Keanu Reeves and Tony Hawk discuss their favourite band: “Everything follows”
There aren’t many pop culture icons who can claim to be more loved than Keanu Reeves and Tony Hawk. The former is “the internet’s boyfriend”, an actor of somewhat questionable repute who has also made his name as the nicest man in Hollywood. As for the latter, he revolutionised skateboarding and brought skate culture to the masses with his succession of hit games.
While both men are united by the fact that they are undisputed heroes and are loved by many people who inhabit the same sections of society, such as skaters, stoners and hipsters, they are also similar because of their love of great music. This has only bolstered their standing in the eyes of the aforementioned demographics.
Reeves’ connection to rock music was confirmed the moment Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure hit the shelves in 1989. It starred him and Alex Winter as the pair of hapless eponymous musicians who perform in the group Wyld Stallyns and are destined to change the world. He has since played bass in the band Dogstar, who have toured the world, and once had support acts in future stars such as Rancid and Weezer.
As for Hawk, his connection to great music is longstanding and inextricable from his life as a skater. Born and raised in San Diego, California, his upbringing on the board coincided with that of his exposure to great music. The intercoms at local skateparks blasted out first-wave punk groups in the late 1970s and then other influential sounds as the years wore on and post-punk, goth, and more eclectic forms emerged. He has since discussed the importance of everyone from Dead Kennedys to Pixies.
As Reeves is also a fan of great music, particularly punk and its offshoots, it’s no surprise that when he and Hawk converged, it proved fascinating. This happened in June of this year when Dogstar appeared on the Californian podcast Hawk vs Wolf, which he hosts with fellow skateboarder Jason Ellis.
At one point, Reeves eagerly mentioned that Hawk has dealt a lot with music over the years due to his games. After explaining that he’s been doing it for nearly 25 years, he replied: “Music was just a huge part of skating, especially in the formative years, ’70s and ’80s.”
Then, when Reeves pointed at him and asked for his favourite band at the beginning of his journey, Hawk named Leeds’s post-punk heroes, Gang of Four, as the group that kicked it all off. He deems them so important that he says “everything follows” for him, as they were a gateway into the punk world. He then mentioned another more prominent group as his ultimate go-to.
Hawk revealed: “Favourite band that everything follows is Gang of Four. So, everything kind of surrounds that. I’d say The Clash is the ultimate favourite – London Calling, yeah. So, when I got to do a game, I wanted it to represent the culture, and mostly, I just wanted it to have all aspects of that, including music. And so I was just throwing bands that I was listening to growing up, and they were easy to get.”
Heading down memory lane, the pioneering skater recalled listening to KROQ during those heady days, with the influential DJ Rodney Bingenheimer soundtracking his arc through the intercoms. This education was how he came to provide a new generation of skate fans with a classic punk soundtrack and leave the studio’s team to find the more contemporary bands in the late 1990s, such as Goldfinger and Fu Manchu, who became synonymous with his games.
