Jason Momoa Interviews Erik Ellington
Portraits by Andrew Peters unless otherwise noted. Hair by Maranda Widlund, styling by Robert Kruczek.
Erik Ellington is a skateboarding success story.
In an industry that can give you a 10-year run and then spit you out the other side with nothing but bad knees, Erik was one of those rare cats that looked outside the lines and thought, ‘Wait a minute, I could do that too.’ And he did. Erik Ellington sketched a blueprint for what can be done, and his success on and off the board can be attributed to a roving creative soul, an inability to rest on his laurels and an obsession with moving forward into uncharted territory. Another creative soul that can’t sit still is the actor, director and producer Jason Momoa, and as fate would have it, he and Erik were locked down in a house in London, which is where we find them there now, sitting in the kitchen, the tape recorder running and Mr Momoa asking the questions.
Jason Momoa: So, right now we were having some fun shooting in the house. Tell everybody what we just did.
Erik Ellington: We just filmed a line skating through this house that you’ve rented in London.
It’s this ridiculous house that I’ve rented. I’ve never lived in a house this big, but we started looking at the stairs and thought, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a line right here.’ And what I love to do is shoot, that’s what makes me feel like a kid again.
Shooting that, I think we just went back to being 16-years-old. We’re basically just out in the streets filming a line or something, like kids.
What kind of advice would you give to a kid who’s really good at their craft—whatever it be: skateboarding, snowboarding, whatever—but also has this creative streak?
You know, I always avoid giving advice because I never know [what to say], but the thing that has helped me is humility. And a lot of that humility I got from being sober. It really humbled me. Life’s changed for me in a lot of ways, you know; I’m older, there’s a lot happening in my life that some people in the same position might lose their humility. I don’t know how to explain it but… It’s not admirable when you see people lose that [humility]. No matter what you do in life, whether you’re successful at it or whatever, have humility.
I mean, just that’s enough. You don’t need to necessarily have any advice, but it’s like, lessons you’ve learned. It’s always nice passing something down something, when someone looks up to you.
Yeah, totally. I’ll think of something.
We can come back to that question. And maybe, Harry, if you want to chop those vegetables a little fucking louder that’d be great, you fucking prick.
Harry: I’m actually chopping as quietly as I can.
Erik, one of the things I love is we’re both Leos and both have our craft, the thing we love to do, but at the same time we have so many projects. What’s the driving force behind all the creative projects you got going on?
I think skateboarding is the foundation for everything I’ve got. I never want to work an office job; I don’t like routines. So, I think part of it is always wanting to change it up, whether it’s starting something new or starting a brand. I don’t like to sit still and I don’t like routine. It’s confusing though because I don’t drink; I’ve got seven years sobriety, so, with that, I’ve gotten into a groove where there’s a lot of self-reflection, a lot of things that I prioritise in terms of my sobriety. But in life, I’m not content doing one thing and staying put.
I have a problem sitting still too. Tell me a little bit about what it’s like to be a creative director for Li-Ning.
That was such a blessing because the brand was creating a new category and wanted to do something in skateboarding. When they hit me up, I was able to share the 30 years I’ve been in skateboarding, the ups and downs and the cycles of trends. I’ve been able to use my experience, the people I’ve met over the years, and then incorporate the right filmer, the right photographer, the right people to represent the brand and start it off on the right foot. Also, working with designers who are really pushing the envelope, that was the funnest part. A lot of times in skateboarding and in skateboarding footwear, it sort of reaches a ceiling and the designs begin erring on the basic side. And I think that one of the things I really respected about Li-Ning’s team is that they really push the boundaries on design.
Right.
For me to present them with 10 of my old shoes and talk with them about what the inspiration and motivation was behind those, and then for them to listen, that was one of the biggest things. They hired me for something, and they’re actually listening to me. You know, I don’t have all the best ideas, but at the same time, if you’re given the freedom to be able to submit all this stuff… A lot of the time a good idea can get constrained by opinions, and if you’ve got five people giving their opinions, all of a sudden you’ve got a watered-down idea that nobody really likes. Like with Supra, it’s got to run up these flagpoles and by the time it comes out, yeah, you’re proud because it has your name on it, but it’s not truly yours.
Yeah.
I think with Li-Ning, we were able to work on projects from the inception to the final result. The video we filmed in New York, the people who were involved, the filmer, the editor, the photographer… It’s like, your standard skate edit with the same photography that everybody has used before, to me, it’s cool and it’s been done and everything, but it gets really stagnant. So to be able to have the inspiration of fashion and a photographer who didn’t necessarily shoot skate photos beyond the trip with me—even though he grew up skating—having the eye to know where to time a trick, but at the same time having an eye for big fashion campaigns, that was one piece of it—the editing and being able to work with someone who did the Instagram edits who’s never done a skate edit before—all of those things meant it wasn’t your standard formula. I was able to explore that and really see it all the way through.
The response from people, we didn’t expect that. That was the biggest compliment we could’ve gotten. They thought it was going to be this average skate edit or whatever, and it wasn’t that. I think the shoe kind of surprised people because it was a little more of a technical shoe, and the overall look took a different direction—very much in Li-Ning’s direction—informed by what I had to bring to the table. It was a good collaboration.
Let’s talk about surfing and picking up new things. This year you’re coming out to Hawaii and you’re coming surfing with us.
I got into surfing maybe two and half years ago. There was, like, six months where I was doing it every couple of days. It’s been months now, so I’m not like a real… I’m half-assed.
Well, you can come and half-ass it with me in Hawaii.
Let’s do it. I love it, I love being in the water.
Do you snowboard too?
No.
No?
I grew up in Alaska, never snowboarded.
Fuckin’ A, really, bro? You never learnt how to snowboard?
No.
Holy shit, it’s going to open up your whole world, bro.
Okay, so listen to this: when we started Supra, we took a trip to Mammoth and that was the first time that I’d tried to snowboard. This was 2006, and I fuckin’ ate shit. I caught an edge, slammed, thought I broke my collarbone. I was like, fuck this, so I didn’t do it again until two years later; we went to Lake Tahoe and I went up on the mountain with my family. I was trying to not be a quitter with it, you know? Because I get frustrated with things and either the frustration creates this crazy, intense desire to be really good at it, or it’s something where… I’m 42 at the time and I’m just like slam, slam, slam. And I’ve got my kid there, and I keep getting up and eventually I was okay, but me and my son had a hard time picking it up. My daughter though, she was 11, and the way she started doing backside power slides and the way she held her arms, I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s exactly how you want to do that.’ I took a video of her and I paused the frame, and that’s how I always wish I could backslide lipslide. Her form… She’s got a gift. Whereas me and my son…
It’s like a fucking three-day learning curve.
That’s what it is.
I mean, everybody and anybody in the world can do it.
It’s not like surfing.
Hell no, dude.
Surfing takes years, I only just started being able to be able to carve a little bit. But I also ride this 30-foot-long surfboard. It’s an 11-foot board.
Let’s talk about what everyone wants to know: where’s skateboarding at in your life? What’s the vibe in your soul of you trying to keep it alive? Do you want to keep it alive? Tell us a little about that.
Okay so, let me see.
You’re my elder; you’re 44.
That’s right.
I mean I just shot you going through my house, you look great doing 360 kickflips down the stairs.
You know what, over the last couple of months, I’ve been taking a little bit more of a hands-on thing. With Deathwish, I stepped back for a couple of years and me and Jim Greco were doing a little side thing where we were making custom boards. It was more, like, individual art projects, where we’d produce 20 to 30 boards and then sell them. I guess I took a step back because I was working on a few other things. But I was also still skating and enjoying it and everything, it’s just that I wasn’t putting myself out and, like, trying to film a video part for Deathwish. I think I’ve reached a point where the desire to have consistent clips on Instagram or a video part and all that stuff, it’s not something that really satisfies me. But there’s a project that Andrew [Reynolds] and us all are working on, Baker Has A Deathwish 2, and I really want to film a full part for that.
Would you think about directing that?
Well, you know, with that it’s less about the direction. With editing and stuff, we have two or three filmers and the footage ends up looking a certain way. Andrew does a lot of the editing of the Baker videos, and then the Deathwish stuff there’s been a couple people over the years that have put them together. Me and Jim, we edited the first Deathwish video, but that was also a collaboration with a few different people. But I almost think they just naturally end up looking a certain way because of the footage. Baker 3 looked a certain way, in part because of the editing, but also because of what Beagle was capturing. He was getting so much hi-jinx, so much crazy stuff in the streets of Hollywood, that all of that stuff—put together with the music—it just had a certain look. With directing something, when you put a project together you have a vision of what it looks like, and we have a vision of what the video looks like, but ultimately, it takes its own life. I’m probably okay at editing and I could probably do a decent job of it, but I’ve never gotten super into editing skate videos. I have a problem with seeing something over and over, like skate footage and especially with my own stuff; I end up disliking it.
If I see a clip of myself 10 times, I’m like, ‘We gotta throw that out now.’ I’m the worst at editing my own part because I end up hating everything. Editing, like, an Antwuan Dixon part or something, you’re just like everything is gold. When we did the first Deathwish, there’s certain people’s footage where everything looks magical, you know? I’m kind of a perfectionist, even though I’m not; like, the stuff that I end up filming—and even my entire career—it’s kind of been sloppy. It’s just the way that I skate. In my head, I’m a perfectionist, so when I do something, I’m not really satisfied with it, but it’s the best that I can do, so I just accept it.
How often do you skate a week?
Sometimes none, sometimes three or four times.
Where’s your favourite spots in LA?
Right now, there’s these curbs that I skate near my house. They’re in Burbank. There’s actually that spot that I took you to—do you remember the curb cuts in Eagle Rock?
Yeah, yeah.
That’s one of my favourites.
We went there with Spanky, right?
Yeah. We have a skatepark in our warehouse that’s pretty fun. The last couple times I’ve skated it’s just been me, Andrew and Jim. And it kind of brought me back to that feeling of being little kids again; Jim will be trying something, Andrew will be trying something; those guys motivate me.
Those are your two best friends, right?
Yeah, them and Shane Heyl.
Those are like, the OGs.
Yeah, they’re the dudes. They’re all pretty much skating every single day.
Really?
Yeah, Shane’s a little older than me, Andrew and Jim are within six months of me: 43, 44.
Woah, and they still skate every day.
Every single day. So that’s a lot of motivation for me. Andrew will hit me up on the weekend like, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ And I’m like fuck it, let’s do this. I’ll get out there and try and film a line.
That’s cool. He’s not in any of the videos though, is he?
Andrew? Yeah, he’s in Baker 3, Baker 4. He’s sitting on so much footage right now. It’s crazy. Jim’s got a full part he’s working on, Shane’s always got footage. Dustin’s actually here in London right now, he’s fucking still killing it.
It’s exciting, I had a great time shooting you. Me and my partner Brian [Andrew Mendoza], we come from shooting skateboarding videos and snowboarding videos and that’s how we made it into a lifestyle, we kind of wrapped it into our industry. We always like to keep it small, really compact and have fun with it, man.
And your crew is really tight from growing up, right, all the people that are in Pride of Gypsies?
Yeah, it’s like taking what you grew up with and putting it into this professional film industry. We just wanted to do it the way we wanted to do it.
And it’s different from the way that other people are doing it.
Yeah, it totally is, but it’s also inspired by skate culture and climbing and surfing, snowboarding.
You can tell that too, because you grew up with certain influences, like the music you listened to, the skate stuff you were interested in. We grew up skating in the late 80s, early 90s, and I think the people we identify with is still, like, Christian Hosoi. And that inspiration never goes away. Even to this day, things that I’ll put on will be from the people that I looked to growing up. Transitioning that into something that’s, professional in the real world makes it so much more unique than what’s out there. Like, within film, how many people actually came up skating like we were? Same thing with being in fashion or design or something; to have all those influences rolled up into this brand or photoshoots. You know, Ali Boulala will be in it, or you’ll be in it, and people don’t know what the connection is. Like, they don’t know who Ali Boulala is, they just think he looks cool. They know who you are, but then they’ll be like, ‘Wait, why is he in that?’ I think what’s cool is the thread that connects us has been there since way back before we had any idea who each other was. I think that’s what’s so cool, there’s an authenticity to that, and you can see the authenticity in what your work is, or what my designs are, and then we share that.
That’s a trip dude, having you at the Dune premiere and having the oldest suit maker in the world make my suit—and I don’t wear suits, so that was an honour, and then to look down and be like, my boy’s skate shoes, HSR shoes. It’s cool. And then you were there too.
It was such an honour for me too. Like, I’m seeing you there on the red carpet in a Henry Poole suit, and my shoes are at the bottom of that. It’s so crazy and it was fun. That was a really cool experience because I don’t get to walk the red carpet on too many occasions.
There’s many more to come, many more. Is there anything else you’d like to say to Monster Children? It’s a fucking rad magazine man, I’ve been connected with Monster Children since I used to live in Australia. It’s a cool magazine to be a part of, so I’m happy for you. I saw some of the photos; the shoot looked fucking cool too.
Yeah, Andrew [Peters] did a really good job shooting that.
It’s such a great magazine. There’s just not that many great magazines left. I wish them the best.
I know, right?
Anything else you want to say to the fans?
I think we covered a lot. We’re coming through this thing where we just got through being in a house for the last 10 days.
Yeah, we’re still homies!
We haven’t killed each other. Coming back to the question you asked about advice, I think it ties into this: I’m really grateful for what I have. I’m grateful for my health, friends, family, and just being able to create things. I always keep it in the back of my head, every day I wake up and I’m grateful. Like, shit could be so much worse, no matter what your situation is. Having gratitude is something that has saved me. A lot of my early days, I wasn’t grateful for certain things and my perspective was always skewed, like, everything could’ve been better and I blamed people for stuff. Now, though, being able to reflect on that and just getting a little older and clear-minded, no matter what happens to me—if it’s something bad—I always try and flip it and remind myself that it could be even worse. And if I share that with enough people, or just get into conversations about that, I think that’s the thing.
Another thing with you, I think, is authenticity. Even though people may perceive you this way, or the skate community may perceive you that way, you stay authentic to yourself and your dreams and your creativity, and I think that’s the greatest thing our little sport that we grew up with gave us: authenticity and style. And you still maintain that, and it’s inspiring with your sobriety because you conquered all that stuff, and you could’ve been this fucking burnout and really gone down that path. For me, it’s like, I got to meet one of my heroes, and you’re still doing it in different ways, and that’s fucking cool man.
That’s the nicest compliment I could get.
Everyone should know, Erik Ellington is still the coolest.
Thank you, bro, love you too.
To see more from the 2021 Monster Children Annual, grab a copy here.
