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MD: Where would you like to see the company going in the future?
GP: I see our company coming from the sidelines if you will; back towards the center of the industry. Skateboarding has fragmented into separate
markets which vibe each other. I see us serving all the diverse markets within skateboarding. Powell•Peralta is now a multi-faceted company, and
we serve many age levels, skill levels, and styles of skating. We are reorganizing to be able to serve as many segments of skateboarding as we possibly
can. Our core belief is that all skateboarders are brothers, and should respect and honor each other’s achievements and skill levels; not disrespect
each other because another skater doesn’t wear the same "star", or skate the same way. That is a destructive and demoralizing way to act, and we
think skateboarding is now mature enough to overcome this "Star-bellied Sneech" way of behaving. We need to embrace our "oneness" and not our
perceived differences.
serious Caballero graphic tattoo
MD: When you look back on things, what holds the most pride for you? Is there more pride in say making the best wheel or best board; or is it the
imagery that you’ve been so intimately involved with that people literally have tattooed on their body? What has more "OOMF" for you?.... for lack
of a better word.
GP: I’ve personally identified more with the products because they are more my direct creations. I think most people identify more with the art and
certainly Court’s the one who’s responsible for tattooing people’s bodies. I’m innocent! [smiles] Actually, that is an interesting observation and
former sore point for us though. When other artists or the establishment were trying to figure out how and why Court’s art was so popular and
successful, they would refer to it as "tattoo art" in as derogatory a tone as they could muster. It use to sting a little at the time,
because it was intended to, but now we are proud of it being "tattoo art", as we see how many skaters and followers of Court’s art have
chosen to permanently attach his art to their body. What could be a higher tribute?
MD: You were intimately involved with the development of graphics though. What’s the process?
GP: Yeah. I function as an art director. It’s not my hand. It’s not my talent. It’s just my eye and my judgement sometimes to go "Let’s go
that way". I am proud of the art direction I have provided, and of my minor parts in focusing Court’s and our other amazing artist’s drawings and
designs. I love working with them, so it is a labor of love for me.
new art
MD: So from conception to final product, how long does that typically take now?
GP: It depends on the product. If it’s a new deck we’re talking weeks to a few months. If we’re talking a truck we’ve never made before?
...It’s been about 3 years we’ve been working on it now! [laughs]
MD: That’s actually one of the questions I had from people when I asked if they had any questions for you. Why did you never make trucks?
GP: You know what? When the industry was first getting started in the 70s and then in the 80s we had established truck companies. We had
Independent, and we had Tracker and we had Gullwing and at that point in time I didn’t see that we could particularly add anything. I didn’t see
any need, and I focussed on what we were already doing and what we were good at.
Over time everybody seems to have wanted to do it all; or felt a need to do it all. We’ve always just sort of refrained from doing that
out of respect, but at this point in time there is no respect so ...we’re finally doing trucks. We’ve actually wanted to do trucks for a long time.
Twenty years ago, I actually made some prototypes of some very unique trucks and we’ll eventually make them. But at this point in the industry everybody
makes trucks, everybody makes wheels.... or sells wheels anyway, not everybody makes ‘em,...and people sell decks; so if you want to be a real
skateboard company you kinda have to have a full panoply of products.
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