Among the dizzying glow of monitors, he stoically sits. “Today we have a special, special, speeeecciiaal guest,” rings in his ears. It’s been two days since he’d felt the tingling warmth of sunlight, but Chris promises this episode will be the one.
LOL, I swear I could write a novel if I had the time.
But I don’t, and I’m also not going to waste much time with this intro. You know who it is. It’s Roger Bagley, committed behind-the-scenes Swiss army knife for The Nine Club and a veteran of skateboarding media.
Let me quickly explain what I mean by veteran. Viva La Bam? He was there. Enjoi’s Oververt? Filmed that. Pretty Sweet? Helped with that too. I could go on and on, but there’s no need. You’d have to have your head in an anthill not to understand why we’re so excited to bring you this interview.
Roger, as evident by my short list, has experienced a lot throughout his career in skateboarding, some high highs and some low lows, so we let him talk.
And talk he did. From success doctors to controversial guests, this one’s long and chock full of opinions. As always, air your pleasantries or your grievances in the comments, and hey, enjoy this one. You deserve it!
Do you still have Lil Wayne’s blunt ashes?
I do. Do you want them?
[Laughs] I’m not that big of a Lil Wayne fan, but I think it’s a cool little thing to have.
I’m not that big a fan either, I just thought it was funny. The dude had a personal blunt roller with him. That [Nine Club] episode was fucked. We didn’t know if we were going to have him on the show for five minutes or five hours. We had no clue. Luckily he and Chris [Roberts] hit it off and talked about basketball before the show started, and then it was like, all right, we got him. He’s not going anywhere.
How important are those pre-talks with guests before you start recording the interview?
It all depends on the person. Jason Dill showed up three hours early, and he was nervous as fuck. He just wanted to hang and figure out, “How do we do this?” like, “What are we going to talk about?
Kalis was petrified. The dude had a panic attack on the show. 40 minutes into the show he had to get up and smoke a cigarette. People just overthink it.
It’s surprising how so many skaters are scared shitless of talking.
They’re so in their head, but it’s like, dude, you’ve done all this great shit. They feel like they have this thing to live up to, but they’re just a human being. Have a conversation.
It’s no different than being in the van for the next 3 hours going to a spot, just make sure you don’t say anything stupid because there’s a camera pointed at you [laughs]. Also, before we even start the show we say, “Hey dude, if you say anything that you didn’t mean to, let us know, we’ll take it out. Just say it right then and there, like ‘Hey, edit that out.’”
I noticed the Nine Club’s sponsors are mainly non-skate brands. Is there a reason for that?
That was kind of by design. When Chris [Roberts] and I started this it was more about wanting to support skaters and giving them a platform to speak their mind, but also support the brands that are out there involved with skateboarding. We didn’t want to take money from skateboarding’s core brands because we know they were all on a budget. We figured we’d take the money from these bigger companies to fund what we’re doing here.
Yeah, the core industry is poor. Do you think if you didn’t have a bigger brand’s support you’d still be able to do the podcast?
Probably not. I mean we’ve always tried to keep it where YouTube is our main breadwinner. If Youtube can’t keep us going then we’re in trouble.
And YouTube fluctuates month over month with ads, right? Or is it pretty consistent for you?
It’s falling. We’re just trying to survive like everyone else.
Would you ever do a Blue Chew ad read?
No but I’d have Chris do it. [Laughs]
Do you think this new generation of kids has the same interest in skateboarding as the previous generations?
I don’t know man, I feel like I’ve aged out. It seems like skateboarding is something that kids pick up and then they go and move on to something else. Like, I’m gonna play video games today, I’m gonna skate with my friends, I’m gonna go ride bikes. It’s a fucking rocket powered generation.
I know you still skate a lot. How do you stay inspired to keep doing it when it’s so much of your life already?
Just trying to keep myself happy. I look at skateboarding as more of a leisure activity, so I cruise around the beach, have fun and do the tricks I know how to do. I enjoy staying on top of my skateboarding instead of falling off of it, you know? And I rarely spend more than 10 tries on a trick. I just bounce around to different tricks and see which works. I have way more fun doing that than say, like, “Today’s the day for this one trick. I’m going to spend all day long trying to learn it.” That’s not fun at all. I wanna ride away [Laughs].
When you stopped being in front of the camera on the Nine Club, did it begin to take up less of your headspace? Or is it still taking up quite a bit of your life?
It still takes up quite a bit. I’m still sleeping here at the studio, so it’s pretty much my whole world. Even when I’m not sleeping on the fucking factory floor, I’m here every day. Either shipping stuff out, cutting together episodes, putting together Instagram posts, or shooting a show.
So you’re still doing most of the cutting and producing all that?
Yeah, it’s mostly me. When we first started, Chris wanted to take the reins on editing, so he edited the show for at least the first three years. Then we hired Tim Olson to come in and edit. Tim got another job, so he left and then I started editing about a year ago and I’ve been doing it since.
“I’m still sleeping here at the studio, so it’s pretty much my whole world.”
Do you like it or would you prefer someone else do that type of work?
I would love someone else to do the work [laughs]. But also, it’s hard to keep good, talented people because skate jobs aren’t making much money at all.
Has it been hard to run the show while also maintaining friendships with people?
I don’t have any friends [Laughs]. But I’ve got my crew here, so it works out pretty easy. Chris lives down the street, Kelly lives down the street.
Is your guys’ relationship as good as when the show started?
Our relationships are definitely stronger now. Although, there are some days where I feel like Chris is ready for a solo career [Laughs]. It’s tricky, but we’ve definitely learned a lot over the eight years we’ve been doing it.
I’ve heard the entire skate industry is hurting pretty badly right now. As someone who’s been in and around the industry for such a long time, do you think this is true or an exaggeration?
I think the industry’s completely fucked right now. Every skate shop is now a brand and every person who has an Instagram with over a certain number of followers thinks they can be a brand and start their own skateboard company.
Honestly, I place some blame on the wood shops. The wood shops lowered their minimums so much so that anyone can start a brand. Some places only have a 25 board minimum. It makes it tougher for legit skate companies to compete for wall space at a skate shop. Back in the day, a lot of brands were like, “Hey, you’re our woodshop. You don’t fuck with anyone else.” They had a sort of agreement with the wood shop of, “You only make our shit.”
How has being a filmmaker and creating content changed in the skate industry since the pandemic?
Filmmaking changed as soon as Instagram started video. Once you’re on a session and everyone’s got their phones out and meanwhile you’re sitting there with a tripod and $3000 lens on your camera like, “What the fuck am I doing here?” That was a breaking point where I’m like, “Dude, this is ridiculous.” I mean Andy Anderson filmed his entire part on an iPhone pretty much. He doesn’t give a fuck.
“I think the industry’s completely fucked right now.”
What projects over the course of your career stand out to you as really happy moments?
Filming Viva La Bam. That was college for me. It was a non-stop party and constant comedy, you know? Like constantly laughing your ass off every single day. It was like the best.
Are there any untold stories or something we’d be surprised to learn from your time behind the scenes working on Viva La Bam?
I can tell you that MTV ruined that show. There were a lot of battles between Bam and the executives. A lot of bumping heads about creative things, like the whole paint splash they used to do. All the dudes hated that shit [laughs]. MTV tried to script the show a little bit more towards the end, but the cast was just showing up. Everyone was like, “Alright well what do you want us to say? We want to go fucking live our lives.” It got a little weird towards the end.
Did you ever get laid just being associated with the crew?
Of course [laughs].
Other than skateboarding often, what are some things you changed in your life to keep yourself in a good headspace?
I quit drinking. That was definitely one thing that made me a lot happier. Getting shit done makes me happy too. Coming here, getting an entire episode cut and done, and getting Instagram done. I’m psyched when I have a productive day. If I don’t feel productive, I feel like I’m wasting my day.
Sorry if you’ve talked about this a lot before, but what led to the decision to quit drinking?
When I was drinking, I always felt sick after breakfast and had irregular bowel movements [laughs]. My girl thought I might be allergic to something. I took some blood tests where you prick your finger and send it in, and I found out I was allergic to barley, eggs and all this different stuff. So I’m like, “All right, I’ll stop drinking whiskey and beer and just drink gin and tonics or vodka sodas.” [laughs]
After a few months of not drinking beer, I decided I wanted to put myself on a drinking schedule. I held myself to not drinking until after 5pm on certain days. Slowly, I started to shrink the time down, and through that I squeezed it out of my life almost entirely. I continued drinking wine because my girlfriend loves wine so much, but she suggested we do dry January, and that was when I was like, “All right, I’m done drinking.” It’s been a few years now.
Wow, that’s great.
Another thing that got me to quit happened while I was taking mushrooms. I was in my office, laying down with my eyes closed, and my brain literally told me that alcohol is poison [laughs]. When I got up I was like, “I’m not going to drink anymore.”
So you cut out drinking, and then I heard you went to an emotional release doctor and a success coach?
Yeah, I went to Dr. G. He’s a super popular woo woo emotional release kind of dude. I went to him because of my girl too. She was like “You need to learn to communicate better and talk about your feelings.” Emotional release was just never me, you know? [laughs]
What was the process like?
You lay on a massage table, he blindfolds you, and he asks you to do these breathing exercises, saying things like, “Picture a door. Walk through that door. What do you see?” Basically guided meditation. The first time I went he asked me to bring someone, living or dead, into my mind. I brought up Ben Raemers, and I was trying to ask him why he killed himself, and I broke down in tears. That was the first time, and after that I felt a huge weight lifted off of me.
The second time I went to Dr. G the meditation led me into the foundation of this huge house and my girl was with me, and it gave me the feeling that I could really build something solid with her.
Do you continue to go or do you feel like you got what you needed?
I got the bulk of what I needed to get, but there’s still trauma. Just from growing up with a shitty dad situation. And how I used skateboarding as an escape to get away from my family. That’s all somewhere deep in the fascia of my body. [laughs]
Sometimes I wonder if people are drawn to skating for the same reasons many of us were, which was an outlet to deal with a chaotic home life or some sort of trauma.
I’m sure it’s the same for a lot of kids. I can imagine it’s pretty bad for a lot of kids right now with the economy being what it is and their parents trying to keep things together. I couldn’t imagine raising kids right now in this world.
And what about the success coach you saw?
Dr. George Pratt? We had Rob [Dyrdek] on the show and he mentioned him. Then Lutzka came on, and he was getting help from Dr. Pratt too, saying he changed his life. At that point I was like, all right, I gotta see for myself. While we were doing the show, I actually emailed his assistant and tried to book an appointment.
I went to him and had a 90 minute session with the guy. The first 30 minutes he gets to know you, asks about your goals, and then he tests you to see if you can be hypnotized.
Could you?
Yeah, and it has definitely helped me. Literally the moment I came out of hypnosis I felt like a different person. It was super creepy. After that, l was really focused on getting shit done with the Nine Club and setting myself up for success and moving forward in my life.
What sorts of things are you motivated to change now as a result? Like save more money and eat salads? That sort of thing?
Sure, like constantly saving money. Everytime I get that check, a huge chunk goes into my high yield savings account. If I have extra money laying around, I throw that into stocks. With the Nine Club, we’ve been trying to make a change too. For us, we were never making products, and now we’ve got a whole warehouse full of sweatshirts and shirts. We set up an online skate shop on the Nine Club site too, which we haven’t really told anyone about just yet other than on Instagram stories. Trying to let that grow organically.
How do you deal with polarizing or controversial guests? Like a Tim Poole type.
I’m behind the scenes, so when it comes down to it, Chris, Kelly, and Jeron are the ones that have to sit and talk to that person. So it comes down to whether or not they are comfortable.
But lets say Skater X just dropped an amazing part. And I’m like, “Dude, let’s talk about it.” And Chris is like, “Dude, I don’t know, what about the allegations and all the other stuff.” I’m like, “Who fucking cares? The dude just dropped an insane part.” Chris might not want to talk to him because he could be afraid that the internet would come after us. For me, it has gotten to that point where it’s like.. Are the cyberbullies winning?
“For me, it has gotten to that point where it’s like..
Are the cyberbullies winning?”
So what do you think the formula is? Do you go against the grain and have people on the show regardless?
It’s fucking crazy. Like, what if Skater Y dropped a part? Are we going to not talk about it because allegations hit him in the past too? All these dudes are constantly living in fear and it’s sad. You have to have the balls to be like, “Dude, what’s up with this?” You know?
What do you think when people say, “Oh, you’re platforming someone bad.”
I just want to give people an opportunity to tell their story. That’s it. Because we don’t fucking know what really happened. None of you idiots who are accusing this person of something were there.
You’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. It’s either “Why aren’t you guys talking about this?” or “Why are you guys talking about this?”
Do you worry about running out of interesting guests?
Skateboarding is full of fucking weirdos. We just had Erick Winkowski on, and we didn’t talk about skateboarding at all. We talked about skin walkers and stuff like that.
I was watching an older interview with you where you had a bit more of a lisp. Did that bother you growing up? It seems like you don’t have it as much anymore.
That’s why I never really talked growing up. Basically, I got put into a speech therapy class in third grade, and you have some woman trying to grill you on your S’s and it’s like. “Dude, I’m eight years old.” Eventually you just learn to shut up. I’m just being me, and you’re picking on me. That happened early on, and that shit scarred me. The fact that people still bring it up today, I’m like “Dude, fuck off.”
People still make fun of you for it? That’s wack.
Yeah, I’ve heard people talk about my lisp. I’m like, “I’m 50 years old. Deal with it.” I spent my entire life being quiet and not talking because I was afraid of being made fun of. An anger built up inside of me. Eventually I just wanted to be heard.
When you think of the media landscape, who’s your biggest competition?
We’re not competing against anybody. We do our own thing just like you do your thing. People like The Bunt are awesome, they got their thing going on. We got our thing going on. Everyone is a fucking media company. You know what I mean?
Has anyone had explosive diarrhea in the middle of the show?
Ooh, not yet. On Hot Ones it happened while I was working. Bobby Lee shit his pants [laughs]. It was funny though because he was such a dick. Some Hollywood celebrities are so nice and then some people are so full of themselves, it’s insane. Working in the media, you see how insane this place is.
Is there anyone you would like to punch in the face?
[Exhales] I don’t want to hurt my hand.
Well, spiritually then [laughs].
There’s definitely someone in skateboarding that deserves a punch in the face, but he’s already got his foot in his mouth, and I think if you just ignore him he’s going to be the joke of the industry and he’s not even going to realize it.
Here’s how I see it. I shot with Jamie Foxx yesterday [for Goat Talk]. And he was telling a story about a bully he knew growing up, and I was like, “But where is he now?” And Jamie was like, “I heard he’s dead.”
Who do you think films skateboarding the best?
I’ve always been a big fan of Ricki Bedenbaugh. I love everything he’s ever put out. Alan Hannon fucking crushes it too. He’s a Primitive filmer. A lot of it’s probably him in the editing bay, but I think his work is fucking top notch.
What about someone like Ben Chadourne?
He’s great. There’s some stuff that he puts out where I’m like, eh, not my cup of tea, but then there’s some where he nailed it.
Honestly, I just wanna see good skateboarding. I don’t care what you do behind the lens, just entertain me. You have five seconds to grab my attention. If you can grab me in those first five seconds, I’ll watch your eight minute video. But if you can’t grab me right away, I’m probably not going to sit through it. I’ll scrub through it. It all depends on how you package it up and present it to people.
As someone that knows Chris Roberts pretty well, would you consider him an introvert or an extrovert?
He won’t shut up [laughs]. You put him in any situation, he’s going to talk someone’s ear off. You can take him to Home Depot and he’s going to talk to someone about lumber. He’s just that kind of person. And he’s naturally a curious person. That’s why it was a no-brainer for him to be the host of the show.
“Honestly, I just wanna see good skateboarding.
I don’t care what you do behind the lens, just entertain me.”
Over the years has the show changed him at all?
Hmm… I’m trying to think about Chris eight years ago compared to now. Now I’m sure he is like, “I don’t want to fucking talk to anyone” [Laughs]. He won’t come skate if we have a show that day, like he has to conserve his energy. He’s like, “Dude, I can’t go and skate for fucking two hours because I’m gonna be burnt sitting there talking to so-and-so about their life for the next three and a half hours.”
I totally understand that. Sometimes I don’t go out because the small talk will burn me out.
I fucking hate small talk. There’s some people I could talk to forever, like I could talk to Louie Barletta for hours, but then there are other people where I have nothing to say. Do I want to get trapped in a conversation with someone? Or do I just want to go home and decompress and get ready for the next day.
We’re all human, we’re all awkward, we’re all weird. Some people have the gift of gab and some people don’t. My girl is constantly on my ass about things like, “You need to engage in conversation more,” but I have no interest. My mind is thinking about something stupid like how many orders I have to ship out tonight for the Nine Club.
You mentioned to me that you are in the process of starting a non-profit. What is it and how is it going?
I started a non-profit called Save Skateboarding, INC with the goal of building a database to preserve skateboarding’s digital history. It’s an impossible mission, and I need help. So if you’re reading this interview, let’s fucking do this. [email protected]
Building a database?
It literally all started with me trying to find things for the Nine Club. We’ll be in the middle of a show and I’ll be trying to find something to talk about, and I’ll be like, “How can I not find this Josh Kalis photo on Google?” Like I’m typing in everything I can think of for the search and it’s showing me everything BUT what I’m looking for. It’s impossible to find anything. You search something obscure, like Steve Douglas Schmitt Stix ad, and you end up with some dude named Steve Douglas who sells real estate in fucking Iowa.
So yeah, a database where you can find everything in skateboarding. From images to videos, ads, products, magazines, articles, photographers, skaters, videographers..etc.
I think it’s very skateboarding to be like, “Fuck you Google, fuck you Instagram, fuck you YouTube. All of our shit’s right here.” I would like to have a digital archive of all skateboarding all in one place.
Does any other subculture you know of have this type of thing already?
Not that I know of, no. But there’s definitely dudes out there that are already doing this kind of work. Art of Skateboarding is doing his best to catalog every skateboard graphic. Skatefolio is trying to catalog everyone’s YouTube stuff. Would like to all work together but let’s try to get all this stuff onto one database so we never lose it. Because YouTube could shut down tomorrow, and there goes everything. And then once the database is built, we can build a social platform on top of it.
What would the social platform look like exactly?
I honestly have no idea, I just know I want the everything app for skateboarding. I want to be able to communicate with my friends, ask about spots, look at old magazines…etc. Let’s bring skateboarding into one bubble. Like that 30 year anniversary of Chocolate show, that was beautiful. You’re like, “Holy shit, everyone in LA is here.” And it was rad, everyone coming together. That shit should happen weekly. We should be coming together, hanging out, all the time.
Why though, like what’s the purpose of everyone coming together?
Why the fuck not? Twenty years from now everyone’s going to be like, “Aww fuck dude. Where did all my fucking skateboard friends go?” I have no way to describe it, I just think as skateboarders we do everything to shit on one another, but we do nothing to really come together…
How do you plan to fund this?
That’s why it’s a non-profit [laughs]. I would love to try and get grants from cities. Like, “Hey, we’re gonna preserve Los Angeles skateboarding. City of Los Angeles, would you give us a grant?” Realistically, to build a database of this size, it’ll cost around $100k. To maintain it and to run it day to day, that’s where it’s going to be hard because we’re going to have to have money coming in to keep it going.
What’s the first step in manifesting all this? How could someone help?
One, I need to create a board of directors of skateboarders who see the bigger vision that could help me do this. It’s gotta be run like a corporation in order for it to be successful. Two, I need a group of software engineers who understand how to build databases. And then I need to figure out how much it’s going to cost so I can build a fundraising team. I need people that know how to throw a party and get people to reach into their pockets and pull out their wallet.
I get overwhelmed very easily, and obviously trying to run the Nine Club is my number one thing right now, so it’s all baby steps. It’s not going to be like, “Boom. Here it is.” It’s like, “All right. I got my fork and knife and now I’m going to eat this fucking elephant.”
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January 27, 2025 1:37 pm
Sick piece Roger’s a solid dude. Keep em comimg Jenkem
January 31, 2025 6:26 pm
and best photos of skateboarding in years, reminds golden days of tws and skateboarder 2000 era really good interview. respect for photographer solid work
January 27, 2025 2:24 pm
Godspeed on Saving Skateboarding. Roger is the man.
January 27, 2025 2:29 pm
This is a solid piece, and Roger consistently comes across as genuine and passionate. However, it’s important to distinguish between public criticism rooted in legitimate, credible concerns and actual “cyberbullying.” If you choose to endorse someone by amplifying their work on your platform, regardless of any accusations against them, that’s entirely your right. But that doesn’t mean any criticism directed at you or the person you’re highlighting is unjustified, nor does facing such criticism mean you’re letting the “cyberbullies” win.
January 27, 2025 4:18 pm
Valid point, and agreed.
January 27, 2025 2:33 pm
You’re a knob, Roger