In the slowly expanding world of skateboarding podcasts, Vent City is a brand new one that is already separating itself from the rest. It’s the brainchild of professional skateboarder Ryan Lay, along with a merry band of skateboard writers, activists, and enthusiasts—Ted Schmitz, Ted Barrow, Kristin Ebeling, and Kyle Beachy—presented in a panel-discussion style format. Its purpose is to not only air grievances about what’s going on in the skateboarding world (shitty dudes being shitty!), but also to offer nuanced discussion of the social issues tangential to and intertwined with skateboarding, which isn’t exactly on the agenda for other podcasts. I sat down with Ryan to learn about ideas and approach that went into Vent City. Enjoy, and make sure to give it a listen! You can find it on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Interview by Adam Abada
Where did the idea for Vent City come from?
Ted Schmitz, one of the co-hosts and one of my best friends, has a background in audio engineering. I had been pushing him to do a panel-style podcast for a while – I feel like there’s a dead space there in the skate world. And in the last couple of years, as you probably noticed, there’s been an opening up in the skateboarding – a broadening of horizons. A lot of political, social, and cultural issues are coming to skateboarding whether people like it or not. I, like a lot of people, felt frustrated that there was no place to go to even hear people talk about these issues. Even magazines that claim to be on the outskirts of the industry are still beholden to the same traditional advertising models. So even if they want to be critical of the industry it becomes really difficult when you’re running banner ads on your website. You need to cater to your advertisers, and I don’t blame them – it’s tough to make a living in this economy.
What is Vent City’s goal?
The point of it, for me, really is to just learn and to give a platform for people that otherwise may not have one. We’re not the authority on skating nor do we claim to be – just a couple of friends learning, voicing some opinions about skating and skate culture and if you want to listen in, cool. I want this to feel like like a conversation between friends – sometimes that can be talking about skating from a more academic or critical lens, and sometimes it can be talking shit about a-frames. That’s how conversations work, after all. One thing I noticed, especially with some recent hot-button issues, is that there’s this boiling over point where a lot of people are really frustrated but there’s no outlet in skate media willing to touch them because they’re so controversial. It’s not about cancelling people or companies – we just need to talk about it. These issues should a be a teaching moment for skating, not just something to sweep under the rug.
Why a podcast?
There’s a real dearth of skate podcasts, especially critical ones. The Nine Club is useful in that they’re kind of collecting all the origin stories of pro skateboarders but there’s not a lot of pushback and you kind of know what you’re getting yourself into with each episode. It’s also very much hyper-focused on the big players in the industry and from an insider’s perspective. We’re all pretty removed from the industry – I’m probably the closest to it, but even I’ve worked an outside job my entire pro career and I live in Arizona. I think podcasts are a useful model to get the language of skateboarding. It’s easy to throw on while you’re driving or doing the dishes.
There’s also lot of interesting work happening in skateboarding but it’s happening in academic settings or in places like blogs and websites where there’s just less eyeballs. I think a lot of that work is really valuable but I realize that the way someone like Ted Barrow is writing on their Instagram Stories is reaching way more kids than any article will. So you gotta meet people where they’re at – you don’t want the material to be overly-academic or out of reach for your average skater. Which I guess is the other reason we’re doing this – to get skaters interested in thinking about the world more critically using skating as a launchpad.
So the panel is set? What about guests?
This is the group we’re starting with. We’re hoping to bring a few more people on board because it’s pretty obvious the panel is all white (and straight) and we want some more voices as we dive into these issues. I think the way it’ll probably go is Ted and I will be a part of every episode. We have five people involved because everyone is really busy so we can kind of make it work with 3 or 4 of us on most episodes, plus a guest or two. We all kind of have a shared vision of the world we want to live in and we see skateboarding as a vessel to help us get there. So we want to bring in the type of people who embody the more “radical” elements of what skateboarding can be.
What kind of issues are you looking to discuss moving forward?
I want to cover a lot of the interesting stuff that happens on the peripheries of skating. A lot of skate media still centers around professional skateboarders. Those people (and I speak for myself here) are probably not the ones engaging with skating in the most interesting way. We want to talk with and about people who may contribute to skateboarding at large but aren’t getting interviewed in magazines because they’re not sponsored or working in the industry.
Do you think the skateboarding landscape is ready to talk about those facets of the culture?
We’re kind of at this pivotal moment where people don’t want skateboarding to be political or they say we are thinking about it way too much. Skateboarding has certainly not always been an inclusive subculture, but we like to think of it as something that can and should be inclusive and can be a bastion for progressive values. We (along with a handful of other outlets), are trying to create a space where we can talk about that stuff.
Why do you think that kind of stuff isn’t being discussed?
I don’t blame anybody, because everybody’s livelihood is on the line and that’s probably the greater commentary here. People are afraid to speak up because they don’t have any job security, their income is precarious, they don’t have insurance – that’s not only just for pro skateboarders, it’s for a lot of people in the industry. It’s hard – you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds. We’re hoping to do a little bit of hand-biting when necessary. We don’t want the show to be overly-negative or lean into the shit-talking too much but I think that stuff can be both funny and cathartic at times. There’s a way to do it that’s constructive and not just malicious.
What would you say to those would-be critics who think you’re thinking about it too much?
It feels slightly vulnerable but, at the same time – and Kyle helped me with this – all great stuff is divisive. I’m not saying our show is great by any means, but there’s always going to be people who say they don’t want to think deeply about skateboarding (or really give a shit about any of the cultural issues). It’s often true that the people who don’t like things to be political probably haven’t had their lives politicized. What I would say to would-be critics is: That’s fine. It’s not a show for you. We’re OK with people hating it. Hopefully it’s polarizing. The irony is not lost on us: people who spend their day on comment sections saying “You guys spend way too much thinking about skateboarding.” We’re all thinking about skateboarding all the fucking time – you’re spending hours of your day on social media thinking about skateboarding already. You’re just not happy with the way we’re doing it. My hope is that this project builds up that space for more divergent opinions and conversation in the skate world. There needs to be more of all of that in general. Start your own platform.
What are your hopes for this podcast and skateboarding?
Aside from the social issues, I think there’s a big appetite out there for just general opinions about skateboarding. This is why @Feedback_TS and @Weckingball and a handful of other instagram accounts have become so popular – because there’s no place to go to just hear any sort of truth about skateboarding, whether you agree with it or not. Whether or not you think mine or Kyle’s or Kristen’s opinions are good, I think people just want to hear someone talking about skateboarding in a way that sounds like they’re hanging out in their living room. That’s been my experience following Ted Barrow’s ig account at least.
What motivates you to continue being a part of the skateboarding industry and creating media like Vent City to put into it?
The world feels like it’s falling apart and I for one have been really gravitating towards skateboarding as a tool that can help combat the isolation and hopefully build community and solidarity. It should work as a piece of the puzzle in solving some of these larger social issues. It might not be the best tool for the job, but it’s what we know – it’s the thing we care about more than anything in the world. I’ve found that having conversations (and what stems from them) like the one we’re having right now is basically all that matters to me anymore. I like good skateboarding as much as the next person, but it’s not really what is getting me going anymore. Skateboarding has real power to educate, bring people together and push the boundaries of what is actually radical. Skating is having a real moment right now and it would be a shame to just follow the same old script.
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Adam Abada a skateboarder and artist from New Jersey who currently lives in Los Angeles. He likes to write about the ways skateboarding connects to the world at large. You can find him on Instagram as @gnarcotics, or read his personal skate blog at http://www.stokeoftheweek.wordpress.com.
Featured image courtesy of Ben Bravenec (@u1tralord).
Vent City Episode #1:
Vent City Episode #2:
