We recently caught up with Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, skateboarding pioneer, clothing designer, and all-round radical dude Shaun White as he gears up for his latest exploit, the release of the Shaun White Snowboarding videogame, which features a pretty sweet soundtrack. You'll be surprised to know that he's not a great surfer, listens to Brian Eno, and is awfully fond of lube...

B: Where are you now and what are you up to (besides answering these questions)?

SW: I'm actually home right now, it's been nice being able to hang out with my homies, skating a bit, and playing some music. I'm on the road a lot so when I get some time to relax I definitely take advantage. 

 
B: Let’s get straight to the game: what differentiates this game from other snowboarding games?

SW:  It's funny to say, but really this game feels like your really snowboarding. In the end, we wanted people that have never been on snow, or never ridden in the backcountry to get a feel for how much fun it is. Also, since you can get online and ride with your friends, it feels like the real deal.

B: How much input did you give on actual snowboard locations?

SW: When we were deciding what locations to pick, I kept describing my favorite spots to ride. I would tell them about runs that I loved to ride, how steep they were, where the best jumps were at. Finally, we decided to just pick my favorite places to ride because that is what I was telling them about.

B: Do you have a favorite trail in the US? Europe? Anywhere else?

SW: I really like to ride at Park City. The park and pipe there is always good, so whenever I come into town I know that it will be fun. I also like to hit up Japan when I can. The powder riding there is really fun especially when you can go riding in the trees.

B: The game has a really strong soundtrack, including great contemporary bands such as The Ting Tings and MGMT, and classic tunes by Run DMC, Loverboy and Blue Oyster Cult. How involved were you with the selection of music?

SW: The music was really important, it's so easy to just pick songs that are popular just because we know everyone will like them. We wanted to pick bands that might be off the radar. Hopefully, there will be a song or two that someone has never heard of which might get them excited to dig a little bit deeper than the hits that are on the radio.

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