David Daewon Song (; born February 19, 1975) is a Korean-American professional skateboarder. He is the co-founder and co-owner of Almost Skateboards and Thank You Skateboards, and continues to skate for the latter company. Song was named the 2006 "Skater of the Year" by Thrasher magazine, an award that is widely considered to be one of the most significant honors in skateboarding.
Early life Song was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Gardena, California, following a year spent with his grandmother in Hawaii. During the first half of his life, Song was raised by his older sister, who also raised Song's brother. Song revealed in a "Milestone" interview for The Skateboard Mag that both of his parents were perceived as "insane" by their neighbors due to their constant fighting—Song explained that, on occasion, he would need to telephone the police. Song's mother, who once shot her husband in the face, died in 1999, predeceasing Song's father.
When he was fourteen years of age, Song started skateboarding during a two-month period when his parents were separated—he was given his first skateboard by his mother and was later sponsored by a skateboard shop in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, California called Sporting Ideas. Prior to this, Song received attention for his artistic abilities, winning drawing contests and engaging in the commercial art field at a very young age. Song provided insight into his family life in a 2005 interview:
You know Asian parents, man; they're gnarly. They want you to become some lead pianist in an orchestra or, like every parent, they want you to become a doctor. I was really into art when I was a young kid, and I won a lot of awards, so my parents thought that's what I'd pursue. Then I got picked up in skateboarding and started getting free stuff. They were tripping, like, "Where are you getting all this free stuff?" They thought I was stealing money from them.
Song attended the 135th Street school in Gardena, known for its aggressive reputation, and has explained the challenges that were present while he was growing up in the area, where gang activity was prolific:
Around my neighborhood, skating was actually big for a time, like in the early '90s. Then it started to die out. There was a lot of gang banging going on in my old neighborhood in Gardena. I was seriously the only skateboarder left at my school. I just hung in there ... A lot of guys quit skating, one got killed, another guy was tagging on a freeway and got killed. I watched all these friends of mine getting into the stupidest things. And I was like, dude, I just need to stick with this skateboard thing. But I didn't stick with it as a career; I just thought it was something to do after school, y'know? Skateboarding's changed so much now. It's like kids skate just to get sponsored. Back then we skated the curb at Rally's burgers just for something to do.
Song has relayed that he sighted Rodney Mullen skateboarding at his school and that Mullen, in turn, had observed Song skateboarding there. Song explained in a 2012 interview that his friend at the time spoke with Mullen and the professional skateboarder revealed that he was impressed by Song's skills and wanted to send Song skateboard decks to ride as an introduction to Mullen's fledgling business. Song agreed to the proposal and the relationship between the two skateboarders, now co-owners of the Almost Skateboards company, commenced at that point in time. Mullen became a mentor figure to Song and the latter became a team rider for the Tensor company as the result of this relationship (as of July 2014, Song continues to be sponsored by Tensor).
Career
World Industries Song became sponsored by World Industries at the age of sixteen years and appeared in numerous video productions for the company, including Love Child (1992). It is in Love Child that Song documented the first hardflip on film. Song has spoken about his time with World Industries in numerous interviews, particularly focusing on his time at the World Industries indoor skate park and being involved with a company that was overseen by Steve Rocco, the founder of World Industries and former business partner of Rodney Mullen—Mullen would later become a close friend and mentor to Song. Videographer, Socrates Leal, who filmed a large portion of the World Industries/Dwindle Distribution footage since the company's inception, released footage from the World Park as part of the "30 Shot" web-based project, including segments that feature Song. Leal has revealed during his narration for one of the segments that Song has always possessed a clear awareness of what aspects of his skateboarding he would like filmed and would often instruct the filmer while skateboarding.
Love Child was then followed up by New World Order (1993) and Song has explained that the skateboarding world had significantly changed in the one-year period between the videos:
Then in '93, with New World Order, things got more serious. More skaters started coming up, and if you were filming something and someone already did it, you'd have to come up with something better. From that point on, filming got a lot harder.
Song stated during his "Epicly Later'd" episode for Vice magazine's web channel that he misses his time at World Industries.
Ankle injury In a July 2012 interview with the online magazine, Jenkem, Song revealed that he seriously contemplated ceasing skateboarding between the years 1996 and 1997, following an ankle injury that he sustained during the New World Order period. During this period, Song stated that he was predominantly located in the Long Beach area of Los Angeles while in a relationship with a girlfriend who was a member of the Bloods. Song considered a living modifying cars and eventually returned to skateboarding following a telephone call from his mentor, Rodney Mullen. Song had gone into further detail about this period of his life in a 2005 interview:
I lost touch with a lot of girls, and then I called Rodney and he wasn't doing too good. It was a wake-up call. At that moment I felt like I was a pathetic piece of trash. They did all this for me and I was going to give it up. It was almost as though Rodney brought me into this and had supported me, and now it was my turn to support him. I just woke up and started skating again and tried to make stuff happen again. Then Rodney and me started doing our projects, and everything from that point on has been working out great.
Matix Clothing In 1998, Song founded the Matix Clothing apparel company with fellow professional skateboarder, Tim Gavin (retired), and distribution company, Podium Distribution (the Dunlap brothers, Kevin and Brian). In March 2013, Song explained the initial period of the brand's formation:
Gavin brought Rudy Johnson, Jeron Wilson and Sean Sheffey; and then for me, I brought Marc Johnson, Rodney Mullen and, ahh, JB Gillett. And that was our team—including me and Gavin; so there was eight. I remember when it first started—me, Kevin and Brian and Gavin ... just funny how all these things we talked about on the kitchen floor, having pizza, it actually went into motion, and it was, like, "Wow, here are the first samples!"
Song further explained that he was responsible for the origin of the Matix logo, after he drew a squiggle on a napkin that reminded him of someone pushing along on a skateboard. As of 2013, the brand had been existence for fifteen years and Song stated in March of that year, "we are still pushing strong".
The Transworld Business website announced on July 2, 2012, that Matix Clothing had been acquired by "technical apparel brand", Westlife Distribution; the deal included intellectual property, inventory and accounts receivable.
In a press release on September 4, 2012, Matix announced the re-signing of Daewon Song, Marc Johnson, and Mike Anderson to its team roster (notably absent was young and popular former rider, Torey Pudwill). The press release confirmed the relocation of the brand to Los Angeles, and company president, Brian Dunlap, stated, "I'm thrilled with the Westlife transition so far, and bringing these guys back onto the program was key. We have longstanding relationships and friendships that were important to keep intact, and the brand image will only grow stronger with such a good crew representing for us."
As of March 2013, the Matix skate team consisted of Song, Johnson, Mike Anderson, Zach Wallin, Auby Taylor, and Matt Berger—at this time, Song, Johnson, and Anderson all had signature clothing collections for sale. Together with 686, a snowboard company, the company relocated to a new premises in Compton, California, US in 2013. The Matix Fall 2014 catalog video, filmed in the Sierra Nevada region of California, US, was published on the brand's Vimeo channel.
A press release from the Sequential Brands Group, which acquired the shoe brand in mid-2012, revealed that Song had renewed his contract with the company for a further three years. The CEO of the licensing and branding company, Colin Dyne, explained in the press release that "It is critically important to us that the authenticity and integrity of the DVS brand remain . By moving forward with Daewon, a legend in the skate arena, DVS is remaining true to its heritage". Song stated in the same document that "DVS has been family since 1997 and has always had my back 100% and I will always have , 100%!!! Re-signing wasn't even a question! Just needed to make sure the damn pen worked!".
On August 28, 2012, Song revealed in a Twitter post that he had commenced work on a new DVS project.
Song received the cover of The Skateboard Mag, as part of a feature on the DVS Shoes tour to Detroit, US that occurred in late-2012—the photo is credited to Anthony Acosta, a close friend of Song. Song was previously featured on the cover of The Skateboard Mag, in a photo also taken by Acosta, skating a transitional structure that was tied to the back of a truck in Norwalk, California, US—Acosta has explained:
I found this sheet-metal halfpipe sitting on a truck bed about two miles from where I used to live. I knew Daewon was the guy to call for this natural miniramp. We shot a few things that day and ended up getting a cover of The Skateboard Mag with one of the photos.
The DVS Shoes Facebook profile published the advertisement for Song's thirteenth signature shoe model, part of the "Daewon Song Signature Series", named the "Daewon 13"—Song is photographed performing a trick on a rust-covered structure that is in a coastal location.
One-time DVS filmer, Colin Kennedy, released a video compilation that he had produced with the use of footage filmed during the Skate More period, entitled "Daewon vs H2O". The compilation shows various settings in which Song filmed skateboarding tricks in locations where water was a primary factor, including a metropolitan sculpture of a movie reel situated within a pool of water. Part of Kennedy's blurb for the video stated, "Daewon likes a challenge. Watch any of his video parts and you'll see what I mean ... You name it and he's skated it, or at least tried." The footage that is used in the video was shot between 2002 and 2005.
Deca After nine years with World Industries, Song left the company in 1999 to found Deca Skateboards, with a team that included Chris Haslam, JB Gillet, Shiloh Greathouse, and Marcus McBride (Cooper Wilt was featured in two "hidden parts" in the second Deca video 2nd to None). After three years of operation, during which time two videos—Sneak Preview and 2nd to None—were produced, Deca ceased operations in 2002. Following the brand's demise, McBride moved onto establishing the DGK company with Stevie Williams, Greathouse rode for Stacy Lowery and Michael Sieben's Bueno brand, JB Gillet joined the Cliche team, while Wilt and Haslam remained with Song for his next board company Artafact.
Artafact