1) When did you first discover skateboarding?
-It was the mid '70's. I was at the Boys Club of Edmonton. They had one skateboard there. It was wood with clay wheels and my younger brother could ride it with ease. I tried it and kept falling on the slippery gym floor and I couldn't quite master it. I remember being jealous of my little brother cuz he could ride it and I couldn't. About a year later, my sister bought my brother and I a skateboard at a drugstore. It cost $20.00 and was plastic (red!) with generic trucks and urethane wheels with loose bearings. I dedicated one summer to learn how to skate and began to master it after about a month.
2) What was skateboarding like during that time?
This wuz the 2 nd coming of skateboarding, the first wuz in the mid '60's as an avenue of surfing. A skateboard wuz still considered a 'toy' and not a sport. Eventually skateboarding became noticed through magazines. I saw an issue of "Skateboarder" magazine and got a subscription right away. I collected all the mags ...'Skateboard World' and 'Wild World of Skateboarding'. I read them religiously and hung pictures on my skool locker and bedroom walls. I also remember going to the library and taking out every book on skateboarding. I read them all and learned a lot of the tricks from the books. Freestyle was my favorite thing to do cuz you could do it alone and I felt great whenever I mastered a new trick. There were no parks or ramps around to ride, so we'd always be on the lookout for something to ride. We use to go to the bike path and do some downhill and slalom. We'd keep our eyes and ears open for anything new and exciting to ride.
3) Have you ever stolen a skateboard?
Eventually sport shops started carrying skateboards. I remember department stores starting to stock skateboard equipment. I wuz a juvenile delinquent back then so we'd steal all the best stuff. I think I stole at least 100 boards from stores over 5 years or so. I'd only steal from stores; it was unethical to steal another skater's board. We had fuckin' rules man. One of the stores called 'Skiers Sportshop' began to sponsor a team. They'd sell skate stuff in the summer, ski stuff in the winter. They had my brother and I skate for their team. Every weekend and after school was spent at the store. They bought a halfpipe at the time. It was 16 ft wide, about 12 ft. high with about 3-4 ft o vertical. We skated that thing religiously. The store gave us 'team' shirts and equipment for free and we'd enter contests and win trophies and they'd display them in the store. We'd skate until nightfall and every weekend. I had a skate under my arm for about or 8 years.
4) What is the connection between skateboarding and punk rock?
As we got older, we would listen to musick, we would choreograph a routine to rock music, usually heavy metal or hard rock. I had four older brothers who had extensive record collections. I listened to everything for hours on end. On rainy days we'd stay in our room reading skate mags and listening to punk or new wave. The skate mags would mention a band or group and we'd check it out. Punk rock just seemed to naturally compliment the aggression of skateboarding. It was also an individual statement and a very important way to express your individuality. Skateboarding and punk just seemed very natural; it was colorful and expressive. I remember being attracted to the word 'punk' on shirt because it seemed so rebellious. Then I remember seeing a clip of the Sex Pistols on the news. We were eating supper and watching t.v. when I saw that, I thought hey!!! That's wild! That's for me. It's fucking dangerous! The next day I went to the mall and stole 'Never Mind the Bollocks' and 'God save the Queen' single. I was hugely impressed with the song Bodies... cuz Johnny Rotten says Fuck! four times in one sentence. I fucking played that over again about 1000 fucking times. I knew I was onto something cuz my older brother hated it! In fact he stole the record, I had stolen, from me and sold it to a pawnshop. I went out the next day and stole the album again. Sex Pistols lead to The Clash, which lead to The Talking Heads, which led to Devo. I remember going to see a band and then recognizing people from the skate scene at the gigz. Eventually, we'd go to parties and gigs and get deeply absorbed into punk rock. I related heavily to dressing up and outraging rednecks by sheer appearance. You always had to be on 'guard' and you had to be able to defend yourself. Being agile from skating really helped.
6) Have you ever written or sung any songs about skateboarding?
I never really wrote songs about skating, but I have written songs about being able to express yourself through action or sport.
7) Who is your favorite old school skateboarder?
My favorite old school skater is Tony Alva. He always seems to be a bit of a renegade but was smart enough to have his own business. He seems to know what's going on before it's going on you know.
8) Have you ever met Bill Danforth? *ed. note: inside joke, Chi Pig has met Bill Danforth*
Never ever met Bill Danforth in my life. The fucker says he's hung out with me a couple of times, but hey. I would remember a hillbilly redneck when I see one!
9)What is your favorite old school punk rock band?
Can't really narrow it down to one, that wouldn't be fair, but my top five faves would be:
10) What is your favorite non-punk band?
11) What inspires you to write and sing in bands?
Singing is life, it's breathing, it's an outlet for expression; it's a fun way to spin a yarn, send out a message, make a statement. It's cathartic; it's screaming out loud and being about to get away with it.
12) Do you play any other instruments besides the larynx?
No, just skin flute and the bagpipe.
13) When did SNFU become a band?
SNFU officially started in the summer of 1981. Played at a friend's house party as our first gig. We played a Fear song, a Black Flag song, a Circle Jerks song and about 4 of our own.
14) What other bands have you been in?
First band was called 'Live Sex Shows'. We had 2 singers, I sang half a set and Brent Belke sang the other half. Marc Belke played guitar - we only did covers - and eventually that band became SNFU. *ed. Note: for some reason Chi fails to mention The Wongs and Slaveco.
15) Do you prefer boxers, briefs, or g-strings?
Boxers - the less constriction down under the better.
16) What's the craziest thing that you've ever seen at a punk rock show?
1985 'the city of brotherly love' Philadelphia. Abe's Steak House SNFU playing the back of a Greek restaurant. One of the bands on the bill is called 'Circle of Hate'. They promote something called 'hate edge'. I hang out in front of the club waiting to play. Some punk chick beats the shit out of another punkette, as a mob of punkers cheer her on down the street. There's a guy named 'Spanky' with a Mohawk, not the bushy kind, but 4 or 5 spikes in all. Spanky has an argument with some chick that live upstairs from the club. The chick starts a fight with Spanky, chick's boyfriend puts Spanky in a headlock, and chick pulls out a jackknife and cuts off one of Spanky's spikes and puts it in her pocket like a trophy. Spanky crosses the street and starts to converse with some other punker. For some reason our bass player crosses the street, calls Spanky a goof then punches him in the face!! A bad day for Spanky. Punkers tell us that we better be good or else!! We are in fact, we fucking rock really hard. Back on the street 3 or 4 black dudes are walking past the club, some fuck from Circle of Hate yells 'niggerz' then hurls a beer bottle at the black guys, then the fight is on!!! After this scrap, a black guy is riding his bicycle pas the club, some drug dealer jumps out of the doorstop and punches the black dude off his bike. He then grabs a hammer and starts smashing the black dude's bike. Apparently dude ripped off dude awhile back and is now extracting his revenge. Black dude leaves the scene. Minutes later the black dude comes back with a friend in a station wagon. He now has an axe and starts swinging it at white dude. 'Abe' runs out from behind the counter with a meat cleaver and a donair spit in hand. Evil violence erupts in said city of brotherly love!!! I remember seeing the 'LOVE' sign at the museum and laughing my scrawny chink ass off. All this happens in about 10 minutes time!!! About 300 or 400 people come to the show and it's fucking great. We meet up with some cool people and I can't believe we survived that evening. My how I love the good ole U.S. of Hey!
17) What's the craziest thing you've ever seen skateboarding wise?
There's a diving tank in Edmonton called the Broadstock pool, it's about 16-17-18 ft deep with about 5 ft of vertical. There are marine windows about midway up, where you can do one wheels and such. This pool as so fucking deep that you had to climb up a rope ladder to get out. Some fellow form Calgary actually elevator dropped in the tank and actually made it. He also was getting tile on the deep tank. Blew my mind like there was no fucking tomorrow. This was definitely insane!!
18) How many shows do you estimate having preformed over the years?
Somewhere in the area of 1500 to 2000. All throughout the States, Europe, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. I've slept about one third of my life away in a van or a moving vehicle.
19) What's your favorite punk rock record?
20) What's an average day like for Mr. Chi Pig?
Wake up, chuckle a the fact that I'm still alive ... (kinda). Go to the bathroom; avoid seeing my reflection in the mirror. Consider brushing hair and combing teeth. Count the number of teeth left. Rub my nubs with soft brush. Cough up residue from the day before. Smoke cigarette, drink croakacola. Ignore negative voices in head. Chuckle again, this time at the notion that I'm a strange and wonderful bird. Eat food, Contemplate reason for being. Step into shoes, walk into pants. Go outside, check malebox. Take myself for a walk. Shit and pee in park, bag pig dropping and dispose of them. Walk to drugstore, purchase over the counter pharmaceuticals. Listen to tape (Cocteau Twins) on walk back home. Once home, smoke cig, drink croakacola, grab notebook, write whatever comes to no mind, do so for a bout 1 hour, smoke cig, listen to musick, scream along to tunes of the day. Grab sketchbook; draw pictures for about 1 hour. Go outside for walk, back home, so domestic chores, eat food, rest body & mind, bust out some chi-bo and yoga movements, the rest you can make up.