Jeremy Wray on Rebooting his skate career

[SneakySecrets]

If we all chipped in, could the Slap message board sponsor him? 

[stokedtrout]

Sounds like a nigel no-friends

[Nth syd bear]

I think Allen summed it up pretty well in my opinion

[TheDraught]

somehow this thread made me think of a picture of Jonas Wray skating a salt lake and I'm just gonna put this in here.

[dirtyweemidden]

With all due respect, he already said this in a Jenkem interview:

That Jenkem interview came out in December of 2011, roughly seven years ago. SEVEN. A solid year before Pretty Sweet came out. Grant Taylor had just won SOTY. Dill and Ave still rode for Alien Workshop. Speaking of which, that year brought us Transworld’s ‘The Cinematographer Project’, where Jake Johnson and Gilbeet Crockett went pro, and the world realized Dyrdek and Berra weren’t on AWS. Just to show you how fucking long he’s been saying this, and how much time he’s had to film a part. Or just a few tricks. Or a single trick.

Get off your fucking ass, tag along on some sessions, call up some filmers. For fucks sake, you live in Southern California. I know of four other filmers within a half hour drive of me (five if you count me). That number goes way up if you count people with smart phones. If I wanted to, I could find someone to film my ass tomorrow. And it’s going to be hovering around 35 tomorrow, not in sunny california. And I’m not Jeremy fucking Wray.

Shit or get off the pot. You have the means. Stop bitching and unwillingly tying whining on Instagram to the water tower Ollie or the Carlsbad line.

nailed it!

i want to see a new J Wray part as much as the next guy, but people have had entire careers come up and disapear in the time hes been saying he has another part in him.. clearly noone is going to hook him up BEFORE a part comes out, maybe if he puts his money where his mouth is & films a part then the tables may turn, who knows. but the woe is me act is getting old

[childhood]

Yeah love Jeremy Wray obviously, but what Allen said is pretty spot on. That Jonas photo is great too!

[Sleazy]

definitely deserves to be on a legend. guy seems cool, seems like he takes his sponsors and brands seriously and contributes heavily on design and marketing and all that. can't possibly be more kooky than hosoi, compare their nine clubs.

who does legend squads? element seems like an obvious choice.

[givecigstosurfgroms]

please please please please please

[dirtyweemidden]

definitely deserves to be on a legend. guy seems cool, seems like he takes his sponsors and brands seriously and contributes heavily on design and marketing and all that. can't possibly be more kooky than hosoi, compare their nine clubs.

who does legend squads? element seems like an obvious choice.

is that a joke?
Element was the brand that put him in pro purgatory and started this whole thing

[the snake]

Allen got tongue-punched right in da brain, we want to see a new Jeremy Wray part ! Hell yeah !

[conqueso]

his last part was what like 15 years ago? yeah right lol

[heckler]

Allen nailed it. I think Jeremy's post (a cover "or three?" C'mon) is pretty kooky and I absolutely think we're not getting half of the story of what went down between him and Element.

I also don't think Jeremy Wray has done anything in the past thirteen years to justify this kind of blind praise he usually receives on the boards. Entire careers have been born and died since 2005. If he can still skate and drop a part, sure, throw him a bone, but constantly talking about how "ready" he is to film and proceeding to go seven-year-stretches only skating flat is kinda lamer than just fading out or slowing down.

[able]

I absolutely worshipped Jeremy Wray in the 90’s but blaming Element entirely for his dwindled career is a bit of a stretch. If he was still skating all the time and killing shit he’d still have a career (ex. Daewon). The combo of his talents and his name would sell boards for decades. Element deserves only partial blame in my opinion

EDIT: Allen’s post is spot on

[playemright]

Its thank you or nothing, dudes old, he needs to take that.

[WarmUpZone]

Jeremy Wray is clearly still skating (what with this two years of trick-a-days on IG), but perhaps not at a level that would get him legit pro status again. Maybe some "Legends" or "Icons" thing, but those are grandfathered in more or less.

He absolutely should start filming and release a legit solo part through Thrasher (or just on his own website or something), and use that to rebuild his career if he can. I don't see why Wray Bros. can't make that happen. It's a totally reasonable goal.

Then we can start talking interviews and a cover (or three). If he had just posted that he had set a goal of having a full part in 2019 I would have been thrilled, but throwing in other stuff has me leaning towards us getting nothing out of him but IG skatepark fun clips... again.

[Dorje Drolo]

Sometimes you gotta know when to let go of the dream. He had his moment, it ran its course, now time to let go. I was J Wray fan back in the day but this is pretty pathetic. Element isn't to blame because if you're out skating, getting coverage, filming, etc then you'll still have a career. I don't even think he was skating much when he got on Element so if anything they threw him a bone. The type of skating he did is the type that drastically slows down as you get older. Plus he dealt with injuries. At his peak shit was bananas but that was literally the mid 90's, that ship has sailed.

[cloudy]

Dude has ripped so hard and has been saying "I'm not done! I need a sponsor!" in interviews for years now.

I can only assume that one of these is true:

1) he's not skating that well anymore.
2) there's some aspect of his personality that we can't see that makes no one want to work with him
or
3) he's actually the super nice, creative awesome dude he appears to be & he just doesn't fit into the kookfest that is the skateboard industry now.

My money's on #3.

#2 made me think of elissa steamer. (ha. #2. steamer. ok, very funny guys.) after bootleg dissolved, no one picked her up for like two years, until one day it dawned on jamie thomas, "wait, why doesn't she have a board sponsor?" then he put her on zero. even shared a part with the chief in strange world. when things fizzled out with zero, she had the humility to quit (as opposed to getting kicked off), even without having another board sponsor lined up. then she went like five years without having any sponsors and just worked on gnarhunters and put out some instagram clips here and there. it was clear she still ripped though. 2018 comes around and her buddy shane heyl hooks her up with a guest board for shake junt, which she filmed a sick edit for. a couple weeks later, baker announces she's the newest pro on the team. i think it's pretty clear that people like working with/being around her.

anyways, that's all to say that the lack of homies looking out for j-wray means something. what, i don't know. danny and collin somehow have a spot on plan b for pat duffy? and they released a range of sheffey pro model decks just this year? yet no love for j-wray?

[Willie]

I'd love to watch a new Wray part but I don't think "Give my money and I'll make a part" is how the skate economy works in 2018.

[Manolo]

I also don't think Jeremy Wray has done anything in the past thirteen years to justify this kind of blind praise he usually receives on the boards.

I think he's getting praise for what he did in the past which pretty damn impressive and still relevant if you ask me.
We could point out other pros who practically don't skate and still have pro models out or just got on adidas haha.
So why not this guy who still rip and is actually motivated to film, instead of doing interviews and talking about it?

I agree the post is excessive and he's definitely reaching too far, but the guy has always been super humble, i feel like he's just trying to motivate himself.

[Robert Baratheon]

Noticed he wrote "No, thank you" on Thank you's thank you post.  Implying the man
has taste, manners and possible dignity still in tact.

Or he's more difficult to work with one would think.

[Zumiez And Xanax]

they owe

[verylowimpact]

Unless we don't all see something from inside the industry about Mr Wray that all those industry kooks may see, this man should not have to try this hard to film anything insane/unsafe or anything even close. He should be getting paid already for occasionally putting out mellow cool clips.

He is a straight up GOAT.

The worlds so skewed and fucked.

[Manolo]

Unless we don't all see something from inside the industry about Mr Wray that all those industry kooks may see, this man should not have to try this hard to film anything insane/unsafe or anything even close. He should be getting paid already for occasionally putting out mellow cool clips.

He is a straight up GOAT.

The worlds so skewed and fucked.

Allen pointed out valid points, but this is also true.

[schralp pal]

There was some day in the life you tube when he was working on Wray bros and he lived like a hoarder - that really stuck with me, like something is off.

Anyway I think besides all the big shit he did, he’s also a style icon, even if he’s low impact today that is marketable. The stuff he did down Carlsbad is beautiful.

But he should film first, talk later. He doesn’t need a sponsor to film.

[Nosferatu]

corey duffel filmed two parts this year...

[augustmoon]

i love J Wray, but this aint a good look

[huggs]

i love J Wray, but this aint a good look

tend to agree. it's like a gofundme without the link

dude's a legend, changed skateboarding forever. easily the gnarliest dude i have seen skate in person. but pretty sure he's 40+ with a family so. def keep skating but time to look at it as a hobby, not a career path. if you're out grinding constantly (which isn't the case here, as per Allen's post) and things start happening, great; if not be thankful and keep it moving. sucks there's such much money now and a lot of legacy dudes missed out on the big checks – i mean it's gotta be tough watching others from his generation stay relevant and get to cash in, but. let's keep it real here

[Trickflip]

I've seen Wray skate at parks I've gone to. He's still skating and has it, maybe he's just been hitting the parks too much and is hopefully over it? One could wish but let's hope we get to see Wray street footage soon

[Buck Russell]

There was some day in the life you tube when he was working on Wray bros and he lived like a hoarder - that really stuck with me, like something is off.

can we dig this up? would put the whole thing to bed if true.

[poor alice]

corey duffel filmed two parts this year...

And doesn’t he only get Royalties from a sponsor who won’t even involve him in their video projects.