Tuesday, December 11

Skateboarding and Music
Music and Skateboarding

By Mike Vallely

I’ve been quoted many, many times as saying, “Skateboarding saved my life.” Well, in all actuality that is a half-truth. The reality is that punk rock music, which led me to skateboarding, was what really made the difference at first in my adolescence. And so and ever since, skateboarding and music have always been intertwined in my life. They are and have always been my two passions.

From a very early age my dream was to be a musician, a singer, to be in a band and to make a positive difference in the world. To be heard through music. That was until I found skateboarding and realized my second dream of becoming a professional skater. Still, both outlets and mediums have always been readily available and pursuable. Neither has to be a career choice to matter. I love music like I love skateboarding and I’d love skateboarding whether I was doing it for a living or not.

Mike V. "fooling around" on his guitar, Winter 2001.

My love for music and skateboarding is simple; it’s the creative process and the fruits of the labor. It’s messing around on a guitar, singing in the shower, writing lyrics, listening to music, going to a concert, skating down the street, slapping a curb, sessioning a ramp, watching a skate video or looking at a skate magazine. I enjoy every aspect of both mediums as a participant and as a recipient of inspiration through the work of others.

I was in a punk band when I was 14. We were fairly popular in the Central New Jersey punk scene in early 1985. The band was called Resistance. I had replaced the previous singer who had been kicked out and I played with the band for one glorious show with Aggression and 7-Seconds in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I too was eventually kicked out of the band by my older and more polished bandmates for not ever having any money for practice space rental and for being too obsessed with skating. I always figured I’d get another band going but my life got too busy with skating and it has remained that way. Still, through the years I’ve fiddled around with guitars and have come close to being involved in a few musical projects but nothing has panned out until recently. I guess the closest I’ve come until now to realizing my musical aspirations is the reading of my poems during my speaking performances as my poems really are written as and are intended to be songs. Some of them are songs I will one-day sing.

Mike with Fugazi/ Minor Threat punk legend Ian Mackaye, Summer 2001.

When I was a kid I was a big Elvis, Kiss, Billy Joel, and Johnny Cash fan and I still am. But it was the discovery of punk rock that really cemented my passion for music. From The Sex Pistols to The Ramones to Black Flag, punk rock came into my life and spoke to me in a way I never knew music could, directly. I understood this expressive and passionate music and I was able to personalize a lot of what I was hearing. I could relate to The Dead Kennedy’s, Minor Threat, Husker Du, Bad Brains etc… This music mattered to me like no music had before.

In turn punk rock would eventually lead me back to other genres of music, it actually opened up my palate and helped turn me on to all kinds of stuff from The Clash to Bob Marley to Bob Dylan to Woody Guthrie to Jimmie Rodgers… They’re all connected. From Chuck Berry, to The Beatles to The Stones, from Bruce Springsteen to John Mellencamp to Steve Earle… Music is what I turn to to find myself and understand my place in the world. I can’t imagine life without it.

As a skateboarder music is a major part of my riding. When I go on tour and do demos I need to listen to music that is going to get me going, that’s aggressive and expressive. Usually I turn to Metallica, Rollins, Fugazi or Sabbath. Music is a major part of my on the road experience and of my pre-demo ritual. I can’t imagine hitting it as hard without The Rollins Band blasting in my headphones.

Mike at Elvis Presley's birthplace, Tupelo, Miss, Summer 2001.

When I had the opportunity to talk about skating and music with Henry Rollins two summers ago in Germany for MTV Europe, I told him how much his music helped me get up for getting down. He could relate and talked about listening to inspirational stuff before he performs and how listening to Public Enemy used to be a major part of his pre-show ritual. Music is so powerful that even musicians use it and need it for inspiration. I’m sure most other athletes can relate to music as being influential to performance as well.

All these years of skating and listening to music have only inspired me further to keep listening and to keep skating. There is even the actuality of a band featuring yours truly on vocals in the works right now. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to doing and being a part of for a long time. It looks like I’ve finally found the right scenario. So whether I’m tuning in, rocking out, skating in my driveway or demoing in Australia, music and skating will always be connected in my life. They feed off of the same energy, the same creative spark.