Canada's Push.ca just put out a new "Canadian Side of the Brain" interview with HUF Footwear team rider ">Josh Matthews. Check out a preview of the interview below, and click here for the full article.
What's it like having Russ Milligan as a roommate?
It's easy, man. He's a good roommate. He's a lot fancier than all of his with his wine and cheese [laughs].
Didn't you guys stay with some of his family members on this Think tour?
We stayed at his aunt and uncle's in Seattle, and his mom's in Vancouver. It was nice, his mom set up sleeping spots for all 9 of us and we'd wake up to bagels, coffee and fruit - continental [laughs]. So it's kind of been the Milligan Family trip.
What can you say about Lee Yankou?
What can you say? He's insane. It's rad having him around, he just brings up the whole vibe in the van and he makes you want to push yourself.
I'm just going to toss this out there. Do you know who the Prime Minister of Canada is?
I have no idea [laughs]. Is this one of those things that make Americans look dumb?
No, man. But someone from the States is going to get that question right one of these days. Or the PM needs to market himself better in the US. Who do you think our PM should be?
Oh, man [laughs]. Lee Yankou? There's no negativity coming from that guy, so he'd make a good one.
What would you say are the biggest differences between our side of the border and yours?
I'd say Vancouver is really clean in general. The streets, the architecture - it seems like an upper class city to me. But the beer and cigarettes are more expensive [laughs], and there's a lot of knobbed spots. Even the guy at the border was like, "Man, you guys would've had so much fun in Vancouver before they capped everything." He was this "chongo guy," which is a term I learned up here, but he knew what was going on. He asked us if we've watched the Whiskey videos. It was a rad border crossing [laughs].
Somebody mentioned a missing tooth situation while trying to get over the border into Canada.
Adrian Williams used to be only missing one tooth, now he's missing like three. He put his retainer with the fake teeth in so he'd look all nice at the border, but his old retainer with the one tooth on it was just chilling in the van. The border guards searched and were like, "Who wants to fess up to the missing tooth?" Adrian had to pop his teeth out to prove it because they thought someone might have bailed out of the van and ran or something because none of us had missing teeth [laughs].
What Canadian quality would you bring home if you could?
Free health care would be nice. I've had some medical bills down in the States; I had to get a random x-ray done on my knee once and it was over 2 grand.
Can you name three Canadian bands or musicians?
Is Bon Jovi Canadian? Not to diss on Canada at all [laughs].
I'm pretty sure they're from Jersey. Neil Young is Canadian.
I knew that, too. Shit, who else? I have no idea, man. This seems random, but Maroon 5 or Enrique Iglesias?
I think you're out of luck on those picks, too [laughs]. Have you had any food or drink that's unique to Canada?
Tim Hortons [laughs]. That's the one. And Tanpopo - that's the first time I've had all-you-can-eat sushi. The first half of being there was ecstasy almost, but as soon as you get full and six more plates full of sushi show up that feeling turns to paranoia. The rule is you have to pay for whatever you don't finish on top of the price. Jared Sherbert, the photographer, messed a bunch of it up to make it look like we tried [laughs].
-Interview by Frank Daniello
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