From the Lizard King pro spotlight in this month’s Transworld – a simple case of no respect, or sparks aimed at the long-cooled Socal/Norcal tinderbox?
TWS: Do you ever think about how far you’ve come over the past four years? I mean, you used to ride for Think, and now you have some of the best sponsors out there.
LK: Yeah, exactly. It’s such a trip`, dude [laughs].
I mean, I don’t know who buys the boards either, but damn..
Tags: California, Deathwish, frontside noseslides, Michael Plumb, Rodney Dangerfield RIP, Think, Transworld
boil the ocean 
February 15, 2010 at 12:46 pm |
i was more suprised that tws would say such a thing. had this been a thrasher or maybe even a skatemag neikerato interview then no big deal. tws usually tries to not upset anyone, i mean come on they’re still giving bastien and danny gonzales a chance, oh and running hotdog and army ads.
February 15, 2010 at 1:51 pm |
Did he trade is soul to Satan for a massive ego?
February 15, 2010 at 2:12 pm |
Think’s problem seems to be a lack of a discernible brand image. When you see/read a company’s name, an image of who the riders are and the “feel” of the company come into your mind (whether good or bad); e.g. Zero, Anti-Hero, Girl, Baker.
As far as a consistently-themed marketing campaign, the constant seems to be weed. Their ads are so ridiculous. One month it’s a sequence, the next it’s a dude with a ponytail blowing weed smoke.
February 15, 2010 at 3:42 pm |
yeah, i noticed that comment and reread it a couple times. harsh! i mean, i don’t think its anyone’s favorite company, but damn! unfortunately it is kind of true though. they are completely a stepping-stone company for people (Santa Cruz anyone?). they have some underground rippers though, for the moment, like Adrian Williams and Manny Santiago.
i think that City kind of has the focus from Street Corner distribution…for better or worse. Although both of those teams could use some brand image – and Real for that matter too!
February 15, 2010 at 4:13 pm |
mmmm…i think Real is fine with there image. for them it seems to be just gnarly norcal. plus im biased becuase i love deluxe.
rodney dangerfeild sorta looks like lizard in 30 years.
February 16, 2010 at 12:46 pm |
agreed, DLX is the shit. i just don’t see the correlation between Busenitz, Huf, Bravo…and Ernie Torres, Nick Dompierre etc. Seems like guys that are really good, but wouldn’t ever actually hang out.
February 15, 2010 at 4:33 pm |
Q: Do you ever think about how starved for content your magazine has gotten during the past four years? I mean, you used to interview guys who contributed to skateboarding, and now you’re interviewing Lizard King…
A: Yeah, exactly, it’s such a trip, dude [nerously laughs and loosens collar]
February 16, 2010 at 1:37 pm |
(takes huge slug of water and wipes sweat from brow)
February 15, 2010 at 7:04 pm |
Danny Fuenzalida. case in point, f lizard.
February 15, 2010 at 7:26 pm |
Tripe? Like cow’s stomach?
February 15, 2010 at 7:26 pm |
Ohhhhhhhhh, trip.
February 15, 2010 at 10:04 pm |
some dood, seriously? Lizard has “contributed to skateboarding” for sure. You may not back his personal approach/attack/brand, but come on. Dude’s done some craze shizz.
February 17, 2010 at 2:32 pm |
excuse me while i step over your opinion while transitioning from the street to the sidewalk.
February 15, 2010 at 11:33 pm |
he’s “contributed to skateboarding” for sure, now the devil is super trendy. TIGHT!
February 16, 2010 at 1:45 am |
it might just be me, but i could read this quote two different ways depending on whether or not “tripe” is a typo.
February 16, 2010 at 2:52 pm |
At first I thought maybe he’d gone overboard with the whole overuse of the word “trife” and was just inventing words.
February 16, 2010 at 1:58 am |
“One month it’s a sequence, the next it’s a dude with a ponytail blowing weed smoke.” Hah I know what you mean but, when talking about relevant brand image, that might be the most faithful representation of what skateboarding actually is.
February 16, 2010 at 2:52 am |
Think’s current branding (or lack thereof) aside, we’re talking about a 20-plus yr. old. company that has hosted/nurtured the likes of Wade Speyer, Pat Duffy, Phil Shao, Dan Drehobl, Duane Peters, Corey Duffel, Eric Ricks, Diego Bucchieri, Stefan Janoski, Jason Adams, Pete “the Ox” Colpitts,…and featured art from Mike Giant and Jeremy Fish.
I was appalled at the comment (or that it was allowed to run).
February 16, 2010 at 2:58 am |
why didn’t somebody ask Anthony Shetler if he’s bummed that his board will be outsold 100 to 1 by his “teammate” the cartoon devil?
February 16, 2010 at 3:00 am |
p.p.s. RIP Rodney; we miss you.
February 16, 2010 at 5:36 am |
would be kind of ironic if it’s a diss aimed at norcal when maybe his best coverage in the last year was at……..wallenburg
February 16, 2010 at 1:31 pm |
interviews about ‘papa satan’ and whatever other garbage was in there makes me so bummed on skating, or at least being involved or paying attention to that side of it, not the actual act of it. Point being, it was a horrible piece of reading. Upon finishing the article, I immediately thought to myself, “there’s 5 minutes of my life I will never get back.” I felt that some intelligence was sucked out of my head while reading it.
February 16, 2010 at 2:12 pm |
“there’s (insert time measurement) of my life I will never get back” is the most cliche, overused comment on the internet. On the subject of TWS vs. Think, I’d love to see how Greg Carroll would react if he were still TM.
February 16, 2010 at 4:44 pm |
I can’t believe Lizard King is still even around. Or Think.
February 16, 2010 at 6:51 pm |
Think might not be the most focused or prestigious of all the board companies – it certainly isn’t top tier or particularly relevant TODAY – but that is a weird comment. A stepping stone they may be, but riding for Think shouldn’t be some kind of embarrassing thing you grow out of. It’s not like Lizard King was sponsored by a modern-day World Industries, come on now.
February 16, 2010 at 9:51 pm |
you have to understand, when lizard king was on, it was REALLY unorganized and not like the think of yore. theres an interview of him just really confused as to where he was going to go and what they were doing, he never knew what was going on other than getting boards. i don’t know where it is, but I’m sure one of you guys can find it. it’s before he became all “passion passion passion” and had dreadlocks. but he’s coming from a different time of think so I can understand why he feels the way he does.
the INTERVIEWER on the other hand, he really threw that across like it was a charged question. ” I mean, you used to ride for Think, and now you have some of the best sponsors out there.” what the fuck IS that ? have some fucking respect asshole. there are ways to ask things without being a faggot, this is not one of those ways. this really speaks more on the inteviewer’s opinion of think that it does lizards.
February 16, 2010 at 11:15 pm |
I heard Larry Balma was the interviewer.
February 17, 2010 at 3:21 am |
“have some fucking respect asshole. there are ways to ask things without being a faggot”
Using the word faggot as an insult is not very respectful.
February 17, 2010 at 3:39 am |
Why would respectfulness be even on your mind when trying to insult someone?
February 17, 2010 at 10:41 pm |
The interviewer and Lizard blew it.
Transworld sucks its more ads than content and lizard sucks.
Transworld filled with McDonalds ads, Transworld Business does interviews with the CEO of Skull Candy, and praises Zumiez… enough said.
Lizard, yea the guy has done some gnarly tricks, but lots of people have done a few gnarly tricks. I used to see this dood around AZ and he was scum, no one I’d want to skate with, and who else is dumb enough to show up to meeting about a shoe sponsorship wearing another brands shoes? Dood sucks, he better thank God he can toss himself down shit otherwise he’d be methed out in an alley.
February 18, 2010 at 2:22 am |
Lizard lived with my buddy and broke his tv and tried to make it right with an 8-ball. Great guy.
February 18, 2010 at 2:41 am |
Lizard King. hhahaha, that name. wow. 20 years from now, what will it mean?
February 18, 2010 at 3:54 am |
lizard front nose slid holly wood 16. that’s more buried than a front crook. been waiting on that since baker summer tour video. i switch front boarded it and say you all are pussies for talking shit
February 18, 2010 at 1:46 pm |
cool story bro
February 18, 2010 at 10:16 pm |
This also reminded me of that Cody McEntire kid. Every interview I’ve read with him someone asks something along the lines of “Why Think?” I always take that as a hint to say “you could do a lot better.” I find myself agreeing with them, I mean that kid isn’t really my cup of tea, but it seems like kids would go apeshit for him if he rode for Zero or something- he really is talented. (I think he’s only had 2 interviews really, just sayin’ everyone kind of hates on the modern Think)
February 25, 2010 at 6:23 pm |
As a person who owns a copy of “Serpent Head Nightmare Fang” from 8 or 9 years ago, it’s clear that Mike Plumb as gone from an average clothes wearing, snowboard shop skateboarder and jumped on the pile-status bandwagon, got a catchy nickname, and convinced children that coke & satan are the new Nike Dunks. He’s managed to skate the same as he did 8 years ago, but somehow convince people that he’s gnarlier than he used to be before he was a King, or even a Lizard.
So if anybody is to blame for Lizard King’s popularity, it’s us, for posting comments about how rad/lame he is, and boosting his publicity.
February 27, 2010 at 9:27 am |
Quit this talk about Think…
Lizard used to be on Pig Wood – probably the worst company – and had a part in one of the worst videos of all time: Slaughterhouse.
Nobody cared about him or the other ugly Pig Wood guys then and look at them now!
Yeah, take a look; they’re still the same fucking ugly bunch of stupid scumbags.
Lizard has come a long way. Full circle – from scumbag to scumbag!
February 27, 2010 at 9:30 am |
The interview is done by some guy called Ben Kelly.