Learn More About Alex Sorgente

How did the whole idea of this Red Bull part come up?

I started working on this part in January. I hit up Tyler Wilcox because I was able to choose who I wanted to film. Fortunately, Tyler was leaving NHS to do freelance stuff so he was available. It worked out perfectly.

Yeah, how important is the filmer and editor when it comes to a video part?

The camaraderie between the filmer and skater means a lot. If everything is going smoothly, the skater likes the filming, it’s sick. It goes hand in hand, a good skater and a good filmer.

Had you been familiar with Tyler’s work for a long time?

I met Tyler at Woodward Camp when I was thirteen or fourteen. He was doing the film camp. I moved out to California when I was seventeen and we started filming together. He was who I filmed with out in Cali a bunch and then he got a job with NHS. But now it worked out with this part.

What’s Vero Amore mean?

True Love baby! I wanted to put some of my Italian roots into the name. Tyler and I were going back and forth with names and he was like, “Oh that’s kinda sick.” Sounds pretty good off the tongue so we went with that one.

Do you speak fluent Italian?

I wouldn’t say I’m fluent, my father is from Italy. Growing up, he never really taught me Italian, but when I’d go to Italy, I’d have to speak to my grandparents who didn’t speak any English at all, so I kind of had to pick it up over there.

What was the scene like growing up in Florida in the late 90s/early aughts?

It wasn’t too big of a skate scene like it is now. There are so many good skaters coming out of Florida now. I grew up skating the YMCA in West Palm Beach with Mike Rogers who does the Grind For Life organization. He ran a summer camp and I was always so stoked to go to that. I would have chaffing on my knees I’d skate so much in kneepads. I’d have to put baby powder in my pads and stuff. That was my upbringing in South Florida. Skating with Mike and doing the Grind For Life series. Those were the first competitions where I started getting noticed.

Why does Florida crank out so many pro skaters?

There’re not a lot of distractions in Florida like there are in California. Growing up, skating was the only thing we would do. I got addicted to it, the adrenaline rush and learning tricks. I didn’t like team sports in school, I didn’t like coaches. I didn’t like anyone telling me what to do, so skateboarding was my freedom to express myself. I just loved it, forever.

What was the first skate video you saw and had a big impact on you?

Bones Brigade, The Search For Animal Chin because of the ramp, it really caught my eye. That’s before I was really into skating, I remember watching that video and thinking, wow, skateboarding is sick. Look at this ramp they’re skating in the middle of the desert. And it had a really cool theme about finding Chin. Seeing all those guys wearing all the bright neon, really caught my eye too.

But that video came out way before you were born?!

For sure, but because the way I grew up skating, it was with an older head, Mike Rogers. I learned all about skating from him. The kids at the local YMCA were like smoking pot under the ramp, but Mike showed me the ropes, how to act, not to be a delinquent. I was like six years old, a little grom.

What’s up with the voice-over on the song in the intro?

I can’t really put a meaning to that. We were going through some of the Dag Nasty music on the album. The song I chose is called Exercise and I just like the skit they had on one of the intro songs. It works really well in the video. I told Tyler I wanted the part to be meaningful, not just classic skate clips.

It goes from punk to new wave 80s Flock Of Seagulls. How’d you come up with those songs?

I’ve always loved punk music. I wanted to make people pumped to go out and skate. We got the rights for the first song but the part ended up being eight minutes long so we had to get another song. We would listen to this Flock Of Seagulls song but unfortunately it cost too much to use. One of Tyler’s buddy’s is a great musician and did a cover of it in his own style. We heard it, liked it and used it.

That second song is a cover?

Yeah, that’s not a Flock of Seagulls song. I think Tyler’s brother is playing bass on it too.

Do you have Brazilian roots? Because I know you’ve been mistaken as Brazilian before.

I actually have no Brazilian roots, I just like Brazil a lot. I think the culture and the people are really cool. The first time I went over there I was fourteen years old and Pedro Barros flew me out there. He was running this amateur contest at this hotel with this red bowl in it called High Adventure. That was an eye-opening experience to see all the energy those guys have and the passion they have for skateboarding. It psyched me up then and I’ve been going there for ten years now. Also when I was younger there was a lot of battling between me and Pedro in competitions, so people thought I was Brazilian, I had the energy I guess.

Where’d you travel for this part?

Our first trip was to Brazil in the beginning of the year. Then we went to Florida, then back to California, then our final big trip was two weeks in Portugal.

Were the locations your idea?

Yeah, I had an event in Brazil and we decided to rent a car and drive around Rio, which is insane. My friend Felipe there took us to these crazy spots in the Favelas because he has a social project where he helps the kids there and teaches them how to skate. We went to Florida because I have a lot of friends there, I have a house, got to see the family. I rent a spot in California, so we skated Cali. Then in Portugal I wanted to skate this big bowl, it’s called Belmonte, and I knew there were mad spots in Lisbon and Porto. In my part, there’s this huge bowl with a full pipe, it’s like sixteen feet deep and there’s this offset ledge on top of the bowl. The only people I’ve seen skate it are Grant Taylor and Pedro Barros, and that inspired me to go. It worked out perfectly, I was stoked.

How’d you end up living in San Diego? Did the parks down there have anything to do with it?

The first time I came to California it was for the Am Combi Pool Party and I won. I also skated the Clash At Clairemont, those were the first two times I came out. Just seeing the whole skate scene—there’s just so much to do whether it’s skating, surfing, riding dirt bikes—it’s a Mecca for action sports. I slept on my friends’ couch for a year until I turned eighteen and then I actually lived with Cory Juneau at first in Carlsbad. Anytime you want to go film, there’re filmers around, the whole industry is here, so yeah, I made California my home base. I love the mellow cruisey vibe in SD, and there’re so many spots down here. LA is too crowded, too much traffic.

Where do you get your tranny licks in in SoCal?

Definitely that pool in the back of Poods. Linda Vista is really fun. Oceanside’s Prince Park. I like Vista, the new park, it’s open 24/7. You can go there at like midnight with your homies and have a solo session at night.

On a scale of one to ten, how hard is Washington street skatepark to skate?

It definitely takes a few runs to get used to it, but I love skating challenging stuff like that. The Bridge is so sick, it has so much soul. I’d give it a seven, because they did a really good job. But I’d give it a ten out of ten on how sick it is.

I love the clip of the noseblunt in Paris and then Evan Mock is filming and spinning 360s after. What was going on there?

There was a RVCA clothing drop or something and the next day we went filming with the RVCA team. Zion Wright was there too. We pulled up to that wall, it’s so sick. I wasn’t expecting to get a clip that day.

What’s scarier, a big rail or a big pool?

You can kind of warm up in a pool, you can feel it out and start getting to the top. Definitely hopping on a big rail is scarier, you never know what can happen. You can’t work your way up to it, you just gotta go for it.

How’d you end up on Disorder?

That came about at Dew Tour in 2021. I saw Nyjah at the rooftop restaurant and he asked me if I had a board sponsor. I had just left Plan B and was open. I was actually riding Slappy’s Garage shop decks. Nyjah kind of put it on the table and I told him I’d be psyched to start riding for them. We took our first trip to Miami and that’s where it all started. I’m stoked to see where it’s gonna go because it’s a brand new company. I think it’s moving in a good direction.

On the subject of enders, were you thinking of having a tranny trick or a street trick as your ender? Because the first trick in your part is a gnarly street trick!

I like skating street a lot, I’ll skate anything you put in front of me. Funny story, Danny Way came over to my house and told me, “A real skateboarder skates anything in front of him. You put a rail, you put a vert ramp, you put a stair set, you put anything in front of them, they can go and skate it. That’s a real skateboarder.”

After Danny told me that, it got me real fired up. He’s always been one of my big influences. So that’s how I wanted my part to be, a good mix. I actually didn’t expect to have that many street clips in my part.

Was the alley-oop Cab at Memorial the hardest trick to get?

Yeah, it took two trips, that was a mission. It was hard to figure out. I was pretty stoked on that one.

If you could session any park in the world with five of your friends, where and who would it be?

Stapelbäddsparken in Malmo, Sweden with Zion Wright, Cory Juneau, Keegan Palmer, Clay Kreiner and Danny Way. That’d be sick.

As a big concrete skater, what are the bucket list parks in the world that other fans of ‘crete need to skate before they die?

SMP in China. Everyone should go check out that bowl in Belmonte, Portugal. It’s a small town with this huge bowl, it’s insane. Some of the best concrete stuff is up in the Northwest. Anything in Oregon that Dreamland and Grindline built.