-Did you have the nickname Eric Pu-puppy?
ERIC PUPECKI: No.
-That's some genius.
ERIC PUPECKI: Oh yeah, baby.
Gotta figure out the little space.
Right guys?
Yeah, my daughter should be along soon.
That's her, over there in the photo, in the yellow one.
-Did you grow up close to here?
ERIC PUPECKI: Yeah, close to here.
We didn't grow up in this house though.
This was my mom's house, and her husband.
You know, these are all the hits.
But we bring out the computer now, so there's no more--
I got this new night that I bring a little vinyl out.
But we just go out with big boxes like this of vinyl.
I used to, anyway.
-How did you get into it?
ERIC PUPECKI: Just the local people around here, skaters.
And it was just the great music, you know.
These are some of my LPs.
I don't get to them as much as I used to.
I do plumbing work, and that's what I make my money with.
When I used to be a pro skater, I'd sit in my room and
oh, listen to album after album and hang around.
-What year did you start skating?
ERIC PUPECKI: I don't know, when I was like
15, so 23 years ago.
I got a late start, per se, 15, 16 years old.
-But were you always involved in sports?
ERIC PUPECKI: Yeah, I played baseball and I did BMX.
The skateboard took the BMX bike away.
A lot of little contests in Rhode Island--
second place, sponsored, 1990.
-Who were you sponsored by then?
ERIC PUPECKI: It was just probably a local shop--
the Watershed.
-And how did you end up getting out there?
ERIC PUPECKI: I just took the bus to San Francisco.
I got on the bus with a couple friends, and I
just went for it.
It was quick, too.
I was out there a month, and I was already sponsored and
ready to rock.
I just showed up at EMB and skated with
everyone that was there.
Jim Thiebaud was the first hook up, and James Kelch.
Those guys liked me, so they would just give me stuff.
My first photo was on Market Street doing the Thunder ad,
doing that ollie over that fountain there.
I was going big, pretty much.
GINO IANNUCCI: He was out in San Francisco when I went to
visit with Keenan and Huf.
They were staying at Ron's house.
And I think Eric was down with Fun, back then.
I think that one trip, that's when I met Eric.
He was just a good skater.
-Who did you become friends with that was on Fun?
ERIC PUPECKI: It was me, Keenan, and Huf.
And that was the main three dudes that would roll.
It would be Ron, Keenan, Huf, and me in the car, going
around the tour fighting, having fun.
But there was no money.
So we're all just piled in a car, expected to
do stuff for nothing.
But we were having fun, so it didn't matter.
-What were some of your favorite things
that you got on video?
ERIC PUPECKI: It's the things that I didn't get is some of
the things that would be my favorite.
The kickflip the Gonz had done had to be one
of the great feelings--
at the time, too.
It was like two weeks after Gonz had done it.
And the time I had the broke the board sequence was before
Gonz had done it.
So then Gonz was just hanging out one day and is like, oh,
maybe I should just kickflip it.
And he just goes and does it.
And I was there, and I was like, fuck.
And a couple weeks later I was skating it with somebody, and
I just did it.
But it felt really good.
But I was like, fuck, three weeks ago, I could
have been the first.
-That 411 opener?
ERIC PUPECKI: Yeah, the open the hardflip down the seven.
Yeah, that felt real good too.
I was happy with that because I was down and out.
And I didn't have a sponsor right then either.
I was just filming with Aaron, doing the thing.
Mike Ternasky, at the time, he was trying to set me up.
If I landed a couple good tricks, he'd throw me some
money, give me the boards I'd need, keep going.
Because he knew I didn't have a sponsor.
I was kind of out there.
Because I was talking to Mike Ternasky at the time, he was
trying to set me up for Plan B and all that.
Menace came along right around the same time,
so I went for that.
I remember he came up to me in Vancouver and said, yo, you
didn't even tell me you were gonna jump on Menace.
I wish you would have told me--
just kind of breaking me up.
He was happy for me, but he was just
kind of saying whatever.
Just giving me shit.
-Were you filming a lot with Socrates then?
ERIC PUPECKI: Oh yeah, that was like every day--
go eat with Soc, go film with Soc, hang out with
Soc, yell at Soc.
It was a good time.
He was great.
He was the nicest person-- drive you
anywhere, do anything.
SOCRATES LEAL: Pupecki was always down to skate, but it
seemed like he wasn't down to skate the stuff that the other
dudes were skating.
He had a different bag of tricks, definitely.
He was kind of an innovator, it seemed to me.
I don't think he was like one of those dudes that was
busting flip and flip out type stuff.
He was just the kind of dude that go for a back tail on a
big rail, or front crooking the Venice ledge.
-What about the Lockwood sessions?
ERIC PUPECKI: Everyone's watching
when you're out there.
In Rhode Island, you're on a dead street with nobody, like
you're there.
In Lockwood, it's the center stage--
everyone's filming, people ripping.
This is a time when all these tricks are being done on the
big benches for the first time.
Even like a switch nosegrind on a top of a picnic table--
no one had done it.
I did the frontside blunt-- no one had done it.
Every day it's a new trick, first time ever done.
It was exciting--
just go home and talk about the stuff.
It was cool.
-Did the team fit with your vibe at the time?
ERIC PUPECKI: Yeah.
We all got along right away.
Everyone's smoking, everyone's drinking, skating.
Just doing that all the time.
It was just a good time.
We got to move around a lot together and just be able to
act as crazy as we wanted to be.
And get treated with respect everywhere we went.
And it was good.
You can't beat that.
-Were there any other people that you guys wanted to be on
the team that never got on?
ERIC PUPECKI: Nah.
We had a team.
It was almost like, who are we going to let into this?
Nobody.
Forget it.
You know what I mean?
Even Stevie Williams was dying to get on.
We'd be sitting there drinking Hennessy in Philly.
He'd be doing flat ground in front of us all night.
Just trying to show us how high he could pop his shit.
And look at Stevie now, he's fucking killing it.
STEVIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was a fan.
I've always been a fan of Kareem and Menace.
And I always wanted to be on that team.
That's the team that I wanted to be on.
And it never happened.
It's like buying a car, you know what I mean?
I want the Lexus, but I had to settle for the goddamn Accord.
You know what I mean?
It sucked.
But at least I got a chance to ride in a Lexus, you feel me?
I was happy just knowing them dudes.
It felt like, when I'm around them, I'm actually
a part of the team.
But I didn't get the product or go on a tour.
ERIC PUPECKI: But then it got goofy.
And then people like Caine Gayle got on.
It just kind of took the integrity right
out of it, I think.
I wasn't down for that.
And that's when I got grumpy.
I was kind of distancing myself from
everybody by being so grumpy.
-You stayed on until the end, right?
ERIC PUPECKI: Yeah, of course.
But like I said, all that footage was mad old.
They didn't want to use my footage because it was so old.
I wasn't taking control, so I can't blame anybody.
I don't regret none of that.
Even though, like you said, I look back and I'm like, I
should have done this, should have done that, but whatever,
just keep going.
-Does your daughter ever ask about your skate career?
ERIC PUPECKI: Not too much.
I don't talk about it.
I just live in the present a lot of the times.
I go through phases, like, I used to do that, but then get
back to reality.
-Has she ever seen "20 Shot Sequence" or anything?
ERIC PUPECKI: She likes it all right, but she likes "iCarly,"
she likes "Victorious," some shit like that.
COREY GRAYHORSE: Good fall, though.
Did you get our bunny?
Uh oh, don't scratch it.
-What's your bunny's name?
CAILEE LOLA: Cupcake.
This is my favorite.
This one.
It's a dolphin.
-Oh yeah?
CAILEE LOLA: Yeah.
And this one's pretty funny.
COREY GRAYHORSE: I met Eric in Long Beach, at ASR.
You know, whatever, fun times lead to crazy weekend.
I remember that Guru was performing that weekend.
I remember Eric got arrested that weekend.
Oh, I forgot she was here.
CAILEE LOLA: You got arrested?
-[INAUDIBLE].
COREY GRAYHORSE: Yeah.
Yeah, he got arrested and Keenan bailed him out.
CAILEE LOLA: For what?
ERIC PUPECKI: Nothing.
COREY GRAYHORSE: For being too silly.
CAILEE LOLA: Oh.
COREY GRAYHORSE: And that's why.
ERIC PUPECKI: Way too silly.
COREY GRAYHORSE: He wasn't being a good boy.
They were crazy.
-It was just sort of like, who's that guy in the
beginning of the "20 Shot Sequence"?
ERIC PUPECKI: Matt Naylor.
He was a good guy.
That was Billy's right-hand man.
One time we were all just buzzed in Hollywood.
And he had an old BMW 320--
his dad's car.
I was like, yo, take me to McDonald's.
And he fucking took me to McDonald's.
I jump out, I slam the door, the whole
fucking window smashes.
So he gets out, and he's like, dude, what the fuck?
I go like this, I flinch him and then I hit him in the
shoulder two times after I break his window.
I mean, shit was crazy.
You know what I mean?
I slammed his door, broke his window, then I punched him in
his arm two times.
Not nice.
That's fucked up.