Jon Allie - chatting with a skater - Interview - Brief Article

Thrasher Magazine, Nov, 2001 by Michael Burnett

"I'VE NEVER SACKED"

Where in Wisconsin are you from?

West Bend. It's about half an hour outside of Milwaukee.

What's the greatest skate spot in your town?

The spot that me and my friends always skated was this one 10-stair and eight-stair in the ghetto. There was a perfect run-up and everything.

There's ghettos in West Bend, Wisconsin?

Yeah, pretty bad ones.

Who's the greatest skater to come out of Wisconsin?

Probably Paul Zitzer.

That's correct. I would have also accepted Pete Lehman. Have you ever been to the Mars Cheese Castle?

No. I didn't even know there was one.

Wisconsin Dells?

Yeah. I've been there. It's pretty fun.

How does some kid from Wisconsin get on the Zero army?

Just skated a lot. Saved up money and came out to California and made a video.

So you gave it to Jamie?

One of my friends knew him and left him a message that I wanted to give him a video. I ended up meeting him at the Tampa am and he had gotten the message and I gave it to him.

Were you intimidated at first?

Not really intimidated. It was really cool because he was one of my favorite skateboarders.

Did you almost ride for Osiris?

No. The whole deal with that was the guy I filmed with worked for them and showed them my footage and I guess they wanted me to ride for them. They ended up sending me to Tampa -- they paid for it and the only thing I had to do was wear their shoes.

Did you wear the D3s?

No.

What's your tag line on the ads gonna be?

I have no idea. I haven't even thought about it.

May I suggest "Dying for Cheese?"

No. Definitely not. No one's even talked about it.

Did you ever ride for Beer City?

No. I know a kid that did, but I was never really down with them.

Describe what it's like being on tour with Jamie Thomas.

It's great. He's a really cool guy. We just skate a lot. Everyone on the team was really excited to skate. No one wasn't skating hard. Everywhere we went everyone was, like. gettin' hammers. Kansas City and Philadelphia were the best places we went.

I heard you're on Zero videographer Lee Dupont's bad side,

what did you do to get there?

We were at a spot and I had to go to the bathroom and I -- you know -- went to the bathroom around on the side. And then in that one exact spot, he ended up kneeling down to film and I guess ended up kneeling where I went to the bathroom, in my piss. He was so mad. He didn't say anything, he just started hatin' right away.

Did he film your trick?

Yeah.

He's committed. Is it important to keep your tricks secret?

Yeah, so people don't try and do the same thing.

Do people try and take you out?

No, not take me out, but they'll try and do something really similar. It's fun to have it be a secret so it's a surprise when they see the footage or photos. Get more psyched on it.

What do you and Trainwreck talk about when it's just the two of you?

We don't really talk that much. It's just the skating.

The international language; I see. If you were to get a tattoo, what would it be?

I've been thinking about that. Probably something to do with Zero. I don't know which logo, though. I like 'em all.

What boards did you buy when you had to pay for them?

Zero.

Come on.

No, always Zero. I seriously have all the old boards. I have 'em all at home at my mom's house back in Wisconsin. Before that it was Toy Machine.

So what's it feel like to get sacked on a rail?

I don't know. I've never sacked. I've just hit the side of my leg. I hope I never find out.

Now that you're on Zero, what changes have you noticed in your skating?

I've progressed a lot more. Everybody on the team pushes me more. Just skating with better people makes me want to improve.

What do you want to do for the video?

There's a trick I want to do for the video, It's a flip onto a rail but I don't really wanna say what it is. I've done it once but rolled away all sketchy. I want to do that trick better.

Are you almost done with your part?

At least halfway done. I'm past the halfway point I think.

What's your deadline?

Five months from now. There's lots of time to get hammers in.

Yeah. Why not. What's the closest you've come to quitting?

Quitting what? Skating? Never.