Lance Mountain Arise, Sir Lance
Lance Mountain was in many ways the first guy to put soul and humour into skateboarding, especially for those of us born in the seventies. Goofing around and being the funny dude with a bagful of creative tricks in the early Powell films captivated a hell of a lot of kids in my neighbourhood.
Back when skateboarding first fell from the planet (circa 1981), Lance Mountain – then on Variflex – wasn’t seen as the best skateboarder out there. He was winning some street comps, and later specialised in vert and pools, but when he joined Powell Peralta he was definitely the odd one out. Powell had a great team of Steve Caballero (“best in the world at the time,” says Lance), Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. But somehow Lance added that secret spice that made the Powell team ever so stronger.
By the early nineties the old regime (and vert skating with it) was wiped off the atlas and the one-time super heroes found themselves unemployed. As a devoted Christian Lance turned down an opportunity within the Rocco empire to take care of Blind and Big Brother magazine. In ’91 he did the uncomfortable and started his own company, The Firm.
A team of Ray Barbee, Matt Beach, Javier Sarmiento, Wieger Van Wageningen, Rodrigo Texeira, Jani Laitiala, Bob Burnquist and Lance himself all appeared on the roster. The Firm was skateboarding at its purest.
At the admirable skating age of forty-one Lance Mountain was put on one of the most prolific teams in modern skateboarding, Flip. And then came the Nike call. Actually he admits to making the call himself.
Still skating deep pools and pushing his forty-three-year-old body to respectable limits of pain, we caught up with Mr Mountain in a fancy-ass hotel in London’s West End. When I meet him at the foyer, he is sipping tea and wondering if he might find the time to skate Harrow Park with Chet Childress later on this afternoon. For now though, he’s more than happy to chat.
HUCK: How do you keep doing it?
Lance Mountain: I just keep skating. If you stop, it starts to hurt. If I am hurting I try to have a light session, which often turns into a proper skate.
Looking back over the years, what's been your favourite time in skating?
The late seventies was a special time. Not necessarily the best time – I think right now is – but back then you had so many guys to look up to. Gregg Weaver, Waldo Autry, Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Author Lake, Shogo Kubo, Kent Senator, Jay Smith, Ray Bones, Bobby Valdez, Steve Olson, Mickey and Steve Alba, Brad Bowman, Darrell Miler, Tom Inouye, Duane Peters, Chris Strople – there were so many, that's why I still love it today. In the seventies we were toying around with our skateboards and just making up tricks... Actually, the reaction of the old guard to our skating was quite negative, with us making all these tricks instead of surfing and carving.
What was it like being on the Powell Peralta team?
It was really cool. At the time they had the best skaters, best ads, and the best products. I thought, ‘I can still skate and be involved’, and there was the slight chance that I might be able to make a living in skateboarding because Stacy put me on the team to move into his position one day. What followed were some of the most legendary times in the short history of skateboarding.
You never branded Firm. From the outside it made Firm the coolest company. It seems like pure skateboarding doesn't sell these days, do you agree?
Companies need all the ingredients to be good. Most companies are missing one or more elements. I don't think branding something is bad, the idea is to create a brand that inspires others to skate, have fun, and dictate what it is about. Sometimes that needs to be branded to work, and that’s the purpose of a company. Most companies’ purpose is to make money - you can't have one without the other, but few have it in the right order or they are trying to have a purpose without a real need for them as a brand.
How is life under the Nike banner?
Really enjoyable.
And skateboarding today? How does it compare to your early days?
It's a lot more accessible. A little less of an adventure to see what is possible and a little more set as to what to get from it. But all in all, skateboards are still the best toy out there.
www.lancemountain.com
www.nike.com/nikeskateboarding
The original story appeared in Huck #011.
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