For over 25 years, Baker has given us some of skateboarding’s most memorable videos and, with that, some of our favorite songs and soundbites.

photo: patrick o’dell

Andrew Reynolds: I remember when it hit me, how important music was. I was in a 411VM video and had a Pro Files part and the song used was Jamiroquai “Digital Vibrations.” I was like, fuck, I don’t even know what Jamiroquai is. I was a little bit bummed, but you know, I wasn’t editing it. It made me think that I really want to start having a say in what music goes in my part. Pretty quickly after that they made a Best of 411VM video and it had all this footage from my Pro Files and some new stuff. I went in and told them I wasn’t really into Jamiroquai and maybe I could pick something else, I think I wanted a David Bowie song. They’re like, “Ah, we can’t really do that” —permissions or whatever—so I threw out some other options. “Nah, can’t do that either.” I told them, “Look, just put it to no music.” People really ended up liking that section with the raw skating. I’d rather have nothing than something I don’t like.

Shane Heyl: Skateboard video soundtracks are what influenced me to get into music more. You’re watching a skater you like and hearing a new band, that’s going to make you like it even more. Plan B Questionable was that soundtrack for me. To this day, if I hear any of those songs from Questionable I can tell you who was skating to it. It brings me right back. I carry that forever. I’m always curious, do kids have that fire now? It seems impossible because you had to go buy those tapes and CDs. You couldn’t stream it, so you had to go hunt it down. Hieroglyphics was the big one. Mike Carroll skating to Del, [Sean] Sheffey skating to Casual… Souls of Mischief, those were sought after. “How the hell did you get that?” They didn’t sell it anywhere? Did someone get a mixtape? Did they know Del? It was so dope and if one fucking friend found that song, he’s duping it for the homies. That’s how it was going around.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: It’s almost hard to differentiate the discovery of any music (for me) outside of skateboarding because it’s been such a big part of my musical experience. Baker 2G was huge for me. It was right before I got on Baker, but I was such a sponge, soaking up all of that music. Just a couple years later those guys were my friends and we were all sharing music together. Andrew had these big CD booklets and we would flip through them, looking for songs. And later, everyone was getting iPods, so we were all sharing music. Someone would dump their whole musician library onto your iPod, so for the first time you were able to share your entire musical tastes.

photo: patrick o’dell

Andrew Reynolds: Baker 2G was really just me and Jim Greco picking what we felt would be right for each person. Jim knew he was skating to “Gloria” from the opening fight scene in The Outsiders. He knew how it was gonna look, and where the tricks would go. Somebody who has that vision of who they want to be and how they want their part to look, that’s the best. If the person doesn’t think like that or just has footage, you have to make it good.

Shane Heyl: We were very influenced by the music we listened to and as we got older and we started drinking more and more, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Andre Nickatina—those groups became our everything. When we partied, what we listened to on the way to the spot, those groups even influenced how we dressed, the way we walked, how we talked… it was everything. Look at Jim [Greco]… “Jimmy Thunders”. I love Greco, man, he really went to that level. He embodied it so much. He turned into it and then he skated like that. It becomes a part of you.

Andrew Reynolds: Johnny Thunders, the New York Dolls, the Cramps… that’s all Jim [Greco]. He was learning all those songs on guitar. We were living together, so OK, that’s what I’m listening to. That’s how it was in our friend group—you pick up little things from each person. Jim’s also responsible for any Cam’ron. That’s all from him. I grew up in the South, I love Outkast and Goodie Mob, that kind of stuff. For him being from the East Coast, it’s Mobb Deep, Cam’ron. He looks at all the stuff me and Elissa [Steamer] listen to and thinks it’s absolute garbage. He stands on that. Outkast is not anything he would ever even think about.

Shane Heyl: I think it’s the melting pot. You put Greco, Reynolds, Dustin Dollin, Terry Kennedy, Jeff Lenoce, and Mike Maldonado together and even by the looks of them you don’t have one genre. We’re all hanging tight together, so things are rubbing off and every single one of us loves music.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: I always thought of Baker soundtracks as classic needle drop soundtracks. I think Andrew put those videos together and sort of took inspiration from Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson movies—some of the best users of needle drops in film. Boogie Nights was a big inspiration—using those songs that evoke a feeling.

Andrew Reynolds: Baker’s kind of fried, so it’s kind of everything. It’s a punk rock company—the Ramones, the Stooges, we love that shit, but I’ll also use Dolly Parton and be happy with it.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: That little musical signature tells you, “This is Baker.”

Shane Heyl: Finding that [musical] snippet is like finding a skate clip. Sometimes it’s not even the trick—it’s that little movement before the trick or how he ollied up the curb before the banger. When you hear that little snippet of Lou Reed, you know it’s gonna be Baker and it’s gonna fuckin’ mesmerize you.

Andrew Reynolds: I had seen Requiem for a Dream and there’s the same music throughout—that big song that keeps popping up in different sections. I thought that was really cool. I was probably listening to the Street Hassle album and that tune is so good and so long. There are so many moments where there’s no singing. It wasn’t thought out that well. It was just like, if there’s an intro, I’m gonna put that. Then I saw a couple clips and I’m like, “Oh that’s really cool.” Then I just look forward to the next intro, I’m going to reuse it. After Baker 3, I don’t know how long it was that I used it again, but if there’s a “welcome to the team” moment that’s very “Baker,” I use that song and people will feel like “Oh, that’s Baker.” I try to save it for the right moments. I used the entire track when Rowan turned pro, because I felt that he’s an important skater.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: The charm of Baker 3 is that Andrew was learning how to edit a video as he was making it. He had been around skate videos and had a hand in them for so long that it was like, “OK, this is it.” It was the perfect time in skateboarding to say a lot and make a real statement about what a brand was. I don’t think it was mega-intentional, but I think the importance was to recognize that portion of music and use it as a tool. That’s pretty genius to be like, “OK, this is going to be a throughline for the entire video,” because I can’t think of many examples of that happening before. Seeing how people reacted to that and Baker 3 in general–it resonated for years after and even to this day he’s careful not to overuse it.

Andrew Reynolds: There’s certain stuff you just know is a no. Something like Animal Collective, it’s owned by people with the history of Alien Workshop. I don’t know if anybody else feels this way, but Hockey, FA, Quasi—that’s where they come from. They can use Dinosaur Jr. That’s you guys. Shit, if I hear some Lou Reed or Velvet Underground [in a video outside of Baker], I’m like, “Alright now, go easy.” Sure, no one “owns” it, but in my mind, that’s Baker shit. The Cramps, Lou Reed, Velvet Underground. Pure Baker. Our theme music is Lou Reed, you know?

Shane Heyl: Some brands are like, “Hey, we want to keep this lane.” But for Baker it’s like, “No, we’re getting in Lou Reed, we’re getting in David Bowie, and Andre Nickatina and Ludacris.” Let’s stir it up, because ultimately, if it feels right person to person, that’s your soundtrack, even if it’s all over the place. Take Mike Maldonado. Mike had always skated to The Misfits or Pink Floyd—he’s in the punk or classic rock genre and it fit him well. But then you switch to Luda and it hit so hard.

Andrew Reynolds: Choosing music is like 50% me just using what I feel like is best and then the other 50% is people picking their song. Unless it’s something I really feel doesn’t represent Baker, I’ll edit to whatever they want. For instance, Elissa [Steamer] wanted the Violent Femmes for Baker Has a Deathwish 2. I started working with the particular song and it was hard to make it work. So I started looking through all their songs and showed her a couple of other options and she found one she liked. So it led me in a direction I probably wouldn’t have gone in. That’s one of my favorite parts I’ve made recently, her skating to “American Music.” Another one was when Sully [Cormier] wanted Scorpions. He was like, “Dude, you don’t listen to Scorpions?” Not really, I like some of that music, so I’ll just go listen to every Scorpions album at once. Then I realized, they aren’t like Def Leppard, they’re damn near Led Zeppelin or something. They’re the real deal. I learned that from editing his part. Scorpions are so sick.

Shane Heyl: I’m always listening to music of all genres and I’m putting together a little folder. Save it, save it, save it. There’s gonna come a time, someone’s gonna need the right track. I’ll have a song but it’s too fast—I wish I could skate like T-Funk, but stop tryin’ to fit the square in the circle. Chip away until it feels right.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: Balance is the unspoken key. You don’t want [people to have] too much familiarity with a song. Sometimes an obvious song that’s slightly off center will work so well. It happens with music in movies too, because I get really allergic to a song that I’ve heard too many times but then—an example that’s coming to my mind is the movie One Battle After Another and how it ends with “American Girl.” I would never think that that song would work—it seems so earnest and so played out. I’m not suggesting we’re like going for shit like that, but you never know until you put it in there and find out.

Andrew Reynolds: I only really like old music, but I’m almost 50. My taste is probably different than most kids watching skate videos, so I try to think about that a little bit. The last video part I had was in Baker has a Deathwish 2. I didn’t have a clear song I wanted to skate to, plus the footage was kind of random for me—I didn’t have much, some guest tricks in there. I came across “Strangers” by the Kinks when I was researching music. I only know the Kinks’ hits, you know? It’s a really warm sounding song. It’s hard to make a part in your late 40s. [laughs] But that was a different way of going about it, finding it right there after trying 50 songs that felt horrible.

Andrew Reynolds: I put Zach [Allen] to Freestyle Fellowship “Everything’s Everything” in Baker 4. I loved that album growing up, but Neckface is always on my head about it: “No more backpack rap! Fuck that, you fucked up the part.” I still back it though. Freestyle Fellowship is sick. Baker Has a Deathwish Tour Summer Video has a lot of really weird ones. I feel like with a tour video you can kind of do whatever. That had some Bone Thugs-n-Harmony in it, which is something I wouldn’t normally have a place for, but to me, that’s Baker – sometimes it’s serious and you’re watching a really gnarly part and sometimes I want people to think, “Whoa, you really used Bone Thugs? You guys are idiots [laughs].”

Shane Heyl: Baker Bootleg, Baker 2G, Baker 3… can I pick them all? But Baker Has a Deathwish. That video, man. Lizard King and Theotis skating to Cam’ron. I fuckin’ love that part. I’ll throw myself in there—fuck it—’cause we got “Ocean Man.” That soundtrack really represents it all. But “Ocean Man”—that song working really surprised me. Andrew was like, “You wanna skate to this?” I thought it was good—it has a little “ha, ha” to it. He absolutely nailed the editing. It caught a moment in time—it captured more than skating and it puts a smile on my face. That one means the most.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: Something that jumps out is Jim Ford “It’s My Life.” Once I saw T-Funk’s footage set to Jim Ford “It’s My Life” I was like, “Damn, I wish I thought of that for myself.” That’s a really good example of a song that instantly feels classic, but it’s also a deep cut. It really suited his skating–calmed his whole vibe down. I like when your expectations are subverted–you see somebody skating to a song you’re not expecting.

Andrew Reynolds: I almost didn’t skate to “Om Nashi Me” [by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros] for Stay Gold. The song was heavy, it’s kind of instrumental, but around the time the video was finishing, they were getting car commercials. Not that song specifically, but “Home” was a huge hit. I was kind of over it. I told [Jon] Miner [Director of Stay Gold], “Let’s change it. Put Willie Nelson “Blue Skies” in there. It’s gonna be sick.” He’s like, “I’m not changing it, it’s too good.” And he was right.

Shane Heyl: I remember going back-and-forth with Andrew. If you saw the edit before it came out, you knew that was it.

Andrew Reynolds: In my mind, or at least in my generation of skaters, we try to keep it raw. I want the music to line up with my beliefs. I’m not doing car commercials. I would hope the band I’m skating to would align with how I feel, but I definitely don’t regret that one.

Shane Heyl: It’s the best skating of his entire life and this is gonna be the song. Fuck a commercial. That’s peanut butter and chocolate, baby.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: The Goat & Occasional Others… That whole thing is really funny to try and break down and explain to people who I’ve known more recently. They’re like, “Wait, you were in a band?” and I’m like, “No, well, yes… I don’t know how to even start.” We were in a band and we got to tour with Cat Power, we got to play with Bad Brains and Dinosaur Jr in Paris, but it was almost this hilarious novelty act thing.

Shane Heyl: I’m fresh out of rehab. All I knew was skateboarding and you don’t think in a million years you’re gonna write lyrics to sing in a band. That was not on the radar growing up. So here I am at Andrew’s house after rehab and they’re playing some music. I knew they messed around, but it happened so organically. They’re just jamming and I got a folder full of lyrics—just throwing my brain onto paper and I need to get this out. I’m singing along to these jams, Ramones-style. Let’s get it in a funny way and let’s record it. Fuck it, let’s do it again. I didn’t know if we were going to do a show or an album, it was just natural.

Andrew Reynolds: If anything, it’s like growing up, learning how to skate, and having fun. I don’t care if you’re playing good or bad music, when the bass and drums and guitar and vocals come together—even a little bit—you’re like, “Oh shit, we did that!” Me and Spanky would play guitar together, he’d play a little lead and I’d be playing a riff that I made up and when we heard it, we were like, “Oh, we made a little song right there,” and we built from there. Obviously, we’re a bunch of skaters making punk music and it’s supposed to be obnoxious and fun, but it’s a cool feeling.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: The challenges were a lack of musical skill, but there were lots of accidental successes, if you want to call them that. Having a bunch of skaters showing up and wrecking the spot. We literally were the shittiest band and we’re getting banned from venues. It was really fun, but at times—as someone who thought of myself as a serious music fan—I thought, “Fuck, this is crazy. We’re doing all this shit and we don’t really know how to play.” I guess that’s the ethos of punk rock.

Andrew Reynolds: Doing something I’m not naturally good at was humbling. I know how to skate—I’ve been doing it since I was nine years old and I’m pretty aware that’s my thing. I wouldn’t have got this far without some kind of like natural talent, but guitar you’re fucking up all the time, trying to make it work—one hand doing this, the other doing that. It was pretty cool to put myself in a position where it’s like, “OK, you’re gonna play 10 songs in front of 50 people. Good luck!” It’s a whole new experience, but it’s kind of cool to just suck at something and power through.

Shane Heyl: It happened so quickly—we got a record, we’re going on the Thrasher Skate Rock Tour, we’re opening up for the Bad Brains and Dinosaur Jr, but you got the crowds booing: “You suck.” Fuck it, whatever, man, you’re with your crew and it’s just an extension of skateboarding. Just a great moment in our lives and I hold that dearly.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: It was definitely music for drunk ears.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: There was a little bit of a connection with Nick Cave. He came to Baker a few times and I think that definitely connected the dots with some of his music being in Baker videos. There was also some communication back in the day—maybe a party or something—with Andre Nickatina. Some exchange between Robin Fleming after Baker 3. It might have been about money or something… I forget. It was a long time ago–I apologize, my memory is so shot.

Andrew Reynolds: Robin Fleming used to do a lot of stuff for us. She’s been in the skate industry forever. Back when we were making Baker 3 you had to contact people and maybe give them some money to get the rights because we’re making DVDs and selling them. So she got a hold of Andre Nickatina and was like, “We want to pay you for this song we want to use.” He was like, “You can use it. I want $100… I mean, I want $1,000. Cash.” Alright, cool. No managers, no nothing.

Shane Heyl: When we found Dre Dog. When we found These R the Tales… Daiquiri Factory (Cocaine Raps Volume 2), that was it. Put that in there for [Jeff] Lenoce. Make that work. I feel like Baker helped with Nickatina. Sure, Mike Carroll and others have used him, but Baker really kicked that off. I know someone in the comments is gonna have something to say, but when I think of Nickatina, I think of Baker. It takes me right back to Warner Ave.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: Apparently it got back to Leonard Cohen that I skated to his music. To me that was mind blowing. Someone in his camp or his family told him about me skating to “Who By Fire” and he thought it was really neat.

photo: alyssa davis

Andrew Reynolds: When I’m done with the videos, I just move on. I don’t have hard drives with anything saved. I just give everything back to Beagle or whoever. I don’t care if I ever see it again. But the music, it’s ongoing. I’m still learning. I didn’t realize Harry Nilsson had all those songs. I came across an Instagram account with all this hardcore music a while back and I’m like, “This is going strong right now.” It’s endless. I just heard Greg Sage [frontman of the Wipers] solo record, Straight Ahead, and it’s so good. It’s so exciting. It’s the same feeling as when I heard the Beatles for the first time, you’re like, “Whoa, this is insane!” Hearing the first Wu-Tang album or breaking down Andre 3000’s lyrics. What is he even saying? It keeps happening with old and new stuff. You know, there’s never really been an epic part to Fleetwood Mac yet. Dude, somebody’s got to really come through to a Fleetwood Mac song.

Shane Heyl: To this day Andrew will hit me up and be like, “Let me get one of your songs. What’s in the folder?” I’ll break him off one, and to this day we want to make the best soundtracks for skating.

Kevin “Spanky” Long: At the risk of being corny, one of the coolest parts about music is that it meets you where you are in a really specific and interesting way. It’s all about context and there are multiple things that can open your ears to something. I love being kind of wrong about music. My skater friends were always much older than me, so when I was a teenager I was trying to catch up to their musical sensibilities and trying to sponge all that shit. I missed a lot of shit my friends were listening to when I was in the van instead of being at high school. I missed out on a lot because of skating, but you can always catch up.

Written by: Anthony Pappalardo
Editorial Assists: Ben Komins
Photos courtesy of: Patrick O’Dell, Alyssa Davis, Baker Skateboards, Skullcandy
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