Hippie Mike is a man of many talents, many skills and many creations. A master of construction, Mike loves to build and create unique and custom projects, but he also takes the same mind frame to everything else he does.
Remember what it was like to be a young kid skateboarder learning lots of tricks and getting out there filming with your buddies, before being sponsored and so well known; before having a bag of tricks so huge that you need a full size pick up truck to cart it around with you, and before having everyone always expecting you to kill it wherever you are… you know, when skateboarding was just for fun.
I found this video on Facebook through Kory Laan and I liked it a lot. It reminded me of being about 15-16 years old and just going out and having a blast with my friends and our skateboards. Filmed by Max Macievich, it features a bunch of the young Chuck Bailey Loc’s like Tanner and Jackson Hawthorne, Kory Laan, JR Barron, Francois LeBlanc, Majed Salem and Dominic Devries, with some super power from a couple of the older dudes like Calvin Dignard and Ryan Prasad. All in all, a good little video for us older guys who have been around the block a few times to sit back and remember what it was like when we were at that stage….
Well, you can tell he’s mine by his crazy hilarious mentality and his long flowing locks but growing up in a house of hardcore skaters definitely influences Kaelen to ride a skateboard. And since he has about 7 completely different boards, he experiments with new tricks on each one. I love being a Dad and Carrie and I are lucky to have such an awesome son and he is proving to grow up quick but clever, he’s getting close to 3. Everything you see him do in this video he learned on his own, we had no influence in teaching him. Kealen learns all his skateboard moves by watching people skateboard and then trying what he believes he saw them do.
Oh man, I was already super bummed that I missed this contest, and now I see the video. I love Mini-Ramps!! I totally would have loved to be there for this jam, but had already planned on a Best Trick at Chuck Bailey the same night not knowing about it. Either way, looked like everyone that showed up had a great time and I’ll make sure to be at the next one. At least with Sheldon’s video I can pretend I was there hangin’ out.
Cole Nowicki, Giet Rolan, Rob Rickaby, Adam Richter, and many more.
Langley Loc, and actually – Walnut Grove Loc – Sam Hampton drops this sick video part, all pure street skating and super tech. Sam’s still a young buck so respect his skill level. I’ve known this kid for a long time from him coming out to lots of my events and he is a very solid skater who lands everything with ease and style. Reppin’ hard for Coastal Riders and the Surrey/Langley scene, the one trick I’d say I would label him best at is anything bigspin.
Another old Teaser Video made pretty much to play around editing. This one has the heart of the old Team Protest in it, myself Hippie Mike, Cisco Gooding, Jeff Cole, Brad Danyluk and Jon Irvine, along with some lines from my long time filmer Justin James, or “Numb-Nuts” as I call him. The only one missing from that era of Protest is Carrie Williams. I’d say this video was from around 2005 or 2006, close to the time when Never Give Up!! was released.
The entire video is in slow motion, even the tiny full pipe, which was soaking wet by the way and very slick.
Nothing too special in this Teaser, just a bunch of dudes having fun and doing weird tricks
No matter who you are in the skateboard world, no matter how much publicity we get on the TV and radio, no matter how rich it has made you, street skating is still forbidden in so many places. Nyjah Huston is probably the best Street Skater in the world right now, and is highlighted all over the place by X Games, Dew Tour and Street League. He’s profited over a million dollars in the past couple years just from winning competitions and here he is being told that he’s not allowed to skate a handrail, and that if he doesn’t stop, the police will be coming. All this while actually filming for the X Games Real Street video contest. You would think that if you said that it was for X Games, this guy might know what he’s talking about and say, oh okay, you’re that guy. But no.
When is this planet gonna sit down and shut up about skateboarders doing what we’ve been doing for the past 30-40 years and just accept it? The world is ever changing, why stop the revolution?
Women used to not even be allowed to work and coloured people only had jobs as slaves, but we overcame all that. Now you could have a pregnant black girl with tattoos and face piercings working for the government. That’s called an evolving society. The world has learned to accept whatever the trends are, except for street skating. Why not us?
We are not criminals unless you make us criminals.
Stop pushing us away and accept us for who we are…
I used to have this thing about giving all my video tapes really weird names. I would copy skate videos 3 or 4 onto 1 VHS tape and write something totally strange on the front which would somehow relate to one or more of the videos on the tape. So a lot of my Teasers have strange names too. Take Tizzy Tizzy Toe Toe for example, what the hell is a Tizzy?? It basically stands for the fact that this video starts off with one of the drunkest moments ever at a Whistler Bowl Series and ends with Jeff Cole’s toes taking out the entire set of lights while we’re filming at a spot. From 15 tall cans and 100 Gravitrons in a row at Whistler, to tons of grass and dirt rides, Clint Proulx skating mini-ramp on a huge longboard, and finishing off with some tree ridin’ fun times, it’s worth a watch.
Welcome to Episode 4 of GLORY DAZE with Hippie Mike. Today we are chillin’ in the sunshine at the White Rock Res, a complete Do It Yourself Skate Spot located in South Surrey with the man I simply call The Jigga. He works as a Graphic Designer and owns a clothing company called AXS Gear, and will go down in history as one of Surrey’s best skaters of all time, give it up for the King of Style, Jay Mykyte!!
Hippie Mike: What’s up Jay? So first off, how old are you and how long have you been skateboarding?
Jay Mykyte: Uhhh, 31 years and been skatin’ since like, man, ever since I was a little kid basically, you know since I was 13…14
HM: And why did you become a skateboarder?
Jay: Everything else just seemed kinda boring at it only ot you to a point and then it was just like, over it…you know?
HM: I’m referring to you as the King of Style because that’s what I heard Geoff Dermer call you one time, and he’s all about styles. How much do you concentrate on the actual trick you’re trying, and how much do you think about what it’s gonna look like when you stick it?
Jay: I think I worry more or less about like the last part, and that’s landing it. I try to block everything else out, and then as for like style, I don’t know man, I think it’s really just the way I do my thing so I don’t really think about that either. It’s just kind of like, the way I do it
HM: You’re a pretty technical skater with lots of hard flip tricks and you can easily demo on a ledge or a mini ramp at any time too, what’s your favourite thing to skate?
Jay: Favourite obstacle?
HM: What’s your favourite thing to skate?
Jay: Favourite thing to skate… I’d say like anything that’s smooooooth, even if it’s just like, flat ground. Anything smooth
HM: What’s the best trick you ever learned?
Jay: Hmmmm. Probably a manual – 360 flip. I don’t know why, but it is
HM: Nice, Kwantlen Park?
Jay: Yeah
HM: AXS Gear has been around for quite a long time but is still pretty underground, tell us how AXS Gear began and what it stands for
Jay: AXS Gear began basically when I started working for the sweatshop. And it was simply about just being an individual, being yourself, not really anything special, it’s just about all existing styles. And that’s what AXS stands for is “All Existing Styles”. It’s basically just for everybody that’s you know, simple and just likes to do their thing. That’s it, plain and simple
HM: Cool. Last winter you opened a Skate Shop in New West called Royalty Skate Shop. What was that about, and what happened to it?
Jay: Royalty was like an “on the fly” thing. I kinda was gonna start some skateboards or something and was like, oh I’ll try this out, you know something that kind of connects everything anyways, and I did it with a friend who had his own business out of there too. I just wanted to try it out and see what it took to try to run a skate shop and after that it was more or less like, there was no support you know. There were people behind it but nothing really holding it together other than the few riders that it was
HM: I heard there were plans to re-open Royalty in Surrey, you think that’s still gonna happen one day?
Jay: Yeah, that’s like my main goal I’d say, just ’cause I love the scene in Surrey. It’s totally underground and nobody cares about it, nobody wants to skate out there, everyone’s kind of turned off about it and I kinda like it ’cause of that. It’s so big too, there’s so much stuff out here to skate, and so many parks
HM: We’ve been friends for a long time, explain when you met me and how we became so close
Jay: Hmmm. How I met you was just from skating. I remember seeing you at Burnaby Park was the first time I seen you and someone told me who you were, and you’d always be at Confed or Leeside. But yeah, Bear Creek and you were just all up in our faces like , Hey who are you guys? And you know this guy, and I was like yeah, this is Stu and Drew and we just like to skate. I think we just met by thriving off seeing each other skate and were always just pumped so we just kind of connected
HM: Cool. What’s the funniest story that you can think of that involves me and you
Jay: Oh man…(smiles)…the funniest…geez, I’d say like, any time we’re going to a spot and trying to like, film some tricks there was always some sort of funny bail or like, something, but I don’t know, that’s a tough one. Because every time we hang out, there’s always something funny and hilarious, so I don’t know about that one
HM: You sure it didn’t involve Colt45??
Jay: Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, that was probably the craziest time I’ve had, probably with you for sure. Just goin’ for it at your house…
HM: (Laughing) Yeah we’ll just leave the story out…
JAY: Yeah (Laughs)
HM: So whenever we go out skating somewhere people always notice you and your style. You’re super solid and have a big bag of tricks. Do you feel like people look up to you as a skateboarder role model?
Jay: Oh hell yeah, like kids for sure. No matter what, I might be quiet or whatever but they’re just pumped. They’re like, Hey you do so many tricks and stuff and I’m just like, yeah that’s what you do, you just practise everything and eventually you’ll just put all the pieces together. Like don’t try and learn it all in one day, just worry about just skating
HM: Yeah, and have fun
Jay: Yeah, exactly
HM: A few weeks ago I had the Re-sheet the Ramp Fundraiser contest at my house and you pulled through and won 1st place, beating out tranny destroyers like Andy Anderson and Eve Feaver. How did that feel?
Jay: Pretty rad, I mean, I’ve never… Well, I’ve skated my fair share of mini-ramps and went to jams, but I don’t know, I think it was just one of those days where you like remember all those sessions and you’re just like, you wanna pull something wild just because all those other times, that’s what happened
HM: Was that like the craziest Mini-Ramp Contest ever or what?
Jay: It was hectic for sure (Laughs), yeah like I’ve probably never witnessed such a hardcore jam on a ramp before, for sure, hands down
HM: Everybody in at once (Laughing)
Jay: (Laughing) Everybody, everybody. You name a person and you know they were puttin’ in about 150%
HM: What was going through your mind when you were trying to Tail Drop off the top rail into the ramp at the end?
Jay: I just always remember seeing Josh Evin doing tail drops and I’d always see him like, not worrying about the drop just knowing where you wanna land and just ride it. No matter what, just stick it and you’ll ride it, and the minute I jumped in I just knew, I got it, I just have to land on it, You’ll roll away, you got it
HM: So you stuck that shit for Josh?
Jay: Yeah man, for sure. ‘Cause he was, basically, you know, somebody throws something out of nowhere, it’s him. You know, he was the guy
HM: Yeah, with bare feet…
Jay: Yeah, in socks, bare feet, yeah, definitely
HM: What was the best Contest you ever won?
Jay: You mean first place, or just winning in general? ‘Cause I would say the first one at Langley Industrial. I had like the most ghettoist shoe setup, ghettoist board and somehow I was like, landing everything.
HM: Well you needed a ghetto board to fuckin’ skate Langley Industrial (Laughs)
Jay: No it was mint back then, it was brand new
HM: What is the best accomplishment in your life?
Jay: Probably being able to do the one thing I love which is livin’ life, having fun, hangin’ with my friends, and skating
HM: What was your favourite company that you were ever sponsored by?
Jay: Oh man, favourite company ever…. I’d have to say Bruise
HM: Name the person you look up to the most in life
Jay: In life? Man…….. I would say like, my Mom…
HM: What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re not skateboarding
Jay: When I’m not skating, creating. Probably creating anything, creating something
HM: If you could pick just one spot to skate for the rest of your life, where would it be
Jay: Hmm. Probably here
HM: White Rock Res?
Jay: Yeah definitely
HM: ‘Cause it’s gonna keep changin’
Jay: Yeah, I’d say this place
HM: Jay, I’d like to thank you for being a guest on GLORY DAZE with Hippie Mike. It’s been a pleasure to hang out with you for so many years and I can’t wait to see where we venture together next. You’re an amazing skateboarder and an awesome friend, and you truly are The King of Style. Jigga Jay everybody…
If you live anywhere near Vancouver you already know his name for sure, he’s been the talk of the town for the past couple years and has really expanded his horizons as to how amazing he has become as a skateboarder. Cameo Wilson can rip up the Streets or the Tranny’s with pure style at any time and has proven to be completely fearless. His tech skills are now combining with that lack of care and Cameo is throwing down chaotic tricks everywhere.
Check his new part welcoming him to Darkstar Skateboards
I’m not much of a ledge skater, never really was, it’s not my thing. I have my share of ledge tricks I can do but none of them are that technical, I just stick to the very basics and ride weird obstacles trying to always land. This is a quick and funny video, but has some prime footage, me nose grinding the tailgate of my pickup truck, or landing off the fridge on my feet and forehead at the same time, and Cisco Gooding sticking a solid line for all the people on the bus in Cloverdale, one of my favourites. Sometimes the timing just works out that way.
