Catching Up with TJ Rogers

I really like TJ. He's worked his ass off to get where he is today. He seems to have it all figured out. He's a beast on the board and he's got the attitude and personality to back up his skills. In short, he's got his head screwed on straight and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for him. 

Teej! What’s new?
 
Wall-to-wall-fuck-all, man.
 
You're back in Canada, right?
 
Yeah. That’s it. Hoping I’m here for only a few more weeks. Then going back to Cali. I have my P1 visa now.
 
Yeah, how easy does it make to cross the border?
 
I don't gotta worry about a thing. It’s fucking tight, dude. I love it. It’s probably, like, the best thing to happen to me, you know? Being able to cross the border no matter what. When I have that piece of paper I cannot get denied.

That’s amazing.

It’s definitely something that I’ve always wanted to have in my life.
 
What’s the process like?
 
Uhm, it’s not that hard actually. I talked to Sean Hayes about it. He helped me out by referring me to this sports lawyer named Becky Mendoza. She’s really tight with all the guys at RedBull, because she does everyone’s Visa’s there. She does P1 Visas for a lot of athletes in Canada, too. I hit her up, gave her $3500 American, and I got my Visa for five years. I had to give her a bunch of information, too: all my contest winnings; what I’m up to for the next five years; all the contracts I have with companies in the states—because if I don’t have sponsors backing me in the states I don’t have a reason to be there. I needed to show her all these contracts and show her how much money I’m making and all this other stuff. It’s kind of a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it.
 
Are you going to apply for citizenship afterwards?
 
Technically I could, but I’m not sure I want to do that. I like being from Canada, you know? I like that. We’ll see what ends up happening—I’m not too sure yet.
 
When you’re down in Cali where do you stay? Do you have your own place?
 
I get my own place in February, so that will be fuckin’ so sick, but for the most part I’ve been staying at Ryan Decenzo’s house. He has a two-bedroom house with his brother and I just sleep on the couch. It’s pretty mellow. Skate every day and then hang out at home. Make dinner for each other and kick it like a family.
 
Is that how you ended up getting on RDS?
 
Yes and no. I hit up Danny Marshall (Team Manager at Centre Distribution) on my own and was like, “Yo dude, I’d be interested in riding for RDS.” Billabong got in to a lot of debt with everything and that wasn’t really working out for me anymore. Danny said he’d love for me to be on the Dragons and I’m a pretty good fit since I’m from the east coast. It helped a lot more that Ryan and Scott were really good friends of mine. Knowing people always helps out in the end. 
 

^{TJ and Chase Gabor while filming his BANGIN' at The Berrics.}

You’re also riding for Nike now, too; how did that come about?
 
Yeah, I've been getting flowed shoes since August. I’ve been repping that hard. I’ve been filming a lot with their gear and I’m just trying to move forward with them the most I can.
 
Where do you stand on the HD/SD video wars? Are you more of a VX1000 kinda guy, or an HD kinda guy?
 
The VX is extinct. Don’t get me wrong; I love the VX. It’s amazing what it does, but in this day and age, you’re not allowed to film with that. If you’re going to film a clip with it, yeah, it can be used for a friend’s video, but if you’re trying to film a part for your sponsor, they need it to be HD. Everyone that’s using VX’s still needs to suck it up and go to HD like everybody else.
 
Are you working on any new video parts, or just stacking footage for whatever the future holds?
 
I’m filming for a new Blind video, but it’s kind of on the DL for now.
 
In your opinion, what is the most important thing in skateboarding besides skateboarding itself?
 
I mean just being interactive with kids, just showing them how real skateboarding is. Yeah, you can have raw talent in skateboarding, but do you actually have the personality to be nice person outside of skateboarding? Because if you don’t have the personality—if you’re not open minded to everything in life—you’re not really going to get anywhere. You could have the best talent in the world; skate 50 stairs for fucks sake, but you’ll never get anywhere if you don’t have a nice attitude and treat people with respect. I mean, I just like to see how all these young kids are starting to have respect for the older dudes that are starting to come up, you know? I’m just getting in to the era where I’m not the one that’s coming up anymore. It’s just so good to see the younger generation rise.
 

^{TJ hooks upl kids with boards—new and old—on the regular.}
 

Would you rather get punched in the face every day as soon as you wake up, or get a 20-minute purple nurple randomly once a day?
 
That is the stupidest question I’ve ever heard. I don’t even know how to say anything to that—I didn’t even understand it. You’re saying, would I rather get punched in the face, or get a purple nurple? I’d rather get a shinner…or pogo flat ground.