Skater/actor Paul Rodriguez interviewed Monday, September 21, 2009, while at home in Caly.

Hello?

Hi, Patrick.

Yeah.

What’s going on, this is Paul Rodriguez.

What’s up P-Rod?

Not much. Just hanging.

Where are you today?

Today I’m home. Just got home last night from Salt Lake.

What were you doing out there?

There was a Dew tour going on. Contest.

Cool. What’s new in your world? You’ve got the Dew tour. Is that pretty much a normal thing for you as far as traveling?

The Dew tour is not like a typical tour. It’s like a contest once a month in different cities. Yeah, I’ve been skating that one for the past five years. Everything else that’s been going on, a new shoe just came out, a third shoe. Working on a wallet company that we just launched and working on making skateboarding better every day.

Let’s talk about that. You’re doing it. Dyrdek’s doing it. It’s something where you’re taking skateboarding and you’re expanding that with shoes and wallets and things like that. Tell me a little more about being able to really take this to a new level. You’ve got Nike line and that’s rare for athletes in any sport.

Yeah. Well, you know, the Nike thing, they approached me when I was about 19, about five years ago. That just came through my skatin’. They approached me through my skatin’ and asked me to be sponsored with ‘em so that came through, I don’t wanna say luck, but I didn’t know that was happening. I didn’t pursue that. I didn’t even think that was a possibility to have that. That came about through the skating. Stuff like the wallet company and my sneaker shop, it was basically trying to set myself up long after my days on the board. When I can’t be in my prime anymore on the board, I definitely wanna be secure for the future. I don’t wanna have to take a regular job when I’m doing skating.

Yeah. You’ve become kind of like a mogul. Invest and get your shit going.

Yeah. I’m in the beginning stages. Definitely trying to get to that Dyrdek level. It’s stuff that I’ve had fun with and people that I’ve been fortunate enough to be around who are passionate to start these companies and have me be involved with them from the ground floor. It’s kind of been a bit of luck and a bit of wanting to do it. It’s been stuff I’ve been wanting to do, but you’ve gotta wait for the right people who are dedicated to start a company before you launch one because it takes a lot of work that I never knew of.

A lot of people have been exposed to skating when they’re young.

Yeah.

It’s not unique but most of them probably end up like I did. You try it out when you’re in middle school and after you hit the pavement a few dozen times you’re like ‘fuck this. I’m riding a bike.’ What was it about your experience during those first couple crucial years that you were on a board that just drew you closer to it?

Well, I definitely was fortunate in the injury department. I haven’t had any serious injuries really deter me from the skateboarding. I don’t know, whatever it was about it, I was just drawn to it. I went to a new school when I was in seventh grade and there’s a bunch of skaters there and I would watch ‘em skate after school in the parking lot. Eventually I became friends with those guys and tried the board out and I got me my own board and I was just hooked. I guess the feeling of trying a trick for so long and finally rolling away and landing it the way you pictured it in your mind was just very satisfying when it all comes together. That’s what does it for me. After visualizing a trick and seeing it in your mind and then you do it in reality, it’s just real satisfying.

You were doing these amazing things as a tiny dude. When did you know that you had something special to contribute to skating ‘cause it had to have been when you were really young?

Yeah. It was pretty early. My mentality growing up, no matter what I was doing, whether it was playing Little League or guitar, as soon as I started that activity, as far as I was concerned in my mind, I was like ‘Alright. This is it. This is what I’m gonna be. This is gonna be my profession in life.’ I went through so many phases in life until I got to skateboarding. Skateboarding is the only one that I never got tired of and wanted to try something new. I always had the mentality when I was young that ‘If I’m doing this, I’m gonna do it to the best of my abilities and I’m gonna be the best I can be and go somewhere with it.’ I never had the mentality of ‘I’m just doing this as a quick little hobby for the time being.’ Even though a lot of the things were quick hobbies, my mindset going into them was ‘This is serious.’ When I got into skateboarding, it was the only thing that I never got tired of. Never got bored of. I was fortunate to become a success at it.

Obviously you grew up with a famous father, but it wasn’t something that helped you in this path. Tell me how liberating it was to be able to excel at something like this as a young man and know that it wasn’t something that was being passed down to you. It was something you were figuring out on your own.

Yeah. That was actually a big plus for me. I had always been into doing some acting and being around the entertainment world. Obviously from my father. Growing up, he always had people, ‘Hey son, I’ve got this manager you can hook up with that can get you good jobs,’ and this and that. It was interesting but at the time it wasn’t my passion and it wasn’t something that excited me. I didn’t get an adrenaline rush from going to an audition. I didn’t see the passion in there. So, I came across skateboarding and yeah, I started getting good and realizing that I could go somewhere with it. It was definitely gratifying to know that I paved my way in this world no matter who my father knows. No matter what kind of connections he has, if I can’t skate, I can’t skate. It’s really cool to know, like he did, he built his own way in the entertainment world. I was able to do the same thing in another world that I loved and wanted to pursue. It’s definitely very satisfying and it’s good to know that I was able to make something of myself without necessarily having it passed down to me.

You could also be considered a child prodigy. When you’re 15, 16 years old, you’re pulling off these crazy tricks. In the years since that time, how do you feel you’ve pushed your game to a whole new level to go from being a child prodigy to being the best at this sport?

I wouldn’t say I’m the best, but I feel like I’m up there with some of the best guys. I don’t know. I think as I grew, as my body developed. As I got stronger, taller, I was able to get more pop. Maneuver the board with more ease. Now I’m focused on Plan B, my skate sponsor, we’re working on a video and I’m focused on really pushing myself and doing a lot of tricks that either haven’t been seen before or tricks that have been done, but maybe I’m doing them on obstacles that are pushing that particular trick to a new level. Basically, like I said, I still have that love and passion for skateboarding so it keeps me interested and keeps me wanting to try and learn new things because you can never beat the game. That’s why I love it over conventional sports. When I was a kid, I used to love playing baseball, but after awhile I got bored ‘cause after awhile of the same thing every game. Ok, you’ve gotta hit the ball, go around the bases. Boom. There’s nothing new. You just keep going for a higher and higher score and that’s about it. With skateboarding, it’s completely different. You do a lot of street skating, you don’t necessarily know what you’re gonna skate. You come up to new obstacles all the time. You go to a contest and you don’t know what the course is going to look like. It’s always a surprise and you’re always going off of new ideas that whenever you get there, you see a particular obstacle or you’re at a particular skate spot and you had no idea what it was gonna look like before you go there, so when you get there, you’ve got all these ideas, you get to be creative and think of things that maybe no one else was doing there. I don’t know, there are so many things to it that keeps me interested that I find it to be super fun.

What goes through your head when you see an obstacle or a rail or a flight of stairs or whatever, and you know that you have to conquer it?

Yeah, first when I go, say for instance a rail, when I get to it, my mind is just going a hundred miles an hour trying to think of a specific trick that I really wanna do on this rail. What would this rail be good for? What tricks have I been working on? What tricks do I have that would be good to bring to this rail? I’m just going through my mind, scanning my mind for every trick I can think of and hopefully finding one that I think is gonna be a really good one. That’s kind of how it goes. It’s like … I don’t know how to say it, I’m narrowing the process down to find that perfect trick for the perfect spot. It’s kind of like art. When a painter sees a canvas they have to wait until something inspires them to really make that masterpiece. Sometimes you can go to a spot and not really be inspired and go ‘Nah, I don’t really wanna skate here. Next spot.’ And you have to wait until that inspiration hits you for that perfect trick. For everything to align together. You have to be patient and you can’t force it.

These days you have YouTube and shows like ‘Scarred’ on MTV that show major wipe outs and people busting every bone. What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had on a trick that just didn’t work out?

I’ve been very fortunate in that department. I’ve mainly had a couple sprained ankles. I broke my pinkie toe at one point. I don’t know if it was broke, but I did something to it where I had to get a Cortizone shot in it because it swelled up. I’ve been very fortunate in that department. It happens and it’s something that’s in your mind. I’ve always considered myself a cautious skater. That’s why I’ve been fortunate to not get injured super bad because I don’t really try things unless I’m really confident that my chances are that I’m gonna be successful at it. I’ve never been the daredevil type to just say ‘Throw caution to the wind and just jump and just go for it and see what happens.’ I love skateboarding and I wanna do this for a long time, so I’m not just thinking only for the right now. Ride or die. I like to be a little more calculative and hopefully I won’t end up in that situation.

It seems like you have a good relationship with Dyrdek and you’ve been spotted on his show before. Between the two of you and Sheckler you guys have brought skating to a whole new level as far as reaching kids all over the country with the TV shows and movies like ‘Street Dreams.’ Talk for a moment about this meteoric rise in popularity of skateboarding and how you feel about being at the epicenter of this revolution.

It feels great. Like I said earlier, when I was a kid, I always dreamed of whatever I was gonna do, I was gonna be the best I could be at it and be something. Make something of myself in whatever that particular field would be and it feels good for that dream to actually be coming true. To be part of some skateboarding history is a great feeling. It’s kind of surreal to see where skateboarding’s going nowadays because when I started about twelve years ago, it was popular in the underground scene. It was popular in junior high, you always had at every school a certain crew of skaters. It wasn’t like it is now where every contest is on TV, nationally televised, getting big sponsorships. I just think skateboarding is such a fun thing and takes a lot of skill and now that all these kids are getting into it, I think it’s gonna become one of the new American pastimes. For instance my generation and many generations before me, grew up playing Little League baseball or playing basketball, football, which are all fun, great sports, but I think skateboarding is going to be in that category within these next couple of generations. My generation, when we all start having kids, our kids are gonna grow up seeing skateboarding just as much as us seeing people playing baseball. I just think skateboarding is gonna evolve into an American pastime, I guess.

How weird was it being involved in a film like ‘Street Dreams’? You’ve got all your friends around you but you guys have to act and put on a mask for the cameras.

It was actually a lot more comforting with my friends there because it was all of our first movie. We were all nervous because this is, they had a real film crew there, real director. Of all the main skaters who were in it, we were the only ones who were non actors, so everyone else were proper actors who know what they’re doing in their element. It was good to have some friends there that you all could feel like you’re on the same plane. Like ‘Ok, I’m not just here by myself in the middle of all these professionals and have no idea what I’m doing.’ We all had no idea what we were doing together, so it was a little more comforting. It put us at ease to feel free in the scenes ‘cause sometimes you can feel a little intimidated to go for a certain scene, but when you’re right there with your friends and you’ve gotta do it together, it allows you to feel a little more free. A little more comfortable in your own skin to go for the scene and do your best at it. I found it to be really cool with all my friends, especially for my first time. I think we had a great time and I think we’re really happy with how it all worked out.

Has the groupie factor gone up as you guys have gone from being skate stars to damn near rock stars?

(laughs) Um. I mean, yeah, we definitely get a lot of attention in all those areas for sure. So, yeah. I’m sure Ryan and Rob have a heavy amount of that.

As far as acting goes, is that something you wanna pursue or are you not focused on it?

At the moment, I’m not taking acting classes or going on auditions because I’m still in my prime, physical abilities. I don’t wanna waste any time doing other stuff. I wanna make sure that I can look back on my skateboarding years when I’m older and know that I capitalized fully on every day, every way to be the best skater I could be. Right now, this is what I’m doing. Most definitely I would love to move into a successful acting career after skateboarding’s done just because I’ve been around it my whole life and I do have a lot of fun doing it. I would love for that to happen. I would take roles if they approached me and if it’s the right role, I’m down to do it, but I’m definitely not going on auditions right now and taking acting classes and putting my energy super hard into it because I still wanna be the best skater I could be as long as it’s physically possible.

Dyrdek has a show, Sheckler has a show. Have you been approached to have a reality camera crew follow you around?

Yeah. I’ve taken some meetings I with that, how do I say this? I’ve taken the idea in my mind and messed around with a little bit, but I came to realize that this is not my path. I don’t feel like I have the right personality to really carry a show. I’m not really into getting my family situation on TV and everything. With Rob’s show, which is not really showing his super personal life, which is cool, I just don’t feel that creative. I don’t know, he’s just a real creative and smart guy. You can’t force it if you don’t have it. I don’t think this is my area. I think if I’m gonna be on TV or something I wanna be acting, playing a role or something. Or do a cameo on his show or something. I don’t feel like I have the type of personality to carry a reality show that people would be interested to watch because I’m not really all that exciting on a daily basis. I skate hard every day for a lot of hours, then I come home and relax. I don’t really see it being too exciting for viewers out there. I took a couple meetings in a couple places, but I realized, maybe this just isn’t in my path. You can’t force it with things that don’t feel right.

I’ve spoken with Rob. He’s amped up but he’ll tell you that when the cameras are shining, he’s taking his normal self and upping it a notch. You’ve gotta be able to do that.

Yeah, exactly. Rob that you see on TV, that’s him, that’s his personality, but exactly, for every scene, they’ve gotta plan out what they’re doing. They’ve gotta have an idea of what’s gonna happen. It’s not scripted but it takes a lot of effort and a lot of work to do a show. That would take too much time from my skating where I feel like my skills and my abilities would not stay up to par if I focused on something like that. There’s a lot of young skaters coming up that are really trying to do it. I don’t wanna fall back to them just yet.

I write for Skinnie in LA, but I live in Montana. In Great Falls, we have a Grindline skate park that is packed all the time.

Nice.

You’ll see kids every where and this is Montana. Eight months out of the year we have cold and snow and nasty weather and you have these skate parks all over the state. You didn’t have it ten years ago.

Awesome. I don’t know, something clicked with the kids in this past couple of generations where they realized that skateboarding was just an amazingly fun thing to do. You don’t have a coach telling you when to practice. You don’t have a uniform. You don’t have to look a certain way. You can dress however you want. Listen to whatever music you want. Practice when you want. You get out of it what you put into it. I feel like it’s like a sport, slash, art, hybrid. It’s a cool thing.

Alright Paul. I appreciate you visiting with me.

No problem. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Take care of yourself.

You too.

Alright. Bye.