Billy Gallagher Interview

Backside Smithgrind. Saskatoon, SK

Billy Gallagher Interview

The first time I met Billy Gallagher, I had a little camcorder and was filming for the still to be released Ghetto Video, and he let me film him doing some crazy line at the skatepark that I still can’t do seven years later. Since then we had so many crazy memories ranging from Freedom Fest to photo shoots and everything in between. Aside from being an amazingly talented skateboarder, one of the best I’ve ever known growing up, he’s genuinely one of the raddest dudes you’ll ever meet. Appropriately, this is one MSN interview that took three days to do, because, for anyone that knows Billy, that’s how things just are with him, and for those who don’t, you’re about to find out.


Backside 5-0 inside the U of S. Saskatoon, SK

So, Billy, what is the best thing about skateboarding in Saskatoon?
Hmm...For real, it's just all the down ass Saskatonians, wouldn’t have it any other way. Unfortunately I seem to be missing my favorite of all Saskatonian homies, Mr. Owen Woytowich.
Ah, thanks buddy. I miss you too. What did you get up to this summer without me?
Fuck dude, not enough.... Ha-ha. Well I did manage to get a girl pregnant... Geeze O, all your fault mayne… if you would have been there in my corner telling me to pull out, this never would have happened.


Backside Nosegrind. Saskatoon, SK

So you're gonna be a dad. (EDIT - BILLY IS NOW THE PROUD FATHER OF A BABY BOY, LUKA GALLAGHER) Does that mean you took a girl to the zoo and she befriended a stork?
Yah it was something like that, except the stork was attached to my waist. Hahahaha.
What's going on in the skateboard world with Billy? Are you seeing each other?
We are definitely going steady. But this home wreckin’ hussy (snow) is causing some serious drama. Seriously though, fuck the snow. We may have a little in the middle of nowhere park to skate this winter, so it may work out.


Stormy Portrait at Waskesiu, SK

OK, so, how long have you been skateboarding for?
9 years and counting...
Did you skate a lot this summer?
Yeah, I skated as the weather permitted, a lot of it being park cause the spots in Saskatoon are getting somewhat played… took a couple trips to Vancouver to ease my pain.


Backside Smithgrind. Saskatoon, SK

Nice, who'd you skate with?
I skate with anyone who will have me I guess...where do I even begin, to name a few, Scott Demerai, Craig Benner, Trent Young, Jason Gordon, Dan Watson, Kevin Lowry when he's in town...the list goes on. And of course, Owen Woytowich when he's leaves his flashy life in the big city to come visit us prairie folk.


Switch Backside 180. Saskatoon, SK

Ha-ha ya right. Ghetto life more like it. What was the highlight of the summer?
There where a few highlights this summer...Vancouver was a jolly good time. Went out there for a wedding in Pemberton for the weekend, ended up skipping the wedding, and staying in Vancouver for eight days. Skated all day, and went out on the town all night with my two little homies from Montreal, Michelle et Vivianne. The French accent is lost in text. But if I’m gonna remember anything about this summer, it'll be finding out that I’m going to be a dad. It's a pretty crazy feeling.


Backside Lipslide. Edmonton, AB

When do we see Billy Gallagher Jr?
BGJ?? That shit'll be droppin soon...Dec 4th, be on the lookout.
Tell me about the brass monkeys.
Hahahaha you mean, tell everyone else out there about the brass monkeys, I’m absolutely positive you know about the brass monkeys. OK, a brass monkey is probably the best thing ever. Remember back in the day when you would scrounge together enough change to buy yourself a 40 of Big Bear?? No? Well I do. Now, what you do with that, is you pound that shit until you've drank it down to the gold strip on the label, you then fill the rest up with orange jus...it's the poor man's chardonnay, I kid you not. It's beautiful. Pure bliss for under 6 bucks. Fuckin bingo!


Frontside Flip. Saskatoon, SK

So who's the dumbest person you've ever encountered?
The dumbest person...man where the fuck do I begin...shit man I’m having trouble with this...who have met that's really stupid that I can actually talk about and not get in shit??

Darby

Darby? Who the heck is Darby?
Hahahaha fuckin’ kid at the skatepark...


Kickflip Backside Noseblunt. Edmonton, AB

Why? What's his deal?
His deal? He's a terd, that's his deal. Never shuts up. I don’t know man, I got nothing for that one, I was gonna use Bram but he would read it and be offended.


Frontside Crooks, Pop Out. Saskatoon, SK

Ha-ha. So, what's the deal with you and losing...well, everything?
Ha-ha yah, those who know me, know I lose everything I've ever owned, as a matter of fact I've got a funny story that is affecting me right now...I have been working out of town from Monday to Friday every week for the past couple months, so this Monday morn, because I noticed my bank card was missing, I went to my bank to get another one, wasn’t a problem, the lady up'd it right away, so literally turned around, walked maybe three steps, put it in the ATM, to see if it worked and then walked the fuck away....now I’m in prince Albert with no bank card, thus, no money. Plus I may or may not have lost my truck, lost numerous sets of keys, including my friend Scott's keys, which I lost somewhere from his front door to my car. I could go on forever, name it and I've lost, I guarantee it.


360 Flip. Saskatoon, SK

Pretty sure I've misplaced my dignity somewhere along the line as well…


Backside 5-0. Saskatoon, SK

Wholly crap dude…
Dude any other awesome things I've lost that you can think of??
Too many things. Oh buddy, I can only fear for that child of yours when you take it out in public somewhere...
Ha-ha I have that same fear actually, no joke…


Kickflip Frontside Boardslide. Saskatoon, SK

Tell me about being seventeen and raped. What happened?
Hahahaha oh fuck, never thought you'd bring this up...I’ll try to make it short. I was 17, and I was drunk as fuck!! A lady between the ages of 35 and 40, figured it would be fun to take me out, get me a 24 of beer, and bring me back to her place, being as completely wrecked as I was, I was all over it. Basically what happened after that is I woke up...naked...in a strange bed, with a much older strange naked lady. You would think the story would end here, but nope...the best part is coming. So in the morning, after I may or may not have helped myself to some money, she drove me home, to my mom's house non the less, and as I was getting out of the car, I turned to her and said "thanks for the ride, and she replied "no, thank YOU for the ride." Now, I would be stoked if that happened again, but I wasn’t really sure what to think then...was I just raped?? Awesome.
I'd sue buddy. That's insanity man.
It’s funny cause it’s true.


Somebody had it right. Indy Grab. Saskatoon, SK

So, any whopping contests lately?
Actually yes. We just had the Welcome to Winter contest in Regina...Always a good time. On our way out of the city, I decided to pig out, so we went to McDonald's and I got a double Big Mac meal, and two double cheeseburgers...needless to say, I was puking all day literally. So I was nominated as one of the judges. It was a fun time, the results...Cory Lakeman – 1^st , Devin Morrison – 2^nd, and Taylor Senft - 3^rd . There were a couple other contests this summer too, like the Lord of Lines contest, which I won somehow. Ha-ha, but it was a really fun contest.


Chilling With Danny Fernandez in Regina, SK

Tell me a Regina story.
Our trip in the van was funny. When you and me decided on a whim to take the good ole’ fuck man I cant think of the name of your van...
Aerostar
…Anyways we are driving along and the heat isn't working, so you assure me that after a while it will kick in....needless to say it did not kick in....I froze my toes off, and somehow was expected to skate the park afterwards. Never been so cold in a car before in my life.


Backside Nosegrind, Nollie Flip. Radisson, SK

What's the deal with Prince Albert?
It blows nuts. But that is where I am right now, working. I got some down ass kids here, but there is nothing to do. Be sure to bring lots of porn and corn nuts if you’re coming here. Also it's your former home, why don’t you tell me something about it?
Me? I can tell you that almost everyone has this in common from living there: The casino, Boston Pizza, no job, no teeth, no hygiene, no literacy skills, no future, no whites allowed. Think that covers it, no?
Hahahaha you pretty much pegged it!! And who couldn’t love that? Ha-ha Oh P.A., how I love thee.
Now, what's a typical Friday night consist of for Billy?
Well it used to consist of six hours of free booze at the hose, but that's all over now. Now I'll skate till I kill myself, or just run myself out of breath, then off to the forty store. The details very from week to week. Ahhhh this just reminded me of something else I've lost in the past...just happened to be on a Friday night.


Pop Shov. Saskatoon, SK

What’d you lose now?
We have this thing we like to call the bike crawl. Basically everyone brings their bikes and goes from pub to pub, basically, getting drunk. So this particular year, I was the only one without a bike, so I was getting doubled. We get stopped by bike cops who tell us that it's illegal to double on a bike and that I was gonna have to walk. So naturally I’m fuckin’ bummed, and, than we run into some rancid lookin’ nate and I offer to buy his bike for 10 dollars. He looks at me funny and says "No", and then not three seconds later, as we’re walking away, he says, "wait, ...10 dollars? Sold!" so now I've got a bike and the night continues...we went to numerous bars that night, so I was less than sober. On my ride back home, I figured it was only logical to stop at Sev and grab some taquito's. So I grab my taquito's, and I guess they were so delicious that I forgot that I rode my newly purchased bike there. I walked home. Bought a bike and lost it, all in the same day.


Nollie Shov. Radisson, SK

Ha-ha OK, why do you love skateboarding?
Cause it will always be here...no matter what. Cheesy, I know, but we all know it's true. If I'm ever in a shitty mood, I just pick up my board and forget about it all. There's nothing like it. Anyone who skates should know what I’m talking about.
What would you be doing if you weren't on a skateboard?
Probably growing my sweet hair out, and talking to all my douchy friends about how rad of a wakeboard sesh I had the other day. Just a thought.


5-0, Fakie. Radisson, SK

Ha-ha. Does that mean you're into Wakestock?
Totally into Wakestock bro. Bro, it's totally saaweet man. Point is, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as rad, of that I’m sure.


Nosegrind. Saskatoon, SK

What happened with Jetski at your farm?
Ha-ha OK so a group of guys come down to Saskatoon for a skate trip, about seven of them or so...It's Jetski’s birthday so I decide they can all stay at my farm and, well, have a fire and get drunk. I think Jet was turning like 24 or some shit, so he decided it would only be proper to beer bong all 24 of them that night… I think he got to 20. I’m talking with Mike and we hear a loud crash, I look over and start laughing so hard I was crying. Jetski had fallen into a four foot tall barrel that we had been burning a dead fox in that my dog killed the day before. All I could see was two feet and two arms sticking out of the burning barrel. I still don’t know how he managed to get his whole body jammed in there. Regardless, after I finished laughing, we all realized that it was still burning and he was mumbling for us to get him out, so we jumped up and tipped the can over. Fuckin’ jet got 2nd degree burns on his back, and one, awesomely enough, was shaped like the head of the dead fox that was burning inside. Pretty fuckin’ rad scar if you ask me.


Jetski, still going strong the next morning. Saskatoon, SK

I don’t know how that guy is still alive. Seriously, anyways, what do you have planned for this winter?
Just work and skate. We are currently building a little private skate park about 20 minutes out of town. It's looking so good and it's gonna be so much fun when it's done!! That and I’m gonna be looking after the little one. Somewhere in all that madness I plan on taking a trip east to Toronto, I do believe.


Nollie Half-Cab. Saskatoon, SK

Gimme the curtains.
Well I guess I should end it with thanks. Thanks pretty well to everyone who has helped me along the way. Circa for the shoes, United for all the gear, RAW skateboards for the boards, when they were still up and running, and to Vestal who gave me a couple watches. Oh yah, thanks to that kid in my elementary school who let me use his board, until I could convince my parents to buy me one…I owe you homie! Most of all thanks to all my friends. Thanks to you Owen, for pushing me to get photo's when I wanted to lay my sorry ass on the couch and watch TV!! Billy...out!

Noseblunt. Saskatoon, SK