Skating from age 11, pro skateboarder Rodney Torres has made a name for himself in NYC with his skate steez and personal charisma. I had the chance to talk with Rodney, as he told me about his background, about skating the streets of NYC, and his friendship with legendary Zoo York skateboarder Harold Hunter.

a: Who do you skate for?
Rodney: I don’t have a board sponsor right now. That last board sponsor I had was Official Skateboards; right now I’m a free agent, as far as that’s concerned. But I do have other sponsors, and those consist of Autobahn Wheels, Venture Trucks, Rival Skateshop, Rockstar Bearings, and DVS shoes.

a: Favorite skate spot?
Rodney: Flushing Meadows Park.

Hannah: Tell us about that spot.
Rodney: It’s in Flushing Queens (where the world’s fair was held in 1965). There’s a lot of history there, but it’s also one of the best spots in New York City. It’s this big public park that’s open to everyone. The U.S. Open is held there annually and it’s also the home of the New York Mets. I grew up skating there, and whenever I have the chance, I’m there skating. It’s probably the most fun spot. Skateboarding all over the city, in all the five boroughs is a lot of fun too. You can just get lost, and you’ll find something to skate.

Hannah: Would you rather skate street than park?
Rodney: No, I still like parks…anything, as long as I’m having fun.

a: Do you prefer East or West Coast?
Rodney: I’m about all coasts. I’m from the east coast, but I’ve been to the west coast and had a lot of fun there. I met a lot of people while I was out there and had a lot of opportunities presented to me while I was out there, and skating was a lot of fun. I’m game for it all.

Hannah: Have you ever skated in Europe or other parts of the world?
Rodney: I rode for a shoe company a while back called Osiris, and I got to go on a little Euro-trip for a couple weeks. I got to go to Germany, Amsterdam, Finland, and Sweden; there are a lot of beautiful people out there.

a: What was your favorite spot out of all those places?
Rodney: It’d have to be Amsterdam. I had a lot of fun out there. Red light district was tight!

Hannah: In Amsterdam, the general population bikes most places, were there a lot of skateboards out on the streets?
Rodney: Not to my knowledge. We were too busy skating and partying. Because basically it was our job to do demos inside of skate parks. And then after that we’d just party at night. That sums up my experience there: demos in skate parks during the day, partying at night. It was definitely a lot of fun.

a: Sum up a skater’s lifestyle.
Rodney: Skate, party, travel, promote yourself and your sponsors by getting filmed for the videos and getting photos taken for the magazines. The companies help promote you as much as they can through advertising, and everybody just kind of makes a living out of that. It’s fun and has it’s perks.

a: Can you live off it?
Rodney: yeah, for a little while.

Roya: I know you’re sponsored by Rock Star Barings, Harold Hunter’s company. How did his passing affect you?
Rodney: Harold’s passing definitely affected everybody out here in New York. He was definitely more than just another skateboarder, you know what I mean? He was everybody’s friend. Everybody loved him. He was family. It was hard to believe when he passed, and it was very hard for a lot of people to deal with. We have a lot of celebrations for Harold out here in New York. There’s actually one coming up tomorrow. It’s a basketball game in memory of Harold, and it’s sponsored by a lot of different companies. But we’re keeping Harold alive. Legends never die.

a: Did you get to go to his funeral?
Yeah, I did. I can’t even explain how tough it was when everybody first showed up there. But then it got a little lighter towards the end of the wake, because they played a video of Harold and it was hilarious. It made everyone laugh, and that’s what Harold was good at – making everyone laugh. So that cheered everyone up, but just knowing the situation made it really hard.

a: Did you go all three days?
Rodney: I went two out of three.

a: Was it the same service on each of the days?
Rodney: Pretty much, yeah. As far as I know. Whoever couldn’t make it the first day due to work, or whatever reasons, they made it the next day. Harold’s going to live forever. He’s Harold. It was just so amazing how right he was. Legends don’t die. He’s going to live forever. Everyone’s going to remember Harold.

a: Yea, he always influenced everyone he met in such a positive way.
Rodney: He definitely touched everyone’s lives.

a: Do you have any memories with him that you’d like to share?
Rodney: He was one of the first people that I met when I first started coming to the city from Queens. I was a kid; I think I was thirteen when I met him. He was definitely one of the best skaters that I’ve ever seen in person. He was always really cool. He made everyone feel welcomed. The memories I have are just good times skating and good times laughing. He was too much entertainment for even me to handle. My face would hurt from laughing so much with Harold. He let me into his home, and I got to meet his family. He basically took me in like a little brother when I was younger. He was the one that when other people hated on me when I was younger, he said to me, “Yo, just keep doing your thing.” He is the one that showed me that he believed in me. And that will always be appreciated, always. When everyone would always put you down for whatever reason, he would always be the one to pick you back up.

a: Favorite Harold trait?
Rodney: People would hate on Harold, but the awesome thing was that he would just love them right back. He would kill them with kindness. He is the man. That’s all I got to say.

Interview by Roya Butler and Hannah Wagner

Roya Butler and Hannah Wagner sat down with Aaron Bedard upstairs at The Knitting Factory in New York City to get personal about their most recent album, “The Note,” and experiences on the road.

Tell us about your newest release.
Well the album actually came out a couple of years ago. It’s called “The Note.” We worked with the same producer that we’ve worked with through all of our recordings and we’re just really-really happy with it. It came out on Equal Vision Records. We toured on it pretty extensively in 2005 and 2006, and now it’s time to start thinking about doing a new one.

Tell us about the fakie tour you’re doin right now.
Yeah it’s just so small that it’s hard to call it a tour. But we’re doing five shows around New England and a couple here in New York starting tonight at the knitting factory. We’ll go to Albany. We’ll play our hometown of Worcester, MA on Saturday and on Sunday we’ll play some new place called Avril. And all of our shows are with bands that we’re really good friends with, so we’re just excited to be around all of our buddies this weekend. Next weekend, we’ll fly to California and do eight shows up the west coast where we haven’t been in over a year. So we’re really excited to get back out there, because obviously the scenes are really hoppin’ up there in Cali and we have a lot of fans. The shows are always good. Then after that we go to Japan.

Tell us about the festivals you’re playing in Japan.
We were invited to play a couple of festivals – one in Osaka and one in Tokyo. So they are kind of paying for us to fly from California to Japan and back. We’re only going to do two shows, so we’re not going to be there for very long. Usually when we go to Japan we do two weeks of shows, but it’s just going to be real short – in and out, bing-bam.

Why haven’t you done a lot of touring this year?
Our Drummer just had a baby this year, so it’s been harder for him to get away. That’s pretty much why we haven’t been doing a lot of touring; this is the first time that he’s been out on the road with us since the kid came, so this is really exciting for him. But he was like, “It’s gotta be two weeks. We gotta do the whole thing in two weeks.” So, two weeks between Cali and Japan and then he’ll be home. I’m actually going to stay in Japan with a friend for four or five extra days and just chill…buy sneakers and stuff.

Yea, I heard they have a lot of cool sneaker shops out there.
Aaron Bedard: They do. They have a lot of cool sneaker shops, and a lot of stuff you can’t find here. They have a lot more exclusive stuff that you won’t find here. There are a lot of trendy little boutiques and a lot of weird underground sneaker shops that just have really old shit. They’re really into hipster U.S. style, in Japan. They have really nice jeans. They have really nice sneakers. They’re just on the next level when it comes to fashion.

Do they implement hip-hop in their fashion, as we do in the US?
Yeah, some of it’s real hip-hop, for sure. They’re just real obsessed with anything that’s American and street.

I’m assuming you got your name from Batman comix.
Aaron Bedard: Yeah, that’s one of the things that inspired the name, for sure, was the dude that broke Batman’s back. I really like comic books. So yeah, that’s how the name came up. The line up now’s different than the line-up that we had in the beginning. But there are four of us that have been in the whole time, and drummers have come and gone as we’ve gone along. But once he left Converge, things just got real serious for us then, and we’ve done a lot of records since then and have done a lot of touring. We’ve been really lucky to just go all over the place and just play music that we really love. We’re really lucky.

What do you think is the difference between the Hardcore scene and the Metal scene?
Aaron Bedard: I guess the main difference that I can see is that Hardcore always seems to be – I don’t know the metal scene very well so I can’t speak for them – the difference for me is that Hardcore always seems to be about just more realistic view points. The songs are of a more personal nature and try to confront issues a little more. Metal just seems to expand. You can sing about anything. You can sing about dragons and warriors, or you can sing about fast cars and fucking chicks. It’s just way more grandiose. And also to play Metal you have to somewhat talented, and to play Hardcore you don’t have to be really that talented of a musician. You just have to learn three chords on a guitar and beat the fuck out of your drums and be a punk band. It’s kind of one the things I’ve always really loved about Hardcore. It’s really created just by kids who are angry and confused and displaced and just want to scream about it. Whereas Metal, is a little more epic with guitar leads and fancy drum solos.

What do you see as the differences between the Hardcore scene in America vs. in Europe and also Japan?
Aaron Bedard: Well in Japan the kids are just so sweet, and they just love the image and music so much. There’s no attitude. They’re just giddy that you’re there. They’re so fucking happy that American dudes came to play there this music that they love. So that’s just the most positive, heart-warming vibe imaginable. In Europe it’s just so wide, and there are just so many types of scenes. The one that stands out the most is Germany, and German kids are just really blunt and confrontational. If something on your t-shirt offends them or they’re not happy with the style that you band is going in they will just straight up tell you in this very point blank way. Like, “I think that your stuff sucks.” Or, “What is wrong with your government?” And they’re just a little more, I guess confrontational would be the word, or they’re just more up front and forward about things.

How does that compare to the attitude of your fans in Japan?
Aaron Bedard: A Japanese kid would never in a million years want to say anything to make you feel uncomfortable or say anything to make you feel anything but just happy that you’re there.

What do you think makes up the differences in attitudes?
Aaron Bedard: German kids are just maybe a little bit more spoiled; they just have more bands coming through, and if they think that you’re full of shit, they’ll just tell you. It’s something to respect on some level, but is just a little awkward.

What’s it like in the UK?
Aaron Bedard: I would say in the U.K. its becoming way more Americanized. There’s a lot of tough-guy bullshit, and a lot of gangs starting out, and this crew mentality that I think is really detrimental to the Hardcore scene. It seems to be taking over more and more in the United Kingdom. You hear about a lot of fights at shows, and a bunch of stupid bullshit like that. They’re a little bit behind the times, it seems.

So I guess America sets the benchmark for the Hardcore scene across the globe?
Aaron Bedard: We kind of set the standard here in America for dancing and stage-diving, and all the best bands tend to come from here. But they’re catching up. They’ve got some good bands out there. There’s a band called Rise and Fall from Holland who are really-really fucking good. There’s a band from Japan called the FC5 who are really great, and who are really good friends with us. So there’s definitely some good international stuff going on.

Interview by Roya Butler. Transcription by Hannah Wagner.