Full
Name: John J Magee
Age: 31
Currently listening to: Hoover
When and where did you start skateboarding and what was your first board?
I think It was 1984, I remember getting my first cassette that same year and it was Van Halen’s 1984, I was in third grade in Destin, Florida. I had just moved there from a Catholic School where we had to wear uniforms. When I got there all these kids were into surfing a skating. My parents could not really put down the cash to buy me civilian clothes so I had to keep wearing my uniform. Kids fucking tortured me. I started doing odd jobs to buy a skateboard. My first board was a Vision Shredder; I think my pops matched me dollar for dollar. It was neon green and looked a lot like a Gator deck. Back then you had grab rails, nose guard, a skid plate, but getting nut protectors was going to far.
Sickest place you’ve skated?
Well I am more vert than street, so the best spots I’ve skated were parks. I skated the mini-ramp behind the Zero park last Thursday. It had pool coping, which was very fucking cool. You can grind so slow on it. I kept hitting it slower and slower just pivoting as slow as I could. It was crazy. I think the place I was most excited to skate was Stockwell Bowls in Brixton, U.K. I had seen in it a lot of videos. Unfortunately it’s just this really big shitty snake run with no coping. It was way sketchy- it’s not the best part of London, and I had my wife with me, which made things a little more uneasy. I sort of named our in-door park “Grindwell” after it.
What made you want to start a board company?
Well, first I started a skate shop. The suburb of Denver that I moved to had a good outdoor skate park. But there was not a real skate shop, just a sports shop. I needed new bearings and went there to check it out. The guy was a total dick to me, so I left thinking; “I should open a skate shop just to shut that fucking guy down”—That’s how rude this guy was. Anyhow I was only playing with the idea for a while and still trying to get a job in my new town. I’ve moved around a lot in the past 7+ years, so my resume reads a different company for each city. This put people off, they did not want to hire a guy that might move again. So- naturally I began to freak out, and one night at 4 a.m. I put together a plan to open a skate shop. In a week I had opened doors. The board company part is simple, Who doesn’t want to sell their own boards? I mean every shop does their own deck, but I wanted to go further. I know tons of talented people- one of them; Phil Dwyer is a sick designer. Chances are you have a CD or article of clothing he designed. He was down to design and a few companies were down to distribute. So we had to drop “Castle Rock, Co” from a few designs.
Where’d
the name come from?
I get this question almost daily. It means “Fuck And Kill Everything” Just kidding. I’m listening to “Storm Lord” right now and that only seemed appropriate. We live in a relatively new suburb south of Denver. We moved here from Lincoln Park, Chicago, pretty much the city. Castle Rock is very clean and planned, we have all the big box stores, all the fast food restaurants, and it all just looks like any other exit town in the U.S. In fact it is just that, 3 exits of matching earth tone buildings. You really have to look for the local businesses that are struggling to survive. The chain stores get all the incentives and breaks. Even though we have a local lumberyard and a locally owned hardware store, they leased land to the Home Depot and are re-zoning for an 84 lumber. So it just seems like the town is rushing towards something- what ever it is, it’s heartless and soulless. So Fake seemed appropriate. I guess this is not a new idea, after I opened up I found out there was a local skate brand out of Pueblo by the same name. The owner pretty much had the same reason for choosing the name. We had a little situation over our both having the same name. I had done all the legal stuff to secure my name and when I did a name search nothing had shown up. It sucked, I made it clear that I did not care if he kept the name or not. But I had too much money invested in the name. I had done all the right paper work and spent all the right money. It sucked because I had nothing against the guy. He eventually changed his name to Agony which I think is a very accurate name considering all the heartache you go through when you own your own business. We’ve since had a few other Fake’s pop up, I mean it’s not the most unique name. But I got the patent.
Shouldn’t you be into snowboards rather than its wheeled brother?
I’m into board sports. I grew up skating and surfing. I was just surfing 15th street in Del Mar yesterday. Since I moved here I am way into Snowboarding. We even have our brand of Fake Snowboards. But I fit more with the skaters than surfers or snowboarders. I always considered myself more of a surfer- but I never really got into surf clothes, and I don’t usually bro down with guys named “Lance”. Skateboard culture flowed along with punk for my first 5 or so years in it- before it went “thug”. And Snowboard steez is not my bag at all. But I love riding.
How
do you feel skateboarding has changed/progressed and where do you think
it’s headed in the future?
Well, much like the motorcycle; it has become much more acceptable than it used to. But, as with all things; when big corporations see some money being made- they want a piece too. So now we have a lot of mall chains. When I was a kid, new to Florida and the scene all together I was promptly informed that shopping at the mall was for posers. There were two core shops in the area and you had to choose one. There was a big rivalry between the two. So I guess the biggest change for me is that your are not the individual you would have been in the 80’s for choosing to skateboard. As for progress, I dunno. There are still shop rivalries, and all the core shops hate the mall shops. So we have more haters, more posers, and more biters. But the cost of skateboarding has come down. Most people don’t notice it because most people are new to it. Shoe technology has been all over the place, where before you only had to choose between slip-on and vulcanized. Ironically, with all the new shoe companies every brand this season has a slip-on or vulcanized shoe. I’d actually like to see Skateboarding get less popular, enough so that the corporations would back off. I’d like to have the camaraderie come back. These days everyone is wearing an Element or D.C. shirt. I liked it better when you saw someone in another city wearing an Indy shirt and you knew you could just walk up to him or her and find out what’s up.
If I told you I just met Animal Chin, would you be stoked?
No not really. I like Powell a lot; they could have done a lot of crummy things as skating got bigger and bigger. But they pretty much kept it honest. But those early skate movies were directed and written by non-skaters. They were like bad porn; they felt that they needed a plot. All we wanted to see was skating and maybe a little tomfoolery. That scene where they are in the nightclub…. I always have to skip past it. Go see Baker 3.
Favorite old spooler?
New skooler?
When I was 15 I worked at “Billi Willi Surf and Skate” I was into Hosoi. I bought a purple hammerhead deck and the next day we got the World Industries Valley Barnyard board with double kick. I was pissed. I remember sweeping the floor in front of where that deck was displayed and wanting it more than I wanted a pair of Oakley Razor Blades. Which for the record, I had wanted more than anything I had ever experienced. New guys…. Greco I guess.
Does Fake have its own team and if so who are they?
Yup.
Jack Barnes- who is the sickest skater in town, but has no focus in life. Josh Baker who is the killer of all things rail and will go far, Brenden Macleod – our steezy little ripper, Esteban Ramirez- who has disappeared since he discovered girls, B team- Josh Denton who kills it and has the worst hair in town, Connor Macleod who has the best taste in everything, Austin Welden is not afraid to ollie off of anything (seriously, the kid does not talk but he will ollie off your house), Mike Fetrow can not walk with out falling down or breaking something but he can skate like an angry muppet, and Jerrod Barnett who has a short tongue.
Does Fake put out its own products and if so what?
Decks, Wheels, Clothes, Snowboards, Hats and more.
Who designs your decks?
Phil Dwyer of “apt 13” and myself.
Where do you see Fake in five years?
The
skate biz is crazy; there is little loyalty or honesty in the biz right
now. I really don’t know. We will probably attempt to open a new shop
soon. Castle Rock will always be our heart though. We will grow or die
with this town. There is a crazy rush for other shops to open more shops
and blanket the area. I considered opening another shop but opted to open
an in-door skate park here in C-rock. It’s very hard to make a living
with just the one shop so I may be forced to open another.
Bomb Drops or Inverts?
Primos……
Do you prefer vert or street skating?
Vert, when street skating came on the scene it was all images of New York and San Francsico. It became very thug, I could not relate living in Florida. So at that time I got more involved in Music and surfed alone a lot.
Who would you like seeing on one of your boards?
Kids that skate more than talk, or that can skate with out a camera on them. Right now skating is more about video parts than anything else. Contests are not very important to most kids. In fact there is a dividing line between kids that compete and those that just skate. I don’t mind that- I think contests should still be fun. I have held a few contests and there were defiantly some agro parents that ruin it. I like that video makes you search out those hidden spots in the middle of the night and set up all commando style with lights, and ride away pieces. But it also makes it seem like there is no point skating if no one brought the camera.
If you mean pros, Greco, Reynolds, Cole, or Duffel I’m into that rocker steez.
you can visit John and Fake Skateboard Shop at:
821 North Park St.
Castle Rock, CO 80104
720.733.2840
Skate Park