Oct 29, 2021
On today’s episode of Pro Files:Well Seasoned - E Stone. He got his start as an aspiring pro with anumber of flow sponsorships. Upon graduating high school hepromptly moved to colorado - in no small part to watching theseminal Mack Dawg film The Hard, The Hungry and the Homeless. Andin his first season out West he started what many would considerone of the important brands in the history of the sport Tech 9. Inthis episode we hear all about the ups and downs of being anentrepreneur in the sport of snowboarding.
Indeed, starting a brand is noget rich quick scheme as many might expect - it is in fact lon ghours, empty bank accounts - and doing something you believein.
During his time running Tech 9Ethan picked up another skill - becoming a photographer - thensenior photographer for snowboarder Magazine.
But riders want to ride - and EStone is a rider, starting The Bombhole podcast with prosnowboarder Chris Grenier.
This is an interesting episode -the backstory of a legend in the sport, lessons from playingmultiple positions across the industry and healthy passion for thefun of snowboarding.
Today's episode brought to youby
Artilect
Cardiff Snowcraft
Tow Pro Lifts
Owner Operator
United Shapes
686 Outerwear
ElectrovoiceMicrophones
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M
Mark_sullivan00:03
Yeah, I got. I got a few good ones that tookck thisone out theres. one got sponsored for this one.
E
Ethan00:08
Really?
M
Mark_sullivan00:09
This is uh, electro voice
M
Mark_sullivan00:12
y. That's a good mike. too.
M
Mark_sullivan00:14
this is the Mac Daddy. Though,
E
Ethan00:16
that thing looks dude.
M
Mark_sullivan00:19
Yeah, so too ki. what you got? Yeah,
E
Ethan00:20
Yes, sorry, it took me a minute to get this allfigured out.
M
Mark_sullivan00:25
worries that worries.
E
Ethan00:26
Not used to talking to about myself. You know what Imean. so it's uh,
M
Mark_sullivan00:29
I know we're going to change that right here. It lookslike you got some sound padding on the walls there behind you,too.
E
Ethan00:36
that's not what it
M
Mark_sullivan00:36
that's
E
Ethan00:37
is. It's some mirrors or something,
E
Ethan00:40
and I got a dog next to me.
M
Mark_sullivan00:43
nice. nice.
M
Mark_sullivan00:45
right on. Well, uh, you know, maybe we should kickthis thing off Interview with E. Ste, normally a guy who's behind aMike. asking people questions today. I' get to ask him somequestions. How you doing today? Ethan,
E
Ethan00:57
I'm doing good a little nervous.
M
Mark_sullivan01:00
Little nervous. Why are you nervous today?
E
Ethan01:02
I don't know, dude. I'm not used to talking aboutmyself' chilling here with
M
Mark_sullivan01:08
Okay?
E
Ethan01:08
the O. Know,
M
Mark_sullivan01:10
Oh nice.
E
Ethan01:12
he doesn't talk though
M
Mark_sullivan01:13
Oh yeah.
E
Ethan01:13
he's not order of the interview.
M
Mark_sullivan01:15
yeah.
E
Ethan01:16
You just want to laugh.
M
Mark_sullivan01:16
you always got to have a dog as part of the interview.Though
E
Ethan01:19
Yeah, true.
M
Mark_sullivan01:19
that always makes sense.
E
Ethan01:21
Yeah, so I'm
M
Mark_sullivan01:22
So
E
Ethan01:22
a little nervous, but I'm hyy. to talk with you.
M
Mark_sullivan01:26
right on. Well, I'll make it pretty easy on youbecause I'll just roll back to right in the beginning of yoursnowboarding career. Um. Arizona Snowball. How did you get thereand what were you doing snowboarding in Arizona?
E
Ethan01:38
How did you know I was in Arizona?
M
Mark_sullivan01:41
I know these things.
E
Ethan01:42
You know these things. you know. I went there withBloto. Um. he grew up there,
E
Ethan01:48
So I was living with him in Vail at the time and wekind of had a bunch of similar sponsors and uh, oh no, let me tracethis back. Actually, I went. I, I met Bloto there. I'm I'm actuallywrong. I'm a little. uh. I got some memory issues so that's where Imet Bloto. I was traveling around with. Uh,
E
Ethan02:09
I think they were called Hollywood films at thetime,
M
Mark_sullivan02:12
Mhm.
E
Ethan02:13
and Uh,
E
Ethan02:15
kind of working on my first time filmingsnowboarding
E
Ethan02:19
And it was Uh, Rick and Tillion was the filmer and uh,I think I just jumped in the car with these guys that went on afilming trip.
E
Ethan02:29
I think that was when I got my first photo in EastInfection
E
Ethan02:33
with your magazine, was actually on that same trip.But yeah, we stopped in Snowball, and uh Bloto just happened to bethere and started shooting with us.
E
Ethan02:43
And uh, that place was awesome.
E
Ethan02:47
I think Uh,
M
Mark_sullivan02:48
I would say. actually, that mag that mag was play ormag, because I got a copy of it right here.
E
Ethan02:52
Player magazine, not East infection. Yeah, it was yourmagazine All right.
M
Mark_sullivan02:57
Yeah, Yeah, that was my mag back in the day.
M
Mark_sullivan03:00
You know that that's how I got started. But you wereactually one of the writers we featured in that mag.
E
Ethan03:05
That was probably my first published photoanywhere.
E
Ethan03:09
It was like a seven twenty sequence or something. Idon't think it was
M
Mark_sullivan03:13
Yup,
E
Ethan03:13
at. Uh in Arizona. I was on the way to Arizona,somewhere in Utah, I think,
E
Ethan03:18
but uh, yeah, that was awesome.
M
Mark_sullivan03:19
So you had dreams, though of being like a pro writer,being filming movie parts doing the whole thing.
E
Ethan03:24
Yeah, I moved out from Vermont, Kinda got fueled bythe hard, Go hungry and the Homeless. That movie I think that cameout when I was in eleventh grade
E
Ethan03:35
and uh, kinda just made me want to move to where thoseguys were And that was Bracken Ridge, and uh, right when Igraduated from high school, I just made the move. I actuallygraduated a half year early, so I could get out there even sooner,and uh, I remember when I told my mom she straight up cried 'causeI wasn't going to go to college.
E
Ethan03:56
and uh, she just thought I was throwing away my lifeand there was no future,
E
Ethan04:00
but I did it anyways and just uh made the move to. Wecouldn't get to Brack and Ridge where we wanted to move 'cause allthe housing was filled up, so we uh, moved to Vale, which actuallyended up being dove because we kind of met a really good communitywith people like ▁j two and Nj, Adam Merriman, um Tarquin, And uh,yes, I was just kind of following that dream of trying to become apro snowboarder,
M
Mark_sullivan04:29
So what kind of job did you work in Vail when youfirst arrived?
E
Ethan04:33
all dishwashing,
E
Ethan04:35
and
M
Mark_sullivan04:35
All dishwashing.
E
Ethan04:35
Uh, Hydro ceramic technician was the uh, officialterm, but uh yet,
M
Mark_sullivan04:41
Okay,
E
Ethan04:41
basically you know in Vale there there's a lot oftourism. Obviously, this, it's a lot different than it was. Uh thanit is. Now you know, now it's even crazier. but back then I meanthe only jobs were really working for the mountain or working forUh, a restaurant
E
Ethan04:57
and I lived, Uh, moved out there with all Egu lay, andthen a couple of other good friends from Vermont, and we all justgot dishwashing jobbs. I think we had eight of us in a two almos,seven of us in a two bedroom in Uh, Avon, Colorado, which is justright next to Vale,
E
Ethan05:14
and Uh,
M
Mark_sullivan05:14
and were you a sponsored writer at the time? do youlike sponsored?
E
Ethan05:17
when I moved out there, No sponsors. Um,
E
Ethan05:21
but quickly
E
Ethan05:23
through meeting people like ▁j two and all that yougot introduced to a lot of different raps and picked up somesponsors. Um, I got picked up by six, eight, six pretty early, andthat's how Uh. Bloto was riding for them as well, so I think that'swhy we met him at Snowball Snowball and Uh, Scott boards, and
E
Ethan05:44
Um,
E
Ethan05:46
I was kind of like a rap rider for Original Sin, but Iwouldn't consider that sponsored. like when I moved out fromVermont, Just like a little bit of board flow. You know,
M
Mark_sullivan05:56
Okay? So you're in Colorado. You're starting to shootvideo. You are starting to take photos. You know. I mean, at whatpoint did you decide that like? Okay, Actually, I'm going to starta binding company Because
E
Ethan06:10
you know that.
M
Mark_sullivan06:10
you started that pretty early on in Vail.
E
Ethan06:12
Yeah, we actually started that our first year livingin Vale, and uh, what we were doing was go in the Home Depot andgetting metal brackets, and my buddy from high school. ▁j, threewould kind of cut them into the parts we needed to make the firstbaseless bindings, and uh, we would use straps from just whateveravailable binding was out there, and the highbas as well, And thenat the Uh, he worked at the Beaver Creek. Uh, he was a snowmakerand W had access to like the shop at Beaver Creek, the workshop,and was able to use like a metal bender to. We would just cut likediamond plate metal into uh heel cups and then bend themem on thisuh bending machine they had up there, And so we had kind of thefirst baseless bindings going, And he made Paris for myself and forTarquin and forer all, Lee and uh, My dad came out and saw what wewere doing and he was like, Oh, I could help you guys get thesemade, actually manufactured for real, and uh, so we made somesamples and then we went to Uh, the trade show that year, which Iwas eighteen. So this was like nineteen ninety four. We went to thetrade show in San Diego,
E
Ethan07:27
and Uh didn't have a booth or anything. We were justkind of walking around and we met a uh, Japanese distributor andthey saw what we had, and Uh instantly made a giant order and allof a sudden we were just a company and they ended up being ourdistributor for the the whole time we were a company, too, whichwas pretty cool. So like twenty three years or something,
M
Mark_sullivan07:47
Okay, so how long did you like try to wear two hats inthat you were trying to be a team rider for different brands andthen you were starting your own brand? How long did you keep bothof those balls in the air?
E
Ethan07:57
I would say until uh, around ninety nine two thousand,I moved out to Co, to Utah from Colorado, and Uh, the mountains outhere were a bit different than Colorado, As as people know, they'rea little bit more aggressive. The jumps got a little bit bigger andsnowboarding got a little more serious. I was riding with Marco alot, kind of following him off jumps and he was just so good and Iwould end up, you know, trying to go as big as him and then justeating sh*t. End up worked after the day, like barely able to walk.trying to follow Marco. You know, so I kind of realized I justwasn't on this dues level and maybe I should start focusing on Uh,Tech Nine a little bit more, and at the same time, Bloto kind ofuh, gave me a camera, so I started shooting photos as well, whichgot me to be able to still be out with guys like Marco, but not,uh, didn't work.
M
Mark_sullivan08:53
Was that his nice way of being like your riding is andcutting it?
E
Ethan08:57
No, he. it was actually, he. Uh, He had gone to theEast coast. He was working for Tech Nine at the time as our teammanager and he kind of snuck off to the East Coast for a meetingwith Burton, and uh, I think he felt bad that he was taking the joband leaving Tech Nine, so he just handed me down his camera. Butyeah, maybe it was a kind of a nice way to say, Maybe maybe you'renot uh as good as the rest of the te.
M
Mark_sullivan09:21
Okay So so now you're running Tech nine and you arestarting to learn how to be a photographer? Take us through that oflike what it was like to, actually, you know, get your chopsdeveloped for taking photos of. People, how long did that take?
E
Ethan09:33
You know, I was pretty blessed. In that sense, I wasable to uh, go out with guys like Kevin ▁zacher, and NateChristensson, who were top photographers at the time. I used toshoot with them on the other side of the camera, so they let mecome out, and uh, kinda just stand right next to him and ask himany question I wanted And why they were doing what they were doingand what their settings were.
E
Ethan09:59
And and Ah, they basically topy the ropes, and I thinkboth of them went to photo school, so they're pretty well trainedat what they were doing. I know, ▁zacher did for sure. Um, so yeah,I just got to stand there and and was able to ask them anything,and and learn pretty fast and shoot the top talent that they uhwere shooting. so uh, eventually they were kind of like man, yougotta. you're getting better shots than we are. You gotta kinda getoff on your own. now you know that eventually they, they sent meaway, But at first they were as cool as it, kids, and taught meeverything I needed to know about flashes and light. It was filmedtoo, so it was a little bit harder than digy. and uh, yeah, theyreally gave me everything I needed to know, And's why whenphotographers asked me questions now I'm always really nice aboutanswering them. because Uh, those guys did that for me, you know,'cause some guys
M
Mark_sullivan10:51
Yeah,
E
Ethan10:51
like Andy Wright was a little more competitive. Hewould never let me come out with them.
M
Mark_sullivan10:56
Okay, so
M
Mark_sullivan10:55
no, okay, but you're still friends with Andy Wright,Correct.
E
Ethan10:58
Yeah, no, Andy's the man he was. He was kind of thetop top photographer in the streets for all those years, so it wasuh, always shooting with the people I wanted to be shooting withtoo, so I kind of got his scraps for for years, which uh
M
Mark_sullivan11:12
Oh yes,
E
Ethan11:12
ended up working out.
M
Mark_sullivan11:14
so what was that like? Like? If you were going to gogo to a spot to shoot photos Andy Rightr was already there. Did youhave to kind of turn tail and go go home?
E
Ethan11:23
Yeah, it was pretty competitive and then, even as theygot more competitive with, uh, I think in Utah, back then there waslike ten photographers living here. Um, so you had to have yourcrew like lined up, or else you wouldn't have anyone to shoot. AndUh, obviously the Ridrs wanted the most established photographersthey could have. So for a new photographer it was always prettyhard. Um, but you just had to keep fning.
M
Mark_sullivan11:47
So so who was that crew? Who were the guys that youwould shoot with regularly?
E
Ethan11:51
Um. You know what one one thing I had that a lot ofpeople didn't have is they had access to the Tech Nine team, sothat did help me out a bit of. If Andy was out with a bunch of yii'crew, let's say, or, uh, robot food or something, then I wouldalways have whatever tech Nine Ridrs were hanging around, and thenat the same time Cole kind of started f o d t. So that was always acrew for me to to kind of join up with no matter what, and he wasalways kind of grabbing new riders that no one had heard of at atthe time, like Daryl Mathis or Justin Habble, who ended up becomingbig pros. so no one knew who they were at that time when I wasshooting them. During the time they were kind of cutting theirteeth and figuring it out, so it kind of just all worked out. I
M
Mark_sullivan12:39
right? So who? who was your first photo published? Andhow long did it take From the time you picked up a camera Ti, thetime you actually got a photo published.
E
Ethan12:37
guesse I think it was pretty quick and uh, my memoriesis horrible. but I want to say it might have been Bobby Meeks atBrighton, and uh, it was like the first year I was shooting. Um. Hewas my roommate at the time, so I had access to like him in blue,Montgomery and Cody Dresser, and and people like that, But yeah, Ithink uh, it happened that first year. Um in snowboarder
M
Mark_sullivan13:09
Okay, Okay,
E
Ethan13:09
magazine. Imagine you were working there at thetime.
M
Mark_sullivan13:13
I probably was. If it was around two thousand, twothousand One was there.
E
Ethan13:17
Yeah, I can't
M
Mark_sullivan13:18
So
E
Ethan13:18
remember who the photo editor might have beent Baker,But no, it, George
M
Mark_sullivan13:22
Mhm,
E
Ethan13:22
Cavala, Actually,
M
Mark_sullivan13:23
Okay, then I was. I was there.
E
Ethan13:24
and I knew him from back in Vermont, too, so I thinkthat kind of helped when I sent in my stack. You know,
M
Mark_sullivan13:30
Okay. so let me ask you about this. Like going back tothe Tech nine days, You know, Techn had like a pretty, um, uniqueimage in the sport when that kind of stood apart. Where did thatcome from? How did you guys kind of get this like ▁urban image togo with? Like Tech Nine Binding? And maybe where did the name Tenine even come from?
E
Ethan13:50
you know we were really into music growing up inBurlington, Vermont, Um, a lot of people wouldn't believe it, butthere wass like a huge Jamaican dance hall, Reggae, the musicscene, and uh,
M
Mark_sullivan14:02
Flextonone?
E
Ethan14:04
yeah, yeah, there's just I don't know why Burlington'sliked that, but just a huge scene. And uh, so I kind of grew uplistening to that type of music and they're always talking abouttechniying the gun. And since the bindings were all metal likethat, the first ones were made out of metal. Um, I just mentionedthat name and everyone's hyped on it, so it kind of stuck. Sothat's how we got the name. but I'd say the image really just camefrom
E
Ethan14:30
from music. as. well. You know, we're big into a lotof us, Like Tarquin was a d. ▁j. At the time, Ali was a t. ▁j. Um,so the riders were all super in the music, so we just tried toreally bring what was going on in cities like the style that youwould see too snowboarding. 'cause no one has really done thatyet.
E
Ethan14:52
And uh, it really all just came from listening tomusic.
M
Mark_sullivan14:57
It seems like you know, like that image is somethingthat is really stuck with snowboarding to this day and a lot ofpeople still kind of have that like Tech Nine looking fi. I mean,how does it feel to like? look back on the sport and be like Wow,Nine really had a lasting influence here.
E
Ethan15:13
It's pretty sweet. Um, I, I've heard baggy stuffcoming back too, so hopefully we'll start seeing seeing it evenmore, 'cause I think it always makes people the. S. not. I mean,you can go too baggy. Obviously it looks a little ridiculous andthat did happen. you know, I think we saw certain writers go thatway, but when tastefully done, I think it looks pretty good whenyou're snowboarding, So yeah, it's awesome to see. I still seepeople riding the old tech diy outerwe like all the time Thatactually up Brighton.
M
Mark_sullivan15:40
What? What team writer like embodied the tech stylefor you the most?
E
Ethan15:45
Jeeze, that's a tough call. Um, I think a lot of themtook it too far eventually, but
M
Mark_sullivan15:52
Yeah, like whats too far? Like where's take it toofar?
E
Ethan15:55
too far. Just when the the triple excel. I don't knowGooer and Bradshaw and them were definitely taking the bagginess astep too far, but now they rock it all tastefully, so I think itwas just uh. I mean, I don't know what it was. The bright colorsand the bagginess came in with logos everywhere. I think that'swhen it went too far for me,
M
Mark_sullivan16:19
Yeah, Okay, So what are like the accomplishments thatyou had during Tech Nine that you are like proud of, most proud oftoday. looking back on it.
E
Ethan16:26
man, just uh, I still see so many people with techlinetattoos. I think that's pretty crazy to see a logo that Um. wecreated up just people so hyped they're goingnna tattoo it onthemselves. Um,
E
Ethan16:40
just the excitement around the brand and what we wereable to do with bringing up different team writers, and I thinkwith f o d t, we made uh, I wa, to say almost twenty movies. So wewerere super proud of that and uh, actually, I'm probably way off.Probably ten movies. I think it was only ten movies.
M
Mark_sullivan16:59
Ten, twenty, whatever.
E
Ethan17:00
Whatever. I only worked on like the first five, so Istart to
M
Mark_sullivan17:05
Yeah,
E
Ethan17:05
lose lose, Uh, lose track of it. Cole would have tostraighten me out on that, but uh yeah, with the movies, Um,bringing up riders, And you know, having the first baseless bindingout there was pretty pretty cool. Just being on the forefront of atechnology. it ended up not sticking. But it lasted for some yearsand was kind of on the forefront of like new school snowboarding,Um, and then when we got into boards and outer, where it made uskind of more of a competition or more competitive to other brands.So things got a little bit more real and it was a little bit harderwith team writers 'cause we had to get 'em like head to toe and anduh, we would bring up new riders and have other brands kind ofswoop 'em after we got a breako part with f o d t or something, Sothat was kinda hard,
E
Ethan17:52
but it was all lot,
M
Mark_sullivan17:52
it seems like a lot of writedrs like started with TechNine and then moved on to other larger brands. Like who were someof those team writers who are like, kind of still. to this day alittle bit sore that they left Tech Nine and kind of left the fold.If you will,
E
Ethan18:06
you know, I was never too sore about it. Coal wouldkind of get sore about it, but I was always just like Man, make themoney while you could make it, because most of them they wouldn'tleave just for a little bit of money. It would be like triplelingtheir pay or something and getting a budget to be able to travelaround the world. Um, like Aaron Bitner, when he went to D. C. Imean that was like a big change in how he was going to be able toto uh, tackle pro snowboarding to be able to travel everywhere withMacog, So for me I was always kind of just like man, Do it. Do whatyou gotta do. So I was uh, never really that sore about it.
E
Ethan18:43
We also had eighteen.
M
Mark_sullivan18:43
who are your favorite writers? Like the whole historyof Tech Nine be cause you had everyone from Tarquin through Gruner.So like who are your favorite guys who embodied Tech Nine foryou?
E
Ethan18:54
Jeeze, man I, They were all. I was able to spend somuch time traveling around and going on trips with them because Ihave oy. T that a lot of them? Uh, hold a special place you know,like tarkinn. Obviously, in the early days Evan Whitlake on Um, hedid that first one, black one white binding, which was Uh. no onehad ever done two different color binding. So that always issomething pretty cool and was cool to have Whitlake be part of theprogram and then, in the later years, definitely Gooner and Bradaw,where some of my favorites deadlong was always sick to cruise andshoot. Um. Just if Benny was Ra to, I mean, everybody was was sickto have on the program. We tried to kind of sponsor our friends.You know, so it was always uh. They just happened to be good atsnowboarding too, so it all kind of just worked together.
M
Mark_sullivan19:42
So you say you sponsored your friends? Did any of thembecome enemies when the business got involved? Do like not getalong with someone that you used to get along with based on themworking for you Now Instead
E
Ethan19:54
Um.
M
Mark_sullivan19:54
of just being a friend,
E
Ethan19:56
I was always chilll. If Cole maybe had some issueslike that, Um, when we did have to make some cuts, it alwayssucked,
E
Ethan20:04
but
E
Ethan20:06
now there's nobody on the team that I'm not friendlywith. You know everybody
E
Ethan20:10
is, Uh, is still still chill. but you know, sometimes,yeah, we would have to make hard decisions and cut a team riderthat we didn't want to cut, And that did suck. And Um, I alwaystried to maintain a a friendly disposition with Themem, and Colewould have been the guy hand. he. He was a team manager, you know,so he had to kind of deal with that a little bit more than I did.and uh, I think they understood that it. Nes wasn't necessarily hiscall. It was budgets and ever changing budgets and snowboarding. asas things change, you know, Um, I know, maybe for a short timethere was some riders that maybe were bumms if they got cut,
E
Ethan20:50
but sh*t happens. I guess they got over it,
M
Mark_sullivan20:54
you know, it seems like the snowboard industry ispretty tough to deal with. I mean, you had this image and peoplehave this like image of Tech Ninee from the outside. Look in. Whatis it actually like running a brand and maintaining that coolfactor for all those years and trying to keep everyone happy?
E
Ethan21:10
dude. it was narly, Especially as our team got bigger.it was. Uh, there's a lot of mouths to feed. and as we'd put out af o d T movie, and everyone would work hard and get a good part.You know, then you got like ten riders that you gotta try to lookafter and take care of, and they all worked hard the season before.But then there'd only be so much money to go around. I think peoplealso thought we were a lot bigger than we were, because we weredefinitely seen kind of worldwide and around the mountain. And Ithink it was just 'cause the product was pretty pretty noticeable,so people thought we were larger than we were, But it was always astruggle to try to take care of everybody, and and do what weneeded to do. And then when you're dealing with uh, binding mouldsto make new binding moless, it's so expensive. It's uh, it'snrlyand then when you throw in we minimums and trying to do boardmoulds and all the graphics and the artists he need. It's prettymuch was just endless enough to spend money on, and not a lot ofmoney to be made at the end of the day, and the the winter cycle isso hard, too, When you're only getting paid one time a year, andthen shops don't even pay you sometimes, um, I mean, a lot of timeson time, so that was a struggle trying to collect the money.They're They're usually paying the bigger brands first to make surethey can still carry Burton in the future, so the smaller brandswould get paid last. So it was just a constant struggle. Anduh,
E
Ethan22:34
I think a lot of people don't realize that, butmaintaining the cool factor wasn't that hard 'cause we had so manyminds to kind of help help us with that when with all the teamwriters and all that, so it was kinda that was kind of the easierpart. I guess just all the creativity between all the differentwriters.
M
Mark_sullivan22:52
Okay, so you mentioned the creativity? Like? what?What are like? Some of the favorite products that you developedover the years. The things that you would like look back on todaywith pride
E
Ethan23:03
Um, you know who was awesome to work with on boardswas Lucas Macgoon. All of his graphics were kinda just straightfrom the mind of Lucas, and he just had to kinda. s, kind of takenotes on his ideas and then translate that to Dave, Dom and theartist, and when done right, they just came out insane, And thoseare some of my favorite board graphics. Still today. Like Lucashad, his first one was like a Gremlin's Gremlin's take off, whichwas pretty sick. And just every different one of his art piecesthat he'd come come straight from his mind was just insane. Um. Onthe technical side, we just tried to make products that made sense.So just trying to always make bindings better and better. Um, wecame up with the first tow strap that went over the front of thetoe of the boot, and uh,
M
Mark_sullivan23:54
was that Marco's idea?
E
Ethan23:54
so that was always pretty. It was actually just inHebble, and Mark O
M
Mark_sullivan23:58
Okay?
E
Ethan23:58
Po adopted it to binding, so they called it theBaltimore Toastrap, and uh, we knew here on the Something Rad. Whenall of a sudden Burton hit us with like a simultaneous inventionand they showed up at the trade show like a handmade one. When wehad one that was already molded. You know theyd caught wind of whatwe were doing, so uh, there was like a little bit of a a weirdlawsuit there, but we kind of all just squashed it and move forwardand that's why you see the strap on everybody's uh findingsnow,
M
Mark_sullivan24:28
I mean, you talk about lawsuits. I mean, what are themost challenging parts about running a business and
M
Mark_sullivan24:34
keeping keeping it rubberide down?
E
Ethan24:36
Um, you know we had good insurance, so
E
Ethan24:40
when the lawsuit does happen, they kind of it's allhandled with insurance, but we never had any like injury suits oranything like that, which is dope. Um, but yeah, you have to makesure your products are, are are on point, or else that stuff canhappen. you know, but I guess the the trick is to just getinsurance right away if you're a company that's being uh, riddenlike snowboards are ridden. You know,
M
Mark_sullivan25:04
Yeah, okay, so like how did like Tech Nine comeundone? As far as like I know, you guys were an independent brandfor a number of years and then you became part of this collectiveor the collective, I want to say, And you are part of Likeoms andTech Nine and a few other brands. What was the thing? though,really, kind of like was the thread that you pulled on that kind ofunwound. the whole thing
E
Ethan25:29
you know, the biggest issue we always had was cashflow. Um,
E
Ethan25:35
even when we got that first order our first year inbusiness, you know all of a sudden. If you get like a five hundredthousand dollar order, you need like two hundred and fifty thousanddollars to make a product, And uh,
E
Ethan25:48
we did not have that. Um. I actually found out laterthat Uh, my dad took credit cards out of my name, and that's how wefunded the first
E
Ethan26:00
Tech Nine products And I found that out, actually,like a couple of years after the fact, when I was at his house anda very large credit card bill showed up and I was like I
M
Mark_sullivan26:09
with's. Your name on it
E
Ethan26:09
don't have an American Express. What's that?
M
Mark_sullivan26:12
with your name on it.
E
Ethan26:13
Yeah, with my name on it and I opened it up. I was athis house like. Oh, this is weird and just like a couple hundredthousand dollar bill. Just like Whoa. It got me more ownership ofTech Nine when I saw that he did that, But that's basically kind ofa sneaky way. He started the funding of the company. Um gave megood credit at the time, I guess, 'cause he did end up paying itall off, which he said he always would, so I guess he was true tohis word on that, but it was a little uh sketchy When I did see itas a young kid when you get a bill like that, but yeah, cash flowwas always the tough part. So as we got bigger, you know all of asudden you're a million dollar company at retail. you need fivehundred thousand dollars to get your product made and you gottawait like six months until you're gonna get paid back anything. andyou gotta pay the factories or else they're not gonna ship. And sowe didn't really have that. So we had to get investors, and thatcomes at a price. You know they're gonna want ownership. And ifsomeone's injecting a couple of million dollars so you can actuallyoperate and and do ads, and and really kind of step up the brand,they're gonna want a big chunk, you know, and probably gonna wantownership at a controlling interest. And so that was, kind of.uh.
E
Ethan27:30
I guess the step in the direction that kind of is abummer. So anyone who's got a company going, try to hold out on uh,getting controlling interest and that's kind of the beginning ofthe end. I would say we lasted a twenty two years or something, butI would say after the first five years, you know we were already.We already had an investor. We weren't that stoked on. So then wehad to find another one and then that came out of price. And thenwe had to find another one and that came out of price. And uh,eventually, I mean, it was always. it was still rad, Because whenyou get these new investors, you do get a cash injection and you'remaking more money. You're all of a sudden calling up Snowboarderand you can do an advertising campaign. and uh, it definitely hadits perks and I think it did help us grow to be the biggest. Likethe biggest we ever were was when we were part of that. Uh, it wascalled brand base. When it was no misss and tech Nine Together wewere
M
Mark_sullivan28:26
Mhm.
E
Ethan28:26
almost. We made an offer to buy Grenade at one point,and that was going to join up. Um, and that's like when we were thelargest we ever were as a brand. So there's something to be saidabout having that cash flow and what you can do with it. But thenit's also there's just so many hands in the pot that it. Uh, andother people that you have a vision for a brand that you kind ofstarted with the original team, but then other people can kind ofveto that and make decisions. You're not that stoked on. And andthen you' all of a sudden, not the same brand that you were whenyou started. you know,
M
Mark_sullivan28:58
Yeah, so I mean you talk about cash flow and I thinkevery start up business has issues with just keeping the lights onand
E
Ethan29:05
Yeah,
M
Mark_sullivan29:05
keeping the the bills being paid. Like what's thetightest rub you ever had with a cash flow situation with Te nine?Just something weir like, I'm not sure if we're going to get out ofthis.
E
Ethan29:15
um, jeeze, I think we were at that point pretty muchevery year There was. there was no
M
Mark_sullivan29:20
Really?
E
Ethan29:20
time when we weren't like that. Because of the wholecycle of being a winter sports brand. You know where you have togive all this money to the factory or else they won't ship you, andthen the brand. The shops still haven't paid you back, and you haveto get on the phone and call every single one of themem. I mean,that's why there's so many less less shops right now than there wasbefore. Because they've had they have it. just maybe more tougherthan brands 'cause they get stuck with all that inventory. So this,the whole cycle is just so hard that there, probably there
E
Ethan29:51
every season we were at a point where I mean, Ishouldn't say every season there were some seasons where it waslike. I don't think we're going to make it through this. like if wedon't get another cash injection or an investor, we're definitelygoing to shut down. There's probably like three seasons like thatand every season we would somehow get through it and somethingwould happen. and um, maybe the factory would give us better termsor something. And I guess where there's a will, there's a way youknow, so we would always figure it out, But there was definitelythree seasons where it was almost like all right time to. I guessI'm going to start shooting photos more aggressively or orsomething like that. So it was uh, but it's always pretty toughjust being uh a brand. That depends on one season.
E
Ethan30:36
We
M
Mark_sullivan30:36
Yeah, I mean you,
E
Ethan30:36
even tried, tried at one
M
Mark_sullivan30:37
you.
E
Ethan30:37
point to maybe develop clothing to be a more seasonalbrand, But it's so hard when you're rooted in snowboarding. Youknow,
M
Mark_sullivan30:46
Yeah, so I mean, you mentioned that you know that youhad like three seasons where you could have pulled the plug andthen you were like Okay, Maybe I'll shoot more photos. It seemslike you were shooting photos a lot at this time that you wereworking on Tech Nine. How did that ramp up as you were trying torun a business at the same time,
E
Ethan31:04
Um, it was tough. Luckily, with my dad working withus, you know, he would deal with a lot of the stuff on the uh,warehouse level and the back end, which he kind of understood. Thestuff we were doing out in the field with boots on the ground iswhat propelled the brand to where it was. You know, so he reallyunderstood that, but as we got more investors that got harder tokind of explain like, Oh, you're out shooting photos and you'remaking a career that, But then you're also like the brand managerat Tech nine, so I'd have to really be really transparent with whatI was doing and work really hard to uh, kind of do my tech di stuffas well as shoe photos, and, and kind of uh, make it all worktowards the end and all that, but and towards the end after twentyyears of doing tech. Nine photography was kind of a lot fun. just'cause twenty years of trying to develop a board line gets pretty.Uh. It gets pretty monotonous, you know, or, or rewriting acatalogue for the twentieth time, and gets pretty crazy, so I waskind of maybe towards the end my heart was just more in photographyanyways, and it was going really good with snowboarder Mag, and Iwas able to team up with a lot of different crews, kind of outsideof techline, So uh, and you know, go on helly trips with Volkum orwho knows what else, other opportunities would pop up, and withTech Di, I wasn't able to do that stuff, so towards the end I.Think, uh, the passion was definitely more towards photography.
M
Mark_sullivan32:39
So you were getting better opportunities from otherbrands outside of Tech Nine. Despite working at Tech Nine,
E
Ethan32:45
Yeah, at. at some points even with Tech nine, I waslike the staff photographer for Sims. Well, I was the brand managerfor Tech Nine and it kind of just worked out 'cause Mark Frank rodefor Sims at the time, and a couple of other ridrs like Nko DrosRoad for Sims and some of our B riders. So uh, it was mellow. I wasable to maintain those positions. Well, I worked for Tech Nine, Um,as well as we. A. What's that?
M
Mark_sullivan33:10
was there ever a point? Was there ever a point whereyou started making more money on the photography than off of TechNine,
E
Ethan33:17
for sure? there definitely was and that's why anotherreason I was like Man, this is. uh. Maybe I should be focusing moreon this and working more with brands. and uh 'cause Tech Ninecouldn't couldn't really pay as well. especially in those seasonswhere we' almost going to go to business. you know, so yeah, therewas
M
Mark_sullivan33:36
Mhm?
E
Ethan33:36
definitely a point where photography was was kindawhat was really paying the bills.
M
Mark_sullivan33:42
So how much money could you potentially make running asmall brand and snowboarding? I mean, Is it lucrative like you'like counting to retire one day off of this, or is it justsomething where you like doing what I love helping my friendsout?
E
Ethan33:54
It's funny when I was young and naive, I was like. I'mdefinitely going to be able to retire one day from this and then asyou kind of really get into the business and hownarly it can be.Um, as you get older, and I guess open your eyes a little more. Istarted to realize there's no way I'm goingnna be retired fromthis, and uh, just as there was more owners that own part of thebrand. And and also like how often our snowboard brands reallysold, except when they're like in dire straits, and they're kind ofbought for pennies on the dollar. You know. it's only
M
Mark_sullivan34:29
Yeah,
E
Ethan34:30
happened like a couple of times.
M
Mark_sullivan34:32
what? what was your ownership equity in Tech Nine?Like percentage wise when you started versus when you finally leftat the end
E
Ethan34:39
Um do. When I started. I only had like three percent'cause young and naive. My dad kinda uh, gave us a very smallpercentage 'cause he said he was putting all the money in, but thenwhen I realized it was my money, I jumped up to like twenty percentand then uh, but there was like five of us who started it, So itwass all split up and then uh, it would have to get diluted everytime a new investor came in, And so I think by the end I was atlike, I don't know, like ten percent or something, but I started torealize it was better to make. More money than it was. even, holdon the percentage because like I said, how often do these brandsreally sell unless it's pennies' on the dollar? You know, so Ikinda just went for getting a bigger salary as opposed topercentile?
M
Mark_sullivan35:27
right, I can't really think of too many brands thathave had like a big pay day at the end, so to speak, one that havebeen around even for fifteen or twenty years, really is not a lotthat have some kind of successful outcome for the people who.Started the brands.
E
Ethan35:42
Yeah, it's pretty harsh and it's uh. it just comes.There's all of a sudden, sharks in the water when they really needmoney and they just make an offer. That is the only way to keep thebrand around, you know,
E
Ethan35:54
and uh.
M
Mark_sullivan35:54
Y, So did did that like turn you off from like runningthe brand. The fact that you are owning last and getting pen nes onthe dollar from what you thought it was worth?
E
Ethan36:02
Well, the more responsibility I took the more I wasable to get paid though, so it's kind of like a.
E
Ethan36:09
It was kind of better just to take. I. I, in my mind,knowing that a lot of brands don't sell, and seeing how a lot ofthese deals go down, Um,
E
Ethan36:19
the more responsibility I would rather instead ofshares, just take a bigger salary, you know,
M
Mark_sullivan36:24
Y. okay,
E
Ethan36:24
and uh, I don't know. if that's always the case. Ijust feel from what I saw in snowboarding it kinda seemed thatthat's that's how it kind of goes. You know, so even if we did sellone day, it would just probably be
E
Ethan36:39
not for what. The you're never. really. You don'treally sell when you're in a strongvantage point. You know you, youend up selling shares when you're when you need the money. It seemslike otherwise you're trying
M
Mark_sullivan36:50
Mhm,
E
Ethan36:50
to hang onto the brand. And there are brands thathave
M
Mark_sullivan36:52
but
E
Ethan36:52
done it right out there Like six, eight, Six isawesome. They, Mike West built that company from the ground up withhis own money, and never had to bring in an investor. And that'show you need to do it. You know you need to just figure out a wayto do it that way and not have to. uh, always bring in an investorevery time there's a cash crunch.
M
Mark_sullivan37:10
yeah, it seems like that's one of the few brandsthough that has really pulled that off
E
Ethan37:14
Yeah, I mean,
M
Mark_sullivan37:15
as far as like building a brand under the sameownership that has started under. I can't really think of toomany
E
Ethan37:19
yeah, ▁qu's to show how smart Mike is. you know, thethe way he's kind of handled his business, but you know I wouldn'tgive up
M
Mark_sullivan37:25
y, yp.
E
Ethan37:25
those tech nine years for anything. I mean it was somuch fun and uh, working on products something you love andlearning that much about business and tons of rad trips, and gointo different trade shows and manufact learning how to manufactureproducts in Europe and China. I mean it was awesome and it wassuper fun and uh, probably that was my college education. youknow
M
Mark_sullivan37:49
Okay, So like what was like your favorite trip out ofall the tech Nine Days? One was like Tech Nine, the full flagflying. Uh, somewhere around the world.
E
Ethan37:59
Coal and I, We try to go on one like crazy trip everyyear with the team, and Uh, definitely one that stands out is likegoing to Moscow for the first time. I think we were like the firstcrew to go there and kinda shoot in Moscow, and it was just crazyhow different it is. You know that from our lives here it was. Itwas. uh, just kind of eye opening. but we got to do that kind oflike every year we'd We'd had the advantage to reach out to it. Wehad distributors all over the world, you know, so we could justcall the distributor and be like Hey, do you guys got snow? And ifif they were, if they had snow, they would like, kind of help usout once we got there and treat us really well. You know, gethotels for us. Drive us around. Make it really easy. so we wereable to go to all sorts of wild places like we went to Spain and wewent to. I mean, we went pretty much everywhere there was snow andwe had a distributor. We would go there with the team 'cause aftermaking ten movies or whatever, you know, that was ten rad trips forthe movie. But uh, I would say Yeah, going to Moscow the first timekinda really stood out. Um,
E
Ethan39:02
it was just such a such culture shock. That place. wealmost died a couple of times. it was. It was just kinda likenothing, like nothing you'd see shooting around the U. S. Youknow
M
Mark_sullivan39:13
When you say you almost died, you' mean like you hadrunnings with the authorities like you almost died.
E
Ethan39:18
well me, we had one ends on the florid authoritiesEvery day. It was to the point where we just alternated who wasgoing to pay 'em the hundred dollar bill to let us off. But uh, wealmost had A. The traffic there was so crazy. We were on thehighway. Coal was driving. I was in the backs. I don't know exactlywhat happened, but at one point we were on like two wheels, and um,pretty much about to die to the point where we, when we pulled overlike muzzy, ran out of the ban and ran out in the field and likestarted praying or something. and uh, just 'cause it's so crazyover there, people drive like I, there's no laws, you know. I guessthat's the only way to explain it. And uh, yeah, so we literallyalmost died in a car accident. And uh, but yeah, every day. well,like when we get busted, it would be like military with machineguns there to bust to you. But then they'd end up being pretty cool'cause I'd never seen anybody snowboarding before, so they wereactually kind of rad. Luckily, we had a
M
Mark_sullivan40:12
Okay, Okay,
E
Ethan40:12
someone to translate, so they would uh tell him whatwe were doing. Otherwise it might have been different, but yeah,every day we would have to give the A the cops a hundred dollarbill, pretty much
M
Mark_sullivan40:22
just for your rail spots, Basically
E
Ethan40:24
just or who it would could be either a driving thing,a rail thing, or just walking through town and they'd give yoush*t. It's like they basically are like. we can take your passportsand bring in to jail, or you can give us a hundred dollars. It'skind of like
M
Mark_sullivan40:37
right.
E
Ethan40:37
Mexico, you know, And so you just have a hundreddollar bill ready. You alternate who pays them and move on withyour day. you know.
M
Mark_sullivan40:45
So did the travel get crazier when you went intobecoming like a senior photographer full time, or did it get kindof more mellow, more taken care of. As far as like you now, had youknow editors or whatever to report on or report to back at themagazine headquarters?
E
Ethan41:01
Um, well, it was pretty rat, so I would do a trip withTech nine like that and then I would also get to do, or I wouldalso kind of bundle that up as a feature for the magazine, So itwas
M
Mark_sullivan41:11
Mhm.
E
Ethan41:11
almost on like a trip to Moscow or anywhere we went.It would also always be a feature for snowboarder since it was sucha cool location, so it all kind of went hand in hand, and uh,
E
Ethan41:24
it was able to give me. I was able to maybe use themagazine's budget for my trip. So it that allowed us to bringanother rider for Tech Nine, you know, So it kinda just
M
Mark_sullivan41:34
So you're double dipping? Basically
E
Ethan41:34
worked together. Yeah, double dipping.
M
Mark_sullivan41:38
yeah,
E
Ethan41:38
I, I wasn't sending invoices to both brands, but I waskind of just making it work together. You know,
M
Mark_sullivan41:44
right.
M
Mark_sullivan41:45
were Were you ever able to like get three or fourbrands involved with paying for your trips?
E
Ethan41:50
for sure, back in the heyday man, it was nice youcould. there was a lot going on. You could. there was a lot morebudget than there is today. I mean today there's hardly any budgetand you can't ly anywhere 'cause a coved anywhere fun. You know youcan't go overseas. so uh, it's a whole different landscape Now.back then it was so easy to get a trip together. As long as it wasa cool location, it would be guaranteed to go in the s in in themagazine and then you could send it to another magazine overseasand they would package up the feature, so you'd get the feature andsnowboarder in Japan, also in Europe, and so you're able to getpaid like three different ways from for from magazines at the timeon one trip, not to mention selling photos to brands as well, souh, yeah, it was a whole different ball gameam back then withphotography, I'm hoping
M
Mark_sullivan42:40
Right? And so
E
Ethan42:40
they tas come back.
M
Mark_sullivan42:42
nowadays it' changed. Can you compare you know what itwas like in the early two thousands, when the budgets were big towhere where it's at today, and like how you can maintain a careeras a professional photographer today? Because I know there's not asmany print publications today.
E
Ethan42:59
Yeah, it's crazy how different it is. Um, back in theday,
E
Ethan43:04
The this is the the biggest difference. I think backin the day I would basically just go out and shoot every day andtry to shoot as many different people as I could And there wasprobably about a ninety percent chance that that photo I shot withthat writer would end up printed somewhere and today and by printedsomewhere else. I' mean that I would get paid for that photowhether it's an ad or it's in a magazine today. It's almost it's.It's not worth your time to go out and shoot unless you know thatphoto's already sold for something like. You know. there's going tobe an interview on that writer, or you know a particular brandneeds a photo of that writer. And so that's the biggest difference.And that's that sucks. You know, because it basically deters youfrom going out and shooting, because it's like what am I even goingto do with this photo now at this point, and so a lot of photoraphers are only shooting if they're hired for a shoot, so they won'tgo on a trip and definitely won't go on a trip and spend moneytheir own money, 'cause they're never going to recoup it, You know,back in the day you would definitely recoup it without a even doubtin your mind, and now you hear most of the photographers when they.Say they had a good year. It means they were hired a bunch inadvanced to go shoot and back before it was never like that. Youwould just go out and shoot as much as you possibly could. so it'sreally changed and uh, it makes it a lot harder.
M
Mark_sullivan44:32
Do you still have like a lot of contracts withdifferent brands to shoot the writeders?
E
Ethan44:37
Um.
E
Ethan44:38
Well in the past year with the bomb hole, it's made ita bit different for me. Um,
M
Mark_sullivan44:44
Mhm,
E
Ethan44:44
but I would say, up until I mean, I'm not sure what'sgonna happen this season, but up until like last year. Yeah,
E
Ethan44:51
um, but you really at? for
M
Mark_sullivan44:52
Yeah, I mean, what. what would your photography looklike last year with the pandemic and everything?
E
Ethan44:57
it was T. It was definitely my roughest season ever.Um, and it was kind of compounded by the fact that Utah didn't getany street snow, so that was
M
Mark_sullivan45:08
Yeah,
E
Ethan45:08
kinda not happening. I think we had two days with snowin the streets, and then
M
Mark_sullivan45:13
hm,
E
Ethan45:14
when we got out all our snow in the mountains it waswhen it was like that black rows of uh, avalanche danger. Whereevery different
M
Mark_sullivan45:21
yeah,
E
Ethan45:21
direction was danger and the ski patrol was saying,Don't even like. inbund Its risky. You know, so
M
Mark_sullivan45:29
Mhm.
E
Ethan45:29
uh shooting last year was. I mean, I shot a bit, butit was uh, just really hard. A bad year on top of coved just madeit almost impossible. But I know a lot of crews still got after it.All the kids that still wanted to get video parks were were drivingto where they needed to go. I mean, Dust Box was on the road forlike, pretty much the whole winter just following snow. But I don'thave that luxury to be gone all winter, nor I don't think I wouldmake the money back if I went away all winter and shot photos. youknow, so yes,
M
Mark_sullivan46:00
Yeah, so now you've
E
Ethan46:00
it's a different landscape.
M
Mark_sullivan46:02
and now you've got a third career, maybe fourthcareer? I'm
E
Ethan46:06
Yes,
M
Mark_sullivan46:06
not sure where you're at, but now you now you get todo the bomb hole full time.
E
Ethan46:10
Yeah, and that's uh, pretty sweet as you know. I meanit's pretty fun just to sit and have conversations with people. anduh,
M
Mark_sullivan46:18
Yeah, totally
E
Ethan46:18
you know, like we're doing now, just chopping it upand learning about people and and hearing their story. I mean,everyone seems to have an interesting story, so it's been prettyfun to kind of learn about it,
E
Ethan46:30
and uh,
M
Mark_sullivan46:30
yp,
E
Ethan46:32
definitely taken my focus off a photography a bit, butwith cooveto, I guess maybe it was the right time you know, andit's made me actually more excited to go shoot 'cause I haven'tshot as much, so it's
M
Mark_sullivan46:44
Mhm.
E
Ethan46:44
uh this winter. I'm hoping we're gonna have a goodwinter so I can get back out there more. but when we have ashow
M
Mark_sullivan46:50
So
E
Ethan46:50
coming out every week, it's harder though I can't justhit the road anyt time I want unless we're ahead on shows, so it'skind of a.
M
Mark_sullivan46:56
yeah, so let let's talk about like how the bomb holecame about. What? The kind of like What got you started as far asdoing the bomb hole?
E
Ethan47:05
You know, it's funny, Um, Chris and I, We always go ontrips every year and we like always, Jo. He's kind of he started.Uh, he had a show.
E
Ethan47:15
I forget what it was called. Um,
E
Ethan47:19
something banter and handry, I don't remember what itwas called, But he had a internet show. He was kind of working on.Um. And so he was kind of always messing with the space onYoutube.
E
Ethan47:30
And uh, we would go on trips and kinda joke about howit would be sick to have something like this so last year,
E
Ethan47:39
or I guess it was two seasons ago. now, not lastseason but the season before we were in Uh Kazakstan,
E
Ethan47:47
Um, on one of those rad trips, And it was Uh, it wasfor the thirty two movie
E
Ethan47:52
and Uh Chris. Oh, can you hold on one second?
M
Mark_sullivan47:56
Yp,
E
Ethan47:57
someone's out my door. Hold on one second. right.
E
Ethan48:02
I'm going to pause. You will pick up from KazakstanNow.
E
Ethan48:07
I might have to move locations if this is someone frommy cheick.
E
Ethan48:11
Hold on one sacker.
M
Mark_sullivan48:13
Yeah,
E
Ethan50:01
Can you hear me
M
Mark_sullivan50:02
yep, yep,
E
Ethan50:03
dupe? Sorry about that dude.
M
Mark_sullivan50:05
no, wors
E
Ethan50:06
So I was at Kazakstan
M
Mark_sullivan50:08
yup,
E
Ethan50:09
right,
E
Ethan50:10
so
M
Mark_sullivan50:10
Yup,
E
Ethan50:10
uh yeah, so Chris and I would go on these trips and wekind of realize the most fun part of the trip was the the time inbetween the spots when we were in a van and we were just talkingsh*t. and uh,
E
Ethan50:26
kinda, everyone would always just listen to Chris andI go back and forth. We'd sit in the back kind of trash up to ourwaist, 'cause we'd been on a trip for who knows how long, and uh,the banter was always the most fun. And so Chris on that trip waslike it would be sick to do a podcast And you're like the dude I'dlike to do it with. And so the whole time we were on that trip, wewere uh, kind of telling O. other people on the trip. Like what doyou think if we did this and we were like we had a list of likefifty names going. And
E
Ethan51:01
and uh, I didn't really know how serious he was,though I was kind of just like. Oh, this is dope. This would besuper fun. And so we got home from the trip and then Chris went onanother trip, and uh, kinda him and his girlfriend broke up. Um,thankfully they're back together now, which is red, but I thinkthat
E
Ethan51:21
time of being uh, all of a sudden single, and it'salso right when the pandemic kicked in, So he's alone at his house.He has like, can't go out and see people. He. He doesn't reallyhave anything to to focus on 'cause Pro riding's kind of at a halt,so all of a sudden he just put. he, just all of a sudden orderedall this stuff for podcasting. He ordered like a road podcaster,some mikes, and uh started messing around figuring out how to useit,
E
Ethan51:51
and uh, all of a sudden just started hitting me upwith like a test video like I think we could figure this out and wekinda just said Uh, You know, consistency would need to be the key,so Wed need to make sure we put out a show every week, No matter ifsomebody likes it or doesn't like it, we just need to keep doingit, and uh,
E
Ethan52:12
I mean, we looked at your model, you know I. Mean,you're the one who's been doing it for a long time. Chris kindawanted to bring a video element to it 'cause that's what he wasdoing with his his other banter Youtube show.
E
Ethan52:24
Um,
E
Ethan52:26
so yeah, we just kinda all of a sudden. It just wejust boom. Let's do it. Let's have a podcast. us to interviewsomebody. And uh, we kinda debated who we would interview first andit ended up being just in. Benny and his story was just crazy, solike we knew we had a pretty rad thing going, Um, 'cause he reallyjust got honest with us about so many things. Is his uh, drug usein the past and what went on with his career and uh, so boom we putit out and it was when coved was going, so I think we had a acaptive audience
E
Ethan53:01
and uh, we kind of just went from there and went oneat a time. We had no sponsors. We didn't really, uh, know what wewere doing whatsoever. I mean, I'm sure in the early episodes bekind of just sounded like dip sh*ts. Um, but I think maybe that wasa good thing, too, 'cause people like to laugh, and Chris and Ibeing dip sh*ts maybe is a good thing. And uh, and we knew our showneeded to be different than yours because you already had thatmarket kind of locked in. So Uss Beingian Idiots was kinda like theline, you know, And then also with the bomb hole, we wanted to,kinda
E
Ethan53:35
as we were idiots, also get into serious things thathappened to them. But then no one to lighten it up with our dipsh*ttery, and uh,
M
Mark_sullivan53:44
yeah.
E
Ethan53:44
yes, we just just kinda went from his garage andstarted going from the house. And since we had that cop captiveaudience, I think uh, it kind of helped us out at all. This kind ofwent at the right time. You know, timing's kind of everything. Nowwe
M
Mark_sullivan53:58
y.
E
Ethan53:58
got a whole office too, so it's like it's crazy Justhow fast it's been moving.
M
Mark_sullivan54:03
So tell me about getting in the office. Like At whatpoint where you guys are like? Okay, I think we got this, you know,to the point where we should have an office and have like apermanent studio and all that this is a real deal
E
Ethan54:14
Um, the point when we got decided to at the office iswhen I think Chris just couldn't handle his house had turned into afull business. We had somebody showing up doing shipping out of hisguest room, and you know he's back together with his girlfriend,and this this dude showing up the ship whenever he wants kind ofodd hours. and 'cause it's not real structure when you're atsomebody's house, you know, and then there's
M
Mark_sullivan54:36
right
E
Ethan54:36
another. Uh, We hired this girl jewels. He was likeour our office manager and she's working from his kitchen table.And then guests are like. Russell Winfield came in to do hisepisode and he was supposed to stay two days. He ends up on Chris'scouch for two weeks, which was awesome 'cause I have Uncle Russthere as great, you know, but all of a sudden his house just wasn'this house anymore, you know, so I think that's
M
Mark_sullivan54:59
right?
E
Ethan54:59
the point when Chris was just like we. We gotta figuresomething out here like it's definitely you know, an expense thatwe didn't want to pay. But it was just like we. half we can't.We're outgrowing his house. You know we had Jamie Thomas come inand tell us like we could never leave the garage 'cause it's likesuch a cool feeling and we were just like we can't just like Chrisdoesn't have a garage anymore. It's like I. I had heard the nineclublu guys. Actually, they did the same thing. They started attheir apartment and then their apartment's just our office now andthey moved out of it so we would have basically either
M
Mark_sullivan55:31
yeah, yeah,
E
Ethan55:31
had to move out of Chris's house. He wouldn't livethere anymore. else. We get an office, so we decided to get inoffice and Chris is, Chris is crazy, just forthinking and uh,bigger picture, thinking like he always has all these ideas of allright. We need to now hire a graphic designer to help with Merge,'cause Merch is selling. We need to do this. We needed to do thatand I'm always like man. How do we just start putting some money inour pockets? He's like, Oh, we gotta think bigger, and thankfullyhe's like that because that I think has been the key to our growthis like Okay. If we hire this person, it's gonna exponentially downthe line. help us, or we can think small and give ourselves each acouple of thousand dollars. Now you know, so that's kind of uh,been just Chris's. I think what he does is take his drive of a prosnowboarder that he learned to kind of come up. It's not easy. andhe's applying that to the podcast Youtube world, and just puttingin a hundred and twenty percent And it's and it's working. Youknow. He's pretty intense.
M
Mark_sullivan56:32
y. yp.
E
Ethan56:32
He's had a lot of concussion, so sometimes itgetsnarly but at the he always has the right idea, though, so it'spretty cool.
M
Mark_sullivan56:40
So what's your role in all this? You just show up anddo the interviews or I mean, it sounds like it was taking place athis house for a while, and his house was the office.
M
Mark_sullivan56:49
Would you just show up like twenty minutes before theinterview and get it rolling? Was your role?
E
Ethan56:55
Um, he would always have me show up like an hourbeforehand, just to make sure I was going to be on time, as youlearned. I'm not so punctual when we were putting this podcasttogether.
E
Ethan57:05
Um, so yeah, I'd always show up an hour in advance andthen I would work at my house.
E
Ethan57:11
Um, like when we started like, we just kind of dibbedup what we needed to do like. I kind of started the patrion. Well,he started
E
Ethan57:20
doing something else. At first. I would answer all thecomments on Instigram and he would do all the ones on Youtube. Soat first when it was just the two of us, we just kind of split upthe jobs,
E
Ethan57:32
and and uh, just did what we could, And then as we gotto the point where were at maximum overload, you know we'd hiresomebody like we hired rego, Um, this dude in Salt Lake, who's justcrushing our social media now, and uh yeah, we'll just we needed.Kinda Chris. Chris was at his band with with editing, too, 'causehe was doing the editing at first, and
M
Mark_sullivan57:54
Mhm?
E
Ethan57:53
that'snarly when you got three cameras, one for eachperson plus your uh, your go pro, and you got to sink all thedifferent sound and then edit each camera. Each time everyone'stalking, I mean each video we, we do a three hour recording Ittakes. I don't know. It probably takes like nine hours of editing.So we eventually hired this guy Paul to help with that, and that'sbeen huge, so we kinda would just hire as we needed now that we'rein the office. Though it's sweet, we just show up office hours andget done what we need to get done, and we have people in in placeto help with certain things, And you know we realize our times,folk. like focusing on the show is where it all started, so makinga good show is really where we need to like, put Chris and Myceenergy into and then just makes sure everyone's. Everyone's reallyexcited to be working with us, so they're all very passionate. andum, we have a kick ass team, so it's been pretty rad. and havingthat office has really created a uh, creative space to like. go inand talk about stuff. And you know we get their feedback as much aswe can, so if we're blowing it, they'll tell us, and they're honestwith everything. And so yeah, we just have a kick ass group ofpeople working on it now, so it's pretty pretty cool and I thinkthat office has really helped us. And like we're seven episodesahead right now, We before we were never able to get seven episodesahead. You know, we' usually be like one episode ahead and thenpanicking. the next one's gonna come out, You know,
M
Mark_sullivan59:24
Okay, So now you have like a runway for yourself, soyou're not like. Just like getting ready for next Tuesdays episodeor
E
Ethan59:31
Yeah, panicking.
M
Mark_sullivan59:31
whatever? So that's yeah, that. that's probably a goodthing. How many people are the office now?
E
Ethan59:38
Um,
E
Ethan59:39
there's uh. I think all together there's like sevenpeople that. Uh,
M
Mark_sullivan59:43
seven?
E
Ethan59:44
not all of them come in full time. Some are
M
Mark_sullivan59:46
Mhm.
E
Ethan59:46
just in and out of there, Um, myself, Chris andJewless, the office manager are like full time, But then we haveour graphic guy in Drake. He's coming in. Um like three days aweek. Tuckers in their full time. Who does our shipping rigo? comesin, but he doesn't really need to be there. He just comes in to. Hedoes our social media so he's more boots on the ground, and thenPaul's editing, and uh, Ronky is our agent and helps us with thebrands and all that, so I think altogether, I hope I'm not missinganybody, But there's like seven of us and uh, you know that's theteam at this point and I don't see
M
Mark_sullivan1:00:25
Yeah, yeah,
E
Ethan1:00:25
us needing more people And it's just more about takingcare of the crew,
E
Ethan1:00:30
and uh, having everyone grow as we grow.
E
Ethan1:00:33
Um,
M
Mark_sullivan1:00:34
okay, so here's a question. It's like not everyinterview is easy to do. Some people have more uh stuff going on intheir lives. some people only no snowboarding. Have you had anyinterviews where you were like? this is going to be great and thenyou sit down to do the interview and you're like Oh man. that wastough. Actually,
E
Ethan1:00:53
yeah, Lucas magoon,
E
Ethan1:00:56
only
M
Mark_sullivan1:00:56
yeah,
E
Ethan1:00:56
because he gets so sidetracked
E
Ethan1:01:00
and he kinda he got really stoned
E
Ethan1:01:04
and
M
Mark_sullivan1:01:04
Mhm.
E
Ethan1:01:05
it was maybe hard to understand him And he went on forlike four and a half for five hours
E
Ethan1:01:11
and uh, Chris was just like Dude, what are we going todo here and we chopped it all up and sen it to Lucas And he wasjust like this is perfect And so we were like All right. Let's justput it out and we put it out and people loved it. So we just kindof realize that sometimes
E
Ethan1:01:28
we just gotta like. look at it a different way. I. Inoticed the.
M
Mark_sullivan1:01:31
yeah, yeah.
E
Ethan1:01:31
I mean, and he had a lot of awesome stuff to say inthat five hours. it was more just harder to chop up. Let's say,
E
Ethan1:01:38
Um, and
M
Mark_sullivan1:01:38
y.
E
Ethan1:01:39
maybe we should just put out all five hours. Whoknows? but there are some people you get like a young person inthere who hasn't lived as much as an older person. So yeah, maybethey only know snowboarding. And and that makes it not asinteresting for some people. But then the snowboard heads love it'cause it's just all snowboarding. So it's it's I've just kind offound that you're not go to make everybody happy, so you just gottado your best. Put it out there. Some people are gonna love it. Somepeople might not like it, but either way they're hopefully gonnawatch it and just kind of take it from there. you know,
M
Mark_sullivan1:02:12
What was your favorite interview? Like the one whereyou just it just went perfectly.
E
Ethan1:02:16
Um, My favorite isn't out yet. It was Uh, JasonAllise
E
Ethan1:02:21
and we did it. Uh, I want to say, like two weeks agowhen he was in town for the street league and man
M
Mark_sullivan1:02:27
Mhm.
E
Ethan1:02:28
one, he's a professional talker. You know, he has hisown radio show and too, his story is just insane and his level ofhonesty is just I don't know. It's inspiring, Um, and that to me inthe show that we only had like an hour and a half 'cause he was sobusy out here, so we had to just like sit in. Make like we couldn'treally bullsh*t 'cause usually we spend like five or six hours withpeople and we only had an hour and a half total with him. We liketo like talk sh*t for a little while. First, maybe have some food,you know, like just kick it and get to know each other, but withhim it was like All right, let's jump in the booth, and the secondwe hit record, he was just on and uh it. I think as far it's notout yet. we'll see how it's received, but it's I think it's myfavorite episode we recorded yet,
E
Ethan1:03:14
but I like him all
M
Mark_sullivan1:03:15
okay now,
E
Ethan1:03:15
for different reasons.
M
Mark_sullivan1:03:17
yeah, I mean, what was like? What prompted thedecision to feature? also not just snowboarders but alsoskateboarders and skiers and other athletes as well,
E
Ethan1:03:28
You know what started that decision is, we werechilling one day at Chris's house, and Jeremy Jones called us upand he was like Hey, do you guys have any interest in interviewingJamie Thomas,
E
Ethan1:03:42
And uh, he was like I could get him here tomorrownight so we had no time to plan or anything, but we're like JaeThomas, Are you kidding me? Of course, like we just were like.Let's do this, and uh, we got him in the booth and it was awesome.I mean, look, we all looked up to him growing up his skateboardingand he's such a interesting dude with the business he has going onand just his life story is awesome. and uh, it was well received.so we kind of thought to ourselve E. maybe we should explore othersports. Um. skiing is kind of the same way. You know. We just gotthe opportunity to kinda showcase two pretty cool skiers,
E
Ethan1:04:24
Um, and it was the same thing like we're friends withthose guys. So, and they both snowboard as well, Um, and then theski community was so stoked on it. Um, They, I was at Mammouth atthe end of the season and a bunch of skiers just came up to me andwe're like, Oh, you guys have the best the best podcast in skiingand we were like, Oh, we've only
M
Mark_sullivan1:04:43
No,
E
Ethan1:04:43
done skiers, you know, and they're like, Oh, it's justso much better than everything out there, so we kinda just decided.Hey, why not? let's let's kinda branch out and it, also for me, itgoes back to the tech nine days, realizing like when summer hits,it's tough.
E
Ethan1:04:59
Um,
M
Mark_sullivan1:04:59
yeah,
E
Ethan1:04:59
maybe winter brands aren't gonna wantnna sponsor. youknow, And and we felt that a little bit this summer. Theydefinitely their money's better spent now you know until Christmas,So I think that's a thought too like you know. How are we gonnatranscend snowboarding. And uh, and we try to get people in thatsnowboard as well, or or their friends of snowboarding. And and uh,it also helps Ronkies our manager, and he's a lot of their managerstoo, so he'll just kind of send them our away. And then
M
Mark_sullivan1:05:28
H.
E
Ethan1:05:28
uh, you know when we look at our analytics on Youtube,the next biggest watch show is the Nine club, So it's obviousthat
E
Ethan1:05:38
the people are watching our show skateboard. You know,so that's why we got Jason Allis in there, and then we got KellyHart from the nightclub Nine Club in there as well. And uh, itkinda just makes sense, you know snowboarder skateboard, and andvice versa. Maybe a lot of skaters don't snowboard, butsnowboarders seemed to skateboard. And and it's just cool stories.You know cool stories and meet these people
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:02
yeah. Okay, so like
E
Ethan1:06:02
mountain biking, And well, that was a stretch, but itstill uh, stoked a lot of people out.
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:08
Yeah,
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:09
are are there any sports you're not going to cover? Isthere anything off limits?
E
Ethan1:06:12
I would say we're just more focused on action sports,you know, 'cause like I didn't know mountain bikers.
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:18
What? What are action sports? though? I mean it's likeit's getting a wider and wider
E
Ethan1:06:22
That is true. What
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:22
definition. I mean, it's all olympiced out now. I meangymnastics might be extreme. Now. Who knows?
E
Ethan1:06:27
that is true. Huh,
E
Ethan1:06:29
yeah, but they're not really extreme until they'relike they're doing what the mountain bikes are doing on the rampageand gymnastic cart wheels down some hundred foot cliff face. Iguess you know, like I didn't even know mountain bikers were doingthat.
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:43
Yeah, Yeah, I mean, but what happens when when runkieslike man, we got this great scooter rider for you guys. You goingto take a scooter scooterist?
E
Ethan1:06:49
That's probably where we draw the line.
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:51
You going to draw the line there
E
Ethan1:06:51
You know what it quite depends on on their characterand what their story is. You know.
E
Ethan1:06:51
You know what it quite depends on on their characterand what their story is. You know.
M
Mark_sullivan1:06:57
right? Right if they got something going on
E
Ethan1:06:58
I, I shouldn't say no until you kind of hear the storyabout the person. If it's interesting and it adds to our listeners,you know, then it's cool, I guess, 'cause that's a big thing.
M
Mark_sullivan1:07:07
right.
E
Ethan1:07:07
You know. you want to figure out how to add to yourlisteners lives. And if you can make ' laugh or make them thinkit's it's a win. you know.
M
Mark_sullivan1:07:16
Yeah, totally okay. So like what? What are you doingnew this year? Like what's new for the bomb hole this year? Andlike, what are you looking forward to like doing in the future herewith the bomb hole?
E
Ethan1:07:27
Um, you know we are. Uh, we're doing a bomb holesnowboarding event at Bright in in March
E
Ethan1:07:36
or April,
M
Mark_sullivan1:07:36
Okay,
E
Ethan1:07:36
first week of April, and it's called the Bomb Ho cup.I mean our, our. Our whole idea of the company is bringing thecommunity together. You know, Like what ways can we bring peopletogether in these wild times? And and maybe it's through listeningto us talk and introducing people to the the people we're talkingto and you get another story. But we also figured why not getpeople together and meet each other. You know, so the the contestis not just for pros, it's for anybody to show up and all levels,and and more of just a a ripping weekend. You know, we're gonnahave brands, kind of set up tents and and demo boards and have uhfood there, and pup beer will be there and just make it a hangout.You know, a whole weekend. And so that's new for us. Um. we're alsogonna. Chris and I are want to go on a trip this year with a crewof people like that have been on the bomb hole, and uh, go on likea trip with the riders like a trip like we've always done the ideathat kinda spawned the podcast from the beginning, and uh, have itin the Mac. one of the magazines or something, and do interviewsfrom the road and all that. So we're talking about doing that, anduh, really just trying to hone in our craft and get better at it,'cause as you know, you know, you learn every time you get on andrecord, so I think you can definitely get better.
M
Mark_sullivan1:08:57
yeah, oh yeah. now, I mean, what's your? what? I mean?what do you feel about the state of magazine? you photographer?You' now a podcaster, Maybe the largest media outlet and all thesnowboarding. I mean,
E
Ethan1:09:07
Mhm.
M
Mark_sullivan1:09:07
let's talk about like where the magazine's at, wherethe video iss at what happened. I mean this is a different worldwe're living in now.
E
Ethan1:09:15
Yeah, it's crazy right. It's uh, at
M
Mark_sullivan1:09:17
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:09:17
one point last winter and that's another reason. whydidn't shoot much. I wasn't sure if there's going to be anymagazines. and now,
M
Mark_sullivan1:09:24
Mhm,
E
Ethan1:09:24
thankfully, you know there's torament slush snowboardsnowboarder might still be around. I have no idea.
E
Ethan1:09:32
Um, so now at least there are some magazines, butthey're all still just trying to figure it out and they're probablyfighting for dollars. and uh, it's just a a crazy landscape and Ithink also brands aren't excited to just sponsor a video like theyused to. You know, so it's just riders, kind of making their ownparts. Um, as a media outlet, we've talked about putting riderparts on our channel as well,
E
Ethan1:09:58
and and putting for riders, maybe riders that we'veinterviewed before you know, letting that be where they're goingnnalaunch their video part, So I mean it's all stuff we're discussing.But yeah, the landscape's just changed. I'm excited for when slushand snowboard actually come out, so we can see what's going on. Youknow, see what we're working with and I'm sure, I mean they're
M
Mark_sullivan1:10:18
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:10:18
They're run by incredible people, so there're gonna bestrong magazines. Um, the only thing weird for them is that there'sprobably a lot less photos floating around because of last year howweird it was.
E
Ethan1:10:31
but I'm
M
Mark_sullivan1:10:31
that's true.
E
Ethan1:10:31
sure they'll I'm sure there's enough to make a strongmagazine. You don't need that many. you know, and they're allnot
M
Mark_sullivan1:10:37
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:10:37
putting out. I mean, Torment puts out one issue right,so that's pretty easy to fill up. slosh. I think's doing like fouror five, and snowboards maybe doing three or something. too.
M
Mark_sullivan1:10:49
it seems like though there is a lot less peopleaspiring to be photographers today than say ten or fifteen yearsago.
E
Ethan1:10:55
Yeah, I mean in town now there's like Bob Plum andmyself and a couple of others where there used to be like fifteenthat you're competing with. you know. So it's
M
Mark_sullivan1:11:06
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:11:07
uh, it's a whole different landscape and it's just Ithink it's just hard to survive. You know
E
Ethan1:11:12
brands aren't as
M
Mark_sullivan1:11:13
So
E
Ethan1:11:13
quick to pay.
M
Mark_sullivan1:11:15
what what advice do you have for someone who is tryingto make a living as a photographer today?
E
Ethan1:11:19
Man, I would never want to say, Don't do it becausethere's always a way to recreate the wheel and figure out how to besuccessful. I mean, look at black. That dude's making so muchmoney,
E
Ethan1:11:33
and he's you know, he's working in all sports. Nowhe's shooting mountain biking. His girlfriend's a top skier, sohe's shooting skiing. He's sh. He's really smart about the brandshe works with and he's making an amazing living. so um, a blot ofmaking an insane living. I'm sure Bob's killing it as well. Sothere's there's definitely still a way to do it. You just gotta getout there. Do it your way, and uh, and I guess gotta always beready to change with the times and right now we're just at a one ofthose times where everything's changing and you just gotta figureout the next way to do it. You know,
M
Mark_sullivan1:12:10
Do you think there is like a life expectancy forphotographers? How like guys like you know? ▁zacher kind of movedon beyond snowboard photography, Or a guy like Gary Land was asnowboard photographer and went beyond it. Do you think there'slike a life expectancy to being in the trenches if you will, in thesnowboard media?
E
Ethan1:12:28
Um, you know, I've thought about that a lot. I think▁zacher was never passionate about it. Like some of us where Idon't know Gary, so I can't speak to him, but I think ▁zacher,always aspired to move to the top tier of photography. He went tophoto school and I think just kind of fell in the snowboarding, andit paid well, so he stuck with it and he saw that change a littlebit and then moved to where he was always headed. You know he's sotalented. Um, I mean, I plan on being in the trenches as long aspossible, And look at blotto. He's older than I am. He's still outthere going strong, Um, you look at skateboarding. You know theresguys like Blayback. He's been shooting forever and he's stillshooting strong, so I think it just depends on the passion and ifyou're able to survive doing it and you just gotta always recreateand team up with brands 'cause they seem to pay better than otherpeople. And
E
Ethan1:13:21
and hustle it's hard for me with the podcast 'cause ittakes up a lot of time, so someone' going to have to figure outwhat that looks like in the future. But um, I think uh, it justdepends on the your back to your question. It just depends on thepassion they have, and if somebody wants to, they can probably doit as long as possible, 'cause it's not. you don't have to like,get out there and go to Alaska and be in the nuarliest conditionsever. You know. It's not too hard to just go up and shoot ▁x gamesor something. You know. that's pretty easy. so I imagine you coulddo it as long as he wanted.
M
Mark_sullivan1:13:54
Yeah, okay,
E
Ethan1:13:54
The streets are pretty mellow too. You know
E
Ethan1:13:54
The streets are pretty mellow too. You know
M
Mark_sullivan1:13:56
so so how about for for podcasting? Are you going toever run out of Guess are going to run out interesting people totalk to. Do you think ever? I mean that's question. A lot of peopleask me Actually, if I would run out of people.
E
Ethan1:14:05
if people actually always ask us that, And uh,
M
Mark_sullivan1:14:09
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:14:09
I feel like there's so many interesting people andyou've been doing it. How long now?
M
Mark_sullivan1:14:16
I don't know most up to three hundred episodes now, Sogot a lot.
E
Ethan1:14:19
Yeah, and I feel like there's still plenty of peoplefor you to do so. And then there's going to be new people and
E
Ethan1:14:26
I, That's a question often asked. and I feel like No.we're never going to run out of interesting people. I hopeanyways.
M
Mark_sullivan1:14:34
It's funny because it. It's like there's this pressureto interview a certain type of person who the industry maybe isbehind financially, but maybe not the most interesting say ofinterviewes. And do you do you find that you run into that a lotwhere there's someone who the industry is getting behind whoactually is not a good interview or
E
Ethan1:14:53
Um,
M
Mark_sullivan1:14:53
is not that interesting when you do the preca withthem?
E
Ethan1:14:56
we're pretty new to us. I don't know if that'shappened to us yet. Um, we do have one rule that, Umm, I shouldprobably say on here, because a lot of people don't know it. Um,don't ask us to get interviewed Will come to you
E
Ethan1:15:12
because, uh, it just creates an awkward conversation.Sometimes if we're not ready to interview somebody you know.
M
Mark_sullivan1:15:18
How many people have asked to be interviewed on thebomb hole?
E
Ethan1:15:20
Oh, there's better more than you would think thatSliideing the D Ms. that aren't even professional snowboarders.Let's say they just you know. I'm I'm a. I'm a hardcore snowboarderLike I should be interviewed just for that perspective. And it'sjust easier if we come to you so we can avoid an awkwardconversation. And and uh, so that's kind of our rule.
M
Mark_sullivan1:15:38
That that could be the basis for a great interview.Though, just making it super super awkward right from thebeginning.
E
Ethan1:15:43
Yeah, right from the start right.
M
Mark_sullivan1:15:45
Yeah, it's like. so. Uh, so you you ask to be on theshow?
E
Ethan1:15:49
Yeah, now, what? what have you got?
M
Mark_sullivan1:15:49
How? Wh? what's up? What? What did you want to talkabout? Anyhow?
E
Ethan1:15:53
But they probably have a really interesting story whoknows you know, and it's
M
Mark_sullivan1:15:57
Yeah, but it be pretty.
E
Ethan1:15:57
up to us as intervenes to bring it out.
M
Mark_sullivan1:16:00
It'd be pretty funny to put people in
E
Ethan1:16:02
Yeah, put 'em on. Bls. Itd probably getous.
M
Mark_sullivan1:16:02
Blas. though. So what? What's your favorite part?What's your favorite part of doing the podcast? Like? what's what'sthe thing that keeps you going. It keeps you excited to keep doingmore.
E
Ethan1:16:11
um man, just sitting in there having these powerfulconversations with. I mean, lately we've had some pretty amazingpeople in there. I just hope some of their uh, what they have rubsoff on me. You know, because these people have some just crazyoutlooks on life that are so positive and you know, like we had Kenblock in there and just the stuff that dudes done incredible. Youknow, Like Li, being able to hear those stories straight from theirmouth to me is the the most exciting part of it. you know. And andgetting to know these people on a personal level, and hearing kindof how they carve their own path, Because that's really what it is.These people seem to carve their own path. No storyories the same.you know, so it's really cool to kinda hear that and uh, I don'tknow. Just learn. learn from everybody and get to know ' that.that's definitely the interviews are my favorite part.
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:00
Yeah, I mean, I'd say though that, like you know, backin the nineties two thousand, because snowboarding wasn't such likea professional living, a lot of people had a lot more storyinvolved, Whereas today it seems like you have to just dedicate allof your time becoming a good snowboarder. And so there just isn'ttime to be like uh,
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:20
a passionate fisherman or something else on theside.
E
Ethan1:17:21
That's true. Huh, Yeah, that is so true. Also sayconus.
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:24
You know that's what. That's what I've I started tosee anyway.
E
Ethan1:17:26
Yeah, They, all they could do is work out. eat rightsnowboard and they have to have
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:31
right,
E
Ethan1:17:31
all the repetitions. and yeah, they don't have as muchroom for life, huh
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:36
uh,
E
Ethan1:17:37
w.
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:37
maybe maybe I'm not sure, but I would say that I findlike the
E
Ethan1:17:38
I imagine as they get older, they will, though youknow.
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:42
I. I would say so I would hope so. anyway. you know,but it it's interesting to see.
E
Ethan1:17:44
Yeah, it's like the nineteen year olds are the toughones because they all they know is snowboarding. But thenthere's
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:51
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:17:51
somebody that wants to hear about how they got good,So it's interesting for somebody to hear how how they made it as anineteen year old. That got to be the best you know.
M
Mark_sullivan1:17:59
right, so I mean, here's the question. how did you getso good to still be doing this thirty years later?
E
Ethan1:18:05
I don't know it. just uh, staying with it. I guessjust not giving up and I guess maybe that a lot of people weinterview that's kind of their. The thing you learn from them toois just to never take no for an answer and just keep trying. Iguess you know, like Chris and I always joke, we'd We've thrown alot of sh*t at the walls and seeing what sticks, I guess is thekey, and uh, hopefully the bomb hole sticks because I thought technwas sticked, but that went for twenty years, but I guess I at leastgot paid well for twenty years, so that's nice, but yeah, it's
M
Mark_sullivan1:18:39
Y.
E
Ethan1:18:39
just throwing sh*t at the wall, seeing what works andand uh, putting your heart into it and staying passionate andenjoyin what you do right.
M
Mark_sullivan1:18:47
yeah, well, it seems like the bomb hole is working outpretty nicely right now. As far as like you have an office, youwork with seven people, and you get to interview all sorts ofinteresting people and hear their stories, so let's that's a win inmy book anyway.
E
Ethan1:19:00
Yeah, it's been awesome. It's fun. The coolest parttoo, is uh, the feedback we get when we have a crazy episode likemaybe Jess, Camerra's, or uh, deseriss. you know, with some realnarly mental health issues and hearing how that helps somebody andmaybe save their life is Uh,
M
Mark_sullivan1:19:20
Mhm.
E
Ethan1:19:21
is crazy. Um, we actually had a I had someone contactme. They uh started watching the bomb hole because a Lizard King ora skateboarder, and uh
M
Mark_sullivan1:19:32
Mhm,
E
Ethan1:19:32
they went. They watched Lizard Kings episode and theywent to the bar and they just left Youtube running and he decidedwhen he got home he was going to kill himself. He had everythingready and he sat back down in his computer and Desere Episode wasplaying. Talking about, Like staying around one more day, and andjust not doing it, and uh home, he stayed around another day and isstill around today and hearing stories like that is amazing. Knowlike that makes it all worth it.
E
Ethan1:20:02
And it's kind of just like just fate that that episodehappened to be on while he sat down again at the end of the night.like four hours later. You know. so
M
Mark_sullivan1:20:11
Yeah, it's like Uh,
E
Ethan1:20:11
that kind of got. Make it worth it.
M
Mark_sullivan1:20:14
words have like a different kind of power than thanimages do. Even though
E
Ethan1:20:18
Yeah,
M
Mark_sullivan1:20:18
a picture is worth a thousand words. hearing someone'spersonal story and hear then be vulnerable. You know in thosemoments is like that, something that really isn't replaced inanother medium. I don't think.
E
Ethan1:20:30
Yeah, exactly. and you can read an interview in amagazine. It just doesn't hit you the same way as hearing theirpassion and their voice and what they're thinking. You know.
M
Mark_sullivan1:20:39
Yp, indeed, indeed, so
E
Ethan1:20:41
Yeah, so yeah, those those things make it all worthit. I think just hearing how it affects people that are watchingand listening to the show.
M
Mark_sullivan1:20:49
okay. So if you could interview anyone for your nextshow, who would it be anyone like Out of the sky? who could youpick out of the sky? Someone you haven't gotten yet?
E
Ethan1:20:57
Uh, I wantnna interview Post Malone, just 'cause he'slike he
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:01
Okay?
E
Ethan1:21:01
lives about a mile from me,
E
Ethan1:21:03
so
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:04
Really?
E
Ethan1:21:03
I've always. I've always joked'd, be sick to meet himat the Seven eleven. See if he wants to come on the podcast. Anduh, have him say yes, and then he and then we do it. But uh,
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:12
how did he end up a mile from you?
E
Ethan1:21:14
I don't know. Do he like lives right in Beorsneighborhood? He just has like a sick house up there, or I do
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:20
Really?
E
Ethan1:21:20
know actually how he ended up there. He. he was, uh,he got like robbed in California and was so fed up with their gunlaws. he wanted to move to Utah, where his whole crew couldactually be armed. And so uh, now they're here and they have gunson their hips and they're not going to get robbed again And he haslike the a sick house, just like a mile away from me.
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:40
Wow? Well, that would be a pretty interestinginterview. I would say, definitely not from the Action Sports WheelHouse, But
E
Ethan1:21:46
Not from the action sports.
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:46
Uh would probably be interesting. nonetheless,
E
Ethan1:21:49
Yeah, but I think I wouldn't uh, not do it.
M
Mark_sullivan1:21:53
Anyone, you wouldn't interview anyone there Like No,No Trump. I don't care what he wants. No Trump, or is there anyonewho would interview?
E
Ethan1:21:59
I, actually, I would love to interview Tru just as seewhat's up with them. You know,
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:05
Yeah, give them a forensic analysis.
E
Ethan1:22:06
I've heard he's a pretty chirming dude, though, maybeyou'd end up liking them after and that would suck.
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:10
You probably would. do you hear all about his cheddarbiscuits?
E
Ethan1:22:14
Yeah,
E
Ethan1:22:15
I think
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:15
You'd have a lot to talk about with that.
E
Ethan1:22:15
he justmingles other people's. He swindles otherpeople's chedtar biscuits. So and it uses
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:20
I, I think he does.
E
Ethan1:22:20
other people's money to make his money.
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:22
I. I think he does. I don't think there's a lot of. Idon't know anyone you
E
Ethan1:22:26
Yeah,
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:26
wouldn't interview. Though,
E
Ethan1:22:28
uh, I don't know, man. I would take that case by caseright,
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:32
Yep.
E
Ethan1:22:33
just because
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:34
interesting. Okay,
E
Ethan1:22:34
you just never know who's got a rat story.
M
Mark_sullivan1:22:37
yeah, okay, so where do you see yourself in like fiveyears? Ten years are going to be doing the bomb hole? Is this likethe new thing? Audio? Is that going to be a audio on video? Is thatthe new thing or are you going to? you know? Keep just in beinginvolved with snowboarding wherever that takes you?
E
Ethan1:22:52
Um, I would say both, hopefully, um,
E
Ethan1:22:56
hopefully they just go hand in hand. you know, I meanmy passions for snowboarding. It's been good to me over theyears,
E
Ethan1:23:03
and uh, I'm definitely really enjoying what we'redoing at the bomb hole, so uh, yeah, hopefully I'm able to maintaina foot in both worlds, you know
M
Mark_sullivan1:23:14
Cool. Well, thank you for the interview, Eth, and Ithink that's a pretty good one. and
E
Ethan1:23:18
Du.
M
Mark_sullivan1:23:19
uh,
M
Mark_sullivan1:23:20
yeah, come me one second here.
