Mike Todd interview by Nathan Burger

• By cyril on
• Fri Oct 2, 09:55 PM

Mike Todd Interview: The legacy of Cyril By Nathan Burger.
 

Where and when did you meet skateboarding and what did it do for you? How did it affect your life at the time?

Sometime in grade 6 I saw a skateboard magazine at school and in it was a Powell deck, a Steve Caballero, the one with the bats in the background. It visually blew me away. So I started taking notice of how many people had skateboards and paying attention to what was going on, it seemed like a whole other world, different from the world I was living in. Then when I got to see people actually skateboarding I just wanted to make those sounds that a board made, I love the sound of skateboarding. I was just drawn to the sound of a board rolling down the street and the clacking of tricks, and those bearings, best sound ever!!! then I noticed some people had obviously better styles on the board. I didn’t know what tricks were, just that the way some of the guys pushed and carved and turned was more impressive than a sketchy trick. That got me to thinking how all I ever did was play baseball. We all looked alike, silly uncomfortable uniforms, so many rules, so much pressure to win. I was a shy kid, very, very shy, so baseball was hell, especially being up at bat. With skateboarding I noticed the clothing you wore suited your personality, unlike a uniform. Sk8ing also seemed to breed individuals, every one of them seemed different, not so normal or generic. Not into trends or the hottest girl or the trendy music… just into art and odd music and expressing them selves rather than following the heard. It was not some typical macho male nonsense that I felt on the ball field or in gym class. Skateboarding gave you room to breath, be yourself … no rules, no way to even cheat, no coach and no time limit. That’s alot to think about in grade six, but I was an introvert, spent my days pondering and day dreaming about the world at a very young age. I remember disliking school in grade 1, and thinking the world was very unfair in grade 3. I was too young to have those thoughts. But the second I got my first board, I felt like I finally got to take a breath of fresh air, of real life. All my worries went away. I had found something to romanticize about rather than worry about. I was free, I was me and I was hooked.

What was it like skateboarding in the era you grew up in (cool/uncool)?

So uncool, back then we had what we called jocks, well, they ruled the school… but to be honest I was a nice guy, so I never started anything, I got along with everyone really. But at times you would actually get chased down buy people that hated on sk8ers, they would take your board, throw it in a tree or a ditch, pour pop on you, make fun of your Mom. Never mind the older generation, they seemed to think skateboarders were evil. And you know what? I loved it. No one understood it, and I got a kick out of it, I would rather get chased down with a good friend than be in gym glass seeing who could triple jump the longest in front of 30 other kids. I always felt different, or thought different than what was going on at school and what was popular… skateboarding became my outlet and kept me feeling odd and alone, but yet apart of something. Some people in my shoes who feel like they are in left field, they like attention, so they dress weird or dye their hair or look outrageous to prove they are different. But again being shy, the last thing I wanted was attention. With skateboarding you could just be yourself, you didn’t need a mohawk to say “hi … I’m fucked” ... it was more subtle, it was perfect.

What was your first set up?

A Valtera alley cat… my first real pro board was a Mike Vallely, indy trucks, slimeball wheels, and german bearings.

What music pumped you to skate or what did you like in general, what was in the old boom box?

Hmm, skateboarding introduced me to music, real music, not the radio music I was used to, like when I started sk8ing I felt I had finally learned to breath, well with the music in our culture I felt I finally got to hear for the first time as well. The first time I was ever blown away by music was at Andrew Reids house, Andrew bought a Black Sabbath tape… we put it on and lost our minds, nothing has ever sounded so good since the first time I heard that Sabbath Paranoid album. For years, I mean years, that’s all I was into, Sabbath, then later, I got really into a band called Operation Ivy, so energetic, it sounded like the way we skated. Back then though, you didn’t just go to the mall and buy a punk rock tape, you went to Toronto, and crossed you fingers they had something. There was no punk rock section, or alternative section at the mall. I’m not into Operation Ivy or Rancid these days, but Sabbath on the other hand!!!

Who did you skateboard with when you were young? What pros or friends influenced the way you skated?

I skated with Team Welfare, Andrew Ried and Ryan Huxley for the first few years, then Matt Vizbulis, Jeff Hardy and Team SLAM for a few, than Ian Stewart for a whole lot and than Joe Cleary and Steve Dawson… than Joe and I kinda became super close and that’s about the only person I’ve skated with for the last 10 years. Although some where in there Devin Morrison and I had a really good run of sk8ing alot. And a bunch of the Wanderers… I love skating with them…. Pros, I liked were mainly just Matt Hensley, Jason Jessee, Gonz and Julien Stranger.

Why did you Open Cyril? How did it affect your life? I opened Cyril to escape the real world. To escape having a career that had nothing to do with who I was except that I needed money to survive. I opened Cyril to create my own world. From the colour of the walls to how people were treated to the hours of the shop to the product and to the pricing … every single little and big thing that was apart of Cyril I put thought into, everything had a story or a reason for it. Cyril allowed me to avoid growing up. Cyril gave me confidence; it was my art, my outlet and my love. It was freedom at its best.

When did you decide that you were going to open Cyril? Why did you name it Cyril? Cyril had three locations what were they and what did you like and dislike about each one?

After High School all I wanted to do still was skate, I did not want to go to College, which I would not recommend, but I new I wanted to skate and travel so I got a job to support skating and have a car and live the life…. I was working at a Factory in Hamilton when I realized I needed a change, a big change, I was sad at that factory, and I worked so much I had no time to skate, I knew I needed sk8ing in my life… that was the point of the job in the first place… I always wanted to run a sk8 shop, so seriously, I just told my parents what I was thinking in the beginning of March 1998 and by the end of that same month I was in business. I remember hearing a Trooper song at work; it was “Raise a little hell” the lyrics were “If you don’t like, what you got why don’t you change it? If your world is all screwed up Rearrange it” Those lyrics lit a fire under my ass. So it happened fast, like in 3 days I went from not doing a damn thing for myself, to owning a shop. The name came from just being at city hall doing paper work and needing business name, I just wrote down “Cyril”. I almost wrote down “Sweet Corn”

What happened when Cyril closed the first time? (touch on your feeling at the time and why you went to Denver if that’s cool)?

Cyril was reaching its sixth year in business and I was struggling with the things that skateboarding had pushed aside for me, like dealing with being shy and disliking the world and taking every little thing very personal… owning a business is a full time gig, and it meant dealing with people again, rather than just dealing with sk8ers.
For instance, a nice new SUV pulls up, the Dad and son get out, walk in, say hello, ask how business is… it was never good financially, never, but I stayed afloat, so I would say “oh I am surviving” they would say, “stick in there, it will pick up.” Meanwhile, the son has brand new shoes, skate brand jeans, and is well taken care of, and the father would end up on his cell phone…. the son would pick out a deck, show his Pops, and Pops would ask what the deal of the day is, I can’t say no, so I give’em a deal. And think to myself “why ask how business is in the first place if you need a deal?”
Now, the next day a old station wagon pulls up, the muffler is falling off, the tires are bald and the whole family is there, the kids shoes are full of holes from sk8ing and he has on levis. But they bring me coffee, say hi the shop cat and ask how I am doing, not how business is… we laugh, tell jokes, drink our coffee’s and they pick out a deck and hand over the full amount in cash with a smile… that situation and ones similar were happening alot, and even as I type this I get frustrated. It makes no sense. Then on top of dealing with that, I mean letting that get me depressed and disliking the world again, and having no faith in people, Cyril gets broken into.
Its funny, I was at home asleep and I jumped out of bed knowing someone was in the shop… I am very intuitive in every aspect of my life and will act on a feeling no matter how illogical it may seem… so I drive to the shop and as I go in the front, they go out the back. For the next week of business I questioned, in my head, everyone that stepped in the store, I thought to myself, was it you? Do you know who did this? I treated people bad in my own head, and closed up right away. The world I had created, the fair one, was compromised… I had to get away, so I went to New York for a few days, then Chicago for a few days, then to San Diego to stay with a dear friend who owned a shop out there, Ken Lewis of Hanger 18… I stayed for a month sleeping on a surf board bag all full of wax. It was heaven. Then I went to San Francisco for a bit, than I went to visit a friend in Denver for a month, came home for a week, told my best friend Joe I was going back to Denver till I was broke, and we packed our stuff and drove back out there for 6 months. I had just spent my life’s savings in under a year running away from the very thing that helped me escape in the first place… I should have never left, never closed, never took all that so personal… I have never been the same person I once was pre when I noticed the way people could be and the robbery. Sure I re opened for a year, but the damage was done, customers found a new place to shop. My mind was fresh and Cyril meant more than ever the second time, but it was just too late. It only lasted 1 year or so.

What are the Wanderers and how did they come to be?

Most shops have teams… I just got sick of the word, it reminded me of baseball. So my favorite thing to do is Wander around, and that goes for alot of sk8ers, that’s what we do at 4 in the morning in any given city, we wander around looking for places to sk8. So I called our crew the Wanderers… you didn’t have to be that good either, personality was number one on the list. So if you are one, I think highly of you, I am vouging for you. You are part of a family, not a team.

As you got older did skateboarding change its role in your life? Did Cyril change its role in your life?

Oh yes, in so many ways, mainly, I realized its not the be all and end all of who I am, it helped me become who I am, it brought out who Mike Todd was and is, rather then try to force it out and mold me. But, with age comes injuries, and with injuries comes time off the board. During those times I had to do something other than think of sk8ing.

Why did Cyril close and where does that leave you now?

I take full responsibility for Cyril closing, there are things that did not help, for instance someone drove a car threw the front window at the Fonthill shop, a drunken neighbor fucking with customers, decks being sold at flew markets, the nike outlet, factory outlets, a barn selling west 49 dead stock and sample product, tons of it, WINNNERS stores for fuck sakes… but I blame me and me only. It hurts. I should have done more, I should have got in other products, I should have had longer hours, I should have wanted it more then I did, I should have found a way to keep the dream alive. When you walked into Cyril, you walked into me, and with it gone, I feel I lost apart of myself, I sometimes don’t even know who I am without Cyril, I am like Linus with out his blanket. On a bad note it leaves me very scared, lonely, and lost. On a positive note, It is liberating and I have a clean empty plate at a buffet. Choosing what to eat is hell though.

Where do you think you would be without skateboarding?

This may sound harsh, but I may have ended up a complete loner to afraid to leave my house. On the other hand maybe I would have been more normal and able to accept that what I do all day long to make money is not a direct reflection of who I am.

Any thing else you want to say?

I never wanted to leave a legacy, just wanted to escape, wanted to have something that reflected me, didn’t want to waste my days away, I have never been proud of Cyril, pride is kinda weird. I just wanted to escape the outside world and create my own, so a legacy and things of that nature including money are so far down the list of importance.
I miss the shop every single day. I am ready to move on, but nothing will ever replace Cyril and those times. I used to think I was looking to replace it, but have realized that’s impossible, its like losing a pet, there is no replacement, you just get a new one and move on. I am ready to move on. But not having a day full of passion is making the choice of what to do all day long a hard one.