Storm Fog

Photo: Dave Rollans

Interview by - Wes Allen

Forward by- Travis Knight

Storm is one of the kindest and most unique souls we have ever encountered. Although soft spoken, his smile is loud and contagious, establishing him as a staple on any session. Storm can party with the wolves deep into the night, but work with the adults come next morning. When we think well-balanced individual, we think Storm Fog. It is rare to find such a wild spirit that you can trust with such grave responsibilities. So, here's to a solid individual, a relic of downtown Santa Rosa skateboarding, and one of the purest souls that our many roads have crossed. One thing is for sure: when we grow up, we want to be just like our good friend Storm Fogg. -TK

Wes: Alright dawg I’m just gonna start sending you Q’s then I’ll try and edit it into some kinda coherent interview.
Storm: Sounds good.
Wes: You watching skate videos on the regular? What do you like to watch?
Storm: Yeah, I’m watching videos almost as frequently as I did when I was a teenager. I just figured out how to stream apps from my phone to the smart tv so I’ve been revisiting all the local videos I can find online and everything on Quartersnacks, Live Skateboard Media, and anything else I can dig up.
Wes: Yeah it feels like a lot to sift through sometimes but there’s so much good stuff coming out all the time. Phone to smart tv is a life hack. What’s the current routine? You’re mostly linking with James and getting technical at courthouse square?
Storm: Yeah! I hit him up whenever I’m not too toasted from work. We get out at least once a week.
Wes: Hell yeah, and you’re skating ledges mostly? I remember 3-4 years ago you told me you were gonna focus on getting tech and I’ve seen you get quite activated since then.
Storm: Thanks! Yeah, mostly ledges these days. Almost every fun spot has been demolished in Santa Rosa but there’s still a good amount of ledges and a lot that never really got skated too heavily.
Storm Fog

Switch Crook - Santa Rosa, Ca | Photo: Jay Masonek

Wes: Yeah you guys kinda unlocked the taller ones at Santa Rosa High.
I remember first meeting you when you were like 15-16 and you had a giant tee and could switch crooked grind the big ledge at Freemont and also do a bunch of airs and stuff. You started skating when you were real little.
Storm: Haha yeah I was guilty of the big double-layered tees! I was really active when I was young. I played a lot of sports and ended up loving roller hockey, and wanted to rip on my skates off the rink so I tried to do in-line blading on hockey skates. My dad wanted to get back into skating so we started going to Healdsburg Park when it first opened, and I got a skateboard and would bring both, then ended up hanging up the blades and sports and started officially skating when I was 8.
Wes: Ha! Honestly, that was a sick era for tees! 8 is a good age to start, must have been rad learning to skate with your dad. Was he doing Scary Kid around that time?
Storm: My dad got involved a few years later after it had been around. Brian Henderson and a few others started it in 2001 or 2002 I think, then my dad became a silent partner of some sort. I think he just helped pay to get more boards made and smog a big funny school bus that ended up collecting cobwebs in the driveway.
Wes: Ahhh the silent partner. I remember thinking it was a big deal as a kid but it was probably a pretty small operation. So you were around a bunch of rad skaters very young…the people I think of as like, the second wave of Santa Rosa OG skaters. That’s dope.
Storm: I was petrified around Lionel (Rocha) and Kevin (McGowan) and them, they were so good! I could hardly get myself to talk around those guys. Joe Hyland would come on short trips with us and he’s the one that sorta got me out of my shell. I had a Walkman and some New York Dolls CDs (haha) so we talked about music and I started getting less shy. I pissed my pants on the bus once because I didn’t want to ask to stop, and never told anyone.
Wes: Yeah I can see Joe vibing with a young buck making them feel more comfortable. Pissing the pants is brutal... haha.
Storm: Might be my most hesh trick to date.

"I pissed my pants on the bus once because I didn’t want to ask to stop"

Storm Fog

Santa Rosa, Ca (circa 2002)

Wes: I feel like a lot of talented skateboarders that started young get a little burnt on it around the time high school ends. Am I remembering wrong or did you put skating on the back burner for a bit? Just into other stuff?
Storm: Yeah I went on an unintentional hiatus after we all filmed for “Mozart”. I was getting a board a month from Santa Rosa Ski And Sports, then some people broke in and stole hella shit, so they couldn’t give anyone boards anymore and I just skated a busted set up for super long when I did skate. I ended up moving to Humboldt County with my former partner. My car broke down and I had to walk home from work. I popped into a pawn shop and found a complete for 20 bucks and bought it to skate home, then realized the park was super close to my house. I didn’t have any friends up there or much to do in my free time, so I started skating again pretty regularly and caught the bug all over again.,
Wes: I remember running into you in Santa Rosa around that time and the board was super wild. Like fully chipped up tail and nose, wheels different sizes and everything. But yeah I feel like you came back and went on a crazy tear. Had the ‘scene’ in Santa Rosa sort of changed when you came back? You started filming with Chris (Miglio) a lot once you started getting activated again?
Storm: Yeah I hadn’t thought about filming a part until I filmed my first clip back with Chris. We filmed a no comply at UPT (the parking lot under the freeway in Railroad Square) on the bump-to-sidewalk, and I got lucky and did it first try. He told me the last thing on the tape was something Tony Manfre landed, so I got super excited to try to get a couple more tricks or be in some montage with Tony. As far as the change in the scene goes, I’m not sure besides some new faces. Cramming into a car to go to a schoolyard to film something that had most likely been done never seemed that fun. Skating with you and Trevor (Murphy) and everyone downtown was always my favorite way to skate.
Wes: Oh yeah threading the needle through the cars! Could definitely see Manfre clips being motivating.
So the next couple of years were pretty productive skating and filming with Chris and he was in the middle of finishing up his video and then what happened?
Storm: Oof, the heinous Tubbs Fire of 2017 burnt Chris and Christa’s house down. Thankfully they got out of there with their cats.
Wes: Yeah super devastating on a lot of levels. Pretty wild to work on a video for 3 plus years then have the hard drive burn up. I think Chris mentioned you’ve been going out a bit lately? He might have a little project in the works?
Storm: Yeah we’ve been getting out when we can, I want to peer pressure him into letting me smash the red button for him and do a little shared part or something.
Wes: Oh hell yeah we need an icy switch Varial heelflip in a line.
Storm Fog

Switch Bigspin - Benton St. Bump - Santa Rosa, Ca

Wes: What’s more fulfilling, the spot liberation grind or maintaining a banging garden?
Storm: Damn that’s a tough one. The garden is far more peaceful, might have to go with the garden.
Wes: Kinda the yin and yang of life right there.
Storm: Yeah that dude Bob Lasalle seems to have figured it out with the little obstacles in his garden.

Wes: Alright top 3 beverages in no particular order?
Storm: Pacifico, lemon Topo Chico, ice cold water.
Wes: Hell yeah, top 3 Santa Rosa skateboarders?
Storm: Charlie watts, Jon Miner, Brian Gaberman.
Wes: Solid list. Any shoutouts?
Storm: James Williamson, all of Larkfield, and everyone that skates downtown Santa Rosa.
Wes: Anything else we should touch on?
Storm: I think you nailed it, anything juicier might get me canned.

Video by Drew Cercley 
Wes Allen
About Wes Allen - "Wes is a skateboarder from the Bay Area who dabbles in writing, art projects, and creating products when he's not busy with his day job selling clothing. He lives in Berkeley with his girlfriend and their dog. Check him out on Twitter for skateboarding takes and shoe content. "