Brandon Westgate Thrasher Interview April ‘08
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Here’s an interview with the Young Emrican and Zoo York rider Brandon Westgate, taken from the April ‘08 issue of Thrasher Magazine, interview done by Michael Burnett. Good shit.
Describe the first time you met your Uncle Don-Don.
The first time I met Donney Barley? I’m not sure when the first time was because I’d seen him around a bunch when I was younger. We were roommates on one of my first Zoo tours, when we went to Texas. It was cool. We got hammered. Seamus was wrestling me and we were shot-gunning beers. We ended up getting kind of crazy.
Being an East Coast legend, Donny can be pretty intimidating at first, right?
Yeah, but he’s awesome.
Is he sort of the father figure of the team?
Yeah. He Can take charge of any situation. We got into one situation where we were heading to upstate New York; me, Anthony Shetler and Donny, and Anthony’s car broke down. We ended up at this Auto Zone and Donny starts talking to this random guy and convinces him to give us a ride all the way to Connecticut to the airport. I don’t even know how he got the guy to even give us a ride, but the next thing you know we’re all stuffed into this little Mustang. The guy had just finished putting these pipes on it so he peeled out of the Auto Zone parking lot and instantly gets pulled over by the cops. There were pill bottles in the car, but he says they’re not his, so the cops just give him a ticket. It was crazy.
Are you back East right now?
Yeah.
I understand the East Coast is awesome.
Yeah.
What’s the awesome weather like there right now?
Except the weather. It’s awesome except for that. We just got quite a bit of snow. That’s okay; we can just go to the skatepark.
What’s your local park?
It’s called Skater’s Edge. I skate there or I go on trips out to California or some place that’s warm.
What were some winter desperation skate spots you had as a kid?
Before I had my license we had this tennis court down the street where we’d go out and shovel snow. We’d just wait for it to dry and skate that. I also had a little two-foot-mini-ramp in the basement. It was real shitty, but it was fun to mess around on. It was really loud. It sucked real bad, so you’d only want to skate it when there was absolutely nothing else.
Are you going to stay out East for a while?
Yeah. It actually hasn’t been that bad the last few winters. It was in the 60’s in New York last week.
Who was your favorite East Coast skater growing up?
I guess it has to be Zered. He’s really, really good.
Are you taller than him?
I don’t think so. We’re about the same height.
Who usually wins between arguments between you and Anthony Shetler?
Probably him. He’ll keep on going forever. It’s ridiculous. We’ve had a few arguments going off and on for a few days. He likes to go on about life’s struggles and stuff like that. It’s exhausting.
Do you think people in California have accents?
I did at first, but now it seems normal. The funny thing is I didn’t even know I had an accent until I went out there and people started talking like I was talking, making fun of the accent.
Why do East Coasters have so much East Coast pride?
I think a lot of us have pride because it really is tougher out here. We’ve got the shitty weather. We don’t normally have the industry. It makes it harder to keep skating sometimes.
Are these skate shoes getting too thin?
It depends. If you’re jumping down El Toro then probably.
You ever wear D3’s?
Yeah, on King of the Road.
They felt good, huh?
Yeah. Except they were completely crazy and I couldn’t skate. I had no idea where my board was.
Have you ever engaged in any wild skate fashion?
Not really, but when I first went out to California I started to grow my hair long for some reason. It didn’t look so hot. It didn’t even grow that long, but it wasn’t the best look for me.
How do you let a girl know that you like her?
Kiss her on the cheek? A hug?
You ever get those girls off MySpace or any of that?
Shetler’s always talking about all these girls, ’cause he’s a MySpace king, but I’m not so good on it. My MySpace sucks. I don’t know how to put up pictures or anything.
It’s the wave of the future, dude.
I know. I’m blowing it.
What’s your opinion on weird sponsors like drinks or gum that don’t have anything to do with skating?
I think it’s wack, but I don’t care if other people have them. If it helps them out, that’s fine with me.
Do you worry about ABD’s?
Nah, ’cause that’s not really an issue where I live. In California everyone’s already done everything. All the spots have been murdered. I guess if I really want to do a trick I’ll just do it and worry about that other stuff later. If I’m psyched on it, I’ll go ahead and do it. Also, on the East Coast a lot of the spots are lines, so it’s hard to do the exact same line as someone else. I don’t really ever worry about it to tell you the truth.
What’s your favorite part in the new Lakai video?
Probably Mike Mo. He’s sick.
Did that video give you any ideas of how you want to skate?
For sure. Hit up some ledges and lines. I like that stuff anyway, I’m psyched.
You’ve got a really high ollie. What’s the secret for kids who want to ollie higher?
There’s really no secret. Just jump really high. You can ollie as high as you can jump. It’s easier to ollie up something than over it because you can get your front wheels on it first and kind of help it up. Other than that, you might move your front foot back a little farther on the really high ollie, but not too much. If it’s too far back it gets ridiculous to try and level it out. It turns into a mob ollie.
Riding for Hubba, have you ever had an ad with one of those naked broads?
No, not yet.
Are you ready to get in there?
Yeah, I guess.
Are you a little nervous?
Yeah. Those titties are big.
Would you be embarrassed to show your parents?
Nah. I think they’d be psyched.
What’s your favorite of the Hubba ads?
I just lie the one with the big ass.
Yeah, she’s hella fine. What’s better, China or Barcelona?
Probably China. It’s really good. I haven’t been to Barcelona in a long time. China’s sick. There are a lot of spots.
Have the cops cracked down yet?
Not when we were there. The cop was riding around on our boards. Zered had the cops helmet on and was sitting on his motorcycle. It seemed really mellow.
Do you eat all McDonald’s when you’re there?
Nah. We would eat it for lunch a lot, but we’d go to some great restaurants, too. We went out for a seafood dinner where we picked all the stuff on the street and then they cooked it up for us. It was good.
Tell us about the prank your teammates played on you on King of the Road this year.
they made a fake challenge envelope that looked exactly like the real one and then opened it and read all these fake challenges they came up with that I had to do. It didn’t seem that far-fetched to me. Dressing up like a chick and doing a kickflip over a hip wasn’t that bad. It just looked retarded. Basically I had nothing on–just a skirt and a bra. When I found out, it was like, “Ah shit! You got me!” That was a crazy trip. Very tiring. Doing tricks that you just don’t want to do. It was fun though. It was a good experience.
Who was your MVP?
Definitely Zered. He got half the points, easily.
How was digging out that over-vert hook that Suski nosepicked?
That was sick. It was a lot of hard work, but it was kind of fun to all be down in the mud trying to clean it out. We worked on it at night and then came back in the morning and we had to do it all over again. Suski got his trick, though, so it was worth it.
If you could put anybody on Zoo York, who would it be?
Maybe Marquis Preston. He rides for Emerica and is really good.
What about Reynolds or Koston?
That would be great, but they would never do it. Reynolds is pretty much the greatest of all time. To watch him in person is incredible. It’s ridiculous.
Does he ever have to battle for tricks?
Not that I’ve seen.
You ever gotten in a fight?
No. But I threw a kick in when people were fighting one time.
How was that?
Cool. It felt pretty awesome. We were on an Arizona trip on time back when I rode for Birdhouse and there was this guy screaming at this girl or something. I look over a second later and Brian Sumner’s choking the guy out. Someone throw a burrito in his face and Seamus is trying to control the whole situation. like, “Get out of here!” So then I just went in and kicked him. It was pretty cool. I didn’t actually fight the guy, but I was down to help out.
What’s something you’re good at besides skating?
I like riding dirt bikes and quads and stuff. That’s pretty fun. We’ve got tons of woods and trails out where my dad works at the cranberry bogs. There are some sand pits and jumps. It’s cool.
Do you ever help out at the cranberry bogs?
Yeah. I worked there for a while last year. It was cool. I got to drive a big loader.
What’s next?
I’ve got the Zoo York video, and the Emerica video, too. I’m psyched.
