Introduction by Damien Wilson
Interview by Lukas Tönnesmann & Oliver Nermerich
Photography by David Johns
What I can say is that the man you all know as Joey Chase is a genuine person with a kick ass personality accompanied with a large amount of “Bad Ass”! At first glance and then again on the second take, Joey would be the last person on peoples “Who can I get to babysit list”. Personally knowing Joey for 7-8 years now, he is one of the few dudes I would allow to hold my freshly born, still covered in placenta, baby. In Joey’s world family comes first, and is valued above all (including skating). If you ever get the chance to hang out with Joey and his brother Sammy at the same time, you’ll find a striking resemblance to the movie “Boondock Saints”. It’s quite impressive. Aside from Joey’s compassion for family, he is equally attention oriented towards his friends. Those lucky enough to become a friend have the pleasure of knowing that Joey is always looking out for them in every way. Whether it be skating and trying to get someone sponsored or free shit, or making sure their back is covered in a fight, or sometimes throwing the first punch for a friend. He also has an insatiable, (almost sickening) love for his lady.
Joey’s contribution to rollerblading and our sport in general can possibly be measured in pints of blood! Over the years he has put his ass on the line and shown us sections filled with immaculate stunts, precision technical skating, and atrocious falls that would make most quite “Forever”! He has come a long way from that Broskow look alike with a shitty attitude when I first met him. He has learned that there is more to skating than doing “spin to win” tricks and hammers. It comes down to the desired attitude accompanied with skills, and Joey has mastered both in perfect harmony. Becoming a pro anticipated to see, and an idol in our sport many aspire to be. He has a kick ass handle bar moustache, which gives grip for a bodacious ride to any lady lucky enough to hop on that freak train. Oh! Above all, Joey defends our sport. He disputes anyone’s negative comments toward our sport, and if they continue to run their ignorant mouth, he’ll close it for them. He’s a true leader by example, and a much needed individual in our sport. When you come across this man, shake his hand and say thank you.
Joey Chase is more than a friend, fellow professional, co-owner of Fester, but now a brother to me. As close as any siblings I have. Keep kick’n ass you filthy mother fucker!
-Damien Wilson
How’s it going Joey? I’d like to start the interview off the good old way – since I know you’ve e.g. moved from M1 to Fester etc. – who are your sponsors today?
It’s going good man, these days I’m riding for SSM, Fester wheels, Ground Control, Revolution, Titen, and Lowlife.
How would you describe a typical day in the life of Joey Chase? Habits and hobbies?
Um, alright. No typical day…basically, pretty much do what comes my way. Go blade, hang with the lady, chill with the boys…I just got a camera so I’ve been going out filming a lot for the new Razors video.
Why on earth didn´t you have a passport for so long? Are you currently in possession of a valid one? Word on the street is that it could really help you travel for SSM…
Well basically, I didn’t have a passport because I couldn’t get ahold of my birth certificate, but now I have one so it won’t be a problem in the future.
Back in the day you put out a lot of edits and sections skating REMZ. By that time I felt that they suited you and your skating perfectly. Today you’re on SSM – well have been for a good while – and it appears as if a new inseparable and even more perfect union has been formed. Was it hard going from REMZ to SSM or would you say it was a natural transition?
Yea that was a long time ago, I can barely remember what the transition was like. It was sort of weird transitioning right off the bat but once I got used to the skates I realized they are the right blades for me and my skating.
You seem to enjoy the crap out of living in the south. Being a psycho stalker I spotted a number of photos covering your ‘White Trash Birthday Bash’ – congrats by the way – and started to wonder whether you’d like to give us a brief insight on what makes the South special to you and why.
Well mainly because I’ve grown up here. I’ve made friendships with people who will be good buddies for the rest of my life. I travel a lot so it’s nice to always have a place to call home. If you see the photos you can understand why I really do love it. And if you haven’t seen the photos, check them out on www.festerwheels.com so you can see what I’m talking about.
Your rolling has evolved a lot over the years. What hasn´t changed though – and believe me I checked on that – is your unbelievable bravery when it comes to handling the most death defying stunts. Where does this quality come from? Did your folks bathe you in dragon blood back when you were a toddler? Why are you this tough?
Haha, well I guess my mom always told me when I was little that people would always be nervous because I was always climbing on high things. I don’t even remember this but my mom told me the story where I was about 4 or 5 years old, we lived in a house that was on a hill and she said that one day I was playing on my big wheeler, she saw me going down the hill toward a set of steps on my big wheel so she ran after me, by the time she got there I was picking up my big wheeler and walking back up the stairs. So I guess you could say that it’s just always been a natural thing for me to want to do the bigger stunts and push it as far as I can go.
Off blades – what is your outlook on life? What do you do when you’re not rolling?
Life’s pretty sweet man, I just try to do as many cool things and see as many things as possible, hang out and have a good time. When I’m in town I spend a lot of time with the lady since I’m always out of town.
Your Fester pro wheel has been released only a few months ago plus you received a GC pro frame last year. Good for you! What else can we expect? There have been massive discussions on the web about whether you or Jon will be receiving the next SSM boot. Care to comment on that?
It’s obvious now that Jon got the next boot, but as far as me getting a blade you will have to wait and see. As far as Fester goes, Damien and I are constantly working on new ideas to try and make the company what we want. We are working on a lot of new stuff to come out this year.
Given that, through the years, you’ve constantly been filming for different projects and have always made an effort to put your all into each and every individual section – is it possible for you to choose your favourite? Off the top of my head there’s ‘Shadowed from Society’, ‘Orange’, ‘Thrill’, ‘Sleaze’, ‘Wake Up’, ‘Tough Stuff’, ‘The Nimh Team Video’, ‘Fester’, ‘GC.1’ etc…and I’m pretty sure I’m missing some here….
Yea there’s a few missing, no biggie haha. Well basically I like every section for different reasons I wouldn’t say I have a favorite. Some I like better than the others, obviously the GC video is the most recent so I’m pretty stoked with how my section turned out.
Well, during all the video productions listed before is there any wild story that happened behind the scenes and most people don’t know about?
For one I would have to write a book to tell you all the crazy stuff that happens behind the scenes on tour. Well during the filming of the GC video, everyone flew in to do a Florida tour (me, Sammy, Keaton Newsom, Andy Jacuzzi, Damien, Chris Daffick, Gumby, Julian Bah, Jason Reyna) so you can imagine we were getting set up for a crazy couple of weeks. So one night we are all hanging out at my place and Keaton and Jacuzzi meet some bums at the park across from my place. Somehow they end up drinking four lokos in the park with the bums all night as we watch from the porch. Finally when the night was coming to a close they stayed in the park with their new friends. So the next day we decide to take the day off blading to go to a water park and we get word from Danny Delaney that these dudes are still with the bums drinking. After no sleep for them we headed to the water park with a barely alive Andy Jacuzzi who was wearing gold dragon boxers only. We send Jacuzzi and my girlfriend alone down a ride and right before the raft leaves he smacks a lifeguard’s ass which led to management threatening to kick us out. So we decided to go to the wave pool and Jacuzzi takes off into the pool while taking out a young kid and doesn’t even stop. He finds a raft to float on, barely, and he falls asleep hanging onto the raft. So Dafick and I decided to push him off, then he starts sinking to the bottom not waking up. When we finally swim under to save him and get him back to the top he wakes up and makes a hilarious face and slaps a little kid near us right on the top of the head. By this time it starts raining so we head to the concession area for cover and to get some beers. Jacuzzi decided he doesn’t want to be wet and sticks paper napkins all over his wet body. He pushed past a foreign woman and said “excuse me” in a terrible accent and in return she stomps over and tell him that “there is NO excuse for you.” When the day came to the end, we are all walking away from the park and Jacuzzi looks back and says man that place looks awesome, I wish I could remember it. He was the winner of the awesomeness award of the day. That was pretty much the tone everyday of that tour. Oh and I forgot he also puked on everyone during a raft ride.
As a Pro skater you were able to travel a lot in the US and in different other countries and most likely skate more spots than most of us. Which skate spot amazed you the most? And in which city did you feel comfortable the most so far? And of course why?
I guess I couldn’t really pinpoint one spot, I was surprised at how many awesome ditches there were built like skateparks in Vegas and we filmed a lot there for the GC video so I was impressed with the spots. The city I feel most comfortable in would have to be Santee. Damien and I have become close over the years basically it’s like having a second family out there.
One thing that you never miss to bring when you are on travels?
Obviously my blades. That’s the most important. I can survive without spare clothes and a toothbrush if I have to.
What’s the best thing about Skating for Brian Shima?
Well it’s Brian Shima, I would never have thought as a little kid that I would one day be skating for his boot company. So it’s pretty sick being a part of it, and not to mention I like everything that is happening with the company. It definitely seems to be going in the right direction.
The Bloodline of the SSM team gets bigger and bigger. Who do you see as the most promising talent in the team?
Well there is a lot of promising talent on the team. The dudes I would keep an eye out for are the Isaac twins.
What are your plans for the summer? Any video productions you’re involved in? Any travels planned? New Fester products coming up? What’s on your plate?
I’m currently working on an SSM online edit that will be out within a couple weeks. I’ve also been working on my section for Pile High, also a Fester edit will be out shortly. As far as traveling goes, I will be out in California in the next couple of months, just stacking footage for SSM. Damien and I have been talking about going down to Mexico City as well. There’s a lot going on right now, not sure of the exact times and places but it will be a busy year. As far as Fester products go we have a lot of stuff coming out soon.
Well, that´s about it then. Thanks a lot for your time. This is where you get to thank, rant, rave or show love! Go ahead.
Thanks to all my sponsors, all the shredders out there, my buddies, Sammy my main dude, my family, my girlfriend Brandie and all the people who dig my skating.
