You’ve probably never heard of Mike Powley – he’s from Connecticut, goes to school full time in New York, and has never put out a full part. I had never heard of him either until a couple of weeks ago when I received a few clips of him in my inbox from a mutual friend. I was psyched on the fact that Mike was obviously good at skating and didn’t seem too worried about forcing his way into the limelight. It was a reminder that there are still unknown people out there killing it on their own terms, which is definitely refreshing.

48 Blocks: Start with your name, age, and where you're from.

Mike: My name’s Mike Powley. I’m 21 and originally from East Windsor, CT, but currently residing in NYC.

48 Blocks: How did you first get into skating?

Mike: I first got into skateboarding when I was real young I asked for a board for Christmas one year and got some shitty ninja turtles board - like fish style. I always skated by myself like everyday until one day some kid skated by my complex building and did a high ass kickflip and I was like oh shit!! I wanna do that. Didn’t start really skating until I moved to East Windsor and met some older kids that would let me tag along.  That’s when I really started learning shit.  East Toast Baby!  But I think I first got into it just because I seen it somewhere and was like this shit could be fun and the day I got it was the day I would never put it down.

48 Blocks: What skaters influenced you when you were younger?

Mike: The skaters that influenced me most when I was younger would probably have to be Paul Rodriguez, all the OG Zoo York dudes especially Zered, Pappalardo -  people like that.  I was more influenced by videos though. My first video was Thrasher’s Vidiot, but the videos that influenced me most were like In Bloom, Heads, Peep This, all the EST’s and Mixtapes and like Photosynthesis.  I would just watch videos and get hyped.

48 Blocks: Where do you skate at mostly and what type of terrain do you most like to skate?

Mike: On a day-to-day basis I usually just go to 12th and A or Tompkins and warm up and meet up with some kids. The type of shit I like to skate most is just plain smooth perfect flat, but I really like ledges, flatbars and perfect sized handrails and stairs.

48 Blocks: Who's hooking you up right now as far as sponsors?

Mike: Right now I’m getting help from Skate Lair Skateshop, DC Shoes,  Hubba, Venture, and UXA.

48 Blocks: Any projects currently in the works?

Mike: I honestly have no projects in the works, but I really wanna film a part for something seeing as how I have never put out a real part. If any homies or people reading this wanna get something going though, just give me a shout.

48 Blocks: Any hobbies outside of skateboarding - what else do you do to occupy your time?

Mike: Outside of skateboarding I just go to school full time for marketing management which takes up a lot of time between actually going and doing the work, but as far as fun shit I’m starting to get into fucking around with a lil’ bit of graff.  If I’m not skating I’m usually just chillin’ with homies getting faded on the weekends and going out. I’m kinda a low-key guy.

48 Blocks: Have you traveled much for skateboarding?

Mike: Nah I haven’t traveled much for skating either, I went out to SF this summer which was really dope and got to skate with some Street Corner dudes which was real cool and saw the Wallenberg contest go down. I also made a trip out to ATL for like 2 days with some of my friends, but the weather was pretty shitty. Went to Philly a few times and really wanna go back there for some unfinished business, but other than that being from CT I would just go to Boston and NYC they were both equally as far.  I have plans in the future to hopefully go out to Arizona, South Florida, SD and LA. I’m probably going back to SF during my winter break from school which should be really dope – it’s mad fun out there.

48 Blocks: What's one thing other than your skateboard that you couldn't live without?

Mike: Honestly I don’t need much, I just couldn’t live without my friends and family and probabaly some of the sticky icky and beer just to sooth the soul.

48 Blocks: Any last words to wrap this up?

Mike: I would just like to thank Erik Munday at Skate Lair, Jeff Pang At DC, all my homies back in CT especially the East Toast Crew, my homies Shyam and Jesse, also like to thank Rodney and Manny for helping out with some shit and would definitely like to thank Deejay Stevens at Street Corner and 48 Blocks for hooking this interview up.  Oh yeah and just remember it’s a skateboard - something we all grew up having fun doing, let’s keep it fun.  Thanks for reading!