give me comments on this Memorial Day Jam.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s kind of rad; an honor to the veterans of yesterday\u2019s skateboarding battles. It\u2019s trippy, because all these cats I\u2019ve seen and skated with since I was a kid and looked up to as a kid, I actually got to be their peer. And now it\u2019s 25 years down the road and Alva\u2019s going, \u201cYeah, man, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve been skating 25 years, too.\u201d It\u2019s a trip to see all these cats here.\u00a0 I mean you, Rhino and Cholo. Everyone\u2019s got ten-to-fifteen plus years. Anyone who puts ten years into anything is pretty rad, no matter what they do. I\u2019m just kinda honored to be here.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a rad day, a rad bbq, a rad moment, rad history.<\/p>\n

Have you ever had a session like this with all these guys together?<\/strong>
\nNo, not in a long time.\u00a0 I skate with Olson still and I see T.A. quite a bit still.\u00a0 You never see Worm. I actually called Strople out of the blue two months ago.<\/p>\n

Yeah, tell me about Chris Strople? We saw him here. Where\u2019s he been? What\u2019s he been doing?<\/strong>
\nHe does insurance or the stock market or something like that. That\u2019s what he went to school for.\u00a0 He\u2019s from a pretty prominent family in Sierra Madre, and that particular part of town is really high end. He came from that background but he was just a little rebel kid when he was growing up. He just skated pools and I was really into his style. I used to hang out with Wally a lot.\u00a0 That\u2019s the thing, my part in history is so much radder because I grew up with those guys skating parks with them. And that\u2019s where I got to know them and not only be their friend, but when there was a contest, it was like the Boy Scouts. We\u2019d all go to a contest on the weekend or Strople would have a party. We\u2019d be like \u2018I placed fourth at Winchester this weekend\u2019 or \u2018I got second at Winchester this weekend\u2019. We were all so close and we all just had so much in common and shared so much history. So, it\u2019s really good to see Chris again. He was one of the best with his alley-oops and rock\u2019n\u2019roll slides.\u00a0 I mean an alley-oop way back then was sick.\u00a0 That\u2019s the whole thing between now and then, now the age of discovery is gone. Then, you were making up tricks as you went along and making up the rules as you went along and that was the beauty of it for me.<\/p>\n

\n

“If I don\u2019t skate, I turn into a crying little bitch.”<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What keeps you stoked to keep skating?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just something in me.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t skate, I turn into a crying little bitch. Even my wife sometimes will say, \u201cGo skate, you\u2019re driving me crazy.\u201d I don\u2019t know what it is, I guess it\u2019s a passion.\u00a0 I don\u2019t make that much money. I\u2019d like to make more to help pay the bills, but, hey, if I don\u2019t make money, I don\u2019t care.\u00a0 I like it just for the feeling and the sake of doing it. Skating makes me happy and keeps me happy. You know people are like, you gotta learn to ollie and street skating and I\u2019m just closed down to that kind of shit.\u00a0 My whole thing is to skate a pool or a pipe or some cement. I like to skate ramps too, but I like to skate things that weren\u2019t meant to be skated. That\u2019s the beauty of skating a pool.<\/p>\n

Do you think we\u2019re going to have a new generation of kids skating at these parks? When I go to Vans, I never see any kids riding the combi. Do you think this next generation is going to ride the pools?<\/strong>
\nI see kids that are into it.\u00a0 At least it seems like some of the kids are into it. But I\u2019m partial to seeing more kids that are into my trip too, y\u2019know.\u00a0 I really think the new kids don\u2019t have trannie skills that the older skaters did. And it must be said, if you want to be a well-rounded skater. . . but a lot of them are really closed-minded to vert ramps or pools.<\/p>\n

Why do you think that is?<\/strong>
\nHalf of it is because it\u2019s a trend.\u00a0 Half of it is just trying to find yourself when you\u2019re thirteen or fourteen.\u00a0 Trying to find what you\u2019re really into. And that can change from month to month, whether it be music or whatever you\u2019re into that month. It\u2019s not that street skating is any worse or better; it\u2019s just different. We\u2019re all gonna say, \u2018hey, you need to learn to ride trannie\u2019 because we can from that era. And I think if you can ride trannie, you can ride anything. And most of the street guys can if they adapt themselves.<\/p>\n

When I was young, you didn\u2019t have the option of going to a park and skating a street course.\u00a0 Your option was you dropped into a pool. Now kids have more options.<\/strong>
\nWell, yeah, you learned on pools, but the way it mostly happened was you learned on banks first, and then pools and pipes. Then the park owners were like, we need to model parks like this, \u2018cause that was what was happening at the time. Then it faded and the park thing kinda modeled into mini-ramps, then into big vert ramps. Now it\u2019s more half-and-half but it\u2019s still leaning way more towards street as opposed to pools. And having the Vans Park has definitely brought someone like me out into the public eye more, so people can understand what this is about. People are realizing that the street course is pretty rad, but the combi pool is kinda rad, too. So, I\u2019m proud to be part of the tradition and I\u2019m still skating.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been through skateboarding when it goes in waves – like it peaks out and then it totally crashes. What do you think is going to happen next with Vans building all the parks?\u00a0 Is it overkill?<\/strong>
\nI keep thinking it might happen and in six years, all the corporations will just run out and everyone will be bummed.\u00a0 Planet Earth will be bummed. But at this point, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen anymore.\u00a0 There are too many kids that are into new ideals, our kids, kids that are younger and hipper to what\u2019s up.\u00a0 Let\u2019s put it this way, it\u2019s hip to be a skateboarder.\u00a0 I mean, you see kids walking around in skate shoes and skate clothes that don\u2019t even skate. We all wanted to be in a punk rock band or a ska or rockabilly band and now kids want to be a rapper or a skater or a rock god.\u00a0 It\u2019s so amazing the amount of skate clothes companies sell.\u00a0 Companies aren\u2019t selling boards really; they\u2019re selling clothes and shoes.<\/p>\n

What about the Warped Tour? You\u2019ve been doing that for a while. Where do you see that going?<\/strong>
\nWell, in a sense, it was just made to capitalize off this thing. Basically, we were just the first people to do it. I mean, I had ideas to use a ramp like that at rock venues for a long time.\u00a0 We actually did it at a show that Golden Voice put on back in \u201893 or \u201894 and\u00a0 they saw that was successful and they said \u2018why don\u2019t we do this on a ramp everyday?\u2019 I think it\u2019s pretty cool.\u00a0 It\u2019s better than that run-of-the-mill Ozzy nonsense. I personally don\u2019t really like metal at all.\u00a0 Not that I like a lot of these bands either but I mean I\u2019d rather watch my kid be into this new kind of punk rock than that heavy metal nonsense speed freak music. Not that that\u2019s bad either, people are into what they\u2019re into. But, I\u2019m just pretty opinionated. This is America and if you don\u2019t like what I say, then don\u2019t fuckin\u2019 read it.<\/p>\n

So you were never into King Diamond or Slayer?<\/strong>
\nNo, I was never into metal, period. When I was growing up, if you were punk rock, you hated that shit. I just continued to hate long hair music. Whether it\u2019s Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, any of that shit. I mean, I like Metallica, Motorhead, Kiss, classic rock\u2019n\u2019roll. I just have more punk rock ideals.<\/p>\n

It seemed like last year, Warped Tour was the shit, because Lollapalooza was dogged out.<\/strong>
\nLast year was really good for the Warped Tour. They had really good bands last year, I thought.\u00a0 Strong bands that could actually\u00a0 headline a venue on their own and sell 10,000 tickets regardless.\u00a0 We had bands like Rancid and bands of that stature, I think that\u2019s pretty cool. I like Rancid. I mean any punk rock band that\u2019s not happy, that lived in the streets in the gutters, ex-junkie, puking your guts out. You gotta appreciate that. That\u2019s punk rock. And they had Civ, H20 and the U.S. Bombs. Those were the ones that stuck out in my mind.<\/p>\n

How can they keep the Warped Tour from going the way of Lollapalooza?<\/strong>
\nKeep booking good bands that are at a street level and that aren\u2019t really too blown up. Bands that are popular and still pull on their own like Social D, Pennywise and NOFX and bands like that.\u00a0 And I was really stoked they had Rev. Horton Heat on there last year. They just gotta keep the bands that have balls and credibility. They\u2019re planning a little more rap for this year; Mike D is coming out on the tour. We had Kid Rock last year and the kids really liked him. He was a bit much for me, but whatever, man.<\/p>\n

What spots did you hit on the tour that you really liked?<\/strong>
\nPortland, because of Burnside. Places that fit into my style of skating like the Philly deal under the bridge is cool. I really like that place. Arizona is good, Nevada is always good, parts of Texas were good. I skated the C Pool up in Boston. It was super gnarly; I\u2019d love to go there again.\u00a0 I made two of the death boxes first time. I was just stoked to skate it.\u00a0 It was like a dream to me; I haven\u2019t seen that since the Skateboarder days.\u00a0 Shit like that that I\u2019d seen back in the days but I never got to skate, I\u2019m super-stoked to even go there. Because you know how pro surfers get to surf every great wave in the world and pro golfers get to tee off every different course in the world; for pro skaters to do pools is just like an adventure in time.\u00a0 It\u2019s another pool on the list. Like if you had an old war plane and you shot down all these guys and you were an ace and had all these marks on your plane of all these Japanese flags or swastikas and people you\u2019d hit. And you\u2019d killed like 26 guys and you had 26 flags. I think I\u2019ve got at least 500-1000 pools under my belt. But there are still a lot that are just a dream to me.<\/p>\n

You hit Amarillo right? What was that like?<\/strong>
\nIt was the killerest place I\u2019ve ever rode. It was like skateboard mecca of all vertical skateboarding. Pools, concrete, bowls, vert ramps… It was the ultimate place to skate.<\/p>\n

Best pool pipe you ever rode?<\/strong>
\nYeah, by far. Arizona was even better. but they were such hit-and-miss spots and you had to deal with the scenes there. So in Amarillo there was no scene and it was just so big and awesome. It was inspiring just to be there in the middle of nowhere. I mean, you could go there and slam and die. I guess it\u2019d be a good way to go.<\/p>\n

Is there any place you want to go that you haven\u2019t been?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019d like to go to Brazil one day.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been to Argentina and Mexico for demos and shit. We skated some wack skatepark in Guatelahara with a full pipe and a reservoir. I skated the best pool in my life in Argentina but they \u2018dozed it last year and put in a shopping mall.<\/p>\n

Why did they do that?<\/strong>
\nGavin O\u2019Brien from the Santa Cruz team hit his head there after some kid broke his leg there. They were like \u2018some American pro got hurt here; we have to shut it down.\u2019 He was in the hospital for two weeks with convulsions, concussions, the whole deal.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never been to Rio Sol but that pool was at least that good. The most perfect bowl I ever rode – channel, metal coping, 30-ft wide with a little bowl next to it where you could transfer into it both ways. You could do big backside floater airs and come in lien airs over the spine and just carve it out and tailslide back in and rock\u2019n\u2019roll slide to lipslide.\u00a0 It was sick.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never been to Marseilles. I\u2019d like to go there. Right now I\u2019m just looking for some pipes. I\u2019d like to find some pipes and ride those because it\u2019s like a lost art.\u00a0 I think the skateboarding world really needs to know about pipes. It\u2019s kind of like a one-off deal that people don\u2019t really get to experience anymore. It used to be so common back in the \u201870s. I really miss pipes.\u00a0 Most of the pipes in the desert fill with water now because they\u2019re using them.\u00a0 You have to go to Saudi Arabia to ride the big Amron ones.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on in Saudi Arabia?<\/strong>
\nWell, I looked some shit up on the Internet and this company Amron makes those pipes. So, I talked to this dude there and he said there aren\u2019t any projects right now in the United States because they\u2019re finished with the projects in the desert.\u00a0 Arizona was the last one they did, the CAT Project and the Salt River Projects and they\u2019re still running in the Palies now. They actually drain those every once in a while.\u00a0 But the big pipes they have now are all based in Saudi, where they\u2019re building new pipelines to bring water in, cause now they have the money over there to do it. There\u2019s like 20-25 footers but the locals over there would probably kill you, y\u2019know. So if anybody finds any pipes, call me.<\/p>\n

What year did you start skating?<\/strong>
\n1974. Twenty-five years and hopefully I got more in me. I got my kids now, my son Jesse. Hopefully I can skate with him when he\u2019s twelve or fourteen.<\/p>\n

Anything else you want to comment on?<\/strong>
\nHave fun and remember that no one is different than you are. Everyone\u2019s out there to have a good time.\u00a0 There are so many cliques in skating and punk rock now. When I was growing up when you saw someone skating he was your ally, he was your bro, he was your friend.\u00a0 Now all the street kids are over there at the parks and the pool guys are over there. If everyone just got along and respected people\u2019s trips more, it\u2019d be a lot better for everybody. It\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

TO ORDER JUICE MAGAZINE ISSUE #45, PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

POOLS, PIPES AND PUNK ROCK WITH SALBA INTERVIEW BY MURF PHOTO BY RHINO Steve Alba, give me comments on this Memorial Day Jam.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 It\u2019s kind of rad; an honor to the veterans of yesterday\u2019s skateboarding battles. It\u2019s trippy, because all these cats I\u2019ve seen and skated with since I was a kid and looked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4028,4041],"tags":[5013,4339,11022,14255,11021,4944,2383,14326,14334,14262,29,14360,14362,3189],"class_list":["post-29464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-skate-2","tag-cholo","tag-chris-strople","tag-gavin-obrien","tag-juice-magazine","tag-pipes","tag-pools","tag-punk-rock","tag-rhino","tag-salba","tag-skate","tag-skateboarding","tag-steve-alba","tag-steve-olson","tag-tony-alva"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/SALBA-POOLSPIPESPUNKROCK.png","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29464"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90044,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29464\/revisions\/90044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}