Thrasher’s Ted Schmitz sat down with Bart Jones to chat about the “Diesel Degenerates” video, how he’s fit in with the skate community over the years, and all the behind the scenes deets about the film. Bart’s been in the biz for a pretty long time, but usually in the background. Today, he gets his spotlight and he really opens up about his work and how he navigates the skate world. In the film, the perfect storm of Phat House, Wolftrap Road, and Diesel Degenerates results in a huge energy skate crew, which you can watch right here.
BART JONES IS ONE OF SKATEBOARDING’S TRUE CHARACTERS. He’s been in the game for over a decade, where he’s earned a reputation as both the life of the party and a frenetic road warrior. Last summer he hit the cross-country beat with a ragtag crew of rippers from the East Coast like the coal-rollin’ handrail destroyer Ed Duff and the double-threat singer/skater Reese Salken of Wolftrap Road. We hopped on the line with the veteran photographer for a hilarious recap of their high-impact rip through the heartland and more wild times from his years behind the lens.
So let’s get up to speed, dude. What was the idea behind the three-way blend of Phat House, Wolftrap Road and Diesel Degenerates?
I think that everybody who was on that trip kinda saw it as their thing. When a big company puts a trip together, that’s like building something with its own infrastructure. This trip was more like those dudes building a blanket fort. Ed’s into all his truck stuff, so he’s like, Diesel Degenerates, then all the Pennsylvania kids are all Phat House. And finally Reese thought he was gonna go on tour, so he’s like, Wolftrap Road Tour. So then we’re like, Okay, I guess we’re just doing all of those. But before that, some of them were just planning on going on a cross-country summer fun trip. After a little planning, I think they realized, ‘cause of COVID, all we could really do is skate. And all I had been doing was hanging out with my girlfriend and watching CNN, so it was my first time going back out.