Josh Kalis Interview – The Skateboard Mag September 2005

I don’t know where this photo came from. I found it by searching on Google images and it was on some Russian website. Excelsior to whoever took it.

In the world of skateboarding you can come to know somebody through the industry media, and yet not know much about them at all. Josh Kalis has been a household name for me for at least a decade, and yet until I read his interview I didn’t really know much about him.

What was enjoyable about his interview in the September ’05 issue of The Skateboard Mag is that it was different. I’ve been reading pro interviews for about 20 years and I’ve never read an interview quite like this one.

The first thing that struck me about Kalis’ interview is how it shows how much the industry has changed. I remember the days when Lance Mountain was THE married skater, THE skater who had a kid, and EVERYONE knew it. Now lots of skaters are married and have kids and nobody can keep track of it all.

One of the introductory lines from the interview is “…for Josh, things like family are more important than skateboarding.” Now that’s not a normal thing to hear in a pro interview. Normally it’s stuff about partying, getting drunk, hooking up with sheilas in Australia, etc. And the family stuff doesn’t stop there. It comes up a few more times in the interview, which is weird, but in a good way.

There’s some great material in the interview about Kalis getting on the good side of some cops that were assigned to Love Park, Kalis getting financial tips for Dyrdek, insights into the demise of Seek (a shame really, I wish they could have hung on for another 6-12 months and I think they would have made it), and then Kalis wraps it up talking about something I’ve thought about a bit as well.

When asked about the current state of skateboarding Kalis commented on how skateboarding is becoming more specialized. You may have noticed the same thing. Whereas ten years ago everybody sort of did everything now you’ve got guys like Stevie who do ledges and make a nice living doing it and almost nothing else. Ever seen Stevie do a handrail? Then you’ve got guys mostly doing big rails like Jamie, guys who skate parks like Alex Chalmers, and even vert guys like Rune Glifberg or Bob Burnquist can make a living these days. Actually, I don’t know if Rune is making a living but Bob couldn’t have bought his house and that ramp in his backyard just with his good looks.

And then there’s the switch backside 180 kickflip at that wavy run to barrier in Barcelona. Bam! Good interview, buy the magazine.