Gino clears some stuff up on the switch to FA and all that. He’s still the most stylish guy on a skateboard. We’ve put a little excerpt of the interview below but head over to Jenkem to check out the full thing!
You are the newest rider for Fucking Awesome. When did you decide you wanted to join the company and approach Jason?
When I first heard that Jason [Dill] and Anthony [Van Engelen] broke out of Alien Workshop and started a board company, or expanded Fucking Awesome into a board company, I was immediately super psyched. There was something about it, just a feeling I can’t describe… just like, the industry needed this… It was gonna stir things up a little bit. The industry has been rolling the same way for a while now, and for something small to come out with these guys that are so well respected… I was just really happy for them.
But it was just one day, I was filming something, and we went to Supreme and Jason [Dill] was there. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, but you know how it is with Jason. Every time I see him it’s like we’re right back to square one, how it used to be, so we just sat down and shot the shit. In the back of my mind, from the day that I heard about Fucking Awesome, I immediately thought, I’d be down for it. It’s tight, it’s small, it’s new, it’s different. So yeah, it just got brought up while we were sitting in front of Supreme and I was like, “Yeah, I’m down.” I knew in my heart that that’s where I’d rather be, and when you feel it in your heart, and it’s a true gut feeling, then I had to go for it.
To be a part of something with Jason and Anthony is awesome. Especially being back with Jason after starting my professional skateboarding life with him. The first time I went to California and stayed in Huntington Beach with John Lucero, the first person I met was Jason Dill. Immediately we just became friends. We skated every day, we went from Black Label to 101, we spent so much time together skating and it just felt good to be back together with him. If it wasn’t for Jason I wouldn’t have left Chocolate, bottom line. At this point in my career, why not just change things up a little bit?
Do you think the name Fucking Awesome is gonna be a problem eventually because it has the word, Fucking, in it?
It’s obvious, yeah. I already spoke to Jason about that and there’s some shops that I’m sure won’t want to carry Fucking Awesome boards because of parents coming in, and they won’t wanna see that kind of stuff. But I guess the way I see it is, that kind of company is good. I’m glad actually. Fuck those shops. No offense, but that’s the kind of company it is to me. And you know, maybe in the long run you’d rather see more profit, but I’m kind of psyched that it’s not gonna be a Zumiez type board company or something like that. It’s as simple as that.
