Who We Are
Pardon My Thrashing is a collective of like minded skaters whose core lies deeply in the belief that fostering a community of skateboarding is as important as the act of skateboarding itself. Community drives passion, motivation and therefore thrashing. PMT is the sharing of the pure excitement of skateboarding through the camaraderie fostered by critical mass.
It’s no accident that many PMT’ers are of an older generation of skaters. A good portion of us have re-kindled that passion upon meeting others getting back into the fray at the same time. Its pretty inspiring to be part of a group of skaters rolling up at a park that are older than many of the parents watching their children. However there is no reverse ageism happening here, many of us have found their way to the collective purely based of the exuberance for skateboarding as it was back in the day; fun, inclusive and creative with no rules.
Pardon My Thrashing ‘the company’ is born from all of these feelings. It’s an extension of these passions into the physical world. The art and the shapes of our first boards are burned into all skaters’ brains. Everyone can remember their first decks with great detail; how it felt to stare at the graphic, associating our skateboard personality with those qualities. We aim to rekindle those feelings with art and shapes that inspire, just like the old ones did.
Founding Member Bios:
Nick Nummerdor:
Nick Nummerdor is a filmmaker based in Chicago hailing from West Michigan where he grew up skating in regional competitions dating back to the late 80s. His parents built him and his brother a mini ramp in their backyard in 1989 that quickly made him the most popular kid in the neighborhood. His first board was a Variflex Ramp Rat.
After moving to Chicago he started the Chicago Youth Skateboard Project that has hosted dozens of demos at events like Lollapalooza. One of Nick’s short films played at film festival hosted by PMT founder Rich Salamander in 2010 and the rest is history. Nick started skating regularly again while still running Little Cabin Films and directing his first feature film: Vannin’.
Joe Miller:
Joe Miller lives and works in/out of Portland, OR. He’s been riding a skateboard with varying degrees of success ever since he got a Varaflex “Terror” board in the 4th grade, but he’d rather talk about his second pro model board, Omar Hassan’s first model on Blockhead with that great Ron Cameron graphic. Skateboarding was his first obsession, equal in intensity only to art-making and building things. He draws, paints, sculpts, photographs, saws, hammers, spits and cusses. He falls out of synch and gets pissy when his hands and feet aren’t busy. In his formative years he built a couple of crappy miniramps and had a hand in the creation/destruction of a few DIY parks in Southeast Texas. For years he taught skateboard fabrication in Chicago, where he fell in with the PMT crew. He currently teaches homeless and at-risk youth.
Theo Katsaounis:
Theo Katsaounis started skating in 1987. His first board was a Powell Peralta ‘Per Welinder’ street style. That thing was almost as big as he was at the time but he stuck with it and grew into it. Then the pants got bigger and wheels got smaller and we know how that turned out… After that indispensable chapter he took most of the aught’s off and traded his board for a pair of drum sticks. He was lucky enough to travel the world in multiple bands during that time. That part of his childhood dream was met and it was time to start skating again. It was around the age of 31 when he and some fellow PMTers started to dabble in the magic again. He figured ‘why only hurt in the hands and wrists when you can hurt all over?’ Revisiting this old chapter in his life has been the best catharsis and is forever grateful to thrash amongst his fellow PMTers.
Greg Roberts:
Back in 1985 I set foot on a friend’s skateboard for the first time and I was instantly hooked. Nothing interested me more than that piece of wood with wheels. It’s all I could think about. Whenever I would go to my friend’s house I would ride his board in the garage and driveway. I had to have one for myself. On my 10
thbirthday I got my first board. Right away I ditched my bike and Legos and built some ramps! Riding up and down the ramps was fun but skating in the streets is where it was at for me. The Bones Brigade were a big influence for me. Each guy had such a personality that they were easy to relate to. Street skating was kind of second class back then as vert got most of the coverage, so I just took to the streets doin’ my own thing. I was good at doing wheelies on my bike and found that I could do them on a skateboard too. I could ride really fast and clear stairs and jump off loading docks. I had a fascination with freestyle too which influenced the technical side while still jumping off stuff!
Life at home was rough and complicated. Skateboarding got me through some rough times I tell ya. I can honestly say that skateboarding saved my life. Although it has taken some toll on my body with bone breaks in the double digits and a metal encased ankle. My love for skating could see past the pain and see the opportunity. Not the opportunity for sponsorship. I had a few shop sponsors along the way as well as flow from a major board company. Honestly their meddling in what I wanted to do for myself just muddied up the waters. As long as I had good health insurance I was fine not being told when to skate and what tricks were cool. Earlier than most of my peers I had a full time job and was supporting myself. Gotta get that insurance and money for boards! Looking back, I did work way too much. I have a lot of 80 hour weeks in my past. Skateboarding has been the foundation for my good sense of direction, gotten me in trouble, gotten me out of trouble, given me something to look forward to, provided great stories and experiences and introduced some amazing friendships. I am now at 30+ years of skating and I still can’t get enough. Thank you skateboarding.
Rich Salamander:
First skateboard was a Red Santa Cruz Slasher Keith Meek w/ Red Gulwing Trucks, and Red Bones Wheels. Earliest memory of skateboarding was hearing skateboarders skate by outside his window and wanting to go outside. Watched Photographer/Wellborn Clothing founder Marfa Capodanno session up church parking lots as a kid. Convinced that Christian Slater was totally relatable in Gleaming the Cube because he really dressed that way, as well as Wabo. Amazed at the power sliding sneak up to the house, and finding out wig wearing Rodney Mullen was the one flat grounding. Also watching Tony Hawk play chicken in the Pizza Hut truck was a truly defining cinematic moment for him. Understanding that Hosoi was always the winner of the highest half pipe air contest, made him think he was super human. Related mostly to Jeremy Klein in the friendship dynamic with Heath Kirchart in THE END part, and was swept up in Heath mania. Flattered Heath when meeting him about him having the best taste in songs for parts, the best Queen + Bowie, then Morrissey. Seeing the Geoff Rowley Vans double page ads were always eyebrow raising. Making the connection with Mark Gonzales identifying as an Artist made a huge impression on Rich. Also finding out that Mark Gonzales was not only Beck’s music video ‘Pay No Mind’ but also drawing the cover of the Thrasher Magazine cover ‘Do I Look Like A Street Skater’ and appearing in KIDS taking a roll on a 12 stair. Learned to ollie from overhearing that the placement of the front foot was a deciding factor in height. Ollieing has been great to learn and most times land, as well as what Grosso calls the easy ‘Backside Grind’. What still motivates him, is the sheer amazement of simply rolling, then walking, then skating down the street. Sometimes a skateboard feels like it’s the only thing you need, and feels like it’s the only way one should travel, but whether it’s long or short distance, skating at anytime, when you can get it in, it’s what he enjoys to to do most. Proud founding member of a group that is an outreach tool for other like minded people with renewed skateboarding interests. Since he was always inspired by skaters in Daley Plaza who skated at night during the late 90’s, he was eventually motivated that later in life, finding other like minded individuals to skate with was not only still in the cards, but totally worth the wait.
Donny Mahlmeister
I don’t know what possessed me to skate, but I remember begging my parents for a deck around ’85. When my first sister was born around that time, my mom gave my brother and I the choice of one present each, which seems kind of odd now, but I quickly moved on my chance to own a skateboard. After a year or two of putzing around on that blue Variflex, I saved up for my first real deck: a rainbow Gator, with purple Gullwings and Pink Wheels, all perfectly matching. I made friends quickly with the other skaters in my suburban neighborhood. I distinctly remember the feeling of camaraderie while being a skater. Its as if everyone breathed the same, unsaid language. We had a few great years, but in Jr. High and Highschool it became very uncool to skate. I stuck with it for a while, even while falling towards the fringe. But, after a while most guys fell out of sight and I lost touch with skating, probably around ’95 or so.
Fast forward to 2012, the Bones Brigade documentary comes out; Lance Mountain is crying, Rodney Mullen is a savant and the fire gets stoked again. I post a picture on Facebook of myself dropping in on a mini for the first time in a long while, and along comes Rich Salamander. Without hesitation, he adds me to this awesomely weird Facebook group called Pardon My Thrashing. We organize our first trip to the skatepark, and I’m more excited for anything I’ve done in a long time. Its that feeling from the neighborhood almost 30 years later but I get to drink beers and eat pizza afterwords. Sign me up. I’ve been going strong ever since.
