Corey Duffel Talks About His Zero Guest Board, New Tattoos, and The Old CCS Catalog Clearance Section

The inevitable alignment of legendary skater and board company has finally occured; Corey Duffel has a guest pro model deck with Zero skateboards. It's been a while since CCS has had a Duffman deck on offer, so we took they occasion to chat with Corey about this destined collaboration.

CCS: Are you ever sick of being referred to as “Duffman”?

Corey: I've been called much worse over the years. Duffman is all good with me. I love comics and cartoons.

How did this Zero guest board come about?

A few years back we talked about it, but Foundation shut down the idea. When Jamie revisited the idea earlier this year with me and I said “Heck yes!” He said it would be for the 25 years of Zero anniversary.

Tell me a bit about the graphic?

I was told I could come up with a graphic, new or old. My first thought was I wanted the image of me falling on my face from That’s Life done up like the iconic Jamie Thomas smith grind board. Jamie wasn’t into it. A couple weeks later he showed me a drawing from an artist in France. I saw it and loved it. The reason being is the whale and the ship. My dad is a huge lover of the ocean. Whales are his absolute favorite creatures. When I saw it I said “Yup, this one is for my dad". It’s got his name on the ship and I thought it be really cool if my guest board was something for my family as they’ve been so supportive of me.

Talk about the influence Zero had on you coming up as a young skater?

Zero is one of the very few things in skateboarding that really made me feel something. Obviously I love skateboarding but the team and branding spoke to me. It was very raw and minimal. Jamie Thomas became my hero at 12 and I was in love with this new brand.

Favorite Zero video? Favorite Zero part?

Adrian Lopez, Thrill Of It All. I still watch it all the time. Thill of It All is just a video I really love. Mumford skating to Radio Birdman! The entire soundtrack. The filming, the spots and the tricks. Gnarly but also basic. During a time of technical and slow skating, this was an oasis. It allured me in and truly gave me a sense of belonging type of feeling. I felt alone in the crowd of skaters I knew and this was the sound of a new dance that I wanted part of.

Thrill of It All and Misled Youth are the ones for me.

We hear you just got a tattoo from the Chief… we gotta ask about that!

I haven’t been tattooed in over ten years and said I’d never get one again. My bro Dave Feldman- singer of the band Wyldlife, who is the song in the edit, texted me this morning saying he couldn't believe I got a tattoo again because I talk about wanting to remove mine.

When Jamie asked a couple of times I said “Fuck it”. He mentioned doing an Adored smiley face which is the logo for my brand and I wanted Misled Youth under it. We did our little collab. We share an interesting past and it seemed like a good way to finish a wild weekend for me... A guest board with Zero, tattoo, burgers, driving 9 hours to San Diego to sign 250 shred sleds. I picked up new Adored skateboards from BBS. Staying with my friends the Brunner twins. Korean bbq with Jeremy Klein, who is my first ever favorite skater. Totally epic week and full of dreams come true.

Did you ever shop with CCS from the mailorder catalog back in the day?

For Christmas 97 I got a Zero Bold skateboard and the photo below is the one I got. It was a very special gift. The windbreaker from the edit also came from CCS in 97.

Usually, my brothers and I rarely got to order from CCS but every catalog had our markings all over it with what we dreamed of getting. My mom was always so cool and if she was able she’d get us a Christmas gift or back-to-school shirt because there was a clearance page. Buy 3 shirts get 1 free. They were always random colors. Hoping for black but getting canary yellow in XL.

What else do you have coming up? What are the plans for Adored?

I just picked up 350 skateboards which is huge for me. I plan on releasing them in June at adoredskateboarding.com.

Skateboard, smile, spread positive energy and inspire people with love and passion. That’s what I have planned.
Maybe a Jamie Thomas Adored guest board? Jeremy Klein?

Tell us about a couple bands or records you would want the kids to know about?

As we are doing this interview I’m listening to the first Tindersticks first LP. An incredible LP by a band that I love. Rachel Travers who I’m married to is putting out her first solo LP next month and it’s a huge accomplishment. Skateboarding has always been most important in my life until I met her so seeing and hearing her play is magical to me. It’ll be available for listening next month under her name. She’s also helping produce a record for our friends. The band is called The Pleasure Routine and they rule.

Check out WH Lung. They are a band of recent years that I’m really digging. Music rules. Go to your local record store and explore. Open your mind and ears. Listen to it all and don’t ever corner yourself into one sound or way of living.

Any final comments or shout outs?

Fall, laugh, smile, skate fast. You are adored .

Big thanks to Corey for doing this interview.
His very limited Zero guest board will soon be available on CCS.com for a few seconds before selling out, so keep your eyes open.

Check Corey out on Instagram. Check CCS out while you're at it.