For the last decade Ian Reid has been traveling and partying with your favorite pro skaters and filming the best elements of the hood: cars, women, drug dealing. Besides that, not much has changed in his 7 day weekend plan, as he explains, “I still watch Maury Povich twice a day, move my fucking car and ride my fucking skateboard.” The new video “Streets Is Talking,” is finally due out this year, as soon as Ian figures out how to release it without it getting ripped on Youtube or Megaupload within minutes – which could be tough because he “ain’t no fucking computer genius”. The video follows the same formula of hood hijinx and quality skateboarding all filmed with his shitty $200 video camera. Ian Reid is the type of guy that’s tough to interview because every question leads to a story, and every story leads to 4 more stories, it’s hard to not just turn off the tape recorder, grab a 6 pack and listen in.
Between traveling and filming you’ve skated with all types of people, huh?
Yea. Shit man, I knew Paul [Rodriguez] before Paul was sponsored. We used to skate like everyday. Its hilarious to know a dude that long. When I met Paul he didn’t even curse. I got video of me and him driving from spot to spot, and I’d be like Paul, I just want you to say, “fuck.” And he wouldn’t say it. He would be like, “No I don’t say those words.” And I’d be like, “c’mon, just say it.”
And finally one day he said “fuck,” and I was just like YES! Success! Back then it used to be a big deal and shit. I used to call him Eddy Munster. I made up names for all these little kids.
Tell me a funny story about you and Brian [Wenning]…
So me and Brian had stayed at Robbie Mckinley’s house when Robbie and Chris Roberts were living together. We didn’t really know Chris Roberts, he didn’t ride for Chocolate or nothing at that point. He was just Robbie’s roommate. Chris was shook, like he didn’t want us staying at his place. He didn’t know us. I told Brian, and Brian’s like, “what the fuck? Fuck this shit.”
Anyway, we stay, and Brian fucks some girl in the ass on Robbie’s couch. With soap. He used like hand soap to lube up the girls ass he smashed on Robbie’s couch. Somehow Chris found out about it a few days and threw such a fucking fit about it, it was just hilarious. Funniest shit to me and Brian.
You backing Wenning on Selfish?
Hahahhahahaha [pause] Yeah you know man. Jereme really only means well doing his own company. Everybody, you know they can all say whatever they want, but he just wants to be his own boss. Aside from his antics, he does go a little wild at times, but everybody else does to. Jereme is good money man. And its not like dude ain’t good on a skateboard. It don’t matter how much you hate on the dude rapping, and how he looks and shit. Good is good, you cant deny that shit.
What were you doing when you were my age? (22)
I was sleeping on the floor of the Baker office.
Damn
Yeah, for like a year. Andrew Reynolds was a fan of Wenning and we had all met up in Tampa and I went to LA after that. I started talking to Andrew one day and then I went by the office and J. Strickland was there, he edited Baker 2G. Me and Beagle sat down and he pretty much showed us how to edit. We just used to just smoke weed and shit all day and skate, and just come back and edit. I would just sleep there and shit, and Andrew would come in in the morning and wake my ass up. After that I moved with Ellington and then to the Emerica Mansion.
How was the Emerica Mansion?
It was just a surreal thing. Like I wanna say like Danny Devito had lived next store. And so you would see that dude. The house was in the hills. At that point there wasn’t that many skaters that were super rich and shit. It wasn’t a normal thing. Now it’s feasible for someone that skates to have such a house. But back then, it was completely different. The floors were marble, big ass doors, a mansion. It was crazy. If I was in a different mindset back then I would definitively just try to bring bitches home every night. But I wasn’t in that state of mind back then. There was a definitively a lot of activity going on in the house.
I used to go stand in front of Heath’s door and put my ear to it and wonder what the fuck he was in there doing. We would all be up doing shit, and Heath would just be in his room with the door closed, like fucking 4pm on a Saturday.
What was he doing?
I have no fucking idea! He was like one of the dudes in the house I never saw. I think I saw him once and I talked to him, maybe, once. It was some shit like in front of the refrigerator I was like, “Oh shit it’s Heath! Whatsup man,” and he was just like, “Yo.”
Was the house really that crazy?
Everyone’s crazy man. If you think they are crazy because they like to do drugs and have fun then nah, it wasn’t really that crazy. I know motherfuckers that smoke weed, go kill motherfucker’s and sell drugs all day. That’s crazy to me. Like getting drunk, car jacking a motherfucker, then selling him back his car? Now that’s crazy. I know little kids in my hood that do that. I know those kids.
Who else is on the 7 day weekend plan?
My man Freddy Gall, he’s the king of the 7 day weekend, or as me and Brian [Wenning] used to call it, the swindle. The swindle as it’s known, has been going on with Freddy for a damn near 20 years. He’s the king of it. There is no one better at the swindle. He also maintained what he needed to in skateboarding. He always got a full part, always two, three, four minutes. But, Fred likes to party.
How did someone get on the 7 day weekend plan back then?
If you look at it, alright all you gotta do it ride your skateboard right. So you’re already pro, you already getting money from the company you ride for, so at this point in life, a company made a video every 3 years. And then you need one ad every 6 to 7 months. So that’s steady income for like a year per ad. And per video part. So your company by paying you is enabling the 7 day weekend.
”If you win $100,000 at a contest, what the fuck else you got to do?”
So all you need is one good sponsor.
Yeah that’s it. All you need is one good sponsor, a semi good video part that people can kinda reference, like, this is why we are giving him this money. This is why he’s good. That’s it. The 7 day weekend shall commence.
Its harder to do now tho.
It’s way harder to do now cause the internet fucked it all up. You know like companies are less tolerant for that type of shit now. Especially since they put up videos so quickly. Now it’s like every year. Like Antwuan was on the 7 day weekend plan for a while but he just got caught up.
Lutzka and Dustin are both members, just different spectrum’s of it. Lutzka will go to a contest, win, and be done. He doesn’t need to skate no more till next year’s contest. That’s the 7 day weekend plan. If you win 100,000 at a contest, what the fuck else you got to do?
Dustin Dollin, parties all day all night, gets on a skateboard and fucking puts it down. It’s one of those things like we would be at the spot and the dude would just have a bottle of Jäger. Dude will get his drink on, and throw it down. Switch varial heel. That’s it. That’s a form of the 7 day weekend lifestyle. Party non-stop, but when it comes time to get on the skateboard and put in that work, like it goes down, and as soon as it’s down, 7 day weekend lifestyle reconvene.
You still using the same equipment for Streets is Talkin??
Ahh, hell yea. I use all complete pieces of shit. My main video is gonna be regular, standard definition 630×480, whatever that shit is. I actually have some shit in HD but that shit’s bullshit. That raw real shitty looking VHS feel, that’s what makes me feel at home when I’m watching a video.
Yeah shit’s crazy now. Like the Plan B video, all HD. I don’t need it that polished. It’s not a Hollywood movie.
Technology man. It’s trend following and shit. Yeah no fuck that. That’s Ty [Evans] and Spike [Jonze], they fucked the game all up. I mean I fucks with Ty that’s my homie and shit, he helped a lot in the early days, but god man they fucked it all up with Fully Flared.
That was the turning point
Yeah that was the definite turning point, it was like WOW, they made a definite motion picture, it’s like this shit could be in Imax or something. Man, fuck that, I don’t ever want to watch a skate video in Imax.
”Ty Evans and Spike Jonze, they fucked the game all up.”
What was the scene like when you were skating Love Park and Philly? Was Ricky running it at that time?
Ricky wasn’t really there that much. He was riding for New Deal or something at this time so he was traveling a lot. It was just, Kevin, Josh Kalis, Stevie [Williams], Brian, Tim O Connor, Rob [Pluhowski]…. all the local dudes you see in any Love Park video. They would be there everyday. It was sick. You would see shit going down non-stop. It was the Chris Cole era of like baggy pants and he would come to the park and everyone would be like, “oh this guy, fuck him. “
What about Ricky and Kalis’s beef
Ricky was real territorial, you know. That’s like any skateboarder. Shit, I wont act like I’m not territorial about certain things. The difference is, at the end of the day, Ricky will actually like fuck somebody up. Like Josh is way more democratic and peaceful. Josh don’t want no problems. Ricky will fuck you up and that will be the end of it. He used to do that. You may have heard stories of him like skating a spot then going back and like breaking it up with a hammer or some crazy shit. I mean, it happened.
Who’s the goofiest skater right now?
Hahaha. That’s a tough question because there are so many kids out there. Fuck. That’s a real tough question. There are so many assholes out there. From the motherfuckers who skate like wingtip shoes and like girl skate jeans. Dylan Rieder. Hes gnarly as fuck but he skates with fucking wingtip shoes and girl skinny jeans, and I don’t like that shit. I don’t like that shit one bit.
Check out more of the Jenkem Interviews.
Original Illustration: Lauren Kolesinskas
Portrait Photo: Sarah De Burgh
Mad? Rant on our Facebook
Important updates on our Twitter
Related Posts
Comments
Popular
-
WHAT FILM CAMERAS ARE SOME OF SKATING’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS USING?
It’s easy to feel lost in finding your own go-to camera. We hope this helps.
-
HUNTING DOWN A REMOTE QUARTERPIPE IN A SECLUDED DESERT TOWN
We heard stories of a quarterpipe in the post-apocalyptic desert town of Bombay Beach and went off to find it.
-
A CHAT WITH LUDVIG HAKANSSON, THE OLDEST SOUL IN SKATEBOARDING
The man loves to read Nietzche, skates in some expensive vintage gear, and paints in his own neoclassical-meets-abstract-expressionist style.
-
THE WAIT IS OVER: IPATH SHOES ARE BACK
Cats, Grasshoppers and Fred Gall. What's going on with this IPATH reboot?
-
THE RISE AND FALL OF PRO MODEL SKATE SHOES
While there are still some exceptions, the signature shoe has largely evaporated from the skateboard industry. But, why?
June 9, 2011 4:23 am
I like how he justifies Jereme in the same interview as deriding Dylan. Guess those pointy shoes are that fucking bad huh
June 15, 2011 9:42 am
Ian, sell your shit on iTunes for $4.99. Fuck DVDs.