Ali Boulala interviews Kevin ‘Spanky’ Long – the second in our series of interviews conducted by Ali Boulala, recorded on a filming trip to Paris with the Baker Skateboards team. Read on for Ali and Spanky discussing the many positive aspects of skating, sobriety in the Baker team, greater inclusivity in skateboarding and more besides. Make sure you’ve caught Ali’s Dustin Dollin interview.
Questions & photos by Ali Boulala
Ali: Why are you in Paris?
Spanky: We are here for a filming trip, for Baker 5, no for Baker 4! Baker for life! We’re just skating the spots here in Paris and that’s about it.
Do you have a good photographer here?
Yeah, maybe we could use another one?
You could use another one? Ok!
Yeah the more the merrier! You going to shoot tomorrow?
Yeah, if you do some tricks.
Both you and I have been a part of the negative side of skateboarding, what would you say are the positive sides of skateboarding?
I’d say there’s endless positive sides. There’s a place for us to express all the wild energy that we have, get our physical wiggles out, channel all that energy in positive places. There’s of course the negative things, but we all know about that. Traveling the world, being with friends, being outside all the time, being physical – all those things are priceless.
Good things. If you look at skateboarding as it is today what would you erase if you could erase one thing?
In all of skating?
Yeah, today’s skating…
Camouflage pants that are all the different colors of camouflage at the same time.
“The generation that we’re from is strangely misogynistic and I never even noticed it growing up, it was not very inclusive”
There are a lot of girls skating, but not a lot in professional skateboarding – why?
I think that it’s sick there’s so many more girls now, all of a sudden I’m watching the general acceptance becoming up to date. The generation that we’re from is strangely misogynistic and I never even noticed it growing up, it was not very inclusive. I don’t know how that slipped through with something like skating which is supposed to be progressive. I can’t explain why it was like that, but I know that it was, it’s really obvious that it’s changing for the better and becoming far more inclusive for girls.
I know what you mean. Who would be the first girl you’d put on Baker?
It would be Stella, Andrew’s daughter, because she fucking rips!
But she likes Birdhouse so…
Element
Element? Ok. She doesn’t want to ride for Baker?
I think that she doesn’t want to get it for free, she wants to earn it.
Which is cool.
Yeah, respectable.
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