"I feel like it's almost unreal" – Checking in with Dylan Mills

"I feel like it's almost unreal" – Checking in with Dylan Mills

From warehouse worker to team rider. Dylan Mills is the latest addition to our team and after his first tours and right before our new film we thought it's the right moment to catch up with him.

Hey Dylan! What’s up?

I’m good, I’m chilling at home right now.

As you are the latest addition to the team, we may have to go through some basic stuff. So you’re from California right?

Yeah I grew up in Orange County, which is pretty close to LA. After I graduated from high school I moved here.

What are you recently up to? I saw you’ve been in Austin, Texas with the team and on a big euro trip right?

I wasn't even skating on that Austin trip, but I went anyway because my dad lives there and it was good to be with the team. The euro trip was my first time leaving the United States, so that was really awesome. I flew directly into London for the UK trip. We did a road trip up to Leeds which was a ton of fun. We stopped somewhere along the way at a beautiful river, which was really memorable.

How did you feel about going to Europe? 

It was so cool. It’s crazy. You just get on a plane and kind of zone out, and then the next thing you know, you're in a different part of the world, which was like, completely new for me. I don't know, you still feel the same, but being in such a different environment is crazy for the first time. It feels completely foreign, which is awesome. But at least everybody was speaking English, so it wasn't fully overwhelming. 

You also have been to Paris. How was that? 

In Paris it was perfect because I was staying with Paul Grund. I think the first day he gave me a coin and told me something to say in French and he's like: “Go in there and say this.“ I didn't even know really what I was saying, but it worked. I ended up buying a baguette.

"I think it's insane. It's super crazy. And I feel really lucky. I don't know how it worked out, but I feel like it's almost unreal."

When it comes to cities I think you went to Leeds, London, Paris and Amsterdam. Is there a favorite city or favorite memory?

I really like how condensed everything is. I really like not driving. It feels good to just be able to bike everywhere in Paris and Amsterdam. It was epic. I met Pontus for the first time in Paris there. I think it was fashion week. They had that kind of showroom for Last Resort and Polar, and that was where I first met him. I didn't even have the Amsterdam thing planned, but I had a bit of savings and wanted to see another country before going back. So Brass was really chill about letting me extend my flight and I just did a solo trip to Amsterdam and stayed in a hostel. 

Oh sick you were traveling alone. Just exploring the city. 

Exactly. Paris was pretty much like that as well. Except it was sick because I was staying with Paul. It wasn't too much of a mission, just to get to know the people and the cities and hang around a bit. 

I mean that's a cool onboarding I would say. Not having any pressure and then just chill and feel the vibe with the people. 

Yeah the UK was pretty much the only place I was really skating. 

Did you meet any of the Polar guys before? 

I knew pretty much all of them. Just from them coming to LA. Even before I was skating for Polar. I knew Sirus, Paul, Jamie and David, and then I slowly met everybody else. I think the only person now I haven't met is Ebou. I met Kiki in Salt Lake City last year. On the UK tour, it was my first time meeting Shin. That was really fun. Oh, and Aaron Herrington. Actually, that was also my first time meeting him. 

So what was the connection before? 

I think probably Daniel Dent is the connection. He's kind of the first person I filmed with in LA. I moved to LA in 2020 right when I graduated high school. But yeah, I met Daniel pretty shortly after that through my friend Nelly Morville. Nelly and I are from the same area in Orange County. 

Also, people from the brand told me that you were working at the USA Keen Distribution. 

Oh, yeah. That was my first job when I moved to LA. I was getting Polar boards through Keen for a while. Then they were like: “Yeah, come through and grab some Polar stuff. Now that you're living in LA, you should check out the warehouse.“ And then when I was in there, I just mentioned that I was looking for a job. He told me they’d actually need some warehouse workers. So I did that for a pretty long time. Like maybe two years. And then I started to do other stuff, but I've gone back and helped at the warehouse. Even this year, recently, I went in and help them. 

How was it to work there?

I especially like working there. And then getting on the brand after, which is like crazy. 

I can imagine. You worked there, you move around to boxes and then three years later, you're on the brand. 

Yeah, I think it's insane. It's super crazy. And I feel really lucky. I don't know how it worked out, but I feel like it's almost unreal. I was just filming with Daniel. I wasn't filming for anything. I was just hyped to be skating and filming. I didn't even expect to be in his last video, honestly. When he told me that I was so hyped. I guess just through knowing him, probably it worked.

First picture: Backside boardslide – Second picture: Frontside boardslide – Photos by Kris Burkhardt

Okay. So through him, you met all the people. And then you were invited on a trip. Who hit you up in the end? 

It was Paul Grund. I think he hit me up. I also remember Pontus FaceTiming me. I was working at a coffee shop at the time. It was pretty funny, I was like: “Oh, what? I'm definitely just going to leave right now.” And I was just like “Hey, I'm going to take my break” and ended up taking like an hour break. 

When it comes to the new video, Sirus mentioned that you broke your collarbone twice during the filming process. One time while skating a 35 stair rail. Is that right? 

I don't know where he came up with that number, but maybe it was that many. The rail looked really cool. Like everything about it looks really cool. I should have waited, because my collarbone just healed. It was a pretty big rail, but I also was just really fast. I had so much speed and jumped off at the end. And it wasn't really that bad of a fall in my head, but I took a lot of impact to my shoulder, so it broke again pretty easily. We were in Portland and they drove me to the hospital.

I guess I have pretty bad luck recently. It's definitely the most I've gotten injured in a year. It started, I guess in January. I was filming with Daniel. I originally broke the collarbone trying a trick. And then we went to Europe and I just slammed kind of hard in Leeds. I landed on my ribs, like with my elbow. And I think I just maybe cracked a rib pretty lightly. That was just three weeks of chilling. That's pretty much why I didn't skate in Paris. But then by the time I was in Amsterdam, since it was such a long trip, I was already skating again. It was cool to skate with Pontus. We went to some skate parks.

The footage I have in mind of you so far, like from the Polar introduction and some of Daniel's videos, gives me the impression you mostly skate bigger rails and stuff like that.

Yeah, but that's not on purpose. I don't know why. I think I just get picked to do it since I can skate those spots. So maybe they would bring me to them. I also like doing other stuff just as much, but it just seems to happen a lot.

Backside 50-50 – Photos by Kris Burkhardt

Is there some specific thing you have in mind that you are hyped on and filmed for the new video? 

I don't know if everything's going to be used, because I've been filming with Daniel for a really long time. Maybe like a year. And then there's also everything from trips with Sirus. So I don't know. Probably just Pontus and Sirus know it. 

There was that back 50 that I did and I landed between some cars. Kris Burkhardt shot the photo. I was pretty hyped on that, because we went there and we got kicked out pretty quickly just for looking at it. It was an apartment complex, and there's just this older lady that was really not feeling it. She didn't want us being there. But we just came back the next day, and then there was a car parked in the way, but I decided to try it anyway, and it worked out.

Oh, and there's there's another boardslide that I was hyped on. I tried it once with a new board. I don't know why. I think it was actually on go skate day, but the first try, I just snapped my tail, slammed pretty hard and then I was over it. Now I've landed it. I went back for it like a month later or something.

What’s up next?

I actually keep getting injured haha. I rolled my ankle a week ago now, but it's getting better. It's so purple [shows his foot].

Ouch! You really got bad luck.

Yeah that’s like the fourth or the fifth injury. This one is not that bad though. I'm already running around. It's all good. I'm going on a trip to Boston soon, so I'm just not skating for now.