I’d never heard of Welcome Skateboards until one of my friends told me to check out this “oogle” skater on Youtube and showed me Nolan Johnson’s part from “Monarchs of Magic.” I was mesmerized because I’d never seen someone that looked like a full-blown crust punk shred like Nolan does. That’s when I realized the importance of skate videos to board companies because I went out and bought a Welcome board shortly after.
I like Welcome because the company bleeds with originality and sticks very close to its aesthetic (whatever that means). The art is rad, the shapes are dope, and most importantly—the whole team fucking RIPS! They get a lot of shit in the skateboard industry because they are not very Berrics-y, even though the Berrics let them stay there for a week and gave them a United Nations (that was mysteriously taken down from the website some months later).
They do what they like and we like how they do it. They do the “old school” tricks that all the kids at the skatepark are trying to learn. You know what I think? I think the Supreme kids wish they could skate like the Welcome kids. Whatever, this is starting to sound stupid.
I’m not sure where I first heard of Logan, but after I saw a video of him ollieing out of boardslides on rails I knew I liked him. And then after watching his minute and a half part for 35th Avenue skate shop in which he skates to Rudimentary Peni and does a backside air on a curb, I think he became my favorite skateboarder. I’d never seen skating a curb look so good and so fun. Watching Logan and his friends skate is really refreshing in a feel-good, get-stoked-to-go-skate kind of way. And I think that’s what skateboarding really needs right now. I’m personally kind of tired of seeing kids in Janoski’s and 5-panels doing kickflip crook nollie flips, and would much rather see Logan doing a slappy nosegrind on the milk crate ledges in Kansas City. But that’s just me.
Where do you call home and how long have you been skateboarding?
My name is logan devlin and i am from seattle warshington I have been skating 9 or 10 years and i can ollie 5 boards stacked up on a good day.
I have been skating for way too long to be this sunky
What are your sponsors? How did you get hooked up with Welcome?
My sponsors are welcome skateboards and 35th avenue skate shop. Long story short I got hooked up by welcome like 4 years ago with the help of nolan, the good homie Bean One and a shop i used to ride for.
Recently Ride Channel released an article that claimed "riding a shaped board is just an excuse to suck at skating." What are your thoughts on that?
ride channel is ko0o0oks. I just thought it was ridiculous and pretty funny. I dont care much. Im sure they were just trying to get a rise out of everyone. Also, picking on shaped boards and goofy tricks is such a basic thing to do. You know? Its so big at the moment and different from what skating has been like in the past 10 years its such an easy target. RiDe ChAnNeL is BaSiC. All the other stuff they wrote about in that group of articles were so dumb. I dont check ride channel or watch their vids ever. They dont make todays skating any less bland so i cant be bothered (*finger nails emoji*).
Top 5 bands, go:
Kate bush always. Been listening to a lot of dawn of humans, hank wood & the hammerheads and big zit. Nana grizol, depeche mode and the smiths will forever be favorites because im sensitive. I will always put on sean paul when i have the aux chord. Sheer mag is my favorite "new" band by far. Soooo good. Also been listening to lots of treatment, coneheads and gizmos. This stuff changes weekly theres too much i love it all. Ill make you a sickass mix if you want. Got a new tape deck so i can pump out compilation cassettes like theres no tomorrow.
Who started the long johns/leggings under cut-off shorts thing? Is that going to be a new trend for 2015?
Haha i dont know. Nolan and the boys have been doin that for a while now. I just feel like i look so funny in shorts its the only way i can get away with it. My legs are pale and weird. Its comfy, its fun, its random, why not!? Just kidding its goofy looking hope its not a new trend. I dont know I dont really give a beep. To be honest its a crusty bike messenger look. Looks nice with a chrome bag and white boy dreads.
I kind of get a vibe that a lot of people on Welcome don't drink (mainly because of all the Mountain Dew in the Berrics video), is that assumption correct? Do you drink?
Chris, loglar and juicy are known to party. I think pretty much everyone other than me drinks casually. We are a bunch of chillers. Nolan doesnt drink either. Hes our weedguy. The mountain dew was endless and free at the berrics so we just drank that and stayed up all night skating and getting weird. I definitely didnt drink water the whole week because LA water is putrid and the mtn dew soda pop is so bomb.
One of my favorite skate parts of 2014 was your minute and a half video for 35th Avenue, which to my understanding was all filmed in one day. Was that planned or did it just kind of happen?
Thanks im glad you like that part! I always wanted to film a part like that just to see if i could do it. The good homie jon got off work and suggested i make a lil vid for 35th avenue skate shop and we just went and tried to film as much as we could and thats what we ended up with. It was a really fun day.
What inspires you--on and off board?
Kate bush. Everything she has done is perfect.
Other than that just my friends. They are the best skaters i swear. Every day someone learns something new and its so exciting. I definitely wouldnt be around without those freaks.
Do you suffer from seasonal allergies?
Haha im very lucky not to suffer from seasonal allergies. Im allergic to band aids. I swell up and get funky.
Any last words?
Thank you for wanting to interview me i am flattered.
Live laugh love
Photos by Rocco Caravelli, Zach Bishop, and Jake Wickersham
