Dan Rhoades lives the dream. Well, sort of. Sort of depends on your dream. Although he’s not a wealthy pro skater who makes some suspect art on the side, he is professional artist who skates more than a lot of pro skaters, and makes a good living working for great companies, namely KR3W and Supra.

Story time: I’ve known Dan since we went to UCLA together. I was skating some blocks by my lonesome one day when this tiny kid who looked all of 14, on crutches, sporting an ankle cast, hobbled over to me. (I think he hit puberty shortly afterward.) His eyes were wide, and he blurted something along the lines of, “Hey man, you’re a good skater!” Well, needless to say I got a good feeling about the guy. Although I thought he was just some fake skater freshman kid, when his ankle healed we started meeting up to skate every day and soon became good friends.

You may think it’s an abuse of power to give my friend a cover and an interview, and you may have a point. But you should be so lucky to have such a genuinely nice and supremely talented friend as the big kid I still call by his ironic nickname, Dirty Dan.

When did you start skating?

I started skating at 13 when a shop opened in my neighborhood. I was attracted to the lack of structure—no coaches, scheduled practices, game times; just my friends and I having fun.

What do you think you would’ve become if you’d never picked up a skateboard?

I’d definitely be doing something creative even if I hadn’t started skating. I’ve been interested in art since I could hold a crayon. That isn’t to say that skateboarding hasn’t been a source of creative inspiration for me throughout the years—the graphics, the videos, the music in the videos—not to mention the act of skateboarding itself, if you’ll excuse the “skateboarding as art, not sport” cliché.

Were you really your class president in high school? I still refuse to believe that the most popular kid in a high school is a skater.

Yes, I was class president, as ridiculous as it may sound. I wasn’t really into school politics, but I wanted to get into a reputable college so I gave it a shot and I won. As far as the whole skate/popularity thing, I grew up in Southern California where skating is more accepted than, say, Texas. Most of the popular kids skated until they got cars, girlfriends, and beer. Even after they quit they still rocked big skate shoes, and put skate stickers on their lifted trucks.

You grew up with a pretty tight little crew in Corona, some of whom have gone on to pro skating, others found success in the snowboarding, others are at Supra and Vans. What do you think made you guys the exception to the rule?

We’ve always been genuinely down for skateboarding and snowboarding. Most of us still shred on a regular basis so we’ve stayed connected throughout the years. It also has to do with us looking out for each other and supplying the crucial foot in the door. My homies have definitely hooked me up… Big-ups Josh, Mike, and Brando!

Did you ever consider getting a lifted truck or flame tattoos? Jumping motorcycles in the desert? Frosting your hair?

Skateboarding saved me from that brutal scene. It exposed me to so many great things outside of my hometown and helped me avoid the bro virus.

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