there's a beef okay at this point I'm
like good friends with Jason Lee we're
likes that were we call ourselves two
peas in a pod we every day we'd go
skating you know
so when Bosh monster came to me and said
I want you on circulate like my first
thought was like you have to have Jason
like were the same good you have to take
us both and he was just like oh I don't
want Jason I don't know why he's just
like I don't want Jason this one you and
I was so conflicted like I can't I
can't if I get out Jason was like also
kind of mean he was also the alpha male
to let me get some horse by the
microphone so I'll also afraid like
if I get sponsored before Jason and like
you probably won't be my friend anymore
so I was kind of scared you know like
the ED and Jason worked like we're
really close like they were like they
were like the two dudes coming up
together and they skated together all
the time and I begged Meltzer I was like
please like put Jason on he wouldn't but
he gave Jason a board so you know sort
of like a consolation prize that we both
had these like prototype boards that he
made but that I don't know that was my
first sponsor Edie had the first ad ever
of anyone 50/50 in a hand row and it was
his first ad and it was a circle a ad
and I remember they didn't put his name
on the ad had no name it's crazy because
I was born
Edie herring when my mom and dad
divorced she changed our name legally
back to Templeton which is her maiden
name there's a chance that this might
have been at herring which would have
been weird instead of at Elton but
either way
Bob Meltzer left my name off I still
don't know why to this day why he left
my name last he had and I was kind of
bummed because it was like at that point
it was kind of groundbreaking you know
like no one had seen a 50-50 on a
handrail and to not get the credit for
it it was just all credit to the company
like Oh someone's 50/50 in a rail Oh
circle a
you know I mean that at templeton but
you know whatever
so I'm 14 or the whole diversion ization
story that goes on this when I was 14 to
maybe I shouldn't talk about just a
scroll that lived by Eric's house there
was a there was a bump in front of her
house that a root had made in the
sidewalk it was like a log jam kind of
so we skated all the time and this girl
would like watches from the step and uh
one day she shows comes up and has a
bunch of a whole handful of fission
stickers visions like gold for us kids
it's like the best company ever we were
like whoa I had to get all these
stickers and she's like oh my friend
Greg the guy who does art there you know
the psycho stick graphic he drew it I
was like whoa you know amazing somehow
I'm like chatting this girl up now I
didn't know how old she was
until way later but I'm just long she's
24 so yeah I got statutory raped I guess
that's the thing is my mom can know
about it I'll just kind of Stoke that
someone gave me the time of day like I
didn't have any like adult people that
actually would talk to me like a person
you know you're like a you're a kid at
that point like you get treated like a
kid but she she was in a way pivotal to
let into this like other world it's like
artsy girl who knew a bunch of art
people and would play the smiths and
Billy Bragg and stuff the first time we
had sex
louder than bombs is on you know it's
like every it's like pivotal moments but
I don't know so that's just a side story
you know all my speed at that point I
was wishing I was Chris Miller again
this is like a street skater who watched
basically vert videos and bull videos
and just you know that's what we had we
didn't have like a lot of street videos
except for the maybe the contest videos
to watch so Street skating I'm still at
that early age of like we're sort of
copying vert you know to me it was like
skateboarding's epitome was Chris Miller
I was like oh my gosh Tracey's my
favorite company and then I heard they
wanted to sponsor me and so like it was
like a heartbeat I got even if I could
reference mystics that's it
sue Schmidt sticks Paul Schmidt came
from Florida he was the first to really
do really cool rails that were rounded
back in the 80s a rails would be manager
on this a nice cabled and then he
developed it went further into doing
bulled and he had a real skill for being
up to really create some of the best con
caves and the greatest profit
innovations within skateboards at that
time is your own hands that don't look
at it use your hands your I will pull
you how something feels I moved here
from Florida with this tiny little
company the skateboard market went
kaboom so now I'm shipping loads of
boards vision said here's a building
build a wood shop where I built samples
and prototypes and things so Schmidt
sticks always made the most progressive
boards the riders would follow the brand
because of that and I was ready to
basically bail and baling met you made
your own boards I was only a am fresh
mystics and they they basically pulled
me inside and said there's something in
the works we're leaving vision
Schmitt six was actually owned by vision
and Brad Dorfman but he actually bought
the name of the Porsche mitts a Porsche
mint kind of got screwed so he doesn't
even own his own name so he lost his own
brand I have a licensing agreement with
Schmitt sticks and basically they'd paid
me a royalty he owned the business and
the infrastructure I didn't like that
that he owned everything and skaters
didn't own it so we started New Deal in
Andy house Steve Douglas and I became
equal partners like three amigos we're
going to go forward and make this thing
happen and New Deal started with a whole
mystery people didn't know what was
happening what was going on with it
where it was coming from so we made this
promo video the promo video was out
before anybody even knew what the brand
was a year later
New Deal was selling more skateboards
and mystics ever had in its history
there was a New Deal promo and that's
where you first saw Ed Templeton with
the and now we're so happy and like he
just because what did he do he did the
nose bonk he was early on early knows
bunker the one foot and then he did the
impossible lip in that video and it's
like okay like you could learn a nose
bonking you could learn a one foot and
then the impossible lip you'd it's like
ah you know when that video hit I think
it was like it put me on the map for
sure basically they called me and said
we're making a promo video we're coming
your house tomorrow out of film and that
was literally it like you know one day I
just did every move I could do within
the time they were there and that became
your video part that's how it was back
then from a young age I really was in
the New Deal and Ed was one of my
favorite guys you know with his air
walks and you could tell he kind of just
had a like good a good eye for color
like with like the shoes and the board
he chose and everything and he always
had good shapes always had a cool square
tail and like a squared off nose so I
loved his boards always that is the
reissue the Toy Machine reissue and then
the original New Deal so that's my first
board first graphic really like the idea
of having my name going up around the
nose for some reason don't want to do
that this was a essentially this is
lifted from a Metropolitan Museum of Art
catalog they had this sort of Egyptian
cat like a little statue they would sell
I can remember when Ed wanted the nose
to be longer than the tail and I just
thought it was this crazy context so
when his board came out it had this huge
gigantic nose on it had two sets of
holes and if you were street skater you
ride the back holes if you're a verse
cat or you ride the front holes so when
New Deal came out as really exciting as
myth sticks was rad you know and then
when New Deal came out it was like this
whole new thing and it was like this
whole new identity and everything in
like Andy Howell and
all the graphics and stuff and I
remember when the boards came out like I
was so psyched
I think Ed's like outside earnest kind
of thing even though he was like the
younger guy like his sensibility kind of
like popped through their whole thing
was dope so inside here is some weird
old wood cut sort of like an end-of-day
scene it's like a riot but they're
skeletons mixed in sort of like raping
people so I like the idea that you
really wouldn't be able to see that but
I thought it was being super subversive
useless wooden toys is like yeah that
should affected me big-time and that was
the one where like Edie was like I was
like dang this guy's so rad you know
what I mean that video played a big big
part in my skateboarding in my life I
Love New Deal at that time
I mean like statistics was a traditional
80s company I mean yeah Lucero the bars
you know that was the best-selling board
I mean like the ripsaw all these things
are like bullies like in that vision
sort of mole New Deal came out and
essentially Andy Howell was like the
heart director of it it was like so
perfect for like what a teenage skater
kid was thinking about at that time and
was like doodling and drawing themselves
in their home sketchbooks and cartoony s
graphics that were like graffiti related
all that was like what New Deal was
representing at that time and yeah that
was definitely a cool aspect of of what
they were doing yeah like I was
definitely like a new deal kid I
remember going into a skate shop and by
trying to buy like some Powell video or
something and the guy going like this is
the video you want you want this you
want useless wooden toys with
skateboarding when the company has a
strong connection to the riders and
allows some sense of freedom for the
riders to have an expression off their
board as well as on kids identify within
the most because because it's true and
it's real it's not like some made-up you
know graphic design guy that's like
here's your logo here's your thing and
this is what you are it's these people
actually like making something together
and and those things are always more
powerful and I think that New Deal was
from the outside looking in on it that
was the style that it was in you know
and the reason it was called the New
Deal's cuz Andy and Paul wanted to like
kind of come up with a new company idea
where the riders had the influence
before it was like literally if the art
department just gave you stuff you know
I mean that's why I started doing my own
graphics my first meeting with those
guys they kind of lay that out like it's
your thing you're in charge your image
you can you know when we do an ad you
can say what it says in there this is my
first new dad for being Pro this is the
one that says go buy a Templeton's board
it's one with the crappy graphics
because I was super hyper aware that
this was not a good graphic to the
standard of that day you know and I mean
my ad is alley to tail on a bank to curb
that's maybe like a foot in half
first pride yeah I can't explain it
and then auntie house as we're way
different the only thing that kept in
the same was that it was black and white
with a yellow background but otherwise
Andy's Azhar had like these you know hip
hoppy drawings and stuff and then my ID
had like a little sketch that I did with
like some weird Kurt Vonnegut inspired
text you know it was very clear from the
start ed was a creative individual you
know in his creativity we look at where
he's gone now through his skateboarding
through his art through his photography
and it's like he's just living that
creative life it's really neat to see
that and see how skateboarding can
empower someone to go forward on that
path