{"id":7664,"date":"2011-12-01T00:00:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=7664"},"modified":"2022-06-07T20:53:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T03:53:37","slug":"fred-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/fred-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"FRED SMITH"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTERVIEW BY STEVE OLSON<\/strong>
\nINTRODUCTION BY STEVE OLSON<\/strong>
\nPHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM NOONAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep on, what it is that you dig. Do it cuz you dig it, and keep on… Fred Smith, that\u2019s right, doing it… Whatever it is, and Freddie does. What Freddie does, so easily. By chance, nah, by passion, and Heart. That’s what separates the good from the ? ? ? It\u2019s all Good… and then some…<\/p>\n

\n

“We went out there and we had fun and we put on a show. It just made people want to skateboard and want to skateboard with you. It was just an all around good time.”<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s going on, Freddy?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m just in my car driving to work. How have you been? I haven\u2019t talked to you in forever.<\/p>\n

I know. I haven\u2019t seen you in a while. How\u2019s everything?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s been a long time. Everything is good. Time keeps rolling. You have to roll with it.<\/p>\n

Exactly. How many kids do you have now?<\/strong>
\nI have three kids.\u2002The oldest one is like 6\u2019 2\u201d, size 14 shoes. He\u2019s a goon. [Laughs]<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t talked to you in a long time, so I can ask some questions that I don\u2019t know anything about. Where were you born, Freddy?<\/strong>
\nI was born in Massachusetts. It was Fall River, actually, but we don\u2019t like to talk about that. It\u2019s just a lower end spot.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s just a good thing you were born there.<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s true. It\u2019s not where my heart and soul is.<\/p>\n

Did you have brothers and sisters?<\/strong>
\nI have two sisters, one older and one younger. We\u2019re not that close, but we get along. They live far away, so it\u2019s kind of hard to get to see them a lot.<\/p>\n

How did you get into skateboarding up in Massachusetts?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s a great question.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not something that most kids jump into.<\/strong>
\nI think I was ten when I saw a little plastic board somewhere.<\/p>\n

What year was this?<\/strong>
\nIt was \u201874 or \u201875. I saw a plastic skateboard at K-Mart and I had to have it. Boom. I got that skateboard and started grinding that thing right away. That was it. Eventually, I upgraded from plastic to wood, of course.<\/p>\n

You got the shitty board and then moved into the real boards?<\/strong>
\nYeah, I mean, as real as they were back then. You know. You were there. You were one of the innovators.<\/p>\n

You start with these shitty boards and then you upgrade and it\u2019s a giant difference.<\/strong>
\nThe difference just in performance was insane. Having the right equipment makes a big difference. It\u2019s like anything else in this world. If you\u2019re going to do a mechanic job, you want good tools. If you\u2019re a carpenter, it\u2019s the same thing.<\/p>\n

As a kid, what did you do before skateboarding?<\/strong>
\nI always rode bicycles and mini bikes. Today, I love riding motorcycles. I love anything that\u2019s an adrenaline rush. That\u2019s what I\u2019m all about. I\u2019ll jump off bridges. I just love having fun and getting that rush for free. Surfing is fun. There is so much good stuff to do out there. That\u2019s why these kids are killing themselves. There are all these obese American kids playing video games. Blah, blah, blah\u2026 I don\u2019t have to tell you what you already know. We didn\u2019t have video games. We had to go out and actually do the video game ourselves. We were doing it. We weren\u2019t just buying the freaking remote control. It\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n

I used to tell my kid, \u201cYou can play your video games, but you have to go outside too.\u201d<\/strong>
\n[Laughs] Oh yeah. You have to throw them outside, in the rain! My kids love doing the bottle cap racing down the gutter when it\u2019s raining like mad. You put on some shorts that you don\u2019t care about and just roll with it.<\/p>\n

Did you play any sports as a kid?<\/strong>
\nI played baseball and little league and that was about it. As soon as it started getting serious and the coaches started screaming and yelling, I\u2019d had enough. Give me a skateboard. No coaches.<\/p>\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, ORDER ISSUE #69 BY CLICKING HERE…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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