Exclusive interview with Richie Jackson

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BEFORE BEING AN OUTSTANDING SKATER, RICHIE JACKSON IS ABOVE ALL AN ARTIST WITH AN INCOMPARABLE STYLE.

A man out of time and fashion. With his Salvador Dalí look straight out of a spaghetti western, Richie Jackson defies trends and even creates them. The general public discovered this timeless skateboarding genius in C2C 's "Down The Road" video, but the riding community already knew about this creative rider with a limitless imagination. On the occasion of his (much noticed) participation in the 2016 edition of the Nuit de la Glisse, we met the star for an exclusive interview full of twists and turns. After a few (many actually) glasses of champagne, he finally relaxed and let us in on some secrets. This guy is crazy but thankfully he exists.

Hi Richie, can you introduce yourself a little bit for people who don't know you?No. Who doesn't know me? Everyone knows who I am.

I can see the genre. Could you tell us more about your participation in "La nuit de la glisse"?One day, a French guy called me and said "do you want to go to Barcelona to film skateboarding? And now we are showing the film in the biggest cinemas in Europe.

Have you seen the film?What do you think?It's very "cinematic", you know what I mean? Thierry (Donard) knows how to make it incredible.

And do you just limit yourself to skateboarding or do you do other stuff?I have a narrow vision, I only think about skateboarding. I've never even been interested in anything that isn't skateboarding except maybe food. But no, even that doesn't interest me. Skateboarding and breathing, that's all.

Not really every day, but whenever I can.

And when you're not skating, what do you do?I think about skateboarding.

Do you have a favourite trick?Mmm... that's not really how it works. I'll have a favourite trick for a week but not an all-time favourite trick. In fact, I don't know. It's too hard to find one, sorry.

Style and creativity are important to you. Where do you get your inspiration from?I don't know. It's not really for me to define that. I just do the stuff I find interesting, that's all.

Are there people who inspire you?Yeah, weird people. Yogi a Japanese skater or William Spencer but there are so many good skaters...

We saw your share for Trasher mag. It's pretty amazing. Do you think you've explored all your psychedelic sides?Oh and this is just the beginning, we're going to do another one. I'm working on a new one right now. It never stops... it's endless. That's what makes it so cool. Limited only by your own imagination.

Do you express your creative side only through skateboarding, or do you do it in other ways as well?Sometimes I put a little paint on a canvas, but like I said, I'm a one-track kind of person. When I do something, I do it thoroughly. So yeah actually skateboarding is the only thing I'm focusing on at the moment.

A favourite spot?The streets of planet Earth.

Has anyone ever told you that you look like Salvatore Dali?That's what I've been told, haha.

For you, the 70's are very important...Yes, it's when rock'n'roll reached perfection. That's a scientific fact, isn't it?

Of course it was! You don't know who you're talking to!This is the decade when rock music became perfect.

Do you only listen to music from that time?I like a bit of everything but the music today is so fucked up... I mean it's dead, it's dead! Every now and then something interesting comes out but it doesn't happen very often man... the music's in a really bad state right now.

Do you prefer to ride solo or with your mates?I like the so-called "depression sessions" when you ride alone. I really love that. I work on something alone and then I move with the crew to film it. You know when it comes to making footage, it's good to have the energy of others as well, but yeah, most of the time I ride solo.

What are your upcoming projects?I'm working on a lot of stuff, I'm trying to make a new part so I'll see you in 3 years when it's done!

Nowadays, video parts are very important for the sport, for skateboarding... Oh yes! Filming a part in the street, that's where you rate a real skater. If you film in the park, it's easy and clean. If you don't film in the street, for me it doesn't count. You have to film in the street!

Filming parts finally made you more creative?Yes because you can have a vision of the thing and make it real. It's hard to talk about creativity because the essence of creativity is amorphous, formless and rare. You can't really define it... at least not enough to talk about it.

Thanks?No, fuck them all.

Anyway, they're all dead... Yeah, lol exactly!

Thanks to Stephanie Mornand for the translation Photos by Artur Sadovski