Later skater

 

Twenty-five years after turning pro, Chuck Treece still skateboards, but now he does it with his kids, as well as more notable folks, like Bam Margera.

“I skate FDR, Maple Shade and over at Bam’s. He has a mini-ramp outside of West Chester…But the township has been on him lately…”

Treece, 45, a Philly musician who has played with stars such as Billy Joel, Bad Brains and G.Love, was a professional in the early ’80s, long before skaters like Tony Hawk and Stacey Peralta became part of American mainstream culture. He indicated skateboard parks are important, especially to kids in the suburbs.

“I learned more about the negative things (to do) once I moved to the suburbs (from Delaware). There you have more time to get into more trouble. (Those kids) need a distraction.”

He’ll be helping provide all local skaters another place to grind when his seminal area skate rock band, McRad, plays the Franklin Paine Skate Park Project Benefit Thursday at the Khyber. McRad will play selections off its first release in two decades, FDR, named after the city skatepark.

“This music was my first love,” Treece, who has worked with artists from Amy Grant to Jadakiss, said of the punky rock. “I had to get back to it.”

The benefit show will provide Treece with an audience for his music and his custom boards, as well as an opportunity to help create a monument of sorts to the culture that has so influenced his life.

“We have the opportunity (with Paine Skate Park) to make something that will be a lasting part of Center City…of youthful culture in Philly.”

 

Franklin Paine Skate Park Project Benefit

McRad, The Smiles Project, Shane MAC, Cubehead and SICU

The Khyber, 56 S 2nd St. Philadelphia; 215.238.5888

Thursday, August 23, 9 p.m.

$10; 21+