WORDS AND INTERVIEW BY JACOB SAWYER. MARK “FOS” FOSTER AND AN ALTERNATIVE EGGZILLA COMPLETE AT HOME
We have been friends with Mark “Fos” Foster for many moons. It was while he was working for Slam City Skates at our old Latimer Road warehouse that his idea for a skateboard company first germinated. Heroin skateboards was born in 1998, and the boards have been on the wall ever since. Even before he had boards to entertain as a canvas, Fos was playful with whatever was at hand. He was uniquely gifted at turning a funny idea into a tangible thing, puns became slogans, and in-jokes became one-off runs of T-Shirts. He has maintained that energy for over two decades, in many ways it’s the driving force of the company, and it has kept Heroin Skateboards an interesting entity that supports and believes in a diverse pool of talent. Fos has pulled the trigger on ideas many people wouldn’t have followed through, and by bucking trends, and daring to be different, the company has, in turn, created them. He now caters to an army of devotees whose lives have been enhanced by the ever-evolving array of egg-shaped boards he brings to life, and those puns keep coming.
Fos was an obvious choice for a My Board feature, and not only because his board is part of the ovoid phenomenon sweeping skateboarding due to a decision he made back in 2016. He is also, like Chris Pulman before him, someone who considers carefully what they’re skating, acutely aware of the ramifications of an extra inch of wheelbase. Fos is uniquely placed to give great advice, he has been producing this stuff for years after all, but he has also been consistently skating it. He has watched his board evolve from an 8″ popsicle to a 9.5″ egg, and he knows the reasons why, conscious of what he has learned, and what he has lost as a result. He is also, inspiringly, an advocate for switching things up, and trying out new products even when you’re happy with what you have going on. This is a mindset many of us, quite logically resist, but they do say “change is as good as a holiday”. You never know what skating something different might open up, and if our conversation is anything to go on, you may even gain a trusty nollie heelflip.
Knowing that Fos has recently made some changes, and been happy with the results, prompted us to reach out, and find out more about what he has going on under his feet…
BOARD SPECIFICATIONS
MARK “FOS” FOSTER’S SKATEBOARD. HIS BOARD OF A CHOICE IS A 9.5″ SYMMETRICAL EGG
What board are you riding right now?
I’m riding a 9.5” symmetrical egg. It was a shape that we did called The Razor Egg, and because it’s my favourite shape it sort of appears in the Heroin catalogue every few seasons. We haven’t had one for a minute though, but we do have one coming up. I get them custom made so I’ve got a Swampy graphic on this one, the graphic from his first pro egg board. I got wheel wells put in it, it has razor edge on the top, and it’s on a pink bottom stain, with a yellow top stain. It’s my dream board.
Are you one for switching things up, or do you stick to the exact same thing these days?
My friend Simon True said that it’s fundamentally wrong, on all levels, to have more than one setup. He was very adamant about that, and that stayed with me for a very long time. I only had one setup because otherwise you sort of make excuses for yourself not being able to do certain tricks if you have more than one setup. Your thinking being you could do that trick if you had a smaller board, or a more squared out tail. So for a long time I didn’t have more than one setup, but I do now. I have some smaller eggs set up, I have a 9.25” symmetrical, and a 9.125” symmetrical. So I have a couple, but I always have a 9.5”.
Tell us about the egg phenomenon, it started with a Shimizu 8.5”. What was the inspiration?
Yeah, it started with an 8.5” we made for Daniel Shimizu. I rode egg shaped boards in the early 90s, and I didn’t like them. I really liked it when popsicles came out with really straight sides, and a really rounded out nose, and tail. The Zoo York ‘bridge’ board was like that, and there were quite a few boards out there from that family of shapes. I didn’t like a tapering nose really, I preferred more rounded out noses, and tails because I do lots of bluntslides, and tailslides. So Shimizu asked me to make him an egg, and I was like “fuck those things”. He actually asked for an early 90s, football-shaped board. I hate football so I said we would make it, but I was going to call it an egg. I was on a deadline so I drew this egg really quickly, and wrote Daniel Shimizu, Heroin Skateboards beneath it.
That first egg did alright, it didn’t change the world really at that time, but we sold a few. Some of our team riders liked it though. It had a really short wheelbase, and it was a really short board. It was like 31.5” long, and the wheelbase at the time would have been about 13.75”, it felt really small, I stood on one and thought “yep, I still hate these”. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I changed my mind, a couple of my riders were still skating that shape, from that first batch which I found interesting. I decided to switch things up, so I upsized the whole thing. I made the whole thing bigger, put it on a modern 14 1/8″ wheelbase, and made it 9.125” wide. At the time that was kind of a big board, and a bit of a risk, it was 32.25” long. I wanted to see if it worked. I would have been riding a board that was 8.75” wide back then, I had gone up in size with popsicles. Myself, and [Chris] Pulman used to always ride 8”’s, then I rode 8.125”’s, 8.38”’s, I also rode 8.5”’s for a long time on the lead up to 8.75”’s. I set up that first egg, and I didn’t know if I was going to like it. I already had it in my mind that I disliked the taper on the nose, and tail, and I still wanted that round fat tail for bluntslides, and tailslides.
“I SET ONE UP ANYWAY, AND I JUST DID A NOLLIE HEELFLIP IMMEDIATELY
I set one up anyway, and I just did a nollie heelflip immediately, first trick. I stood there and did a nollie heel. I only learned them when I was 45, I was taken aback, and my friend said “that might be your board”. That was the 9.125” egg, the team model, and ever since then we have always had an egg in the collection. Now we have to make six different sizes but it all evolved from there really.
Did Daniel Shimizu reference a specific board to replicate?
He didn’t, he said he wanted an early 90s football-shaped board, but didn’t really pull up one as a reference. I hadn’t heard it called that before then, football-shaped as in American football, like a rugby ball. That wasn’t in my vernacular, it’s not football-shaped to me because to me a football is round. The egg resonated with me more because of that. Now take a look at every other brand, so many of them now have an egg shape in the catalogue, that phrase never existed until we started making them, it’s pretty mental.
What year was the first appearance?
It was 2018 when the 9.125” came out, the first Shimizu board came out in 2016. It started to really kick off when we did that 10” one for Ira [Ingram], The Curb Killer one, then it really blew up, that was in 2020.
Now there’s even a 10.75”.
Yeah the Wide Boy, it’s amazing! I’ve got one of those set up too.
Who is an egg adopter from left field we may not know about?
What’s funny is when pros from other brands hit me up. I’ll be looking through our web sales and see that Curren Caples just bought a 10” egg. Axel Cruysberghs told me that he loved the egg boards too, he was buying them off the site, and I actually ended up letting him use one of our shapes. I did the graphic for Franky Villani’s board for Primitive with the bat. He also loved the egg boards and told me. I don’t usually do it but those guys use the same factory as us, and I let him use our 9.125” egg shape for that too.
Aside from nollie heelflips has the egg opened up anything else for you?
The pressure flip game is on! It’s so perfect for pressure flips. I know people hate that trick but it’s a fun one. I learned nollie pressure flips before I learned regular ones. I think as long as it’s not over-abused, and you’re not trying to do double ones, it can be a cool looking trick, look at Erik Ellington, they look amazing when he does them. It makes impossibles easier too. 360 flips are out of my jurisdiction so I can’t speak on how good it is for them. I’ve probably done eight in my life. One of them was against [Chris] Pulman actually for a bet. We were at Southbank, and he said if I did one in the next five tries he’d buy dinner. You know how cheap Chris is, I landed it on the fifth try and said ‘right we’re going to Ed’s Diner”.
Let’s talk about razor edge. How did that come about?
Chet Childress called me up hammered out of his mind, raving that we had to have a hard top edge. He’d seen it on the [Jeff] Grosso Anti Hero boards, it’s something Jeff had wanted on his boards. Other brands do it like Dogtown, you’ll see it, it’s like an unfinished top edge. With razor edge, we called it razor top at the beginning, and it was all sharp, all around, on the nose, and tail. People started complaining to me though, someone had been skating an indoor park, their board had hit a screw, and it delammed right away. That’s why I took the nose, and tail, and rounded those out like on a normal board, but it’s still got the sharp edge along the rail to the top truck bolts. I love the way your feet feel more inside the board because of it. Once you’ve skated it you don’t want to go back. Whenever I ask for samples I make sure they’re on razor edge, if I get one without it, I won’t skate it. There’s this slight edge that catches your flick with kickflips for instance, it just flicks really good. In a feeble grind when your feet are more inside the board, it feels different. I love it, I think it’s great. We will do a whole season of twelve boards and have it on everything.
Top stain preferences?
Yellow, I love yellow. I’ll do purple, pink, dark grey, or a nice kind of mid-century brown is good too.
Superstitions?
No red tops. I put it on every spec sheet that we put out, no red top stains. I read a lot of this stuff, and I think [John] Cardiel was noted as saying something about it. I always thought it was nonsense, and I did not care what the top stain was. I had a few years where I kept hurting myself, I was in and out of hospital. I had a broken wrist, I dislocated my elbow, I had a broken foot. Every time I looked over in the hospital there was a red top stain, or a red dipped board, and I just thought I’ve got to knock this on the head. Also I never have conflicting stickers on my board, another superstition from that same time. I wouldn’t have a Deathwish sticker on a Baker board for instance, I won’t have a sticker from another board brand on my board. I wouldn’t have two different shop stickers on there either, it would just be one specifically.
Concave preference?
It’s a middle ground, it’s not super mellow, or super steep, it’s just our regular concave. It’s called Mold 8, it’s the same mold we use for everything. It’s just one that works for us. When we were first looking into it, it seemed a little steeper at the time, but now it’s mellow in the grand scheme of things.
Where does wheelbase factor into things for you?
I’m 5.8” so I’m quite short. When it comes to wheelbase I’ll do anything from 14” to 14.5”. There was one time when I was skating at the House of Hammers, and I was trying a bluntslide pop out on this kerb there. I just could not do it, and it’s a trick that I should be able to do on everything. I had a 14.5” wheelbase on my board and I just couldn’t do it. I set up a new board with a 14.25” wheelbase, went back the next day, and did it immediately within three tries. Wheelbase makes a hell of a difference, and I don’t think a lot of people realise that. People design boards sometimes, and focus solely on the shape, and the wheelbase ends up being 15” as a result. That’s going to feel like a longboard.
“WHEELBASE MAKES A HELL OF A DIFFERENCE, AND I DON’T THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE REALISE THAT”
Sometimes it’s an afterthought but it’s super important, that’s why people come back and buy Heroin boards again, and again I think. They don’t necessarily know why, other than they feel really good. They like the egg shape, or the razor edge, but it can all come down to something as simple as the wheelbase really. I don’t mess around with anything over 14.5”, people have suggested 15” wheelbases in the past but that sounds terrible to me.
What’s the happiest you’ve been opening a board box?
I think the happiest I’ve been opening a box was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre collab we did. Our very first ever boards had Texas Chainsaw knock off graphics, so for it to come full circle, and to be able to do an official licensed collab, was really rad for the brand. I loved skating those boards, and I always got them put on my favourite shapes.
Favourite board you ever had growing up?
It would be an Anti Hero Sean Young, that was my holy grail board and I’ve got one now. He didn’t put out much footage, but what he did put out was incredible. He was one of my favourites of all time.
TRUCK CHOICE
MARK “FOS” FOSTER’S NEW TRUCK OF CHOICE. ACE 66 CLASSICS
What trucks are you skating right now?
That’s easy, the ACE 66 Classics, I just skate the regular ones.
When did you make the switch to ACE?
ACE were helping out a lot of my dudes, they were supporting Swampy, and Nolan, and Dead Dave, so I thought I would give some a go. I had been riding Indy’s for twenty-five years at that point, but I really liked them right out the gate. There was instantly something very familar about the way they turned. They make a great product. So many of us just rode Independent Trucks without question, we were almost against trying something else, but it’s good to remember that trying something new can have benefits. The ACE trucks thing has opened my eyes to trying out other stuff again. Slappy sent me a set of trucks recently so I’m currently trying those out on another setup.
How long does a set of trucks last you?
They last me so long, I would say definitely over two years. My boards last me a while too, if I’m enjoying skating a board I’ll still skate it until it’s done completely which could be a couple of months these days. I don’t like taking off boards if they’re okay still.
“WE WERE ALMOST AGAINST TRYING SOMETHING ELSE, BUT IT’S GOOD TO REMEMBER THAT TRYING SOMETHING NEW CAN HAVE BENEFITS”
Any tweaks to get the trucks right?
No, those ACE trucks are great straight out of the bag, they just work. I’ve got the stock bushings they come with in there, and they’re good to go. It’s been a journey to this point though, myself, Simon True, and Tamsin [Murray Leach] used to always skate the red Indy rubbers, because they were the good ones, they were softer. Then Bones came out with their bushings, and we were skating those for years, and years too. With these I haven’t had to entertain any of that, they’ve been great as they are.
Do you still use a riser?
Always, I have an 1/8” Heroin or Snot riser, and 1” bolts. My friend and I were talking about making risers, laughing that we’re going to make so much money out of it. It’s not like people need to buy new risers all the time. You get one set of risers, and they’re going to last you your whole life.
WHEELS AND BEARINGS
FOS IS SOLD ON THE NEW HEROIN WIDE BOYS WHEELS, QUANTUM ARE HIS NEW BEARINGS OF CHOICE
You have some new wheels in the running right?
I do, it’s gone phenomenally well, it’s gone crazy over here. We made these wheels called Wide Boys, so I’m skating those, I have the 54mm ones, and they’re an 83B hardness. They’re amazing, they slide real good, and they’re a little bit hard, so they’re really good in the parks. I was really nervous because I ordered quite a lot of these things. I was worrying that I was going to get really bad wheel bite but there’s been none, they’ve been great.
That 83B rating is the same scale that Bones Wheels use…
It is exactly, it translates as being about 102A or 103A, so it’s a little bit harder. They have a little bit more slide to them these ones, they slide real good. I was trying pressure flip tailslides the other day and I felt like it was going because of that 83B hardness.
You said you were skating some 48mm ones before this also?
I was, and those were great too.
When is the last time you set up a specific wheel for a specific trick, or spot?
I’m just about to. I really want to film that pressure flip tailslide. So I’m setting up a 48mm wheel, that’s that same 83B hardness, but the wheel shape is a little narrower. I think it’s going to work out a bit better, I’m going to put a little bit of wax down, and get that trick. It’s an 83B swirl, they’re Snot Wheels, and they’re called ‘the little buggers’.
What Snot Wheels technology are you proudest of?
The Wide Boys, I wanted to make the widest possible wheel. I’m looking at it now, and it looks so fucking good. It totally covers the nut, it’s really cool. It makes your board look like one of those completes from the 80s. That was the idea, to have them look like they’re from the 80s, it’s this cool looking thing that ended up being practical. My friend Paul was raving about them yesterday, saying he’d been looking for that 52mm wheel forever, but riding 60mm ones because he wanted that wide body. He didn’t realise they didn’t need to be 60mm, they just needed to have a wide running surface.
“THAT WAS THE IDEA, TO HAVE THEM LOOK LIKE THEY’RE FROM THE 80S, IT’S THIS COOL LOOKING THING THAT ENDED UP BEING PRACTICAL”
Favourite wheel colour of all time?
I like fluoro pink ones, but I like mixing them, so I’ll have three white wheels, and one pink one. I think that looks cool. Right now I’m on standard white 54mm’s. People keep asking me if I make red or black wheels, and I’m like “hell no, that sounds terrible’. I look back on old photos and I’m riding 95A Alva Speed Skins, and they’re black, and I think dude, what were you doing? I like mixing them up, I like the swirls, a nice orange and yellow swirl. I love ice blue coloured wheels too.
Favourite wheel of all time pre-Heroin?
It may have to be the SMA Gizmos, I just remember them being really rounded and rad. Lots of the wheels I design for Snot are kind of throwbacks to old wheels that are no longer with us.
There’s a new bearing in town for you as well as a truck…
There is, I’m skating these bearings called Atoms from a company called Quantum. Before this, like most people, I skated Bones Swiss bearings for about twenty years. I just thought I would give these Quantumsa go, I had heard about Quantum, and saw that they were doing interesting stuff. I tried them out and found them to be just as good as Swiss, and I really like what those guys are doing over there. They’re trying to push things, and doing some really interesting projects. They are talking about a collab at the moment, and mentioned that they could even engineer it so that the bearings work better with a 99A, or 101A wheel. They are super tech with it, they’re skateboarders, and are very scientific with their approach to all of the products. I really like what they’re doing, I’m backing the whole Quantum thing.
Shields off or on?
Shields off, it makes them easier to clean. We have been skating a DIY with a lot of cement around, and they started seizing up so I took them off, took the shields off to clean them, and they’ve just stayed off since then. They’re running good, it’s surprising to me to be saying that because nothing has ever compared to the Powell Swiss, but I think Quantum are right up there. No emails from George Powell anymore though, we’ve moved on.
HARDWARE
CLASSIC MARK “FOS” FOSTER GRIP JOB INCORPORATING PEPPER GRIPTAPE WITH BOARDIES HARDWARE
What griptape are you using nowadays?
I’ve been using Pepper grip, that Galaxy stuff, have you seen that? It has like gold flecks in the grip, it reflects, so you’ll see green, and red flecks, different colours shimmering at you. It looks really cool, and it grips great too.
You have always added your own touch to every grip job. Where are you at with grip jobs right now?
I really like having a Texas Chainsaw Massacre sticker on there. I make sure the majority of my board has griptape on it, it will be fully on the nose, and tail. Then in the middle it’s no holds barred, and I can do whatever I want. I always like having something to look at, I always use spray paint too, it doesn’t feel complete to me unless I’ve got some stripes on there. I don’t really mess with coloured tape, this Pepper Galaxy stuff is rad though, I like Shake Junt, and Mob as well,
“I ALWAYS LIKE HAVING SOMETHING TO LOOK AT, I ALWAYS USE SPRAY PAINT TOO, IT DOESN’T FEEL COMPLETE TO ME UNLESS I’VE GOT SOME STRIPES ON THERE”
Who has your favourite grip jobs out there?
Nolan Houghton, he’s one of my team riders who fucking rips, and he spends a lot of time on his boards right now, it’s amazing to see. Swampy always has good grip jobs too.
Bolts?
I’m using Boardies hardware, this little brand who sent me these bolts that I really like, got to be 1”, no bigger, no smaller. I use Boardies, or Shake Junt bolts.
Do rails ever enter the equation?
Rails don’t work for me personally. If I put rails on my board I lose all of my flip tricks which are more, and more limited as time goes on. I don’t want to be losing any of the few tricks I have so I don’t do rails normally. If I’m going to go and shoot a photo though, and I’m going to do a feeble grind, and make it go, then I’ll maybe put a rail on the back edge, it would be a very specific thing to warrant me putting a rail on.
MARK “FOS” FOSTER BACKSIDE NOSEGRINDS ON A PREVIOUS EGG. PH: MATT PRICE
Thanks for doing this Fos. We enjoyed Swolan, what’s been happening recently?
No problem at all, thank you. Nolan [Houghton] has jumped straight into filming a new part which is mental. We skated the other day. We have a rule, and the rule is to always be filming Nolan. He’s like Howard Cooke in that you can’t take your eyes off him because he’ll just do the gnarliest thing you can imagine unannounced. So the rule in our crew is to keep the camera following him. We went to the brick quarters downtown the other day, the ones [Jim] Greco skates. It was a cool down session, we’d already had lunch, and everything.
“GUY MARIANO STRAIGHT AWAY RUNS OVER, AND SAYS THAT HE’S ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE SOMEONE DO THIS”
The Dickies team were there, so we’re saying hello to all of them, and then Nolan starts trying this trick. Guy Mariano straight away runs over, and says that he’s always wanted to see someone do this. So Nolan was trying, and slamming, then suddenly he makes it. Guy [Mariano] filmed it, and was really stoked on it. Then two days later my friend who is their team manager told me that Guy keeps on talking about Nolan, and how sick he is. So that was nice, and that trick will be in his next part.
His last trick in Swolan over the spine, that you filmed an angle of was epic.
His mate from the park filmed him doing that trick three years ago, and he posted it on Instagram. I hit him up straight away to take it down so we could go there and film it properly, I really wanted the Death lens angle on it. My friend Tim filmed it, and showed it to Tony Hawk, and Tony said no-one has ever done that before, he’d never seen anyone do the 360 with the finger flip. There was part of me questioning whether his last trick should be at a skatepark, I wondered if people would be weird about it for some reason but I thought fuck it! Who cares? I’ve never seen that trick done before, no-one has ever done it as far as I know. So for a minute the Nolan, and Swampy enders were at the same skatepark because Swampy had done the kickflip lay-back boardslide at that park too. He really wanted to get a street one though which we did.
Is there anything on the immediate horizon in 2024 that you’re excited about?
There is tons of stuff, we’ve got Eggzilla 2 coming, the Eggzilla is a 14” wide egg board, we have the second one of that coming, and it has concave this time around. It has a steeper nose, and tail too, so that will be a really fun one for Spring. We’re also working on a new video as of right now too, so we’ll just see how it goes.
There’s never been a better time to buy a skateboard but there are more products out there than ever before. What would you recommend to kids reading this who may be finding all of the options out there daunting or confusing?
I used to read Skateboard! Magazine, and I used to read every single detail about everything. That led me down a path where I felt I needed to have this, and this, and this. None of what I concluded was necessarily true, I could have just bought a Roskopp ‘Face’ board, something that looked cool, and been happy, but I ended up with a G&S Bill Tocco, white Venture trucks, and Epic Brains wheels. Find out what you’re comfortable with, and what works for you would be my advice to those kids. Find something that brings you joy, and works well for you.
“I FEEL LIKE ONE DAY IN THE FUTURE AN 8.5” POPSICLE WON’T NECESSARILY BE THE STANDARD THING EVERYONE RIDES ANYMORE”
There is a lot out there you’re right, but if you look at most of it, there are a million 8.5” popsicle shaped boards out there. Most of them come from the same factory, and most of them are the same shape. I really feel like there’s a movement happening with these egg boards now, everyone is trying something a bit different. I feel like one day in the future an 8.5” popsicle won’t necessarily be the standard thing everyone rides anymore. People are looking for the next thing, and maybe they’re tired of riding the exact same thing after 25 years.
Anyone you want to thank?
Trevor at Baker Boys for custom making my shapes, Nick Zorlac at Power Distribution as always, then the wife for putting up with me tinkering around setting different boards up in the office, and cleaning bearings.
