September 24, 2009

BENNY GOLD INTERVIEW: FALL 09 LINE, SF SKATE SCENE & FUTURE PROJECTS

Nothing is cooler in life then getting to hangout with, talk to and basically feel on the same level with people that hold way more sway then you in your world. Recently I was given the chance to sit down with Benny Gold, whose line we will are proud to say will be hanging on our racks this Fall. Benny has thick history in the industry, creating the logos for HUF and MASH along with countless designs for Stussy, Real and HUF among many others. Taking time in between meetings and out of state trips, he sat down with us for a little phone interview the other day to talk San Francisco skate scene, growing up in Florida and how a busy man fits it all in. Check out the either the painstakingly written interview or the lazy man’s audio interview below for some double Benny goodness. Make sure to check his site out www.bennygold.com, on twitter at www.twitter.com/bennygold and to keep up with the blog for when the first shipment rolls in.

Listen or read the interview below

 

BENNY FILET-I’d like to really thank you for sitting down and taking some time with us. How are things going for you, how was the New York trip and of course, hows Levi?

BENNY GOLD- Ah man the New York trip was good, mostly family. All my family is from New York originally so it was nice to catch up with everybody. Levi’s awesome. I got a chance to meet up with Gabriel Urist when I was there and checked out a pendant he was working on for us so New York was good. I’m still tired though; people stay up late there. (laughter)

BF-That’s cool. I was looking into that Gabriel Urist glider necklace the other day and it seems like this year you’ve been apart of a lot more collaborations then seems to be in the past. You’ve got the Rebel 8 going on, The Hundreds hardcore series, most obviously the CinellixMASH frame and they’re all looking super sick so I was curious how do you manage your time with all this and what about a company or an idea makes you interested in doing the collab or maybe some design work?

BG- Managing the time is the hardest part of everything because I still do a lot of freelance design for people and so the brand, and then finding time for your own projects and collaborations..its been tough still trying to find enough time to stay on the board during the week to keep up with the work load its the hardest part. That’s the hardest thing just juggling the time. I schedule it all, its all a part of it -work, skate, walking the dog ; you’ve just got to manage your time and take out the things that aren’t important to you anymore, you know? Once I eliminated the stuff that was holding me back it really helped me move forward. Getting married and having a supportive girlfriend was what really helped in all that too…cause she eliminates going out and looking for girls.(laughter all around)

Haha, yeah I’m still on that one myself.

Yeah, that stuff takes time.

Yeah it’s a tricky biz.

Yeah definitely.

So you just mentioned earlier that you’re from Florida and being a West Coast transplant and being from over here, what do you feel the major differences between the two coasts’ cultures are?

Man I think the biggest difference in the East and West coast is that in California everything is really laid back and not as…the emphasis is not on making it and grinding and stuff ,it’s more like a Peter Pan syndrome out here which I really enjoy. You know Florida is definitely more laid back then the rest of East coast, and I think thats one of the reasons cause I grew up in Florida and thats one of the things I really liked about California when I finally got out here. So it kind of reminded me of Florida but it had all that stuff you dreamt about in skating boarding and all that stuff you saw in videos as a kid growing up so it had all that and a little bit more to it.

From what I hear, I mean I’ve never been there, but I hear that SF is kind of regarded as an East coast city up there on the West coast, do you find that to be true?

Yeah definitely. That’s what I really liked about San Francisco, kind of like the best of both worlds,being from the east coast but dreaming about living in California so it was the best way I can make it work for me. Cause I tried Southern California first and all that, but when I got to San Francisco I just knew it was the right spot;San Francisco is amazing. The skate scene is not what it used to be and that’s the hardest part of being here now but I’m sure they’ll have to come back with it.

What do you see changing in the skate scene out there? What’s made it not what it used to be?

Man when I first got out here it was THE place to be for skateboarding, like go to the spots and there’d be kids from all over the world who moved here, people from Japan that couldn’t even speak English and France and everyone just came here for skating because they all wanted to a part of the stuff they saw in the videos and skate EMB and the Pier and Union Square and once the city got smarter and started capping those spots, getting rid of those skate spots, everyone kind of moved out, moved away and so now the only people that are left are the ones that are really wanting to be here and the spots…they’re still here but they’re harder to find now and you’ve really got to hunt them down. It’s not like before you always knew where to go, you know? Union Square at night you’re gonna go there and everyones gonna be there, everyones gonna be having this good time, same with the Pier and EMB. And now there’s no central meeting spots anymore, it’s not like when you were a kid, you’re watching those videos with everyone hanging out at EMB all day, you know? There’s nothing like that anymore.

Do you feel like the fixed scene out there has kind of taken over a bit of what skating used to hold?

Yeah definitely. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the whole fixed scene for awhile now with helping MASH out with their logos, and traveling with them a bunch and so I got to see it grow from the inception to where it is now and at the beginning it really did feel like skating to me which I really liked.

Yeah that’s awesome. I myself I’ve been skating, I’ve been into hardcore and in the last couple years fixed gear too, so it’s crazy to watch all those cultures change and evolve as time goes on.

Yeah I think the thing with the fixed gear one is that it evolved so much faster then skating so it’s going through growing pains right now. Like skateboarding had years, years and years to develop without outside influence, it was only skateboarders involved in it and it’s strong enough now that we can have companies like Mountain Dew and those things come in there without diluting skating, you know? Cause it was so strong from the years of developing but the fixed gear scene happened so fast and everyone is so interested already so I’m curious to see where it goes cause it didn’t have a chance to mature as much as skating did, you know?

Yeah it’s kind of the kid that was forced to grow up a little too fast.

Yeah it grew up too fast and it gets easily diluted and manipulated where skating is so strong cause we’ve been around for awhile.

Yeah man. Like I said a little earlier, hardcore to me, skating and like were talking about now fixed gears,they’ve got a really big influence in my life personally and you’re involvemnt in all these is obvious,you talk about it, you’re kind of outspoken about it,and its been featured in your line and in your work, like with The Hundreds hardcore collab and your work with MASH and Cinelli. You obviously draw inspiration for your professional life but how did being a part of hardcore as a kid and skating and fixed gear influence your personal life? Did you pull anything from hardcore like the morals or any friendships? Basically how did they effect you as a person.

Man I feel so fortunate  to grow up with the hardcore influence, skateboarding and all that stuff, it really influenced my life. The ideals you learned, the togetherness of the scene and how close and tight knit everything was…those ideals, man,I feel so fortunate to grow up with those. Especially from the hardcore scene, I’m still friends with everyone from Miami that I grew up that were into it and the whole vegan thing still rings true. So those ideals I learned as a little kid affected me my entire life.

So you went to Savannah for art school. Going up from Florida to Georgia, most people down here in Florida when they’re looking to kinda “get out” of Florida, they don’t really stop in Georgia.(laughter) What about that school caught your eye and made you have that want to be your alma mater?

The funniest thing, I just wanted a better skate scene then what I grew up in cause I’m from Key West, not much of a skate scene, and I had these Savannah videos as a kid, with these big skate contests in the 80s in Savannah and so I, man I saw that they had an art school there and I’d made the connection between the videos I grew up watching and I was just like “oh there has to be a great skate scene there” so I made it happen and then I got up there and I realized that those contests haven’t been throw since the 80s (laughter). But lucky for me the school was good and I learned a lot and it was the place where I actually fell in love with art and design and I think things happen for a reason; skate videos got me there and then the school was amazing. Actually I’m doing a lecture there next month so it all comes back.

Oh man that’s awesome! So jumping back to your line real fast, I was looking at the PDF a little while ago of all the stuff and its looking awesome and I was looking at that Doughboy hat, which is like obviously, at least for us, a stand out piece in the collection and there was the little Boyz ‘n the Hood flick next to the hat and I was wondering if you could divulge maybe a little of the inspiration and the pullback on that.  I mean obviously Ice Cube is rockin the hat but I was wondering if you could go in to a little bit of what about that spoke to you making you wanna do something with it and pulling from that movie.

One of the great things about having your own brand and that’s different from client work is that you get to express your own stuff and use the things that influence you in your life. Boyz ‘n the hood , John Singleton, one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen in my life and I was just so into it and I was watching it one day and I was like, Ice Cube’s character is so iconic. So I just started taking that ‘D’and turning it into a ‘B’ and it just kind of snowballed from there. I kept the colors and I kept everything as gangster as I possibly can to keep the vibe of the whole movie. That’s where the creased khaki color comes from in the hat and the under brim and all that and the colors, you know? The best thing about having your own brand is that you get to give back to what influences you be it skateboarding, hardcore, or movies you loved growing up

As 2009 begins to wind down and 2010 starts up what else can we expect to see from you in general?

Man I’m keeping pushing the brand further and expanding on the ideas of youthfulness and being the best you can be with the brand. I got a couple good collabs in the works, I have a Velocity rim coming out that I’m really excited about and the Gabriel Urist pendant is also really good. Hopefully I’ll be able to just continue putting out the best work I possibly can.

That’s awesome man. We’re looking forward to seeing what else you got. Well really again thanks so much for sitting down, it does me a lot for me personally and I know for the shop, to talk to the people that are influencial in the cultures that were apart of. It means a lot, we really appreicate it.

Ah no worries man, I’m excited to get the line in the store and next time I’m in Florida I’ll stop by for sure.

Alright awesome man, I’m gonna pass you back to Dan man, thanks again.

Alright no problem, thank you Ben.

Alright later.