Jub: "I'll Die in Michigan I Guarantee it" - Heads - interview with skateboarder - Brief Article

Thrasher Magazine, Feb, 2002 by Patrick Melcher

What is Jub?

It's me, dude. Nothing, it has no meaning.

Why did you live in your car for six months?

So I could film for the Black Label video--save money to move to Chicago. And I didn't want to burden anybody by sleeping on their couches.

So you never showered when you lived in your car and you had fleas or something?

No, I would shower at this hot tub, well, soak and let the froth of the hot tub take the dirt off me, but the problem was my pants. I had a pair of jeans that I wore basically the whole time I lived in my car and it started out with little bumps on my legs. Then it got itchy and I thought I had scabies and Mike V wouldn't shake my hand. I was scared. He thought I had scabies.

How did you "take care of business" on those lonely nights out in the car?

Our old team manager Ryan Kingman sent us a Penthouse in one of our packages, so I had that chillin' under the front seat. I'd have to lay it out and then look around and make sure no one was around. Then the Cavalier would start rockin'.

What's with your teeth?

They're crooked.

Have you ever stabbed a girl in the mouth with one of your flicked-up teeth while making out?

I think I have. My girlfriend complains about them sometimes.

You don't really skate, do you? What you do is more or less test the elasticity of your knees.

Dude, I skate. I'm just not that good so I choose to roll off things.

You had a knee injury once. Why do you provoke further inflammation?

'Cause they feel good now. My knees are fine. They only hurt when it's cold.

You do shit now that you weren't doing before the injury.

Yeah, but it's different now. I landed wrong before and I just wrecked my knee. It feels good now, so I just skate. If it didn't feel good then I would be hesitant. I'm able to bend down and touch my knee to the board every time I do a trick now, so...

Why did you move to Chicago?

'Cause I was tired of getting tickets, tired of getting kicked out of spots, tired of do-gooder pedestrians calling the cops on their cell phones and yelling at you, jumping in your way, knobbing everything, hearing about what trick so-and-so did on the rail before you can even lipslide it; just all the competition.

All the stuff that is not skateboarding.

Tell me about your theory on a career in skateboarding vs. a skilled occupation.

Well, for me it's skateboarding. I don't have a high school education or any kind of skill in anything. Some people go to school for four years or eight years to become doctors. I dropped out of high school and went to California to be a skateboarder. And whether it's working at a shop or wherever, that's just all I know. So I'm just trying the best I can and working with what I've got.

What would you say to a kid who is on the verge of dropping out of high school to do that same thing?

High school was a nightmare for me; it was awful. Plus, I couldn't concentrate--everything was skateboarding. I'd look at books; our history book had a picture of the Embarcadero on it. I tore it out and hung it in my locker. I couldn't look at a chalkboard without thinking about skateboarding. School was a difficult time for me, but to someone who applied themselves school would be as good a tool as anything else. So, stay in school to all the kids out there.

Do you see yourself ever living in Michigan again?

Yeah, I'll die in Michigan. I guarantee it. Michigan is just where my heart is forever; it's where I grew up and for sure I'm gonna live there again.

Are you gonna get a tattoo?

Yeah, me and Tony and Nate are gonna get tattoos of Michigan. We're just lame and we haven't done it yet. Actually, we're going to have our white trash friend from Michigan do it.

What is it going to be, the outline of the state?

Yeah. The state all in black with ther an "X" in it or a heart. But I already have one heart tattoo. So that wouldn't make sense having two hearts.

Is it more difficult living so far away from where your sponsors are based?

For me, not at all so far. I mean, I miss out on some little things like a little travelin' here and there--like the 1984 trip--and I can't go to the warehouse and pick out my product. No, it's not any harder. For me it's better. I can go to whatever spots I want to go to and don't ever have to worry about them getting completely blown out. I can just go out and skate and do whatever I need to do.