Talking with Phil from FIXER about Turn it Sideways

Is this article we talk with Phil Stern from Portland based FIXER skateboards about their latest video ‘Turn it Sideways’.

Hey Phil! Just for some background, want to give us a little bit about yourself and what you do at FIXER?

I’ve been skating since ’87 and I’m the “everything” guy behind FIXER. Sometimes it's a lot and sometimes it's nearly nothing. Though I get a lot of support from the FIXER crew and friends. 

Nice, how long have you been doing FIXER?

I started FIXER in September ’15 as a reaction to the overabundance of really thoughtless graphics, in my opinion. The weed leaf, bikini babe, bong, skull thing is/was harsh. I wanted to see a more design driven aspect that held more cohesion to a thought or brand concept. I told myself I’ll do 2 graphics on 2 shapes, 50 each. If I could sell a few, that’d be great! If I didn’t, then I’d have plenty of boards to ride for the next few years!

I think we’ve finally crested the peak of irony mountain (hopefully) in skateboarding graphics, should be downhill from here. Haha. What are the best parts and worst parts of FIXER?

The best part is always being around my friends, skateboards and skateboarding! It's really all I think about and is my lens through how I see and interpret the world for better or worse. The worst part is the “business” aspect of it- money. It really does ruin things.

C.R.E.A.M. Skateboarding is a fickle business, lots of ups and downs. How is everything in 2024?

Skateboarding operates in such a weird bubble. Especially the small, local brand aspect of it. We’ve had really good stretches as far as selling boards and we’ve also been completely ripped off by a certain manufacturer that nearly killed the whole thing. I think after the covid bubble burst, the big brands decided to put an end to small brands getting wall space and put in place tough measures for shops and how they order. Things look good though and being so small we can sort of weather whatever comes our way. But that’s just the business side of it. We’re all psyched for good weather up here and ready to skate, ride bikes and just be outside rolling around again.

The whole NW is ready for the sun man. Everyone’s moods have been 15% better since spring sprang. Alright, let's talk about the new video. Tell me about it?

"Turn it sideways" came about in late fall ’23 down in a typical Boardroom basement hang. We hadn’t done much as far as a video in a few years. We also added a few new riders and wanted to do something with them. So we set a deadline of March 1st , which got pushed to March 18th because the weather was really crappy. Filming a video in the winter up here is kinda not very smart. But we did it!  We don’t even really have a legit camera so we decided to just film on our phones, horizontally.

All the good photographers say “the camera you have on hand is the best camera”. I think that’s fitting here. Who filmed and edited it?

We all filmed this. Sending clips back and forth through the group thread. It was really rad to see it piece together, trick by trick. Our buddy Steven Reeves edited it and I did the artsy fartsy direction and music stuff.

I fuck with the homie phone vibes. Who is all in the video?

FIXER is Ryan Lutz, Tim Coolidge, George Silver, Johnny Turgesen, Miles Wood, Garret Weber, Roman Lopez, Andrew Le and Rinno Fukuda. 

And how was the premier?

The premier was great! Solid turnout. We felt very supported and thankful! The skateboard community here in Portland is really rad and diverse. So to see that blend of people come out was really cool.

I really need to come down more! I plan to come down and film a bunch of interview and stuff with Portland folks this summer. Memorable moments from the making of the video?

I can’t remember any real specifics but it was really special to me to see the crew out on these missions, and skating together. Seeing this group of people working together and pushing each other was motivating.

Love it. Final thoughts? Shout outs? Thank yous?

Thanks to everyone that’s supported FIXER and believes in it. It's really there to support skaters and the skateboarding scene here in the NW. It means a lot honestly. We’re not in it for the money (there is none!) or to follow weird trends. We’re really just a crew of skate rats that love it and would be out regardless.

Hell yeah. Appreciate your time dude!

Go follow FIXER on Instagram and watch the new video below.