Kevin Kowalski Welcome To The Team

Kevin Kowlaski’s unique bag of tricks and creative approach to navigating the massive concrete skateparks that litter his coastal Oregon stomping grounds has paved the way for a successful career as a pro skateboarder. A Kevin K sighting at Lincoln City, WJ, or Harrisburg often has the whole park stopping to wonder “how”? We are incredibly excited to welcome Kevin to our skate team, and we can't wait to see what kind of unskated spots he finds or builds in the future. Cheers Kevin!

Alright Kevin, let's start out easy. Where are you from? Where did you first start skating?

I'm from the Oregon coast. That’s where I started skateboarding right around the time that Lincoln City skatepark was built.

What’s a typical day like on the Oregon coast?

I would say clean my backyard bowl, hang out with my dog, go to the beach, grab some fresh seafood and go skate somewhere. There’s a lot of good parks around here so it’s easy to mix up where you want to skate everyday.

There is a reason Kevin calls the Oregon coast home | Photo: Squid

You seem to look at spots and skateparks in a different way than most skateboarders? What's your process for finding unique spots?

I definitely think growing up around all of the skateparks in Oregon and traveling to different places that don’t have the same type of skateparks we do helped me come up with different ways to skate different stuff in different ways.

Do you think growing up here had an influence on your skating?

Yeah it did for sure! I had a lot of good skateparks to skate but the weather was hard in the winter. That motivated me to travel more and get into contests and filming/shooting for projects on skate trips. Then getting to come back home to one of the best places with all the best skateparks where I grew up.

Method Or Melon? | Photo: Squid

Where did the connection with the band Mercyful Fate start?

They’ve always been one of my favorite bands. Their music makes me think of skateboarding whenever I hear it. I knew I had some footage that I wanted to use for something. So I thought of what song I would want to use for my video part and their music came to mind. I knew I had to try and make it happen. So I pitched my idea and showed King Diamond my footage to the song and asked if Blood Wizard could make a board and Portal Dimension could make a shirt to go along with it. They liked the idea and said we could release it all during their tour dates. We got to go see them live and then my video part came out on Halloween the next morning. They're the best! Thanks Mercyful Fate!

Who on Blood Wizard is the most Metal?

Probably Chris Gregson

Who is the least Metal?

I don’t know if that’s possible haha!

All of the wizards are metal!

Lincoln City, you make it look mellow, when did you first start skating that park?

That’s where I grew up skating back when it was first built. There was always a lot of people there that I looked up to and skated with. It’s still a spot a lot of people travel to because of how fun of a skatepark it is.

What's up with Portal Dimension?

Always wanted to start a company that I could put creativity and imagination into with my friends and make things that people like.

The blue sky makes us think this isnt Oregon | Photo: Squid

Why Tactics?

I have always followed what Tactics is doing around the Pacific Northwest for skateboarding and thought it’s really cool! I’m glad to be a part of it! Last summer the Northwest Open at Seek Skate Camp was a really good time and I can’t wait for the next one!

What's your favorite skate park in Oregon?

Lincoln City!

Thanks for the words Kevin, any final thoughts?

Skateboarding is fun! Always keep skateboarding! Thanks everybody!