Zero Club | March 2022 | Mike Smith

1. Name?
Mike Smith

2. Age?
46

3. Where are your from?
Sacramento, California

4. How long have you been skating? Since 1987.

5. What’s your set-up?
Manak 8.8 Eric Hutchinson street shape, Indy 159’s, Spitfire F4 99a 54mm. Bronson bearings.

6. What terrain do you like to skate?
I try to be well rounded when it comes to terrain, but curbs are my favorite.

7. What stokes you out in skating? What stokes me is just the sound of a grind, the feeling of an air, the thrill of pushing myself to do something a little farther or higher. It’s a rush.

8. What could be better in skateboarding?
Skateboarding is pretty awesome as is, maybe some of bro, elitist attitudes could disappear.

9. What bands/music do you like?
I like so many bands and genres, this is hard to answer. Some of the ones I’ve been into lately are Death Chant, Rosegarden Funeral Party, Charger, and The Darlings.

10. What makes you laugh?
The absurdity of humanity, that also makes me mad, and cry.

11. Favorite books/movies?
Some favorite books: Filth by Irvine Welsh, Desolation Angels Kerouac, Timequake Vonnegut, The Plague by Camus Movies: Empire Strikes Back, Hereditary, Get Out, Delicatessen.

12. Skating as a kid vs. skating as adult over 40…talk about the differences and similarities.
Obviously the biggest difference between skating now versus then is physicality, I don’t move or heal like I used to. What’s the same is the fun of going out with some friends and getting lost in an afternoon, having a blast, pushing each other, already planning the next session.

13. Favorite skate videos?
Creature Gang Green is my favorite recent video.

14. Favorite skaters?
John Worthington, Clay Kreiner, Chris Hiett, and Bryce Wettstein have caught my eye lately. As far old guys, Dressen, Vallely, Ron Allen, Blender, Grosso, this list could go forever.

15. Favorite skate graphics?
Current favorite graphic is Dogtown Possessed to Skate.