Gemeinsam mit der Einladung zur Street League nach München kam auch das Angebot, dass ich dort Paul Rodriguez interviewen könnte. Obwohl ich zuvor noch nie eine Person live interviewt habe und man sowas ja eigentlich erstmal üben sollte, sagte ich natürlich zu. Eine solche Chance bekommt man selten und was soll schon passieren...wenn die Aufnahmetechnik funktioniert, dann sah ich wenig Probleme. Vor dem Interview war ich ein wenig aufgeregt...nach dem Interview umso erleichterter, dass die Technik perfekt funktionierte und Paul Rodriguez ein mega cooler und professioneller Typ ist. Ganz im Ernst...Hammer Typ!
Foto: Marcel Veldman @thefluff
DMLB: Hi Paul,
when i saw your clips in the „Opal – Primitive Promo“ is was really stoked
about your footy. The first line (sw bs noseblunt – sw flip fs blunt) , "the sw
fs blunt heel out" and the "sw bs 360 ollie" really impressed me. Your in the
thirties now...how do you manage still being on this level, beside having a kid
and all your companies and projects running?
Paul Rodriguez: I don´t
exactly know. I just know, that i really love what i do. I love being a dad, i
love business and i love skateboarding. I´ve got a lot of energy, so i´m just
excited to do it all. Thanks to god, that i can do all of this. But when it
comes to business at Primitive, i can´t take the credit for this...i have
really good people, that i work with. I´ve got partners, that create Primitive
on the day-to-day basis. I make sure, that i stay on the loop and know what´s
going on. But my partners...i trust them...they are running it...dedicating it.
The best thing, that i can help Primitive, is by being a skateboarder. My role
is to try to be my best in skateboarding.
Foto: Marcel Veldman @thefluff
DMLB: Do you do
some other sports to stay fit? You go to the gym a lot?
Paul Rodriguez: I definitely
go to the gym...i work out...i don´t try to be a big buff guy, but i stay in
shape. I want my body to take the abuse from skateboarding. I also go to the
chiropractor a lot...this keeps my body as healthy as possible. Also i do a lot
of stretching and i thank god every day, that i´m lucky, that i haven´t had any
serious injuries or surgeries...so i got very lucky also.
DMLB: What about
your nutrition – you care about what you eat to stay fit?
Paul Rodriguez: Yes...but
i´m not gonna lie...i´m not the best at that. I think i eat pretty good, but
i´m not super strict about that...i´m not like…i need this and that every
morning...i don´t have that discipline.
Foto: Marcel Veldman @thefluff
DMLB: How is your
work-life-balance? You do more „office work“ on a regular day, or does
skateboarding still dominate your daily routine?
Paul Rodriguez: My doughter
is first in my life. But after that skateboarding is the foundation. I mostly
skate...but at my age...i´m in the thirties...i can skate really hard...like
one or two day in a row, but then i have to take a day off. My body is telling
me „Hey...i need a day off...you´ve got to relax!“. So these days i use to
spend with my doughter, my girlfriend and my family. For work it´s pretty cool,
that Primitive is close by my house. So sometimes i go there in the mornings,
visit Heath Brinkley and Mitch Bhatia and they catch me up on what´s happening...what
we´re working on. Mostly i´m just listening, because i´m not a smart
businessman...i wanna become that...but i´m still trying to learn. It´s
like...in business i´m still skating curbs...i want to learn the basics. But at
the end i just want to make sure that i can skate...everything else, besinde my
doughter, comes after skateboarding.
DMLB: What about
„Primitive“ – You have some of the best „young tech-guns“ worldwide, you´ve
got mr. mellow style Devine
Calloway Who is in charge of picking the
team and what´s the system behind the team?
Paul Rodriguez: At first it
was me and Heath Brinkley...he´s the man behind the scenes with the vision.
He´s kind of a Mike Ternasky (Plan B) type guy. He really loves skateboarding,
he studies every bit o fit, he´s always been a type of guy, that finds
talent...he´s really good at that. So him and i were first...with Carlos
Ribeiro and Nick Tucker. He showed me Carlos years ago and i tried to get him on
Plan B but it didn´t work out. So when we started Primitive, Carlos was the
first person we wanted to be on the team. Thank god he was interested in
Primitive. Same with Nick...i knew Nick a little bit already before, i´ve been
skating with him a little bit through our friends and i was blow away by his
amazing skills. So once we had Carlos and Nick...we were looking for Bastien
Salabanzi. Heath and me have always been huge fans of Bastien...i love his
charisma...i love his confidence...he´s bigger than life. After we got us four
everybody came by discussing like „How do you like this guy? What do you think
about that guy?“ It´s kind of a growing family.
Foto: Marcel Veldman @thefluff
DMLB: With
Bastien Salabanzi, Roman Lisivka and Marek Zaprazny there are three euros in
Primive and you pushed them by giving them Primitive webparts – what´s your
opinion on european skateboarding nowadays?
Paul Rodriguez: European
skateboarding is unbelievable. There are so many extremely talented european
skateboarders and...years before it was kind of hidden...but now the internet
is the key. Now you can be everywhere in the world and have a skate career.
Before the internet everybody had the dream to america...come to Los Angeles...to
get noticed by the industry. But now...on Instagram...you can be anywhere in
the world and everyboday can see what you´re doing. So i think that the fact
that the internet is making the world a smaller place has allowed european
skateboarders to show their talent worldwide without havin the obstacle to think about how to make it to america. Now there are also popping up really cool
brands everywhere in Europe, so the european industries is recogniced
worldwide. I remember...when i was a kid...and i came out to europe for my
first time...i didn´t know that europe has all their own magazines. I thought
in europe everybody was looking at the same magazines as i do...and i didn´t
know that all companies had their own european teams. But now...trough the
internet...the industry is everywhere. For me...this is the best time in
history. You just need a camera and the internet and you can get recognized.
DMLB: With all
these amazing skateboarders on your company – do you feel some positive or
negative pressure for your skating by seeing them rip? Does it push you to
skate with these next generation top-guys?
Paul Rodriguez: I´m just
very thankfull...at this point of my carreer i have nothing more to proof. I´ve
been very lucky, that i´ve had a lot of year of showing what i can do and
people showed me a lot of love and now i love to skate with the younger guys.
Skating with them reminds me of when i was young. I was having so much energy
and i was so much into it. Hanging out with the new generation makes me feel
young also. I don´t think about being better than these guys...you can´t fight
them...they are next level shit. But i just love to hang out with the...they
make me keep trying to give my best and improve myself. It´s a pressure...but a
good pressure.
Foto: Marcel Veldman @thefluff
DMLB: I just
received your new pro shoe „P-Rod X“ last night and went out on the party
wearing them. The look really clean and feel super comfortable to walk in. What
are your plans behind the conception and the minimalistic design of this shoe?
Paul Rodriguez: The
shoedesign stands for this time of my carreer. I feel like i want to go back to
the basics...skate no contests, be back in the streets, be back in the van with
my friends and just skate as i did it, when i was younger. So this „back to the
basics“ is kind of what the shoe represents. I also wanted a classic
combination of suede and rubber on a not too expensive shoe. I´m really happy how
the shoe came out and i hope that the people feel the same about the shoe.
DMLB: 10 Pro
Models in 12 years at Nike SB - How does it feel sharing this anniversary with
great sportstars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and the one only Michael
Jordan?
Paul Rodriguez: It´s flattering....it´s
really flattering...you have these big superstars and then you have me. It´s
flattering to see that i made it this far....it´s Nike...the biggest shoe
company in the world. When i was a kid dreaming about pro-skateboarder, i never
know i could be like this. It means a great deal and it shows what can happen
if you love something and you dedicate every day for years and years and years
to it. So many unbelievable things can happen by passion and dedication. I´m a
little mexican kid from the valley in Los Angeles and somehow i´m in this group
with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant...man that just
shows what passion can get you.
Foto: Marcel Veldman @thefluff
DMLB: For all the
P-Rod fans out there – What can we expect to see in the next time? Any plans?
Paul Rodriguez: Right now
my mind is feeling back to where it all began and my goal is just to go
outside with my friends, try to get some footage, improve myself as a
skateboarder and release that footage at some point in time and i hope people
will enjoy it. It´s a little bit a weird transition...i was used to be the
little kid coming up and now i´m on the other side. It´s a little weird for me
to accept that, but as long i gonna be healthy, i gonne be skating and try to be better than i was yesterday.
DMLB: Thanks a
lot for the interview!
Paul Rodriguez: Thank you!
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