Writer: Hagan Kelley | Photography: Torry Piro
I was in a hotel room I was so far away from home it seemed like the walls were closing in on me And my soul felt like itd turned to stone There were two books upon the nightstand I didnt know which one to read And I wasnt sure what I might find in them Or if it would be anything I need But I sat there in that small room and as the night became the day I read about Buddha and I read about Christ And the words that they did say And I saw myself before me like a ship lost at sea And I guess I was content to just let it pass When I heard your voice in me Down on my knees I went walking into a strange city In the darkest hours of the night I went looking for a sign from you Hoping to see the light When a man came from the shadows And he asked my if I had heard the good news about Jesus Christ and how he was the word then he asked me to say a prayer with him So that Christ I would receive I told him I had further to walk Before I could believe He said he saw me standing before him Like a ship lost at sea And I saw myself reflected in his eyes When I felt your breath on me Down on my knees I was sitting by the ocean Up against a dune I was listening to the tide come in Looking up at the moon And I never felt as alone in my life As I did just sitting there And My whole life flashed before me And the pictures seemed so bare And I was overcome with desperation And a hunger I couldnt feed Time stood still and was seething And I could feel my existence bleed And I saw myself before me Like a ship lost at sea And I was looking for a beacon When I felt your light touch me Down on my knees.

When paid skateboarder Mike Vallely opens his icebox, a silvery monstrous thing (price unknown), never in these days will he find a lack for choices of choices. He’s the early-30’s kid next door, maybe like you or as you’d one day like to be—the only guy in the neighborhood with his own pro-deck, set on the aisles of South Cal suburbia; and yet not a far removal from his 1980’s American youth shelved back there in small-town New Jersey. Yes, he’s “sucked them fumes” too, of just another empire in a world running on its own juice. It was in this defense that he took to a skateboard.
    And even before that, to a look and a sound. It was called punk rock. Whether or not these punks had green hair or not wasn’t important to the boy. They had to be honest and unique. They had to stand out, just as the teenaged Mike V. had to stand out. He still does. He can’t help it; with the bold tattoos, and more so with his somewhat archaic conviction for commitment to his family (wife: 1, children: 2), it’s safe to say the dude’s more than a clever contradiction. He’s more than the sick feeling some kids get from his “Stand Strong” corporately patented mug out selling them high-tops. There’s more to the strong-willed blood beneath that ink, once long dried and faded past the troubles of the day.
    Today we’re at a caffeine-joint not far from his family’s LB without the C suburban home, under June gloom and high on, as you guessed it, … “Life.” He knows what it’s like to be one of those kids to be sold to, which is where we begin.

Risen Magazine: What was the little Mike V. like—before the Bones Brigade and street-skating icon?
Mike Vallely: When I discovered things like skateboarding and punk rock music, it was because I was searching. I knew that there was an alternative to what I saw all around me; I could sense that, and I had an openness to find out what that was. It happened during one of those miraculous opportunities you get as a kid—to reinvent yourself over the summer vacation; I was 14 and going into my freshmen year. So I decided to go back to school as a punk rocker, although I knew nothing about punk rock besides having seen Billy Idol on MTV. I figured that was pretty close to what it should look like. So I spiked my hair up and went in with a lip curled and an attitude, and before long I came across some real punk rockers. They approached me and kind of circled around me and went, “Hey man, are you punk rock?” [Laughter] And I said, “Yeah, I’m punk.”
    They go, “Yeah, is that right—well, what bands do you like?” Now, I didn’t know any bands but I realized the shirts they were wearing were band t-shirts, so I looked at one guy’s shirt and said, “Oh, I like that band ‘Black Flag.’ “Then I looked at another shirt and said, “And the ‘Dead Kennedy’s.” They said, “Okay, but what other bands do you like?” I go, “Oh, and I like that one band; they got the big skull…” They go, “ ‘The Misfits,’ you like The Misfits? ” and I go, “Yeah, yeah, they’re cool.” Then once more they go, “Yeah, but what other bands do you like?” So there’s this other guy, but he’s got a ‘Three Stooges’ shirt on, and I know it’s a show but I figure, “Maybe it’s a band too.” I’m about to say ‘Three Stooges’ but I’m thinking about it and I kind of stumble on my words. Then, one of the guys goes, “Hey man, you don’t know any bands, do you?” I say [In a defeated tone], “No.” But they go, “That’s cool, come with us.” You know, that was probably the coolest thing I’d ever heard in my life. And that day after school they shaved my head and gave me a mix-tape of what was probably the most important music I’d heard in my life.

RM: They befriended you.
MV: These guys pulled me in. They were a few years older and had already gone through a lot of things that I was just starting to experience. It was like they had already said, “Hey, if there’s anyone out there like us, let’s go and get to know them.” It was very positive—but, like anything, with any group of people coming together, [sighing] it always goes bad.
    But the key for me was that I had found something for myself, and even though I had joined this certain group of guys and gotten into this particular style of music and in turn found skateboarding, I maintained my individuality throughout. The music and skateboarding were my encouragement; they were all about being your own person with your own belief systems. It was here that I started my own individual journey, up until that point I had no real focus; I wasn’t on that path because I didn’t know that path existed.
    When I talk about the music and skateboarding having such a profound impact on my life, that’s what I’m talking about, it was a starting point. I’m not saying that it was the answer. Like a lot of people will misinterpret me saying that, “Skateboarding saved my life.” And they’ll say, “Whoa, dude…” Now I know that there’s more than that, but it was a starting point. I wouldn’t have gotten here without it, because I wouldn’t have known myself.
RM: You said of your early punk friends that something went bad. What happened?
MV: Even there, eventually they tried to conform me. It was one time that I went to my buddy’s basement, that was where we all hung out, and I was wearing a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt. Immediately they all went [With anger], “Dude, what are you doing—you’re a sellout!” And I was like, “You guys are so stupid—you think that punk rock is about the clothes you wear?” I experienced these things very early on in both music and in skateboarding. So I found myself rebelling against the rebels, and at times, against myself.

RM: So you’ve never been a follower?
MV: No, I never really have. I think that everyone lacks confidence, and gets caught up in the wrong things, by just going along for the ride. I’ve definitely been in the wrong place at the wrong time; in the wrong car with the wrong people on the wrong street many, many, many times; things that I feel bad about, things I’ve wished had never happened. But I’ve always been able to learn by openly looking at myself, to reevaluate myself, and what I’m participating in. But more than regretting these things, I’ll just try and accept them for what they are—mistakes. There’s a certain freedom that comes from owning up to your own mistakes, you know?
    Unfortunately, a lot of people will let themselves so far down a certain path that they can no longer see a way out, a way to change. They begin to believe that there’s nothing they can do about it. When I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, I’ll immediately stop, I’ll listen.

RM: People are beaten down by this world.
MV: Well I’m not a psychiatrist [Laughter], what I know about others is only what I know about myself. I know there’ve been times when I’ve lacked…you know, when stresses mount up and get the best of me so that I lose focus. And when you lose focus, that’s when you’re susceptible to those other things that are constantly pulling at you. To be an individual is a battle, it’s a war. Every moment you’re fighting the things coming in on you, deflecting them and trying to walk this way, but y