Marco with friends Eddie Wall and Chris Friel at the bar in Mammoth last year.

Interview by Tawnya Schultz

Just when you think Marc Frank Montoya can’t possibly have anything else up his sleeve he floors you. It’s easily been years since he’s needed to prove his skills on a shred stick- pretty much ever since “Back in Black”- but he continues to do it anyway. Then there’s his head to toe pro models, not one but two signature boards, hotels, reality shows, DJ MFM; his empire expands by the second. While many in similar shoes take vacations and count the days until retirement neither of those are options for Marco. He’s now utilizing his success in different ways. He’s on a mission to change the world and if his track record of finishing what he started is any merit don’t question his ability to do just that. If I were a fortune teller my crystal ball would foresee MFM’s 08’ season being the biggest yet. Don’t believe me? Then read on allow his words to insight and inspire you.

Tawnya Schultz: So first of all I want to clear something up. What name are you going by now? You’re like P Diddy I never know if you have a new one or what to call you.

Marc Frank Montoya: Just Marco.

T.S.: Is Mark Franc your first and middle name then?

M.F.M.: My real name is Marco Benjamin Frank on my license but my Mom’s last name is Montoya so I rep that.

T.S.: How was the 07’ season overall for you? I know you were in and out of injuries.

M.F.M.: It was good. I got hurt a couple times but I was able to heal pretty fast. I was hurt all last season so I was stoked to ride all this season. It was because I’ve been taking this crazy drink. This drink called MonaVie is the whole reason I’m still riding.

T.S.: Is that the concentrated purple juice? I’ve had that before.

M.F.M.: Yeah the purple drink. It’s amazing. The best shit ever. It has antioxidants and anti-inflammatory. All the athletes-all the soccer players, football players, baseball, Red Sox, White Sox, everybody’s on it. It’s crazy.

T.S.: That’s sick. Good to know. How did filming go and what videos should we look out for?

M.F.M.: Absinthe Films “Optimistic?” and Finger on da Trigger’s “Cold World.”

Ice cream at Windell’s is so yummy.

T.S.: Tell me about The Boyz N the Hood tour and your involvement.

M.F.M.: We’re just on this DVS tour in Oregon hitting up some parks then coming to the camps for the kids. The DVS skate team; Daewon, Mikey Taylor, Jeron Wilson, Lamare Hemmings, Torey Pudwill, and me as a guest. Mikey LeBlanc was supposed to be on tour but he’s messing around in Portland. There’s the best skating out here. It’s fun as shit.

T.S.: I was going to ask you if you’re gonna shred at all but I’m guessing no.

M.F.M.: Nope just strictly skating. It’s sick skating with these dudes and kicking it.

T.S.: I know skating had a huge influence on your snowboarding career. What is it like now going on tours like this with Daewon and Jeron?

M.F.M.: It’s sick as fuck. I mean back in the day I’ve always been skating just as much as I snowboard. When it’s summer time that’s all I do is skate so it’s fun to be doing demos.

T.S.: It was making me think of something when I was watching earlier. How dope would it be if snowboarders did the same thing? There are no real demos. The closest thing I feel is The Block contest because it’s more like a jam.

M.F.M.: That’s why we do The Block contest. It’s not really a contest it’s more of a jam session demo where kids can come and see the pros and ams hit it up and jib. It’s not a crazy serious contest but cool fun stuff where everyone just chills and parties.

T.S.: That was the most entertaining contest I went to last year. Just watching everybody have so much fun doing it; it was sick. I loved it.

M.F.M.: Hell yeah.

T.S.: Any trips to Hollywood lately? I miss 118 and the random club parties we used to go to.

M.F.M.: I did a bunch of trips to L.A. because my girl was living out there. I was out there a lot this summer chillin’. Not really Hollywood but the L.A. area. I’ve been traveling crazy all summer.

T.S.: I’m just one of your million MySpace friends. Do you actually go on yours or does someone do that for you?

M.F.M.: It’s messed up because just the last month I’ve learned how to get on there and do blogs. I have all these friends and I can’t possibly reply to them all. I get on there every little bit and try to change it up and do blogs of where I’m at every week, where I’m DJing, and stuff like that. If I know I’m going to be somewhere I’ll throw a party and DJ at some cool bar.

T.S.: MySpace is awesome. It’s so easy to talk to people and get the word out.

M.F.M.: Yeah. Some people don’t like it and think it’s all played out but it’s just the way now.

Marco and I chillin’ at a 118 party back in the day.

T.S.: What are you looking forward to next season?

M.F.M.: I’m going to be riding whenever I can with homies. I think I’m gonna get a big RV and just go everywhere. Get all my sponsors to kick in and go all around. And I’m actually starting a new outerwear company with some friends. Probably do a couple reality show segments with different people. Maybe do another Block one but this time a little more with me and following us wherever we go. We’ll be throwing parties here and there and just hanging out at all the different resorts. And serious filming with Absinthe.

T.S.: How does it feel to be such an icon in the industry now that you can basically just stamp your name on something and it will sell?

M.F.M.: It’s sick. I’m stoked. It’s hard work. I won’t stamp my name on something unless I can directly design it and make sure it’s tight. So that’s the hard part keeping up on all this stuff. I’m so crazy busy. Then there’s the other business stuff- the hotels, Biltrite Manufacturing- we make snowboards and skateboards for people. I got my own little skateboard company Low Rider Skateboards and now we’re going to start this outerwear company.

T.S.: I’m pretty sure you have more pro models than anyone else. Am I right or wrong?

M.F.M.: [Laughs] I don’t know. I’m not sure but that’s cool. I hope so.

T.S.: Any new additions people should watch out for; obviously the outerwear but anything else?

M.F.M.: Yeah just all of them. I’ve still got pro models on everything I had- Nitro, DVS, Spy, Drop.

One of Marco’s other gigs. Cuttin’ it up at Hot Dawgs and Handrails in 05’.

T.S.: I honestly think you’re the epitome of a true pro on so many levels. Your skills and style on a snowboard are a force to be reckoned with hands down but your ability to venture beyond that and make a future for yourself- I think that’s what makes you an icon.

M.F.M.: Word. Yeah I really don’t get that much sleep every night. I’m so busy but I can do that now while I’m young. I’m trying to build a future and change where I came from. I’m changing the whole way of the last couple generations of my family. No more broke shit. I already went through that once and I’m never gonna see that again. I want to make sure my family and friends don’t see it either. I’m all about the new types of ways to make money where it’s not work related but brain related and positive money. I’m getting in to charity now too like going to Africa and building houses and shit like that. I’m going to Africa in September.

T.S.: That’s awesome dude. Seriously that’s sick. Big props on that. That’s why I want to have money to do things like that.

M.F.M.: Yeah Ima do my part to change the world. I’m starting to go and do bigger things bigger than helping myself. I’m able to help my family now and get them going but like really really do some change in the world. You get to a certain point and you’ve helped yourself and hopefully your family and friends. You can only help friends so much because they need to be doing their own thing. You can’t baby sit them forever. The states have it pretty good already. A lot of us aren’t starving and all that stuff. I’m sick of seeing this shit on TV where we’ve got everything and people are starving and dying. They have nothing and we take all that shit for granted. That’s why I’m just trying to think of other ways to make money than regular stuff. It’s cool to make money helping people too. If you look in to multi-level marketing it’s a whole different way of thinking. You can show people how to make money themselves and own their own business for really cheap. Say it takes a couple hundred bucks rather than a million bucks. Plus this whole MonaVie thing I’m in to; it’s saving the world. It’s saving Brazil and creating hella jobs for people and everything’s good about it.

T.S.: What fears or insecurities do you have that people may not know about?

M.F.M.: Evil people and crazy lunatics. I’m trying to live good and stay positive and show other dumb asses who are growing up in a negative way. Those dumb ass broke gang members showing them that it ain’t the way. I’m trying to show people the right way of living and being a good person. I’m not scared of much really. If I am I step towards it not away from it. Step out of your comfort zone every day that you can and take a risk towards whatever you’re scared of.

T.S.: Where’s a destination you have yet to travel to that you want to visit in your lifetime?

M.F.M.: It was Africa but I’m gonna be there soon. I’ve been a lot of places but it’s because of snowboarding. I want to start going to places with sun and beach like Jamaica. I just never have before because I don’t like vacations. I like to be productive and I feel weird when I’m not doing something. I haven’t taken a real vacation in a long time. El Salvador though I really want to go there.

T.S.: What’s the status of The Block Hotel expansion in the states and across the globe?

M.F.M.: We’re working on Breckenridge right now and talking to Vail Associates. We’re looking at Chamonix. It’s just a little more expensive to get in to Europe. We have a couple of places to try and acquire in Nagano. We have to get Japanese business partners to go in with us. You can’t be an American and just go in there and own shit.

T.S.: Yeah they don’t really like that. Here they don’t care.

M.F.M.: [Laughs] Nobody really likes that. Now that we’re stable and setup we’re coming closer to getting bigger loans. We want to throw up twenty right away and make a big statement. We want to be in Whistler and the big name resorts like Winter Park. That place is blowing up. Breck is the closest one that will be next.

T.S.: Is The Block Party going down in December again?

M.F.M.: I’m pretty sure yeah. It’s a fun thing it’s just a matter of finding the right people to do it. It’s harder then it seems to do a contest and a lot of people can’t handle it. It’s a lot of stress when it comes down to it. Boost helped us out a lot last year. Janae hooked it up with bringing in the dopest acts; Ghostface, Beatnuts, and The Visionaries. It was just the best time ever. If we can keep it like that we’re going to keep doing it.

T.S.: I tried to write down all your sponsors off the top of my head and see if I could get them all so tell me if I left anyone out. Nitro, Skull Candy, Technine, Spy, Monster, Section, The Block Hotel, DVS, Park City, Alive, Milo, and Drop.

M.F.M.: Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s all of them. Wait did you name Bluebird?

T.S.: Nope didn’t have that. Anybody else you want to give shot outs to?

M.F.M.: More then ever the people who support me and work with me. The fans. I have a lot of loyal fans who MySpace me. When I see them in a certain town or whatever they’re like “Man we’ve been watching you forever.” That shit hits my heart. I love that. I appreciate everybody always. Thank you so much for supporting me through my whole shit. Much love.