Eddie Wall Interview

Eddie Wall walked casually into the Snowboarder offices a few days after a returning from a trip that took him shredding on three continents. He was wearing a radical David Bowie shirt (the same one he’d had on for two weeks), dirty torn jeans and a crusty trucker‘s cap. The D.C. ring he had worn for years was missing (stolen), but his smile was as big as ever. The staff at Snowboarder was in such awe of Eddie’s coolness a fight broke out over who would get to smell his armpit first. Basically, Eddie Wall is so snowboarderific his dad deserves sponsors. Eddie spends his off-season skating, surfing, brushing off pornstars, and watching that epic football movie Rudy. We were fortunate to share some of this snowboard super-star’s valuable time.

DS: What were some highlights from last year?
EW: First highlight was getting number two on the exposure meter. Which is basically a count of who has the most coverage in snowboarding. I got number two on that. The New York City Rail Jam Contest at Union Square was crazy. I’m really happy about winning that. And filming for the new D.C. Mt. Lab video was insane and the Forum video too.

Did you have a favorite trip this year?
I just came off of it. We went from Dubai, which is in the United Arab Emirates right on the Persian Gulf, right by Saudi Arabia, and went snowboarding at the indoor snowboarding place. Then I went to Bjorklieden, Sweden, which is right near Riksgransen and filmed with D.C. I went up to the North Pole to film at Svolbard, which is the northern-most city on planet earth. Then I went from there to Paris.

How did you end up in Paris?
Basically, we were in Oslo, Norway, and we were flying out. We partied the whole night until seven in the morning. Then at 7 am we just went straight from the club to the airport. I was about to fly home, checking in, and I saw my friend Jeremy Petit, one of our filmers. He was going to Paris so I was just like, “cancel my flight, I’m going to Paris.” I canceled my flight right then. I woke up in Paris, not knowing what the heck was going on.

Who was fun to ride with this season?
When I snowboard we’re almost always filming. At this point we’re either filming or traveling to go film. It’s hard to just go ride for fun because you usually don’t have any time. So when I film with D.C., I mainly film with Lauri, Iika, Devun and Arron Biitner. And then a little bit with Todd Richards and Parker. When I film with Forum, I film a lot with Travis Kennedy, Jake Welch, Jake Blauvelt, Stevie Bell, Joni Malmi and that whole crew.

What’s staying with the Finnish guys in San Clemente like?
It’s insane. It’s such a ghetto, surf, skate house. There’s surfboards and skateboards all over the living room. There’s a futon in the house and that’s about it. It’s constantly just alcohol and girls. We’ve been going to a lot of crazy, crazy parties. We’ve been partying in L.A. We’ve had some crazy nights. We met a lot of fun people in L.A. So we’ve been partying at the Roosevelt, the Standard, LAX and all these insane clubs that have movie stars. It’s pretty funny.

How has being bought by Burton changed Forum?
The main change that was instantly felt throughout was that it was a more secure company. The riders would get their paychecks on time and we had a lot more resources and patents to use on products, which is rad because Burton holds a lot of patents. It’s not necessarily a downfall but one thing that is a little bit different is that Forum, at that point, really forced us to go head to toe. Which means all boots, boards, bindings, gloves, outerwear, everything, you have to ride Forum or Blend or Foursquare. That was a big change, it was never really like that. The reason we weren’t tripping to hard is because pretty much every company is moving in that direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years there was Quiksilver snowboard and a Vans snowboard or whatever.

Who do you think snowboards more, you or your dad?
I’d actually almost say we have to be pretty much equal. We travel a lot so there’s a lot of days where we would want to go ride but we’re either traveling or we have to take care of off-snow stuff. He just goes up every weekend of the whole entire winter. It’s pretty funny to see that.

Is your dad sponsored too?
Ya, my dad actually just got a promodel glove. For one reason or another I had to leave Grenade to ride for Forum gloves, kind of a conflict of interest there, which is a bummer because I love Grenade. Anyways Grenade made an Eddie Wall Sr. pro-model glove. My dad was so hyped on that. He was super stoked.

Did your dad and you really almost get arrested for not buying a lift licket?
My dad and I started snowboarding together, which is really cool. We always used go up and poach pipes, just hike up the mountain and ride the pipe. We went to Camelback in the Poconos and hiked up the pipe. We were hiking and the ski patrol came down. I gave them a story and they went away. We were all psyched and I was just bragging about how I lied to them and tricked them. We were all laughing, just me and my dad, and then the ski patrol comes down with like four more guys. They all take us in. The cops were there. They made us buy tickets and then rip them apart in front of them. It was funny.

Who smokes more?
I would definitely say my dad smokes more cigarettes. I’ve just barely started. I smoke every once in awhile. But man, he’s got me on the cigarettes.

What’s the largest bar tab you’ve ever had?
Let’s see. One of the largest was Mammoth WCI. I won a contest and opened up the bar for a few hours. I think that was about two grand or maybe like $1800. The next one, the X Games, at SkyBar I think was around two grand or so. The New York City Rail Jam Contest, that was like three grand probably because we tapped into the whole Cristal thing.

How many copies of that football movie Rudy do you have?
Pat Bridges likes to give me sh*t because at my house I have two DVDs of the movie Rudy, which is like a Disney-type football movie. When I was little it was all inspirational for me. I had a copy then my Mom bought me one because she didn’t know I had one. Now, I have two copies and everyone makes fun of me.

What happened to your D.C. ring?
We were just partying after the Transworld Skateboard awards up in Hollywood. I was up in my room partying with this girl. I woke up in the morning and the D.C. ring was just gone. It got stolen.

How does skateboarding influence your snowboarding?
I think skating is the best thing ever. It is actually like going to a shrink for me. If I’m having a not good day, going skateboarding saves me. I think it helps my snowboarding a lot because it keeps me on point all summer when I’m not snowboarding. With all the urban stuff now, with wall-rides and jibs and weird telephone pole rides or anything, it just helps me so much with those because it’s a lot more skate-style.

What’s your favorite skateboard video?
For sure all-time Bag of Suck. Jerry Hsu is the best skater on earth. Baker 3 is really good too.

Is it true you have a house that’s like 300 ft from a skatepark?
Yeah, I have a house in Mammoth that’s just a few hundred feet from a really crazy good skatepark. The JLA memorial park, or The Brothers, I guess it’s called, The Volcom Brothers skatepark.

Who’s Heidi Cortez?
That was like this playmate that I met on the Internet and I didn’t even know it. I just thought she's girl. She actually came and we hung out a little bit in L.A. I go back and someone’s like “Dude, check this out.” I knew she was kind of famous because she has a show on Howard Stern and she has a bestselling book right now at Barnes and Noble. I figured she was somebody kind of famous but I didn’t know. I get back and I’m like, “Ya whatever, nice to meet you,” didn’t really put too much interest into it. Then I find out the next day she’s like some Playboy Playmate. I was just like “what a retard.”

So now, you’ll hit on pretty much any girl?
I don’t know if that’s true. I will definitely not hit on any girl that is for sure. I don’t even actually try to hit on girls. I am just mellow. I just usually want to go home and hang out with my friends. That’s why girls probably end up trying to hang out because they can sense that.