Welcome to The Hardcore Youth Legion Website, Since 1988 - "the elite underground society"

Interviews

This interview has been waiting to be done since the early days.  I have watched Jim skate since pretty much day one, and he has always been one of my favorite skaters.  Smooth and controlled, making things look easy and with plenty of style is Jim in a nut shell.  On day trips to Rye skate park or just hanging out, Jim is a good guy.  Mellow when need be, or showing a bit of his temper, again, when need be.

Steven da Silva

Jim Moyer Interview

Name: Jim Moyer

Age: 30

Years Skating: 18

First Board: Mark "Gator" Ragowski

First Trick: Boneless

Injury List: Heel bruises, many sprained ankles, two knee surgeries, sprained fingers, pulled lower back, (see the Solstice video for the scorpion), tendonitis right shoulder (old age), and one pulled hamstring

Skating wasn't viewed as being too cool back in the eighties, any stories from the high school years?  Not many people skated when I was in school.  It was looked down upon.  It wasn't like today where its excepted.  People laughed at us and made fun of us, so I didn't talk to many people in high school.  Now most people think it's the cool thing to do, which I guess is a good thing.  It definitely makes for a more positive experience for kids today.

Describe the local scene in the late eighties.  Moe, Phil, Shane, Matt, and Owen, skating for 12 hours a day.  Court house sessions, the wet noodle, (the first ramp we tried to build) and scum hall.

How was it having one the best backyard ramps of the time?  I was fortunate to have a good ramp to skate back then.  It definitely made me a more well rounded skater.  I just wish more people would have skated it.

If you could only skate one forever, which would you choose: mini ramp (your design), or true street?  As much as I love skating a good ramp I would choose street skating.

Why?  Just the feeling of rolling around, the sound your trucks make from grinding a ledge.  There's no better feeling than trying a trick, landing and riding away smoothly.  Its an amazing feeling, but I guess you would have to skate to really understand how great it is.  "Roll forever!"

What was the hardest trick for you to learn?  When I started skating there were not a whole lot or tricks to learn.  Kick flips, that was the hardest trick back then.  Trying to ollie over four boards was pretty hard...Dude how many boards can you ollie?

Any interesting or just weird story that happened to you while skating?  The worst thing was being arrested downtown New Bedford.  The cop followed us for awhile, when we finally stopped the cop was still coming toward us.  When he got up close to us he tried grabbing me, so I instinctively pulled away and ran.  I then proceeded to curse him out.  The cop called for a cruiser.  The car pulled up in front of us and the cop that followed us got out and grabbed me, put one arm behind my back and put me in a choke hold and threw me in the car.  When we got to the police station he took me out of the car and decided to choke me a little more, pushed me against the car and started hitting me in the head with the ring on his finger.  It gave me a nice lump on my head!  Anyway I was under age so I had to sit in a cell until my parents came and got me.  Unfortunately for my friend Shane, he had to spend the night in jail, sorry buddy!  That was the worst thing that happened to me in my 18 years of skating.  Anybody who knew me then, they know how bad of a temper I had and that time it got me in a lot of trouble.

How did the whole Solstice video part come about?  I skated with Jay and Randy (owner and former owner of Solstice) for a long time, so when they opened the shop I was lucky enough to ride for Solstice.  Then they decided to make the video and they let me have a part.

How was filming for your part?  Filming was never fun for me and I didn't do a whole lot of it.  I would get things here and there, but I didn't have a lot of footage.  Jay V., Martin Johnson, and I drove to Arizona so I got some stuff out there, that's where I folded myself on that rail.  The next day we went to the chandler park and I couldn't even bend down so I missed out on skating a great park.  But on the upside we did go to the Grand Canyon and it was pretty amazing.

Do you like how your part turned out?  I wasn't happy with my part.  I didn't have a lot of footage.  Then I tore my ACL so the things I wanted to film I didn't get a chance to so I had to settle for what I had, oh well, sorry I sucked!

Other interests besides skating?  Hanging out at the pub and drinking with my friends,...just kidding!  I'm finally going snowboarding so we'll see how that goes.  I also like tennis and basketball.  I just need a partner to play tennis with so if anybody's interested, lets hook it up.  I also like playing Godzilla on my video gaming box...Megalon rules!!  That's about it.

What type of music you into?  I like pretty much everything except country, R&B, and anything else that's on FUN 107.

What do you think about Baja Fresh?  Number thirty nine (in a hot Latin girl voice over the intercom) good food and hot girls who read books.

Any last words?  If you ever go on a trip and drive 18 hours, don't skate for 6 hours, then drive 18 hours straight back home.

Shouts and thanks?  Thanks to everyone that has helped me in anyway, especially Jay V. and Steven for wanting to do this interview.

This page last modified on 10/11/2006