Checking in with JS Lapierre

Interview by Bob LaSalle

Photography by Will Jivcoff

JS is the perfect man. He doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t eat meat, and doesn’t masturbate. He reads books, he speaks French, has a beard and tattoos, he ‘’earths’’, and he knows Jamie Thomas personally. He’s an exemplary role model to result-driven rail skaters everywhere. He’s a tier 1 potential seed contributor to any woman seeking to reproduce. One may even have her way, provided that he deems her fallopian tubes worthy of his alpha crème.

What's going on JS?

On a trip to Spain with some friends, it's been pretty epic so far.

Any highlights worth including in this interview?

We were in the Canary Islands for a week, and now we’re in Madrid for three weeks. Seeing the world and different cultures is definitely an eye opening experience, I'm lucky to get to do all that. I'd like to be able to travel as much as I can while I'm young.

Cool! What is your life philosophy?

I just like living in the now and enjoying life as much as I can. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to skate for a living. The more I read about spirituality and consciousness, the more I realize that skateboarding is such a powerful and easy way to be fully in the now.

It's important to enjoy the current moment; I sometimes find it hard to do myself... I know you read a lot of self-help and philosophy books. Are there any in particular that you would recommend to the aspiring pro athletes reading this?

(Laughs) Yeah, for sure, I like any Eckhart Tolle books, Wayne Dyer, Louise L. Hay, Deepak Chopra… Those are some good authors. I think working on yourself is one of the most important things in life. And that's why those books are good, they help us understand how we create illusions and barriers that keep us from doing things we'd like to do or be fully living in the present.

Correct me if I'm wrong, these authors also share a common belief in the importance of connecting with nature. Is this something that resonates with you?

Yeah for sure, I feel like we've disconnected ourselves from nature. I always like going back to my parents’ and enjoy being in the woods.

Your parents run a veal farm in Farnham Québec right? How was it growing up on a farm?

It's actually in a smaller town 15 minutes from there called Notre-Dâme de Stanbridge. Growing up there was great, as a kid I definitely wanted to go to the big city and be able to skate more cool stuff, so I guess it made me eager to see new things. And for the farm, it for sure gave me a different perspective than most people seeing how farm animals grow up to be eaten.

How did your parents react to your decision of becoming 100% vegan?

They were always cool about it. Going vegan was a long process for me, I was vegetarian for a while before fully going vegan but after watching a bunch of documentaries about it I had to stop eating animal products altogether. My mom is super supportive and makes me vegan meals all the time. Thanks mom.

Rad, thanks for sharing this JS. Let’s chat about some trivial skate stuff now. What happened with Deathwish? Nobody knows the true story…

To be honest, I don’t really know either. But I think looking back; it had to do with me being really shy and skating too hard. I went on a few trips with them and didn't really talk that much, I just really wanted to skate as hard as I could and probably came across has a kook. After a few trips, Erik Ellington asked the team riders if they would be down for me to be on Deathwish as an Am, and not everyone was down so he called me to say I should look for another board sponsor. At the time it definitely crushed me cause I really liked the brand and thought I could make something happen with them but it ended up being good because I learned a lot from that experience. It's not all about how good you are on a skateboard.

What it takes to be an am or pro skater is constantly being redefined these days... Personality fit has always been an important criterion for most skate teams but these days Instagram following and follower engagement are being added to equation. I noticed that your presence on social media has increased exponentially over last year or so. Without giving away your strategy–would you be willing to share some of your best practices with us?

Yeah, I feel like social media is a big part of how you can market yourself as a skater. I've been putting out a lot of selfies of myself skating, and as whack as it sounds that would probably be my strategy, I guess.

I enjoy seeing your travels and the tricks you're learning, your 10.7K fans seem to be as well. You must be doing something right. What's it like skating for Zero? Is it true what they say about Jamie Thomas?

It's sick! Jamie has always been super chill with me and I’ve never felt any pressure doing gnarly tricks or anything like that.

Is it true that he provides social media training and then imposes strict guidelines for his athletes to adhere to?

I've never been aware of any of that (laughs). I wish I could get social media training from the Chief though, that'd be good.

Yeah, I just made that last part up. What are your thoughts on The Motivation 2? Do you think Jamie [Thomas] gave Chris [Cole] the stud bracelet or no?

(Laughs) I'm not sure, seems like Chris likes wristbands so maybe he's the one who was down for it.

You’re a huge Heavy Metal fan, [Black] Sabbath, Motörhead, etc. I see you rocking the tees all the time–I know you bought them yourself. What did you feel when Lemmy passed away?

We definitely lost one of the most influential Heavy Metal singers of all time. Skateboarding and Motörhead is such a perfect combination.

Amen, Lemmy is the truth. I’d say he is the most influential Metal vocalist of all time. How does it make you feel when you see videos of him saying things like ''vegans are pussies''?

I don't really care, his music was amazing but I'm not gonna go ahead and do the same things he did or thought. Knowing that the animal industry is the worst cause of pollution, I'm gonna go ahead and do my part of not consuming any of it. I'll be a pussy.

Well said. Tell us a little bit about Keev Bourquet.

Alright, so one time my friend Gab (Galipeau) sent me this photo of a tattoo someone had with a Spitfire logo with my name under it. I didn’t know what to think of it, I was pretty shocked. He said it was some kid from around where I'm from called Keev Broquet. I met him a few times and he's super cool. I guess he just really likes me and got a tattoo of my name. Thank you Keev.

So sick. It's no secret that you're a ladies man. How do you do it? Do you find them online?

I've definitely slowed down on hooking up with girls since I quit drinking but I'd say Montreal is just a really easy place to get girls. I have no secret really.

Do you think that not fapping has anything to do with it?

Maybe, I'm filled with testosterone.

Boom.

Originally printed in Kingshit issue 8.1.