The Vinyl Five: Evan Smith – Victrola

The Vinyl Five: Evan Smith

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The Vinyl Five Concept

Victrola's monthly series features artists, authors, DJs, producers, athletes, and other cultural icons discussing their five essential albums on wax and beyond—an exploration of individuals' personal soundtracks and the music that inspires them.

The Vinyl 5 with Skateboarder Evan Smith - YouTube

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The Vinyl 5 with Skateboarder Evan Smith Victrola

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Evan Smith

For our eighth installment of our Vinyl 5 series, we sit down with skateboarder Evan Smith, and we’ve got it on video!

Evan stands out as a trailblazer in the skateboarding world, known for his distinctive style and groundbreaking achievements. Beginning his career with Danny Montoya and Listen Skateboards, Evan quickly made waves, securing a feature in Transworld Magazine by age 16. His career ascended with the DC Rediscover tour in 2012, followed closely by his professional debut with Element in 2013 alongside the release of the influential film "Experience."

Evan's competitive edge became evident with consecutive wins of Thrasher's King of the Road MVP in 2014 and 2018, a testament to his unparalleled skills on the board. His impact extends beyond competitions; in 2016, he launched his inaugural signature skate shoe, "The Evan Smith," in collaboration with DC Shoes, setting a new standard in skate footwear.

Through his contributions to Element's "Zygote" and "War and Peace," as well as DC's "Modern Frequency" and Grimple Stix's "Sky Bird People Up-Jump," Evan has consistently pushed artistic and technical boundaries in skateboarding. In 2020, he further solidified his legacy with the launch of Uma Lansleds, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit and ongoing commitment to innovation within the sport.

1. Daniel Johnson: Hi, How Are You

Video transcript:

But it's kind of a wild thing when you see Jimmy Page hitting on your aunt, you know?

They wanted me to select five, but I picked like all of my favorites.

I love this album.

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2. Chrissy Zebby: Tembo

My favorite album of all time is Chrissy Zebby Tembo. It has a track on it called Trouble Maker. I'm really into the Zamrock scene.

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Q&A

Does your career have a soundtrack?

My career actually does have a soundtrack because you need music for skate videos. But my favorite band that I've ever got the chance to skate to was The Flaming Lips. It was a really rad experience seeing my skateboarding to a band of that caliber.

I've made a lot of my own music for soundtracks just to bypass the video rights or how expensive it is. And then as I got more professional, I started realizing that I can actually support these artists by buying their music.

3. Cymande: Promised Heights

I really, really enjoy this record by Cymande called Promised Heights. Their drummer is one of my favorite drummers of all time.

You know, being a skateboarder, we need rhythm and this album just has such a classic, rhythmic feel to it.

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4. Bjork: Vulnicura

This one, Bjork's album, is just insane. This is the string version of Vulnicura. This one I resonate with because there's like an ensemble playing the tracks with her. Here's some pictures of her with the ensemble, teaching them the score. It's a very experimental, eccentric piece of music.

5. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion

This album is very influential to our skateboard culture. This album has "My Girls" on it, which Jake Johnson had skated to in Mind Field. And also a song that Jason Dill had skated to in Mind Field.

I actually kind of destroyed one of my ears listening to them play on mushrooms. I was on a balcony and I was standing like, right-

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Q&A

How picky are you about sound quality?

It really comes down to the compositions, the engineering and how they pressed it. So I guess I'm a huge technician when it comes to sound, but I also like crappy recorded stuff like Bedemon. Where they recorded it to an eight track and then printed it on a vinyl and it sounded slightly blown out, but in a good way.

There are ways to destroy your sound, and there are ways to compliment it. And there's also high definition recording and there's low definition recording. It just depends on what you're going for.

Bonus. Om: Advaitic

And then my last album, this is Om Advaitic songs. This is the bass player from Sleep's first band, I believe.

This album has a really cool Middle Eastern feel to it. A lot of really cool scale patterns, just the heaviness of the bass tones. He has like 19 bass cabinets all set up with different EQS. Al's a genius and I am heavily influenced by him.

So yeah, I'll leave it at that. Those are just some of my faves.

All I gotta say is [Dinosaur Jr](/content/search?q=Dinosaur+Jr "https://victrola.com/search?q=Dinosaur+Jr"/index.html).

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Listen in Hi-Res

As part of our Vinyl Five series, we ask our esteemed participants to play their thoughtfully picked records on a premium [Victrola Hi-Res](/content/collections/hi-res "Hi-Res"/index.html) turntable while sharing their thoughts and feelings. Using either wireless aptX™ Adaptive Bluetooth connectivity or wired with a switchable preamp standard RCA outs, Hi-Res turntables provide vinyl listening in stunning clarity.

Learn More about the Hi-Res Series

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