I met Cameron Starke on April 20, or 420 if you’re into that stoner kind of thing. Thanks to all the stoners in the world, it makes it easy to remember our Bro-Anniversary.  I remember I was helping a friend take some photos for Blindside’s Layton store and Starke came along to help direct people. He was recovering from an injury so he wasn’t skateboarding that day. The most memorable part of the day, however, was watching a young couple on fixed gear bicycles run into each other while riding and crash in the middle of the road near Trolley Square. Basically, if you spend the whole time laughing the first time you meet someone, you know you’re going to be great friends.

That was two years ago, and I’ve learned a lot of things about Starke since then. One of the things I know is that when he’s not injured, he’s an amazing skateboarder. Most of the time when you skate with him, he just mills around and has fun. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he’ll do a hardflip—not one of those wacky sideways hardflips either—a real, proper Mike Carroll-flick style hardflip.

Starke is a classic skate rat who can skate pretty much everything. He’s underrated as shit. Starke will silently kill it for years just because he loves to skate. He’s a skater’s skater if I ever met one. He skates because he wants to, not because he’s competitive or wants an energy drink sponsor. So, I’d like to introduce you, ladies and gentlemen, to Mr. Cameron Starke.

SLUG: How did you “discover” skateboarding?
Starke: I discovered it twice. The first was when I was seven years old and my older cousin Levi was always skating around. I just thought it was the coolest thing ever and I really looked up to him. Then when I moved from SLC to Layton, I met two cool dudes named Scott Pulley and Josh Gailey. Josh was my neighbor and had rails and ramps and the whole nine yards. So I asked for a skateboard for my next birthday. Got it from the very first Blindside ever in Kaysville and was hooked.

SLUG: I’ve noticed the rest of Utah seems kind of oblivious to the amount of amazing skateboarders in Davis/Weber Counties. Who are some people from that area that rip, known and unknown?
Starke: Omar Budge, Jay Mendez, Issac Raymond and Colton Woods. Those dudes always blow my mind and keep it real. Watch out for these guys, they are terrorizers.

SLUG: What are the three best cities outside of Utah you have skateboarded in and what makes them amazing?
Starke: Buffalo, New York is the best, hands down. Just the East Coast’s rough, sketchy spots are a blast. You have to be very creative and know how to have fun on your board, and that’s what I am all about. Not to mention the best homies ever. San Diego, Calif. is always a good time—awesome weather, the beach, great skate scene and a lot of fun spots. Also Washington Street Park rules. DIY or DIE! Evanston, Wyo. for one reason and that one reason is THE HELL HOLE.
 
SLUG: Share, if you will, the story of what happened at the Motörhead concert recently?
Starke: OK, so [at] the end of January, a ton of homies, my lady friend and myself all head down to Vegas to see Motörhead. Keep in mind that I have been waiting and trying to see them for five years and something has always been in the way, but not this time. I mean, Lemmy is 66 so come on—got to see him while he is still rockin’. So we get to Vegas and do Vegas right: 99-cent margaritas all day just having a blast. Do the whole Vegas night thing: roulette tables and slots. Next day, we get feeling crunchy and we head to the show. Right off the bat, I run into Lemmy, slap him a high five and then it’s on! Valient Thorr started the show off. About the fourth song in, which was “Heatseeker” (one of my favorite songs), shit starts getting wild. Then I guess I pissed the wrong dude off because BAM! I woke up in a wheelchair outside having no clue what was happening. So from what I have heard, because I can’t remember, I got punched in the jaw which knocked me out cold. Then the story is unclear because I have been told I just tripped over people and hit my head, but also I heard I got tossed head first by the same dude. Also, someone told me they heard the dude Donkey Kong-ed me, lifted me up and slammed me down like a barrel. So, unclear of that, I woke up talking to bouncers and EMTs. I cannot remember anything, had no idea where I was or what was happening. Finally, after time passed by I was able to talk them into letting me back in to see Motörhead. I had to sit up in the seats, but that was alright with me because I was not missing this for anything. Omar and Kasey (Cloward) both sat with me and Motörhead killed it. They even played “Overkill” for the encore: the one song I was screaming at them to play the entire show.