What’s your favorite type of music?
There are so many kinds. I love punk rock, alternatives and hip hop, and rap.
Can you name some of the bands you’ve been listening to lately?
I’ve been listening to Blink 182 because I’ve been going back in my day (laughs) or, like, when I was in middle school and high school.
Talking about Blink 182, are you excited that they announced they’re going on tour again?
Oh, yeah. That’s great and so amazing. I rarely go to concerts and watch them, but that’s really cool, and Tom [Delonge] is being a part of blink 182. It’s been a while. Other artists I’ve been listening to is my friend Rook [JP Cappelletty], the drummer for Machine Gun Kelly. Then there’s my friend Louyah. Not many people know him, but he has over 700,000 plays on Spotify. He’s like alternative mixed with hip hop, you know like he mixes genres combining something that sounds really good.
Where does your music influence for alternative style music come from? Was it something you had always been into?
I think music is life and it’s really important to listen to it from time to time. I’m not a musician, but I’ve been around people who are creative in music. I have friends in bands, like the Story So Far and stuff like that, and my boyfriend is a drummer, and he’s in a band. He just got back on tour and now going on another. So he makes punk rock music. It’s crazy because I didn’t realize that I was going to be around people that are musicians and big artists. But it kind of makes sense because I’ve been in a music video for Smashing Pumpkins, Chevelle, and The Killers. So I’ve been part of that scene, and many of the bands are like electric, alternative, dark type music.
Sounds like you’re in the mix quite a bit. What band does is your boyfriend play in?
He’s a drummer with his band, Pinstock. It’s like punk rock and based here in LA. Then he has his other bands, The Palatines and another from Texas called Noble Insect, and it’s thrasher type of music.
Does music play a role in your skating at all?
When I skate, I have some music. It’s cool to be in the zone, and it just gets going with it. It depends on the type of music when I skate and the noise around in the background. I don’t need to have music to skate and focus. I listen to music on the road because I travel a lot. There is another side of me where I need to relax, calm down, get ready to focus, and maintain a healthy mindset, so meditative music also evens me.
Does listening to music help you focus while you’re at a contest? Do you use it to calm yourself if you’re feeling nervous?
For skateboarding, it’s way different. I like to hype myself to get in the mood, but usually, on any other day when I need time for myself and I need to focus on things, or if something is going on in my life, I put on some meditative music on and it also helps me go to sleep. Sometimes it’s the sound of rain, or the sound bowls, which helps me sleep. I’m like a high insomniac. I’m always up. I only need four to five hours of sleep, and I just have energy. But meditative music helps me calm down, and then there’s going out music and skate music. It’s there for when I’m ready, but I don’t always listen to music 24/7.
Do you ever skate with earbuds on?
I’ll have earphones on sometimes, but not always because, for safety where I need to hear what’s around, so I don’t crash into something or somebody or for cars coming. Especially having no leg, I’m smaller, so I like to hear what’s around me and if it’s packed at the park or if I’m skating on the street.
What would you choose if you could pick a song for a contest run?
Oh, my gosh. That’s a hard one. I probably would pick—I think a cool song would be Nonstop by Drake. Or if I want to be fun, maybe Avril Lavine, like her new song, Bite Me, or something from MGK. Depends on what I’m feeling like do I feel Drake’s Nonstop and want to elevate, or do I want to be funny and alternative and feel like pop-punk with Avril Lavine or MGK.
If you were to have a skate video part drop and could pick a song to go with that, what kind of song would you like?
It depends on how hard I’m going? You know, maybe something from Slayer and I like some songs from Suicide Silence and maybe my boyfriend’s band Noble Insects, which is also a kind of thrasher type music. Some of that and then perhaps some Empire of the Sun or MGMT.
You have a wide taste of options that you can pick from, like happy-go-lucky to a heavier head-banging sound.
Yeah, I like both. I like pretty rainbows, then I like dark-type stuff.
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