Raymond is a solid dude. I caught up with him about 3 weeks ago as he was getting back into town from a quick jaunt in the desert lands of Arizona. He’s one of those boarders that is not on TWS Business’ “Coverage- o-meter” very much, maybe not ever. Marketing tools have nothing to do with this dude’s skating though, his style and overall good taste in trick selection, are what keep all of us hyped on what he’s doing.

You just got back from an Arizona trip, how was that?

Benny and a couple of the Adidas guys were going out there for a demo. It was just a one day thing but we decided to make a three day thing out of it.

So was it mostly just the Adidas guys and then you along for the ride?

Nah, it was supposed to me and Seu (Trinh), since we’re working on an interview. But it ended up being me, Nick Garcia, Levi Brown, Cole Mathews, and a bunch of the Element guys.

And back to you and Benny, you guys skate together a decent amount these days, and have been doing some trips lately, right? How’s that dude to skate with?

Yeah, we do, he’s good to skate with, for sure. Last year we went to Berlin, but on separate trips. I was on a Converse trip and he was on a WESC trip so I ended up staying and extending and got some good skating in, and I ended up staying and chilling with him and Clint, but that’s actually the only place we’ve skated over seas.

And was that the trip that Austyn stayed with you guys too? He was pretty hyped on that trip.

Actually we stayed with those dudes: Brennan and Austyn and Marius. I didn’t have a hotel room so we ended up chilling with those dudes. We were looking at dong a hostel or an apartment, but we heard from those dudes, and they had a place and they were cool about letting us stay with them.

Are you still pretty pumped on traveling after all this time? You’ve been traveling a lot since Popwar, and to a lot of random places.

I went through a phase where I liked traveling but there was a lot of flying. Flying kinda messed me up for a awhile, there was awhile where I’d just dodge trips just because I didn’t want to get on the flight… but it was just being up in the air. I love traveling, trips, and seeing new places, but it was just being in the air.

So you get real anxious up there?

Yeah, just crazy anxiety and crazy thoughts in my head, but now when I fly (laughs), I’ve definitely gotten help from my friends, Xanax, and like, I don’t pop pills, the only time I pop a Xanax is for a 2 hour flight or a 14 hour flight.

Yeah, if that’s what helps you get there, that’s all that matters (laughs). So right now, is it easier for you get things done like filming and photos when you’re here in LA or when you’re on the road and everything is a bit more focused?

I find it easier for me if there’s just less people. I think I’m less productive on trips when I’m on a trip with a big group of people. You know, you start the day and then you end up at one spot for 3 hours and then another spot for 2 hours, because everyone skates something different, so I’ve found myself trying to do my own thing, it’s easier to get things done, and there’s less pressure. I went to Boston this last summer, I didn’t get a whole bunch of tricks, but it was just me and two other guys and a filmer and it was so much more fun.

There’s definitely 2 kinds of skaters: the dudes that like small crews and the ones that like to have their whole crew at the spot.

And I think that being back home, it’s kinda too comfortable because I can always say, “I can go back there tomorrow”. But also, working on this Transworld interview, I’ve been making lists of spots I want to skate, and that helps getting things done, so it’s cool to have time to plan on spots and go to those spots that I have written down.

You ever find that when you’re on the road you’ll think of a lot of tricks that you want to do back home?

I think everyone does that. You’ll be like “I can’t wait to take this trick to that spot back home, but then you get home and you’re just like “fuck it, I’ll do that shit tomorrow” (laughs).

Right now, what’s one thing that you’ve been getting out of traveling? Anything outside of skating.

It’s nice to go on trips and shoot photos, and I’m always thinking about that, that’s pretty much it. Also, just trying to embrace the culture and just meeting people, meeting skaters, because that way you get introduced to different things, and they show you around, show you cool things.

With the Cons Amazon trip, we could talk all day about this trip, but how about 1 or 2 things that tripped you out?

One thing was definitely drinking the Ayahuasca, and I’m sure you’ve heard from the other stories, but we were watching this tribe doing all these ritual dances, and we drank the Ayahuasca drink at this ritual place, and we were going to stay the night there, but then we wanted to go and see these pink dolphins, so we drank it and it takes an hour or so to kick in. And we got on the boat, and getting on the boat was probably the worst thing we could have done with Ayahuasca in us. It intensified everything, your vision, just everything. So all of the sudden people were tripping out, puking everywhere, Kenny was tripping, I was tripping, these 2 girls on the trip with the group were crying, and everyone was throwing up, so I just went down to the bottom of the boat. One of the craziest things I’ve seen is everyone around me in this group just breaking down and freaking out all at once. I left the crew because it was too crazy, I was laying down in the bottom of the boat for like 6 hours by myself.

So you toughed it out.

Yeah, and you’re supposed to throw up at the end of your trip, but I didn’t throw up. I think I wanted to embrace the experience but the boat threw everything off, and I just wanted to get through it. And I don’t do drugs really, so it was…

Sounds like one substance that sounds cool to try given the boat trip you were on, but the boat was just a bad call, that nobody could have predicted.

Yeah, it was definitely the right time to do it, we had a solid crew.

Have you talked to Travis Graves lately?

I haven’t talked to him, but I’ve seen stuff online about him, I think he’s releasing an album in a few months or something.

I just bought that Lii album of his. It’s the one, it’s the one with “Everything in Moderation”.

Yeah that’s a good one. I love that stuff.

What have you been running lately?

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of good recommendations from Matt (Costa) and Danny (Dgarth) actually.
Lately I’ve been listening to Chet Atkins and I’ve been trying to learn a few of those songs. And Danny got me into this band the flying Burrito Brothers.

And what about films?

I’ve been watching this doc “Paul is Really Dead” about how the whole Paul McCartney being dead thing. And it’s been pretty cool, I’ve been going through old Beatles records and doing the thing where you can play songs backwards and it says “Paul is dead”.

Whoa, really? Are there multiple records that do that?

Yeah, and I told Danny about it, and he just said, “that sounds stupid” (laughs).

Do you still watch any skate videos? New ones? Old ones?

I mostly stick with old videos. If there’s something new, that….like the last new one I liked, something like Jack Sabback’s Traffic video part, Dylan’s Gravis part, but mostly old video parts.

Any old parts specifically?

Funny thing, my buddy Joe was in town from New York, and we were watching old videos and watching Ricky Oyola’s part in the New Deal video, and Quim Cardona in the Real video, and Pat Washington and Mike Graham. It’s so rad watching those videos for the old music and the old SF and New York spots. Those are the first ones that come to mind for old videos.

That Real Non Fiction video is really sick, like Drake Jones’ part in there and Matt Field’s too.

Yeah it’s a sick video, but Quim’s style to me stands out so much, it’s timeless

And is Stereo doing a video right now?

We’re working on a Stereo video and Cons is working on a video. It’s going to be kinda like the Prevent this Tragedy release Cons did with Thrasher, but we’re going to do it with the Skateboard Mag for this one.

Are you pumped on filming and skating right now? Because that inspiration comes in waves.

Lately it’s been a lot of that, getting a trick and then feeling confident, and you just….lately it’s been working out really well. I know how it always isn’t that way but it’s been good, I’ve been really hyped on skating.

How is it shooting with Seu?

It’s amazing, he’s a good guy, he’s always got something, some joke going on. We’ve been going on skate dates (laughs), lately I’ll get a trick and he’ll buy my dinner in exchange (laughs). He lives like 3 blocks away, so we just meet up and skate and hang out. I’m trying to save up enough to take us to Benihana if I get a good trick for the interview (laughs).

And what’s up with his minimal styles? I hear he has a sick crib, but has one picture on the wall and that’s it (laughs)

He doesn’t have anything on his walls, he has a couch, and he’s thinking about getting rid of it (laughs).