Pro Skateboarder Jake Piasecki Interview 2004

Jake Piasecki has been around Socal shredding hard for a long long time. Nobody really seems to know to much about him except they seem him shredding every place he skates. I found out that the reason might be that he’s never done an interview before. I am glad he decided to give it try for Concrete Disciples. It wasn’t as hard as he thought and his words came out like wine where he expected them to be more like chopped liver.

Hi Jake, Where are you from?
I grew up in Hermosa Beach, I think they call it the ‘South Bay’.

When did you start skateboarding?
My uncles use to take me to skateboard world in Torrance like when I was five or six in the late 70’s. They used to take me to different places though, bowls and stuff that aren’t around any more. We had those little Fibre Flex boards, Bennet Pro Trucks, and green Kryptonics and I used to have a Logan Earth Ski board.

How long until you got your first sponsorship deal going on?
Like a shop sponsor?
Yea, like later on in the 80’s?
In the 80’s, this place in Hermosa, called First Wave Surf Shop. They used to take us to Upland to go skate before they tore it down. We’d skate the pipe with Salba. I skated there, I think, the last night it was open before they tore it down. I went there with Mike Smith in his white VW van and we skated with Salba in the pipe. I remember skating with Salba and Smith in the pipe. I couldn’t do anything. I was just watching them going ‘WOOOW’ at how rad they were, how high Salba could go and Smith. Thruster sliders and stuff. That was amazing to see and be able to somehow hook up with Mike Smith… it was because he lived in the same area as me I guess.

Did you ever compete back then, before any of these Masters Comps?
Yea, like down south at different YMCA competitions. I don’t rembere much about. I remember skating with Peter Hewitt when he was in the amatuers. I skated a few of those CASL contests. I never did good in contests back then. I was always so nervous I couldn’t express myself in that type of situation. It was almost impossible.

What do you think of doing competition now?
It’s a little bit easier, but nerves and being scared never goes away. When there’s an event is coming up I don’t sleep very good before it. It’s stressful the whole time. It’s a chance to really live though.

How often do you ride a new set up?
When it starts to get dinged up or when the griptape fades away. Usually I’ll change the griptape job on the same board at least a couple times before I ruin the board. I usually ride the board until the end.

Who do you mostly skate with now and where do you like to ride?
I guess I like to go to Glendale and all these skateparks. I usually just skate backyard pools sometimes with Salba when I go and skate with John Zas and Blake. John Zas and Blake are really good backyard pool skaters and they are fun to skate pools with.

Do you have any favorite places you’ve ever skated?
I like that new fullpipe that Salba designed at Upland. That’s really fun to ride. Kelly Belmars pool, the Basic Pool, the Combi pool, that’s a really fun pool because that pool is so big your expression of what you want to do allows you to become bigger at what you do in bigger pools like that.
Skating little backyard pools is totaly different then skating the combi. It’s all about the lines and stuff. If you can’t get together a line then you just lose your way and your done. Lines are the funnest. The feeling of how the transitions is always changing and the shape is always changing. It’s like surfing or something.

Do you do much surfing?
Yea I’ve surfed a lot, but not much lately. If I lived in a better place like down south or something or go surf with Blake, he’s a rad surfer… I’ve just been skating a lot more then surfing lately.

How did you get hooked up with Sector 9? Do they use a pro model system or team board type of system?
They don’t have a pro model. They hooked me up and take care of me on my boards. I always just put a big Sector 9ball on my board for a photo incentive. As long as you can see that 9ball there’s some money (laughter).

Do you have any other sponsors?
Lance Mountain and Shrewgy with Fury Trucks . I am really stoked on that truck.

Do you think the current skateparks being built are going to help the younger kids skate transition more?
Yea, I think this thing with the parks coming out means there’s going to be park skaters. Like you know how there’s street skaters, it’s going to change them. It’s going to change the street skaters taking there talents to the parks. They’re going to put all this street stuff they have and put it all together at the parks and come out with this new type of skater – a park skater. Like the old days.

Any last words?
I hope to skate with you someday, I’ll meet you at Glendale!