Words by Robin Pailler | Photography by Alex Papke
It’s crazy to think Curren Caples hasn’t even turned thirty yet. Having become a household name in the skateboarding world at just thirteen years old, with the release of Flip Skateboards’ Extremely Sorry (2009), Curren’s spent the past decade forging his own path. From child prodigy to a pro skateboarder in his own right, cultivated with the release of his first signature shoe with Vans. We sat down for an in-depth chat. From earliest memories on a board, to the current scene in Ventura. The trials and tribulations of living in LA, to the pressure of completing a video part before the deadline.
What’s your earliest memory of skateboarding?
I was probably four years old, and I just saw somebody skating down the street. I had never seen skateboarding before – it was trippy. First time seeing anyone ride a board, and I fully didn’t know what it was. I had to run inside and explain to my mom what I saw, and she’s like, “Oh yeah, it’s a skateboard.” I was just kinda hooked from then. Made them get me a board. It was a Target setup, and I rode that for a while – at least for the first year of skating. It was in Oxnard Shores. Long time ago, but I still remember it pretty vividly.
Did you know right away that was what you wanted to do forever? Was it that quick?
Yeah, it was pretty immediate. Any time that I was outside, I just wanted to skate. I was just barefoot, doing it, and I skated like that for the first two years, just barefoot.
When did surfing first come on your radar?
I think I maybe stood up on a surfboard before I started skating, just because my dad was a surfer, and I remember going to the beach really young. We were at the Ventura River mouth, inside the river mouth, and there were little waves coming down. I think I was just standing on a board, and my dad was pushing me, and I was just going down the line on it. But I never really had any sort of interest in it until later on.
I didn’t hate surfing – I hated just going all the way out surfing. I would only go where I could stand, and it was like that until I was probably twelve. I remember getting a nice wetsuit for Christmas, and then I went and surfed Rincon, which was my first time actually properly going out the back and surfing an entire session. I already knew how to surf, but I just never paddled out the back. I don’t know why – I was just terrified that I couldn’t touch the ground. I just wouldn’t care to go out. And also, I never really cared to learn how to duck dive, so I just would avoid paddling out the back.
I surfed like that for years because my dad had a surf camp, and I would hang out there all the time. But on random days when it was super small, I would paddle all the way out because it was pretty nonthreatening. But it wasn’t until I was around thirteen that I got really hooked on it, and started properly surfing all the time – waking up every morning and just going out.
Was there ever a moment when you debated whether it was skateboarding or surfing you wanted to pursue professionally?
I think when I started to surf a ton, that was when skateboarding started to get serious for me. Surfing was my outlet – being able to just go over there and have no pressure and kind of feel like I’m doing the same thing. In a sense, it just felt normal, and I had fun doing it, but there was no sort of pressure. I probably spent more time surfing, or at least put a lot more focus on surfing than skateboarding for a lot of years, for sure. Not that I didn’t like skating – just the pressure of having sponsors and everything kind of deterred me from having fun with it. I guess skateboarding turned into somewhat of a job pretty early on for me. So that’s where I started surfing a ton to escape it.
Was it strange becoming famous within skateboarding at such a young age? How did that shape your upbringing?
It was definitely pretty trippy to be in the limelight riding for Flip Skateboards at such a young age. Going to demos and stuff, and even when their video, Extremely Sorry, came out – just how many people knew who I was by that point. But then, outside of skate parks and everything, it was kind of just normal. But not going to school and being homeschooled, was where it felt pretty different. In the sense of not having a “normal” childhood; it was more like a child actor upbringing or something. But I was always stoked because I didn’t have to go to school and was surfing a ton. All my friends my age had to go to school, and I was like, “Oh, later. I can stay out here all day.” But, I think there were a bunch of social aspects that I missed out on by not going to school. But whatever.
What was growing up in Ventura like?
It was pretty cool. I had a very small group of friends who were into skating, because at that time, there was a weird shift where there were a bunch of older skaters, and not too many kids my age as into it as I was. It was pretty much just me and Jake Anderson. And then at a very young age, we were almost like arch enemies, because we were kind of pitted against each other. I was skating the park so much, and he would come around every now and then, and just wanted to fuck around. Throw a football in the park and stuff like that. I was kinda just obsessed with skating. So I think it maybe deterred him, because he was really good when he started skating. I mean, he probably doesn’t even remember not skateboarding. So I think people comparing us was annoying. And I thought it was annoying as well, because I was like, ‘who cares?‘ It’s just skating.
But yeah, there was a huge skate park in Ventura called Skate Street that I skated religiously every single day. That closed down when I was nine, and then my parents just took me everywhere. So even though I’m from Ventura, I spent a lot of time in other places. I spent a lot of time in Orange County, visiting the Vans skatepark, or even Simi Valley, where I would go to Skate Lab. So I made a lot of friends in other places when I was young, who I’m still friends with today.
You’re still a Ventura local. Part-time at least. How do you think the scene is today?
I would say that now more than ever, there’s a pretty big skate scene in Ventura. It’s definitely way different from what it was when I was growing up – now Ventura has become somewhat of a little skate hotspot. Like a full little skate destination. It’s been rad. There have been a lot of people who are just down to build stuff, and we’re getting a new park soon. So there’s a lot of people from that coming over to help build DIY and stuff. There’s always been a lot of small random stuff happening in Ventura, but we’ve never really had anything really proper to skate here, other than the indoor park that closed down. So it’s pretty rad how it’s created a bigger scene where now there’s local kids that are ripping. When I was younger, there were always kids into it, but never kids that really tried – and now it’s totally different. Those kids are fully sponsored and rip. So that’s pretty cool to see.
And the surf scene here is so strong too. Seeing what those Chapter 11 guys are doing…
Yeah, growing up in Ventura, I definitely had a lot of surf friends, and met Jake Kelly and Eithan (Osborne), Mickey Clarke. Just seeing Dane around forever and now them having their store, Chapter 11, it’s pretty rad to see that they’ve fully made a little community feel. For a long time this whole area was kind of – I don’t know how to put it – like, if you’re from up here, you kind of just try to hold it down and not really blow out your spots or whatever. But those days are pretty much gone, everywhere. So it’s sick to see a sense of surf community, especially at the same time that that’s kinda also happening to skate here too. So it’s pretty cool. There’s a lot more culture to it. It’s a lot more accepting too. It’s not so much like “oh yeah, fuck you for being sponsored.” I feel like that’s the kind of mentality that Ventura used to have. I used to see these stickers everywhere that would say ‘fun, not fame’ and it just felt like everyone was trying to be core. Where it’s like, dude, we’re just having fun. You can just have fun and then also turn it into a career, if you want to, or if it works for you, if you’ve got the talent. It is kinda cooler for the younger kids here to see that and not feel that they have to be super core or try to be too cool.
People always go back when there’s a scene and when people are actually doing stuff. It’s fun to watch. I mean, there are so many surfers and skaters from Ventura that rip, and I feel like Chapter 11 has done a really good job highlighting that.
How is it splitting time between here and LA?
I’ve kinda lived in LA on and off since I learned how to drive. But I’ve always gone back and forth, and then in 2020, I got a place and kind of made that full-time for myself. I had friends rent my spot up in Ventura. At first, it was really fun and to film a video part, it was really good to just be in the zone, and not have to drive an hour and a half to go meet up. Skate all day. Then get in a car and sit through traffic, all the way home. That’s just the most draining shit. So yeah, it’s been good. But also I do kinda get over it. Just because I like being next to the beach, and when I have nothing to do at my house in LA, I just kinda become a hermit crab. Every chore kinda has this dreadful feeling to it. Like, ‘it’s gonna take 40 minutes to get over there.’ Or even just going to get food. It’s like, ‘that seems annoying right now.‘ But there’s definitely pros and cons to it.
For the first year it felt nice to get in the car and see it’s only gonna take fifteen minutes to get home. I’m so used to being two and a half hours away. So it definitely cut down my driving a lot. But I still drive to Ventura, probably just as much as I was doing. But I think living in Ventura and going skating in LA felt like way more of a job than just being close to it. Whereas now I can just pass by other people’s sessions, or if there’s nothing going on, you can always find people skating. So those are the nice parts about it. But I really don’t enjoy living down there. It can be fun sometimes with friends going out or whatever. But that has kinda come and gone for me, living in LA. The first two years, it was like, ‘Oh, this is sick. I live down the street now.’ But now I couldn’t give a shit about going out. Don’t need to go to a club. I’m feeling a little older these days. Thirty is right around the corner, and it’s kind of sinking in.
Sounding like a seasoned pro. Talking of which, Vans. You’ve been with them since forever. How’s it feel?
I mean, skating for Vans has always been so fun for me, because even the older generation – like Geoff Rowley and those dudes – just took me under their wing, and it was always cool to just have that. And now, just having friends that I skate with, and even just hang out with, riding on the same team, it’s pretty cool. It’s definitely fun to go on trips with your friends. And it’s pretty cool that we’re all, I think, pretty psyched to ride for Vans together.
And a pro shoe to top it off.
Yeah, getting a pro shoe is something I’ve always dreamed of, but I never thought it would become a reality. I don’t know, it’s like I’ve never wanted to put myself that high, you know? I mean, seeing the legacy of other people and their shoes and stuff… I think maybe sometimes I sell myself short a little bit, not believing that’s a possibility for me. But now that it’s here, it’s like, damn, this is pretty wild. It’s definitely an exciting feeling.
How do you find dealing with filming video parts?
I mean, I’m the best at putting stuff off. So filming a part is like, ‘Oh yeah, you got two years until this needs to come out’. But then I spend a year and a half just trickling along, getting clips here and there. Once it’s all coming down to the wire, then it’s like, ‘Oh, great.’ I’m looking at all my footage, being like, ‘dude, should’ve been doing more this whole time’. But that’s always kind of how I’ve been. It almost motivates me though – like the crunch time helps.
I feel like the way I approach skating is I’ll find spots and stuff that I think would be cool to do, but sometimes the build-up of knowing about it and trying to plan it all kind of gets in the way. I finally get there, and I’ve already built it up so much in my head that I psych myself out. I work way better when it’s just there in the moment. I’ve been trying to figure out how I work my whole life in skating. I don’t know, I can’t figure it out.
It’s like, I have the ideas in my head of what I want to do, but then trying to get it out – that’s the hard part. It’s not that I lack motivation. I just get scared of it sometimes, and then the buildup becomes crippling for me. It’s random. There are certain things I’ve done at spots over the years that just worked in the moment, when I was down to do it. But then I go back there and I’m like, ‘I would never try that now, there’s no way’.
I gotta figure out those days when I can channel something else. I don’t know if I’m pissed off about something or something else is going on that makes it happen. But I think if I’m too even-keeled, I don’t have that fire under me. There’s something that happens every now and then that gets me out of my comfort zone, and I just need to channel that.
