Andrew Reynolds emerged into the skateboarding scene in the early 1990s. Following a phone call from pro skater Tony Hawk, Reynolds joined Hawk’s then-new skate team Birdhouse. Reynolds has stated that Hawk contacted Reynolds despite knowing little about Reynolds or his skating abilities. In 2000, after an amazing few years, Reynolds left Birdhouse and started the Baker brand with Jay Strickland. In 2007, Reynolds provided a detailed account of the company’s beginnings –
“Well, I was living in Huntington, riding for Birdhouse. We just thought to ourselves, all these companies are really lame. Birdhouse doesn’t promote
piles, you know what I mean? Zero’s not promoting what we’re all about. We met up with Jay Strickland [and] we started telling him about our ideas. “We want do something. We want do a company.” And we’re like, “All of us, together.” It was just a big mess. I went and talked to Tony [Hawk] and Per [Welinder]—”It’s either [that] I quit and take a bunch of guys and do something, or you guys help me start a company”
The skateboard deck brand signed a distribution deal with Blitz Distribution, the company that, at the time, was distributing Birdhouse and other brands, such as Fury and Hook-Ups (Blitz had originally been formed by Per Welinder and Hawk to distribute their own products). As of 2008, the brand was the top-selling brand under the Blitz Distribution umbrella. Reynolds has publicly disclosed that all of the Baker team members, including himself, receive the same amount of remuneration: “I get paid the same as Braydon. Dustin tried to ask for more money one time…I had to tell him, like, everybody gets paid the same…there’s no favoritism.”
The company then parted ways with Blitz and, in 2007, Reynolds and fellow professional skateboarders, Jim Greco and Erik Ellington, established Bakerboys Distribution to distribute the Deathwish brand. Baker’s distribution was then newly managed by Bakerboys in 2011. As of July 2014, Bakerboys distributes seven
brands, some of which are owned by past and current Baker riders.
Andrew Reynolds has cemented himself as one of the greatest skaters of all time. Landing some of the heaviest NBD’s and hucking down some fo the gnarliest sets, Reynolds won Thrasher Magazine’s Skater of the Year award in 1998. For his video part in the 2010 skateboard video Stay Gold, produced by the Emerica brand, Reynolds received Transworld Skateboarding magazine’s award for “Best Video Part” in 2011.
We rarely get to hear his side these days, the turmoil within his personal life had turned him off to interviews. It has been years since we have heard him speak publicly, but his mentor asked him for an interview and he couldn’t say no! Check him geek out and talk mostly skateboarding with Tony Hawk and Jason Ellis on the Hawk vs Wolf podcast! They get real into the weeds about tricks, they talk about his sobriety and his youth. It is a must see episode!!
