Strappin' it on in Phoenix (Pic: Justin Stephens)
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WW: You're currently shooting the new Liquid Force video, Wide Awake (see Liquid Force Announces "Wide Awake"). How's that going and what's it going to be like?
CH: It is going great. Rook and the whole team are basically at my house right now and we have been filming for like a week and its going good. Some good slider stuff with Matt and I. I think they went down to Miami and filmed in front of the city. So there should be some cool footage there.
WW: You mentioned that you were working on a video of your own. Tell me about that.
CH: Yeah, I am working on a video. I got a nice camera and a nice computer so I decided that I am gonna make a movie. Kind of a sequel to Thomas' video (Decline of the Waterski Monopoly). I haven't really decided on a name. I was thinking about Pledge of Allegiance or something like that, but I haven't really decided. It will probably go through the year and get a bunch of footage together. That's kind of how Thomas did it. I'm kind of having him help me too.
WW: Did Thomas do that whole "Decline" video himself?
CH: Yep, him and Eric Small.
WW: That's definitely different than most of the videos you see out. I know real purists just want to watch all the riding, but I think all the extra stuff makes it more interesting.
CH: Yeah, I don't know. That's kind of how I see it and I've been seeing all the skate videos go real artsy. That's kind of what I want to do. Like, I kind of want to make it something where you enjoy watching it, where it's not just tricks and that's it. I want to show the lifestyle and what we really do. That movie (Decline) is pretty much the last year of what me and Thomas and Matt have been doing, ya know. It just shows what we really do all the time.
Yeah, that's what I think wakeboard videos need to get more towards. Like when I watch motocross videos, like when I watch Crusty and stuff, those things, a lot of them only do motocross half the time. It's like everybody getting drunk or just having fun. Cool stuff. Yeah, and I'm going do some good editing and stuff in it too.
WW: Who's going to be in it?
CH: Me, Matt, Jaime, Gregg (Necrason), Thomas (Horrell), Sarah (Cline) and some more people I haven't decided yet.
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Click the image to see the entire sequence of Chase on the slider (Pics: Josh Letchworth).
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WW: Last year was one of your most successful ever on the Pro Tour and you won an award for being the most improved rider. To what do you attribute that improvement?
CH: Well I don't think many people know this but my first year on tour was my best. I finished 10th overall and I was like in the finals every time. So actually this year was really a step back from the first one, but I think that my attitude had changed more than anything. It used to be that all my friends (Thomas, Matt, Sarah, Randy) were always at the tour stops and we were always getting in trouble. But they quit going so I had to make friends with everyone. But it's also nice having a girlfriend that is on tour with you, too.
WW: So who do you hang out with now on tour?
CH: I've been hanging out with Shane. That's about it and Jamie.
WW: Can we expect to see you riding on the Pro Tour this year?
CH: Ummm, I will be there if I am sent. If I am not, then you probably won't see me and if I'm not there then I am gonna start going to school cause Lord knows wakeboarding isn't going to pay the bills.
WW: Is Liquid Force going to send you out on the tour this year?
CH: I don't know, they might. It depends.
WW: What's the relationship you have with them? Are you a paid rider?
CH: No. It's kind of like a friends thing, you know. I'm helping them out as much as I can, but it's not like I have any obligation to them really. I mean I do. I'm on their contract but I don't like...
WW: Is it like a month to month thing?
CH: It's a little bit like that, sort of.
WW: But you haven't talked to them about sending you on the tour?
CH: No. I mean, well, they're going to send me places. It's just like wherever I want to go. It's not like a serious thing like them and Greg. It's kind of a bro thing, you know.
WW: Yeah, so what do you think of the sliders and stuff they're gonna have on the Pro Tour this year?
CH: I don't know. They wanted jumps and they want a slider. I don't know. We might...Matt and I and a couple other people might go out there and help them, but I don't know.
WW: Will that attract you guys to the tour a little more if they have some of that stuff on it?
CH: Well, I don't know, because they won't understand the technicality of the slider. They'll probably just count it as like, "Oh, he hit the slider." Say I went out there and did a switch 50/50 to a 540 off and then Joe Shmoe went out there and just hit the slider. They'd count it as the same amount of points. That's the way I see it.
WW: Will they use the same judges?
CH: Yeah, the judges suck. They won't know what they're doing. Bisch will know what he's talking about but all these other guys will be like, "Oh, he hit the slider," you know.
WW: Why do you do the tour? You make it sound like it's repetitive and
CH: non-creative.
I do it. I've got the sense that if I'm there I might as well try to win, you know. But, this year I decided to focus on it and do good and it helped out but my riding didn't get any better. I tried to just practice do all the tricks like a routine. Just going out and doing all my tricks and them I'm done. But I didn't improve that much as a rider this year. Whereas the year before I didn't focus on the tour at all and I learned a lot more stuff.
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