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| ICONOCLAST(S) / CHRIS HAMROCK |
| BLKPRJKT |
Chris Hamrock is like a ticking time bomb. When he skates, it's just a matter of moments before zero hour when he detonates your spot. He's rumored to be underground, but he momentarily surfaces at many big sessions from time to time reminding everybody that there are some who still carry the torch of skateboarding aggression. From skating his first pool at age 11 in the presence of one Tony Alva, to being wined and dined into momentary sponsorships that Duane Peters quickly and wisely talked him out of, to getting stiffed on the tip while delivering a pizza to a certain independent deck manufacturing magnate, to witnessing Billy Zoom of X fuck people's girlfriends with his eyes while riffing onstage...Hamrock has been around. There's no need to question where he comes from, and once you've seen him skate, the only remaining question is:
What the hell is he going to do next?
We set out to do a Hamrock interview quite some time ago. The actual taped interrogation took place several months ago. But we sat on it forever. Chris may have been thinking it was because of certain unspecified internet transgressions, but the reality is wholly different indeed. We took Hamrock to an undisclosed pool location hoping for the final photos that would complete the set piece and he threw down in characteristic fashion and made it impossible for us to hold out any longer.
Anybody who has skated with Chris knows he flat out rips constantly. I dig skating with the kid, and his rawness is both inspiring and intimidating. He is definitely an instant classic. So we now present to you, the mouth of the south counties, and new Pocket Pistols pro, Chris Hamrock. The clock is ticking.
In the early days of the door at San Pedro, wallride into the void.
CD: Alright Hamrock, we're gonna ask you a bunch of prying questions about your sex life, your purported drug abuse, criminal record, and liquor consumption... how do you feel about that?
Hamrock: Fine...yeah
CD: Ever thought about jumping ship on Chicken and riding for element or alien or world?
Hamrock: Uh... (Laughter) Punk Rock Skateboards?(more laughter) No! Never.
CD: Who sucks?
Hamrock: Everybody? These are easy questions dude what's up?
CD: They get better...
Hamrock: No Okay, basically everybody though... I'm not changing my answer.
CD: Who rules?
Hamrock: Me. No. I don't know... who rules? Now that's a... that's a loaded question right there... George Bush. He rules... with extreme auhority...(Laughter)
CD: How does it feel to drive around in a vehicle once owned by Duane Peters?
Hamrock: Sketchy. Like I'm looking over my shoulder all the time, just waiting to get pulled over... I can't even drive it on the other side of Huntington.
CD: (Laughter) Why's that?
Hamrock: Oh, you got a full record on that car, that car is in the system.
CD: A marked car huh?
Hamrock: Yeah it's in the system, like I can't drive it on the south or southwest side of Huntington or whatever, not even, gotta keep it on the low pro.
Barging hard. 50-50 ollie in, high atop Mount Crapula.
Breaking the bricks.
Terminal cancer and powdercoating can't stop Hamrock.
CW: Alright, tell us something about G.G. Allin.
Hamrock: Rest in piss.
CD: Some aspects of skateboarding seem pretty retarded these days, if you could completely erase one part of skating what would it be?
Hamrock: (Pauses...Laughter) Now that's a good question... You guys are gonna get me in trouble here...Wait. What was the question again?
CD: Some aspects of skateboarding seem pretty retarded these days, if you could completely erase one part of skating what would it be?
Hamrock: Pad... rules... , basically skateparks with rules, pad rules... that's good enough.
CD: You may or may not know this, but your rep has gotten pretty heavy lately. You're known to many as that guy who charges full tilt under any and all circumstances. Do you care that you HAVE a rep?
Hamrock: (Laughter) Not at all dude! (Laughter) Except for (quietly) breaking somebody's board...
CD: You wanna talk about that?
Hamrock: Not at all dude... NOT AT ALL... That guy's WAY bigger than me...(Laughter)
CD: At this year's Basic BBQ you entered am against a bunch of little tiny groms, how did that make you feel?
Hamrock: (Laughter)Uh... Tall. Yeah, it made me feel tall...
CD: Just tall?
Hamrock: Yeah, usually I'm short compared to everybody Except for... Yeah like two years ago I did that thing, and like all the ams were crazier than the pros... It was just retarded
CD: Yeah pretty crazy a bunch of little kids in there and here's Hamrock...
Hamrock: (Laughter) Little fucking kids busting the same backside air like 500 times whatever...
CD: Yeah, kickflips huh?
Hamrock: Not kickflips, the only guy to make a kickflip was Colin Provost, and he got 5th and I got 4th, so fuck, they didn't really do shit. And he (Colin) actually did a frontside flip revert over the hip, and he got fifth place so... You don't even need to record that... I'm just saying...
CD: Alright. Did you know that I once said I wouldn't fuck Julia Roberts, even if somebody paid me fifty dollars?
Hamrock: You said that?
CD: Yeah...
Hamrock: Um... Usually you have to pay HER, right? She was in Pretty In Pink or whatever that movie was right?
CD: Good answer! (Laughter) Oh shit what was it?
Hamrock: Uh... Richard Gere...
CD: Pretty Woman...
Hamrock: Yeah, Pretty Woman, Richard Gere, and the Gerbils ...(Laughter)
CD: Richard Gere and the gerbil... (Laughter) Alright, so if you could hook up with any celebrity and get nasty for one night, who would it be, and why?
Hamrock: Aw Jeez... Uh... Angelina Jolie and what? Why? Why else? What is there to explain? Billy Bob Thornton, sloppy seconds...(Laughter) Fuck it.
Trouble.
Backside disaster in a tight nook at Pedro.
Getting over the love seat at Lyle's is a challenge. Hamrock says fuck it and goes back Smith.
Over the hip and into lumpland. San Pedro
CD: What's up with the colored wheels? That's so 1989 man.
Hamrock: AW! I don't ride colored wheels man, what the fuck is that question?
CD: We've got photos!
Hamrock: What colored wheels?
CD: The blue ones!
Hamrock: OOHHHHH! The blue wheels...Okay, I was just testing different urethane compounds... I don't ride colored wheels!
CD: Alright, alright... check this out, if you entered a liquor store moments after it had been robbed and the owner had been shot dead... what would you do?
Hamrock: Get the beer out of the back? Take everything that wasn't robbed? Except for Mike's Liquor right around the corner... then I wouldn't... four dollar six packs
CD: Does your life begin and end with skateboarding or are you just doing it to pass the time until something better comes along?
Hamrock: Live to skate, skate or die... That's all I have to say. I don't know dude... wait, what's the question exactly? Do I live to skate?
CD: Well, basically, is that your whole life? I mean is that all you really give a shit about?
Hamrock: Yeah I mean, basically all I give a shit about is skateboarding, rocking music, and my girlfriend. That's about it
CD: I'll bet you think these questions are pretty sucky huh?(Laughter)
Hamrock: No, they're easy! I like them. One-word answers.
CD: Great! That's exactly what we're NOT trying to get out of you...
Hamrock: Was it? Oh.
Backside D where few have dared to roll. Mammoth.
CD: O.K. Since you like that so much, now we're gonna do a little free association exercise. I'll say a word or a phrase, and you tell me the first thing that crosses your mind.
Hamrock: Alright.
CD: Bush.
Hamrock: Puppet.
CD: Partnership for a drug-free america.
Hamrock: Lynne Cheney, oh no wait, Tipper Gore.
CD: IKEA.
Hamrock: Uh, my tables! My house!
CD: Smith grinds
Hamrock: Frontside or backside?
CD: Frontside.
Hamrock: Oh now I'm asking questions...
CD: Transworld.
Hamrock: Quad magazine.
CD: Jimmy the Greek.
Hamrock: Wooly Mammoth.
CD: Hairstyles.
Hamrock: Uh, fifty bucks, I'll cut your hair.
CD: Afghanistan.
Hamrock: You know I'm a licensed cosmetologist right? Didn't you know that? I am! (Laughter)
CD: Are you really???
Hamrock: I'll even show you my license and shit! That way you'll believe that people actually do give me fifty dollars for a haircut!
CD: Killer! You should let us scan it for the interview! Okay a few more, Helmets.
Hamrock: Woah, wait I missed one.
CD: Sorry, Afghanistan.
Hamrock: Oh... Heroin.
CD: Helmets
Hamrock: Heroin..
CD: Crooked grinds.
Hamrock: Switch... (eyes rolling)
CD: (Laughter)Van Halen.
Hamrock: (Laughter) Fuck... Van Halen... that one song is fucking bad though...
CD: Atomic Punk?
Hamrock: No, no...the one song, um, it's in uh...oh damn...
CD: How does it go? What does it sound like?
Hamrock: I don't know, it's the only song that sounds bad ass... it's not Jump or some shit...
CD: It must be early huh?
Hamrock: Yeah it's... Die Hunns covered *it in their video. It's so sick. (*Aint talkin' 'bout love)
CD: We're gonna have to go look that one up, find out which song it is...
Hamrock: Well... Van Halen? What am I thinking about?
CD: Yeah...
Hamrock: Fuckin' uh... grape smuggling.
CD: (Hysterical Laughter) Alright... Uh, a couple more. Sean Mazza.
Hamrock: Drug mule.
CD: Boom boom huck jam.
Hamrock: Uh, the domain name for boom boom fuck jam is already taken!
CD: Oh darn! Uh, iPODs.
Hamrock: Play your music loud, and piss off everyone at the park.
Crail. Why does this photo remind me of Gonz?
When Jesus is away, the Devil will play.
I'll skip that jump ramp waterfall and get back into the shallow via a death box hit, thank you very much.
CD: Well I think we've thoroughly fucked with you enough. Can you tell us who's hooking you up?
Hamrock: Pocket Pistols Skates, Attic skate shop in Costa Mesa, True Grit Grip and Hard 8's Bearings..and uh... that's about it really...
CD: Those ------ guys aren't hooking you up?
Hamrock: Oh they are, but I'm not taking it... I mean I take their stuff and I trade it, I mean look what I'm wearing! That's not recording right?(Laughter)
CD:. I think the term "shout out" is super lame, but is there anyone you'd like to recognize or thank or mention?
Hamrock: Oh yeah! My girlfriend Mandy , my dog Betti , Duane , Chicken, Brett @ attic, Willy Goat, Rat Girl, my Pops, uh, everybody I skate with and everyone involved in building the DIY skate spots.
CD: OK. Finally, give us the last word on Hamrock.
Hamrock: Last word ON me? What words are on me?(Looks at shirt and arms) Like the last word out of my mouth?
CD: Well, if you wanted to tell somebody what you were about, how would you put it, like What do you stand for? Now this is the hard question.
Hamrock: What am I about? You guys want like some weird answers?
CD: Say whatever you want...
Hamrock: Spam cock.
CD: Spam cock...
Hamrock: Oh no, that's not good, um... I don't know...fuck. What am I about?
CD: Just make a statement...
Hamrock: I don't... skateboarding. Fucking shit up... having fun. Trying to stay young.
Over and out, bitches...
The harder they come. You're damn right... 10 colors are a bitch to print. Hamrock's model is out now on Pocket Pistols.
-BLKPRJKT / PHOTOS MRZ |
| Tuesday 16th 2007f January 2007 10:09 |
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