Johnny Lazz…The One and Only!
I met Johnny when he was like 15 years old at a house party in North Lake Tahoe where he stole all of my beer and then gave it out to everyone?!? Johnny had quite the reputation as a kid: he had been with Rome since he was a little grom, and they groomed him into quite the hell raiser. I remember him shredding all over Northstar at Tahoe–jumping ropes, spraying people with slush and yelling at Ski Patrol when they had a problem with it. A true snowboarder with a candy problem. Not much has changed over the years–his pockets are still stuffed with candy and snacks. One small difference: Johnny is 19 years old now and is on the Rome Pro Team. He has put all of his energy towards showing the snowboard industry what he has to offer. He has been slaying it for the past few years in the rail jam scene, and pulling in some major wins. He is currently part of the two-year video project for Rome Snowboards called The Shred Remains.
Where are you from?
North Lake Tahoe California
Where do you live right now?
Carnelian Bay. The same place I grew up my whole life, haven’t even gotten outta the neighborhood–my mom lives down the street.
Who do you live with?
Colin Walters, Hobo Shredwear owner; and Dylan Alito. I love these kids, I love being on my own.
What is your local mountain?
How was it this year with all of the early snow?
Northstar is great. They built their big park which you can see from the chairlift and it’s lookin’ good.
What’s your favorite spot for food after a day at Northstar?
Its gotta be Lanza’s Italian Restaurant in Kings Beach, CA.
Who do you ride for now?
Nothing beats a good hike!
You used to ride for a local shop and now you ride for Active. What’s it like riding for a giant chain shop?
I just got on their team. They’re real supportive, and I like how big they are, and I like the people there. They have their own clothing lines so all of their gear is pretty sweet. It’s nice.
Volcom is a dream sponsorship for anyone in action sports and you have been with them for a while. What has riding for Volcom been like for you?
It is the coolest thing in the world–literally a dream come true for me. Ever since I was a baby I always wanted to ride for Volcom and I just kinda met the rep around here and ended up riding for Volcom, and now it’s great!
Have you gotten to shred any pow this year with all the snow in Tahoe?
Yeah, I just took a trip to Utah for a week, stayed at Bjorn Lienes house, and we sledded out to a couple of spots, took a couple turns and did a few ollies and cliff drops. It was fun.
Have you been hitting rails in Reno lately?
No, I haven’t been to Reno in a while. I’m hoping they will get some snow this year, cuz they’ve got a bunch of stuff to hit in the city.
Who are your biggest influences in snowboarding?
Dylan Alito, Scott Stevens, Jake Blauvelt…hmmm who else is sick…Gigi Ruff and Louie Paradise.
What was your best moment in snowboarding?
Best moment snowboarding for me was probably going on a trip to Japan with Rome. That was just an awesome opportunity, get outta the country and go to some place that I have no idea what it’s like, eat some awesome food, meet some rad people, get some good snowboarding in, overall great experience. It was a real successful trip, and I am always gonna remember it.
The Japan trip was to film for the new Rome movie right?
Correct, it’s called The Shred Remains and it’s going great. I got a couple of shots from last year, and this year has been pretty busy. I’ve been to Minnesota and Utah, I’ve been to the east coast (where I broke my wrist) and I’m about to head back over to the east coast in a couple of days and try to get some more shots.
How’d you break your wrist?
I was hitting this rail and I just fell on it wrong, a couple of times, and then it snapped. Then I flew home the next day to get it taken care of, but I only had the cast on for two weeks so I was stoked.
Any other video parts coming out?
Possibly some shots in the ThirtyTwo Am movie. It’s called Ammo, it features my roommate Dylan Alito along with Chris Brewster and Brandon Hobush. They are all real good guys that kill it, pretty much freaks of nature on a snowboard. And yeah I’m pretty sure that I’m gonna have some shots in that video so look out for it.
What are your plans for the rest of the winter? Contests? Trips planned?
Basically just try to go at this Rome movie 100% and try to film as much as possible. Then some contest at the end of the year like The West Coast Invitationals and The Shakedown. The Shakedown is in Seattle and the West Coast Invitational is at Mammoth. Then do Superpark followed by two weeks of chillin on the beach in Tahoe then packin up my stuff to move outa my house and head up to Mt. Hood for the summer. Trying to snowboard in every month of the year this year.
Read up on Johnny by viewing his rider profile at Rome’s website.
Check out The Shred Remains dropping in Fall 2011 and watch out for the ThirtyTwo movie Ammo in shops soon.
