Growing up in the small town of Big Sandy, Montana, Jeff Ament discovered his passion for skateboarding during his teenage years. At that time, the state offered limited opportunities for skaters, with only a few ramps available.
Ament’s initial venture into skateboarding began with a less-than-ideal clay wheel board. His enthusiasm truly ignited during a family trip to California, where he experienced the thrill of skating on urethane wheels along smooth asphalt. The journey back to Montana was spent engrossed in the pages of Skateboarder magazine, a 20-hour drive that further fueled his new obsession.
Inspired by the images of decks and ramps he found, Ament collaborated with his father, George, to bring these designs to life. Together, they crafted features like kick tails and perfected tail radii, enabling Ament to participate in larger skate competitions across the state.
“The most important part for my dad was that he was helping me build something,” Ament reflected. “He taught me a valuable life skill.”
In addition to his skateboarding pursuits, Ament is renowned as the bassist and co-founder of the iconic band Pearl Jam. His success in music has enabled him to contribute to the development of top-tier skate parks throughout Montana. These facilities, many located in small, remote areas, aim to reach every Native American reservation in the state by year’s end. Construction is set to begin on the final reservation, Northern Cheyenne, in just two weeks.
“Many people struggle to understand artists,” Ament remarked in a Zoom interview with The Associated Press. “In my view, skateboarding is more of an art form than a sport.”
Ament has found the parks can help kids survive and thrive outside of daily isolation, a message spread in the short documentary “Paving the Way.” Ament created original music for the film — which captures skateboarding’s power to foster creativity, challenge stereotypes and build community, spotlighting Indigenous youth on the Flathead Reservation — that premiers Sunday at the Tribeca Festival in New York.
The film tells the story through skater and artist Alishon Kelly, who perseveres with her love of skateboarding even with a broken foot. “Paving the Way” is directed by Keelan Williams and was nominated for the Big Sky Award at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.
“I think what he captures really well is just, when you have that thing inside of you, you just feel the need to be created,” Ament said. “I think it explains it really well, how cathartic it can be, how it helps you understand other aspects of your life.”
At the film’s backbone is a partnership between Jeff’s Montana Pool Service — a nod to the large bowl at the center of a skate park — and the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, as five new skateparks rise across the Flathead Reservation.
“We’re reminding people of our first peoples,” Ament said. “I think most people in this country have no idea that they even exist. I think there’s even been certain people in our government that are trying to kind of rewrite history, erase history. You even hear young people, say, younger people than me, talk about the Native people as if they’re immigrants.”
Ament delivered the commencement speech at MSU-Northern in Montana last month and touched on the importance for the graduates to be being open to getting out and seeing the world, even if they come from areas that can seem disconnected from their rural hometowns. He met with some of the students after the ceremony and found the experience “gave me hope. I think sometimes I don’t always see the best of the younger generation. They’re almost to a person, so gung-ho about getting out, getting after it.”
There also are plans in the works to get “Paving the Way” out in the world — Ament hoped for distribution beyond Tribeca, where Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was the focus of a film in the festival last year — now available on YouTube or PBS — but wanted to make sure the film is somehow available to those in Indigenous communities and to show them the hope, resilience and joy that can be found at the skateboarding parks.
“These parks are where we come together and where we look out for each other,” said Terrence Lozeau, a skate featured in the film. “You see little kids watching the older ones and learning.”
As for Ament’s day job, Pearl Jam returns in September to headline the Ohana festival in Dana Point, California, in its first performance since drummer Matt Cameron left the band in May after 27 years. The band has kept the identity of his replacement under wraps and will make it official at the Sept. 27 festival.
“I think the big question is, if it’s going to work out that this is our future drummer,” Ament told the AP. “It’ll be the first show, so there’s a little bit of a trial happening. It’s exciting. It’s taken a little bit longer than we thought it would take. We’re not in any massive rush either.”
Ament said the band has started writing new songs but would like to play a few dates with the new drummer before Pearl Jam hits the studio again next year.
“I think we need to get out and play like 10, 15 shows with whoever our drummer is and just kind of get that part going before we make a record,” Ament said.
