Stats:
Name: Josh Kalis
Birthplace: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Resides: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Years skating: 18
Year turned pro: 1996
Music: Hip Hop, Classic Rock, Metal & Blues
Last skate magazine looked at: SLAP
Last video you saw: Lakai, Fully Flared
Favorite video: Trilogy
Favorite city to travel to: Barcelona
You will never catch me filming in: the 'burbs
You will never catch me entering: a Dew Tour
Favorite DC's: JK6 and the JK7

Bio:
In addition to being notorious for racing cars, relocating from metropolis to metropolis quite frequently, being one of Love Park's ambassadors and a representative of the skate scene in Philadelphia, and being a father, Josh Kalis is one of the top professional skateboarders in the world. He's made it impossible for anyone to even challenge his ability at launching tricks off of the marble tiles and over garbage cans at Love. He brought the switch backside tailslide to Hubba Hideout, and he lands on the bolts and rides away clean every time.

Kalis was part of the legendary Toy Machine lineup of the mid '90s that also included Jamie Thomas before he moved onto Alien Workshop and then founded Seek Skateboards with fellow DC/Alien pro Rob Dyrdek. He's had too many amazing video parts to name. But the bottom line is-Kalis never disappoints. No matter where he's living, Josh is properly representing skateboarding and DC is proud to have him.

What brings you to California?
I came out to Cali to shoot a DC Apparel ad, go to the Vans Downtown Showdown, [and] chill with Dyrdek and some of the Alien flow guys. I spent two days in Carlsbad and 4 days in L.A.

Who do you stay with when you're out here?
When I was in Carlsbad I stayed at McKay's house and when I was in L.A. I stayed at Dyrdek's house.

Who's a better host?
Actually they are both about the same. They have their own schedules and I just tag along. They're both busy dudes!

Who do you like to see when you get a chance to come out here?
I like to hang out at DC and chill with all the guys I never get to see. Like Duffy, McKay, Dyrdek, Rogers, Blabac. It's good to see them.

Have you been skating out here?
Yeah, a little bit. There's so many skateparks around here... skateparks with marble ledges and granite ledges and s__t is pretty tight. What a dumbass answer!

You've got two hometowns right now, right?
Yeah, basically I've got a house in Michigan where I spend time with my family. My daughter goes to school and I relax--just take a break from skating. I live in the woods there.
But I also rent a room in Chicago where I just go down to live the city life... take taxi's and walk everywhere. I really like being in the city, that's for sure.

Why do you live in the Midwest? Is it because you like to be out of the skateboarding mix?
I don't necessarily like to be out of the mix, I just like to be out of the industry. I like to be around the skate mix a lot, but that doesn't necessarily mean I got to be around pros. Sometimes I don't like to be around the rumors and the drama and the gossip. It's cool to just be a skater, and the best place to be a skater is where there is no industry.

You've got a unique perspective... you're a pro, but you're not buried in the typical pro skate scene. What observations can you make?
I actually like the way skateboarding is right now. It's almost like there are no rules and pretty much anything goes--almost too much stuff is getting accepted right now. But what can you do? It's a big cycle, and its almost like it's taking another turn right now. Actually, there needs to be a phase but there's so much right now that there's nothing.

Any predictions?
I see a lot more unique skating coming into play. I think people might be getting tired of throwing themselves down the biggest s__t ever. I feel like skating will find its way back into the city and into style rather than stunts.

What was the last skate trip you went on?
The last major trip I went on was probably the DC King of Barcelona trip to Spain. That thing was a great time. I was there for three weeks and it was a lot of fun... wish we could do that every year.

If you were to assemble the ultimate crew for a skate trip, who would make the cut?
I would definitely have to put in Thomas Winkle, the filmer; Anthony Lopez, Petr Horvat, and a couple guys from DC Europe; Devine Calloway is always fun to skate with; Mark Appleyard is always a good time; Florentin Marfaing and Alex Carolino are the best dudes you could possibly skate with. I just like to skate with people that have a lot of fun and the tricks come real natural. Nothing is ever planned... it's just walk out your door and skate. All smiles.

Any particular place you go with those guys?
Na, pretty much anywhere with those dudes. We could skate an indoor skate park or some flat ground or one of the best cities in the world. It wouldn't really matter.

When was the last time you went back to Philly and saw LOVE?
Honestly, I haven't been back to Philly in a long time. Usually if I'm in New York I'll head down there for like a day or two to say what up to Ryan Gee or any of those guys.

What can you tell us about the Alien video?
I think the Workshop video will come out late spring 2008. Everyone has been working pretty hard on it.

How's your part coming?
I'm pretty close to being done. I just need a couple more things to tidy it up, I think. Should be a pretty sick video.

I heard that on the side you have a car shop.
Yeah, actually I have two. I have one where we build pro touring muscle cars--I'm building one for Rob Dyrdek right now that's called the Rogue Status Camaro. It's a '69. Then I have another shop that I've got my little brother running... it's a little import tuner shop. It's doing pretty good... he works on a lot of Civic's and stuff.

So Dyrdek is a client... Do a lot of skaters come to you to have work done?
Not too many skaters come to me right now because the two shops are in Michigan and not too many skaters there have a lot of money. But, I'm hoping to build my clientele of pro skaters and athletes out here (in California)... it's so much cheaper for us to build the cars in Michigan and then just have them shipped to California. Overall it's a pretty cool deal.