{"id":90677,"date":"2020-11-07T17:52:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T01:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=90677"},"modified":"2022-07-12T15:13:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T22:13:22","slug":"powell-peralta-ripper-chris-hiett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/powell-peralta-ripper-chris-hiett\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Hiett Talk Story with Dan Levy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHRIS HIETT INTERVIEW BY DAN LEVY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do you skate?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skateboarding the best thing in the entire world. It\u2019s freedom. When I was growing up, I was kinda forced to play baseball, basketball and soccer, and I just wanted to go skateboarding because it\u2019s the most creative thing. It\u2019s an art form and I love art, so it\u2019s perfect for me. I love skateboarding so much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of art do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like to paint and do calligraphy and print making and shading with pencil. Painting is my favorite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sick, dude. Calligraphy is a lost art. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a lost art and it\u2019s one of the hardest things. I don\u2019t know why it\u2019s so difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m from Evansville, Indiana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FLYIN\u2019 FRONTSIDE FLIP. PHOTO BY DEVILLE NUNES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When did you come out to California?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was about eight months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weather here is amazing, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It is amazing. Right now, in Indiana, it\u2019s raining every day and it\u2019s 90 degrees and humid. In a month, it\u2019s going to be snowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything is a bust there too for skating. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. In Newburgh, Indiana, which is a subsection of Evansville, it\u2019s illegal to even skateboard on the sidewalk. You get a $25 ticket just for skating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. It\u2019s a little different here, huh?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very different. We just saw a security guard and he told us to leave and we just came down here and sat down a few feet away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you move to California?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really want to do this more than anything. This is my only plan. Plan A or bust. I have to do it. This is who I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the pursuit of a goal. Even if every time you mess up it kills you, when you land that one trick, it\u2019s just euphoria. When you\u2019re skateboarding, you\u2019re skateboarding for yourself. You\u2019re doing what you want to do.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How did you get linked up with Powell?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About five years ago, when I was in Evansville, I had been skating for about two years at that point and Powell came through on their very first Let\u2019s Go Skate tour. I skated as hard as I could and I learned inverts and varials on this ramp that we had. I was just wanting it so bad. At the end of the day, they were like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to start flowing you stuff.\u201d Now I\u2019ve been on Powell for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. What does it mean to you to be on Powell?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s crazy. To me, it is the molding and the point and the holding block of skateboarding and it always has been. All of the owners of the companies that you see now started off on Powell Peralta. There is Chet Thomas and Tony Hawk and so many people. Those companies wouldn\u2019t be anywhere without Powell having brought those kids up. It\u2019s crazy to think about that. It\u2019s perfect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any other sponsors?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I\u2019m on Fallen Footwear, Bones Wheels, Bones Bearings, Arcade Belts, OC Ramps and Killer Skate Park and Shop. I love everyone. They\u2019re good to me and they are good friends of mine and I support them all with my whole life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your biggest challenge in life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was diagnosed really young with anxiety and depression. For my mom, that was a problem with me coming out here. She didn\u2019t know what would happen if I wasn\u2019t under supervision. It\u2019s really  difficult some days, but being with everyone on the crew really helps. Some days I seem distant, but they are there to support me and it helps me so much. Without them realizing it, they are helping me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DREAM BIG. GO BIG. PHOTO BY DEVILLE NUNES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Does skateboarding help you too?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skateboarding saved me. Without skateboarding, there is no way. For all four years of high school, I just went to the skatepark every single day. I would never go to football games or parties or hang out with friends after school and I wouldn\u2019t change any of that if it meant that I wouldn\u2019t be here now with all of these amazing people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we can all relate as skateboarders. We look at the world differently and it\u2019s that thing of falling and getting up and constant pursuit. I think that helps.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps with life. If you get fired from a job, a lot of people think, \u201cWhat am I going to do? What job am I going to get?\u201d Skateboarders are like, \u201cOkay. I just got fired. What am I going to do now? I\u2019m going to go skate and figure it out.\u201d Skateboarding motivates you in every way. I heard this from a Rodney Mullen TED Talk. Scientists came up to him after his TED Talk and said that, if they had the same mindset as skateboarders, more would get done because after they\u2019ve tried for years on a project and it doesn\u2019t work, most of them don\u2019t try again. Skateboarders will try for years to land one trick in the streets and they won\u2019t stop until they do it. You can\u2019t stop. That\u2019s what makes us completely different humans. It\u2019s the pursuit of a goal. Even if every time you mess up it kills you, when you land that one trick, it\u2019s just euphoria. When you\u2019re skateboarding, you\u2019re skateboarding for yourself. You\u2019re doing what you want to do. You\u2019re dressing the way you want to dress and you\u2019re doing the tricks you want to do. It\u2019s not for anyone. It\u2019s for you. It\u2019s for you to look at and be proud of the artwork that you\u2019ve created. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an offbeat question. If you could have any super power, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would like to be able to teleport. A lot of people would rather fly, but then you\u2019ve got to fly for a few hours. If I could teleport, I could be in China right now and then I could come right back. Teleporting would be the best. You could go anywhere anytime and be there in less than a second and then come right back. You wouldn\u2019t even have to live and pay the rent in California. You could live in Texas and have the biggest house ever and every morning you could wake up and teleport here and skate here. Can you imagine? Teleporting would be the craziest thing ever. You could say, \u201cI\u2019m going to be in Brazil this Saturday, but I\u2019ll be back by five if you still want to skate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of Brazil, have you been to other countries to skate yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. I haven\u2019t actually. I\u2019d really like to go to Tokyo. I love the urban lights and culture. Dubai looks crazy for skateboarding too with all of the marble everywhere. They aren\u2019t mad about skateboarders either. They had the We are Blood people come there and skate. They were like, \u201cCome skate our city.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They consider it art. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is art. That\u2019s what people should consider it. Skateboarding is an art form. Other sports can be art forms, but skateboarding is 100% creativity and your motivation and your drive and we don\u2019t have boundaries on who is allowed to skateboard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of music are you into? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like scene music like \u201cLove Like Woe\u201d by The Ready Set. It\u2019s not that amazing, so I don\u2019t know why. Then I like artists like Youngblood and I love Twenty One Pilots. There are so many people that inspire me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music is important to skateboarding. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music and skateboarding align in my eyes because you can have an amazing video part that shows your art and it\u2019s the way that you want it to be and the tricks you wanted and then the song in the video part goes along with who you are and with your skateboarding. It\u2019s like an orchestra of art. It\u2019s an entire masterpiece of who you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you working on a video now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a lot of things coming out actually. I have a Berrics part and Welcome To Fallen is coming really soon and then I have an i Dabble segment and then at the beginning of next year, I have a Thrasher part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re doing it. That\u2019s great! Do you want to give any shout outs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shout out to the best person, my mom. I love my mom more than anything. Shout out to Deville. Shout out to my girlfriend, Julia. She\u2019s really amazing. Shout out to Fallen Footwear, to Will O and Dax, and my homie and filmer, Lando, Steven, Cody and all of my friends that we are skating with today. We got Robbie, Cole, Dale, Deville, Zach, Spencer and Craig. I could keep going. Shout out to Powell Peralta and Juice Magazine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you like your legacy to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My message is to love who you are. People might make fun of how you dress or what tricks you do, but it doesn\u2019t matter. In skateboarding, it\u2019s you. It\u2019s your art and it\u2019s who you want to be. We own being ourselves and it\u2019s the best thing ever. The world would be a much better place if people just embraced who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, GET ISSUE #77 AT THE JUICE SHOP HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHRIS HIETT INTERVIEW BY DAN LEVY Why do you skate? Skateboarding the best thing in the entire world. It\u2019s freedom. When I was growing up, I was kinda forced to play baseball, basketball and soccer, and I just wanted to go skateboarding because it\u2019s the most creative thing. It\u2019s an art form and I love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90678,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4027,4028,4041],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","category-skate-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Chris-Hiett-_DSC7783.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90677","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=90677"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90960,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90677\/revisions\/90960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}