Mark Appleyard Interview
February 02, 2009 @ 12:32 PM
No Appologies: Mark Appleyard
Txt and photos: Deeli
It’s been five years since Flip’s Really Sorry and since Mark Appleyard was voted skater of the year. Five years since his last major video part. Apples was twenty back then, which makes him a quarter of a century now. Five years is a long time in skateboarding and a lot has happened since Really Sorry. Big name sponsors have lined up behind Appleyard’s door, Flip has gone through a lot of changes and skating itself has seen perhaps the most insane upgrading ever in terms of tricks that have turned from impossible to commonplace. But the one thing that has not happened is any sort of change of pace in Appleyard’s own skating. The past five years may not have seen a video part from him, but there’s been a steady stream of interviews, tour articles and individual photos in virtually every skate mag out there all these years. A nice little fact to keep in mind when we’re waiting for Extremely Sorry to drop sometime early next year. All that footage has to go somewhere, right? Another little bit of info on the dude is that the photos in this interview were shot at a rate of about two a day. There’s been more than fifteen hundred days since the last Flip video. Can’t wait to see what happened during all those days? We can’t either. Here’s a little taster to help pass the time.
You’ve been in Europe for a while now, right?
I’ve been in Europe for like three months. I went home to California for two weeks, came back to Finland and then I’ve been to Barcelona in between. I pretty much spent the best months of the year in Finland, to put it that way, the warm months. I haven’t really been keeping track of time. I rented my flat out to a friend in Cali and just felt like cruising for a while.
No specific reason?
Not really. I chose to come to Finland because I know a girl here and I’ve been coming here for the past four years here and there. This was actually my first summer here, though. Every other time has been over Christmas or in the winter.
You must have thought it was pretty miserable.
It’s totally different in the summer, everyone’s a lot happier. It kind of reminds me of Ontario, where I’m from.
So you grew up with long winters?
Oh yeah, I skated skateparks and underground parking lots through out the winter, did all that. And then when I was 17 I just realized that that’s it, I’m not going to put myself through another winter. I figured there was a better way to live. I’d promised my mom I’d graduate high school and the day after the last class I peaced out to California. I really went for it, I had nothing else in my mind except for being in warm weather all the time. Sleeping on a friend’s couch for six months was like a blessing, I was just stoked to be where the weather was!
And things took off from there?
I just never let anything hold me back because I never wanted to get attached to anything that wasn’t part of my main goal, my dream. And I still find it difficult to get involved in anything else that might sidetrack me from what I’m trying to do.
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