Adam Colton | 21 Years of Loaded Boards | #3 of 4

**Reuploaded due to audio issues**

There aren’t many people that have left a lasting impact on the longboarding scene quite like Adam Colton. From his incredible abilities on any board, to his unique style of film-making, Adam has touched the hearts of millions around the world and was pivotal in ushering in the modern era of longboarding.

Host Ari Chamasmany, Don Tashman, and Pablo Casto catch up with the illustrious Adam Colton, reminiscing about the early days of his involvement with Loaded Boards and where he is now.

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Oh hello and welcome ladies and gentlemen we are here celebrating 21 years of loaded boards discussing the intricacies of the brand in this all original podcast series my name is Risman and I’m humbled and honored to be joined by Don tashman and Pablo Castro as well as super special guests Adam

Colton via the interwebs we are talking about the origin story of loaded boards and this whole Adventure got started yeah all right let’s well let’s get started first of all where where are you Adam I’m in Lovin Colorado Northern Colorado cool cool on the mountain loveland’s on the mountain right well

We’re kind of close to the mountains not as close to the bishop I guess like the nearest ski resorts probably like an hour and a half from here and then all the the fancy stuff like a basin Breen Ridge veils a little more cuz you have all the traffic on I70

So isn’t there a Loveland Ski Mountain yeah they call it Loveland Ski Mountain but it’s yeah it’s like an hour and a half from Loveland still oh that’s an hour and a half but I don’t I don’t do any snow Sports though I’m not a snow

Snow sport guy I I recall I recall taking you to Powder Mountain and there was a uh a Pama lift you know the ones that you hold on to and put on your under your legs and Colton uh ended up falling over and then just dragging himself up the mountain

With brute strength all the way to the tops it was impressive it was impressive I do remember that pwder mountain yeah and then you left me then you’re like I’m done with this I like skateboarding and then I met these other two dudes that like lived there and they

Took me off past and we like there was like powder up like snorkel powder and then you’d land at the bottom of the hill off the mountain and a bus a school bus would pick pick you up and take you back up to do it again it was epic it

Was one of the most epic nice and Adam stayed back Utah Utah Adam stayed back in like the hot dog shack or whatever there you go wait are you guys still doing snowboards no no not right now uh maybe in the future but we haven’t done those

In six or seven years now so um I wanted to I wanted to ask how did you guys you and Adam meet initially I’m trying to I don’t do you remember Adam I know it was before who was Adam colton.com and the bus but I think it was right before that I remember

Jason what was his last name pavalonis pavus well Jason and uh well Jason flew out to Colorado with Darren when you got when you were crossing through but we’d already been in touch beforehand um I think you sent me a video like on a or did I send you

Something to asking for like maybe sponsorship with the skate USA thing or something back in the day I did I think that might have been it I think that might have been it and then we’re like yeah if you’re going through you should meet up with with Darren and then Jason

Was there and that’s how okay that’s how it happened when you went up okay was it rabbit ears pass I was just over there uh mountain biking in Steamboat it was kind of like a little bit of deja vu that area so so it was like a one like a one Trek

Kind of thing that you guys had had done like you asked him to sponsor you for like a one one Adventure kind of deal or was it like uh was that the who was I think I’m not sure how even turned out but I remember you guys saying like when

You get done with the trip like you know let’s talk more when you get back and see if we can you know work something out or something like that and you were already shooting some videos of yourself and Sakowski right yeah and college and then after college yeah we were shooting in the

Neighborhoods which is funny I just rewatched some of those videos the the old trick tips the trick tip videos were so you guys were also shooting some street street skate stuff like doing handrails and stairs going downstairs and yeah I was doing a little bit of that but uh which is funny

Cuz I started skating mini ramps before I moved out here again and skateboarding is dangerous I wore all the pads like a dork yeah yeah I I go full on RoboCop now didn’t want to get hurt cuz I really like mountain biking and dirt biking this was just kind of like a one-off

Thing my friend built a mini ramp in his yard so I tried it out again so cool cool cool yeah so all what we’re talking about this is 2005 correct I think end of 2005 because I I remember when you and Adam flew in the first

Time in 2006 I was already I was already in at the Beverly Hills office okay yeah I remember that office I remember sleeping on the flooor at Jason’s house I think uhhuh for a while well that was that was very convenient loaded wise because Jason just lived uh steps from the office

Remember yeah just like right there you’re we’re talking about that apartment right or or the one in Saturn this was the one off of oh man just like next to the office was that the one in Santa Monica up the stairs on the second floor no that was

With dane that was later with uhhuh yeah he was with pavalonis sleeping on the floor next to the office and then pavalonis moved to uh Saturn you know where Siena and sat where the I think that was the Yos Noya I think that’s where he was Saturn one okay yeah yeah

Cuz I I I only remember that you we went to your place after we finished shooting swirling SAS and then you got Trevor and I to try that hot sauce that was like being maced and where was that was that that was oh that was I lived with Sai

And that was more like in West LA Santa Monica border that was Santa Monica how how is Sai doing I have no idea I I know he moved to Portland a long time ago um I wonder how much that place me and him lived is going for now

It was kind of like expensive back in the day I bet you la prices are real expensive now astronomical now cool so let’s you want to can we talk a little bit about some of the early days yeah when you first moved out to LA and like

How things got rolling and some of the memories you have yeah yeah you guys can help me jog some memories too I’m kind of bad with some memories like I don’t know what it is I know why I asked you people jog stuff I can remember what was

What was the first event that you were doing out in La like the first skateboarding thing like Meetup was there was there a Meetup was it the the bomba I think it was was that the bomba oh we did like that one thing Pablo de was there

Um I forget the other workers there and we were just cruising down that one street with uh with the vanguards uh yeah we were talking about the one on S in Santa Monica Franklin Franklin no no it was it was a different street like a really fancy neighborhood

And we all went out there ah that one that long one in Beverly Hills those were fun yeah long and long and and not so uh yeah perfect for the Vanguard was that 200 what 8 seven 7 six7 yeah okay yeah okay and then you started those uh sessions in Santa

Monica in the parking lot right what were they called the park was their name for them the Tuesday the afternoon sessions you used to do like every week H Santa Monica I did that’s fun you did yeah well those are now actually now now that’s where exactly where the doc

Sessions is where there’s there’s like two or three events there every week with you know 20 30 people minimum oh um out there every week right now right at that famous Santa Monica Hill the little short one yeah just just there yeah okay I know we did one event I forget at two’s

House we had a fun barbecue um and we were sliding around that’s when like sliding was pretty popular had some slide boards but then after that the labambas was pretty fun we had a good turnout for the first one when did you guys do the Malibu slide

Jam Invitational with like Louie and all those guys at that like that undeveloped house or it was like a house that burned down during a fire or something and that and they it was basically it was just like an empty lot that 201 2010 2009 because our our our babies were our

Kids were babies like I remember so mine was born in 2009 in June probably end of 2009 cuz I was I remember that video was was kind of that was a big deal for for our group because we watched that on YouTube and seeing all of you guys do

All of the 180s and standup slides at least during that time was kind of a that was a rarity so yeah but there was also a lot of Hills that I’d see you guys skate in those videos that initially like all of us had kind of written off as like oh that’s

That’s not possible and then we’d see videos of you and and Louie going and like bombing down those Hills in like oversized motorcycle leathers and like big helmets yeah I remember that it made all the all those uh roads iconic like spots everyone from the world would come here

They would come at load visit first and then wanting to follow the roads you guys were were filming yeah that was that was tuna um I remember like Louie and it was Kevin Rhymer or maybe was James Kelly they they bombed that road at night back

In the day it was that blew my mind with like that’s right there was that one that one video with the headlights or like that somebody had like a big light or something right was it on video I don’t know I remember there’s a video of

Somebody in in the dark doing like M Holland or something which which is really funny I ran into James Kelly uh I was up mountain biking um where was I Northern Cal California and they had the road closed some skateboarders and I approached up and

And you know James was going to come out then you know to kind of talk to us all night like hey we got the road closed little we got some skateboarders coming down and we recognize each other which is hilarious and he’s like Adam that is awesome

He he was just trying to be nice to us think there were some random people not you know so we don’t call the cops and uh and then I guess he’s mountain biking a little too he’s reached out a bit um he’s getting into biking as well it was

Funny running into him he was doing his thing uh said he was going into nursing school which was cool like a popular thing people seem to be doing so yeah it was random I uh I also I I wanted to ask you if I know you guys we have some

Questions for Adam as well but I just I wanted to ask you what out of all of your long Trek videos what was the most like that the most difficult one the most demanding location that you guys went to that you were like maybe was it when you skated across

China uh that one was weird cuz was by myself um was it like Mongolia you went out there like you went really far out there China was pretty that’s the first time I’ve ever got denied food in Internet because of maybe my skin color or because I was a foreigner oh

Man but uh I’d say prun Bolivia was the hardest um you were with um just the terrain I guess were you with anybody yeah that was that was Paul and Aon Paul that was Paul Paul and Aaron and um yeah it was just during the rainy season uh

Just wet big mountain passes and we were just all like diarrhea Mountain marish for like a month straight and just P pushing up hills and diing in the sides of the road you know hard sounds like a good time when when did you ALS when did you

Do the who is Adam Colton like Cross Country tour that was like 2005 that was the first one that was even further back that was the beginning the funny thing is we were going to do it for the boys and girls club Club you know try to do like a charity thing and

And they’re the ones that came up with the who is Adam Colton uh website name um wow that that explains a tremendous amount cuz like this is yeah maybe twoo candid but like I remember when we first heard that when you sent that to us and we’re like who is Adam

Colton.com wow this dude’s got like the most obscene ego of that and then we met you and you were never like that and I’ve never asked you that question before and i’ never knew that it is kind of weird cuz when we were doing the skate trip and you know there was other

People involved like Byron and Shane and Chris and then it’s like who is Adam Colton like on the the bus yeah it felt weird it’s like it’s not all just about me we got like two other guys suffering that explains a lot wow uhhuh that makes a lot of sense in retrospect

I yeah I never knew that one yeah they had some marketing guy there and his thing he came up and I was like like sounds pretty cool um but yeah that’s how that developed um but yeah that website let that go a while ago just kind of have my little YouTube thing now

That I post mountain bike videos on and and I have the social medias now Instagram and Facebook I’m recalling now remember the the Uruguay Argentina trip uh-huh so this dude has the idea of filming himself with whatever clothes he had on he’s like I’m going to I’m going to

Skate from here to Uruguay and I’m going to be there certain day and uh you know we got everyone in Uruguay fired up obviously we fly there and then but he shows up at the event with the same clothes and all like destroy that like no here’s Adam he’s

Just arriving from the trip and everyone’s like cheering and claing thinking that you know was the end of his uh of his that’s the end of his Journey but he’s still going journey to that event so everyone was oh my God I can’t believe and we never told anyone o

Andre Adam and I knew and and Kyle was there no that’s so I don’t even remember we did that I F legitimately people thought that he had just arrived from skating from LA to Mono oh man I didn’t know if it was it was that that was the Assumption of the

Distance that was the Assumption of the people so everyone oh my God yeah he did it he he was a rock star he pretty much and I did a good job acting did I have Haggard clothes on oh yeah because you came with a little like a like a plastic

Bag and all like looking all destroyed and the same clothes and everyone just loved it it was so funny that was fun what what was the uh I never actually figured what was the the point-to-point destination of the who is Adam colon tour was that Los Angeles to

What was the end La we never ended was what was it Adam Oregon Salem Oregon not Salem OH new some coastal town in Oregon I can’t remember the name of right now it’s a Springfield Virginia I don’t even know where it started do you still talk to Larry uh

Yeah every once in a while he reaches out he’s doing real estate now and stuff yeah he’ll reach out once in a while I’m like I’m one of these people that very present maybe that’s why I don’t remember a lot of stuff I just get really involved in my present situation

And try to do a lot of Adventures do you remember how you got started with dancing where that started from yeah that the Chris was it Chris chaput is that his name mhm yeah yeah he had some video on uh I guess it was YouTube back in there him doing like some cross

Stepping on some like funky looking banana board thing and that kind of inspired me I was like that’s pretty cool and then from there yeah just kind of uh making stuff up I know it’s pretty big still in in Asia the So You Think You Can Dance Stu still going on and I

Know lofty’s killing it and spreading The Vibes yeah no it’s still growing it’s been growing sub substantially actually in Asia and Europe and now in the US um and I I definitely give you a lot of credit for being one of the you know the creators of at least modern

Dancing like I know Chris was doing it the videos that you were talking about those are probably back from the 7 huh that you saw posted is that yeah it might have been um no it looked it looked it looked more recent than that longbird surf surf style cross stepping

Was a thing back in the 70s but then like maybe he was still and crits had been you know a pro in the 70s but then when Street and and uh vert and and um freestyle Guess Park started to grow that stuff kind of disappeared there was

Probably a couple people but I think Adam was the first to like really like Embrace that and bring it back um with longer boards bigger Wheels better technology faster I just find it interesting that the Catalyst for the entire dancing Saga that we’re currently living was all inspired from a Adam

Colton watching a video of Chris shapot doing cross steps on a longboard yeah it’s pretty wild you never know where things will go you know I remember like building those first boards for you I remember building those first uh the first dancers well you you built you built your own dancers which we

Still have some like uh Baltic Birch ones and then you did a couple board you did a board with the old school dancer with longboard Larry oh I didn’t know he was building his own boards yeah he built his own boards first we still have one right back there actually an

Original Adam Colton old school uh whatever was called Original dancer and then we built the first boards here the first dancing boards I remember that was was pretty difficult for me cuz until then I’d only Built boards kind of for myself and like you had a very different

Vision but like I’m not going to say I believed in the vision but I believed in you I guess um and uh I Was Wrong by by a long shot um but you well not in believing in you but in not believing in the vision but I remember building those first boards you

Wanted to build them flat do you remember that and we were working with Ernie and he’s like I can’t make it flat it’s just going to twist um and then we put those like very tiny convex yeah yeah how did you do that with the dancer

The dancer had like an almost a convex kind of thing to it because it was flat and it had those little nose and tail kicks we were using that linen to go down to Downtown LA to go get off cuts of linen and yeah that was that was

Heavy board yeah and then we did that but then we did the the bangra that was like the first real I’d say more contemporary the original bonger is like the first contemporary dancing board um one do you remember when that was like 2008 9 10 I don’t really call what the

First dancer or first bonga ah I remember when I first met Adam face to face he handed me a blank bonga and was like you should try this thing out I see you doing cross steps on the Sector 9 but this thing’s going to work a lot

Better wait so so don when we came out with the first dancer you kind of were like I don’t know if this board’s going to sell or this is going to be a thing huh well they didn’t actually it was expensive to produce super heavy super long difficult yeah uhhuh

But it was the beginning of something great and something huge so you know everything starts that way but I didn’t yeah I didn’t really believe in it but uh once again believed in you and you were doing it and you were showcasing it and uh continuing to expand on it it’s

Crazy where it’s gone today I mean like we’ve got a couple I think really good dancing boards but there’s some amazing Boards out there we’re not even yeah made in in Korea and all over Europe over really nice Brown Browns Brands doing some really technical things and

It’s really inspiring to us to we have a lot of now a lot of more people here are involved with dancing and worldwide and it’s definitely something we intend to continue to put a lot more effort into and explore new technology and new new ways of doing it I mean boards have

Gotten longer and shorter at the same time more more technical like you were saying L Fe um Jeff Cory and some of these guys are doing just mindbending stuff with the dancing boards today it’s it’s funny that the the the whole dancing thing is stuck around no one’s

Changed it is it’s still on board dancing from the original which is pretty fun a little bit more freestyle aspect to it also and that’s kind of becoming a little bit of the terminology but it’s still dancing still officially dancing um you know speaking of which I

Remember the First videos that you did for us uh like fly loaded and together loaded the ones on the Vanguard I you know I designed that Vanguard to have no nose and tail intentionally so people would stand in the middle and you you and Adam start doing these videos where

You’re manualing them for like huge distances and it was that was like it was in a way offensive but it was so amazing and I think those videos were just so just so incredible like they really that was pre-youtube that was 2005 and then I remember 2006

Putting the first I think we did put those videos up on YouTube and I don’t know if you remember that period of like every month when you’d prepare a new video you every would take like four to six weeks and I think we were the first

Skate company at all to have any videos on YouTube yeah that’s crazy to think about um I watched fly looto not too long ago and uh I love that I have that really long pinky nail I’m laying on the board and I got this big pinky nail cuz

I used to grow out my pinky nail for fun um and then uh I was I forgot I was showing my friends and I was like damn look at my abs it was strong back in the day shirt I was like skateboarding got me all strong and uh yeah I remember

People were kind of making fun of me back in the day when I would like uh I put my feet parallel on the board and I had my hand out I was like cruising down the road like that yeah the Adam and adamina remember I remember that

Together loaded funny funny stuff yeah I remember you coming out those videos and like yeah they were like I people would wait for them for you know like Countdown the days um and then I remember when you bought that DSLR that 7D remember that was a whole big big

Deal to buy that you bought it like on a Tuesday or something and you went out and rode with you rode out and filmed Kyle chin and came out with the let go like on Thursday or Friday of that same week and that was like a tremendous Game

Changer I think in terms of quality in terms of everything you were doing that we were doing that that’s not the one that got stolen in in Venice Beach was it I don’t remember that we yeah you had a you had your whole camera equipment you left it on the Flor

In Venice Beach started riding and then oh [ __ ] my stuff isn’t there anymore kind of rings the bell dang those damn people stealing our crap that’s an yeah that was a good that camera was a Workhorse for us and then we got the

5D um yeah I think is I think let go is still probably the most viewed video of of loaded boards probably yep probably yeah that thing got uh huge traction but the making of it I thought was even more impressive just how you guys did that so quick

And how having that our first DSLR like changed the whole game and then you’re cranking out videos and I remember we used to like argue about like should we have a whole compilation and only launch one video a year or should we be launching every month and now we’re in a

Day where it’s like how many videos you’re launching a day you know it’s like a different world crazy it’s funny how I guess like you’re saying we were like some of the first people La boards on YouTube and but I remember we would come out with some

Videos and we would just like just get psyched about how many views we’ get in a day like 20,000 or 15,000 and it would just blow her mind how you know big and popular they were back in the day everyone was just like foaming at the

Mouth to see the newest loaded video it was pretty cool to be a part of that yeah I mean I think a lot of that also had to do with the loaded newsletter do you remember writing those emails those email blasts I remember spending a lot of time editing those

I’m like the worst person to write a newsletter if I was doing it oh that’s what we had well you were the fun you were the funniest and funnest right so it’s true I had some that’s what it was some fun dialogue in there and some

Weird sign offs but uh yeah yeah those are beautiful days man the Lo like loaded newsletter was the name of the YouTube channel for the longest time and I think you guys finally changed it right it’s the loaded boards yeah we weren’t able to for years yeah because

That’s we named the newsletter came first and then the videos came second the YouTube channel came second so we named it newsletter Channel I mean the trick tip videos were like that was those were amazing those were amazing I think about how many people got into the

Whole thing because of those videos you guys like going around and just coming up with weird stuff and that that led to the Challenge Series you remember those I was that was pretty stoked on that idea that was just like a great way to give back to the community and just

Encourage people to learn stuff and and if you you know had the most style you got a Freel loaded board which was sweet then there’s like prizes for second and third and then you got the good discounts on the boards yeah I was I was looking at some of those videos those

Was a while ago but yeah I had my long hair mean Sakowski just giggling and saying stupid stuff it was fun half a beard yeah a question mark beard I just got sideburns these days pretty much bald head yeah you nice oh wow look at you Adam that makes two of us

Yeah wow no need for glasses yet no eyesight’s real good but I’m feeling really good too like strongest I’ve felt in a while like I just got a mod I play a lot of pickle ball and uh it’s just really hard on the legs and hips and back so I just got

I do a lot of stretching these days it’s more it’s more intense on the body than mountain biking is pickle ball you’re not flying anymore are you no pretty much just a bunch of pickle ball during the weekdays and then we’re riding cool Trails on the weekends then

Did you continue to fly after your accident yeah I flew for another maybe two years and took a little SIV course where they teach you how to like you know mess up your wing and recover um but I just like mountain biking a little more it’s more

Convenient and then where I was living the it was like a really hard area to fly consistently so it was just getting let down a ton and I was like I could have just been biking so okay kind of gave it up and and I see you know work

For a bike uh equipment yeah company right we make I’d say arguably the best mountain bike suspension in all the industry and it’s all made in House at in uh USA in leveland Colorado so what are they called give them a little shout out yeah it’s called push

Industries and um yeah we’re the only suspension company that you know makes a shock in the United States uh a lot of love that goes into the shock and we customize it for your riding Style on your bike it’s like you’re having like a professional suspension technician at

Your hands and uh yeah it’s been fun doing video work from so kind of reminds me of the loaded days a little bit small company um passionate about the product and and love mountain biking so yeah but it’s a little trickier these days you know I loaded or was just like that was

Just the most beautiful pure organic Stoke you know I just was really proud of us we didn’t have like some crazy marketing plan right I think we just we were just living it and stoking people out and our passion kind of just led to this beautiful movement experimenting

With everything yeah why did we do this well yeah let’s [ __ ] do it freaking do it sorry apologies to the public yeah no I I definitely felt that I remember that period very fondly like there was that that very pure energy you know I’ve been trying to keep it it definitely evolves

And has changed into something very different today um but I think there’s there’s a lot of the a lot of The Roots come from there you know a lot of a lot of the ideology also like of loaded today about you know Rising tide raises All Ships and let’s grow everyone let’s

Work on the whole industry together is all it’s still here and it’s still all rooted in those days and a lot of the ation we had back in the day and a lot of the ideas that were being generated around then yeah the DNA is still definitely in there good memories yeah

Yeah it was good times still is good times so can’t yeah I just remember I just thought it was so cool of you like you were promoting longboard Larry back in the day we promoted common a little bit um I don’t know it just was very non-selfish you were like Don you were

One of the yeah the best best owners bosses I’ve ever ever worked for just a beautiful mind and you like your actions you know people can say things but the actions are different you said said things and your actions were the same it was it was beautiful to witness well I

Appreciate that and still is the same so cool well thank you guys H and it’s you know it’s being with like-minded people the same kind of people attracting you know like talk about a virtuous pyramid scheme right you spread love you bring in the people who get it

And who identify with it and who spread it themselves and you know working for a long time on building that team building the right people you know there’s been a lot of people that come through here you’ve been a incredibly and they’ve all been special but you’ve

Been an incredibly special part of that and uh of this history and the growth have loaded and um and also the philosophy of loaded like developing where we are and like that idea that you know of supporting all these other brands it wasn’t you know it didn’t just

Come from me by any means it was all of us you know I think having sharing that same idea of let’s do this together let’s have fun with all these people who are doing all this cool stuff it was about having fun with them meeting more people meeting your we don’t call them

Competitors right we still call them like just like ambassadors partners partners and business you know we’re in the same same boat so yeah I haven’t you know I haven’t been around on the longboard scene in a while and I don’t I don’t keep too much tabs but yeah how is

The scene these days I know you know right when I was leaving it was kind of going through a little bit of a tricky time and and and pivoting and stuff yeah how was the state of the longboard World these days well yeah in some ways it got

Trickier in some ways it uh there’s a lot of there was definitely some headwinds um a lot of like direct to Consumer Amazon Brands coming out of China definitely clouded the Market the media got a little weird but we also had some really strong things happen I mean

We had uh a lot of growth in Europe uh Germany really took off for us Europe took off in the mid uh like 2014 15 and then China and Asia really grew um and we also had a really great run with boosted so we did a lot of interesting

Things on the electric side mhm um but then Co hit and like originally when it hit we thought this was all going to you know just go down the toilet yeah and then the opposite happened like there was just a tremendous amount of uh excitement and enthusiasm for long for

Everything outdoors right I mean people just want to go out of their homes and and stay yeah just be outside so that was a really good year year and a half of yeah we we spent a lot of that time also like working on our product development capabilities so next time you’re here

We’ll show you but we have a full full Lab here uh right behind me um that where we can be developing and creating boards from concept to rideable prototype in 24 hours so we’re working on a whole bunch of new stuff we’ve been launching uh new Pro new and I I think

Important products uh more than ever before and I’d say overall right now especially postco um there is a little bit of a slump just because there’s a lot of inventory but there’s more people skating today probably not probably there’s more people skating today than ever before um and I think there’s you

Know there’s there’s like four AR’s got his jet lab sessions every Wednesday still going there’s doc sessions and uh VI ride in La you know so there’s there’s three or four sessions weekly in La um and worldwide there’s a bunch of sessions happening uh every week so

There’s really a Vibrant Community in a way that like we I think we only dreamed of back in the day when you were around and that’s been incredible to see I I remember uh Ari remember us shooting videos and uh I was just finally remembering that time to me I

Remember like staying in some sketchy hotels I think I think uh oh cin found like a peanut butter spoon under his pillow or behind his like mattress one I I know that uh I remember when we went up to God where was that there was like that really remote region in Oregon that

They call the the Lost Coast and I remember reading about it and like and they were telling like it was it was so it was undiscovered for such a long time because like there was so many rocks off the coast there that when ships would come in to try and like early explorers

They’d get like stuck on the Rocks so they called that area like the Lost Coast because it was so undiscovered and remote and Adam goes ahead and plans a video shoot there and drags us out to that was swirling shamas right yeah swirling SAS yeah and remember we stayed

In that like pretty much like the remnant the skeleton of that Old Logging town and there were like there were uh it was like the logging Mill had dried up or something in like the the early 2000s and uh it was uh it was just uh it was

Really incredible like place to go and adventure and shoot a video because it was just like so remote and so weird there was like people coming to our door in the middle of the night like knocking on the door like Sharon where are you where are you come on out I know you’re

In there like yeah you told me that story yesterday therey odd like exm Marines like old veterans living in like airst streams trying to sell us weed like it was it was really just an odd that was such a weird trip like no cell phone reception like really you really took us

Out there though I had fond memories of all the loaded videos shooting with you guys you were always a character doing all your funny voices and we had that Toyota Toyota Sienna van that just kept going the van how could we forget the van the Sienna we that’s right we I now

That I think about it when we were shooting the LA video I remember we were driving around the LA River in that thing like grease lightning style and we almost we Sakowski and I forgot that there’s like a 15ot deep channel in the middle of the LA River do you guys kill

The van how to die no we almost Sakowski and I almost like like put the van into the middle of the LA River because we were roosting we were driving through like puddles of water you know like roosting these huge puddles of water driving the van down the LA River but we

Didn’t realize that there was like just this huge cutout in the middle of the river so we were just like going to blast through it and then we could to we stop at the last minute realizing there’s like a huge channel in the middle of the river and

The front wheels like were were struggling for traction because there was so much algae and like somehow we caught traction again and like managed to like just avert just total disaster the van Adam and I Adam and I bought that van at the auction remember you and I

Went like you guys went to a police auction or something something like that yeah that’s the only way we could get it for the price we needed that was a good van you delayed you and I went and bought it I did delay the inevitable end of the of the

Van there was a catastrophic ending to that van yeah what was it camoo crashed it or something I don’t know yeah it would have been one of us dude a matter of time but I yeah and I’m kind of grateful nobody got hurt that was that

Was pretty naive of us to think that it was a good thing for a while it was Adam kept it kept it well and was responsible for it but when you left then it was like it was can I get the ban yeah going

I’m gonna go and shoot so yeah we we let anyone we let anyone borrow it and that’s where it ended I’m just recalling memories in my head right now remember Pablo when me and you were in um was it Korea South Korea and then we we had some energy at night and we

Stumbled upon that like random club and we our butts off like it was in some like random building you wouldn’t have expect and we like knocked on the door and there was like a dance party dancing like crazy and then you tried to take off the security guy’s cap and he

Was like he was going to kick you out do you remember they already pushed me off the stage or something for one I remember it because I was like filming you just and then suddenly you feel like so confident you were so excited you just grab his cap and he’s just like I’m

Going to kick you out and that that was a nice club it was it was like it was in the 101 wasn’t it I don’t I don’t know I just remember everyone was so inviting there guys dancing with guys everyone was just so happy like there was no just like so

Accepting of us in there and we were just we were just loving it was that the trip where you went with lot uh ly it was you and ly and I I think there was one no it was it was Kyle Adam and I and we did Taiwan and Korea correct yeah and

And me and Pablo wandered off by our so it was late at night and we just had some energy yeah we did the Great Wall of China that time when we were in Beijing with the what’s his name uh steam or Joe no no yeah Kai what Li oh no with U no

Not Le what’s his name uh he had the band and then he went over to yuchi yeah went um yeah I know he was awesome he took us to the great wall and we just you know went as far as everybody adventured it was really really nice trip man all those trips

Were awesome thank you guys for those just working with their Distributors out there and just spreading The Stoke and they treat us like kings I remember we ate such good food maybe it was in China we got like foot massages and back rubs that was really good remember in Argentina how many people

Gathered at a park when oares it was like I don’t know 500 people it was oh my God and every you know all eyes on on him so I you know at the end of the trip he was like I I just can’t see any more

People I’m I’m just it’s true it was it was hard it was hard because everything was you know we had the events but Adam was there Adam and Kyle so that you know people wanted a goodie of yeah yeah it was a good ERA yeah it was it was a little tiring

Just been cuz I do like my alone time too and uh but yeah just having to be on and and uh when you’re tired to like do some extra stuff to meet and greet and but it was still amazing times I just going on those trips and experiencing

The culture and we were with the local so we always ate at the best spots and everything it was good best everything yeah remember the the Peruvian races the tarma yo I yeah I do yeah yeah remember that was Louie Kelly you and I D we traveled all over I I forgot about

That and then we went to the the Philippines and we did some crazy stuff in the Philippines as well out there yes Philippines we had a an epic trip as well did you guys ever make it to Japan we did we did but I don’t think with Adam it wasn’t with

Adam I went to Japan you went to okoa with Sai in the rain season I went with ly with L that’s right so you guys I was supposed to go on that trip but I couldn’t make it for whatever reason but it was you and ly ended up going to

China and Korea and Japan I guess yeah yeah yeah but that was like the one where there was like a bunch of photos showed up that I remember you guys were in like traditional outfits doing like nose nose manuals or something like do you remember that I remember in the

Philippines we were on the island seihor and we were sleeping in this those hammocks for the entire time and I just could not do The Hammocks it was so hot like swea like I sorry guys but I’m going to need a bed because they weren’t like even that ergonomic they you just

Slept like a banana and and you can’t you couldn’t move and you know these guys were all used to it and they like I got to get a bed sorry yeah that was a hard that siki hor race was awesome yeah I did some I did some downhill races with those guys

Out there was fun and I remember they love love pork there so we had like pork for breakfast lunch remember when they did that line of the banana leaves with the rice and the pork and we just had to jam all at the same time and you grab your spot and

That’s pretty crazy this is all in the Philippines this is in the Philippines it’s like they’ll do a long table Yeah right and then just banana leaves a line of rice and then a pork pork pork what you just do it with your hands was there

An event what is it the viah the VT or something was down event it was long distance downhill and dancing yeah it was like a trifecta and we would travel around the Sean siuan Islands I see yeah we would get fairies remember and then traveling in buses kind of like 100

People on top of the bus you know that style it’s so cool then we stop at this uh Bridge remember and I was like afraid of I’ve been afraid of like jumping into the water for you know when it’s when it’s pretty high and it’s like today I’m

Gonna do it and you know these guys help me they didn’t push me but I ended up doing it and it felt so awesome and we just going up and down up I have all those videos I’ll send them to you those are just just such good times when we

Rode around all those scooters you know and then um ah yeah there was oh I got a I got a massage there it was cheap but it was brutal man she was using her elbows on my calves after like K all the time I remember that it’s like dang um

Another memory that’s coming to me is Aon how used to treat us to those Mexico trips um was was it in the winter or or was in the summer I I just remember how cool that was of an owner to I don’t know to dedicate time for the staff and

All the crew to get there I thought that was really cool you did the Punta monter ones the ones we had like a private just like a private uh mini hotel with a private beach remember and I was we just stayed there and talk about skateboards

And drink beer and yeah and then we do those events at the and uh in s ponoo s Poncho sessions Sita sessions yeah those were incredible and and still impact people to this day I mean we were just there a couple months ago and there’s still people skating loaded you know it’s still

Yep it’s you know we had a really tremendous impact on a lot of people but especially on us like internally that was you know really proud that we were able to do that try to continue to do that just to bring the team together and bond and you know create this into

Something even more special no the best best job I’ve ever had was working for loaded I was that was May the Heyday of my life just because I was I don’t know what it’s so creative and and again like it just you really allowed me to be

Myself there was no crazy Big Marketing meetings we just it we didn’t have to try that hard it was just so organic and we just like ran with the energy it was just amazing ganic it is yeah it’s all it’s all downhill from here fun fully

Intended yeah no thank you Adam it was obviously a pleasure and honor to have you all these years yeah we’d like to see you in person it’s been too long man yeah La La’s far now far up for some snowboard sessions out in Colorado I’ll hit you up we got

The icon passes so okay we Steamboat no Steamboat is one of them isn’t it steamboats on there but also yeah I had copper so some of the ones closer to him I remember uh I used and when you were living in Bishop I always used to run

Into you in the most random places and Bishop what’s so funny I this recall a memory right now I remember working yeah for loaded and you guys you told me like dude Highway 395 that’s a special place like Bishop Mammoth like I I I could see

You falling in love with that place and sure enough remember you did how many years were you there for Adam uh 10 years 10 years years wow still the best place I’ve ever lived I um I miss it dearly but got it’s kind of tricky Bishop dream location not like a dream

Job but now I got kind of like a dream job but not the dream location but it’s not horrible here I just wish I was a little closer to the hills and then more more venture like-minded people around here it’s just like you got I don’t know Bishop’s just really cool Community

Everyone’s like a badass there and into adventure and playing outside and doing cool stuff where here it’s a little harder to find that so so finding a lady out here is going to be tricky that was going to be my next question like not not married yet no girlfriend or nothing

I go to like salid to go mountain bike and I see girls My Style Just instantly like oh but here it’s like it’s okay I’m happy being single you know happy first and then having a rad girl would be would be a bonus but I’m very it’ll come it’ll come maybe if

Not it’s okay I’m still [ __ ] loving life here got a good friend Network and uh yeah it’s been great how are your how are your parents parents are great they were just out here uh a couple months ago um I got them on paddle boards for

The first time and I I’ve never seen such fear in their eyes my dad fell off the board and I thought he was going to drown he had so much fear like trying to get to the board it was crazy and I rescued him and then uh

And then my mom got on to show up my dad cuz he couldn’t really stand up for that long and then then she had such concentration in her eyes I’ve never seen her concentrating so much like she felt like if she’d fall off she would die or something it was intense and then

And then my dad got on it to prove my mom that he could do it and it was pretty fun experience and then your mom was in one of our advertisements back in the day right was she like putting on makeup on you or I don’t know something

That was like a like the cover of a magazine and Adam was like in a mirror mom was like I was working on my mustache my had that like twirly mustache and and then she was like leaning over looking at it or something but yeah she thought that was

Hilarious yeah I remember when your dad first came to LA and he brought that he was in making what was it carbon Nano tubes or something wasn’t he like one of the inventors of carbon Nano tubes yeah he’s he’s in nanotechnology man I don’t know too much about it but yeah he

Brought I remember he brought me a frisbee that was filled with carbon Nano tubes um still flew like a frisbee but I remember that pretty clearly uh I just want to say I I appreciate what you what you brought to the whole scene and kind of the foundation that you laid to uh

Kind of give us this whole Community especially with the kids that are coming through right now and I mean they have no idea of the the history of it but hopefully this helps yes right indeed you know so well yeah I’m really grateful there was like an air of just

Excitement uh whenever I got the opportunity to work with you and Adam Sakowski because I knew that whatever the end result was going to be it was going to be good you know what I mean but um also for all the like the little things like when we’d go to some weird

Restaurant and you would just make up your own menu items and ask the chef if he could prare if you could prepare you know your freestyled menu item and just worried all our food was going to get spit in I remember I the funest memories

I think we filmed uh we got them perss maybe I don’t know I remember we had everyone and we had this most amazing Sushi I remember that and and uh yeah I remember like um after filming you know treating people out to some good food

But I just remember we had like we had a whole crew in there in some amazing sushi that was that was psyched that was Mount baly huh you guys filmed that at Mount baly yeah yeah you made them you made him dance yeah you made him have oh

Yeah made him do weird stuff that’s funny they did that for me I was like you should eat a banana and do weird stuff that’s some good stuff those are those are for me those are really those are really hey special days you know so I I definitely I just

Have to you know give credit where credits to you guys really really kind of changed the game for us and it was uh you know we took a lot of that uh creativity and kind of ran with it and um still to this day try and kind of

Imbue that same sense of weird experimentative kind of creativity in all of the stuff that were I mean you can take this stuff so seriously you know skateboarding is so serious so like the fact that you guys like absolutely didn’t take it serious but we’re still

So talented at it was I think what made it so approachable we met so many amazing people and so many people kind of got on board while I was working there and you guys still have an amazing crew and um yeah it’s just that was wor

The days man I tell you 2005 to 2013 still riding the wave this some good times so yeah I really appreciate the opportunity you guys even taking a chance with me actually oh one small memory remember we didn’t take the chance you kind of didn’t want me to fly

Out quite yet Don cuz you guys weren’t prepared to like have another guy on board and I was like I’m coming and I just came I came anyway game and the day you landed we like moved a couple people in place we got a new sales guy we got

Things that was like finally like we were able to do it and it really like it all worked out I remember I was like Adam please don’t come please we’re not ready for you oh and it like worked on that like same day it all worked out and I remember

Yeah it was that was really incredible happened and we made it work yeah I remember the old office going there and then it was pretty cramped and everything and um was was he he there was three off you I mean four this is the fourth office this is the fourth

Office so there was Beverly Hills no there was downtown LA Beverly Hills Higuera and then here I see I see but the first place was the warehouse that was yeah the shared Warehouse I see I see okay okay okay so I see so you got a beard right now I

Can’t really tell is it like a goat tea fancy yeah I do nice it’s gray now it’s a 40 49y Old Gray beard now how how old are you now 49 49 yeah my kids are 11 and 14 now my T I saw one of your kids kids in one of the

Videos you guys did and I didn’t realize it was your kid I was like dang like the like the dad bod video yeah I think was that yeah those were my two boys and Y everybody’s growing up oh yeah time flies I don’t even know I haven’t

Kept up is abck 11 still around or is that gone uh I I don’t really it seems like it seems like Chris is coming back we’ve seen some new Stu out hope we hope turned into a niche brand for a while where like you could only get them through certain channels or through

Certain people but there was definitely like uh a period where they were pretty Incognito to say the least but I think it is coming back on the website recently and heard from I think Max caps was saying that they’re working on some new stuff so I think there’s a lot of

Cool stuff happening with them um I think Chris is you know he’s always been brilliant and Innovative so hopefully he’ll be back to do you know if the truck brands are coming back with that no idea it’s just Wheels right now huh yeah I don’t know I remember back in the

Day all that really heavy flash orangutang say remember when flash was big and we had that that crazy intro and everything yeah that was the popping up yeah that was wild yeah I remember the durians when you came in we named those Wheels cuz you came into the office with that

Stinky ass fruit dude remember yeah the that was like a thing I used to bring around that’s how you he brought he brought that was disgusting I I left it in the UCLA elevator once I brought it to like Kyle Chin’s place and then I just like

Left the carcass in the elevator I guess guess people weren’t happy about that place to leave a durian garas in an elevator cuz it kind of looks like an animal a little bit when it was all cut open looks like a dead animal was kind

Of spiky and when I went to Asia I think when I went to Taiwan like they have like little outlets in the mall that they sell them like all cut up for you in the mall but it was always just kind of like a very it has stri oh

Wow yeah I remember I tried a stinky tofu for the first time I think it was in China that was intense that’s very intense Taiwan no but remember there was yeah with with uh Jimmy Jimmy son was our distributor at still is the little school girls

He would do the double stinky there was a double stinky one and that was just not the fermented one versus the fried one yes that was just yeah he was like yeah yes we we did eat scorpions remember I think I think I chickened out maybe or maybe I ate a

Scorpion I forget but I I chickened out when they pulled out crickets and stuff I was like yeah chin and I did eat scorpions I remember and they were good they’re like shrimp like fried shrimp kind of same yeah cool cool man love you Adam man thanks for

Everything guys that uh fun memories and yeah still guys have an amazing crew and um yeah I one day who knows I might do an adventure and have to come down to LA but if you’re ever up in Colorado I’m kind of far from the ski resorts I tell

You these I70 traffic too is brutal out here so watch out yeah how far are you from Denver I’m only at uh 45 minutes and from Denver okay I got I got a cousin who teaches graphic design in Denver I’ve been meaning to visit Vis

Visit him so I’m going to I’m maybe I’m gonna drop in let me see Don’s face again where’s Little Don here I am there he is you got to come in more well where is he at there he is a it still makes me happy you have that little logo of like the

Flying penguin with a jetpack on your email thumbnail y yeah that’s what I I uh no born to want to fly but yeah I need a jetpack um are you Adam are you still doing your shirts by the way kind of I I still have the Etsy

Store I haven’t really done much with it but I think I think they’re still on there if if if if people go on there and buy your shirt on the Etsy store are they still going to get shirts I think they will they will get shirts you

Better believe it okay yeah I believe you did one you did one show you did one podcast with it yes with one of them with one of the monsters yes what’s the uh this will be a little video in a couple weeks or something yeah we’re launching our 21y

Year anniversary version of the Vanguard it’s the original graphic that we had that uh Travis par you see it in the back yeah yeah and that’s the that’s the original painting that Travis par Travis was a good uh still he still is a tremendously talented uh artist but he

Was a high school buddy of Darren’s and Darren grew up in I think they both grew up in Loveland or right near there actually so I don’t know if you’ve talked to Darren in a while but I think that’s where his mom still is right in

That NE neighborhood but par did this as a painting back in like 2004 I think it was and we didn’t have the technology to to uh put it on the board in this way we we’re only able to do Che color and screen print and now we have you know

It’s a full digital print to celebrate 21 years of the Vanguard 21 years of loaded so this will be launching November 30th um yeah limited edition so yeah that’s so the podcast is is a opportunity to celebrate that and to talk story and explore some of the

History yeah and the ethos of of the company as a whole yeah okay okay yeah do we uh you guys want to wrap this episode up thanks Adam for making the time I really appreciate it yeah buddy really really nice to see you yeah I like I like your little

Jacket Pao it looks fun a thank you man it’s a it’s a pink camo check out this cool hat look at this cool thing a nice oh you got the ear flaps and everything it’s pretty legit yeah I got one of those from so everyone looks healthy healthy over there that’s good

Trying you do too man trying to keep it up love you man forever bro you too thank you well Adam thank you so much forever lovers lifelong lovers forever Lovers