(Featured: Sidewalk Magazine, 4th December 2015.)
Between the release of Since Day One and finishing Never Gets Old you took a horrible slam and suffered a serious head injury. For the sake of those who might not be already aware, can you talk us through what happened please?
I was on a trip in Las Vegas trying to front board this kink rail. It was pretty wobbly and I just remember sticking and flying backwards. I flew backward to my head and knocked myself out. I ended up getting airlifted to a hospital. There was lots of bleeding inside my head and my brain began to swell so they induced me into a coma to bring down swelling. Luckily that worked and I lived.
Was any of your footage in the Osiris video filmed after that particular slam, or was filming for you wrapped up until you were fully recovered again? Also, how long did the recovery take?
Most of it was filmed after the injury. I hit my head pretty early on during the filming for Osiris and shortly after Since Day One so I didn’t have that much footage. Recovery took about 6 months and luckily I had enough time after recovery to film a part.
How much did simply getting back on your board help with your overall rehab? I imagine it would put you in a way more positive frame of mind each time you went out for a roll around and found you could do something new…
Yeah for sure! Just being able to stand on a board after being told you will never skate again is a great feeling.
JT gaps out to backside 5.0 grind in a fairly tight situation… in the middle of the night. Photo courtesy of Gabe Morford.
Through And Through kind of takes a slightly different approach to the traditional skate video whilst retaining the team vibe in that it features the whole team and presumably more collective effort and time put into it than the one-off video parts that are released so frequently these days.
I like how everyone is in there at different places, as we do skate together a lot and I think it really shows that. One-off videos are cool too but you lose a lot of the company/team family feel that was so cool about the older VHS videos. It’s a lot harder to make full-length videos like that now so I feel this was a cool approach.
Had you filmed with Jeremy much before starting working on Through And Through?
To be honest, I haven’t really filmed with Jeremy that much. Living in southern California I film more with Tim Fulton up in LA and some friends down here in San Diego mostly. The trips I have been on with Jeremy and filming with him up in the city have been cool though.
What were the other major differences between the last video and Through And Through? I’m guessing the filming of Since Day One was a lot longer process for a start.
Not filming for an individual part was the main difference. We knew Brockel, Jack, and Ishod were gonna have most of the stuff in there and not dealing with a song or individual time lines was the biggest different from most projects.
What one trick or piece of footage out of Through And Through are you personally the most pleased with, and why?
Robby’s crazy flip trick down the big 4, Jack’s feeble, Ishod’s 5-0, Max’s clips and that weird back lip Dennis did all come to mind.
Tapping into California’s wax reserves JT noseslides a tall fella. Photo courtesy of Gabe Morford.
Like Anti Hero’s Destination Unknown, Through And Through seemed to just appear out of nowhere and blow people away. What’s your opinion on that style of release compared to videos being hyped up before release?
I think the negative might be that you don’t get weeks or even months to build anticipation with park edits or teasers that can help bring more people to watch the finished thing. At the same time I feel like there’s too much hype for everything that comes out these days. A 45 second park edit will have a 15 second teaser video sometimes which is pretty unnecessary in my opinion so it’s cool to have a surprise like with Through and through.
Real has stayed solid over the years, and even with the emergence and popularity of smaller brands, it’s still as popular as it ever was. What do you think are the main reasons that Real has managed to remain so popular for such a long period of time?
Real has a really solid crew behind them, from Jim and Tommy to everyone else that’s a part of DLX. I think it shows that everyone involved cares about the brand and cares about skateboarding as a whole.
Rounding this off, now that Through And Through is finished, what’s next for you? Are you already working any more projects or sections you can tell us about?
Yeah! There was a bunch of stuff not used in Through and Through, so I’m just trying to build off that and work for the next one.
F.G. 