Ernie Torres
I'll eat up nose manual and nollie
flipped off the whole thing
Oh John we're here we're at escapist
skate shop you know I used to just come
here when I was a kid and my mom would
get all of our Christmas presents from
here for ever since I was like 10 years
old I have three older brothers and two
of them skated I mean this is like this
shop always did stuff for skateboarding
they always did all the demos like the
little local games of skate the high
ollie contest just all that stuff so you
know we've got I like grew up in this
shop pretty much he and his two brothers
would also skate Chris and Justin I
think he was like 10 maybe maybe 11 and
just kind of got to know them the whole
family just from coming in the shop and
also skating the parks around of course
Shawn was getting better and better and
eventually way better than his brothers
and there's a contest up at Pleasant
Valley skate park of course he was I
think maybe 12 at the time jumping on
the handrail of course he looked like he
was eight he's always been you know tiny
and looked young for his age so
everyone's freaking out and then I don't
know maybe like couple months later John
came up to me and we ended up asking
well actually he asked us I don't know
how it came up but I remember just
blatantly asking him like hey can I ride
for Escapist I felt like you're on
escapist like you're pro skater you know
I got escapist I was like so hype like
hell yeah right for escapist I was
pumped
like Jamie Thomas was my favorite skater
I love zero
I had Jamie Thomas's prosciutto Jamie
Thomas is bored so yeah I guess I was
pretty zero
I gave Jamie Thomas my sponsor tape and
he turned me down I think I might've
gave him to sponsor tapes did I mean
back then though he was like totally
would have fit it was when he was like
baby Leo like shop sponsor balto and he
looked just like Leo same like kids in
America haircut super tight pants it was
sick I first heard about Malto from
Escapist his local shop they sent over
VHS tape and it said Sean Malto
Lansing Kansas 15:14 when filmed it was
the same tape I sent to Jamie T which is
kind of funny but girl called me back so
Sam Smith was getting videos of him and
it was like when he was really little
like I made it may have had a helmet in
some of the footage she was just like
this little little dude he was going off
though you know like all those spots
that like you've seen him like it really
gnarly tricks on like in Kansas he was
skating those you know salad grinds on
rails and stuff and he was small you
know barely looked like you know the
malt oh we know today you know just a
little glimmer Sam called me and he was
like hey do you want to get some boards
and I was like yeah super psyched
and I remember getting the boards and
like woke up in the morning and all like
the shirts and the board's they sent
like in my bed still so I was so psyched
to have them my mom was like well it's
girl skateboards whatever and I was like
oh like check this website out and the
first thing she sees is like a trailer
for ya right and it's Costin yelling at
that dude for breaking a news car giving
your wine yeah he's like has a
board and saying is about to like beat
this dude's ass and like me and my mom
are just watching this and she's like oh
that's the company that's sending you
stuff I'm like yeah well it's a little
different
so now he's like sixteen or something
and he's really good and he I think
we've I think we were bumming him out I
think he was tripping he's we still joke
about it like the party trips on is that
Mike Mo got on like within six months
because he's here like as soon as we
start flowing them kid was really good
we're like oh just get him in the van
with the guys and then like that happens
super fast but like from alto was like
harder because he was in Kansas I was on
flow for a really long time two and a
half years before I even went on a trip
guy was on like my eighth sponsored tape
before I went on my first trip and
they're going to Canada
and they're like yeah you like and once
you guys come with us I was like
definitely like I'd go on a skate trip
with Carol Howard Causton I was like
psyched like let's do this Jeremy Rogers
was there like trying to make fun of us
hazy guys yeah he's like trying to pull
like a weird you know like every little
thing we did like amateur hour over here
you guys are like dunno
kind of you know trying to pull like
ranking card or I don't know what he was
done but this I mean he was skating he
was shredding like I was tripping on
Jeremy I was like well man he's so good
it was it was pretty funny man those
guys were like like Mike Mo he was just
15 and he really like never really ate
anything else besides pizza and pancakes
so like I think the first place we went
to go eat like they didn't have pancakes
and he was like so clueless as to like
what to get so he just got what Malto
got and i think like for the whole trip
he would just be like I'm good when he's
good any years to come actually laughs
now I understand like when a kid comes
on a trip you know like it's a lot like
about knowing what he's about but when
you're a kid kind of going on this trip
you don't think about
like cooking it or whatever like I just
thought about skating and I kept my
mouth shut anyways just because I was
nervous around those guys Sean Malto
checking Sean Malto
it's a given that the kids going to be
amazing skater but can you hang out with
them at all and Shawn was like everybody
could hang on Shawn so it's just like
duh like it's just like a perfect fit it
felt like for me anyway I was just like
no problem yeah you know kind of towards
the end of the trip like Ric macragge
like they're doing like a signing or
whatever at a shop and me and Mike mom
like we're kind of like we didn't want
to sign any autographs or like I don't
you know like I felt weird like I was
like we weren't on the team so we were
kind of sitting on the corner and the
crank is like what are you guys doing
we're like I don't know like just
hanging out over here and he was like
yeah you're supposed to be over here
like signing with us you're like
well we're not really on the team he was
like yeah I mean guys are gonna be on he
like me like some little comment like
that I was like no when like we were
like psyched if we were like high-fiving
in the hotel room like what like is this
really gonna happen like it was kind of
like you know and you still kind of
doubted it like you know what happens if
we don't whatever scary wanting
something so bad we wound up making a
tour video a tour DVD of the trip and
then at the end of the video put a
welcome Mike Mo and Malta part of some
footage that they had I think Sean
hardflip like the Carlsbad gap I think I
was like all right we're doing this
thing like go film a couple of tricks
and when the video shows like the first
thing I've ever been in first tour I've
ever been in whatever and the tour video
came out and they spelled my name wrong
I see Jacob now s ein but they went ma
TLO Matloff all my friends call me Matt
lo for like a year because of that it's
like thanks Aaron Mesa
amateur hour yeah soon after that we
went on like that's this month-long us
trip called like badass meets dumbass
Shawn was like killing every demo like
he was like the champ of the tour I
think on that trip Shawn got something
every time he went Street skating except
maybe like one time but every time he
went out he got something I think that
you know I think Shawn is skating in his
personality or a lot of like I think
he's very consistent he's very reliable
and he's dependable like I said and it's
just like you can always count when
Shawn to come through being a pro
skaters the goal you know I was like I
wanted to be a pro skater ever since I
was 10 years old I don't know how it led
up to it to be honest actually we were
in Australia and Sam was like we're
gonna turn all the kids what we're
calling them the kids but it's like
we're going to turn all the kids pro
we're going to tell them all right
tonight at dinner
we turned Shawn Mike Mo and Alex Olson
all pro at the same time Shawn was just
killing it super hard it just made sense
to turn all those dudes pro at the same
time I guess they knew but I had no idea
and at the end of the trip you know
everyone's like whatever high-fiving
like we made it through Sam did a speech
which he always does at the end of every
trip like told Alex of Mike Mo like yeah
we're turning you pro we're all like
yeah and I was hyped I was like damn oh
and Alex we're going pro that's sick I'm
gonna be the only amateur skateboarder
on girl now and it was like kind of
celebration and at the end of it he's
like oh yeah we're gonna turn you pro to
shot I was like what he's like yeah yeah
you know these guys will just turning
pro - I was like no way I was like sigh
I think they all teared up like it was
pretty insane they're just like what
what what what I think he was like maybe
one day that'll happen and then just
like kind of I think it snuck up on them
yeah yeah they were pretty stoked I like
that when they're just like
really just like blown away
come on