Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Garrett Taylor's interview

 As promised, you get to read another interview. In today's interview, we will travel deep into the inner recesses of Garrett's psyche and find out what makes him tick, what makes him happy, and in general, what makes him Garrett Taylor. I didn't have a picture of him to put up, so I thought I'd put up this drawing of all the members of Bolts of Thunder. Garrett is the top left. That's what he looks like as a skeleton. Ok, so for those of you who are keeping track, we're starting our 1 month count down to the premier of "Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild"!!!!! The date is August 12. For all you Thunder Bolts out there, you're totally invited to the premier. We'll be having a barbecue and hanging out, so it'll be fun. Details will soon follow as to where and what time. Oh yeah, and bring some kind of food if you decide to come, we're not paying for all of you to eat, sorry... This also means that we need to get footage of all the Thunder Bolts so you can be in our video. These are the people that don't have full parts but are still loyal to the game. Yes, we're talking about you, Wizard, Finn, Brandon Miller, Drew Danburry, Brian Barlow, and whoever else I might have forgotten.. Seriously, leave a comment or something on the blog so we can meet up and film some time, we want you in. Ok, now enjoy Mr Toad's wild ride into Mr Taylor's head cavity...

(MrThunderBolt) So when we were in Paris, it seemed like you were starting to lose your mind, walking around with febreeze and obsessively spraying out Matt's shoes and stuff. What was going through your mind at that point? What drove you to such madness?   
     
-(Garrett) Two weeks is a long time to be out of my comfort zone, and I had nowhere to get away to. Imagine seven people living in a studio apartment with no windows, no room to really move, and a weiner dog that had the worst farts every single night. Throughout the whole trip I didn't get the best sleep because of someone snoring every night, but I won't mention names........Anyways, at some point I just snapped I think it was after the dog peed on me or maybe after I got a whiff of Matt's shoes (seriously, what is wrong with your feet Matt?).  just started spraying everything with Fabreeze.  

So your nollie noseblunt down that liberty rail is still one of my favorite tricks I've seen in person, or filmed. What went down to get that trick?

- I don't remember too much except it took a lot longer than I thought it would. It was my best trick I ever landed. That rail was perfect for that trick but I found a better one in S.F. but you have to sneak past crack heads to get in. It's at a closed off public park right across the street from where they give out free food and stuff for the homeless so you get all types there. maybe I can go back up and get the trick for the video, I kinda lost my touch with handrails though.


So you film with a lot of teams and pros these days, or at least you did when you lived in Vegas. Are you going to keep filming with them in Bakersfield, or in California? What are the ups and downs of spending days or weeks at a time with these teams?

-the ups are getting payed for my time and footage along with all the free product. Even better though is seeing/filming a trick  go down in person before anyone else then having it come out in a magazine or video and being like "hey I filmed that" or "I was there". It's amazing to also become friends with the ones I've always looked up to like Cairo Foster and Marc Johnson or even some of the filmers like Greg Hunt and Ty Evans. There is not many down sides except it's a little stressful constantly planning the day out with spots and giving nonstop directions like a human Garmin. I hope some of the teams will have me meet up with them in Vegas. Maybe I can get some of them to come out to Bakersfield. 



Do you have any good bum fights in parks stories? I seem to remember you telling me how you filmed some bums fighting or something, or maybe I'm making that up because I wish it happened.

-no I never  filmed any fights before but I heard Bum fights started in Vegas. Someone would have bums fight each other for like $20 and they made videos out of it. 



Ok, so we have this scenario that you get stranded on an island with any one member of Bolts of Thunder. There are cannibals on the island, potential hostile towards you, so keep that in mind. Who would you chose to be stranded with and why? 

-Maybe Matt for protection, but then again he might attract cannibals with his snoring. Jon would be good for the stories he tells, so with him I wouldn't get bored. Dan would be good if he had his trusty pepper spray, but then again there are probably no pimps on the island that I would have to worry about. 



What's the funniest thing you've seen out filming with skaters?

- Probably just being out filming with Sid [Melvin] or James [Atkin]. They are both funny to be around. If you want something specific you have to wait for my video [Ooh La La] to come out with their footage. I have some really funny clips of them.  



What's the most frustrated you've ever been skating?

- Probably the time we were in california and I was trying to front board that rail at that college. I had the worst mental block for some reason and kept riding up to the rail for 30 minutes and it was seriously the smallest rail. 



What's the happiest you've ever been skating?

-When I did the nollie noseblunt, or pretty much all the road trips we have been on with Chris [Ray].



Matt asked me these questions, and I liked them a lot: What's the most scared you've ever been skating, and what's the scariest situation you've ever been in out skating?

-I can't remember anytime being really scared to try something skating, there might have been some fear trying tricks but nothing really stuck in my head. Maybe watching other people try tricks, like Jt Aults nosesliding this rail at UNLV with a 4 story drop on the other side or anything Corey Duffel and Leo Romero tries. Those guys are gnarly. 





Speaking of scary situations, remember the terminator cop in San Bernardino? I told that story a couple weeks ago on the blog, but would you like to share what you remember of that?

- It was you me and Dusty. You told me all these horror stories about that local cop that made it his goal to just go after skateboarders and he patrolled all the schools. Then we decide to go there at night and thought we should be fine, he won't expect skateboarders to be there at night. So we got all the equipment over the huge wall and right about then we noticed a cop checking out my car in the parking lot at the far end of the school, and started shining his spot lights around in the school. Then he went around the other way and you ran and got the car while Dusty and I started throwing the stuff back over. The wall we had to climb was taller than normal but somehow we made it over with everything by the time you drove by with the car. We threw everything in and drove off right after we pulled out that cop came by the other way but didn't see that we were at the school so barely escaped termination. Correct me or add anything that I missed I know you have a better memory.  


If you could refilm any trick, which would it be and why?

-Trick that I did or trick I filmed? Maybe the nollie noseblunt I stuck on this 9 stair rail at that zoo in Bakersfield. It was getting dark and I said I would come back and get it but the next time I went there it was knobbed. Or it would be the fakie ollie on the Reno double set. I landed it but only rode like 5 feet or so and the next try I folded my ankle and took up the filming role instead. As for filming there are a lot of tricks I screwed up or later thought, why didn't I film that fisheye or something. 



Any last words for our blog readers? This is your opportunity to rant and rave in whatever fashion you wish. 

-Ya check out my site  Working on Skating  I will keep posting little edits and teasers until  Ooh La La comes out. James Atkin, Sid Melvin, Philip "pip" Meranto, David "bow" Hafsteinsson all have parts, along with footage of friends and pros.

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