BRANDON WESTGATE: Psyched now.
Hopefully that one's good.
JERRY HSU: That was awesome.
BRANDON WESTGATE: Thanks.
-You get it, Jerry?
JERRY HSU: You won't be seeing this angle because
it's not very good.
SEAN CRONAN: There's two different mentalities.
There's like the California people, and then there's the
East Coast people.
And people in California don't really think about people on
the East Coast all that much.
It just takes time.
If you choose to live on the East Coast, it takes longer to
become noticed, I think.
-Yeah, how'd you get on Emerica?
BRAYDON SZAFRANSKI: Justin Regan just
called me out of nowhere.
Regan told me the story that Mark Holder from Etnies stole
one of his riders.
And I rode for Etnies, so he was just trying to get back at
Mark Holder.
And he just kind of stole me over there and then I went
with those guys.
Think I met Reynolds in California, like Los Angeles.
It's insane going on a trip with them.
It's just like holy shit, this is the Emerica team.
Like, these guy's fucking rip.
So it's definitely inspiring and stuff.
KEVIN LONG: Brandon, I think I met him first in New York
going for whatever event's in New York.
And he was like the flow dude.
But the first time I really remember kicking it with him
was when we went on a trip to Turkey and Italy.
JON MINER: The first part, Istanbul, was
like real skate heavy.
So he was just like super mellow,
just skating and whatever.
I think it was Spanky and Leo, and they were making fun of
his shoes because he had super puffy tongues with like the
laces that were all blown out.
KEVIN LONG: And I think Leo or something was like, what's
wrong with your shoes?
Typical Westgate, just didn't give a fuck.
Even as a kid, Leo's not getting under his skin at all.
And I think he said something like, I don't give a fuck what
you think, or something.
And Leo's just like, damn!
This kid just fucking faced me.
BRANDON WESTGATE: You know, nobody over there pressures
you into doing anything.
It's just like a close, tight skate family.
Everybody knows everybody.
And everybody's on the team, because everybody likes each
other and just have fun and skate.
Never really pressured into dressing
differently or anything.
-Who do you skate with the most on your team?
BRANDON WESTGATE: Probably Leo, because he's basically on
every trip.
And I try to go on every trip, too.
I like the way he skates, and he's just like
just fucking try it.
So it's like--
gets you motivated.
And he's like the first one to jump on any spot.
So that's definitely like all right, well
hopefully I can make it.
It's like you see it, it can be done.
KEVIN LONG: And even when he was a kid, you could already
tell he was going to be such a fucking beast.
It seemed like even back then, it's exactly
what Emerica needed.
BRAYDON SZAFRANSKI: He's our East Coast fucking powerhouse.
The kid rips.
He kind has that flavor where he can fit
in anywhere he goes.
He's just one of them good looking
fucking mother fuckers.
-Does he take a lot of slams?
BRAYDON SZAFRANSKI: I mean, when he does slam, he slams
really hard.
BRANDON WESTGATE: Is my chin bleeding?
-Yep.
BRANDON WESTGATE: Well, I'm going to try one more.
If I eat shit, then I'm over it.
-All right.
BRAYDON SZAFRANSKI: But generally from what I see, the
kid's so talented he just kind of just does things.
And if he doesn't, he kind of just has that little body
where he's just like uh, all right, let's go back up there
and do it again.
But I mean, I've definitely seen him go down.
Everybody goes down.
-Like when "Stay Gold" started to get busy or whatever, was
there a lot of pressure for that video?
BRANDON WESTGATE: Yeah, definitely.
I mean, all those guys are like really gnarly.
And Miner towards the end was getting real crazy.
Because he's filming everybody and has all this pressure
trying to get this video together.
So it was definitely getting gnarly for that one.
JON MINER: But then it came down to editing, and there was
a big chunk of his part that was like just the part of the
song where it was just the most
shredding part of the song.
So it was just like dude, you kind of need just some fast,
powerful lines right here or whatever.
Showed it to Manzari or whatever.
It was like, take a trip to SF and just let him loose, like
fast ollie shit, whatever.
Just some really fast, powerful skating, you know?
And they went out there.
And I think they were there for maybe
three days or something.
Came back with all that stuff, and it was
like fucking awesome.
BRANDON WESTGATE: The last trip that we did before the
video was SF.
And me and Manzari, Manzari knew all these old spots that
he used to go to.
And he's showing us around and bombing hills and stuff.
And pretty much was like yeah, look at this spike.
You could do a line here and here.
And then we just got a bunch of lines before the videos.
It worked out pretty good.
JON MINER: Kind of like the standard skate video format.
It comes down to whoever has the two best parts, they
usually go first and last.
And it was like Andrew's part just had to be the last part.
So we kind of looked at it, all of us, and decided
Westgate was a totally awesome way to open up the video.
And kind of like a fresh way to open up the video, too,
just because it was unexpected.
KEVIN LONG: I thought it worked perfectly.
I guess that's what the formula's supposed to be.
Like, that first part's supposed to make you want to
go skate, and the last one fucking hammers it down.
And he definitely has one of those parts that makes you
want to go skate immediately.
-Ow!
-Fuck, yeah!
STEVE RODRIGUEZ: For me, when I watch it,
it's totally expected.
It's like oh, he's just doing what he does.
The Emerica part was amazing, and then the part he just put
out for his shoe.
I don't know.
At the same time I want to say oh, it blew my mind,
and stuff like this.
But honestly, in my mind it's totally expected.
And I feel like those parts could have even been better.
If you skated with him in person, you would know that
he's that good.
But it takes a part like that for everyone to know, oh shit,
this guy is one of the best guys.
BRANDON WESTGATE: That shoe video thing just kind of came
up out of nowhere.
I had some leftover footage, and Timothy was like oh, we
should make a little clip for his shoe.
And then Miner, was like, let's try to film the part.
And I was like all right, I'll try.
And we had four or five months, and we were just going
week trips here and there--
basically to SF or LA, because it was cold here.
It wasn't even a plan to start filming for it until almost
the end of the summer.
It was like fall time.
We were actually doing a trip from New Hampshire to
Pittsburgh, because my shoe was coming out,
and Leo's was too.
And we were going to skate shops and stuff.
And Miner was like, oh, I'm going to jump on that trip,
try to see if we get some clips.
And we got some stuff.
Like that kick flip over that handicap ramp.
And then the three flip in New York.
And that stuff over the rail in Springfield--
it's like over the rail into that bank.
JON MINER: Like, he always wants to be
doing something new.
And it's like when you go out filming with him, everything's
like an adventure.
If it's like fixing a spot or whatever, he's
totally into that.
He loves that stuff.
It's like the more challenging his situation is, the
more he wants it.
BRANDON WESTGATE: Yeah, I need you guys to stay over here
because I can't concentrate.
JON MINER: Like trying to get that line with the two rails
with that lady is a perfect example of that.
BRANDON WESTGATE: I don't mean to upset you, I'm just
really--
-You must come from a very, very dysfunctional family that
would allow you to do this.
BRANDON WESTGATE: I know.
-Yeah.
BRANDON WESTGATE: I have problems.
But I'll give you $100 if--
-I don't want you on this private property.
That's been chipped.
JON MINER: Every time it was like we'd get there and just
try to do it as fast as we could.
And sure enough, she would come out.
And then it got to the point where she was just like look,
I just got back from my doctor's office.
I have a heart condition.
If I have a heart attack, it's on you.
-No.
BRANDON WESTGATE: Like, one more try?
-No!
No!
JON MINER: Like, right when we were about to take off, this
car pulled up and she got in the car.
Brandon hopped out of the car, he was so amped.
Just like let's go, let's go, Miner, right now.
This is the only chance we're going to have, and got it
pretty quick.
It was rad.
Like, right as he got it, she came driving up the street.
We're ducking down, rolling on our boards,
hiding behind cars.
But then even after that, we felt super bad.
And we went and got her flowers and delivered them to
her and apologized.
KEVIN LONG: The same way he skates is the same way he is
as a person.
He can be a fucking beast, he'll rip out a tree for you
or whatever.
But then he's also super nice and kind.
I feel like that's how his skating is, no
homo and all that.
And he's got crazy monster, little, tiny block hands that
just could probably tear your face off.
-Why?
You seen him get pissed off?
KEVIN LONG: No.
But if he did.
Maybe I have seen him pissed.
No, I don't think I've ever seen him mad.
I would try my hardest not to make him mad at me.
I wouldn't want to see him mad at anyone.