Hearing Ian MacKaye talk about anything usually proves exhilarating—so much so, dude even had a lecture tour a year or so ago! MacKaye, of course, is an icon of punk rock and independent music, being a founding member of the likes of Minor Threat, Fugazi, the Evens, and Dischord Records; his D.I.Y. philosophy and personal integrity has made him an inspiration to so many (especially, well, me).

MacKaye usually is enlisted to talk about various iterations of punk culture, so it’s exciting when he puts his brain on other topics. Blogger Atiba Jefferson of The Skateboard Mag recently sat down to query MacKaye about skateboarding, and the results proved typically fascinating and incisive, especially about how skating helped form his world view and shape how he perceived his immediate environment. The bit about Ian and Henry Rollins as teenagers taking a Greyhound bus across the country to check out California skate parks and pro contests proves especially rad! Read the interview here.

Ian and Rollins are featured in the upcoming documentary, Barbarshop Punk, which premiered this year at SXSW.  Here’s a preview.