What was it like growing up and trying to skate in a small town?
Not very fun, there was a point where I just skated flat ground for 2-3 yrs. Theres an elementary school we used to skate by my house everyday after school, there was like a little curb we used to slappy. There was a 3 stair a few miles away, getting a ride out to it was like you getting dropped off in downtown as a kid, it was so great it was like the best spot ever to us.

Nothing like a proper grab over a monster bump to bar.

Nosegrind transfer - This spot is so raw and the ground is so bad, it puts most east coast spots to shame.

How does the average person from your area view skateboarding?
It’s not very accepted around here, a lot of people look down on it as a waste of time.

So do you know every skater in Beaumont or is the scene larger than I would expect?
Yeh I know every skater, it’s not a very big scene around here.

So what’s your average day consist of if your not working?
Wake up around 10am, chill, skate my backyard/flatbar for awhile. Skate the 2 spots around my area, then go to Beaumont and skate Hobo(slab) or the police station sometimes.

What’s the best part of skating in a small town?
The spots are not blown up, most have never been seen. The scene is really chill, everyone knows everyone.

And the worst part?
Not to many spots, most have cracks or kinks too.

Is Beaumont as sketchy as they say or is it actually a safe place to rip virgin skate spots?
There was a few times skating at hobo slab (named that for a reason) the same homeless guy kept coming up there, he was a sketched out rocker dude in a fishnet shirt with makeup who would visit from time to time. He said he used to tour with AC DC and Motley Crew, and he was their manager. Every time he would come up there he would be like I’m workin on this new song let me know what you think and would sing us these crazy lyrics. One time he came and I was trying to film a line, and at the start of each line he would sing a little song and give me some advice on how to flip the board and stuff like that.

No run-up, long, and high. Need I say more.

This rail is super high, and there’s a crack that sticks up about 2 inches on the roll away, but that didn’t stop Derek from getting this feeble.

So what was your first trip outside of Beaumont like, how did that go?
My first real trip to Houston was with John Hannigan and I was about 15, he brought me out to Houston and we skated memorial benches it was the first real street spot I skated. After that we skated post oak and I tried to ollie it and broke my board. Later on we went to tranq, and I was so bummed my board was broken so I couldn’t skate it, I decided it was one of the first spots I wanted to come back just to skate it.

So what was the hardest trick in this interview to get?
The Indy Nosebone was super sketchy, but the 5050 was definitely the hardest. You get less than 1 push up to a high long rail, it really messed with my mind took me awhile to jump on it.

Sponsors?
Duff’s, Toy Machine, Beyond Image, Skatenutz, Volcom

Frontside flip- Chances are if your walking down some stairs in the Beaumont area Derek has frontside flipped them, on this one he decided to clear the sidewalk as well for good measure.