{"id":90994,"date":"2020-11-10T19:31:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T03:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=90994"},"modified":"2022-07-12T20:11:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T03:11:50","slug":"tony-alva-in-conversation-with-steve-olson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/tony-alva-in-conversation-with-steve-olson\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Alva in Conversation with Steve Olson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From a time of cultural phenomena… From Bruce Lee to Muhammad Ali… The list goes on, too many to mention. A teenage Mexican American would let the world know one thing… He was out to be the best… With the heart of a champion and an attitude to match, Tony Alva did just that… Able to make adjustments, as well as the ambition to boot, T.A. did exactly what he set out to do. Taking no prisoners, like a one man army, he set the world of skateboarding ablaze… Style, Confidence, Will and Ego… Nothing would stand in his way… Like never before, it will go down in the books. Some were witness, lucky enough to see. Others only hear the stories of what is… To say the least, TA was beast. With grace and individuality, his responsibility was to himself. To follow a dream, and make it come true… It\u2019s true… They do come true!!!\u2008Thank you. \u2013 INTRODUCTION BY STEVE OLSON<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OLSON: Hey, TA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALVA: Hey. Let me turn down this music. I\u2019m listening to that song I talked to you about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, turn it up.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s that song \u201cTime\u201d on Aladdin Sane. It\u2019s a David Bowie song and Mick Ronson does the sickest lead on it, bro. I have a little Sonos set up, so I have three different rooms where I can control the volume and it gets pretty good sound. I even have a little old school turntable that we got from the early \u201880s, so I can play some vinyl. My band produces all our own vinyl. [dog barks] Hey! You button it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that your dog?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. They\u2019re like kids. You have to slap them around a little. [Laughs] No. I should slap them around a little, but I don\u2019t because I don\u2019t want to do the tough love thing like my dad used to do to me. It doesn\u2019t work. It didn\u2019t work for me, so why would it work for them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Is that a form of love or frustration? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a good question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SKATE AMBASSADOR TO THE WORLD IN TOULOUSE, FRANCE, OVER SIX DECADES DEEP AND STILL FLYING HIGH. PHOTO \u00a9 MAYOL <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

People always say there are no books on love, but love is something you give.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are books on love, but it\u2019s just other people\u2019s perception of what they think. Unconditional love is the goal with anything, especially in a spiritual sense. A lot of people spend their entire life trying to work towards attaining that level of love for a person, place or thing. I think more than anything in the world I just love being in nature and surfing and skating. That\u2019s been my ultimate love from the get go and still is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I go into the ocean, it\u2019s a sort of cleansing somehow. It\u2019s amazing and I love surfing. I wanted to ask you, did you start surfing or skateboarding first?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I skated first. I messed around, like a hobby, on my skateboard first, and then I started surfing. When I got serious about surfing, I knew which direction I wanted to go with my skateboarding. It\u2019s still that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I started skating first, but like you said it was a hobby. Unconditional love can go hand in hand with how you and I love surfing truly unconditionally. I\u2019ll go out in shitty waves and still be psyched. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The better you get in shitty waves then, when the waves get good, you\u2019re ripping. Why do you think Kelly Slater is eleven time world champion? Look where he came from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know. Wasn\u2019t it Cocoa Beach, Florida?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Shitty waves, but fun. That\u2019s what makes you a really good surfer. That makes you hungry too. It\u2019s like with skateboarding nowadays. I think some of the best skateboarders in the world are a handful of kids from third world  countries. They\u2019re hungry and they\u2019re not doing it for the money. They\u2019re not doing it for the fame. They\u2019re doing it because they love it. When it gets to the point where somebody skates to actually make it and gets sponsored, that\u2019s super great. That one kid from Brazil \u2013Tiago Lemos \u2013 he\u2019s amazing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to do 100% every day. You\u2019re not going to get something for nothing. Nothing is free, especially in  the 21st Century. Right now it\u2019s the toughest it\u2019s ever been for just being secure and safe and successful and all of those things that make us feel like things are still good. It\u2019s a tough time. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I only know the name. What\u2019s his story?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s a skater from a small town in Brazil and he ended up coming to the States and getting sponsored and getting his own board model and then he went back to Brazil, after making a handful of cash, and bought his mom a house. He\u2019s a third world Brazilian kid who is super good and has an amazing attitude. He\u2019s just a really pure skateboarder. He did it for himself to begin with and then his family and, last but not least, his mom. His mom believed in him. The local guy that ran the skatepark said to her one day, \u201cI think your son is going to be a professional skateboarder.\u201d She was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d It\u2019s kind of like what my dad did when I was 19. I was like, \u201cYeah, dad, I\u2019m going to be a pro skateboarder.\u201d He was like, \u201cThere\u2019s no future in that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is that, as a kid, going through that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the gnarliest thing ever. I look back on it now and it\u2019s probably one of the best things my dad ever said to me because he turned the flame up to scorching, so I went out and scorched the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TA IN HIS ROOM ON DUDLEY AVE IN VENICE, CALIFORNIA, IN THE \u201870S. PHOTO \u00a9 WYNN MILLER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes! After you started skating, when did you realize you could really skate?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time I was in high school and into my teenage years, I knew there was nobody that was gonna beat me, especially in a competitive event. It didn\u2019t matter what it was. It could be barrel jumping or shooting a hill or doing 360s in a box of space like those stupid contests in a parking lot. When it came to bowls and riding walls and banks, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to smoke these guys.\u201d That was a young man\u2019s attitude, of course. That\u2019s how you feel when you\u2019re at that age. I\u2019m sure you experienced the same thing because I saw you skating in the Gold Cup and you had that same attitude. If you don\u2019t have that attitude, you\u2019re not the top dog. Look at Pedro Barros. When Pedro loses a contest, he\u2019s exactly the same as I used to be like when I was 19 years old. He\u2019s like, \u201cFuck everybody! I won and you guys didn\u2019t give me the trophy and the money? You guys suck!\u201d That\u2019s skateboarder meets aggro, ego and confidence. For me, skateboarding now is all about cross training and having fun and just doing what I do best and polishing, refining and making what I do easier. Every time I go out, I try to make my technique a little bit more graceful. I still practice. It\u2019s just like I do with my band. I practice and rehearse so that when I have to go out in public and do my job for my sponsors and my board company, I\u2019m on top of my game. You know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy the time I was in high school and into my teenage years, I knew there was nobody that was gonna beat me, especially in a competitive event. It didn\u2019t matter what it was. It could be barrel jumping or shooting a hill or doing 360s in a box of space like those stupid contests in a parking lot. When it came to bowls and riding walls and banks, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to smoke these guys.\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yes. I feel you completely.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t be going out and flailing. You have to be ripping every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re still pioneering. You\u2019re skating and surfing all the time at age 63.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that\u2019s because it\u2019s one day at a time. We\u2019re pushing the envelope because we\u2019ve been there and done that and now it\u2019s a whole new era. I get gunslingers coming out for me surfing and they want to butt heads and play bumper cars with me on waves and I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m not taking that shit from anybody.\u201d Everybody thinks, \u201cHe\u2019s an asshole.\u201d Or they think, \u201cHe\u2019s a super mellow guy now because he\u2019s been sober for a while.\u201d I still snap sometimes. If people push me too far, I go right at them like I used to, full Maddog. It\u2019s a   bummer when I do that though because I\u2019m really hurting myself. I get that full on emotional hangover and it sucks, because I don\u2019t get loaded anymore, so my emotions are there. Anger is a drug. Then again, being happy and free is a drug as well, for me. That\u2019s my drug of choice at this point in my life, but it\u2019s not always easy to obtain. You can\u2019t just go buy it on the corner in a baggie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew that I was going to be World Champion at the time because of the fact that I was coached by a gnarly dude. My manager\/trainer was this guy Bunker Spreckels and he told me straight to my face, \u201cYou\u2019re the guy.\u201d I was like \u2018Alvis\u2019. Bunker said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to go out there and kick everybody\u2019s ass and we\u2019re taking no prisoners and we\u2019re going to get the money and the trophies and the chicks and then we\u2019re going to split and go back to Hollywood and party! Can you do that?\u201d I was like, \u201cI can do that.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve been able to prolong your career forever, which is such an accomplishment. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. My story continues, but I\u2019m definitely not the one running the script. The script is just to stay in the moment. It\u2019s just like today, I\u2019m chilling, but the last two days I went big and surfed hard. Driving around L.A., in itself, can be a test of love and tolerance. Now I\u2019m just living life on life\u2019s terms, but it\u2019s not always in my control what\u2019s going to happen. I just have to be wise enough to make the right decisions when things go good or bad. I have to react to my environment in the wisest and most intuitive way that I can. It\u2019s not easy sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TONY FEELS THE FIRE AT GONZO’S WITH THIS FRONTSIDE AIR IN HIS CLASSIC STYLE THAT WAS TO BE COPIED FOR DECADES. PHOTO \u00a9 WYNN MILLER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Every day we keep learning new lessons, no?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course. That\u2019s why I try to not make as many mistakes as I used to. When I make mistakes, I\u2019m supposed to learn from that, but I don\u2019t always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easier said than done.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just have an infantile ego and sometimes it pops out. It\u2019s the \u201cDo you know who the fuck I am?\u201d attitude. I say and I do harsh shit sometimes. I tell    people to go fuck themselves and I cut people off. I think, \u201cAren\u2019t you over that yet?\u201d Then I\u2019m like, \u201cNo, not really, not yet.\u201d I\u2019m working on it, but it still can be an issue occasionally. With skateboarding, I\u2019m pretty cool with where I\u2019m at because I know my place and I feel comfortable there. When I\u2019m around the young guys, I\u2019m still learning from those guys, but I\u2019m looking at them humbly as well as respectfully. I try to give them the same respect as I would ask from them. If you do that, you\u2019re cool. If I think I\u2019m going to go out and butt heads with some guy like Elijah Berle, I\u2019m blowing smoke up my own ass. Those guys are my bros, but they\u2019re gnarly. When it comes down to it, they are the technological aspect of skateboarding mixed with the aggression that comes from our neighborhood and those guys are in a class of their own. That\u2019s where skateboarding is now. That\u2019s the state of the art. I\u2019m part of that, if I want to be a part of it and if I can be humble enough. If I try to be 19 years old again in a 63-year-old body, I\u2019m in for a rude awakening. It doesn\u2019t matter how good you are. When you go out and try to battle concrete, you\u2019re not going to win. The thing is to go with the flow and learn how to fall like Bruce Lee and try to stay on your board no matter what and, hopefully, you won\u2019t be that next guy going to the urgent care. I don\u2019t even wear pads. Occasionally, I\u2019ll wear a helmet, and I\u2019m out skating some pretty gnarly shit still. I don\u2019t have anything to prove to anybody else, so I\u2019m just doing it purely for my own enjoyment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t we start doing it for that part of it anyway? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. You gotta keep it real. If I can keep it real until I\u2019m not able to do anything but paddle out and catch one or two waves, then I\u2019ve lived my life to its fullest and that\u2019s cool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, you are Tony Alva. There\u2019s a thing with being Tony Alva.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is, but the whole ego thing is what gets me in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TA TRESPASSING TO SURFSKATE ENDLESS WAVES IN THE FULLPIPES AT NUKELAND. KEEP SKATEBOARDING A CRIME. PHOTO \u00a9 WYNN MILLER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I get it and I\u2019m saying it\u2019s not easy to be that guy. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. When I\u2019m out in the water and these guys recognize me and, all of a sudden, they want to try to cut me off or bump rails with me, that\u2019s when I get annoyed really quick and I\u2019m ready to rip  somebody\u2019s head off. At the same time, if I start acting up and creating wreckage, I\u2019m ready to clean it up immediately too. I\u2019ve had to follow guys onto the beach and put my board down and they thought I was going to sock \u2018em and I just go, \u201cDude, you know what? I was wrong. I\u2019m sorry I said that to you. I\u2019m sorry I acted like that. It won\u2019t happen again. Will you accept my apology?\u201d Usually, they look at me like, \u201cWhat? Are you crazy?\u201d They don\u2019t even believe it. I go, \u201cYep. This is for real.\u201d They look at me and go, \u201cThanks, bro. Yeah. I accept your apology.\u201d Then I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, cool. Gotta go. See you next time.\u201d I just don\u2019t want any more enemies and I don\u2019t want to create any more wreckage in my life. I\u2019ve already done enough damage to create a Titanic of bad karma. Now I have a really good band and we play killer rock n\u2019 roll music with some really good people. We have an amazing drummer and his wife is our singer. I have my own board company still and that\u2019s my life. I have an amazing soul sister, Katy. We\u2019ve been together, on and off, for 20 years now and we\u2019ve done some magical shit together and it\u2019s rad. She supports me with her heart and soul, even though sometimes I can put her through the meat grinder too. Sometimes I\u2019m just a really intense person and it\u2019s not easy for her to deal with me. She and I have to communicate in order to work things out. The other day we got into it because she was driving slower than I thought she should be and didn\u2019t turn at a spot where we ended up lost. I was like, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d I started snapping on her and it\u2019s like, this is a person you\u2019re supposed to love and here you are being a total tyrant to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I totally understand. It just comes out under certain conditions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yep. It\u2019s that Virgo thing in us where things have to be our way or we don\u2019t feel comfortable. It\u2019s almost a mental OCD in a form of trying to control other people, places and things around you, and I really don\u2019t have control over anything but myself. I have to realize that, but sometimes I forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TA, JUST A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM HIS OLD SPOT ON DUDLEY, IN A RECREATION OF HIS ROOM AT THE VANS BLACK RAINBOWS SHOW IN VENICE IN 2019. PHOTO \u00a9 TERRI CRAFT <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well, like I said, it\u2019s easier said than done. So you\u2019ve been sober for a while now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been 14 years. It was September of 2006 when I got sober. It was when I started that art gallery in LA. I was partying like a rock star before that manifested in my life and I was just burnt out and super angry all the time. I was really searching for something that I couldn\u2019t find through drugs and alcohol. That low grade experience with drugs and alcohol beat me up so bad that I had to try something different. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing for 14 years and, believe me, it\u2019s a lot different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was September of 2006 when I got sober. It was right when I started that art gallery in LA. I was partying like a rock star before that manifested in my life and I was just burnt out and super angry all the time. I was really searching for something that I couldn\u2019t find through drugs and alcohol. That low grade experience with drugs and alcohol just beat me up so bad that I had to try something different. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing now for over 14 years and believe me, it\u2019s a lot different.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s changed for the better, no?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely. There is no comparison to the comfortableness in my own skin and just the fact that I know who I am at this point and I\u2019m satisfied with that. There is still progress to be made, but the bottom line is that I\u2019m not searching for something that I\u2019m not. I\u2019m not trying to be something that I\u2019m not. This might sound weird to some people because it\u2019s more religious than spiritual, but I\u2019m comfortable with whatever God\u2019s will is for me today. I\u2019m just in the moment here and now, talking to you about our lives and soaking up a little bit of Southern California weather. We\u2019ve had so much rain and sometimes I get stir crazy. I\u2019ll go out and surf in the rain, just to keep moving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to keep moving. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what surfing and skateboarding and music and all those creative things have given us. When I\u2019m in the moment being creative, I\u2019m connected to my higher power and I feel like this is what I\u2019m supposed to be doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your higher power is driving you to do what you can do.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly. It\u2019s not all about that 19-year-old self will ego thing that I did when I was a kid. If I try to run it on that now, I burn my gears out. I slide out or I get stuck in the sand, metaphorically. It\u2019s like my little truck. If I burn it too hard at too many RPMs, I\u2019m not going to get anywhere. I\u2019m just going to sit in the sand with my tires spinning really fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you were a kid, did you think you were going to be a skateboarding icon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. Not at all. I knew that I was going to be World Champion, at the time, because of the fact that I was coached by a gnarly dude. My manager and trainer was this guy Bunker Spreckels and he told me straight to my face, \u201cYou\u2019re the guy.\u201d I was like \u2018Alvis\u2019. Bunker said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to go out there and kick everybody\u2019s ass and we\u2019re taking no prisoners and we\u2019re going to get the money and the trophies and the chicks and then we\u2019re going to split and go back to Hollywood and party! Can you do that?\u201d I was like, \u201cI can do that.\u201d He was like, \u201cOkay, I got your back. Let\u2019s do this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook at how different the world is now because of the fact that the Z-Boys did what they did. I don\u2019t want to brag about it or try to make people think that we\u2019re more important than we are, but I\u2019m telling you, the Z-Boys had a radical revolutionary effect on youth culture in the entire world. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, as they say. It will probably get you high. Just watch out for the resin.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

[Laughs] Yes! You did it and you pulled it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Bunker spent money on getting me a racing suit from Nudie\u2019s and we had limos and the whole deal. We had our bag of weed and our bag of coke and our bottles of champagne and all that. I didn\u2019t use that to get to where I was trying to get to, but I used it afterwards to celebrate. That\u2019s typical of an alcoholic or a drug addict though. We reward ourselves with drugs and alcohol when we do something that we think is good, but then, if I do something bad and I fuck up or get thrown in jail, what\u2019s the first thing I do when I get out? I go and get loaded again. I\u2019m just explaining what my brain does when I\u2019m using drugs and alcohol to escape reality. I\u2019d drink and use drugs so I didn\u2019t feel the pain. It\u2019s pretty crazy, and I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t do that anymore. It\u2019s not an option for me anymore. If I get loaded again, I\u2019ll end up dead or they\u2019ll throw me in an insane asylum or prison maybe, which I probably couldn\u2019t survive for even a month. The other thing is that I\u2019d end up prematurely kicking out on the best wave of my entire session. It\u2019s just like Jake [Phelps] did. Look at other guys and see where they\u2019re kicking out and, if you see the reef is that shallow, you better do a floater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. You better do something to miss that reef or you\u2019re going to get shredded.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You better do a soul arch or a floater over that shallow section, bro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or do something that helps you pop out the back. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Do a standing island, where you pull the rail through and pop through the back and start paddling again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That helps in some situations. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw a lot of guys like Jake before their end and I tried to reach out and share my experience with them and help them. Andy Irons was one of them. They just didn\u2019t want it. They were like, \u201cNah, I got this. I\u2019m going to do it my way.\u201d What are you going to tell somebody like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know it all too well. When you hear that they\u2019ve died, it\u2019s like, \u201cWow.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Look at Todd [Barnes] from T.S.O.L. back in the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw it with Johnny O\u2019Shei and I was like, \u201cDude, you\u2019re going too hard.\u201d It\u2019s the path one chooses. It comes down to choices. You\u2019re still surfing and skating and charging. That is really incredibly impressive and beyond inspirational. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I wouldn\u2019t be doing it if it weren\u2019t what you and I just discussed though. That\u2019s the thing. That\u2019s why guys like Christian Hosoi ended up in and out of prison. That had to happen so that Christian could get to where he\u2019s at right now in his life. I\u2019m so fortunate in my life that I didn\u2019t have to go to prison, because I\u2019ve done stuff just as bad or worse than what Christian was doing. I\u2019m grateful. Today, I\u2019m one of the most grateful guys on this planet. I\u2019m also quick to forget and go back to being really ornery and self-centered, so I\u2019m  working on my spiritual condition on a daily basis. I do a little bit of prayer and quite a bit of meditation and I surf and I play really groovy psychedelic rock music and I\u2019m having fun with it. I don\u2019t give a fuck what people think of me but, at the same time, I\u2019m going to try not to create any more animosity or judgment against my character by doing things that are wrong. It\u2019s just living life and trying to make progress and not being that same old same old. The last time I got into it with a guy out in the water, he told me straight to my face, \u201cOh, I heard you were an asshole.\u201d That\u2019s the first thing he said to me, so I knew straight up that I was showing my asshole colors. I was just saying to him, \u201cLook, if you see me paddling, don\u2019t even fucking go. That\u2019s my wave.\u201d I went all Surf Punks on his ass. I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t give a fuck, dude. I\u2019ve been out here for 40 years and, if you see a wave coming that\u2019s good and I\u2019m paddling for it, don\u2019t even think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not always about making money and having the fancy car and all the material stuff. I think it\u2019s more about how you feel inside. The thing for me is freedom. Knowing that I\u2019m not a slave to anything outside of myself, I\u2019m free.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Does that work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. [Laughs] It works about 60% of the time and then there\u2019s the 40% of the time that you\u2019ll run into another gunslinger, and then it\u2019s a battle. It usually starts verbally and then it can escalate. If you want to take it to the limit and you end up getting in a fistfight or a gunfight or a knife fight, you better hope you\u2019ve got your game on, because someone is gonna get hurt. I try not to take it to that level. That\u2019s way too far. I get a little snappy sometimes, but you can\u2019t help it when you surf crowded spots in Malibu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TA SEEKS OUT AND FINDS GREAT WAVES AROUND THE WORLD LIKE THIS ONE IN PORTUGAL. SURFING WAS A HEAVY INFLUENCE ON THE Z-BOYS AND AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF CONCRETE SKATEPARK, DITCH AND STREET CRUISERS TRANSLATING SURF STYLE TO ASPHALT. PHOTO \u00a9 MAYOL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It happens. It\u2019s part of it. What surfboards are you riding now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ride a lot of George Greenough-influenced bottoms and Simmons-style hydrodynamic shapes. Some of them have really nice glassed on keel fins. I ride single fins and quads, but I won\u2019t ride a thruster. Thrusters feel like an anchor with the  middle fin all the way back on the tail. I don\u2019t really dig it. If I ride a fin all the way back on the tail, it\u2019s more like a knife, double ended, with foil on both sides, and I use it more as a stabilizer for bigger hollower waves. I ride some crazy boards. I like surfboards that feel like a skateboard on a wave where you can carve and slide and take off really late and just pull in and go super fast. Those are the kind of boards I love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you surf usually?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I usually surf north of where I live. I surf all of the little nooks and crannies anywhere between Point Dume and Point Mugu. I surf locally too. I surf the beach breaks where I grew up surfing as a kid and I get them good all the time. People don\u2019t even know. I\u2019m like the only guy out there after a rainy day, just catching little barrels right in front of where Miki Dora grew up. I know all of the secret spots, bro. I call them secret spots, but they\u2019re not. They\u2019re just there and people don\u2019t even know that there are some really fun and good waves there. I surf the south side of Santa Monica Pier sometimes and nobody surfs there. I surf that corner off the pylon and it gets good out there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about Malibu?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I surf Malibu when nobody knows there\u2019s going to be a swell. Andy Lyons would be the only guy out there that I knew, or Matt Rapf at Point Dume. It\u2019s usually a couple of guys that I know and everybody else is just all of these new guys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe better you get in shitty waves, then when the waves get good, you\u2019re ripping. Why do you think Kelly Slater is eleven time world champion? Look where he came from.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Right. Some of them get in the way. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of them do. Some of them get out of the way. The bitchen thing is when you surf the way we do and you skate the way I like to, you get to go to places like Portugal or Chile or Japan and people look at you with respect. They trip out. They\u2019re like, where did this guy come from? You don\u2019t always get recognized. They might just think you\u2019re some old school dude that came out of the woodwork. In the wintertime, I have a big beard because the water is cold. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m just going to go form and function. A lot of people don\u2019t recognize me if I show up at the skatepark or the surf spot. It\u2019s not really to my advantage to be some celebrity or whatever. It\u2019s more about being one of the guys and fitting in and being respectful to the locals too. You can\u2019t just barge. I go to Zavial in Portugal and the waves are super good and I just try to melt into the pack, but I\u2019ve still got that aggressive paddling style and I\u2019m still going to take off deep. It\u2019s the same thing with the skatepark. When I go to the skatepark. I\u2019m going to let the kids have their space and do what they do. I\u2019m not going to go in there and try and act like I\u2019m the guy and go, \u201cGet out of the way. Can\u2019t you see that I\u2019m the man?\u201d I just go out there and have fun. They know after they see me take a few runs. They\u2019re like, \u201cWait a second.\u201d The way that we skate, and I\u2019m saying you and I and guys from our era, kids don\u2019t skate like that anymore. When kids see our style and the way that we skate, they\u2019re like, \u201cWow. That\u2019s cool.\u201d You know how it is when we\u2019d go to Chelsea Pier. It\u2019s all of the street skater kids and they\u2019re all smoking weed and everything. When we roll in, they\u2019re like, \u201cWhoa, wait a second.\u201d Then Mark Gonzales rolls up on his bicycle with no skateboard. We\u2019re like, \u201cGet on my board and ride.\u201d We were making him ride the Grosso board or all the old school shapes, like, \u201cTry this one.\u201d Finally, he finds one that he likes and he starts sessioning with us. That\u2019s how the adventures are nowadays. When the old school guys get together, it\u2019s really fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about when you get to travel? You are intensely traveling, promoting and spreading the word about skateboarding.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I travel a lot for Vans. Vans is my corporate sponsor and they take care of skateboarders the way that skateboarders really should be taken care of. It\u2019s cool. I go business class overseas and all of my flights are taken care of and I stay in nice hotels. People pick me up at the airport and the whole deal and it makes traveling easy. As the  Beatles would say, \u201cAll I gotta do is act naturally.\u201d I don\u2019t think they wrote that song though. Who wrote that song? Was it Gene Autry or someone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not quite sure if it was Gene Autry.  Either way.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know it was a country song before it was a Beatles song. Go out and act naturally, but represent. I did a trip to Shanghai and they posted some stuff on the social scene of me just skating through the city and talking about skateboarding. If that\u2019s all I have to do for one day out of my week-long trip there to pay for my trip, I\u2019m stoked. Then I get to go do whatever I want to do. A lot of cultural things are really cool to do in countries like China. If you really want to learn to appreciate other countries, you gotta learn about their culture and history. I study that stuff and I know you do too. I know you\u2019re traveling all over the world and I see you going to places that are cultural locations and events. If you don\u2019t do that stuff, you\u2019re missing out on half of the enjoyment of exploring places outside of our own little bubble here in LA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. It opens up your mind completely. It\u2019s amazing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also makes you appreciate L.A. when you get back here too. Sometimes I get pissed off at my neighborhood because it\u2019s gentrifying. They closed Abbot\u2019s Habit, I mean, come on, dude! Give me a break. I get pissed sometimes, but I have my favorite saying that comes from a skateboarder\u2019s perspective of Venice and Santa Monica and Dogtown in general. On the sidewalks, the cracks are still the same. It\u2019s still the same cracks in the sidewalks, from when I was ten years old, and that isn\u2019t going to change no matter how many yuppies come in and think that they\u2019re from Venice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
ZEPHYR TEAM AT THE DEL MAR CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 1975 WHERE THE Z-BOYS BEGAN A SKATEBOARDING REVOLUTION. PHOTO \u00a9 C.R. STECYK III<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Right. Growing up in Santa Monica and Venice is different than growing up in other places around California or all over the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re very fortunate. At the same time, it was tough when we were kids. We didn\u2019t have a lot of money. We didn\u2019t have a lot of anything except drive, imagination and the innate ability to ride a piece of wood with wheels on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive and the determination to do something with that is incredible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we had a dream. It\u2019s like Martin Luther King Jr. said, \u201cI have a dream.\u201d We lived the dream, a lot of us. The other thing is that you start to develop this technique, but you also have to have faith in something. For me, faith is like something I heard Martin Luther King Jr. say. \u201cFaith is taking the first step even when you don\u2019t see the whole staircase.\u201d Who cares where it\u2019s going? I just know I\u2019m going in that direction, because I see the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes! Trusting and believing in it helps too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You gotta believe in the unseen. You can\u2019t always see what your goal is at the end of things. You gotta have faith that something good is at the end of that staircase. For me, that\u2019s part of the journey. I might even be able to help someone else with my experience. I was looking at what Kobe Bryant said about all of his hardships and the gnarly shit he had to go through, and how he just wanted to try to help other people not have to go through that the way he did. Kobe had a love for the game and passion for excellence that rivals any great surfer or skater that I have ever witnessed. God bless him and his beautiful ladies. May he rest in peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
THE ALVA POSSE TOOK THE SKATEBOARDING REVOLUTION ALL OVER THE WORLD. PHOTO \u00a9 S.S. GROSS – COURTESY OF TONY ALVA AD ARCHIVES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes. It makes sense though to share your experience and the knowledge that you gained through the ups and the downs. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. That\u2019s how it is as a father too. You know how it is with you and your son. I have a son that has turned 25 now and he\u2019s a knucklehead, but I gotta let him do what he\u2019s going to do and have respect for him as his own entity, so that he can make the mistakes that he has to make in order to grow. I\u2019m not going to tell him what to do because if I do, he\u2019s going to do the opposite. So I\u2019m going to live my life and probably set a good example for him if I continue to do what I\u2019m doing now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When is Zeph\u2019s birthday? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s March 18th, right after Saint Patrick\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My kid turned 34 March 16th and Zeph\u2019s birthday is March 18th. That\u2019s a trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s crazy. Pedro Barros and my son have the same birthday. They\u2019re both Pisces and they\u2019re both         experimenters. Zeph is a cool kid. He loves surfing and he\u2019s just exploring life right now. He doesn\u2019t know exactly what he wants to do, but that\u2019s part of being a young dude. He\u2019s still out there experimenting and it\u2019s all good. My daughter is a different story. She knows exactly what she wants to do and she\u2019s doing it. She\u2019s part of the wisdom tree that one. She\u2019s really smart and she just understands a lot of things about life because, I think, she\u2019s been around so much craziness as a child that she just knows what she wants from her life. She\u2019s 28 years old now and she went to UCLA to get her Masters Degree. She\u2019s into philosophy and psychology and religious history and trippy stuff where I just go, \u201cHuh? How did she even end up there?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s amazing. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know she ended up there because the universe guided her in that direction. She\u2019s doing the same thing that I do. She is going where the light is shining and heading towards her goals. Avalon is amazing. I\u2019m not saying she\u2019s better or worse than my son. I\u2019m just saying that Avalon is amazing. The things she\u2019s going to accomplish in her life will be at a level I never could have imagined. As a father, you can only be proud of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How psyched are you? That\u2019s incredible. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m pretty stoked. At the same time, I don\u2019t want to put too much pride into it. The bottom line is that I feel good about where she\u2019s going in her life. She and I communicate really well too, at this point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s also a dope thing to have happen too. Guaranteed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. To see your child become successful and educated and happy, it\u2019s great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you ever get into music? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to be in my brother\u2019s punk band and I sucked and I couldn\u2019t even play, so there was no way they were going to let me play in that band, so I started my own band, the Skoundrelz, with Bela Horvath. We started playing our own crazy, original, loud, obnoxious punk rock. Then I attracted a couple of guys that were good guitarists and they were friends with a guy named Dave Hurricane who was an amazing singer, kind of Peter Murphy-style. We started the Skoundrelz with the two original guitarists from Suicidal Tendencies, Mike Dunnigan and Mike Ball. It was the two O.G.s. I had to learn how to play  because, if I hadn\u2019t, those guys would have kicked me out of the band. The bottom line is, if you have two guys from Suicidal and you\u2019ve got a decent bass, it\u2019s on. I had a 4001 Rickenbacker, which was a rad guitar back then, and I bought some shitty amp. Later on, I got a decent amp from Ray Flores. I learned how to play by playing Jimi Hendrix songs and Black Sabbath, and then starting to play punk rock. I\u2019m totally self-taught, but I can read music now to a certain extent. If you tell me a note, I know right where to find it. If you tell me a progression, I know how to do the progression. If I hear a trained musician tell me how the chorus goes and where the bridge is and here\u2019s the verse, boom, I\u2019m there with them. I\u2019d like to start a band with Izzy Stradlin. He came by my shop and bought some skate stuff. That would be fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would be fun. I love Izzy Stradlin. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nah. That\u2019s just a hypothetical. I have a good band, so it\u2019s all good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPunk rock and skateboarding were hand in hand. If you weren\u2019t in a punk band or into punk music, or you weren\u2019t wearing your JAK\u2019S colors or your leather jacket, you weren\u2019t connected. That was part of the scene. You had to have some affiliation with punk rock music and punk rock attitude to really be part of what skateboarding was about at that time. That\u2019s why we ended up learning to play punk rock music.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you approach music like you would skating or surfing? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the manner of practice makes permanent, yes. I don\u2019t go for perfection. I\u2019m going for progress and a feeling. I want to feel like I can play the song or be in the moment, so I don\u2019t have to think about it. I just do it. If you\u2019re up there in the lights and you think everybody out there is looking at you, while you\u2019re playing, you\u2019re full of shit. You can\u2019t be getting that shit in your head. You just have to be part of the band and play your position. Bass players are part of the rhythm and I have a really good drummer that I\u2019ve been playing with for seven years now, so I stay really tight with him. He\u2019s the pocket man and I just stay in his side pocket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You hang in his pocket and everyone else can do what they have to do. When you have a strong pocket, it\u2019s happening.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. The rock stars are playing guitar or singing. I\u2019m the rhythm guy and I\u2019m there to be right in the rhythm pocket with the drummer and that\u2019s what I do. I\u2019ve gotten good at it too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to stay in the pocket in that world, I think.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surfing too. You don\u2019t have to do anything fancy on the wave. I just stay in the pocket. It\u2019s the same as being a bass player. I just stay trimming fast in the pocket and that\u2019s tight. That makes a good band tight. If you have a super good rhythm section, no matter how shitty the rest of the band is, the band is at least batting 500, you know. The only thing that fucks bands up really bad is ego. When one person in the band thinks they are the band and it\u2019s all about them, that\u2019s when the band is going to break up. It\u2019s gonna implode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. That\u2019s a drag, but there are bands that have been together forever and my hat\u2019s off to them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Totally. Look at a band like T.S.O.L. You gotta just be like, \u201cWow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re still going strong, which is cool. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. All those guys are great, and I love Ronnie. That\u2019s my guitar hero. Ron Emory and Greg Hetson are my favorites. I like Greg as a person too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s great. He knows the pocket as well as anyone. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s a straight up punk rock guitarist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s a good one, which separates him from the pack. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. He plays with Marky Ramone now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love that. That makes perfect sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you still playing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me? I play all the time. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I goof around on guitar but, when I\u2019m going to play bass, hanging in the pocket with the drummer is always cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joey C. is the guy you want to play with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I know. You guys played, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. He\u2019s the guy. I haven\u2019t played with him lately, but that\u2019s the guy you want to play with if you get the chance. He\u2019s the bomb. He\u2019s definitely one of the best drummers in LA, as far as I\u2019m concerned. He\u2019s rad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you travel and tour with your band?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. We\u2019ve played in Korea for Vans events and we\u2019ve played down in Mexico and we\u2019ve played up and down the West Coast. We play all over the place. His Eyes Have Fangs is the name of the band and Matt Rainwater is the drummer that I was  talking about. His wife is Rachel Anne Rainwater and she\u2019s our little diva singer. We started with Ray Barbee playing guitar and went through another guy named Vulcho Bonev, who played guitar with us for a little while and then he ended up going back to be more of a producer and technician because he has a studio in Orange County. We have two new guys in the band now, Sonny and Alex, and they play keyboards and guitar. They\u2019re really good. Those guys are serious Rock to Recovery guys. They can read music and write music and play anything you tell them in a matter of ten seconds. They\u2019re that good. They\u2019re like studio musicians, but they can play live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you guys have records out?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. We have two records out. We have an EP, which was our first release. It comes in a mint green vinyl edition that has the MP3 card that comes with it and then we did an LP called Blue 4 U and it has nine tracks all done on analog two-inch tape. We went back to the way that Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd and The Doors did it. We have had Robbie Krieger from The Doors come and play live with us. We\u2019ve had a lot of cool opportunities. We\u2019ve played a lot and we\u2019re not about being famous and doing the rock star thing. We\u2019re more about just sharing the music and playing live as much as possible and practicing and writing original music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much do you guys practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When live shows are coming up, we practice at least a dozen times a month. We jam, bro. We don\u2019t fuck around. We take it seriously, but not so seriously that we take the fun out of it. I\u2019ll rehearse with them a couple of times a week and then once on the weekend and then we\u2019ll go out and play a show. We don\u2019t care whether it\u2019s a shitty little bar in Long Beach or an arena in Hollywood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You just want to play. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. We want to play good.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You guys do play good. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We play pretty good. We\u2019re getting better all the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw you guys when Robbie Krieger came and played with you in Malibu. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. That was fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A DRAIN SIDE VIEW OF A GONZO BACKSIDE GRINDER WITH HEAD-BANDED HAIR FLYIN\u2019 AND ATTITUDE FLOWIN\u2019 THROUGH THE \u201870S HEYDAYS. PHOTO \u00a9 WYNN MILLER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re still skating pools all the time, too?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I skate pools occasionally. Over the hill, there\u2019s quite a few of them and I\u2019ve got my little scouts out there that are constantly looking for them and cleaning them out. Most of the time I\u2019m skating my local bowls and skateparks in my neighborhood. I still skate Bronson. I go and skate banks and I skate street a little bit still. Most of the time, you can find me skating the clover over there in Culver City. I sneak down into Venice occasionally when it\u2019s not too crowded. I skate the overhang thing at the Cove. I love that thing. I go out and skate Ojai. I skate up in San Francisco at Potrero, which was Jake\u2019s favorite. I go skate the Los Osos skatepark in the middle of nowhere in Central California. I go to weird spots. I just show up unexpected at places all the time. That\u2019s my favorite thing to do. I don\u2019t let anyone know when I\u2019m going. I\u2019ll just show up and skate with whoever is there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You still have the same attitude. Just show up and rip wherever you go. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s my favorite. It\u2019s fun. I\u2019m the same way with surfing. I don\u2019t wait for nobody. I don\u2019t take nobody with me. I don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going. I just show up. I know when the window is best. I\u2019m looking for the window. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. There are variables to the window.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big time with surfing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s so good in the early morning when it\u2019s offshore and so beautiful. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why I like wintertime better than summer. I think summer is overrated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it\u2019s perfectly offshore at 5:30 in the morning, it\u2019s dope. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It gets like that right in front of Andy Lyon\u2019s old house in Malibu. It\u2019s straight offshore, waist to shoulder high, perfect, just the way you described. It\u2019s the best shit ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I\u2019m so curious to reflect on your past to where you\u2019ve gotten. You start off as a kid and then realize that you have talent and you\u2019re going to do something with it. A lot of people don\u2019t take advantage of it and they fall into other traps, but you persevered and pulled it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I had a few good people that were guiding me too. I mentioned Bunker Spreckels and I had another guy named Pete Zehnder, who guided me in the entrepreneurial direction. Then I had another dude named Eric Monson who was a freak of nature artist that did shit that looks like it\u2019s done on a Macintosh, but he was doing it back in the \u201870s with no computer. I had photographers around me, like Wynn Miller and Raul Vega. The list of photographers goes on, like Friedman and Stecyk. I had a lot of influences around me. My other influences were Gerry Lopez, Larry Bertlemann, Rabbit Bartholomew, Wayne Lynch, Reno Abellira, Terry Fitzgerald, Ted Spencer and George Greenough. All those guys influenced me to take it one step further than even where they were heading in their pursuits of that crazy revolutionary way of surfing and skateboarding. Everything connected to rock n\u2019 roll music and it still does. I\u2019ve kind of figured out why and where and how we\u2019re headed in the direction that leads to that discovery of why we even started doing this to begin with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes. You became Tony Alva. From my perspective, I was a surfer and a skater.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We grew up together, you and me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, but I gotta give it up to you. We had influences outside of surfing and skateboarding, like Cassius Clay and Bruce Lee.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved both of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone asks me about influences, I say that there were cats doing things  outside of skateboarding and surfing too. Then there is Tony Alva who was as large of a figure as those guys ever were, to me. Nowadays, I don\u2019t know if we have those kind of cats. It was just insane to be able to pull and be influenced by cats like that. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s good to have somebody that inspires you that you can look back at and even people that you can relate to and talk to nowadays. A lot of the guys are gone so, for me and you to even be able to have a discussion like this is important, just for the fact that it\u2019s going to maybe inspire somebody else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems like you\u2019re not going to stop, and I know that I\u2019m not going to stop.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know what one of my favorite things is on a daily basis? It\u2019s not what you\u2019ve done. It\u2019s what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s not about what you did yesterday. It\u2019s about what you did today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agree. Yesterday is over and then there\u2019s tomorrow, which looks really awesome. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what I\u2019m saying. Tomorrow is a dream. Today is going to be a good day if I\u2019m living today properly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. It comes down to great choices as well. We learn to make better choices as we get older and wiser. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t, you\u2019re fucked. You mentioned Muhammad Ali, and Ali says, \u201cThe man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.\u201d That\u2019s wisdom from the champ. He was the greatest of all time, a boxer, a philosopher and the whole ball of wax. That guy was a shining example of perseverance and determination and reaching goals.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And sticking to your beliefs completely.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Totally. He was carrying the message of hope and faith and all of those gnarly things. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s it\u2019s like to be an African American. It\u2019s gotta be gnarly. I know the Mexican part of me came from my dad and that\u2019s kind of a gnarly part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How so?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It went from Alva being my last name to my dad who was ashamed of his Latin heritage and tried to cover it up and hide it. I was a little more proud of it, growing up on the Westside. A lot of people look down on you and think you\u2019re less than because of the fact that you\u2019re not some pure Aryan type and that\u2019s bullshit. It\u2019s ignorance. My mom is from Amsterdam, pure white Dutch European, but having a mom from Amsterdam was liking having one of the Beatles as your parent, which in a way is cool and in another way is like, \u201cWow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your mom is excellent. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s a funny lady and I love her. My dad passed on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sorry about that. My mom passed on. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a feeling she did. That was Punker Pat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes! I remember taking her clothes and she was like, \u201cSteve, take that off. I like that scarf.\u201d She was a comic. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. She was like, \u201cI like this shirt. I like that scarf.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, for you, growing up as Tony Alva, I\u2019m trying to get to the point that it\u2019s not as easy as, \u201cHe\u2019s lucky. He gets to do this.\u201d You\u2019ve worked to be who you are.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Well, you have to. Half measures avail us nothing. You have to do 100% every day. You\u2019re not going to get something for nothing. Nothing is free, especially in the 21st Century. Right now it\u2019s the toughest it\u2019s ever been for just being secure and safe and successful and all of those things that make us feel like things are still good. It\u2019s a tough time. It\u2019s not always about making money and having the fancy car and all of the material stuff. I think it\u2019s more about how you feel inside. The thing for me is freedom. Knowing that I\u2019m not a slave to anything outside of myself, I\u2019m free. Deep down  inside, I feel comfortable with myself today. I\u2019m free to make my decisions based on what I feel, which is attached to intuition and wisdom. Those are the two most important things in my life now. I\u2019m not going to stress out about my bank account or anything other than my spiritual maintenance. My life just needs equanimity, which means balance. If you\u2019re a surfer or a skater or a musician and you don\u2019t have equanimity, you\u2019ll never be 100% good at what you do. You\u2019ll always be off-kilter. You gotta learn to go switch. You gotta learn to be ambidextrous. I learned that from watching Jay Adams skate or surf. He could go any which way at any time. I try to do that now, even all these years after Jay left us, and I have to carry on. He died 8-15-14, but it seems like ten years already. For me, I have to carry on. I have to continue sharing what Jay and I believed in. With or without Jay here to hold my hand, I have to take it forward. I knew Jay well enough to know which direction he would have taken it, and I\u2019m going to show the world that we\u2019re connected to the culture of West Los Angeles through the roots of surfing and we\u2019re still part of a revolution that is changing the entire world. Look at what we\u2019ve done, as kids even. Look at how different the world is now because of the fact that the Z-Boys did what they did. I don\u2019t want to brag about it or try to make people think that we\u2019re more important than we are, but I\u2019m telling you, the Z-Boys had a radical revolutionary effect on youth culture in the entire world. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, as they say. It will probably get you high. Just watch out for the resin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will at least make you think.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll get perma-dosed. Perma-dosed is when, no matter how long you\u2019ve been sober, you\u2019ve still got that hallucinogenic stuff in your DNA. You\u2019re always going to be a little whacked out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perma-dosed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Perma-dosed. Jake Phelps was like that. You could tell. From the fact that he was born in San Francisco and then they took him to Boston and then he made it back to San Francisco, he was perma-dosed from the moment he was born. It was in such a super unique and cool way though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He followed his dream. He truly loved skateboarding. He loved what he did. Whether you liked him or hated him, he was real to what he did. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Jake liked to be controversial. I don\u2019t think anybody really hated him. He just liked to be controversial. He liked to rub people the wrong way sometimes. Fausto and those guys saw that in him, so that\u2019s why they hired him. They knew Jake was the right guy at the right time for the job. I miss guys like that. I miss Bobby Biniak and Shogo Kubo, but today is today and we\u2019re here. We need to just remember that, if you\u2019re here, you are still responsible for inspiring and carrying on the tradition and the principles of what the Westside of L.A. stands for, and for just keeping it real. Pat Ngoho said it about Red Bull doing that thing down in Venice. He\u2019s like, \u201cThese guys come here and they\u2019re extracting our culture and they don\u2019t even mention one thing about the roots and that\u2019s just wrong.\u201d I hate to say it, brother, but somebody has got to say it and I totally agree with Pat 100%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s got a valid point. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the world nowadays. A lot of people come in and act like they are the innovators of everything that was core. Taking credit for that Venice scene, back in the day, that shit would have got you shot. It was some Red Bull shit. If they think they can take claim for that, good luck with that. When you come down to the park next time and you get mobbed deep and the old school homies roll up on you, you\u2019re going to know you messed with one bean now you get the whole burrito. [Laughs] I always used to say that about Jesse Martinez and those guys, like the Mexican Surfing Association. If you mess with one bean, you get the whole burrito. That\u2019s not to be racist or anything either. That\u2019s just a play on words. That\u2019s Venice code. Don\u2019t mess with even one of those dudes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s just reality. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wentzle Ruml would say it. It almost happened to me. Believe me. I had run ins with those guys when I was younger and it was tough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think, more than anything in the world, I just love being in nature and surfing and skating. That\u2019s been my ultimate love from the get go and still is.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What about being this guy that helped innovate pool skating and take it to a whole different world?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that\u2019s where I get respect now, which is cool, because those guys realize that. I don\u2019t have any enemies at this point, because of the fact of what comes around goes around. What I\u2019ve done is established something that was significant and that people respect. Nowadays I don\u2019t have to look over my shoulder when I go down to Venice. I get love and respect from everybody. I can walk through Brooklyn. I can walk through South Central LA. I\u2019m not tripping. I\u2019m comfortable. I\u2019m like Popeye. \u201cI am what I am and that\u2019s all that I am.\u201d If worse comes to worse, I go have some spinach. Back in the day, I\u2019d be smoking it. Nowadays, I\u2019ll just eat it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all good. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better to eat it. I know you love your ciggies, but me, I can\u2019t smoke anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was just a bad habit that I gave up. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was watching Viggo Mortensen the other day in the Green Book. Did you see that movie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. I loved that movie so much. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reminded me of you. I was like, \u201cThat\u2019s like Olson there driving the Cadi.\u201d He had his sandwich and his cigarette and his nice pants on and he had his hair combed all nice. He was like, \u201cFuck this. What do you want me doing now, boss? Let\u2019s go.\u201d When he pulls out his gun and fires it up in the air so those guys don\u2019t rob the guy because he flashed his wad at the soul bar, the guy was like, \u201cI thought you said you didn\u2019t have a gun.\u201d Viggo was like, \u201cUm, yeah. Okay.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s so good. I love how the pianist dude jumps up there and jams. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s great. Viggo has a kid with Exene. He\u2019s all grown up now, but he looks so much like Exene. Did you know that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. How was the punk rock scene for you when you were getting into it? It was such a natural thing. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Punk rock and skateboarding were hand in hand. If you weren\u2019t in a punk band or into punk music, or you weren\u2019t wearing your Jak\u2019s colors or your leather jacket, you weren\u2019t connected. That was part of the scene. You had to have some affiliation with punk rock music and punk rock attitude to really be part of what skateboarding was about at that time. That\u2019s why we ended up learning to play punk rock music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly. It opened the doors to all sorts of different things that maybe we would have never been shown. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s more sophisticated than you would think. If you look at Iggy Pop and the Damned and the Jam and the Clash and the Ramones, that shit seems like caveman shit, but if you really look into it, it\u2019s way more sophisticated than it seems. Iggy Pop, the Dead Boys, come on, those guys were real rockers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Truly rock n\u2019 roll.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not saying that the Stones or the Beatles or the Who aren\u2019t because they are too, but those guys got so big at one point that punk rock had to shatter that illusion that you had to be like those guys to be a rock star. Punk rock shattered the illusion. The Clash is still my favorite band of all time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember when we saw The Clash with The Cramps and the Dead Kennedys at the Kezart?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I do. It was at the basketball auditorium in San Francisco. That was great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was insane. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Jello got mobbed and got his pants torn off or something crazy like that and he didn\u2019t even care. He was just going for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love that. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Biafra is the man. I never liked him that much then, but now, when I think about Jello Biafra, I\u2019m like, \u201cWow. He\u2019s something else.\u201d He\u2019s not as cool as Lux Interior was, but he\u2019s cool. I don\u2019t think too many people were as cool as Lux Interior though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original Cramps were so cool.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were cool, cool, cool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I saw the Dead Boys on Sunset Blvd back then and they were all pale white in black with dark sunglasses and I was like, \u201cWow. That\u2019s cool.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were rock \u2019n\u2019 roll goth New York dudes. Stiv Bators was a super small dude, but he was gnarly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were excellent. Where do you draw your musical influences from now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of my stuff comes from the blues and psychedelic stuff. I would say stuff from Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac and Bowie all the way to Radiohead and Mogwai and crazy shit, like really psychedelic weird stuff. I like all of that stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember Joey Tershay was telling me, \u201cOh, yeah, I was with T.A. one time and we went by this drum and bass thing and he just took his shirt off and was like, \u2018Yeah, this is my scene.\u2019 And he split.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I love drum and bass because it\u2019s so tribal. I used to love it, especially if I was drinking. I would mix those crazy super pills those kids take there and I would get into this trance rhythm thing with that kind of music. I used to like that kind of music. For that kind of music, I needed that extra stimulation to really get to where I could connect with the music. Nowadays, that would be more difficult for me. I would rather connect with something on a pure and simple level, rather than to add the drugs and alcohol to the experience, because the next day I was just tore up from the floor up. I love playing with my band because we do a completely clean and sober version of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll but it\u2019s not different than what we would do if we were still getting loaded, but our perception is so different. We\u2019re really seeing and feeling and we have a clarity and perception of the music and the whole experience that we didn\u2019t have before when we were getting loaded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can dig it more. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s more of a pure experience. It\u2019s psychedelic still, but we don\u2019t have to add LSD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Right. The vibrations can take you there. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Totally. Sound is god. The guys that play the sitar and tabla drums say, \u201cIt\u2019s Nada Brahma.\u201d Nada means sound and brahma means god, so they\u2019re saying sound is god. It also goes the other way. God is sound. When the first word was spoken, it was musical. That\u2019s why when people mediate and do spiritual things that are geared towards sound, they do the Om vibration. Om is the first word and it came from a higher power. It came from something much bigger than we could ever understand. I think that\u2019s why music is so beautiful and important, because it\u2019s that big and amazing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is amazing for sure. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s my understanding of music. I can hear music where someone is speaking a foreign language and I don\u2019t even have to know the language. I know what they\u2019re saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think opening up and letting it fly helps out completely. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s openminded. Frank Zappa said, \u201cA mind is like a parachute. It doesn\u2019t work if it is not open.\u201d Zappa was the ultimate straight-edge scientific psychedelic rocker. I loved freaks like Frank Zappa. That\u2019s a real freak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was beyond talented. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Totally. I\u2019m glad we could have this discussion, Steve. This is the best discussion we\u2019ve had in a long time, you and I. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. Well, I don\u2019t get to see you too much because we\u2019re always on different sides of the planet. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is moving fast. Make sure you give your dad a big hug for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will. I know he says hi. We will now move on to our next journeys. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cool. I\u2019ll leave this with you. It\u2019s something I read today and it\u2019s really cool. \u201cPray for wisdom because with wisdom, everything else comes. Don\u2019t be controlled by your moods but by wisdom. With that wisdom, develop creative thinking and activity.\u201d Those are words from a wise man. Not my words, but something that I can live by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I live by that too. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, you can. It\u2019s progress. One day at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you. I\u2019ll talk to you later, T.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love you, man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love you too. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll see you again soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, bye. <\/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":"

From a time of cultural phenomena… From Bruce Lee to Muhammad Ali… The list goes on, too many to mention. A teenage Mexican American would let the world know one thing… He was out to be the best… With the heart of a champion and an attitude to match, Tony Alva did just that… Able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91001,"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":[4029,4027,4028,4041],"tags":[14255,14262,29,14362,3189],"class_list":["post-90994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alva-collection","category-featured","category-interviews","category-skate-2","tag-juice-magazine","tag-skate","tag-skateboarding","tag-steve-olson","tag-tony-alva"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/ALVA-FIRE-USE-ME-TLC.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90994","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=90994"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91021,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90994\/revisions\/91021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}