I've been fairly lucky throughout my life. I've never truly been in dangers way, I've been fortunate enough to have a long-time and stable relationship and even though I haven't been to the doctors in 6 years for a check up, I'm pretty healthy.


If my name were John Dilorenzo, none of this shit would fucking matter. He's been fortunate enough to find stacks of cash on the floor and has been able to make it rain on a regular basis. I wouldn't say that he's lucky that we found his submission tape in our spam mail because we put him through hell with this shoe review. John came through in an amazing way with this review and I couldn't be more proud of him.


 I didn't formally get a chance to ask John anymore questions for this interview due to a lack of time but if I had another opportunity to ask him one more shoe review related question it'd probably be "Did you get laid while wearing the DC Fix S X Berrics shoe?" Chicks dig dudes who'er on the Berrics.


Okay lets start it off with the classic "Where are you from and how'd you get into skateboarding?"
Ight, well, I'm from Jupiter, FL. I got into skating around the summer of 05' because at the time, it's what every kid was doing. After awhile, everyone started splitting up into different things and I just enjoyed skateboarding way to much to stop. Plus, I made some other friends that were just as down for it like I was so now it's basically devoured my life entirely and I couldn't be happier.

How long have you been abusing and putting your body through pain for skateboarding? It's definitely not easy on your body or pockets. Do your parents back what you're doing?
Awesome way of putting it, but I guess about 6 years now. My parents are awesome, well, my Mom understands at least. I don't even think my Dad gets it at all, but it's all good, he supports the cause. He buys my gear whenever I break shit, but for all he knows I could just be some spoiled kid who wants a board every week.

Who were some early inspirational pros for you when you first started? What was the first video you ever saw and what kind of impact did it have on you?
When I first started skating, being like 12 years old, I thought Sheckler was so dope, and today, he truly is the man. As skating grew on me, I learned more about the different types of skating. I read magazines and peeped videos like any other kid that was addicted to skateboarding. Zero's "New Blood" was the first skate video I had ever owned and that's what I saw skateboarding as. Jon Allie's part was probably the most inspiring to me. I just remember thinking like "why isn't this guy all over the place like Ryan Sheckler?". Thinking about it now, that's so funny.

Have you ever met Jon Allie or Sheckler? I only ask because it's typical for your favorite pro to be a dick sandwich. It's not always the case but it's a chance.
I know what you mean. Some people you watch in videos can seem so rad but they end up being such fucks sometimes. Nowadays, I don't really base much of my "favorites" off of skating because I've actually met some of them and they're such awesome people. Dave Bachinsky is one of the nicest people ever, the farthest person from a dick along with Manny Santiago. I've met both of them at my local park. Those guys deserve the best.



I think we've all been guilty of wearing some skinny pants in the past, yours truly included. Today, it just seems like everyone has conformed to the "popular look" in skateboarding. What keeps you dressing like you're still in 2006 instead of wearing some dope chinos and vintage button ups from the Goodwill? It's pretty gutsy to be yourself in todays skateboarding market.(Laughs) This has to be the funniest question ever. I guess I dress the way I do because I always have and I'm gonna do what I want, regardless of what's popular in skateboarding. I don't see my look changing anytime soon, unless every clothing company just stops making skinny pants. This question reminds me of this time I was at this game of skate contest and I was next to Bagel, a dude from Shred Shed. Him and all of his friends always crack jokes on me for looking like Joey Ragali, another dude from Shred Shed, and what he said to me was something like "Yeah dude, its cool though, we all used to dress stupid. You'll look normal one day". They all just love fucking with me, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Not to long ago, you said that you've been trying to get some sponsors for ages now. Then, you started concentrating more on skating instead of getting sponsored and now you got on Shred Shed. Why is it that once you stop trying to get sponsored something just falls on your lap?  Did you use the "I'm too cool to be sponsored" strategy? If so, how has it been working for you?
 Well, I've always concentrated on just skating but once I got older, my parents started getting on my ass about a job and shit but all I really want to do is skate. So in my head it was like, either I get a job and hate it or I send this footage to every company and hope for the best. After like 2 years of doing that, I looked at it in a different perspective. I told myself that I'm just gonna skate. Plain and simple, I'm gonna be as positive as I can possibly be and cringe at the thought of asking my parents for money for a board or shoes and just let fate unfold.

(laughs) No, it wasn't the "I'm to cool to be sponsored" strategy. I just thought of it more like "I'm not cool enough to be sponsored" so I'll just let shit happen. With Shred Shed and me being "on" is still unannounced. Well I guess not anymore. (laughs) I mean, nobody really knows anything of it but it's been about a year and a half since I brought my tape to Joe. As of right now, I'm just waiting for Joe to give me the thumbs up. I'm super down with the shop, I've been getting to know everyone on the team really well and I've been getting my goods from them for the past few years. To me, Shred Shed has always been one of the most respected shops in South Florida with the craziest team. I never really considered them an option for me but I guess after some time, I felt somewhat confident with my footage and dropped off a tape. Some people on the team thought it was sick so I was pretty hyped. Bagel told me that once Shred Shed 2 drops, they'd really work on getting me and some other kids on the team. The video has been out since August of this year and we have been working on stuff ever since. Maybe once they see this, everything will be set in stone. I don't really know why things started popping up around the time I stopped sending my footage out, all I know is that I'm super grateful for everything that's happened so far.



Tell us more about your dedicated, long time filmer Mikey Glover? Most filmers suck ass at skating but I saw that line he did in your RL's intro part and it was pretty sweet. How did you guys meet and how long have you been skating together?
Yeah, Mikey is the best skater/filmer I know. I can't even say how grateful I am to have a filmer like Mikey. He puts up with so much of my bullshit, whether it's my retarded OCD or just straight up wasting time trying a trick. I'm just hyped that he's not done putting up with me yet. We've been skating together since 07'. We both would always just skate at the local park. Once he got a camera, shit just escalated to what it is today. He's one of the few people that has this obsession with skating the way I do. He has a part in his full length video Florida Daze, and it's one of the best parts, he's insane.


I think most people might've read this already in our past post but I found your video entry in my spam mail. What fucked up kind of porn are you watching to be considered "spam"? Do you normally have this crappy type of luck? If so, whats the deal with it?
(laughs) This question is so awesome just because I honestly consider my luck so much better then I deserve. This one time skating to Publix, I found a $100 bill on the ground, I freaked. The luck doesn't end there. Next week at school, I was considering going in late to my 1st class because I fucking hate it so much, but for some reason I decided that I would show up. It was in this big auditorium, and just from naturally being unsocial, I walked all the way to the far back where I was isolated from the rest of the class. As I looked down, I found a bundle of $20 bills. I thought I was dreaming. It seriously took me a few seconds to pick it up. It ended up being $80 total. That was probably the luckiest 2 weeks of my life and I still continue to find $5 bills on the ground. I came up yesterday at the skate park, so hyped!

So after being on a good luck streak, did you make it rain up in Florida?
Hardly! I just ended up spending like $50 on some shoes and most of it on gas money. I think it was around christmas time too. I know I spent like $40 out of the $80 I found on christmas gifts for my parents and stuff.

How long have you and the rest of the crew been filming for Florida Daze? Believe it or not, there is a lot of underground hype around it. My friend actually flipped his shit when he found out that we were going to feature you on the site. Are you scared of the hype or looking forward to it?
We have been filming for 2 and a half years now and it's finally finished. Mikey is working on the copies being made, and a premiere date, so everyone keep a look out. As far as the hype goes, I've never been so scared of anything in my entire life. Almost everyday, a different random person none of us knows asks us about it. It's the most incredible thing. What started out as something so small and unrecognized, became this big hype machine. I couldn't be happier that people are hyped and excited to see all of our skating. It's an unreal feeling but at the same time, I've never been more scared. Ever.


 
What do you think the reaction to Florida Daze will be? Skateboarding is insanely saturated at the moment and you guys need something truly unique in order to stick out. What quality do you think your crew has v.s. the rest of the hungry skaters out there?
I think people will really be surprised. It seems like skaters from Florida continue to progress constantly and consistently. The same popular names keep producing big video parts such as Brad Cromer, Joey Ragali, Bert Wootton, Derek Mclean, etc. I think people will be surprised and psyched to see the different and new names come through as hard as most of the dudes in Florida Daze did.

Have you seen the final cut of Florida Daze? If so, when do you think we can all expect to get a copy of it?
Yeah I have, like 2 days ago. We got some ideas, but we don't wanna be dropping dates and not live up to them. Just keep a look out for Mikey Glover's Youtube account, and Florida Daze fan page on Facebook. There will be a promo as soon as we know dates.

The "buying videos" side of skateboarding has been somewhat dead for sometime now. How do you think Mikey could get some cash back in his pockets? DV tapes are not cheap. Itunes maybe?
Yeah, it seems to be dying out but luckily, Mikey has tons of potential buyers from the amount of fan page followers and youtube subscribers. I think his sales will be fine, especially with the help and exposure from you guys. The video on iTunes would be so dope! I don't think any of us know how to make that happen though...

If you had to sum up this video in once sentence, what would you say?
I'm gonna use a quote from one of the kids in the video from when he watched it for the 1st time.
"JAKES GOT A NEW HOUSE!!" - George Hogkin
That might not sound like much to you and everyone else, but to us, that means a whole lot.

Any final words or shout outs?
Forsherbssss! I wanna thank my Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Mikey, Derick, The Wedge, Mike Mag, Drew, George, Brin, Shred Shed, Bagel, King Joe, Brendan, Joey, Pang, David, Coinya, Murphdawggg, Butthead, Dan, Eric G, Bryan V, Phil Kyle & Scott @ Abacoa park, All filmers, Anyone that supports Florida Daze, DC shoes, Jeremy Lugo the fucking man at Ripped Laces, and Skateboarding.