Zaturdays With Zitzer: The Josh Stewart Interview

Cold Day in Hell

The Josh Stewart Interview Cold Day in Hell, that’s the location Josh Stewart chose to put on an Insta post of him and Aaron Herrington at the TWS Awards this past week. The caption reads, “Still trippin”. You should be able to guess he’s referring to: his “Video Of the Year” Win for Static IV and V. Josh tried to make the point in his acceptance speech, or whatever you want to call it, that the East Coast was slept on by the West Coast for like its entire existence, until very recently. Example: Static I, II, and III (which were at least as appreciated by East Coast fans as IV and V are) were never even nominated for anything, much less given top honors. Josh toiled in relative obscurity for the better part of 15 years I’d say. And now he’s beating out the Plan B video and that Chris Joslin maniac? In case you don’t know his background, because you’re either too young or you’ve been trapped under a heavy log with no Internet connection, Josh is Tampa OG. His first videos, like Cigar City and Rising were pretty much filmed entirely in Tampa. So, what I’m trying to say here is that we’re stoked for him, and proud to have played our part. He still should come visit more though. SIDE NOTE: The following interview with Josh took place months ago. It was supposed to go into an issue of TSM but for whatever reason, didn’t. That’s why there’s no talk of winning awards or celebrating in Hollywood. I’ll ask him about that stuff next time.

How did Static IV and V end up different than you imagined before you made it?

It’s definitely a lot longer than what I originally set out to do. And kind of the nature of how these videos have worked out, I always start out with a few skaters in mind, and then through the process of working on it, random people end up skating with us and I meet new personalities, people I really like, and we end up getting a few things. Kind of every video was like that, it starts with one idea and metamorphoses into something else. And since this one took so much longer to complete, more and more people kept getting added to it.

How much would you say it’s like the earlier Static videos?

I think it’s unavoidable, even with the MIA video I tried to do something different, but it’s inevitable that you end up with similarities. To me Static III was the video that was the most complete, it was the one I was most happy with, all the elements came together right and it flows, and I was lucky enough to film almost all of it. And I feel like it’s very different from Static II and Static I, but after the fact, when I look at it, it’s very clean, and more pretty, it has warmer colors, and it’s slower and more drawn out, so with the new one I wanted to take it back to the more fast paced, grittier feel of I and II.

The whole east coast video vibe has always had an element of embracing its underdog status, and I feel like in the last couple years it’s become more and more popular. Do you feel that’s happening and do you see a danger to everyone jumping on the bandwagon?

Absolutely, yeah. That became a problem with this video, because up until we finished Static III, New York was completely slept on. And then over the past six years I’ve been filming with everybody in the video, but every week there’s a new thing from New York coming out, like Mountain Dew New York, The Berrics New York City, Nike…and it becomes tough for a multitude of reasons. I appreciate every type of skating, when it’s natural to the skater, but then there’s the thing when something becomes a trend, so it is scary to a certain degree, because the less you see of something a lot of times the more you’re interested in it, and the same goes for this aesthetic and this vibe of skating, so you see all this stuff coming out of New York, and it’s rad that people are more open minded about different types of skating, but there’s a point where people are basically dressing the part and watering it down. It doesn’t have the same feel though as the guys who pioneered it. So there are certain things in the video that seem cliché that weren’t when we filmed them.

The difference between a crap skateboarder and a great skateboarder can be very subtle when we’re talking about the east coast style of skating, what makes a person great in your eyes?

I think for a while it came down to style, but now I think it’s more the actual personality of a skater. Which is hard to see in regular footage, but there are always a few skaters where I’m like, “Why do I like that person’s skating so much better than these other people’s skating?” It’s more the personality and you can’t fake that. It’s one of those silly things that gets said way too much in skateboarding, but it’s like, how do people judge how one artist is better than another? It’s not always about the ability. Like when you see Vincent Alvarez skate, the tricks are one thing, but it’s like he’s riding a wave that you can’t see in between the tricks, and you need to see it.

Does the Static series end here?

Yes. The full length Static series has to end because it’s not something I’d farm out to have a bunch a different people film, and I’d just edit it, and if you’re going to do it you have to do it all in, it’s completely consuming, and now I’m so busy that the second I’d finish a 12 hour day of work I’d go out filming all night, and I’m not complaining about it, I liked it, but New York is the hardest place to film, you don’t use a car, and carrying a VX and a Bolex around for 10 hours a day, my body can’t take it anymore. My back is in a condition where I can’t keep doing it.

When did you start Theories of Atlantis, and what prompted you to do it?

It was originally just a website that I was using to sell Static III, and I’d just write some stories and conspiracy babble. Then I started turning it into sort of a curated shop for independent videos from around the world. Then Vivien Feil, who has a Static part, while we were filming it he started Magenta, and his boards are made in the US and I was like, “We should try to carry some on the web store.” So that’s kind of how it began, and then there was always the talk, like, “Imagine if we could get Traffic in here, and Hopps.” And then I was carrying Pontus’s last video, The Search for the Miraculous, and then he told me he was starting a brand, and it went from there. So now it’s a full on distribution company and we kind of let the website go to shit lately because we’ve been so busy with everything else.

Is Theories going to become a board brand some day?

No, no, no. It’ll stay an ambiguous brand, it’s not even a clothing brand. We think of it more of as experience. Haha.

Are you still doing it out of your apartment?

The office is here. We had to move the warehousing and shipping, it got way too overwhelming. But Pat Stiener lives here too and we both work in the office in the back.

What are you looking for in a brand you want to distribute?

I’d say, “Does it have a need to exist? Does it fill something that’s missing? Has it captured an idea that pulls you in.” Like Polar, there’s something about the mystique he’s created that pulls you in. And I feel like a brand needs to have pros, and a team, and it needs to have someone behind it who has a deep history in skateboarding and who contributed to the culture. And with there being so many brands out there, I try to work with people that I’m already friends with.

Where do you see Theories in five or ten years? I would guess you’re going to try to keep doing what you’re doing, or do you have some big plan for it?

There’s no telling obviously where it could go. I would never say there’s a mission statement or something like that, but I email a lot of shoe brands that sponsor skaters that our brands sponsor, and I try to tell them, “Hey, this guy is working on this thing, and he’s doing that.” I’m just trying to get them to be more involved, and the most common answer is, “Oh, it would be really sick if he came out to California and stayed here for a while.” And so I feel like if we could build this up to something that supports itself enough that the east coast isn’t just a mine for foreign interests to come in and dig up the precious natural resources and take them. It would be cool to see the east coast support itself, and skaters not have to leave to get somewhere. - Paul Zitzer Photo: Allen Ying / 43 Magazine