We often pigeonhole musicians into two-dimensional characters rather than seeing them as fully realized human beings. Extracurriculars is a series that uncovers unknown, surprising, and often super weird non-musical interests of DJs and producers—and lets them explain how it all relates back to their work. DJing tends to interest people with obsessive personalities. As a record collector, the DJ is possessed by zealous consumerism, so it makes sense that this endemic intensity often manifests in other ways. Before French producer Anthony Collins started buying house records, he invested his enthusiasm in skateboarding. He has since retired his decks for turntables, and recently moved from Paris to Brooklyn, where he co-runs the Scissor & Thread label with Francis Harris. So far, business has been booming in his new neighborhood; he started a residency at the Panther Room, and he has an EP scheduled to arrive on February 24. Now that he's embarked on a new phase of his life, we asked him to reflect on his first love and muse about how his former passion relates to what he loves about DJing.
"Skating on the street is just for fun—there's no competition. There's no motivation except seeing a guy doing a crazy trick and being like, 'Fuck, I want to do that.' I remember, I would spend hours trying to do a certain trick. You try it, you almost land it, and you do that until you get it right. When I started to produce music, the first year I would spend 12 hours a day in front of my laptop trying to master the skill. I'm still very determined like that—when I'm in a groove and it's been 12 hours, I don't want to do anything else.""When I DJ, when I mix two records, I always compare it to when I was doing a trick while skateboarding. When you do a skateboard trick, you can focus on having a really super cool style while doing a simple flip, and it would look really cool. Or you can focus on the technique, and have perfect technique while doing a very complicated trick. When I'm DJing, it's the same thing; depending on how you mix two records, it could be super stylish, or it could be technically perfect—at least, that's the way I think when I DJ. In my head, when I do a cool mix, and the two tracks blend perfectly and I pull it off, I'm like, 'Fuck, this is really cool,' and I'm enjoying it as much as I did when I pulled off a cool skateboarding trick.""Back then, skateboarding didn't have the cool factor the way it does now. It was totally different—just by the way we dressed, we looked like shitbags, with our big baby pants, and shoes held together by tape. I was not into girls, and girls were not at all into skateboarders. It was a totally different vibe. Now, skateboards look cool; they wear skinny jeans, Vans is a cool brand, and skateboarding makes you cool. "Connect with Anthony Collins:
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"When I start to do something I really like, it becomes my whole life. At one point, around 13 years old, I got into skateboarding, and until I was 18, it was my thing, day and night. I would sleep with the skateboard next to my bed, and I would wake up, skate—I wouldn't even walk, I would only skate. I got really into it, and was sponsored by a local shop in the South of France. My father lived in New York, so I could come all the time and skate in the city."Pro skateboarder get sponsored by a brand, and the brands make teams of skateboarders. Often, these guys as a team would tour around the world, filming and stuff. So when the team would come to Marseille, I would know about it because I was in the scene. I would go there and see them skate, and skate with them. When I was in New York, sometimes I would skate on my own at famous spots, and famous teams like Zoo York would be there, so I would skate with those dudes."
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