This is an interview with Erik Ellington downloaded from GRINDTV.COM
Erik Ellington has been in the game for more than a minute. He burst onto the scene over a decade, and became a skate-household name after the release of Zero's debut video, Thrill of it All. He stayed with Zero long enough to have a super evil part in their second video, Misled Youth.
Then, when his friend Andrew Reynolds left Birdhouse to start Baker, Ellington parted ways with his ever- becoming religious board sponsor, and became one of the original Baker riders. His signature style, and go-big-or-die gnar can be seen in any of the Baker video: Baker Bootleg, Baker2G, Baker 3 and now, the latest, Baker Has a Deathwish.
And that brings us to Deathwish, Ellington's current board sponsor, which he and business partner, Jim Greco run. They own Baker Boys Distribution, which slings: Deathwish skateboards, Brigada shades and Shake Junt accessories. I caught up with Erik last Friday at Baker Boys HQ in North Hollywood to get his thoughts on the current state of professional skateboarding, being a business man and just life in general.
MORINformed: So how are things going at Baker Boys Distribution?
Ellington: Good, just moving along, trying to stay in business.
MORINformed: How's being a boss?
Ellington: It's a little stressful at times. Now, I don't just pay attention to my graphics, or whatever, I have to maintain employees. It's different than just being a pro.
MORINformed: You ever have to crack the whip and fire someone?
Ellington: We try and be mellow, but yeah we've had to lay some people off.
Ellington: Pumped about Lizard's performance at Wallenberg?
MORINformed: Yeah, he killed it.
MORINformed: So now, you guys are the first to bring a sunglasses company to skateboarding that was spawned in the skate culture. A shades brand for skaters by skaters. Tell me how that's going?
Ellington: Yeah, we were the first to do it, I don't know why it wasn't done before, but it's going good. We have a rad team that puts a lot of effort into what they want. It's coming along, the new stuff just came in, and it looks good.
MORINformed: Is there any videos in the works as far as Baker Boys Distribution goes?
Ellington: Well, we just came out with the tour video, Baker Has a Deathwish, that was released about a month ago. Now, we're working on the Deathwish video that will be out October of 2010. There's a Shake Junt trailer in the tour video, and I think their working on a video, Chicken Bone Nowison, and that will be out probably in a year as well.
MORINformed: What the last cinematic thing you watched?
Ellington: : Frost Nixon, it's about Richard Nixon.
MORinformed: Are you doing Maloof?
Ellington: Yeah.
MORINformed: How do feel about those guys? They're basketball/casino barons, but they are putting up the money.
Ellington: Yeah, it cool, they're not from skating, but they're giving the winner more money then has ever been given for a contest, as far as our world goes. It's cool, you know, they made a course that had help from skaters to design. It's a setup for a contest that's actually pretty sick, so I don't have any problem with it.
MORINformed: Any other Deathwish guys doing it?
Ellington: Yeah , I think Lizard's in it. I'm not sure if Slash is. I think it's just me and Lizard.
MORINfromed: Who do you think is going to take it?
Ellington: Probably the same people that always do, you know, Sheckler or one of those guys.
MORINformed: Who are your top five skaters of all time.
Ellington: Tom Penny, Alex Gall (Train Wreck), Jason Lee. Sal Barbier and Matt Hensley. I can't just name five: Ali Boulala, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard and many others.
MORINformed: You have kids now right?
Ellington: Yeah, two.
MORINformed: How's being a dad?
Ellington: It's good, really awesome. My son is three and half, we skate the ramp, it's just fun to do shit with him, we just cruise around and hangout. My daughter is six months old, so I don't do much with her but hold her, but she's rad.
MORINformed: Any tours coming up?
Ellington: Yeah, we're trying to finalize the dates on Deathwish summer tour. It's going to be another Baker Has a Deathwish tour. It will probably be the whole month of August, and it will go through the south. Here through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and we'll see where it goes from there.
MORINformed: We're in a recession, blah, blah, blah blah blah blah. The only thing people have been talking about, but how has that affected you being a professional skateboarder?
Ellington: It's the same as it was before. The difference is being a company owner. Shit is just not as good as it was. Although, we started Baker Boys Distribution a year and two months ago, and we started practically at the bottom of the hard economic times, so all we know as a company is the recession.
[Skate legend and co-owner of Baker Boys Distribution, Jim Greco, who's been in the room the whole time chimes in] We've been seeing improvements lately, too.
[Back to Erik]
Yeah, lately, it's been going really good for us. You don't see much of a difference as a pro skater. When you show up to a demo, it's still the same amount of kids there. It's just, they aren't buying as many boards, which is understandable when there parents fucking houses are getting foreclosed on.
MORINformed: Alright, so now Koston's on Nike, and Lutzka's on K-Swiss. Being a skate company owner from skateboarding, how do you feel about these big companies coming in and trying to make a buck off of your world?
Ellington: I think they've already came in and done their deal. Skating already kicked Nike out once, but to each his own. You know, if they're paying a shit load of money it's hard to resist. I don't particularly like it, I don't like it at all, but I think that it's cool that Paul, or Eric, or whoever, are getting the money they deserve. I don't know what they're getting, but good for them. I don't like it though, that there are shoe companies out there, that are skater owned and run, that are getting swept away by Nike and all these companies.
MORINformed: I'll end it with this, and be a true journalist, and ask the same boring question that everyone's been asking today. Michael Jackson died yesterday, How do you feel about that?
Ellington: It's pretty sad, I looked up to Michael Jackson when I was a kid, like everybody did. I mean, shit he was mixing pills, or I don't know what he was doing, but it was sad, a shock.
For more on Erik, Deathwish, Brigada and Shake Junt go to: www.bakerboysdist.com, www.brigadaeyewear.com and www.shakejunt.com
