Dean, getting right down to biz, why don’t we start off with you telling the readers a little something about yourself; who is Dean Coward?

I’m a 17 year old blader from Orange County California (the home of Ryan Sheckler), who is attending Saddleback College and skating every chance that I can.

Currently, the entire rollerblading industry thinks that you are a raging alcoholic. Your “drunk edits” have given you quite the bad rep. I actually was at a skatepark the other day and saw a fourth grader drink an entire bottle of vodka then proceed to do a miszou. When I asked him what was causing such bad behavior, all he could say was “Dean Coward rules!” Why don’t we clear the air, you’re not actually drunk in your drunk edits are you? 😉

Ha,ha, i’m glad you asked this question. Drunk edits came about when I started filming skating on my cheap digital camera at the skatepark one day. Adam Brierley told me to make an edit from the footage and call it “Drunk Edit,” for no apparent reason. As time went by I started making more edits, the skating got more silly, as well as the songs I used for them. Now it’s a standard to do funny tricks (pencil grinds, stair glides, etc.) in the drunk edits. No one is drunk in drunk edits, that’s just the name we chose for them because it goes with the theme of the type of blading going on in them. For some reason, some people take these edits seriously when it’s pretty obvious we’re just doing silly skating and having a good time. But expect big things in the future of Drunk Edits…

You’ve been repping Valo pretty hard for quite some time and word on the street is you are the newest flow rider for Casualty Clothing, you must be feeling quite accomplished as of now, but what’s next? Do you see yourself staking a claim in rollerblading’s future?

Man, that’s a hard question to answer. I definitely feel accomplished so far, I would’ve never thought that I would be at this point in skating when I first started, especially at this young of an age. It’s crazy how fast everything happened, but being able to skate for someone that I looked up to while growing up is an incredible feeling, and I’m very thankful for that. As for what’s next, I’m filming as much as I can for the next Valo video, 4Life, as well as the Brierley’s future project, the Casualty video, the Drunk video, and also traveling as much as I can. As for blading’s future, it’s hard to keep up with people like Jon Jon, Stokely, and Michael Collins, but I’m definitely going to try my hardest to get out there, shred hard, and leave a positive impression on people. Having good people backing you is also a huge motivation, which I’m fortunate enough to have.

You recently spent a week week at Woodward with Valo; what was the most memorable experience of the whole trip?

That whole trip was a blast, but the most memorable moments were probably doing a “sober” drunk edit with Broskow, scoring a sweet P.T Cruiser shirt at the thrift store for 81 cents, and being tattle told on for drunk edits by a fellow rollerblader…

That’s awesome. All of the one clip promos that Amir keeps releasing are keeping a lot of people on the edge of their seats, when will “Strange Creatures” be finished and released?

He’s aiming to finish it in Februaury, so hopefully then. All the footy is looking pretty stylin’, so it should be a sweet online video.

Ok, visualize this: Adam Brierley is walking down the street, a man in a trench coat approaches him and says “Tell me a really embarrassing story about Dean Coward, or I will show you what is under this coat!” Fearing for loss of his sight, Adam must respond. What would he say?

I think he would tell the story of how I used to look. I wore Dickies slacks, had curly blonde surfer locks, wore visor beanies down to my eyebrows, and wore size 11 Remz and USDs.

I think we all have had some funky steez at one point or another. When I first started skating I wore cargo shorts and huge Pro-tec knee pads. How long have you been skating?

I’ve been skating for around 9 years. It’s hard to give a definite answer because I did a lot of other sports, but I believe that’s accurate.

Like many other rising stars in our industry, not only do you blade and put your neck on the line filming for videos and traveling for contests, but you’re going to school. Is it hard to balance your time between being a diligent student and up and coming pro skater?

So far it’s been relatively easy to balance the two. I take morning classes, so I can get out at a good time and still have time in the day to do what I’d like. Plus, there’s always the weekend to get the real deal shred sesh to go down.

Final question, simply put; Why do you love rollerblading?

I love blading because it has been who I am for over half of my life. I’ve met lifelong friends, traveled to places I would’ve never gone to before, and met countless amounts of people, all from skating. It’s caused me to have a much different outlook on life, which is something I would not have gained with anything else.

All right, we’ll wrap it up. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions Dean. I hope you decide to make a trip out to Phoenix sometime soon and shred a Revolution TNS with all of us desert rats. Anyone out there you would like to thanks or any shout-outs, here’s your chance!

Thank you guys, and I will most definitely be making a trip out there soon! Shout outs to Valo, Themgoods, Jon Julio, Brandon Smith, Adam and Keith Brierley, Matt Luda, SDSF skateshop, Amir Amadi, Joey G and Casualty, Chris Tinsley, Garlinghouse, Faylay, Scottie B, Davis, everyone at ONE, and everyone who likes the drunk edits.

Interview by Ben Karris