While we have been going through all the FB stuff we stumbled across the name we have been missing for years in skateboarding. So we wrote up this truly legendary icon to see what would happen. Some two days later this e-mail interview was done.
We are really stoked on the kindness and honesty he put into his answers.
Who is it ?
Simon Woodstock
Who is Simon Woodstock (age, roots, current place of resistance)?
I am almost 42 years old. I was born and raised in Campbell, California
(near San Jose). currently reside back in San Jose.
When did you start skating?
I think I was like 6 or 7 years old.
What was your 1st real board set up?
What was your 1st real board set up?
Powell Peralta Ray "Bones" Rodriguez with
Tracker 6 Tracks and Bones Cubic wheels.
What was the 1st video that really stoked you and what are your 3 all time favorite vids and why?
What was the 1st video that really stoked you and what are your 3 all time favorite vids and why?
Actually, it was a very old movie called
"Skateboard Madness" that was very old school late 70s skating that
really stoked me out when I was a very young kid. Then it was the Bones Brigade
Video Show. That was probably the first well made skate video that came out
during my grom era. I used to watch a lot of those old NSA competition videos
which were cool. Those all got me into watching a lot of skating on
video.
I would say some of the later videos were the ones
that got me super stoked. If I had to pick 3
1. The Search for Animal Chin. They did a special in
theater release in my area and it was sooo good. I just remember tripping hard
on the whole mega animal chin vert ramp. No one had done anything like that
before. The quadruple runs that they took on the ramp were insane.
2. Blind "Video Days".
I remember watching it and the skating was so advanced.
I recently watched Gonz' part again a few times and I realized that
back when I saw it for the first time I didn't even understand the technical
difficulty of what he was doing. Lots of switch stance before anyone was doing
it. First darkside slide I ever saw. Amazing!
3. Probably the first Plan B video. Pat Duffy was
doing things on handrails that were inconceivable at the time.
Who was Your 1st sponsor?
Who was Your 1st sponsor?
Technically, my parents were my first sponsors as we
owned a family skate shop called Winchester Skate Shop (1986-90). My first free
deck that I got outside of the skate shop was given to me by Allen Losi. But,
my first factory sponsors were Thunder Trucks and Spitfire Wheels. The first ad
I ever had in a magazine was a Spitfire Wheels ad.
You were riding for Black Label back then, why did you jump ships and boarded Sonic Skateboards?
You were riding for Black Label back then, why did you jump ships and boarded Sonic Skateboards?
Well, that's a bit of a long story. I was supposed
to turn pro for Black Label but Lucero changed his mind at the last minute for
some reason. I rode for two other smaller companies before I was on Sonic.
When did You turn pro and for which company?
The SJ posse like Jason Adams, Salman Agah, Tim Brauch (deeply missed),
Ed Devera etc. had a super reputation back in the days and all were on rock
solid sponsors, did it help to be tight with those guys.
The whole San
Jose scene was amazing! It still is with the Enjoi
guys and stuff. Hanging and skating with those guys was always rad. We pushed
each other to be better riders and we always seemed to be having fun doing
whatevs.
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Simon Woodstock: "I submitted this photo to Vans
for an ad in 1996 because a similar ad got a great response for CCS mailorder.
The Vans ad department didn't like it due to "low skill level" or
something like that. They may have had a point, but I tried to explain to them
that having my hair and pants match my ltd edition colorway signature Vans was
the focal point of the shot. Nevertheless, the photo never ran as an ad. They
did use it for this trading card, but cropped about 8 inches off the height of
the flatbar thus lowering the "skill level" of the shot even further.
I LOVED riding for Vans, but often the communication between core and corporate
was rather difficult."
|
What was the 1st contest you entered and how was it to rip there?
The first pro contest I entered was in 1992 at a
skatepark called Transitions in Southern California.
It was cool because I got 6th place and Lucero congratulated me. I think he had
doubts about my skill level that were part of the reason he didn't turn me pro
so it was cool to be able to have validation by doing good in my
first contest.
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| Sonic ad- Bs Kickflip in the old Powell Skatezone |
Is skating still fun when you make a living out of it, event hough it
always looked like you had tons of fun?
Yeah, it is really fun getting to travel everywhere
and skate. Because I had a lot of creative freedom with
my advertisements it was always pretty fun. It can be a drag when you
get to the point where you only skate to film or shoot photos but even then it
is lame to complain. I can't think of a better job or whatever you would call
being a pro skater. It was one of the greatest times of my life.
BTW fun. Please write down
what are your memories about following boards and how did you come
up with the idea for each? Which one was the hardest to ride and which the
funnest?
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| Formula One ad |
I really liked that set up. I just had the idea
that if you put trucks and wheels on both sides of your board you could do 1
1/2 kickflips and 360 1 1/2 flips and so forth. It just happened to work so I
took it around to some contests and did some filming with it. In fact, my first Sonic ad
was on that board. I think I used to call it "double trouble"
That came out of just being board working at a
boardshop called Go-Skate up in Sacramento.
We had a bunch of skimboards for sale in the shop and I just set one up with
trucks and wheels and took it to the Sacramento
skatepark. Everyone tripped out on it and I was
actually surprised that I could do tricks on it.
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| Various screen grabs of the Skim Board footage. Must be out of 411# fuck knows!!! |
Bowling board:
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| The Bowling Board- Airwalk ad. |
Carpet board:
A kid had one at a demo once and I borrowed it and
took off my shoes and started riding it. I was able to do barefoot tre flips
and such so the kid just gave it to me. I made a new one and rode it in a pro
contest at the Powell skate zone in 1994. I got 9th place on it.
Bullseye board:
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| Double nosed board noseslide and the Bullseye board oliie to fakie at Derby |
Fish tank board:
Photographer, Mike Ballard, suggested that we try
to do something that might be a guarantee for a Big Brother cover so I came up
with the idea. I put trucks and wheels under the tank and water and live fish
in it. It was the only cover of a magazine that I ever got. Dan Cates from England just
recreated the board for a Sidewalk Magazine cover.
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| Big Brother Magazin Cover- The Fishtank ride |
Just screwing around with that one. It wasn't that
fun to ride, actually. I learned how to kickflip on it but it was kind of
useless beyond that.
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| Spring Board Indy |
Together with the unique boards came the outfits. Looking back wich
costume was the funnest which one was the most ridiculous one?
I would have to say that the stuffed animal suit
was both! I sewed about 250 stuffed animals to a pair of coveralls and it would
get people stoked and laughing wherever I wore it. I would wear it to trade
shows and stuff. It wasn't my favorite one, though. The penny suit was my
favorite.
You have been to the World Cup in Münster Germany in 1995. I remember that you had everyday a new hair colour. Like one day red then blue and then green. Pretty vicious thing to do, to your hair.
How did you like europe back then and what were your impressions on skating here and the what you like and dislike?
You have been to the World Cup in Münster Germany in 1995. I remember that you had everyday a new hair colour. Like one day red then blue and then green. Pretty vicious thing to do, to your hair.
How did you like europe back then and what were your impressions on skating here and the what you like and dislike?
Europe was
always cool. Munster and North Hampton (England) were
always my favorites. I can't remember anything bad about about them. The fans
there always seemed pumped and the vibes were cool.
To which countries has skating brought you?
To which countries has skating brought you?
All throughout Europe, Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Japan, Venezuela, and
probably some that I have forgotten.
Craziest tour story please (Don`t hold back on this one)
Craziest tour story please (Don`t hold back on this one)
Ha, okay... I had to think for a minute. I was with
the Sonic guys traveling on the bullet train out of England and I had fallen asleep. We
got to our stop and the guys on the team thought it would be funny if they
didn't wake me up. When they were off the train they all started yelling my
name and I woke up. But, my legs had fallen asleep so I had to crawl on my
hands and knees with my bags and stuff to get off the train before it pulled
away again. I literally fell down the steps of the train onto the train station
floor. Everyone had a good laugh that day at my expense. I think it was on the
same trip that we were on another train into Portugal and the whole mountain
surrounding the train was on fire. The train car began to heat up really hot
and we all thought we might die. That was pretty crazy now that I
think of it.
What was anarchy eyewear???
What was anarchy eyewear???
It was a division of some
larger mainstream sunglass company trying to break into the core
market. They offered me a signature sunglass and a good paycheck so I went for
it. I didn't have a whole lot of creative control with the ads so they aren't
my favorite. It was cool, though. Free shades and free money basically.
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| Anarchy eyewear ad |
How did you start Woodstock Skateboards and how was the company doing, due to
the fact that you were really prominent those days?
I dunno, this was all towards the end of my career. I
started doing wheels with Metiver and then he made me a good financial offer
to licence my name to do decks. I probably should have just stayed
with Sonic. But, Metiver treated me fair so it is not a big regret or anything.
I never knew how well the boards did because I never saw the numbers but I saw
them in a lot of shops so they must have done pretty good.
The company was together with Rich Metivier. Who was on the team besides you and which woodshop, distribution you guys used?
The company was together with Rich Metivier. Who was on the team besides you and which woodshop, distribution you guys used?
How Woodstock Skateboards ended?
After we got sued by Rocco I was just starting to
get over the whole skate scene in general. I had a lot of injuries and was
burned out. Shortly after the lawsuit Rich and I had a mutual agreement to
disband my company.
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| Woodstock skateboards ad, that led to the lawsuit. |
Is it really true that you had to step away from the skateindustry,
otherwise you would have to pay a fine of $100,000? Is that really the truth?
That is the way Rocco explains it in his documentary
but we actually did get sued and had to pay $50,000 dollars and we just
coincidentally both got out of the industry shortly afterwards. I think Rocco
just remembers it wrong or maybe said that to keep people from attacking his
brands or something. I don't mind that version of the story. If people think
that Rocco ran me out of the skateboard industry that is a more exciting story
than me just fading off the scene.
When you think about the Powell Peralta and Blind “graphic wars”, can you understand Steve Roccos reaction towards Woodstock Skateboards? There were even rumors that he liked the ad and he would have run a similair one.
When you think about the Powell Peralta and Blind “graphic wars”, can you understand Steve Roccos reaction towards Woodstock Skateboards? There were even rumors that he liked the ad and he would have run a similair one.
Yeah, in our settlement meeting he was cool. He just
explained that he had worked hard to establish the World Industries brand and
wanted to send a message to people not to mess with it. I understood. George
Powell probably should have sued Rocco for doing the same thing before.
What would you do if you would meet him (Rocco) in a supermarket?
What would you do if you would meet him (Rocco) in a supermarket?
I'd say hello. See if he wanted to talk briefly. I
have no beef with Rocco. I never did. Attacking his brand was just a publicity
stunt that backfired.
What have you been doing after Woodstock Skateboards? The moment that ended you kind of vanished.
What have you been doing after Woodstock Skateboards? The moment that ended you kind of vanished.
I was living in Huntington Beach towards the end and had signed all of these contract deals throughout the years but I was kind of done with skating at the pro level. I moved back to San Jose and just sort of hid out for a while. I lifted weights in my backyard and got a tan. After a while my sponsors were calling me wondering why I was in hiding and I just told them all in one week that I was done. We dissolved the contracts and I was free to go. That was it. It was in late 1999. I became a Christian shortly after and went to Bible College. The details of how all that went down are in this article that I recently wrote http://simonwoodstock.com/testimony/
What are you up to nowadays and what are your plans for 2012?
I lead a very chill lifestyle now-a-days and I like
that. I take care of my Mom full time and I do the Church thing and I am
involved in ministry. I have a missions trip to Ethiopia that I am scheduled to go
on with Christian Skaters International Ministry, working
amongst the thousands of homeless teens there giving them Bibles and boards. I
have some speaking engagements at Christian conferences and so forth.
Basically, just staying out of trouble.
Are you still skating and into inventing new boards?
Are you still skating and into inventing new boards?
Yeah, I just started skating again last year. Having a
great time sessioning with friends and hitting local curbs, banks, and
skateparks. My friends are building a mini-ramp and we plan to session that all
spring and summer. As far as special boards, not so much any more. I don't have
the resources or the the designated time to spend on then that I did when I was
a pro. But, we'll see.
Do you collect Skateboards?
Do you collect Skateboards?
I'm so ,old now that I collect dust. That's about it.
At the end of the day are there some things you would do differently now?
At the end of the day are there some things you would do differently now?
Well, the standard stuff. I would have tried to keep
the partying under control. It would have been nice to have become a Christian
sooner and avoided the party scene altogether. But, really, I pretty much
accomplished more than I originally set out to do so it is cool to
have been a part of it all and to look back on.
What do you think of the Skateboarding scene 2012? Mega sponsor deals, big money from Nike, Mountain Dew, etc compared to the 90`s?
What do you think of the Skateboarding scene 2012? Mega sponsor deals, big money from Nike, Mountain Dew, etc compared to the 90`s?
It is what it is. There are always corporations trying
to break in to it. The thing with skateboarding is that it goes through long
fazes where big companies can make money off of it. For me, I would
just have to be honest... if Nike called me right now and offered me a million
dollars to wear their shoes when I skate... well.. what do you think I would
do? What would you do?
Are you still in touch with the mates from back in the days?
Are you still in touch with the mates from back in the days?
A lot of people think that Simon Woodstock was the
Skateboarding- Clown. Do you wish they would remeber you aswell as the talented
shredder that you have been. We still dig the mini ramp sequence of ya, where
you did a bs kickflip lipslide down the extension to to rock to fakie into the
ramp. That is still nuts!
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| fs 5-O with the clown suit |
Can you consider a comeback as a skater or in the skate bizz?
F.F.L. zine has a campaign: The search for Aaron Deeter. Do you have any
information of his where about?
Thank You very much for your time and effort.
Thanks again to Simon WoodstocK to be the person he is: Super fun!!!!!
Cheers to: The Chromeball Incident and Skately for the pictures.
THE PROF and FOG
