A ‘new past’, is there even such a thing? Perception largely plays into that. When I think of that warehouse, of the time spent trying to find every gap, I think of the past. I think of an innocent childhood. I think of the beginning of two passions, skateboarding and video games. I think of novelty. Because novelty exists in the past but can a new past exist? With the remastering of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2, it sure feels like a new high-res past is brought to life. I spent some time chatting with Andrew Reynolds in late May about what it means to him for the old, classic nonetheless, series to be brought back.
Interview by Emanuele Barbier | Image by Activision
Let’s get started, what have you been up to recently?
Well, I’ve been home since all this quarantine, I’ve just been trying to take it easy. I broke my elbow skating though.
Oh, it was a good time to heal up and take it easy then! So you’ve been at home with your family, relaxing?
Yea, it’s the perfect timing. I live with my daughter and I’ve been making smoothies every day. I turned my garage into a gym, so I’ve been working out like 30-45 minutes a day, talking to my friends on the phone, hanging out with my girlfriend. Wrapping stuff in the yard.
That sounds quite nice. You mentioned Stella and when I was coming up with the questions for the interview, I was thinking about what you think you can learn from Stella’s generation of skaters.
I guess to be patient and have acceptance with younger people. They feel they have to learn as they go. It’s hard to tell somebody that they are really young. Sort of, ‘trust me, this is how it’s gonna be, be patient.’
On the topic of generations, you’re part of the original characters on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater [THPS], if you could recreate a lineup with the current generation who would they be?
I would have Rohan Zorilla, Kader Sylla, Breana Geering, Tyson Peterson, Oski Rosenberg, Kevin Bradley. All the young guys that are at the forefront of what’s going on.
That sounds like a really cool line-up! Rowan’s style gives off a strong THPS vibe. Did you have an interest in video games when you were growing up?
Not really, I had a short window of time where I played Mario on the Nintendo in my room to kill. Actually, I like arcade games like Mike Tyson Punch-Out. There are also a couple of cool ones I came across with Stella at arcades, like a big thing you sit in and you play, Jurassic Park I think.
Oh! I know what you’re talking about. Those are really nice because they can be so immersive and fun too. So given the fact you weren’t really into video games when you were younger, how did that make you feel when you first heard from Tony Hawk that you were going to be on a video game?
I don’t know. I went along with the opportunity that was offered to me. It wasn’t like anything I had done before. Honestly, in my 20s at that time, there were so many things happening with skateboarding all at once, I just rolled with it.
I can imagine it being a bit surreal at times for anyone really. When the game came out, what did you enjoy the experience, saying yes to that project?
The biggest thing I noticed was about how double the fan came from that game. Everybody either skated or didn’t. They were all saying they played me in the game. That was a shock to me, to see how big it had gotten. We made a lot of money, so that was nice too.
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How did it make you feel when you heard people played as you in the game?
I was surprised at how many people play video games, I hadn’t really realized it. With Bam Margera or Rob Dyrdek, I noticed TV, movies, and video games are way bigger than professional skateboarding will ever be. You could be the most famous skateboarder in the eyes of all skateboarders, you could be the best in the world to us as professional skateboarders, but nobody will know who you are. But if you get on a reality TV show, everybody in the world will.
It’s interesting, you bring that up, you mentioned that on the Nine Club as well. Do you think with the remastered version of the game, that will create a new wave of fans?
I’m not sure where video games are at right now. I know the kids are playing Fortnite right now. I hope people will enjoy it. What would be awesome is if kids got the game and fell in love with skateboarding. That, I think happened a lot with the first one. It was a lot of young kids’ first introduction to skateboarding at all. A lot of people when they think of video games, they think of some kid sitting in their room, not doing anything. It’s cool to think maybe a video game could actually get somebody out, doing something active.
Right, I think with the current video game market, there are ways for both of that to happen. For people to be more active and outgoing, but also to be more shut-in. Do you think the game may bring back the older generations on the board?
From what I saw on Instagram, I had 600 comments of people that were probably anywhere from 15 to 50, all excited that the game was coming back out. I saw a kid outside on my street who told me he went and bought a console just because the game is coming out.
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That’s really nice. I think to some, it came as a surprise that Activision was remastering it. Was it also a surprise to you?
Not really because Tony [Hawk] had mentioned it to me before. I know there had been other skateboarding games so it didn’t seem like a surprise. It seemed like a pretty smart decision.
I’m personally very happy they’re remastering it, I’m part of these people that are really excited about it! In order to do the remastered version, you had to go back into the Activision studios to do body scans, did that give you the opportunity to meet with some of the original skaters from the series you don’t meet as frequently?
The day I went, they scanned my face and head. I think Steve Caballero and Bucky Lasek were there too. Skateboarding is a pretty small community, so I have seen these guys over the years. We all know each other, there is common respect when we see each other.
You have Elissa Steamer on Baker and you’re close friends with Tony. Do you think the remastered version will continue to increase love for that older generation?
Skateboarding is an interesting sport or culture. I’ve been skating for 30 years and I’ve seen every single thing happen, I’ve seen street skating be invented. The guys that grew up in this generation will always love and appreciate it. I hope more companies see what Tony has created and this whole generation of skaters.
I’m curious because I played some of these games even before I set foot on a board and they definitely drew me to skateboarding. Learning Activision is remastering the first two games, I remembered how much I like the fact that your lines can have so many combo and be so long. What do you think is one of the crazier tricks you can do in the game that you would not even imagine in real life?
From what I’ve seen, the amount of air time, I think is what makes it fun. Kids get to feel like they’re flying and doing all these tricks they may never be able to do. You could just fly over buildings, completely crash and get right back up.
