Caswell Berry: Sugar Mag Interview

Note: This Caswell Interview ran in Sugar Mag in French this past September (2012). A few months old but still some funny skate nerd musings if you are a fan. —ME

Sugar Magazine: Caswell Berry
Vertigo, Shotguns, and Fat Chicks

Caswell Berry has been in the game for a minute. He had his first published skate photo in a magazine when he was 11. He rode for the Ventura’s notorious Christian-themed board company “Renaissance” (As in “Born Again”) when he was 13. Rode for Powell alongside Javier Sarmiento and Danny Wainwright in his late teens. Then joined Diego Buchierri, Billy Marks, Ed Templeton, Austin Stephens and the rest of the loyal pawns at Toy Machine right around the time he turned 20—appearing alongside Ed’s assorted sex toys in the ’02 tour video Sucking the Life. But after changing teams three times in his first decade of sponsorship, since turning pro in ’03, Caswell has stood firm as a mainstay rider for enjoi—combining both the comforts of living in his home town of San Jose with the convenience of it also being the Tiltmode Army’s home turf and site of the longtime party zone known as the enjoi “Mansion”. After Bag of Suck dropped in ’06, Caswell has been more or less living the good life—traveling the world and skateboarding in between cigarettes. With new Osiris, enjoi, and possibly Volcom videos in the works, I caught up with Caswell to get the details of his current situation; Vertigo, Shotguns, and fat chicks being some of the finer points to his story.  Read on. 

What were you up to this summer?
We probably just did a bunch of Zumiez demos and mall shop signings. Then just a bunch of filming trips because I’m working on a new Osiris video and a new enjoi video. I guess the deadline for Osiris is October 30^th so it should be wrapping pretty soon.

Was the last major one that Feed the Need (’07) one?
Yeah.

Is there anything specific for enjoi? I feel like I’ve interviewed so many enjoi riders and there’s always a video coming.
Yeah. I don’t know. I just leave it up to the big wigs. Matt Eversol and guys like that. It’s usually a matter of them having all their ideas in order.

If someone from Bag of Suck era skateboarding time traveled to the present and it was your job to fill them in on what had changed, what would you tell them?
Hmmm. Bag of Suck was ’06. Man, I would probably say that the internet has obviously continued to change things. It’s probably made some things tougher and other things easier. If you’re trying to come up now, it’s obviously way easier to get your footage seen—just dump it all on the internet. It’s a dumping grounds though. There’s so much shit on there to sort through things almost get lost. Even if you find something you want it’s usually only like two minutes. I used to like watching a half hour video or an hour of edited footage.

It was almost easier when people just presented a new video. At least you knew they had spent time on it, like “Ok, this is worth my time. Somebody spent a year or two making it.”
Yeah. Now I’ll see ads of videos coming out and a bunch of them, as far as I know, don’t even ever come out. Like they keep leaking footage online.

It’s true. I feel like Plan B has been advertising their video for like 7 years.
(Laughs.) Yeah. Did that ever even come out? Is it still coming?

I don’t know. I keep hearing it’s in the works. But then it’s, “Oh, we used up all the VX footage, because now it’s all HD.”
That’s true. That whole thing is a kick in the nuts too. Everybody has all this footage filmed on VX and now no one wants to see that shit because it’s old apparently or the colors aren’t good enough or you can’t see your face.

It makes it a bit more exclusive too. If you don’t have the HD camera you can’t run with the big boys.
Totally. The VX was the people’s camera (Laughs.)

What about Facebook and Instagram and all that shit. It seems like every kid knows what every pro is doing at any time of the day now.
Not me. I don’t have any of that shit. It’s too much work and drama. It just looks like bragging to me. It’s fun in its own right if you do it the right way, but just for me—I don’t really want everybody to know what I’m doing. If I post a photo somewhere all of a sudden I have people lurking on the session. It just adds more stress.

I see stuff sometimes that legendary pros that I looked up to post and sometimes it’s actually a big let down.
Oh yeah. I see what you mean. All of a sudden you realize they’re not as cool as you thought.

Yeah. It kills the mystique if Jason Jesse is intagraming every meal he eats.
(Laughs.) No shit. I guess it’s important though. I’ve been told that I have no internet presence or whatever. I understand that you do have to have some of that to keep it going, but it’s just a pain in the ass. Just another thing I have to work for. It’s a distraction. Shameless promotion.

I look through it a lot and just feel second hand embarrassment for people. Like you can tell what people were thinking when they posted something. Like, “Ok, here’s me and Rob Dyrdek. This is going to push me up a few notches!”
I can’t wait to see how many people “Like” this! I can tap my screen twice to give you a thumbs up! It’s like high school. Skateboarding is like a high school click, ranked by importance on social media apps.

I like that there are still some pros that just stay off it.
Yeah. I wish I could say I had some philosophical reason. For me it’s probably just laziness.

I was told my (Matt) Eversol you are in a destructive relationship.
(Laughs.) Yeah. Well it’s up and it’s down like a rollercoaster. There are moments of complete awesomeness and then others not so much so. We’ve been together almost 6 years so it’s nothing too new. She’s a local girl from San Jose. I didn’t have to do any importing.

You don’t live at the official enjoi Mansion anymore do you?
No. I live less than a block away though. So I could be there all the time if I wanted. I’m an honorary roommate I guess. It’s mellowed out a lot. I can’t remember the last time there was a party over there. I know since Louie (Barletta) bought it, he has pretty much just been fixing it up and keeping it mellow. Right now it’s Louie, this dude Warren, a couple of chicks that live in the basement. It was converted into apartments before Louie bought it. Jai (Tanju) used to live down there, Nestor (Judkins) used to live down there. In the mid level, you have Zach Wallin with a room. Cairo (Foster) is renting a room there right now too. It’s a big old house.

Where does Cairo live permanently now?
That’s where he has a bed.

Doesn’t he have a wife and kid?
Yeah. I think they in New Mexico. So when he’s not traveling and skating he’s there and then he comes out here for little skate breaks too.

So the 24/7 party zone is over?
It’s pretty much quiet for the most part now. I’m sure dudes come back from the bars sometimes and rage, but for the most part it’s mellow.

Getting midlife?
Kind of. But I also think it got to a point where skateboarding wasn’t that important after a certain point. The party took over a little so I think this is a shift back in the other direction. You can rage and skate but it’s hard to do. You have to pick your battles as you get older.

Best memory from Toy Machine days?
There were really good times. It was never like I was bummed out on it, except when I left. I’d say every trip. But this one ’02 US trip we did was like a month long—we drove across the country. But Ed (Templeton) has this like sword of a dildo. It has like a sword handle with a hand guard attached to a dildo. It was really weird. That was like the beating stick if anybody got out of line (Laughs.) Like you would get smacked with the big dildo if nobody was feeling your music choice or whatever in the van.

Who was on Toy Machine at that point? You, Ed, Austin (Stephens)…?
Yeah. Diego (Buchierri), Austin, Ed, myself and that was probably right when Billy (Marks) got on and who else? Oh yeah, of course—Josh Harmony. Maybe one more. I feel like I’m forgetting somebody for sure. Fuck. Oh yeah Nate Broussard!

Oh well. Best memory from the Powell days?
Well, the team manager at the time, Rob Washburn, he was pretty awesome. He would throw out a lot of cash for specific tricks (Laughs.) Like, “Here, sixty bucks for this one right here!” and you’d be like, “Fuck yeah! I’m going for it!” (Laughs.) Or maybe the first Tampa I ever entered. That was rad. Powell traveled a shit ton. I don’t ever remember what happened to all the footage.

Best scene in Animal Chin (’87)?
Oh wow. That’s a good one. Hold on… Hi Doobie (To someone in background). I’m just saying hi to my mom’s dog. Damn. Animal Chin. I usually just really enjoy the whole thing (Laughs.) Wallows is really good. Hmmm. The SF part. I’ll just go ahead and say Wallows. Or actually—the club where Johnny Rad is playing. Lance is doing like a 5-0 grind over the window, but it’s actually just his feet. The Blue Tile lounge. That’s my pick.

Public Domain (’88) or Ban This (’89)?
It’s a tie. Honestly I think both copies I had were recorded on the same VHS tape. I was so young I didn’t know the titles so it all blends together. I remember Propaganda really well. Frankie Hill had the first part.

Were you a Frankie Hill fan?
Yeah. I was so young I didn’t really know people. But I remember him specifically mute grabbing that huge ass gap in Propaganda and doing like boardslides almost tuck knee as he was boardsliding, I thought that was really cool. Without knowing personally at all it just seemed like he was such an awesome dude.

Best Steve Caballero part?
All of them. He ripped and still does.

Are you in a Powell video?
I don’t think so. I don’t think they but any out while I was on.

Do you consider yourself a Bones Brigade member? Technically you were right?
I did go to Japan and I think it was marketed exclusively as a Bones Brigade trip (Laughs.) It was when Danny Wainwright and Javier Sarmiento were on too.

Best memory from the Renaissance days?
(Laughs) I knew it was coming. Honestly, most of us got on before any of the 411 commercials came out or anything. I think when we saw those, and it became obvious what they were trying to do with the whole Christian side, that was shocking to almost everybody on the team. To us it was just free boards. They came to San Jose and told us like, “We’ll give you four boards a month.” Who wouldn’t be stoked as a kid? I don’t think any of us knew it was that type of company. They didn’t really tell us. The best memory would probably be from being on a trip somewhere in the US, probably New Mexico or somewhere, but we would stay at like friends of theirs’ houses. But we would sneak off and go smoke cigarettes and drink beer in the woods. That actually felt pretty good considering it was this Christian company.

Was riding for Renaissance like a Catholic schoolgirl’s scenario, where it made you have to rebel for the rest of your life?
Right, like schoolgirls that go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum—just whore it up and start doing drugs (Laughs.) I think I was still too young by the time all that shit went under I was still just a kid. But maybe it did plant the seed of rebellion.

Rubbish Heap (’90): Jeremy Klein or Ron Chatman?
Oh man. Rubbish Heap was one of the videos I had on VHS when I was super young. I loved it. I think Ron Chatman and somebody else both do ollies at Benicia skatepark and their butts touch in mid air. It’s awesome. I remember (Mike) Vallely had a vert part in that too. I like the Jeremy Klein part a lot. He had the Nintendo song. I think I liked it for that reason. I was still playing Mario Bros. and all that. Although I still use that Ron Chatman quote about waxing red curbs. I used it the other day.

“Why would you wax a curb that’s already red?”
Exactly (Laughs.)

Did you love or hate Chris Branagh?
I was pretty neutral on him. I remember he has like the children’s lullaby song and he eats shit on the launcher to handicap bar. I guess Louie (Barletta) grew up in the Modesto area and I guess Chris Branagh was from there. Louie was saying he was just this kid that was super stoked on himself.  

Goldfish (’94) or Mouse (’98)?
I actually saw Mouse first. It didn’t blow it for me but skating was changing so fast then that it was always hard to go back and appreciate stuff you missed when it came out. Mouse was so advanced. It took me years to understand some of the tricks. Like Guy (Mariano)’s switch frontside pop-shove it to switch crooks on a handrail—it could have been regular for all I knew and I still didn’t understand it. The older I get—I think we were sitting there one night at the enjoi mansion watching Mouse and I just started tripping on how good those tricks were for back then.

I doubt if kids will ever really understand what the older dudes see in a Gino (Iannucci) part or a Guy part.
Oh, God no. They have no idea what we’re talking about. It’s beyond their grasp of comprehension. If it didn’t come out in the past few years, I doubt they know about it. Then again, some kids are really smart and get into it.

Best Marc Johnson story from the Mandown (’02) days?
Shit. A lot of fucking drinking. He came on this one enjoi trip with us when he was riding for Chocolate. We roomed together the whole trip and I actually got this photo that Jerry (Hsu) sent me the other day. It’s basically me with my shirt off after some demo and they had drawn this lower back tattoo on me with a sharpie. It was like a dolphin and some other stuff and MJ’s down there giving me a little kiss near the bottom. I’ll send you the photo, maybe they can use it.

What makes San Jose special?
Personally, it might sound weird but even just the way it smells here is comforting. There’s a specific way it smells and feels. That probably sounds weird but every time I get off an airplane and have my cigarette, there’s just a way it smells that feels like home. I love it. I’ve traveled across this earth and I’d probably live in some of the other places I’ve been but not forever. I just feel like this is where I want to be. I just feels right. There’s no place like home. All kinds of skating. All types of crews and homies.

Worst thing you have ever woken up to?
Wow. Shit. Well, it’s not so much “woke up” but more like say coming out of a blackout. But I came to and there was a really awful odor this one time, and I looked up to see this behemoth of a woman pushing my head down into her crotch. That was the exact moment that I came to. I immediately realized that I didn’t want to be there. I just started squirming and freaking out and saying I had gnarly anxiety and had to get out of there. This all happened at the Mansion too, in somebody else’s room to top it all off. I ended up having to pay for a taxi to get her back to her house and she stole my sweatshirt and all my cigarettes. I hopped in the taxi with her and had to go into her house and finagle my cigarettes back. I don’t think I got the sweatshirt back but the smokes were the main concern. That was probably the worst.  

Best drugs?
I’m not too heavy on drug use. But some reefer I suppose, and I’ve had some good experiences on mushrooms.

Worst drugs?
I had really bad experiences on mushrooms as well. But it’s bound to happen if you’re dabbling in that. I think acid is actually the worst. That’s where you see people and they’re permanently not the same afterwards. And of course all the really terrible drugs like Crystal Meth. I’ve never done it but looking at photos of people that do it, Faces of Meth—it looks pretty fucking horrible.

Who is enjoi sending to Street League?
I’ll say Weiger (Van Wageningen), but actually nobody from enjoi is going to Street League.

Romney or Obama?
“Mitt, Eat Shit.” I saw that tagged in a bathroom recently and thought it was really rad.

Is it ever okay to kill someone?
It’s gotta be a goddamned good reason, but I’m certain if it gets heavy enough. If you’re in a kill or be killed situation.

Best skate video ever made?
I’ll go with Animal Chin. I remember renting it every time I had a sick day from school as a kid. It’s got everything—skating, its got sweet acting, it’s got philosophy, like the whole “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” It’s deep (Laughs.)

Best ‘80s movie ever made?
Man. So many good ones. Robocop, Weird Science, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Rambo… Movies these days are basically all shit. They’re either comic book crap or remakes of something from the ‘80s. Total Recall (’89)—the original was great. There was no reason to make another one. Honest choice for best ‘80s movie, I’ll go with Willow. I loved that movie.

What positives do you see in the European skate scene?
Five panel hats! (Laughs.) No. I think it’s rad they have their own scene and companies. Some of it is better than the shit we have out here. It’s cool that they don’t have to get everything from the US.

It seems like the Europeans are less into the DC Monster angle too. Or maybe I’m just being optimistic.
They do have some wild rave shit at contests sometimes though.

That’s true. They have their own set of kooks. We all do. They just change flavors from country to country.
(Laughs.) Exactly. You need the kooks to separate out the cool kids.

Hobbies outside of skating?
I like to shoot shotguns. I like pinball. Bowling is a good time. I love all those old school type activities.

Do you just shoot at the range?
They have this place outside of San Jose. It’s like a hillside and they have all these stands where you can shoot clay pigeons. Like you yell, “Pull” like in the movies and two of them shoot up. You can set it to rabit mode where they bounce on the ground, or Canadian geese where they shoot up really high. I’ve hit the doubles before if they cross paths or shoot one after the other.

Is it buckshot or single cartridges?
You can do both depending on how you load your shotgun. Usually we use the spray but you can also get gnarly and use the straight slugs. But those will wreck your shoulder with the kickback.

Worst fashion era in skateboarding?
I don’t know. I wore the super baggy stuff. It was pretty bad. I mean ravers stole it after we were done with it. That has to tell you something when ravers are borrowing your style. That or maybe the short shorts now. The D3 era was pretty bad too.

Longest you have spent away from skateboarding?
My bout with vertigo for sure. That was about three years ago and it lasted like 6 months.

I think I read about that. It sounded insane. You just got vertigo all of a sudden?
I basically got nerve damage some how in my inner ear and then basically had to re-train my brain to take over instead of relying on the nerves. Those nerves are the ones that control your balance. So I had to go to a specialist and do a bunch of therapy just to stand on my board again. I was going out skating one day with my homey and I remember it was a normal day, I just went to take a push on my board and I remember feeling like my head was just going to fall straightforward if I leaned over the board. So I was like, “This is weird.” Then I try to lean back more and then I just feel like I’m going to fall backwards. I had just lost all ability to balance overnight. It was scary. I went home and just laid on the floor in the living room. I tried to get up and got just full on spins like if I was drunk but completely sober. I started vomiting too.

Damn. So after six months you just regained balance?
Yeah. Pretty much. I had all these exercises I had to o. But I guess they worked.

Best enjoi ad of all time?
All of them.

Last thing you want to do before dying happy?
Not die.