Coming off of video parts in Child Support, Down with People and This Video Sucks, Joe Sexton, with his heavily skate influenced style and approach to filming, dropped a hammer with the coveted last part in The People Crew's latest video Cheers. From 100 plus tries and full 8 hour work day long sessions, Joe locked mind blowing tricks one after another. After being there in person for pretty much every shot I now have the chance to get inside his head to see what it took mentally to get the tricks for his part.

Interview by Seth Huot

How was filming last season? Different for you than This Video Sucks or Down with People?
The main difference was the crew. I filmed with [Jon] Kooley and Jordan [Mendenhall] a lot. Last year I was just coming off an injury, so I was really hesitant hitting everything. For Cheers, I was healthy and excited. Everything went a bit more smoothly.

Did you have a specific game plan last season?
Yeah kinda. I wanted to do an all handrail part.

js_an_dsc_2297.jpgOn our first trip, in Newfoundland you said something like, “I want a Zero part.” I think you were watching Jamie Tancowny’s part over and over again at the time. What did that mean?

Well, that Strange World movie came out. I just thought it was cool, because those guys are really known for gnarly handrail skating. I just thought it would be cool, and I mentioned something to Pierre, and he was like, “Yeah it’s a cool idea.” I kind of dug myself into a hole and had to do that all year. It worked out though, and it was fun.

Do you feel that session during your last two tricks was your biggest battle?
For sure. I was just done after that. Eight hours up and down the stairs, and I was also delirious from being in Finland. That triple kink took forever. I’ve wanted to go back to that rail ever since the first year I hit it. When something like that is building up in your head the whole time and you get to it, and it’s looking like you’re not going to get it, that’s heart breaking.

Did you have ideas and tricks planned out, or were you just like, “Let’s see what we can find?” We went to a lot of those spots for This Video Sucks. I remembered what we did last year, and what we didn’t get to do. When we went this time, I was healthy and psyched, but I was excited to see what the other guys would do too. To go back to Finland with JP, just to see what he had up his sleeve again was totally exciting.

You went to Sweden for your first time. Did you have preconceived notions of what spots that you had seen in videos would be like in real life?
Usually there is always something weird like, “Man that looks perfect.” Then you get there, and there’s a pole at the bottom that didn’t look bad before. But, with those rails really are amazing. All of them are so perfect. It was dead on how I thought it would be.

Do you see yourself spending some time there in the future if the conditions are right?
Yeah for sure. I love those kinds of places. You don’t get busted as much, and that’s where you can really disappear. Nobody can call you on a cell phone. You’re just with your homies in the middle of nowhere hitting handrails. It’s so awesome.

With the way people are watching web videos these days, do you think a 30- 35 minute snowboard video is going to be a thing of the past?
I don’t know. On one hand, I love waiting for the DVD. You get the disc and get to to hold it in your hand. Nothing can beat that. With the web, it’s just out there. Anyone can see it. On the other hand, nobody is going to buy a movie if they hate every rider in it. But, they’ll watch a two-minute video part of some guy even though they hate him to be like, “Well let’s see what he just did.” I’m still just a little kid though. I’m still just as hyped as I’ve always been. I used to go into shops when I was a little kid and buy every single video, like all seven of them. I’d just go home and lock myself in my room and watch them.

You grew up in suburban Minneapolis. What ski hills did you ride?
I grew up riding Bucktail. I lived in Apple Valley, so that was my first mountain. I rode there a while, and then met Jonas Michelot, and a couple other Highland homies. They were really good and fun to ride with. A lot of Highland kids don’t complain that it’s not groomed. It’s an awesome place. There are tons of kids and they’re all hyped.

Do you think the rails and the city riding helped increase the popularity of the sport or scene in Minnesota?
It was so weird because we’d all been snowboarding there for so long. We’d hit some rails and then the big dogs would come in town, and we’d be dumbfounded. You guys knew so much stuff that we didn’t. Seeing magazine shots of Minneapolis, everyone was like, “wow.” We’d all try finding the same spots that you guys in Mack Dawg were hitting. We’d spy on you guys from across the parking lot.

Kids started filming their own tricks on those spots, and it became a really cool scene. Minneapolis was the shit. I think if I didn’t grow up here, I wouldn’t be living here. I don’t think if I grew up somewhere in Salt Lake, I would move to a place like Minnesota. This is my home, though, and I’m going to live here forever.

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Joe would like to thank and give a shout out to: the big guy, mom, dad, my brother dan, and sister katie, snowboard mag, all my friends, hodge, vik, riley, dandan, jake oe, dan m, jonas, 1817, the people crew, seth, jp, jeremy, simon, biittner, pierre minhondo, justin eels, sam hiltler, sean johnson, brad richmond, scott ladwig, scott oreshnick, george kleckner, brian cook, brad alband, mike regan, everyone at sole tech, roberta rodger, mike basher, stepchild , 32, etnies, von zipper, union, nixon, bear mtn., cal-surf, magicalgogo. anyone i left out, you know who you are!!!