Author: bythelevel

In a world where taking the 'abnormal' approach has become the norm, and 'cutty spots' are no longer cutting edge, it takes a lot to stand out for your personal quirks, particularly without straying into the territory of questionable taste. Jordan Sanchez is a skateboarder that regularly sets forums alight with the rare combination of quirky-ness and genuine technical prowess seen throughout his career. Each new part gets stranger and stranger, but remains strong, and there’s no sacrifice of skill for the sake of spot selection. Though sometimes his chosen spots are literally rubbish, Jordan always manages to blow minds. He often leaves his audience pondering their own blinkered view on the potential hiding in their local backstreets and gritty retail parks.

In the not-too-distant past Jordan made the switch from BLVD to Welcome, who almost instantly slapped his name on a board. He responded with a classically cloudy new part for their first full-length video, Fetish, that was released in January this year. Jordan speaks to us about the video, Vic's Market and what's in store for both Welcome and the Snohomishian himself.

You lot certainly came through for Fetish! I’ve already rinsed it. Was that your first part as a professional skateboarder?

Yes, technically this was my first part since turning pro. I didn't really realize that.

You were granted professional status a little later than your average ‘career-driven’ skateboarder, which seems unusual considering your fairly regular output of overcast footage.. Was it something you were gunning for, or were you simply happy to be offered? 

I wouldn't say I was gunning for it, but I definitely have been trying to keep the momentum going for years and years. Jason and I had been talking about the pro possibility when I first got on, and everything kinda came together a year later. It was natural. I am very grateful to have a board with my name on it that can hopefully inspire my kids to follow their dreams.

Picking a favourite part in Fetish must be tough? Instead, I’d like to know which are your favourite three tricks of the whole video?

Dang, three tricks? Well, Ryan Lay’s Switch Backside flip the hard way over that rail, Townley’s Five-O backside 180 then Fake flip line, & Aaron’s whole part.

Did you spend any time in front of Matt Blevins' lens filming for Fetish, or was all of your footage locally sourced?

No, unfortunately I wasn’t able to film with Matt, but he’s a great filmer and did an excellent job with FETISH. My footage was all filmed up in my area by my friends Jake Menne, Josh Jones, Shane Auckland & Carl Depaolo.

Richie Valdez, the new TM, has talked about doing a North West trip of some sorts. Seattle is a great place to visit in the summer so we’ll see. It would be rad.

[Laughs].. I don’t know Vic personally, but Vic’s Market is a little market in my hometown Snohomish. We would go there a lot as kids out skating and it was just the spot, you know? Flash forward to 2009, when YouTube was just starting to pop off, I was trying to think of a user name and just put ‘VicsMarket’, to pay a little homage or something, I don’t know. Anyway, the name stuck and as we put more and more little vids on there, got a little following, people were stoked and we just kinda became the Vic’s Market crew. The name kinda makes sense ‘cuz were just a bunch of small town underground guys skating outside of a corporate skateboard industry, similar to the little mom and pop stores like Vic’s, in comparison to say WalMart or something.

Is there a VM 3 on the horizon?

Not likely, but we plan on making little shorts here and there. We all haven’t skated together in quite some time, but we will reunite eventually and pick up where we left off.

You’re not too far from Seattle right? What drives you to skate the unusual ‘non-spots’ local to you, rather than driving 30 miles or so to film on the chunks of marble dotted around the city?

I just skate what’s around me. I skate what I see driving around to and from places, as I take back alleys most of the time. Also, I don’t have much time to skate nowadays. When I can skate, I wanna skate for as long as I can, so I never end up driving far. I don’t set out to skate weird non-spots necessarily, it’s just kind of turned into that, and it’s kept me entertained! I do believe anything can be a skate spot, with the right mind set and skill set, you know? I just like Everett, its always mellow and you never have to deal with traffic or parking or any bullshit really.

Kevin Furtado, who started State, hit up Ryan Lay to be a part of it, but Ryan was already working out something with Etnies so he gave him my info and he got in touch with me. Flew down to SF to hang out with the rest of the guys and I was down. It’s been fun being a part of something new and seeing it get better and better.

Can we look forward to any new projects from you and the State crew in the near future?

Yeah State's "Free" video came out a few months ago now, but we're working on new stuff. I think Kevin's plan is to put out another short film in the Fall/Winter, with the bulk of the footage coming from a Europe trip at the end of summer.

On top of all that are you still working a full time job? I’m not too sure where I heard that you were, might just be a rumour?

I do work full time. I work for the government. The pay and benefits are solid, and I have a family to support, you know?

Yes, the saga continues. I know Richie has mentioned that Welcome will be doing some shorter bi-annual releases in the near future. I like the shorter, sweeter stuff, so it should be fun.

I hope so, those dudes rip!

It’d be interesting to see how you, and your fellow Welcome-ers would take to the gritty streets of the UK, reckon that might be a possibility in the future?

I’ve always loved the skateboarding that has come from the UK, it’s very relatable and inspiring. I never get tired of seeing it and I have been watching skate videos for 20+ years, as opposed to say, Southern California footage. I’ve seen enough of that.

Interview: Conor Charleson

Photos courtesy of Garric Ray and Andy Froberg