Mike Vallely

Mike V at a skate demo at Doc * 36 Skatepark in Jackson , Mississippi

Mike Vallely (born June 29, 1970 in Edison , New Jersey ), also known as Mike V , is a professional skateboarder and musician . Since 2013 he has been the lead singer of the punk rock band Black Flag .

career

Skateboarding

Vallely's career began in 1986 and is one of the longest-running in the history of skateboarding. He is known as a critic of the increasing commercialization of the skateboard industry. In 2010 Vallely founded his own skateboard company "By The Sword Skateboards", which was short-lived. With his “Barnyard Board ” from World Industries , he played a key role in the further development of the skateboard shapes (deu: form, shape ) into today's popular popsicle shapes .

In the 1980s he caused quite a stir when he left Powell Peralta , the largest and most successful skateboard company at the time , to skate for World Industries . Frequent changes of sponsors dragged through his entire career. After another year at Powell Peralta (he skated a total of three times for Powell: 1986–1989, 1993–1997, 2010–2011) he founded Elephant Brand Skateboards in 2012 , which he still runs today and for which he has team riders like Kris Markovich, Neal Hendrix and Jason Adams could win. The company is characterized by the fact that it also offers boards in a wide variety of shapes and widths in addition to the popular Popsicle Boards.

Boneless and Fastplants became his trademark , as no other skater before Vallely could do such a large number of different tricks of this kind. He's also one of the few professional skateboarders who is still true to the old school style and whose tricks are as perfect as normal flip tricks .

music

Vallely sang in several punk rock bands (including: Mike V & the Rats; Revolution Mother ) and enjoyed some great success there. In January 2013 he took over the post of tour manager of the newly founded band Black Flag . After singer Ron Reyes left the band in November 2013 due to his differences, especially with guitarist Greg Ginn but also with Mike V, Vallely officially announced in January 2014 that he was the new singer of Black Flag.

Sponsors

Now: Street Plant, Socco, Speed ​​Metal, Von Zipper, Active Ride Shop, SoBe and Servant Footwear.

Former: By The Sword Skateboards, Element, Powell Peralta, World Industries, TV Skateboards, Transit Skateboards, Black Label Skateboards, Vallely Skateboards, Elephant Brand, Etnies , Accel, Venture, Destroyer and Tracker.

Others

Vallely lives with his wife Ann and two daughters in Long Beach ( California ).

He used to be a wrestler for a short time and would have had the chance to move up to the American professional wrestling league.

Web links

• Official website (mikevallely.com)
• Mike Vallely on Facebook
• Mike Vallely on Discogs.com
• Mike Vallely in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mike V .: Profile & Match Listing - Internet Wrestling Database (IWD). Retrieved May 1, 2020 .