Over vert Stalefish.

Pop-shuv stalefish.

Ollie up to frontside Rock-n-Roll.

Josh Mattson

Photos: Tadashi
Interview: Tadashi & Migdol

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU DO JOSH MATTSON?
I fish, skateboard, and smoke weed.

DO YOU HAVE A JOB?
Uhh, I don’t remember. ?

OKAY WHY DON’T YOU GO AHEAD AND TELL ME A GOOD FISHING STORY.
I went and fished at a pond that I wasn’t supposed to. I was at this pond in Boulder Creek and I saw all these bass just chilling enjoying themselves so I got my pole and cast in and within 20 minutes I hooked a good one. It was a protected pond, I guess it was a game preserve. All of sudden I realized there was a Park Ranger about twenty feet from me. He hadn’t seen me at this point so I hid my pole in the bushes.

YOU HID YOUR POLE IN A BUSH? THAT’S FUNNY.
Yeah, I was hiding in the bushes. So I pulled out my camera and pretended that I was taking pictures. I just walked straight out like I wasn’t doing anything wrong. They were hanging out by my car and started asking me questions. They were like, “What are you doing around here?” I was like, “Just taking photos.” . “What of the road?”. I was like “Yeah”. So I got away with it.

YOU’RE A POACHER!
I threw it back because it was a bass.

WHAT? YOU’RE CRAZY! BASS TASTE GREAT.
Nah, they taste like mud.

WHAT ABOUT BROWN TROUT? DO YOU EVER FISH FOR BROWN TROUT?
Ah yeah, in the morning.

THERE MUST BE A LOT OF BROWN TROUT FISHERMAN UP IN SAN FRANCISCO.
I don’t know what you are talking about. What, like turds?

NO. IT MEANS YOU’RE A PITCHER IN A GAY RELATIONSHIP.
Ah, no! I do not fish for brown trout.

WHAT? YOU SAID THAT YOU FISH FOR BROWN TROUT IN THE MORNING!
Well yeah, but not for gay dudes.

HAVE YOU EVER STOLEN ANYTHING?
Yeah, a long time ago I got caught stealing a complete at NHS. I got slapped in the head by Scotty Greathouse. I deserved it. They didn’t want some kooky kid stealing from them. I was walking by and I saw an open door with stack of skateboards like 8 feet tall so I went and grabbed one of them and tried to take off and Scotty caught me and gave me a good old wack across the head. I was like 13 years old at the time. I felt like an idiot.

YOU DON’T DRINK?
Nah, I don’t like loosing control of my minds capabilities of controlling my body.

TELL ME A STORY ILLUSTRATING WHY IT IS BAD TO DO DRUGS.
This one time I was on acid with my friend Jack and we were sitting on a golf course at like 2 in the morning and we’re on these lawn chairs we stole and all the sudden the earth started growling and this big fuckin white spray came at us, I don’t even know, and we just ran. Then we came back to realize it was sprinklers.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF APOCALYPTO?
When the guy squirted blood out of his head for a moment. It looked cool. Mel Gibson is kind of a fruitcake, but shit it’s a pretty cool movie. Lots of dead bodies, decapitations, I like the gore, and the plot was pretty cool too. The detail on the birth in the cave full of water was pretty good.

ARE YOU GOING TO OUR BATTLE OF THE SHOPS CONTEST THIS YEAR? (JOSH WON THE TRANSITION OBSTACLE FOR SANTA CRUZ SKATESHOP LAST YEAR.)
Absolutely. I’ll just be a little stoned and do what I can do.

YOU USED TO BE A SURFER, RIGHT?
Yeah, I use to be one of them open ocean sea surfers, but I’m kinda over peeing on my own butt for the meantime. And there are too many people out there these days surfing; I guess I’m greedy when it comes to surfing cause it’s not always there.

SO DO YOU ONLY SKATE TRANNY?
I’m not all into the gnarly hippies on acid handrail tricks, I gotta give it to those folks though, shit, my knees can’t bend like that. Finger-flip in, boneless out.

ARE YOU IN ANY CREWS?
No, I’m a one man army.

WHO ARE YOUR SPONSORS?
I ride for Live Oak Skateboards, Santa Cruz skate shop, skateboards.com, Adio flow, and Spitfire flow. ?Thanks to Scotty Greathouse for whacking me in the head when I deserved it.

ARE ANY OF YOUR SPONSORS GOING TO PAY YOU FOR THIS INTERVIEW?
Yeah, probably in pesos though.