Name: Ray Barbee
Home: Long Beach, CA
Sponsors: Element , Vans, Wesc , Indy and Fender Guitars
What shoes do you skate: been skating halfcabs a lot.
What’s your set up: Element board, Indy trucks , Element wheels and Powell bearings and bushings. My board is 8” wide
What’s been the best trip you’ve ever been on?
Got to go to South Africa one year that was great. Super cool to see. Never thought I would ever get a chance to go there.
What is the best story you’ve ever heard or been told?
Jesus dying on the cross for our sins is my favorite story.
What trick can’t you do that you wish you could?
Nollie heel, switch heel could never figure that one out. Pretty annoying.
What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?
Losing my dad to cancer was pretty tough. Not sure if that was the worst thing but I sure do miss him.
Worst trend in skateboarding right now?
All the shoe brands having a Vans knock off of some sort.
What are some interests/hobbies outside of skating?
Love spending time with my wife and two boys. Playing music and photography.
Last good book you read?
All I read when I get a chance is the Bible and the manuals for a lot of my gear (music and recording.) I'll get a lot of info online; Google's my library, but not too many books or novels .
5 songs that have to be on a mix tape:
J Dilla , Shuggie Ottis , Roy Buchanan , Wes Montgomery , Guided by Voices
Did you ever, you know, gay off with the Bones Brigade?
No sir.
Did you know Jim Thiebaud when he was running that marvelous ponytail of his?
That ponytail ripped; the eighties ripped for that matter.
Are you aware that your part in Ban This is basically pornography for anyone who enjoys steep off tricks?
That was fun we filmed that within a couple days. I'd meet up with Stacey [Peralta] and he would take me to some spots. It was always exciting wondering how he was going to put everything together. I dug Powell Peralta vids growing up. I couldn't believe I was becoming apart of that.
Almost 20 years after that video part, we’re all still wearing flannels. But what changes have you seen and enjoyed in skateboarding?
The biggest change was the industry changing from vert to street. That opened the doors for way more people to get into it. You no longer needed to know the dude that owned the backyard ramp. You could just open up your door and go shred. That was huge.
What did you do today?
Today I worked on a remix for a rerelease of one of my albums for Japan .
Tell us about your band.
For a while I had a bunch of my friends playing with me to recreate live what I recorded at home for my 1st two albums. We would play out a bunch. Lately I’ve been playing with my friends Jared and Jonathan Mattson. They’re ripping musicians. They have a band on their own called The Mattson 2. We did an album together called Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2. We play out under that name. Also I'm apart of The Blacktop Project which is Tommy Guererro, Matt Rodriguez and Chuck Treece. We play from time to time.
Where can kids find your music? Do you have any CDs in the works?
Best place to find my music is on iTunes under my name. Both bands I've mentioned will have an album out early 09.
Did you like the drawering I did of you for WOOOOO! Magazine? (Click link for another great Ray Barbee Interview.) Of you being chased by the skinheads?
Yeah, man, I thought it was pretty funny.
Would you mind retelling that story?
Basically showed up at the wrong spot at the wrong time. I was in Huntington one night at a Guttermouth show but I didn't know Guttermouth was playing. We had heard that my friend Gabe's band, Whiskey Biscuit, was playing. So I get there and the show had gotten broken up. This skater kid saw me and was telling me I better bail. I didn't know what he was talking about until I heard this voice yelling, " What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Compton or something? Arian race! White power! You better run n.........r ." It was a 6’ 4” 250 pound skin head with two dudes on each side of him. I took off and they came after me. It was 10:30 at night and I went running into the neighborhood. After awhile I looked back and saw that I had lost them. At that point I didn't know where I was. I took a moment to catch my breath when all of a sudden I see a truck full of skinheads pointing at me. I freaked it and ran till I saw an opened door on the block. I ran inside terrified. It was a Hispanic community center. They where having a party or something. They didn't speak English but when the skins got to the door they knew what was going on and let the skins know they weren't going to let them come in without a fight. We called the cops and my butt was saved.
Did you think you were going to die?
I definitely thought I was a goner. I'm pretty sure that was the closest I came to death.
Home: Long Beach, CA
Sponsors: Element , Vans, Wesc , Indy and Fender Guitars
What shoes do you skate: been skating halfcabs a lot.
What’s your set up: Element board, Indy trucks , Element wheels and Powell bearings and bushings. My board is 8” wide
What’s been the best trip you’ve ever been on?
Got to go to South Africa one year that was great. Super cool to see. Never thought I would ever get a chance to go there.
What is the best story you’ve ever heard or been told?
Jesus dying on the cross for our sins is my favorite story.
What trick can’t you do that you wish you could?
Nollie heel, switch heel could never figure that one out. Pretty annoying.
What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?
Losing my dad to cancer was pretty tough. Not sure if that was the worst thing but I sure do miss him.
Worst trend in skateboarding right now?
All the shoe brands having a Vans knock off of some sort.
What are some interests/hobbies outside of skating?
Love spending time with my wife and two boys. Playing music and photography.
Last good book you read?
All I read when I get a chance is the Bible and the manuals for a lot of my gear (music and recording.) I'll get a lot of info online; Google's my library, but not too many books or novels .
5 songs that have to be on a mix tape:
J Dilla , Shuggie Ottis , Roy Buchanan , Wes Montgomery , Guided by Voices
Did you ever, you know, gay off with the Bones Brigade?
No sir.
Did you know Jim Thiebaud when he was running that marvelous ponytail of his?
That ponytail ripped; the eighties ripped for that matter.
Are you aware that your part in Ban This is basically pornography for anyone who enjoys steep off tricks?
That was fun we filmed that within a couple days. I'd meet up with Stacey [Peralta] and he would take me to some spots. It was always exciting wondering how he was going to put everything together. I dug Powell Peralta vids growing up. I couldn't believe I was becoming apart of that.
Almost 20 years after that video part, we’re all still wearing flannels. But what changes have you seen and enjoyed in skateboarding?
The biggest change was the industry changing from vert to street. That opened the doors for way more people to get into it. You no longer needed to know the dude that owned the backyard ramp. You could just open up your door and go shred. That was huge.
What did you do today?
Today I worked on a remix for a rerelease of one of my albums for Japan .
Tell us about your band.
For a while I had a bunch of my friends playing with me to recreate live what I recorded at home for my 1st two albums. We would play out a bunch. Lately I’ve been playing with my friends Jared and Jonathan Mattson. They’re ripping musicians. They have a band on their own called The Mattson 2. We did an album together called Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2. We play out under that name. Also I'm apart of The Blacktop Project which is Tommy Guererro, Matt Rodriguez and Chuck Treece. We play from time to time.
Where can kids find your music? Do you have any CDs in the works?
Best place to find my music is on iTunes under my name. Both bands I've mentioned will have an album out early 09.
Did you like the drawering I did of you for WOOOOO! Magazine? (Click link for another great Ray Barbee Interview.) Of you being chased by the skinheads?
Yeah, man, I thought it was pretty funny.
Would you mind retelling that story?
Basically showed up at the wrong spot at the wrong time. I was in Huntington one night at a Guttermouth show but I didn't know Guttermouth was playing. We had heard that my friend Gabe's band, Whiskey Biscuit, was playing. So I get there and the show had gotten broken up. This skater kid saw me and was telling me I better bail. I didn't know what he was talking about until I heard this voice yelling, " What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Compton or something? Arian race! White power! You better run n.........r ." It was a 6’ 4” 250 pound skin head with two dudes on each side of him. I took off and they came after me. It was 10:30 at night and I went running into the neighborhood. After awhile I looked back and saw that I had lost them. At that point I didn't know where I was. I took a moment to catch my breath when all of a sudden I see a truck full of skinheads pointing at me. I freaked it and ran till I saw an opened door on the block. I ran inside terrified. It was a Hispanic community center. They where having a party or something. They didn't speak English but when the skins got to the door they knew what was going on and let the skins know they weren't going to let them come in without a fight. We called the cops and my butt was saved.
Did you think you were going to die?
I definitely thought I was a goner. I'm pretty sure that was the closest I came to death.
