Travis Rhodes Interview

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Rebel Without a Cause

Restless wanderer Travis Rhodes discusses drunken tattoo parties, chasing foxes and living out of a backpack for the sake of blading.

Travis Rhodes is an absolute beast. The guy parties like he is not afraid of death and skates the exact same way. I only discovered his exciting, raw talent when I watched the 90 Seconds edit that he filmed for Revolution Skate Shop and it was mind blowing. Rhodes has the perfect combination of fast skating, creative trick choices and the exceptional ability to visualise a stunt on the most unlikely obstacle. Needless to say, I had to know more.

After a little research, I discovered that the Chicago native’s reckless attitude extends beyond rollerblading. During a house party one night, Rhodes and a few of his friends found a tattoo machine and decided to experiment on each other by creating some very questionable skin art – seemingly oblivious to the various health (not to mention aesthetic) implications. “Yeah, they are pretty ghetto,” says Rhodes between fits of laughter. “That night was a lot of fun. We all just got really drunk and our buddy had a tattoo machine, so we gave each other tattoos. Who wouldn’t do it?” At the risk of sounding like a square, I would imagine that most people of sound mind would not let a wasted guy with a tattoo gun anywhere near their skin.

On another occasion, the 21-year-old found himself in Phoenix, Arizona and decided, after a lot of booze, that he was the bastard love child of Steve ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin and embarked upon on a brief wildlife excursion, after causing havoc in a residential neighbourhood.

“The crew and I bought a bunch of bottles of 75 South Whiskey, which is the cheapest whiskey you will ever find and we went to some house party down the street. I ended up walking back to the house with my buddy Sergio and, while walking down the street, we decided it would be a bright idea to take everyone’s trash cans and put it all in the middle of the street. When we got back to the house we told everyone about it and decided to go check it out. Brian Bina and I hopped out of the car and started to go at it again ‘til a bunch of dudes come outside and started yelling at us and chasing us down the street. We jumped in the car after throwing a couch in the street and went back to the house. On our way we come across a fox in some random parking lot and tried to catch him for about 15-20 minutes ‘til I ended up falling in some hole in the grass and messing up my ankle.”

When Rhodes isn’t getting wasted and causing mischief he is couch surfing his way across America in search of new spots and good times. For the past twelve months he has given up the luxuries of living at home in order to do what he loves the most. Any thoughts of the future or career aspirations have been put on hold in order to embrace his youth and make the most of this exciting period in his life. “I’ve been just travelling around, sleeping wherever I can, just so I can go skate some new stuff and hang with new people. I think once I get back to Chicago there will be a little skate shop opening up downtown that I will probably work at a few hours out of the day.”

Backside Backslide

The Valo rider was first introduced to the limitless possibilities of rollerblading in the fifth grade, when his school teacher allowed the class to watch a video after they had completed all of their learning objectives for the term. Fortunately for Rhodes, and for rollerblading, a fellow pupil unwittingly brought a Disney drama to class instead of the intended Hollywood action film.

“We were learning about outer space and when we were done our teacher was going to let us watch the movie Rocket Man, so my buddy brought in a recording of the movie on VHS and when we popped it in what came on first was the movie Brink!. As soon as I saw the first scene where they are skating to The Pit I told myself that I wanted to learn how to do that. So I went home and asked my mom if she could buy me a pair of skates and she told me: ‘If I buy you these, Travis, you have to stick with it.’ She probably regrets that now. Haha! But I did, and it’s been 11 years now.”

The vagabond rollerblader is not currently filming for any projects at the moment, but after the popularity of his 90 Seconds edit and the fact that every stop of his state-hopping journey creates new friendships, thanks to his larger-than-life personality, it seems inevitable that the world will be seeing a lot more of Travis Rhodes over the next twelve months. The $1,500 prize money he recently acquired for winning the recent Windy City Riot should assist him in continuing his travels for a few months yet, unless he spends it all on booze.

“I was filming a part while I was living in Arizona for my buddy Devan Stewart’s video Evil Never Dies, but I ending up leaving before my section was finished. But when we go out skating I usually let whoever wants to film me film me for whatever they want to use it for – online edits or what not.”

Rhodes is the first to admit that he doesn’t really pay attention to any of the industry politics that continue to plague the sport. For him, all that really matters is having a good time and exploring the country on his terms. However, there are certain things that he would like to see improve and he is more than happy to vocalise these desires. “To be honest, I would like to see thicker magazines,” he offers. “I remember the last time I picked up a One and a Be-Mag – they were just the tiniest things I had ever seen.”

It is very rare that a vibrant, and almost volatile, personality like Rhodes’ is seen in the blading. The last person that possessed any similarity in terms of rock star status was Josh Petty. Every other wannabe icon has just looked like a little kid that stumbled upon a fancy dress shop and had a brainwave. Hopefully we will see a lot more from this promising young talent because, let’s face it, blading is in desperate need of a little attitude.

Words: David McNamara      Photos: Corey Oringderff

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