photos by: Neftalie Williams & Justin McLeod

 Some of us are just gifted.

 Now by “us”, I don’t mean you and me. Not that we aren’t an alright sort, but we fall upon the more normal end of the “us” spectrum. I mean the “us” in the manner of the “royal we,” a space reserved for those whose skating hovers on the other end of the chain. Skaters like Guy, Daewon, Marc Johnson, Haslam, Koston and P-Rod. There are only a few of our “gifted” brethren whose competition is really only themselves and their last video part.

 

 

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Greg Lutzka is part of that lineage, which is actually pretty out of control considering he feels like he’s “just a kid from Milwaukee.” Milwaukee, who would have known? I can’t even type correctly without using spellchecker or thinking about beer and power tools. However, I like beer and power tools, so I guess that’s just another plus in Greg’s favor.

Right now I feel like he’s at that spot where MJ was at just before the world knew he was the truth. With his Globe “United by Fate” episode dropping, Transworld “Skate and Create” and his new shoe due out soon, we are all going to get to view his skills first hand. 

 

We caught up with the young Lutzka while filming for the TWS video.

 

Hey brother, what’s happening? How is the filming coming along?

It’s good we have been filming like crazy but everything looks so sick. The video is going to be so sick.

 

Well, they sure have you guys on lock-down over there. You only got out for your birthday on Friday, which I must say was an amazing party.

We are on a tight schedule and they only let me out for the hours of my party. But it was sick though, right? (laughing)

 

(For the sake of our underage readership and to maintain the healthy stability of my relationship with the misses, all I can tell you about the night is…What happens in the Stretch Hummer, stays in the Stretch Hummer!)

 

Yeah, it was! This actually brings us to my first question. Sharpe told me when we’d go out to shoot not to stress out, and you were just a super chill guy from the Midwest and money and fame in the skate game hadn’t changed you at all. He was certainly right.  Even throughout the night when we were rocking out you still stayed cool and chilled out when you needed to sign autographs, say hello and so on, despite all the chaos and debauchery occurring. I’ve seen a lot of pros crash and burn in that environment. Do you chalk your even demeanor to being brought up in the Midwest?

I do try to keep pretty level headed about things, and I get that all from my parents. I’m really just a mellow guy, but it was a birthday party, so we had to do it up a little bit!

 

Do you think you would handle the skate notoriety different if you had grown up around it?

I’m sure it would be different, it’s probably hard not to. I was just raised far away from the industry, so I just don’t have anything to relate to in that manner. I never had any celebrity friends, crazy privilege or entitlement.

 

Your family is not old Hollywood,and you’re not heir to a lifestyle company, you sure we can afford everything we did last night?  

No, I’m just a kid from Milwaukee! All of this is a blessing, so we are going to enjoy it! 

 

Do you get to see your parents often? They aren’t in CA, are they?

No, they are still at home in Milwaukee, and they both work all the time, so I usually try to see them around their schedule. They were just here though, my brother just graduated from school in LA, so they were here two weeks ago. Normally, I do the bulk of the traveling back and forth to see them.

 

Are your parents supportive of your skating?

Fully and they always have been since day one. They are happy I’m getting the chance to do something I love.

 

That’s cool because so many people in skating have parents who aren’t supportive until money starts coming in. Do they still offer you advice on how you should do things or does it have less of an effect on you now that you live out in your own house?

No, they still are a strong guiding factor like always, and keep me focused on what’s important. I do feel they laid the groundwork for me though, because they taught me to surround myself with people that will have a positive impact on you.

 

Speaking of positive impacts, lets talk about Al Partanen and what his contribution was to a young Greg Lutzka. Earlier you said you had been friends with him for quite a while.

Yeah, I’ve known him since I was young. Al is one of the best guys ever and he didn’t just have an effect on my life, but on the entire Milwaukee scene. He would host skate jams every weekend, and we’d all skate them. He was just a totally positive figure.

I remember one contest when I was young. I can’t even remember what division I was in. It was either small or medium. (laughing) They had some promo to give away, but by the time it got to me in 3rd place there weren’t anymore prizes! Al just figured it out and went ahead and gave me his complete as third prize. For me that was a sort of formative moment, I saw that skating was such a cool environment and how we really all take care of each other. Al was pro on Creature and he just took care of me without blinking an eye. That’s the ideal image of what amounts to a real pro in my eyes.

 

He really just took care of the scene in Milwaukee?

Yes, he used to have a group called PUPIL – People Uplifting People in Life. All the jams he hosted and little contests were just to put back into the scene. He was proud to be from Milwaukee and wanted to represent us hard.

 

Is that how you ended up hooking up with Illenium?

He was the one who brought me over. I used to be on Beer city boards.

 

Oh yeah, I remember them.

They were really cool, but with Illenium it was pretty much just hanging out with friends. Al invited me to go on a trip with them when I was 15. He took us everywhere including Tampa and just got everyone stoked about skating all the time. He used to let us come out and stay with him in LA as well. I would literally come out and stay for a month! We would just post up and then go skate all the spots!

 

Before that time had you even really thought about the concept of being a pro skater back in Milwaukee?

No, I never did. It was never on my mind at all. I had no concept about ever becoming a “pro skater.” A lot of unique opportunities just fell in line to get me here, but it was never something I dreamed about when I was a kid.

 

That’s funny because I was just talking to the new Blind Am Felipe Ortiz, and it’s totally a different way of thinking for him coming from Brazil. They know there pretty early on about needing to become part of the American scene and making it. For them it’s away to escape and make their way in the world.

Actually I just skated with that kid and he rips! He did a backside 3 down a huge 7 flat 3. He is definitely going to be going places. It’s cool they have a different approach because Brazil is a totally different lifestyle and it’s great skating is giving them opportunities.

Now you went from Illenium to Almost, how much of a change was that?

Getting on Almost was totally rad. Rodney Mullen is just one of the greatest! Having him want me on the team was such an honor. He actually approached me to ride for him even before he had decided on the name of the team and who else was going to be on it.

 

Nice, he knew he wanted you on the team and he didn’t know what was going on yet, that’s great!

He just said that there was going to be something cool going on soon and that he would let me know when they had it all together. A few months later he came to me and said it was going to be a new company called Almost and he wanted me to come aboard.

 

I actually was on Spitfire and Krooked for a little while between Illenium and Almost. It was rad, but everything just fell in line and we were all so stoked to come together and start filming the Almost video.

 

Well you guys just really showed up and proved it in that video.

I think that video meant a lot to us all, because we were really coming out of nowhere and showing everyone what we could do as a team.

 

Do you still get to skate with everyone all the time?

 We do get to skate together, on all the tours and stuff. That’s rad because everyone is together, but we are all super motivated so we all go out and do our own missions as well.

 

Daewon is just always on a tear; Haslam and Coop are always out there hurting it. Rodney is always just thinking up new things on his own and Torey and Lewis kill it.

 

When I’m at home, it’s nice to chill out for a minute, skate and get ready for the next thing on my agenda.

 

On the subject of agendas, I know you have the new project with Lil Jon and his crew BME click. Can you tell me about that?

That’s super sick, really it’s an extension of Lil Jon’s record label, our crew and the things he’s working on. We are all on Oakley and it started as him really being into all the things that everyone on the team is part of.  On Oakley we have some of the best people on the team. We have Danny Cass, Dingo, Travis and Sheckler too. Lil Jon wanted to put together a video highlighting all of the things we do and have him learning and getting involved in them.

 

That sounds super entertaining, Lil Jon is just a riot in general.

It is and it’s filmed great and edited well. In my section I just take him around Milwaukee to all my spots and give him the tour of the city. The video shows his adventures getting involved in all of our separate worlds and learning what it takes. Lil Jon’s skating is so great, you have to check it out, and he really does learn to skate, and with all the skits it’s pretty funny.

 

That’s sort of the last person I thought you would be teamed up with! I really couldn’t imagine it and when you told me, it just reminded me how big skating has gotten. People now respect us everywhere and it’s such a new thing. It’s just came out of nowhere!

I know it’s a trip! Lil Jon is just a great dude and down for everyone and likes to hang out. He really has been blowing me up all the time in the non-skate world and promoting me a lot. He got me that other Birthday cake you saw at the house on Friday. Skating is just in a crazy place right now!

 

Well this brings me to that subject. You have a lot of sponsors. Some of it just has to do with skating being on a more global level and becoming more accepted. People say these are tough waters to navigate with new companies involved in skating, but I don’t think so. I think it just comes down to a person skating well, and seeing what opportunities are there for them.

I agree. Right now I have a good list of sponsors and I’m super psyched on all the companies I’m with. Right now I’m with Almost, Globe, Indy, Ricta, Mob Grip, FKD bearings, Sun Diego, Oakley, Monster, Toyota, Dub Rims, and Kicker.

 

I also wanted to talk about your motivation level for a second. You happen to do well everywhere: street and contests. This usually doesn’t happen with most skaters. How do you keep yourself straight in any circumstance? I was watching your footage in the Globe contests and you always seem as calm as when we are out skating in the street?

You know what?  I feel like skating’s just the greatest thing and I can’t really be too stressed about it. I feel super blessed to be put in any circumstance. It doesn’t matter if I’m skating a contest or just being able to go street skating, I just try to make it fun and keep progressing.

 

On the note of progressing, it’s actually great to see you just trying to push yourself and not do whatever the hot trick is now. All of your skating is personal. Take the 270 noseblunt-slide. We all watched you come up on that trick and push your own limits with that. You seem to be able to constantly up your own ante.

 Well that’s something I just try to do in life. You have to keep constantly progressing and setting a goal. We only get so much time in this life, so a man should always move on and have things to look forward to.

 

That’s why it seems you’re never stressed out when the pro circuit becomes the pro-circus!

Right. For me skating is just a place where you can make anything happen. I feel like anything’s possible. There’s no winning or losing in skating because it’s not some jocked-out sport. It’s just being in touch with what you know you can do, and getting to that place. It’s the same as when we were younger.

 

Is that why you still go home to skate too?

Yeah, I still skate with all my friends back home and they fly out all the time. I’m also fine just being in SoCal living this good life, doing my best. I also try to treat people the way they did me when I was younger. Good people had my back, helped me get to this spot, and to think I could actually do something with skating, so I don’t want to lose track of that.  I was super stoked on skating and I’m just as happy now. I like doing demos and signing autographs. Sometimes I’ll just go to a demo on my own like the one for Underground in Florida. I just like skating and getting people excited about it.

 

Alright, I know I can hear Chris Robinson in the background, so I guess you need to get back to filming your TWS part!

(laughing)  Yeah, we’re filming right now, and the part is gonna be so sick! I can’t wait for everyone to see it! Then we start right into the UBF filming and the new Almost video which is going to be crazy!

 

I guess that’s all we needed to know, brother! We will see you soon!

Alright, I’m out!

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