Thursday, May 30

Ellis Interview Part 2

EXPN.com

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EXPN: With that in mind have you seen Dogtown yet?

Ellis: Ahh, a little bit of it I haven't seen the whole thing but I kind of…

EXPN: What do you think?

Ellis: I think it's cool. Really cool. I thought it was a little bit of a big claim that they created how much they created but I wasn't there so maybe they're right. You know what I mean? I was just like whoa, I didn't do it because you did it.

EXPN: Compare the story of the Dogtown skaters with how you started, how you came up, how you got into skateboarding.

Ellis: Hell, I got into it. I got into it because it was solo man, that's why. Spend a lot of time by myself. Frustrated little bastard that's why I got into it. I needed something to let my stress out and it was either that or steal cars (laughing) for a living.

EXPN: Who did you look up to when you were coming up? Guys that were your heroes or whatever?

Ellis: Yeah, yeah definitely. I've always said that whatever I get into I always find someone that I can relate to. That's first. And then someone who I would want to emulate, you know what I mean? Chris Miller was my first one. Chris Miller just for his style without even meeting him I was like this guy… I just liked the whole vibe. Lance Mountain because he was a funny guy. He sort of showed me a more fun side to skateboarding. That it was not all about winning, you know what I mean it's also about fun. And Christian Hosoi, those were my influences when I started.

EXPN: Have you seen Ultimate X? What did you think?

Ellis: I have seen it, yeah It's all good man, I think that with the IMAX thing you can see exactly how gnarly some of that sh*t is. Like with Motocross, some of the jumps you can tell that they aren't jumping some piddly little gap. They are for real death defying gaps. I thought it was cool. It's just another aspect of skateboarding. That isn't the hardcore, but I think it's going to make more people skate and more people understand these sports and I'm down for that.

EXPN: What's the next big thing you've got going on?

Ellis: The Tony Hawk Tour. I think it starts up in like two weeks or something.

EXPN: Are you healthy? Are you ready to go?

Ellis: Actually, since I don't compete anymore, I've just been filming for the new DC video, so for me yeah? I'm pretty healthy. I need to ice my ankles a couple times a day if I want to keep skating though. I think lately though I have been being a little more professional about it all.

I mean my whole professional career, to be honest, I couldn't give a sh*t, you know? I would go out to have fun and hang out with my boys and to just slam. That's what I did it for, to get injured and get scared. That stuff got me amped. So now I ice myself and if I'm getting fat I watch what I eat and all this girly crap now. I'm almost an athlete now, it's ridiculous.

EXPN: So no more of the stuntman stuff or what?

Ellis: Oh millions of stuntman things. I just don't plan them.

EXPN: Did you plan the Guinness thing? (Biggest drop-in on a quarterpipe)

Ellis: No, they called me and asked me to do it. I didn't plan to have that happen. I just jumped off of something one day because I was doing a demo with Tony and I was like "why bother doing what he is doing, 'cause he is making me look so stupid" So I just jumped off of shit. He doesn't do that. Then I jumped off it and everyone was like "Holy crap man you're crazy!" Then I thought I was on to something. To me it's like learning a new trick. Now I look at the ramp or wherever I am and I don't just look at the ramp. I look at stuff on the roof and stuff behind it, everything.

EXPN: So you have any more of the Apegrabbers or anything?

Ellis: Yeah, I have a whole bunch, I moved them up a notch. I have heelflip ape hangers and all kinds of sh*t now.

Look out for Ellis, Tony and the rest of the Tony Hawk Tour guys this summer on ESPN and ESPN2. If you see some Aussie dropping off insane heights and doing ape hangers off of beams over the ramps and generally raising havoc, that's "Ellis-mate" (Jason's fearless alter-ego). Don't worry he's a professional.

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