The Other Mike Carroll Interview Part III

Yeah, silent partner’s just kind of like another word for the brains of the entire operation. Megan’s Baltimore always running around like she’s all busy, like, “Ohhh, I have so much stuff to do.” And Rick always acts like, “It’s so hard to skate and do this.” But I never complain. I’m just constantly coming up with new ways to do things, and hiring and firing. So, if you want to call that a silent partner, that’s fine.

How is it dealing with all the pressures of being so involved in the decision making and then going out and trying to do your thing?

That’s just who I am.

It’s second nature to you?

Yeah, I mean there’s really nothing I can’t do-run the business, make a video. It’s almost boring.

Unidentified interviewer: So you do all that stuff? Yeah, I mean, like some people will say, “Megan does this, Rick does that,” but it’s me. Except for those Michael Bolton shipping boxes, that was definitely not me.

What happens when something like that slips through the cracks?

Um …

You’ll just bitch about it, huh?

muffled laughter

Yeah, I mean I had to make it really clear that if anything like that ever happened again … you know …

Unidentified interviewer: So did it bother you when they came out with the Michael Bolton shirts?


That was kind of the capper to all your bitching: how that could possibly have happened. Spike said that it should be taken to another level. Sort of an inner-company competition …

And we’ve all seen Spike’s ideas.

So do you guys have inner-company battles and competitions over who claims which ideas?

No. Ever since the time Spike actually wanted to do the skating and the video, too, we kind of better defined everything.

That’s weird, I’ve never seen a video part of Spike.



Yeah, we’re kind of keepin’ it under wraps right now.

Unidentified interviewer: Is he gonna have a long part?

He’s not gonna have a part. We told him, “Look, you’re not one of the skaters.” You’ve probably seen how he tries to dance; he tries to do everything. It’s like, “Hey buddy, mellow out!”

That’s pretty interesting.

Unidentified interviewer: So Mike, what’s it like working with Aaron Meza?

It’s good. I don’t know if you guys know about the time I took Jake Rosenberg outside and kicked his ass. Well, I’ve been trying to avoid that with Aaron Meza, but other than that it’s pretty good. He’s kind of like Spike, too. “I have to be on the cover of the catalog,” and that kind of crap, but it’s good.

Unidentified interviewer: Is Aaron a cool guy? Or does he think he’s cute, like he always tells you? Because he always tell me that.

The girls seem to really like him. All the girls who work at Madison in L.A. really liked him until they found out that he doesn’t drink, then they were like, “Oh my god, wussy-boy!” So that was that. But he had quite a following up until that point.

How is it that Aaron can film the team even though they don’t like him? How does that relationship work?

Well, it’s not that they don’t like him, they’re just jealous of him because he’s so hot.

In what way?

Unidentified interviewer: In his body, his looks, his personality, his skating?

All of it, just all of it.

Unidentified interviewer: Is it the way he holds the camera?

Everything. There’s nothing he does wrong.