Rocking n’ Rolling On and Off the Board: TCOY Coughlin

SLUG: Alright. Max Pain is a skater band, right? So is that how it started?
TCOY: Fuck yeah. I’ve known all the dudes in the van since eighth grade. We all just skated and kind of played music. But it wasn’t until we lived together, right after high school, that we started playing together a shit load, and the band thing just kind of fell into place. But we did skate trips. We went to Arizona when we were like 16, but we told our parents we were going to St. George—just a bunch of young, shitty kids. But that’s what’s cool about music, too: I think it was our ticket to keep doing skate trips but actually having a fucking reason to go. I mean, we started touring before we even had a CD. Like, “Let’s go on another skate trip, and we’ll play music on the side or whatever.”

SLUG: That’s sick! How far out do you guys go?
TCOY: We just did a full US tour. We started in the Pacific Northwest, down to the West Coast, through the South, up the East Coast, then back through the Midwest. It was like 45 days.

SLUG: And good skating?
TCOY: It was sick how many rad DIY spots there are. We were in Cincinnati, and there was one that Al Davis always skates. It was in Kentucky, but Kentucky’s like two minutes from Cincinnati. So we skated that spot, and it was sick as fuck. There was one in Milwaukee that was way rad. And Austin skatepark—that park was crazy. It was so hot in Texas, though. It was hot everywhere. Humidity is fucked. It’s hard to pick, though.

SLUG: Do you have any tours or skate trips coming up?
TCOY: We’re moving to New York City in November—the whole band. Our buddy, Spencer has a brother who lives there. He lives in Brownsville, which is right outside of Bushwick. He pays 500 bucks a month, and it’s really not that bad. You can make it work. So we’re doing that, and we’re going to Europe in January. It’s gonna be booked in August, so I’ll know more shortly.

SLUG: And your friend Ball Sack has a camera now. How about that video? Is there a set deadline or anything?
TCOY: No. I’ve been gone so much, I don’t know how much I’ll be in it, but it’s done when it’s done. Did you see “Whisker Biscuit,” Dirk Hogan‘s video? I had a part in that. It’s on Vimeo. Make sure to put Dirk Hogan after, ’cause it brings up some weird shit.

SLUG: Does anyone hook you up?
TCOY: Just through managing the shop—rep shit. I’ve never been sponsored. I’m not good enough.

SLUG: What’s next for TCOY?
TCOY: Just trying to stack cash for New York.

SLUG: Cool, man. That’s it.
TCOY: There we go. That was mellow.

Skating, drumming, New Yorking. The road ahead for TCOY and the band sounds rad. It’s fitting for him, too. That talk with him was nothing short of entertaining, and he’s seemingly a ripping human. While we all await his next adventures, you can get your dose of TCOY tomfoolery by peeping Whisker Biscuit.