Monday, July 22, 2013

Mike Smith.



Ape Rock.

Liberty was Mike Smith's company in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For a while Mike was partnered with Steve Rocco's burgeoning World Industries empire and that resulted in some funny ads that you will see over the course of the week.

Mike was pro for Madrid prior to starting Liberty. He invented the frontside Smith grind and the Smithvert. He was also on Speed Wheels and had a part in Speed Freaks. The only other pro on Liberty was Todd Congelliere. The ams included Jake Sharp, Chad Fernandez, Erik Villalobos, Ofer Moses, Erik Ricks, and Ron Resurreccion. There possibly was a Liberty video in addition to a section in World Industries' Rubbish Heap.

I'm making a few educated guesses this week so holler if anything is a little off.

Transworld - February 1991 Volume 9 Number 2

2 comments:

chuck rich said...

Mike Smith still trys to put out some Liberty boards from time to time. he once told me Liberty is like a light switch, its always there sometimes its on and sometimes its off. Liberty Horror is the video you talked about and some parts are up on youtube. i just dug out a OG Todd Congelliere deck i posted and i have some Mike Smith Decks as well. this Liberty week should be a good one.

Skately said...

That light switch analogy is great. I think one of Cliver's Disposable books mentioned how Liberty would go months without any product, but then Mike would always get some money and make a few more boards.