Geoff Rowley

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Geoff Rowley
Personal information
Full name Geoff Joseph Rowley Junior[1]
Born (1976-06-06) June 6, 1976 (age 36)
Liverpool, United Kingdom[1]
Sport
Country  United Kingdom
Sport Skateboarding

Geoffrey Joseph Rowley Junior (born June 6, 1976) is an English professional skateboarder and co-owner of Flip Skateboards.[1] Rowley is a recipient of the prestigious "Skater of the Year" award, judged and distributed by Thrasher Magazine.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early life

[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2013)

Rowley started skateboarding around 1989 in his home city of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom (UK). Rowley was enthusiastic about skateboarding. He would skate for the course of entire days, while his friends would only skate for relatively short periods.[3] In an interview for the UK magazine, rad, Rowley stated that he first became interested in skateboarding because "A lot of people in my school were into skating and I became interested through them." In the same interview, Rowley explained that his parents were both supportive of his skating, although his father was "not into me sitting around the house all day." At the time of the interview, Rowley was sponsored by Gullwing, Siesta, Airwalk,[4] and Jeremy.[5]

[edit] Career

[edit] Flip

Rowley's first sponsor was Deathbox Skateboards,[6] a company that was later renamed "Flip Skateboards"—at this time, Rowley was also riding for Gullwing. In a "Check Out" segment for the Transworld Skateboarding magazine, Deathbox founder, Jeremy Fox, wrote:

Technical, burly, stylish, quiet, punker, street urchin: these are the descriptions that neatly fit young Geoff Rowley ... He doesn't care about music or anything outside of skateboarding. Although Geoff is from Liverpool (home of The Beatles, by the way) and looks like a rough kid, he is actually one of the least attitude-infested skaters out there today. Geoff is starting to send out 'waves' across Europe, and when Deathbox ships him over to the U.S., these waves will certainly come over with him.[6]

In 1994, Rowley moved to Huntington Beach, California, United States (US) with fellow Flip team riders, Tom Penny, Rune Glifberg and Andy Scott. In 2012, Rowley reflected upon the company's move to the US:

We were a totally new company moving to a foreign country, and, ah, I don't we kind of expected it to go "boom", and just fly right in. We had no expectations; we didn't really know that many people, and we actually just wanted to skate, really. Because we grew up dreaming of living in California and getting to wake up every day and go out and skate without it raining. Ah, and I think that was something that, like, all of the guys, when we first moved here, you know, Rune [Glifberg] and Tom [Penny], that was something that, you couldn't hold us back in that respect. I'd just turned eighteen, Tom was seventeen, ah, neither of us had lived away from home, you know. We'd moved to a foreign country where we didn't know anybody. Nobody. Ah, we had no money, we didn't have any cars, ah, alls we had was the board that we had; we couldn't go breaking those. we couldn't afford to, at the time, starting a company, we couldn't afford to run through ten boards a month ... Like myself, personally, I skated a lot with Ed [Templeton], like, every day, because he lived, like, right across the road from me.[7]

After two weeks in California, Rowley was featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboard magazine—he subsequently decided to relocate to the American state. In regards to his first Transworld cover, Rowley explained in 2012:

I'd been in the States for, like, two weeks, and I was at Transworld—we'd been to visit Transworld for the first time. And Swift just wanted to go shoot—he needed to shoot a Gullwing [truck company]. He said, "You ride for Gullwing, right?" I'm like, "Yeah, I think so ... I got free trucks through the distributor in England ... I mean, do I ride for them? I don't, I don't know." "Do you wanna go skate?" And I went skating with them, and then they put it on the cover of the mag. It didn't make any sense to me ... like, at all. It still doesn't make any sense to me; I just went skating with them and then it's on the cover of the mag. I remember gettin' it and thinking, "What just happened? What? That's weird."[7]

[edit] Vans

Rowley has produced a signature line of shoes with Vans footwear since 1999, the year when his first vulcanized shoe model was produced. Rowley is credited with re-introducing the vulcanized skate shoe, whereby a new generation of skate shoes were designed with the benefits and functional superiority of the vulcanized process. In 1999, Rowley performed a "fifty-fifty" grind on the Staples Center's "hubba" ledge, in Los Angeles, US, for his first Vans advertisement; the photographic image led to a significant level of recognition due to the vulcanized shoes that he is wearing in the photograph—at that time, the predominant trend in skate shoe construction consisted of large, bulky designs.[8] The Vans website has written of the innovation:

At the time when Geoff hit Staples no one was skating low-cut, thin vulc shoes. No one had felt their board in nearly half a decade. Shoes at the time were so disgusting and bulky we try not to think about them. But when Geoff shot that ad, doing the gnarliest trick on the biggest hubba, showing people it wasn't about creating a bulletproof space shoe for the year 3000 that would last for six months but rather the priority is and always should be about board-feel everyone took a long, hard look at their feet and wondered, 'What the f@#k are we wearing?' HIstory was rewritten that day, by this man.[8]

As of 2012, Rowley is working on a video project for Vans.[9]

[edit] Trick invention

A skateboard trick is named after Rowley: the "Rowley-Darkslide". It is a variation of a darkslide in which the trailing foot is placed to the inside of the truck for the duration of the slide. [10]

[edit] Sponsors

As of July 2012, Rowley is sponsored by Flip Skateboards, Vans, Ricta, Independent, Volcom, and MOB.[11]

[edit] Management

Alongside sponsored skateboarders, David González, Louis Lopez, Arto Saari, Curren Caples, and Erik Ellington, Rowley is a client of management company, RPRT. RPRT was founded by Matt Meyerson, is managed by Ken Perkins, and is described as a "a hybrid agency whose core competencies include film/tv production, talent/athlete management, event production (they currently produce Expose NY, a twice yearly fashion showcase during NY Fashion Week geared towards the media and stylists) and brand consulting."[12][13]

[edit] Skateboarding influences

Rowley's early influences were professional skateboarders, Natas Kaupas, Kris Markovic and Danny Way.[3] In regards to Way, Rowley has explained:

Danny was the first guy that I saw in videos that was really small, really short, and he was doing alley-oop twists, on vert, over channels—and he was thirteen years-old. You know? And I was around the same age, and I saw that and I went, "Wow, you can do that! I wanna do that." I don't know. So Danny's been an influence that far back for me, and, still now, he's incredible.[3]

Despite maintaining pride in his English roots,[14] Rowley has identified the US as the home of skateboarding, explaining in 2012, "... it's the area where it was born, you know? Everywhere needs a heart and this is the heart of skateboarding." In terms of inspiration, Rowley has identified his friends and skateboard videos, both old and new.[3]

[edit] Influence

In December 2011, Transworld Skateboarding named Rowley as the twenty-sixth most influential skateboarder of all time.[15] Following the release of the list, Rowley stated:

I think my generation—myself, Jamie [Thomas], [Andrew] Reynolds—we’re the first street guys to ride these real big obstacles on a daily basis. It wasn’t like we do it once for a video. I think we all group up skating like that. I think that’s what sets us apart I suppose. The willingness to f—kin’ try anything every day.[15]

[edit] Awards

In the year 2000, Rowley was awarded the Thrasher Magazine's coveted "Skater of the Year" award.[2] In response to Rowley's receipt of the award, teammate and close friend, Rune Glifberg, stated: "Geoff and Arto [Saari] are just some of the gnarliest skateboarders that I have ever witnessed. Geoff is just like, he's like, "I'm gonna do this and fuck it if I kill myself; I am just gonna do it. I don't care." Saari stated, "He's a madman, he's a right madman ... he basically tells everyone to fucking shut the fuck up and then rolls back and comes full blast towards you, and then he fucking pulls it, somehow, it's like ...". In Rowley's post-award interview, he is shown holding a poster that reads: "Get Busy Livin' Or get Busy Dyin'".[16]

[edit] Video games

Rowley has appeared in the Tony Hawk series. He appeared from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater[17] to Tony Hawk's Underground.[18] He also appeared in Tony Hawk: Shred[19] and as a downloadable skater for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD.[20]

[edit] Personal life

Rowley is a father and resides in Long Beach, California, US.[11] In 2013, Rowley identified his five favorite locations in Long Beach: Cherry Park, Hamilton Skatepark, LB Skate store, Viento y Agua eatery, and Vans Corporate Headquarters (in nearby Cypress).[21]

[edit] Videography

  • Flip: The Long Overdue (unofficial) (1992)[22]
  • Hook-Ups: Asian Goddess (1994)[23]
  • 411VM: Issue 13 (1995)
  • 411VM: Issue 10 (1995)
  • Rollersnakes: 720
  • Transworld: Uno (1996)
  • Church of Skatan: Santa Barbara (1996)
  • Airwalk: Skateboarding Video 96 (1996)
  • Volcom: Freedom Wig (1997)[24]
  • 411VM: Issue 30 (1998)[25]
  • Transworld: Feedback (1999)[26]
  • CKY2K (2000)[27]
  • 411VM: Best Of 411 - Volume 5 (2000)[28]
  • Digital - #2 (2000)
  • Collage (2001)
  • CKY 3 (2001)[29]
  • OP King of Skate (2002)
  • Flip: Sorry (2002)[30]
  • Thrasher: S.O.T.Y. Video (2003)[2]
  • Flip: Really Sorry (2003)[31]
  • CKY4: The Latest & Greatest (2003)[32]
  • Volcom: Chichagof (2004)[33]
  • Thrasher: King Of The Road 2005 (2005)[34][35][36][37]
  • Vans: Pleased to Meet You Tour (2005)
  • Globe: The Global Assault (2006)[38]
  • Flip: Feast Tours (2006)[39]
  • Strange Notes: Tastes Like Awesome! (2007)
  • Independent: 30th Anniversary Tour (2008)[40]
  • Flip: Extremely Sorry (2009)[41]
  • Meatpauls! (2010)
  • Flip: The Weight of the World (2012)[42]

Rowley has co-directed all of the Flip videos,[43][44][45] together with Fred Mortagne and Jeremy Fox (Sorry),[46] Jeremy Fox (Really Sorry), and Jeremy Fox and Ian Deacon (Extremely Sorry).[47][48]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Crossfire (5). "Geoff Rowley Interview". Caught in the Crossfire. Division Media. Retrieved 19 December 2012. 
  2. ^ a b c MobDylan (28). "Geoff Rowley and Arto Saari - SOTY [2000 and 2001]". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 2 September 2012. 
  3. ^ a b c d Skin Phillips (28). "30TH ANNIVERSARY INTERVIEWS: GEOFF ROWLEY PT 1" (Video upload). Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  4. ^ MasterUnholyWar (26). "Super old Geoff Rowley Airwalk ad" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  5. ^ "Ten Minutes with Geoff Rowley". Vans Skate (from rad magazine). Vans. 14. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  6. ^ a b Jeremy Fox (14). "Rowley Week Day 1: Blasts from the Past". Vans (from Transworld Skateboarding in 1992). Vans. Retrieved 15 January 2013. 
  7. ^ a b Skin Phillips (5). "30th Anniversary Interviews: Geoff Rowley Pt 2" (Video upload). Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 15 January 2013. 
  8. ^ a b "Rowley Week Day 1: Blasts From The Past". Vans Skate. Vans. 14. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  9. ^ Anthony Acosta (17). "Rowley Week Day 4:Acosta's Angles". Vans Skate. Vans. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  10. ^ PalenSkate (29). "Rowley Darkslide" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 19 December 2012. 
  11. ^ a b Skatepark of Tampa (3). "Geoff Rowley Skater Profile". SPoT Skate Shop. Skatepark of Tampa. Retrieved 2 September 2012. 
  12. ^ "Who We Are". RPRT. RPRT. January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013. 
  13. ^ "Clients". RPRT. RPRT. January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013. 
  14. ^ josuekarim (1). "Geoff Rowley Liverpool Podcast" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  15. ^ a b Blair Alley (20). "THE 30 MOST INFLUENTIAL SKATERS OF ALL TIME – 26. Rowley". Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  16. ^ MobDylan (28). "Geoff Rowley and Arto Saari - SOTY [2000 and 2001]" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 19 December 2012. 
  17. ^ TiEmKej (27). "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - Geoff Rowley" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  18. ^ bIuecadet3 (10). "Geoff Rowley- T.H.U.G video" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  19. ^ VansShoes66 (20). "Tony Hawk: SHRED" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  20. ^ Jeff Gerstmann (18). "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD". Giant Bomb. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  21. ^ Grant Hatfield (18). "Rowley Week Day 5:Five Favorites". Vans Skate. Vans. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  22. ^ Wood (January 2012). "Flip The Long Overdue (Unofficial) Video" (Video upload). Wood on Vimeo. Vimeo LLC. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  23. ^ CadaveSkater (22). "Hook-ups - Asian Goddess - 1994" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  24. ^ madbuzz90 (11). "Freedom Wig" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  25. ^ skaidernation (10). "Geoff Rowley - 411VM Issue 30" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  26. ^ barjouflasque (23). "Trans Am, Feedback" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  27. ^ rkodavey (17). "Arto Saari and Geoff Rowley from CKY2K" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  28. ^ skaidernation (6). "Switch Stance - 411VM Best Of Volume 5" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  29. ^ Jika2274 (2). "CKY 3 [ Full Movie ]" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  30. ^ ThrasherMagazine (10). "Classics: Geoff Rowley "Sorry" 2002" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  31. ^ sniteoner (11). "Flip - Really Sorry - Geoff Rowley" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  32. ^ Jika2274 (2). "CKY 4 [ Full Movie ]" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  33. ^ decidedskateboard (1). "Geoff Rowley's mini ramp part in Volcom Chichagof" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  34. ^ ThrashMonster2710 (21). "thrasher king of the road 2005 Part1" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  35. ^ ThrashMonster2710 (21). "thrasher king of the road 2005 Part2" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  36. ^ ThrashMonster2710 (21). "thrasher king of the road 2005 Part3" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  37. ^ ThrashMonster2710 (21). "thrasher king of the road 2005 Part4" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  38. ^ charliesk8er (6). "Geoff Rowley refiriendose a David Gonzales" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  39. ^ andrewshu83 (10). "Flip Skateboards - Feast Tours Video" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  40. ^ IndependentTrucks (16). "Independent 30th Anniversary Tour Video Trailer" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  41. ^ RyenBreskyMedia (19). "Geoff Rowley - Extremely Sorry [Remix'd]" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  42. ^ "Geoff Rowley skate videos". SkatevideoSite.com. SkatevideoSite.com. 2005–2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  43. ^ "Flip Skateboards - Sorry (2002)". Skately. Skately LLC. 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  44. ^ "Flip Skateboards - Really Sorry (2003)". Skately. Skately LLC. 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  45. ^ "Flip Skateboards - Extremely Sorry (2009)". Skately. Skately LLC. 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  46. ^ "Flip - Sorry". Skatevideosite.com. Skatevideosite.com. 2005–2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  47. ^ "Flip - Really Sorry". Skatevideosite.com. Skatevideosite.com. 2005–2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 
  48. ^ "Flip - Extremely Sorry". Skatevideosite.com. Skatevideosite.com. 2005–2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013. 

[edit] External links

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