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| Features - Surf | |||
 Mike York Words by Luke Friend First published Stranger 14 - April 2007 Skateboard companies come and go. In a cyclical industry with a fickle nature, the brands that survive and still stay relevant are few and far between. These brands are usually united by a few common elements - strong team, strong art direction and a genuine love of skateboarding.  Turf skateboards  Turf Skateboards www.turfskateboards.com Mike York Q and A Being a veteran of the skateboard world, you've seen a lot of companies come and go. What made you decide to roll with Turf now? Did you see a gap there or were you just ready to go it alone? I've seen skateboarding become all about the money. It was not about being yourself anymore, and doing your own thing. All the companies that support the X- Games are all wondering why they're not making hella money anymore? Money is the root of all evil!!! You'll be forever linked with the Girl family. What did you learn from those guys, being on Chocolate for so long, that you can take in to your new role as VP of Turf? I LEARNED THAT IF I COME OUT REAL, TO NEVER LOSE THAT EVEN IF TIMES ARE TOUGH. OR YOUR SHIT WILL FALL OFF! Do you miss being part of that team? Good times I imagine? Yeah, the old days, when everyone there was down for good, new skating. I miss being with my REAL friends, not people who used me to get them sponsors. You know who you are. What can people expect from Turf in terms of team, product and style? I hear James Kelch is on? Turf team is Mike York, Sammy Baptista, Jason Wussler, Jason Wakazawa, Larry Redmon, Vince Salvi, and the godfather James Kelch. Turf is about skateboarding!! Having hella fun skateboarding! It's not about your tricks or how good you are. Turf is for the skaters that have it in their hearts!!! Plus my real skater heads need a breath of fresh air. So suck up some Turf! Most guys at your age begin to wind down their pro careers, but judging by the recent footage on YouTube you're skating stronger than ever? Thank you. I feel good and LOVE skateboarding. So I'm gonna do just that - skate! More than anyone else I can think of, you always seem to really love being a pro skater. Just love skating, love going on tour, the whole deal. You suffered through potentially career threatening injuries, ups and downs, yet you still seem as stoked as ever. Where does this enthusiasm still come from? It comes from my family, REAL FRIENDS (who still liked me when I got kicked off Chocolate), and all the treal, real skaters all over the world. You guys make me wanna skate. Final question, can anybody stop Yorkatron? Fuck naw!!!!!!! Haha! Thanks Stranger magazine!!!! You guys keep it real and so will Turf!  Bob K How do you begin to create an identity for a newcompany? What was the initial process with Turf? Mike and I talked a lot about the ideas that he initially had before I came on board, and I expanded on those and added my own twist. It's all been pretty organic actually, we've been friends for a long time and it's easy to work with him. Mike York is one of skateboarding's real characters. How much did his style and personality play a part in what you create for Turf? His personality definitely plays a big part in what's going onto these boards. I'm doing the art direction out of my office here in Canada and Turf is down in SF but we do a lot of talking on the phone and collaborating on ideas. It stokes me out every time I talk to him because he's so excited about skateboarding and to get this thing going, and that excitement rubs off on me. How different is it to work for an independent like Turf in comparison to the bigger skate brands you have designed for? More freedom, or is it not quite as simplistic as this? When you're working for a larger company, chances are you don't have much of a stake in it as a whole. You go in to work, get a fair paycheque for doing what you do and if the company does really well based on your work, you keep getting that same paycheque year after year. You might do a lot of stuff that never sees the light of day because you've got somebody else making the decisions and there might even be some really shitty politics going on that nobody ever hears about. WITH TURF, I'M NOT ONLY THE ART DIRECTOR BUT ALSO A PART OWNER IN THE COMPANY, AND I'VE BEEN GIVEN ALL THE ARTISTIC FREEDOM I NEED. Skateboarding has obviously played a huge part in your art career. Are the staples of deck and t-shirt still canvases which you love to work with? You know, it's funny, right before Mike called me about doing Turf I was actually thinking about how much I missed designing skateboards. I was even looking at pricing so that I could do some small runs under Crownfarmer. It was perfect timing and yeah, I still love working with t-shirts and skateboard decks. I get to dip into both of them by doing my own clothing company and this on the side. I asked Mike if anybody could stop Yorkatron so it only seems right to ask you too? Can the Yorkatron be stopped, particularly now he's a part of Team Crownfarmer? Nope. Can't stop Yorkatron. +
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