9.20.2007 Scott Johnston is one of those pros who plays his position well. He's never been known as the guy that's inventing new tricks or going for the biggest set of stairs. HIs strength has always been in the confidence he has in his skating. I guess you could call it his style. It's a unique blend of speed, power, and precision. Frontside 180 to switch crooks and perfectly squared front tails with full authority! Because of the current climate of death defying evil kenevil style tricks that are going down, newer kids might not appreciate the subtle steez of a Scott J kickflip on flat. Too bad for them... everybody knows that Scott Johnson is a classic! They don't make 'em like this anymore.
 SGV: So where have you been Scott? Haven't seen you lately. What have you been up to?
SCOTT J: Well, the past year now, I've been at Lakai. And I also had a baby, well actually my wife had the baby. So that's been taking up a lot of my time. It's been hard to get out and skate this past year. Before that I was in NY helping my wife with some family stuff. I was trying to get on trips and get out and get stuff done, but not a lot. It's getting tougher for me I think. For as many years as I've been filming skate parts... I'm sort of over it I guess. I don't think I'm making up new tricks. I've sort of been doing the same things for many years, so its tough to get myself to do another feeble grind... and on something I could possibly get hurt on, ya know? Cause that's the stuff that's worth filming... stuff you could get hurt on. These days, I feel myself being more fearful of getting hurt. I mean, that's the honest truth. That's definitely kept me from stepping it up and handling it. I guess that's what I've been up to. I've got a video part, or somewhat of a video part in the Lakai video. That should show what I've been up to skating-wise the past couple of years.
SGV: The vibe I've gotten from your skate career is that you're a perfectionist. From your sponsors to the way you do your tricks.
SCOTT J: I've always had a strong opinion on what's good and what's not good and I wasn't gonna compromise my situation for anything less than the sponsors I would hold out for. It was either I got the sponsors I wanted or nothing at all. If I wasn't gonna get the good clothing sponsor like Stussy I wasn't gonna ride for anyone. Like when Mad Circle went out of business, Chocolate was the only company I wanted to skate for. It would have been hard to get on any other company. I would have felt like I was making a compromise. So yeah, I feel I didn't make any compromises and I got all the sponsors I wanted. And as far as my skating, I felt like I skated the way I wanted to skate. I never looked at some other dude and said, "I wish I could skate like him." Even though there were dudes way better than me, I kinda found my niche in skateboarding and it was comfortable for me. It's my personality I guess. My style is my personality. I'm not trying to be a star, and you can tell because I wasn't trying to do hero tricks. I was just trying to carry my weight and do my thing.
SGV: I've always thought your footage showed that you put a high premium on style.
SCOTT J: Why is that? I don't even know. I think it's maybe because of all the dudes I grew up skating with. Like all the east coast dudes like Sean Sheffey. Dudes that would skate fast and with juice. I also think it was that era too, like dudes that came from that era. It wasn't just about tricks. It wasn't like I skate ledges, or I skate tranny... people just skated, skated fast, and they would charge at things. I think I ended up picking up some of those elements... I don't know, what was the question again?
SGV: Let's talk about your Mr. Clean moniker...
SCOTT J: That's one thing that may have changed about me; I'm not that clean anymore. I guess I care about other things a little more nowadays. I definitely try not to be dirty. But for sure, before everything had to be super clean, razor sharp, t shirts fresh out of the bag.
SGV: I didn't know it was that serious. I thought it was just some marketing gimmick.
SCOTT J: I mean... I guess it was borderline obsessive, but not. I'm healed now!
SGV: Let's talk about your fashion forwardness. You're one of the first people I saw rocking Supreme back in the day, so I know you've always had a good sense of style. Now you're working at Lakai. How did you make the transition from pro skater that dresses nice to shoe designer at Lakai?
SCOTT J: I guess instead of being a consumer and buying it, I felt it would be fun to get behind it and make things. Try to produce things that I would want to buy.
SGV: When did you get bit by the design bug? What was your first taste of it?
SCOTT J: Just coming in here (Lakai office) I had a great respect for the guys in the office. Some of them are actually in here right now. I felt that what they were doing was pretty cool. Some people fan out on Pro skaters, but I felt like I fan out on the dudes in here and what they're doing. It's impressive that they handle the work load and are constantly creating really cool stuff. I found myself comfortable doing this.
SGV: At what point in your skate career did you start thinking about what you would do afterwards? Are you a worry wort?
SCOTT J: Actually I used to worry a lot early in my career. Somehow I got comfortable, then for this huge gap I wasn't worrying when I should have been. So the last 2-3 years I've started worrying again. I realized that life is short and I could continue to do the exact same thing; just keep skating, keep waking up late... and try to keep doing that. Or I could move forward with my life because I'm gonna have to stop skating professionally at one point. So I felt that I should get a head start on that instead of postponing it. That was kinda my outlook on that. I mean I maybe could have kept pushing it and trying to keep doing skating, but I thought that I could have muddied up my career by doing that. And I'd rather pull out sooner than later.
SGV: Like gracefully bowing out, as opposed to just trying to milk it?
SCOTT J: Exactly. I feel like there are a lot of guys out there that are still doing it that I feel should have been done before me. I don't know. It's like taking away from something that's been so good to them, or me. That's the way I look at it. It's like, skateboarding has been so good to me, that I don't wanna exploit it and try to drain it for every last dollar.
SGV: The whole sneaker craze is so huge right now. What do you think it's gonna take for skate shoe companies to earn the respect of sneaker head types?
SCOTT J: The cultures are just different. But I think it's also because of history... skateboarding shoes don't have the history. Well, Vans has history, and see how good they're doing? It has a lot to do with the history and of course the shape and quality. Lots of these newer skate shoe companies are still learning and ironing out the kinks. Also, alot of people that buy skate shoes still don't skate, and they don't buy the retro nikes either. They buy skate shoes for the chubby bigger look and that is not what sneaker culture is into. They want something with some history behind it... like more of a story. And I think that in time, we'll have a good story to tell over here at Lakai with the level of skaters we have on the team. The way skating ties into steetwear culture and fashion... these days it's as much the streets as Hip Hop is. Street skating IS the life of the streets in some respect.
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