Versions Of The Truth: Lance Mountain and Chet Childress

December 05, 2007 @ 11:13 AM

Hey how are you?

Chet: Good man, so good. I love your mag man, every time I pick it up there’s always some fucking sick spot, that’s what I like.
Look at this guy man (pointing to Peter Hewitt) One of the most prestige skaters alive man, he buzzes. If you want to give me a cover some time…( laughs )

How long you in town for?

Chet: We leave like Wednesday?, but they’ve got me doing so much bullshit everyday. We only have to do this for about two weeks of the year though, not a bad life..

Chet: Have you seen that Metalica movie yet

No?

Oh don’t man, DON’T!  They’ve had the best run in rock ‘n roll and all they do is cry about it, ah man, they ruined it for me. Millionaire bitches.

Sam Ashley: They commissioned that film themselves you know?

Chet: oh shit man, they ran that, they said it was cool! It’s like they’re the one rock band that got a good ride and they got to do that?
(Laughs)

How long did it take you to film your part on the Nike DVD?

Chet: I spent two years, filming, stressing, and waiting to get my turn to go to spots with the filmers. I had knee surgery too which took me out for a while.

Lance Mountain: I got on a bit later, so um, I actually only filmed the night they were putting the credits together for a bout an hour an a half.

Wow! That’s not much time at all. Did you panic?

Lance: I don’t think so; I got on super last minute. Its cool though, Nike give you a lot of opportunities to do projects here and there, you just come up with an idea and they supply you with what you need to go and do it.

Are you both happy with the outcome of the video? How do you see it comparing to other newly released videos?

Chet: Yes I’m psyched on the outcome; I’m psyched to get the opportunity to be on such a diverse team.

Lance: I don’t think Nike has to compete with other videos. Yeah it has to impress the core group but promoting skateboarding goes beyond that, it’s going to be watched by people who haven’t skated yet or people that have just started. Kids who haven’t yet picked which kind of path they want to go down, we have such a diverse team, some one might watch Chet and get stoked on bowls and other stuff, some one might get stoked on P Rod do you know what I mean.

You’ve both been in the game for a while now, how long have you been riding for?

Chet: About 20 years,… longer than I’ve been living.

Lance: I think I started in 74,

Chet: that was the year I was born take note.

Lance: and I’d been alive for 10 years already.

Bet you’ve seen your fair share of injuries right?

Lance: I’ve had a lot of good ones in the last two years: Missing my MCL, separated my shoulder, and broke my heel and ankle. I’ve just been getting through that.

Chet: I got some injuries: burst brain cells and a broken heart.
(Laughs).. No man seriously, one girl got me real good. Right in the heart.

Do you feel any pressure from the youngsters out there?

Chet: There are a million people that rip. You know you got Johny New Buck down at the park, Willy Twilly down at the skate Plaza and Billy Burger over at the pool all killing it. No, I’m 32 now, I got nothing to prove you know what I mean, and I like to see the kids come up, I got my lottery ticket and I ran with it.  I’m stoked on the new kids. I like to see how far skating’s progressed. I’m psyched on Nike for letting me be me and not putting the pressure on, they never tell me what I got to do or how I got to do it, they just let me be myself.

So how do you feel about all the negative press that Nike gets in the industry?

Chet: Oh man, Lance do you want to go first?

Lance: Yeah. I understand where we come from in skateboarding, when I started skating back then our mindset was “we’ll never be in the Olympics”, you know, like there was no point in it because at that time that’s not what it was all about, we didn’t fit in with that mold, you know? But skateboarding grew and if you don’t evolve with skateboarding, you get left out of skateboarding. The whole things changed a lot over time. At one point, some companies from the nineties, who wanted to do the cool thing, destroyed skateboarding. It keeps on changing and now skateboarding isn’t based on boards anymore, everyone’s relying on clothes and shoes to make a living in skateboarding. The people who are against Nike are probably the ones who have just started clothes and shoe companies now. They have become what they weren’t supposed to be in the first place you know. It’s kind of hypercritical of them to start judging.

When Nike came along and said they’d promote what I think skateboarding is, that’s when I got into it. Nike is willing to help out the shops to, you know, they’re keeping a lot of places alive. No other company is doing that right now.

Chet: Are you ready for this shit? (Laughs) There are going to be haters in everything you do, especially when you do something cool, progressing shit. Trying to do new shit, there’s going to be haters. There are brands out there, instead of paying their riders they’re making shoes with bananas on them. Instead of making a good brand, their whole spill is to go after Nike, you know what I mean? They want to make all these computer geeks, who probably don’t skateboard mad by talking shit, but what are these companies actually doing for skateboarding? Nike supports true skate shops, puts money into skateparks, you know.

Chet: Nike is what it is, I think they probably not even making that much money off of skating, they’re probably giving just as much if not more money back to skateboarding you know. They’re just down to do cool shit and they sponsor us and without them I’d be working at Mac D’s or Burger King or something you know what I mean.

That’s all good gentlemen thanks very much.

Chet: Hey thanks for your time.

Lance: thank you..

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