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MD: The BONES Wheel and Bones Bearing teams are very strong, but Powell Peralta has a rather small team right now. What are the plans for the team?
GP: We have a strong core team of legendary professions who are dedicated to helping to build skateboarding and its community to historic new levels.
Steve Caballero, Mike Vallely, and Chad Bartie, form a rock hard core, and amazing younger skaters like Jordan Hoffart, Aldrin Garcia, and Killian Martin
are making big waves in their respective areas. You may not consider our team "big", but it is "bad" and it will become even stronger in the
years ahead.
In the past two decades, many other companies have stolen our top ams after we helped to develop and promote them, promising to do a better
job of helping them to get to the "next level". This has prevented our team from growing naturally, but I now believe that we are on a high enough
trajectory to prevent this poaching. Poaching is lame. We have never stolen someone away from a competitor, unless they quit and came to us. I would
recommend this policy to my competitors.
Powell Peralta Vallely
World Industries Vallely
MD: When Vallely left… he was one of the key figures that made World Industries popular. With Rodney, he was just a freestyler, people didn’t really
care! So if he wants to go freestyle with some other company who cares? But with Mike’s going, it was basically the catalyst. Then he came back and
surrendered his pro model…then he was team manager … left again…and now he’s back. Is there any hesitation on your part at all with somebody who’s
able to come and go it seems with the tide?
GP: Of course. I think both Mike and we thought a long time about re-establishing a formal relationship. It seems to make sense for both of us at
this point in time. You know ….Mike’s not a teenager. And he’s at a point in his career where he’s certainly at the apex and appreciated by young
skaters. And Mike’s fairly unique in that he loves to promote himself and skateboarding simultaneously and he’s willing to spend his time with little
kids that are just starting skateboarding. So that’s of huge value to us and it validates his career and he gets a lot of love and we think that’s
really good for skateboarding ….because you know, I think it’s really important that top pros help little kids to come along and reach down and give
them a hand. And Mike’s one of the few that really REALLY works hard at that and does an amazing job! So for him to come back and help us do that
at this point in time, made a lot of sense.
MD: So with most of the guys who were in the bones brigade, most of them have gone off to become successful within the industry with their own
businesses. Some have scaled back. Some are big. Was there ever any sense of betrayal over their leaving or did you see it as a natural part
of the evolution of their careers and having to go off and do their own thing?
GP: You know… quite honestly, I felt very betrayed and underappreciated. [laughter] for all we did for them ….for a long time! But you know, as
you see the industry ebb and flow and you see everyone grow up and mature it gives you a perspective on the whole process. And I’ve learned to not
take it personally and to recognize that people who become professional athletes have a very personal agenda. And if you’re running a company, you have
a different kind of an agenda. And I’ve just learned to deal with that as reasonably as I can.
Animal Chin Bones Brigade....then and now
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