This interview was conducted on November 30th, in the year 2000. As a Crail Staffer I would like to thanks Rick for his open and honest comments during this discussion. Great skateboarder. Even greater person. Enjoy. Larson:> Alright Rick, since this is for Crailtap we're going to give the kids what they want. No bullshite, just pure information from the source. So whats up with the NSYNCBACKSTREETBRITNEY phenom?...I'm ready to poop over this thing....Oh sorry, I forgot about what I just said about no crap...Anyway....So, you just got back from a little promo tour for the new ES vid,correct?..How did it go, where, etc..? What do you think about the video? McCrank:> That was pretty fun. First I went to the LA premiere. It was cool to see the video on a big screen. Then we went to the Philly premiere. I went with Eric Rodrigo and a bunch of dudes that work at Sole Tech. We skated Philly and the FDR park. RAGIN SESH BRO! After that we drove to NY. NY is amazing. TX and I hooked up with some dudes and went skating until 1am; soooo many rad spots. What can I say about the video? Fred did an amazing job.It's rad when one dude films a whole video. It makes it clean and consistent. Everybody had sick parts.It was fun to travel all over the world with those dudes and skate. Larson:> That has to be the best thing about achieving pro status as a skateboarder. Travelling to new spots, doing nothing but skating and especially with people you like to hang out with anyway. Do you push yourself more when you're with guys like TX , and when you're at new spots, or is it more when you're at home or wherever, just skating on your own? I just watched some of the video and TX kind of reminds me of an early version ofyou...you guys both have prehensile toes or something. McCrank:> Travelling is probably the best and the worst part of being pro. I guess I really like to be at home. My daughter is here and my friends. Also, it's a hassle going through the US border because I dont have a work visa. Skating with those guy's definitely pushes me. I mean how could it not. When I'm at home I usually skate the parks. Its so fun and it helps me learn new tricks. I can't really skate downtown anymore because everything is capped, so I skate the parks and find a new spot and take a trick to it. I dont think that TX reminds me of me, because when I was 16 I was struggling. That dude is seriously amazing, not only as a skater but as a person. He reminds me of Tony Hawk on street. Larson:> It's hard for me to imagine you ever struggling at skating...Even when I first met you in like 96, you seemed to have this freaky ability...Frankly, people like you scare me dude...All jokes aside though, obviously your life perspective has changed drastically since you've become a dad. How has it changed your approach to your job?...I guess I'm referring to focus, determination, commitment and all that...I could imagine that having a kid may make you try even harder...But like you said, your job takes you away from home, so there's that whole thing. McCrank:> When I first heard I was gonna be a dad I was an am on Plan-B, and on that day I decided I have to get my shit together and do this right. So I guess I focused more and I pushed myself. I looked at my weaknesses, not only in skating, and I worked on them. I still have a lot to work on but I'm trying. Sometimes when I go away I get bummed and I start to miss my daughter so that kind of effects my skating. Either I'm pissed and I don't give a fuck or I'm sad and I don't feel like skating. Larson:> Speaking of things that are not necessarily associated with just skating, where do you find inspiration in other aspects of your life. It's easy to assume that you just skate and thats what you do, but are you involved or interested in anything else with the same passion? And do those thingsever enter into your profession or push it forward. For instance: Stand up comedy?....Ancient fighting techniques?...Because you are kind of a humorous, sly, sniper like, Ninja star throwing, ferret soldier in some senses... McCrank:> I find inspiratrion in a lot of things, like art. Not necessarily my own art but other stuff. It sounds kinda corny but the Girl art department stokes me! I'm so happy that I can be involved with you dudes. I think being here in Vancouver inspires me. I love being in the mountains and nature. I dont just skate. Lately I haven't been skating much at all because I've been injured. ANKLES!!!!!!! Larson:> Frankly, I'm stoked to be in the art dept and associated with these guys too...It's so wierd to think I get paid to create stuff, and ultimately it's because of the huge efforts and influence that Rick Howard, Carroll, Koston and others have had on our sport...Lets face it, if those guys, and guys like you aren't out there hucking yourself off of shit, I don't have a job. What have you learned from being around these "older" guys like Rick and Mike?..Do you think you'll continue in the skate industry once your pro days are over? Could you imagine yourself being the ruler of an empire like Girl Skateboards someday? And on that tip, what are your thoughts on the huge companies like Nike etc..getting involved in skating?..Good?..Bad? McCrank:> I own Momentum wheel company right now. I'm not exactly business savvy. I let other people take care of that. As for the future I haven't got a clue. I don't think I'll ever own an empire. I'd like to own one and have nothing to do with it, and just collect the dough. We can dream can't we? As far as the Nike thing, its lame. Straight up lame, because they never hucked themslves off shit and they never will.Sometimes I feel like a bigot. Like us versus them. I dont want to be a bigot. Go get yours Nike!! They can't capture what we are anyway. Larson:> Holler at me! I tend to agree with you on that actually...It's hard to imagine office heads up at Nike actually giving a shit about any of this...I just received the 20th anniversary issue of Thrasher and it just hit me heavy...It felt good to see..Like some kind of victory....Nostalgic too....I'm sure you've told other people in interviews this, but I don't care: Who were your skate idols coming up? Do you remember your first published photo? Covers?....Skate trip?... McCrank:> I didn't really have any skate idols when I was young. For years and years I didnt know anything about skateboarding. I just did it. My friends would tell me the names of tricks and show me new ones and stuff. I guess the first time I sort of idolized a skater was when I saw the Questionable(Plan B) video. I saw a few videos before that, like the Powell Peralta vids and stuff but they never affected me the way that video did. So then I met Colin McKay and he got me on Plan B, and it was like a dream come true. My first published photos were in this Canadian mag called Concrete Powder. It's a free skate/snow mag. My friends would send in photos and they would run them sometimes. If it wasn't for Concrete Powder a lot of Canadian dudes wouldn't have come up in da game. I got my first cover in that mag. My first skate trips were to cali with the company I rode for, called Cherry Bombs. The girl that owned it would take us down to SF. That was fun.I met a lot of cool people. That's what is so amazing about skating. You get to go all over the world and meet all of these amazing people and its all because of skating. Skaters are truly free. Larson:> Everyday I see piles of e-mails that kids send here to Girl, and you get way more than anyone...Do you feel famous and stuff?...Like when kids in Europe or something come up to you and go " Rick you're the best ", do you just frickin trip out? McCrank:> I don't feel famous at all. I guess skater dudes know who I am. I do sort of trip out. Sometimes I can't handle people looking at me. I really appreciate all of those e-mails. I read every single one. I think its rad that people are stoked. I guess it makes me feel good about myself. Larson:> Word. This last question has not been answered by Rick yet, but I'm going to keep bugging him until he does. It is all for the reading enjoyment of dedicated Crailtappers everywhere. Alright, we'll finish this off like this...Short questions, answer how you will... By the way,I want to thank you for this discussion etc....It's always cool to see someone who've you've known for awhile achieve different levels of success, and it's been enjoyable watching you put the shit on lock and throw down consistently. Good luck with everything and visit the Empire soon... 1. What happened to Nicholas Cage?..He used to be awesome and now he's wierd. McCrank:> Nick is gonna come back strong. He's just testing new waters. Birdy is one of my all time favorite movies. 2. Are you in awe , like I am, of the millions of different shapes that poop comes in, right from the same butt.? McCrank:> My poops are usually the same shapes all the time. Maybe it's because I'm a vegetarian. A few years ago for three months I had clean poos. No wipe needed. Just one safety wipe. 3. Would you ever let your daughter hang out with: a. Elissa Steamer? b. Tony Hawks kids? c. Jim Carrey? d. Sean Sheffey? McCrank:> I would, and have let my daughter hang out with those people. I think anyone could have something good for her to learn. 4. Will you ever try to master Razor boarding? McCrank:> I will never master the razor board due to my bad hand coordination 5. Does Canada have any wierd animals I may not know about? Like Gas Pigeons, or Wolf Mice?..You can even make em up and I'll totally believe you. McCrank:> The only animal I can think of is the beavermoose of Tuktuyuk Tuk. They like pretzels.
>ahhh!!! wolf mice!! I wanna go home!!!