-This is a story about a man.
This is a story of random violence and good times.
ETHAN FOWLER: So I probably got to talk loud, right?
-Yeah.
ETHAN FOWLER: OK.
All right, well, like a couple nights ago, the night before
last, I went to The 500 Club with a couple friends.
And I just decided to have a few drinks.
It's a bar on Mission.
And there, through I don't know how or
why, I met this girl.
A friend of mine said, cut the crap and why don't
you just make out?
So she says, all right let's make out.
So we make out.
And we're making out and everything's great.
And we're hanging out and drinking.
She got pissed because I saw this other
girl and then we left.
And the dudes pulled up and fucking jumped out of the car.
Next thing I know, I just was getting socked in the face,
looking at the guy like it's not going to do me any good
punching him.
And I got socked a few times.
I fell.
I just covered my face and they just kicked the shit out
of me for a little while.
It was good, though, because I got to make out with a girl.
I don't know.
It's getting purple.
-OK.
I'm going to fade it out.
ETHAN FOWLER: OK.
Fade.
-Fade.
ETHAN FOWLER: Fading fast.
DAVE CARNIE: I don't really remember how the whole living
thing came up.
I got an apartment in the Mission.
And he moved in with me.
One day, went down to Guitar Center and bought a little,
white Fender guitar, one of those $99 ones.
And so that's what he'd do all day when I'd go to work.
Is he'd just sit there and just noodle on the guitar.
And every day I'd come home.
He'd only been playing for like a week or two.
And I came home one day and he had learned--
he was like, Dave, check this out.
And he had learned an entire Slayer song from start to
finish in one day.
Ethan's got just this really weird talent.
When he applies himself to something, he's
like the best at it.
And he's completely natural, kind of like how he skates.
ETHAN FOWLER: I was hanging out with Chris a lot.
And we were getting way into this home brew
recorded music and shit.
The whole Guided By Voices and Sebadoh deal.
CHRIS PASTRAS: Totally.
I didn't even mention that.
Yeah, we were making music primarily at the time.
And so that was a huge inspiration for us.
Like we were just like, fuck it.
Let's Bucket Brothers it.
Like that was our little joke band.
We were pressured to make a video.
And it was like the winter time.
It was like February.
And there was all this pressure to follow up "A
Visual Sound." And Jason had like just recently left, or
told us he was leaving.
And there was like a lot of pressure there for people and
he didn't really want to film a video part.
And instead of like combusting, me and Ethan kind
of looked at each other and were like, let's just have fun
and go skating.
And put it out in a month.
And just, like, make the soundtrack.
And drink beer.
And bomb some hills.
So, but I think people were expecting another "Visual
Sound," and that really bummed them out-- some people.
But I think like 5, 10 years later, we all watch the video
and my friends will be like, dude, "Tincan
Folklore" is rad.
I used to say "Tincan Folklore" was taped together
with masking tape.
Like, that's how we wanted it to feel though.
It's like so sketchy.
We did the music ourselves and filmed it in like a month.
And it was just so budget.
"A Visual Sound," we had a goal and a vision.
And we had something really big to say.
And with "Tincan Folklore," we had something to say.
It was just was not as big.
It was more just like, hey, this is fun.
This is skateboarding.
Here's us putting out a video.
It was more messy.
ETHAN FOWLER: And so that was kind of a whole basis of that,
like a four track skate video as represented in my part.
Which is me, and Carnie, and Sean Young just drunk off our
asses at 3:00 in the afternoon, playing the "Wizard
of Oz" theme.
CHRIS PASTRAS: To me, the things that got me stoked on
skateboarding are things that make me want to ride my
skateboard.
And I always kind of felt like, to me it's more of the
character behind it and the personalities, and their
style, and the way they carry themselves on a board.
Gets me way more stoked than technical videos that are
competitive.
It's interesting, though.
The thing I always liked about Anti Hero and Stereo was that
very thing.
That people would come up to me in bars and be like, dude,
Stereo videos, or the Deluxe videos, or Anti Hero videos.
They were so stoked because it made them want to skate.
And it made them--
I think Eastern Exposure videos and some of those
videos did the same thing.
Like, anybody who's sitting on their couch can get up and be
like, dude, Bobby Puleo found these amazing spots.
Or man, Ethan Fowler's got such good style.
And, like, go skate their town hand rail.
ETHAN FOWLER: Yeah, it wasn't supposed to be perfect.
I think it's interesting to watch.
CHRIS PASTRAS: We felt it in the air when Stereo started
and was going to be on fire.
And you felt it in the air when its time
was over with Deluxe.
I was 19 when we started Stereo.
So by the time we hit "Tincan Folklore," I thought I was
over the hill.
I was like 24.
Everything has its time, man.
I think it couldn't have kept going like it was.
It's like too rad.
Anything that hits that high of a point
is bound to go down.
And I don't really even remember.
I'm trying to think.
I think he left for Foundation.
There was this whole thing with Mic-E punching Tod Swank
at the ASR trade show.
TOD SWANK: Mic-E Reyes was really bummed.
The whole Deluxe guys were really bummed.
They were telling everybody that we totally like stole him
from those guys.
At that trade show, hanging out with Mic-E Reyes, and
Mic-E Reyes has got his arm around Josh being
all like bros, fun.
Hey, you know.
Hey.
And then he'd just be like, kick.
Whatever.
I was sitting there talking to somebody.
And Moishe comes up.
He's all, hey, Tod.
How's it going?
What's up and stuff?
I'm all kind of flinchy because Mic-E's
lurking around and stuff.
And he's all, what, dude?
Did you think I was going to punch you or something?
And I'm all, no.
And he was like, phew.
Punched me in the stomach.
Doubled over.
Mic-E Reyes paid him $100 to come punch me in the stomach.
And I was the guy that called those guys to forewarn them.
And go, look, you guys need to take care of your business
because your guy's not happy and stuff.
And that's what we got.
CHRIS PASTRAS: [INAUDIBLE], man.
Fuck!
Fuck, man!
Fuck!
ETHAN FOWLER: Let's put it this way.
Getting on Stereo was like an extension of my skateboarding
ethic to begin with.
I never thought that, like, I need to go to this thing to do
this specific thing because that's the thing to do--
ever.
And I still don't, and I never will.
And being around people that do that kind of thing, if I'm
interested in it, I'll do it.
If I'm not, I won't.
The Foundation dudes offered up.
Well, those are guys that are actually out there skating,
doing their thing.
I get along with them.
So, all right, I'll do that.
TOD SWANK: I think he was our longest ever team rider on
Foundation.
I think 10 years he rode for us straight through.
And super solid and obviously an amazing skateboarder with a
great style and super--
people are just always hyped on him.
And he was a powerful and smooth skateboarder for sure.
ETHAN FOWLER: Foundation was the rail team.
And so, it was get the dudes who bust the big rails.
And they were amazing skaters, still are.
And just like being around that was all cool looking.
It got me excited.
-Yeah.
ETHAN FOWLER: Lack of motivation.
-If you'd stayed on Stereo, it would have been like, whoop,
retirement part.
ETHAN FOWLER: Yeah, at 19, that's
probably not a good idea.
I mean, you've got to be around motivated people or be
motivated just for a little while.
TOD SWANK: He always had fun ideas and would come and work
on crazy graphics that people would either love or hate.
The sales people would hate them.
I can't sell them, or something like that.
Because it's just too crazy, or something.
ETHAN FOWLER: Talk about stick.
Ow!
That was my body.
DAVE CARNIE: It's always weird to me to see someone skating
who's not dressed for skating.
And Ethan definitely now--
it looks like he should be picking up a guitar and not a
skateboard.
Just there's a weird kind of visual disconnect to me, but
he's still that amazing skater that he always was.
TOD SWANK: I think it was last part in the last
video that we did.
And there was a debate whether he should have last part or
Corey should have last part.
ETHAN FOWLER: Man, I tell you.
These kids these days, they hated that.
-Really?
ETHAN FOWLER: Oh, yeah.
It's great.
I love it.
-They were like, why doesn't Corey Duffel
have the last part?
ETHAN FOWLER: Yeah, exactly.
I had brought it up as a joke, just to see what would happen,
like the company response.
Well, it's been a while I've been on this team.
What say you just chuck it at the end there?
And then it caused this like, oh, jeez.
I don't know.
You know, big interoffice memos and call the skaters.
Hey, is that all right if Grandpa Ethan
gets the last part?
And so it was just kind of funny to even have that.
I mean, it wasn't an ego trip.
It was the opposite.
It was like, dude, let's see what happens.
I want to see what happens if this even happens.
And it's great because there was so much shit talking.
Oh, that part sucked.
That dude sucks.
It's probably his retirement part.
I love hearing shit like that.
-Do you have any stuff we can look at?
ETHAN FOWLER: I have lots of stuff.
There's the studio.
That's the guitar.
-Damn, that's a big stack.
ETHAN FOWLER: It's a stack.
It's bigger now.
There's me in my Bill Murray whiskey advertisement pose.
-You have any skate related stuff, like
say a stereo board?
ETHAN FOWLER: Uh-uh.
I got nothing like that.
I have the new ones.
I got trippy keyboard and some ancient amplifiers.
-Do you have a Bummer High board?
ETHAN FOWLER: I have that.
And that's the bus.
So there's that one and this one's got a dragon on it.
It's like a sweet warrior dude down there.
He's going to face the giant blue dragon.
-So what's Bummer High?
ETHAN FOWLER: I don't know.
It's just an extension of my ethic.
You ever just get really stoned, and you're having a
great time, and someone comes up, and just
completely blows it?
This is dedicated to all those jerks.
Bummer High is my love for evil music.
It's about getting stomped on for just being the
dude that you are.
I want it to be how I see it.
And that's not an egotistical thing.
It's not driven by that.
It's just I think it's a good way to go about things.
It's a lot less stressful.
You do what you want.
You do it well.
Or if you don't want to do it well, don't do it well.
Just do it how you do it.
And that shit shines through a thousand times brighter.
DAVE CARNIE: Any kid who gets into skating and wants to be
pro or sponsored to be in the industry doesn't realize how
you're completely fucking up what you used to enjoy doing
by yourself and with your friends.
It happens to most skaters.
I mean, there's a few.
Like Ethan's one who didn't allow himself to get wrapped
up in the, quote unquote, "industry." He
just did what he wanted.
And fortunately for him, what he does is so good that people
can't help but have to pay attention to it.
Yeah, he's always wanted to do Bummer High.
He's been talking about that for years.
Yeah, I don't think Ethan knows much about what's going
on in skateboarding, which is kind of the
beauty of it, I guess.
ETHAN FOWLER: Nah.
-Yeah, Spanky was telling me that you don't know who a lot
of the skaters are.
He's always like, yeah, Ethan doesn't know much about the--
ETHAN FOWLER: Not really.
I mean, just some dudes that peak my interest.
-I heard something the other day, that Josh Harmony
believes that Satan buried the dinosaur bones.
ETHAN FOWLER: Oh, does he now?
-Yeah.
ETHAN FOWLER: Oof!
-Then you know what?
ETHAN FOWLER: That's interesting.
-At first, I thought that was ridiculous.
And then the more I think about it, I'm like, I want to
start thinking that, too.
ETHAN FOWLER: I'm mean, that would be cool because I'd like
to see a physical incarnation of Satan.
That would be pretty sweet.
Because he's probably got a lot of shit to talk about,
getting kicked out of heaven and all.
I mean, it'd be pretty cool to hang out.
-Watch Satan bury dinosaur bones?
ETHAN FOWLER: We can bury something before
the tape runs out.
Maybe, like, in future times, people will think that God
buried this.
OK.
It's time.
And then, see, maybe they'll think Satan buried that and
that there was no such thing as computers.
Whatever.
There it is.
Rest well, sweet prince.
Served well.
There's your fucking "SLAP" forum right there.
Finished.
Oh, watch out.
Shooting range.
-Whoa.
ETHAN FOWLER: You're going to trip over the invisible line.
-What?
You got guns?
ETHAN FOWLER: Yeah, a little BB gun.
Come out here and blast away at the cans.
It's fun.
-Damn.
ETHAN FOWLER: Yeah.
-That's pretty cool.