It was a really good time hanging out with Grant Castelluzzo. on Mega Tour this past summer. It seems every time I go to Milwaukee I'm envious of the amazing amount of spots and amazing amount of all-around good people (Grant being one of them) that make up the bmx scene there. Grant has been on board with Profile/Madera for a couple of years now, doing a fair amount of video work (both filming and editing) as well as putting a good amount of time in behind the bars as well. I've never seen a dude shred a curb as hard as Grant can.
So over the summer, after spending a week on a dialed trip through the NW, it was a no-brainer that Grant should be added to the team…so after a couple of phone calls and a little persuasion, here we are. Welcome to the team Grant.
Mike Hinkens and I had a little conversation with Grant about life's specifics. It went something like this:
Matt Coplon-Why do you hate talking on cell phones?
Mike Hinkens--and why are you a text message maniac? Got a twitter yet? Your feelings on twitter?
I've never really been a fan of talking on the phone at all. I don't know why exactly. Apparently I sound pissed off on the phone which I'm also not too sure why so I try to avoid it as much as possible so people don't think I'm constantly pissed. I'll call someone when there's too much to text or if it's urgent but otherwise I try to stay off the phone. As far as text messaging is concerned it's just simple. No matter what someone is doing you can text them and they can see it whenever they can and respond when they have time. It started from going to school, you want to talk to people but obviously you can't call them but you can get away with texting them. It makes the day go by faster. Not to mention you can text while riding and it doesn't interrupt nearly as much as a phone call. When it comes to twitter, I used to be a twitter hater because I know some dumb people who tweet so I would see them tweeting 4 times in the course of a movie which seemed unnecessary to me. Then some of my more normal friends started using it and I wanted to keep up with the weird shit they are doing so one day I was bored enough to make one and did. I was wrong about it before twitter can be fun. Follow me. twitter.com/grantcbmx.
-So last Winter when you were down and we were hanging at the coffee shop--you were "tweeting" and that's why I couldn't keep a conversation with you?
No, when I was down there last winter I didn't have a twitter. I just recently made that. I was more than likely just texting. I can usually text and talk in person with no lapse in conversation. If I couldn't at the time I must have been having a bad day! Sorry!
-In general, phone or not, you have a reputation on the come up for having a "shitty attitude." As a close friend, I know that is completely a not true, but, I think some people have a skewed idea of who you are because of the way you and some of your friends, myself included, act. Can you explain why some people take you the wrong way, and also how you really feel about bmx...I know you do it for the right reasons, but some may not know that...
My friends and I have a weird sense of humor. We talk a lot of shit together. Mostly just picking on each other for the dumb little shit we do, riding or not. I think people overhear this and think we are being dicks or something. I'm really not THAT big of a dick. I talk shit and like to have a good time but anyone who is my friend knows I would do anything to help someone out if they needed it. I don't take what people say on the internet too seriously because any time your stuff is in a public forum people are bound to come out of the woodwork to say something about you. You can't please everybody.
BMX to me is fun. Plain and simple. I started because it seemed like a good time and I stayed interested because of all the fun times I was having. I have learned to see the world in a different light because of BMX but that's just a bonus to me. As long as I am having a good time when I'm riding then that’s all that matters. That doesn't mean that I don't like filming or learning new tricks- all of that is part of the fun that you can have while riding. I only have a problem with filming and stuff when the only reason you are riding is to get recognition. The best days I've had on my bike were just when I was cruising around with my friends laughing. Those are the times I'm going to remember when I look back on riding not a clip I filmed or something new I learned.
-So, Grant, you say that you talk shit to have a good time. I think we all agree that some shit talking is always fun. What things do you love to talk shit on in bmx? Certain tricks, styles, people, websites? Anything else in general life?
Here's a list of things in no particular order that get talked shit on regularly in my group of friends. Bros, indian givers, West Allis, Nickelback, correction hops, Creed, gloves, bitch cranks in manuals, yellow cars, Affliction shirts, camo things, and Indiana.
-Bro, I just did a correction hop out of a 180 Indian last night. My friends in West Allis said it was cool though because my camo affliction shirt didn't get ripped while executing the trick....oh yea, and I was wearing one white glove when I did the 180. Is that bad?
Your friends opinions don't matter because they are from West Allis and don't count as people. But in all honesty the white glove part makes it legit I mean look what it did for Michael Jackson.
-For someone that rides as slow as you do, how do you not do correction hops more?
I definitely ride slow but I figure if I'm going to take the time to do something I might as well do it the way that I think looks the best so that’s why I don't do them.
-Where did you come from? Seems like you just showed up one day in Milwaukee....
Well I'm sure to a lot of people in Milwaukee that’s what happened. Ha ha. But I grew up riding in northern Illinois riding mostly skateparks until I was 18. Then when I decided where to go to college I knew that Milwaukee had a big riding scene so that played a big part in my decision. I had a small crew of guys I rode with growing up and then when Triple R skatepark closed I started going to Scrap all the time so I guess those two places were where I was located for most of my teen years.
-Sometimes, when we ride the park, I remember that you used to be a ramp weenie. I see you flowing boxes and shredding quarters. Why the change? Do you still ride ramp? Miss your brakes?
Ha ha I wouldn't go as far as to say "flowing boxes" more like trying not to case some boxes but yeah I grew up riding mostly ramps because that was what there was a lot of in Illinois. I used to think going to Chicago was a pain so I would barely ever ride there. When I moved to Milwaukee there was a lot more street close to me and a lot of people who were psyched on it so I sort of fell into it that way. Then I just started having more fun riding street with my friends than the park so that’s what I rode. I still ride ramps pretty often all winter in fact and I don't hate skateparks at all, I would just rather be outside riding anything than stuck indoors. I don't really miss my brakes. It doesn't really affect my riding too much. The only tricks I miss are 540 hurricanes but besides that it hasn't really hurt my riding. If anything I think I've learned more because there's no lever in the way and it made me think about riding a little differently. I don't see myself putting them back on anytime soon.
-How were the Scrap days? Who did you grow up riding around? That place was a hotbed for shred.
The Scrap days were awesome. The park was always changing around so there was always something fresh to ride. The locals were real fun to ride with too. I grew up riding with Chris Beers, Sean Morr, Jon Rather, and Dan McCallum mostly. They all lived around me so I rode with them almost every day. There was also a crew of guys at Scrap I rode with a lot which included Josh Eilken, Matt Cook, The Mayfields, Chris 'santos' Emke, Little Chris, and Mike Dinello.
-You're getting closer to finishing up college- what's the plan now, what's the plan when you graduate?
Technically I finished college once already. I graduated with my bachelors degree in criminal justice last May. The plan now is to go back to college and get my masters degree in criminal justice and then try and get a good job working for a government agency or a private company doing investigative work.
-Criminal Justice- I'm curious what got you interested in this field?
I've always been interested in learning about crimes and things of that sort since my freshman year in college. I took a intro criminal justice course it was really interesting to me so I just kept taking more courses. I figured if I enjoyed learning about it that I would probably enjoy a career in it eventually.
-Also, you have not had many boring regular jobs throughout college? You have mostly survived by filming, etc. Why is that? You do have a job now. Can you tell me about that?
I haven't been working during college mostly because I wanted to focus on getting through college in four years with no delays or setbacks. Since I'm taking a semester off I am currently working part time at Pier One Imports selling stuff and unloading trucks. It's definitely about as bad as working any retail job, its not the worst thing I've ever had to do but I definitely know I don't want to be working some dead end job for the rest of my life.
-Do you sell wicker and rattan furniture to the elderly?
Hahaha. I'm amazed that you know what any of that crap is but yeah I sell that stuff and the majority of our customers are over 40 so there's definitely some elderly buying them.
-My friend sean used to work at Dockside Imports. He became a manager and grew a mustache (he was serious) while he sold Rattan and Wicker to the elderly. Cops have mustaches too. Since you sell the above mentioned products and aspire to be involved in criminal justice, will you too grow a mustache?
My Dad has a sweet mustache so you'd think I would be able to harvest a good one myself but so far I haven't been too lucky in that department. One day I hope the mustache gods will give me the power to grow a proper one.
-But more seriously, when are you coming to Florida to get out of that Pabst Blue Ribbon winter in Milwaukee?
I'm hoping to get down to Florida this winter sometime. I'm pretty much free whenever so whenever is good for you I'll be down there. It's freezing and there's already a bunch of snow. I can't wait to get out of here.
--Tell me about filming. Why don't you do more of that to make some money? How into filming and editing are you?
I would say that I am pretty heavily into filming. Almost every time I ride I end up filming someone. I am not as into editing as I have been before. It really just comes and goes sometimes. I don't do more filming and editing to make some extra money because there aren't that many jobs available right now. I do work for profile/madera when ever it’s available and Jeff K. and myself have done a couple of videos for ESPN with a couple more on the way. If I could live off of just filming I definitely would.
--Tell us about the "vader" and all things associated with it!
Well the "vader" happened about 6 years ago when I was 16 or so and was super into riding ramps. I saw Pat Shreader do those scuff nosewheelie things with his foot on the tire and I would always used to try it but just kept flipping over. So just started trying to do footjams by keeping my foot in front of my fork and it just worked one day. I wouldn't go as far as to say I invented it but I had never seen anyone else do it before. My friend Del Jon just started calling it the "space invader jam" for some reason and then the next time I saw him he shortened it to "vader jam". I remember the first time we saw a vader in a magazine he was freaking out because as far as we know he invented the name.
-You know you’re going to get shit for this story….some dude in Greenland is going to pop up and say “Little Jimmy Del Fuego pulled that in 1994 at a rave while tripping on acid—you’re a poser.” Do you have any proof behind this story to save yourself from an internet lambasting?
I really have no solid proof of the claim. There's a picture that my friend Chris Beers took when I was like 16 or something of me doing one and that was like 6 or 7 years ago. Regardless I'm not saying I 100 percent invented the trick itself but rather that I just never saw anyone do one before and it came from my brain. It might have very well came from someone else's brain long before but I just never knew about it.
-Plans for the rest of the PBR winter in Milwaukee?
My plans for the rest of the winter is to get out of here somehow. I don't really care where just somewhere warm for a nice little get away to ride outdoors and not freeze to death. After that I'll be starting my first semester in Grad school so I guess I'll see how that goes.
