Interview: Shaun White Likes Lube

We recently caught up with Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, skateboarding pioneer, clothing designer, and all-round radical dude Shaun White as he gears up for his latest exploit, the release of the Shaun White Snowboarding videogame, which features a pretty sweet soundtrack. You'll be surprised to know that he's not a great surfer, listens to Brian Eno, and is awfully fond of lube...

B: Where are you now and what are you up to (besides answering these questions)?

SW: I'm actually home right now, it's been nice being able to hang out with my homies, skating a bit, and playing some music. I'm on the road a lot so when I get some time to relax I definitely take advantage. 

 
B: Let’s get straight to the game: what differentiates this game from other snowboarding games?

SW:  It's funny to say, but really this game feels like your really snowboarding. In the end, we wanted people that have never been on snow, or never ridden in the backcountry to get a feel for how much fun it is. Also, since you can get online and ride with your friends, it feels like the real deal.

B: How much input did you give on actual snowboard locations?

SW: When we were deciding what locations to pick, I kept describing my favorite spots to ride. I would tell them about runs that I loved to ride, how steep they were, where the best jumps were at. Finally, we decided to just pick my favorite places to ride because that is what I was telling them about.

B: Do you have a favorite trail in the US? Europe? Anywhere else?

SW: I really like to ride at Park City. The park and pipe there is always good, so whenever I come into town I know that it will be fun. I also like to hit up Japan when I can. The powder riding there is really fun especially when you can go riding in the trees.

B: The game has a really strong soundtrack, including great contemporary bands such as The Ting Tings and MGMT, and classic tunes by Run DMC, Loverboy and Blue Oyster Cult. How involved were you with the selection of music?

SW: The music was really important, it's so easy to just pick songs that are popular just because we know everyone will like them. We wanted to pick bands that might be off the radar. Hopefully, there will be a song or two that someone has never heard of which might get them excited to dig a little bit deeper than the hits that are on the radio.

B: What mountain town has the best music scene?

SW: I think the mountains that are closest to cities always have the best line ups. Whenever I got to Breckenridge in CO there seems to be a great band playing, same with Park City because SLC is so close.

B: If you’re riding with your iPod on, what’s the ideal track to listen to when you’re ripping powder? When you’re in the pipe?

SW: I like to listen to the same stuff no matter where I'm riding. I'm looking at my riding list right now, there is Led Zeppelin, The Who, Clash, NWA, Tribe Called Quest, Iron Maiden, She Wants Revenge, Dr. Dog, really I'm all over the place. I like music that has attitude and a message when I ride, it helps me get into it.

B: What do you listen to right before a competition?

SW: Honestly, I try to not listen to music. I find that I get distracted from what's going on around me. The time before the contest is when I think about what I want to do. Then when I'm competing, I try to blank out and not think of anything. Weird right?

B: What album in your collection would people be surprised to hear you own?

SW: I think people think I'm all rock, but really I'm all over the place. I have a place in my heart for classics, whether it's Al Green, John Lee Hooker, the Ventures, Sergio Mendez, Brian Eno, it doesn't have to be rock and roll for me to like it, I guess I just like music.

B: What was the last show that you went to?

SW: Oh man, I'm going to see the Who on Monday. So excited, I just watched a documentary on them, so it's going to be sick to see them live. I get really into one band at a time. I have to know everything about them, right now it's the Who. I mean, c'mon, Pinball Wizard, how do you even come up with a song like that?

B: You’ve won an innumerable amount of awards and accolades – what’s the elusive title/award that you’ve got your sights set on now?

SW: I don't really set my sights on winning this or that, I just like to have a bigger goal like do better than last year, or try to win the contests that I didn't do so well in before. If I end up training for just one event, then I think I miss out on all the cool and fun stuff that happens in between. This year I just want to do some more contests and do well in them, and hopefully have some fun in there as well.

B: Is there any sport that you are not good at, say badminton, or basketball, but still enjoy playing?

SW: I think out of all the sports I like to do, I'm the worst at surfing. Everyone thinks I would be great because I skate and snowboard, but it's a whole different beast once you’re out there in the water. There is so much more to surfing than just standing up, you have to paddle, then know where the waves break, watch out for other surfers, it's a lot of pressure. Luckily I have a spot where I surf where I can be a kook and no one will make fun of me.

B: Skating has its own argot, with words like Rangasnap, and Heliopop. Are there any particularly colorful terms (say for a butt plant) that you could share with us that we may not have heard before?

SW: What? Heliopop, I don't even know what that is. Is that a new type of digital camera? I think its pretty funny when people think of our sports, that we just talk in some crazy language like we are always shooting a commercial. Really, I just talk like all of my friends, whether they skate, snowboard, wash cars, play wii, or catch jellyfish off the shore of Cambodia.

B: You travel a lot. What do you do to kill time while in transit?

SW: I try to keep myself busy. Lately, I have been playing guitar, it's really fun when you have a four hour layover. Trouble is that it gets addicting, and now I find myself making time to play when I don't have time to play.

B: What would your ideal après-snowboarding party consist of and where would it be?

SW: Are you kidding me, first off, one word, lube! From then on we can do whatever we want wherever we want. We want to stop a door from creaking, done, we got the lube. You say, hey Shaun I have a problem stuffing this tape into my VCR machine, don't worry, I got the lube! I can stuff anything once I got the lube!

B: Final question: you get to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world. Need a butler?

SW: I need a lube specialist, do you know anyone?