Dialed In with Spencer Hamilton

Spencer Hamilton is a reminder that style, strength, and power go hand in hand. Whether he’s stacking clips in Vancouver, filming projects across the globe for his many sponsors, or simply balancing skateboarding and fatherhood, Spencer’s constantly out there pushing—on and off the board. We caught up with him for our latest “Dialed In” interview to talk about his current projects, staying healthy, and why Remind’s Medic insoles are his go-to. One of the best in the game! Dive in:

What’s been going on lately? Working on any projects?

Spring has finally sprung around here. Beautiful skate weather. Not too hot, not too cold. Got a solid crew of people who are all pretty motivated to skate. And a few different filmers who are down to fix spots and stuff. The Vancouver skate scene can kind of go up and down, so right now I feel like it’s in a good little spot. We have a good little crew, anyway. So I'm just motivated to skate a lot. Also just going to the gym  quite a bit, keeping the body feeling good. Little bit of running and cycling sprinkled in between. Lot of father-daughter time and family time as well, which has been fun. I’m filming a little Grand Collection project, it’s a clothing brand. And on the side just stacking footage to maybe do another Primitive part or something like that. Maybe like a Vancouver Part 2.0. We’ll see. 

What’s your typical routine look like these days?

I usually take care of my daughter in the morning and give my wife a little break. And in the afternoon, that’s when I’ll go skate, or if it’s raining I’ll go for a run, hit the gym. So it’s all just centered around family, skateboarding, or doing something to help skateboarding. I’ve found that going to the gym really helps my skateboarding, just feeling good on my board all around, you know? Making sure I feel strong and mobile. So yeah, just focused on family and skating and health. 

We’ve seen a ton of skaters hitting the gym, taking care of themselves more, etc. over the last maybe decade or so. When did you start getting into this routine, and was there anything specific that sparked the motivation?

I got diagnosed with an auto-immune condition a number of years ago that was just wreaking havoc on my body basically. Inflammatory condition of my lower back and SI joint (sacroiliac joint). Basically, in 2014, I just started having all these flare ups where I couldn’t do much and it just felt sort of out of control. I couldn’t do much and was just losing strength, couldn’t skate… not trying to get into a sob story, but after years of not being able to find answers, I found out what I had and started getting some treatments. 

From there, I really started to appreciate feeling good at a level that I hadn’t. I kind of just took it all for granted, you know? 10 years ago just doing whatever, you’re like “my body just works and it’s gonna continue to work, I can do whatever I want” then you hit a roadblock sometimes and that roadblock makes you question things and start looking for a solution. So it was just time to start making changes. It was a slow process. 

My friend owns a hot yoga studio, so I started with that. And as much as it helped, eventually I felt like it wasn’t enough. I started getting into more strength training stuff, following people on Instagram who got me inspired. It was a neat learning process from yoga to strength training, mobility training and even running and cycling. They’re all pretty humbling. It all just inspired me to push myself and just make myself better. 

This might be hard, but what’s your favorite personal video part and tell me a few reasons why?

I’ve always disliked “pick your favorite” questions [laughs], it’s just always so hard for me. Like, at least let me get two [laughs].

Yeah, absolutely [laughs]. Give me two. Give me three. Whatever you want! 

It’s just so hard—for certain reasons—to just pick one. I’m just critical of myself, so every time a part is done, there’s always something that I don’t like, or whatever. But I think my Supra “Elevate” part just because I remember going through the whole process of going through this auto-immune condition and going through the pain that I was going through, seeking treatment, etc. So to have a project that I was able to complete during a time of uncertainty and pain is cool to look back on. Like, at least I was able to do something, you know? All those clips in the part, I can remember what I was feeling while filming at the time. There’s things about it that I like, things I dislike, but as a whole, just completing something that was really hard at the time is cool. 

And to just pick another one, I’d say my Vancouver Part. I was just proud of it. It’s all Vancouver. Just another one of fond memories, going out with my friend Chance. It was filmed with just one filmer—maybe some random double angles with others—and all VX1000, skating spots I’ve been skating for years. You’re constantly trying to one up yourself, you know? It felt nice to put something out that I was happy about. Happy about the tricks. Happy about the songs. Happy about the edit. All that kind of stuff. 

Switching gears a bit, but how long have you been riding for Remind and what’s your favorite insole? How much of a difference do they make in your daily life?

I’ve been riding for Remind for years, man. I don’t know what it is about the Covid years but it’s like black hole of time [laughs], but I know it was before then. It’s gotta be somewhere in the 6-7 year range. So weird to say 7 years—it just seems like such a long time ago—but yeah, somewhere in that range. But yeah, my favorite insole is the Medic. That’s what I skate the most often. 

Do you wear them in all your shoes? All your different hobbies and activities? 

I sort of pick and choose, just depending on how the shoes feel, but yeah I wear them in a ton of different shoes. One thing I really like about Reminds is that they’re thicker, so again, they’re great for skating. Especially when you skate a shoe once or twice, it’s great to throw them in once the shoes are broken in just to fill in some of the gaps and make your shoe nice and snug. It’s definitely a noticeable comfort upgrade no matter what.  

Well, sort of wrapping things up—I know you’ve traveled the world, but where’s somewhere you’ve wanted to travel for skating and haven’t yet?

That’s a good question. I’ve never actually been to Italy. I’ve been all over Europe—most major cities more than once—but for some reason, I’ve totally missed Italy. Between Sicily and Milan, they look sweet. I’d love to go to Milan and skate that train station. Eat some good food. I’m definitely more drawn to the Barcelona, Portugal, Berlin-style cities that are kind of like New York or something. Just an enjoyable place to be for 10 days—the spots are great, food is good, coffee is good, the city is beautiful and easy to get around. I really like all those things coming together. 

What else is going on this year? 

I have that trip to New York in August for Grand Collection. Then a trip with them to Japan in October. And I’m sure there will be some stuff in between there. But that’s all that’s concrete right now. Just trying to get as much stuff going as I can here in Vancouver, cross off some things on my trick list here… which is bountiful [laughs].