a brief glance issue _39 by a brief glance skateboardmag

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issue _39

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Photo // DVL.

Fs tucknee / ANDROS / GREECE.

A good month ago Vans headed to Athens with some guys from the Euro & US teams.

COVER STORY

To take a break from the city vibes we decided to head over to the lovely Island of Andros for two days in the middle of the tour. Andros is only a two-hour ferry ride away from the coast near Athens. Over there we stayed at the Blu Enigma hotel in Apoikia, which is owned by mechanical engineer and bike rider Nikos Garyfallos. The hotel itself is super laid-back and has a crazy bowl, a pool table, a pingpong table, a restaurant, and many more things to relax. Since Nikos is a dedicated bike rider, he decided to build a bmx track/snake-run out of concrete that ends in a couple of weird-shaped bowls. This spot is a bit further up the hills from the hotel and has an amazing view of the hills and the sea. Definitely a highly recommended place to visit when you are in the neighborhood! Epic spot! (DVL)

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CALIFORNIA SP ORTS - TEL 01 1927 79 4 3 - WWW.CAL IFOR NIASPORT.I NFO

WES KREMER \ SWITCH F/S BLUNTSLIDE TRANSFER \ BLABAC PHOTO

M A K E A N I M PA C T AT : D C S H O E S . C O M / W E S K R E M E R 2

E L A S T I C G O R E D C O N S T R U C T I O N T O C R E AT E A T R U E S N U G “ S L I P O N ” F I T. F E AT U R I N G :

Wednesday you skip work to go skateboarding and you’re probably the only 40-year old with responsibilities to think, “why not?” Ten hours later you’re in a godforsaken station on a filthy train running late, starving, and with a swollen ankle. Skateboarding will always be the best thing ever. Mario Torre

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WWW.CARHARTT-WIP.COM SYLVAIN TOGNELLI – OLLIE UP 5-0 • PHOTO: MAXIME VERRET

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN

ISLE SKATEBOARDS RAPHAÃ&#x2039;L ZARKA CARHARTT WIP

NEW! a brief glance polo

Fragments A conversation with_Alex Olson. One day in Milano_with Hugo & Jacopo. Phil & Jarne_the Double Impact project. Kevin Coakley_Interview.

Places_Pompei.

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1 7 . - 1 9 . J ANU ARY 2 017

ELEMENT PRESENTS:

WAT E R P R O O F AN ELEMENT AUDIOVISUAL PROJECT F E AT U R I N G P H I L Z W I J S E N

E L E M E N T B R A N D. C O M - # E L E M E N T W A T E R P R O O F

a brief glance | year VI_ n° 39

EDITOR and CONCEPT_ Davide Biondani. {davide@abriefglance.com} ASSOCIATE EDITOR_ Guido Bendotti. {guido@abriefglance.com} ASSISTANT EDITOR_ Andrew Zolin. TRANSLATIONS_ Jonathan Levin. PHOTOGRAPHERS_ Leo Sharp, Jonathan Mehring, DVL, Craig Dodds, Brian Gaberman, Marcello Guardigli, Davide Biondani, Marcel Veldman, Giulia Romano, Reece Leung, Robert Christ, Sebastiano Bartoloni, Alberto Chimenti Dezani, Guillaume Périmony, Joel Peck, Fed Mortagne. CONTRIBUTORS_ Mario Torre, Francesco Paolo Chielli, Luca Basilico, Mark Baines. DESIGN_ M. Bod Ciceri {Question Mark, ink!#?} GET ALL THE INFOS at: info@abriefglance.com a brief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by Fake Donkey Skateboard asd. No part of this pubblication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. All right reserved.

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NEW! a brief glance polo & cap

Mattia Marangon Fs noseslide pop over Photo_Davide Biondani Salerno, Italy.

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Tom Zealand Pole jam boardslide Photo_Reece Leung UK

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Danny Galli, Switch ollie Photo_ Davide Biondani Torino, Italy.

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Fogo, Wallride Photo_ Joel Peck Berlin, Germany.

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a conversation with_

Photography & Interview_ Davide Biondani.

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Milano, autumn 2016.

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Alex, first of all, how do you know DJ Daniele Baldelli and the Cosmic Discotheque?* Through my friend Paul T who does Sarcastic Disco and who used to work with DJ Harvey… who I think then put Paul onto Daniele Baldelli and the Cosmic Disco. Paul would always send me music, and he just showed me that... he was really into Cosmic Disco. Baldelli ‘s music is interesting ‘cause he’ll play a 45 record at 33 speed, so it’s all slowed down. He mixes vynils, playing different kinds of music… techno, rock, new wave, and reggae albums. He’s really flexible when playing music and has more of an eclectic taste than your average deejay who just plays one genre. That’s how DJ Harvey plays as well. When they play all these different things, it’s way more interesting. He’s on time with all his stuff too, he’s not sloppy, which is really impressive because a lot of that music is not easy to mix, like live drumming. He’s so good at it, I don’t know how he does it. He’s been my favorite for a long time.

*{an Italian disco club from the late 70’s and early 80’s}

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I think what happened is that it takes 4 years to make one of those big big video productions, we don’t have 4 years to wait, you know? Alex Olson

hat’s interesting to me because he’s from where I live and I’ve always heard of him for as long as I can remember, he’s very famous locally and he still plays in clubs and also at small events… I’m very surprised that you know him. So you’re into music and DJing a lot… when did you start playing records? Mmm, my dad gave me a set of turntables in the 90’s, and I was curious, I still have my old turntables. It’s sad, because I should be much better than I am, but... haha. When my dad got me it, scratching was really big, like DJ Qbert. I wanted to learn how to scratch and I think someone showed me how to mix, and I didn’t even understand what he did. Then, much later I was like, “oh, that’s cool.” Then I blew the dust off my turntables and started practicing again.

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o you prefer to play in a club or go skateboarding? I’m much better at skateboarding, so I enjoy it more... but you can feel the same emotions, the same endorphins while playing on a dj set. They’re so different, but they can give you the same feeling.

ou are into photography and design, right? Yeah, it’s the same feeling: if you shoot a photo that you really like, you can feel the same satisfaction as when you land a trick, you get the same energy.

ou live in New York City and in the last few years it has become very popular for skateboarding (and everything else of course), while back in the days California was the real “place to be.”

I think California is still the place to be for skateboarding, and it will always be, because it’s where skateboarding is from, where it started. Skateboarding has gotten so big right now, there are so many different compartments that you can subscribe to. So if you like Street League you don’t want to be in NY, you wanna be somewhere where there are skateparks and you can practice. If you like culture, NY is gonna speak to you more, so you’re going to want to be there or in Paris, or any city that California can’t compete with. It’s due to how popular it has gotten. There are a lot of different things you can get into, there are subcultures. Just like music; if you are into rock music there are different versions of rock music.

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ow is living in New York besides skateboarding? It’s good... you know, I’m not from there, but I have been going there for a long time, and it has definitely changed a lot. It’s changing because of how global we’ve become with our phones, so its popularity has grown so much, it’s both good and bad. I can’t really complain. It has become much more expensive to live there, but besides that, it’s cool, obviously, there are so many things to do, but by becoming so popular it has also become more expensive, and it’s pushing out people that are creative, and only rich people can live there. Creativity gets lost, and that’s a bad thing.

nd the skate scene? It’s good, I guess, I’m in it so I don’t see it from an outside perspective, but I think it’s good.

o you skate with the Supreme guys a lot? And what do you think about Supreme’s success? Yeah, off and on. I don’t skate as much as I used to because I’m always in the office working on 917 and Bianca. I think it’s a combination of things, like Supreme taking a big position in skateboarding. I don’t know what they did, they just came out with their video, and it changed everyone’s perspective on skateboarding, and so they “dictate” what’s cool, and they’re also obviously rooted in New York, too.

hat do you think about all the hype around it? When I was a kid, Supreme was cool, it was just a shop. It was something that you knew about, but it wasn’t this thing where people were like, “Oh, I have to go there, I want to go and see it,” it was a cool shop and that’s it. a brief glance

Back then it was cool because there was more of a mystique. Jason Dill or Keenan Milton, or Huf... those guys had Supreme shirts on, and you didn’t know what it was, but you kind of knew what it was. So you were left to interpret, but now it’s global, it’s a whole other thing!

n the last few years it seems that the way skate videos are made has changed, we went from productions like the Lakai or Vans videos that took years to complete and a lot of traveling all around the globe, to more natural or spontaneous videos where you can skate whatever you want in your own city with your friends and it’s still cool. Yes, I think what happened is that it takes 4 years to make one of those big big video productions, we don’t have 4 years to wait, you know? I wanna see it now. With phones and cameras everything is quicker. Four years is a long time, and to keep focused for that long on a project is so hard; people like Ty Evans, or Greg Hunt and Jason Hernadez are really good at that, because they are extremely focused people. Bill on the other hand, isn’t the most focused. He’s passionate, but wants to do it now. He was focused on the Cherry video for a year... a year and a half, and after that he was so tired, that I think he decided to do a small one, and after that all the small videos started coming out. It was easier, people responded the same. It had the same shelf-life. Big videos take 4 years to make and people talk about them for a week, and then they’re like, “next one.” So why do I have to put all this energy into something when it’s only gonna receive attention for a week? It doesn’t make sense, the time value isn’t worth it.

read some of your interviews after the Lakai video where you said something like, “I was burned after that”. It’s hard to be a professional skateboarder and try to make it in skateboarding.

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It’s hard to be judged for what you like. Doing the Lakai video was my first introduction to filming, which was amazing and I couldn’t have asked for anything better, but at the same time it was so abrupt and harsh that I just wanted to get away from it. You do one of those videos where it takes 2 years and you go on all these trips, a really intense thing, and then you get resentful towards what the goal is, which is really bad. It doesn’t make room for being creative. It doesn’t work that way, it’s counter-intuitive. So I think what happened was that I kind of rebelled and went the other way instead of being excited. If you look at the Pretty Sweet video it’s kind of like history repeating itself. Cory and other guys have put out more parts than I have, you can tell they’re burnt a little bit from Pretty Sweet, because Ty Evans was just focused on getting the goal, he was almost too focused and pushed people the wrong way. And I think when you do those big videos it tears the team apart slowly, because what happens is you do all these things, and you do all this work, and you’re not getting all that much money for the effort and the extra work you put in. So when Nike or bigger companies start coming around, you’re going to want to get a paycheck. It’s a very treacherous thing to walk into. You have to tread lightly.

fter that you started skating for Vans. I quit Lakai to get on Vans, I was excited to be on Vans because it was something new, but at the time I wanted to move to New York and they weren’t allowing it, because they thought I would just disappear, so I started getting resentful toward Vans because they weren’t letting me live my life and be who I was. Then Nike came around and I was like, “alright,

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I started watching a lot of Julian Stranger videoparts, and you could learn the history of skateboarding by watching old videos, and I like that period of skateboarding. I really appreciate the way they skated and represented their skateboarding. Alex Olson

peace.” It (Nike SB) was much better, and much more chill and laid back.

always thought outside the box. Watching his Video Days part, or his Real to Reel part, really influenced me. A long time ago,

really like the way you skate, but also I appreciate that you always think “outside of the box”; you choose to follow your own path, even though sometimes it may seem unexpected or controversial. You know, like leaving a sponsor or doing commercials for big fashion brands.

Chris Roberts made me a VHS tape with all the old videos, way before youtube, so I would watch all those old videos.

You know, it’s something that’s a lot about luck and chances. About skateboarding, and thinking “outside of the box,” I think it comes from looking a lot at what Mark Gonzales did in his life, he has

When youtube came out, I started watching a lot of Julian Stranger videoparts, and you could learn the history of skateboarding by watching old videos, and I like that period of skateboarding. I really appreciate the way they skated and represented their skateboarding. Quitting Girl was obviously thought out. It wasn’t just like, “I don’t like you anymore, goodbye.” It was hard. It was like, “What am I gonna do next?” Regarding the fashion thing, it comes from

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doing interviews and people read something… and it was just like a “snow-ball effect” where it started rolling really small at first. I don’t know, bigger opportunities from small opportunities. Some of it is really cheesy, if you don’t try it you won’t know, and you can’t be afraid of what people are gonna think. It’s better to be able to say that you did it, so you have a reference, and the next time around you can say: “No I’m not going to do that.” Regarding the Louis Vuitton collaboration, it was extra and easy money to invest in my projects, so why not? I was hurt while doing it, so I couldn’t really skate. I got hurt 3 weeks earlier, so it kind of sucked.

mong all the rumors and stories you’ve heard about yourself, what’s the funniest one? Ha ha ha! I don’t know, there are too many, ha ha, some of them are so ridiculous. I’ve heard one about Nike paying for my brands, but that isn’t even that funny. I can’t remember, there are some good ones where I’m just like, “you gotta be kidding me?!”

ow did the idea of starting 917 come about, and what’s your vision and idea behind this project? I was doing Bianca, and when I started Bianca I didn’t want to be trapped in skateboarding culture, because if that happened there would be no more room to grow, being a young skateboard brand on the scene, once you get to a certain point then you can’t grow anymore. I just didn’t want that to happen. So that’s how it was with Bianca. I was leaving something, so I didn’t want to become the thing that I was leaving. It was going well and

there were good opportunities to establish this company as a “boutique brand,” and start a skateboard brand under it. And this is the opportunity to do it because skateboarding is popular right now. I felt bad, because I was using skateboarding as a platform but I was not giving back in some ways, so I started 917 because I met some kids in NY. I gave them boards, then a skateshop started selling some boards, we slowly did some shirts, and it turned into a full brand, kind of like an accident and kind of not like an accident.

what skateboarding is. Those are the people that I use as a reference. With 917 we are figuring out what else we can do to grow and give it more dimensions than just skateboarding.

I think Anti Hero is the best model for a skateboard company because they are a real skateboard brand, and I don’t reflect that, unfortunately. But that’s the company I look up to. They don’t do long videos, they have a big team that you don’t know about, they represent

Pedro was on Instagram.

nd you have some Euro riders on the team, which is quite surprising… Hugo, Vincent, Pedro... It came from traveling around, or looking on the phone.

I asked him if he was getting boards from anyone, so I started sending him boards, then I asked him if he was getting shoes from anyone, so I got him shoes

his is the modern way of finding good skaters! Ha ha ha. Yeah, ha ha ha. Koston asked me, “Do you give this guy boards? How did you find him, on Instagram?” Then he said, “I’m late to the party!” Ha ha ha. So that is definitely the new way.

something and someone asks you what brand it is, instead of having a logo on it that speaks for itself. It makes the conversation more natural, more organic.

e’re here in Milano for the 917 x Nike SB launch. How did the idea for this collaboration come about?

It doesn’t. The video is very “last minute”, it’s our first video and it’s a tour video. The team had never gone on tour together, or met Hugo yet.

Nike wanted to do something with Bianca, and that was when 917 kind of started, so I thought, “If I do something with Bianca and Nike SB, people are still gonna think Bianca is a skateboard brand. So we have to do it with 917.” So I asked if it was cool for them to do something with 917, ‘cause the collaboration between Bianca and Nike was not gonna happen. Well, they said ok, and it was at the same time the Olympic issue was coming up, and there was the US Tennis Open. So I thought, “Tennis is interesting, let’s do this.” So we went with the tennis concept, and the idea behind it was, “You guys make polos already, you make shorts, so let’s do it the kinda classic way... tennis courts, athletic clubs, and outfits. The goal was to do something very clean and simple. To me, “less is more.” All the luxury brands spend a lot of money to not have logos on their clothes, or spend no money to not have logos. So I thought it would be better to take all the logos off. An interesting thing is when you wear

ow does it match with the video?

That’s just what our first trip looked like. Like I said, I always refer to Anti Hero, and I think a lot of people are used to seeing really glossy videos now, with product shots of shoes, and I just thought, “no way we’re going to do that!!!” If you look at the Anti Hero videos, they’re very scattered, like just thrown together.

hat’s next for 917? We’re working on a video, I don’t know when it will come out. It was supposed to come out in September, but only a few people have footage. Some people have full parts, and some people don’t, so we have to wait until we have the same amount of footage of all the people involved, and then we’re working on more clothes, and more and better stuff. Also, try to film a video part. As I said, we are trying to give a new dimension to 917 that’s not skateboarding-oriented so we can grow more, I guess in different directions.

hat’s next for you? Ha ha ha, don’t ask me that, I wanna sleep… DJing tonight!

I’ve heard one about Nike paying for my brands, but that isn’t even that funny. I can’t remember, there are some good ones where I’m just like, “You gotta be kidding me?!” Alex Olson

ONE DAY IN MILANO with

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On the occasion of the launch of the 917 x Nike SB collection we spent one day skating in Milano with Jacopo Carozzi and Hugo Boserup. After a sesh at the Parco Lambro Bowl we hit the bank spot at Casa Milan and had a quick chat with them immediately afterwards.

Photography / Davide Biondani Interviews / Guido Bendotti.

BS SMITH IN_

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CANNON BALL_

Can you introduce yourself? My name is Hugo, 18 years old, I live in Copenhagen and I’m in Milan right now skating for the release of the 917 x Nike SB collabo. How wass the session with Jacopo (Carozzi)? It was fun, Jacopo’s sick! We skated some bowls yesterday, and some street today. It was good fun, I like Italy. How is Copenaghen for skateboarding and for living?

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It’s really nice, I think it’s my favourite place to be. Well, it’s home, but there’s a lot of skate spots, and during the summer the weather is really nice, there’s so much stuff going on, it’s pretty entertaining as a city. We have an indoor park for winter sessions, it’s pretty big, but it’s so busy, so crowded. It’s good to skate there after hours. It’s sick to skate it with just few people .. during the opening hours there’s too many people. Is Copenaghen interesting for skateboarding as we can see in videos and magazines? Yes, you don’t really get kicked out from any

spots, and people in general seems really happy and open minded for skateboarding. It’s easy to go around, spots are really close between them, so you can bike or skate from spot to spot. It’s been always like this ?

well know for street skating? Everyone is skating street, they’re sick. The team is pretty big, I’ve met all of them when I was in NY in June. They’re all super nice and super fun, we get along really well, so it’s sick.I don’t know I think Alex wanted someone who skate transitions on the team.

Well, the CPH Pro Contest really push the scene a lot, I guess over the last ten years it’s been just like booming…so many spots to skate. And in the last 5 years the scene exploded, it’s been a pretty sick scene for a long time. The CPH Pro just put the eyes of the World on Copenaghen in the last few years, so it’s good for us. How you end up skating for 917?

But you skate street too…

Basically it’s all because of Hjalte Halberg, he was in New York skating with Logan who is team manager and skate for 917 and works with Alex, and Hjalte talked to them about me, about this kid in Copenaghen that skate bowls. I met Logan in Copenhagen with his girlfriend, we went out skating and he told me that they wanted to give me some boards.

I built skateparks, I work for this company called FSR CONCRETE . Two of my good friends for Copenaghen owns the company. It’s 3 years old now, and we’re doing skateparks all other Denmark .

They started sending me some boards, and then they brought me on this trip for 917 x Nike SB collabo. I think that I’m on the team now…well..maybe ha ha ha ha. I’m very lucky, and it’s all because of Hjalte. Cool! Do you skate a lot with Hjalte? When he’s in Copenaghen, we skate together. It’s fun to skate with him, he’s great. Doesn’t sound strange that a Kid from Cophenagen , kwown for ripping on transition, skate for a team from NY,

I can’t do a kick flip ha ha ha. Can you do 360 flip with open legs? Nooooo ha ha ha… maybe one on the tries… really bad one ha ha ha!!! What’s you job right now

We’re building the 2nd biggest town of Denmark right now, it’s gonna be a fun park with a flow area, some street, and bowls. It’s gonna be sick. It’s almost done. It’s really sick job, being outdoor all day building skateparks. It doesn’t look as a job at all. Sunday to Friday I’m working with my best friends, the people I see the most and that I’ve the most fun with … it’s like a family. Definitely it doesn’t look as a job ha ha ha. What’s next for you. Work a little bit more, skate more, I wanna go to NY again as soon as possible to see everyone. I want to go on some trips with the 917 and with my homies from Copenaghen.

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FS AIR_

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Had you already met Alex Olson and Hugo before today? No, I hadn’t met any of them! It took very little time to get to know them though! Two bosses. What was your impression of them, did you do the honors? They’re just two skaters like all of us, no different! Hugo and I went to Berlin recently, and it’s a pleasure to skate with him! I met Alex on the night of the party and would’ve liked to listen to him playing music. Too bad I was kicked out of the club twenty minutes after my entrance! Ha ha, what did you do? Well, let’s say the free beers at the Slam Jam shop for the launch of the 917 x Nike SB collaboration made the public at the party where Alex Olson was playing records very tipsy and lively, ha ha. Where did you bring them to skate, and where did you party? We didn’t have that much time to skate, so we took the classic Milan tour: Milano Centrale,

the bowl at Parco Lambro, and the banks at Casa Milan! The party had already been organized! Disco lifeeee. What do you think about the 917 x Nike SB collection? I didn’t know 917 was Alex Olson’s company, and among other things, Hugo skates for them. The shoes are dope; they are slightly softer than the GTs and the logo is perforated which I think is really cool! Unfortunately they are a limited edition so you must keep them in good condition! Are you going to become a DJ as well? Only of bad music though, like “Vamos a la plaja”? Of course, I’ve already submitted my playlist to every skate contest! I don’t want to steal anybody’s job, so I don’t ask for any kind of payment, I just want to be hyped when I skate! Djs AT EVERY SKATE CONTEST, PLEASE DO US A FAVOR: Guns ‘n’ Roses, 80s-90s Punk music, Linkin Park and so on, is all music we’ve heard over and over again! Refresh your playlist, do not be afraid, listen to skaters’ suggestions, it won’t hurt anybody, but more importantly, get us hyped up!

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WALLRIDE PUSH_

p h i l the double impact project

& p h o t o g r a p h y _ G u i l l a u m e

P ĂŠ r i m o n y

j a r n e a brief glance

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oh! what a great idea! Let’s do a “double” project so we’ll have a double dose of fun! Everybody does double skating nowadays on instagram. It looks fun to do, it’s definitely fun to watch and it opens up a whole new world of possibilities and NBDs. But what Insta doesn’t talk about is the double dose of problems. The struggle of being able to land a trick? Let’s double it! Hard to have good timing in a picture? Let’s make it even harder! You don’t know what trick to do on a spot? Two tricks please! But let’s not just double it for a day. Let’s do it on a big project! Yoohoo! But the harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph, they say. Double Impact! (Guilaume Périmony) Interviews_Guido Bendotti

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WALLIE_Montreal

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KICKFLIP_Montreal

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p h & j a r e a brief glance

Hey Phil, how are you doing? Where in the world are you at the moment? I’m in Japan at the moment on an Element trip with Nassim and Brandon. First the Waterproof project, then the Double Impact one… you don’t like to skate in an easy way right? Ha ha ha… I know, ha ha ha! I do like to skate easy though, but I like to try something different as well and not just jump down the biggest thing because bigger should be better. So now you’re pro for Element! Big ups to you, you earned it! When you were a kid, could you ever have imagined that one day you would be a professional skateboarder?

Let’s talk about the Double Impact project: who had the idea for the double skating? And when did you and Jarne realize that you were going to go for this project? It was my idea and I proposed it to Jarne and Guillaume and from there we went with it. Once I explained the project to Guillaume (Perimony, who filmed and photographed the whole project) he came up with loads of great ideas and so did Jarne as well, so it grew into thinking about stuff we could do together the whole time.

Yeah man, since I was young I’ve been dreaming about this, it was always a childhood dream and now it has happened. It’s amazing. I never thought Element would make me pro at a late age. But I’m super excited about it and really happy they support what I do. Big thanks to Alex and Element skateboards. Did you choose your own shape and graphic?

The shape not really, actually I think they went for a shape that most people want to skate and

the graphic we kind of worked on together with Brecht and the artist Nathaniel. Big thanks to those guys!

I had a few cool locations in mind and with Nike’s precious help we made it happen. Thanks a lot Colin and Danijel. How long have you known Jarne and how has your friendship evolved over the years? I think I’ve known him for over 10 years now. We skate a lot together and we both ride for Nike SB and Element so we go on a lot of trips together, and we worked on Jacky together so we spent a lot of time on trips. I think our friendship grew a lot in the last two years. I haven’t spent this much time with anyone else other than him.

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POLEJAM_Montreal

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What do you like the most about him and what makes you mad?

get hurt but also the other person. So that fucks with your mind a bit too.

He has a great sense of humor and he’s always pretty motivated to do stuff.

You guys filmed in different locations, from Europe, to Canada, to the US; did you have some spots/tricks already planned or did you just skate on the spur of the moment?

He gets me frustrated sometimes because we think differently about some stuff or if we’ve been on the same trip for too long, spending all day together and rooming together. So I guess it’s normal to not always be on the same page. I like to hang out with him though.

I kind of had an idea for the locations but then we changed it a bit in the end.

Does he have some tricks that you don’t have?

Yeah, he has a lot of tricks I don’t have, like nollie heels, but there are a lot more. Between the Double Impact and the Waterproof project, which was the most difficult part to film and why?

For me the Waterproof part for sure. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of slamming and being cold and sore. So yeah, the Waterproof part.

j d

Some spots are really hard to skate in a double; what was the most difficult and the most fun trick you did?

Yeah, we checked out spots in the places we were visiting and thinking of what we could do as good doubles.

I must say most of the best doubles came from just going to spots and trying and coming up with stuff we could do together. With your double smith grind on the big rail at the Vans Shop Riot finals in Lisbon you blew everybody’s mind… you were super used to skating in a double!!! Ha ha! It ended up being on the cover of a brief glance!

We did a kick flip at the same time and that was pretty frustrating to get a good photo of because the catch was never the same, so we tried to get it for a super long time.

And maybe some of the more hammer tricks. You can’t fuck up because it’s not only you that can

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Yeah, I think because we had been skating like this for the last 4 months and we really trusted each other, especially on this one because we had done it on a rail before. But the one we did at the contest was so close that there was 1 cm between us. And that’s hard to plan. Yeah, thanks for putting it on the cover!!! Super hyped on that!!

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BACK TAIL & FS NOSEBLUNT_Montreal

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SMITH GRIND_Bruxelles

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How are you Jarne? Where are you now?

mind-control tricks on lock too.

Hey, I’m doing good, just a bit hurt from skating but it feels good, ha ha! I’m in Barcelona, the city that looks like a skatepark.

Now that your wife Phil is Pro (as you said on Instagram… so funny!) he has to buy you tons of beers, right?!!! Ha ha ha.

Always busy? You filmed for 2 different video parts (the one for Thrasher and the Double Impact) between 2015 and 2016, was it difficult?

Ha ha, did I say that? Yeah, I’m fucking proud so I might have called him my wife. We’re going to Ibiza soon, so yeah, we will fully celebrate it there on his royalties, ha ha.

Not really. I already had a lot of footage for the Thrasher part before we started filming the Double part. I quit drinking and smoking in that period so I was very much focused on skating and feeling really good on my board, I think it helped.

So, maybe you’re the next one to go pro?

My body could take more and heal faster, more energy as well which is not unnecessary if you want to skate a lot.   How long have you and Phil been friends? How often do you skate together?

I know him since I was 12 years old I think, we skated the same skatepark close to Antwerp (Belgium). I was always amazed at first when I saw him there because he was the beast of the park, always doing stuff nobody was doing.

Does he have some tricks that you don’t have? He’s got switch 360 flips on lock. He will beat me at game of skate anytime, even though I’m not that shitty anymore on flatground, ha ha. He will beat me with his mind, ha ha. He has those

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Ha ha, I don’t know man. Seems like it’s possible, but I’d rather try not to work myself up to that because I think when you skate for something like that it will only work against you. It’s not bad to have goals though, but you have to float your boat down the river or your boat will sink, ha ha.  Who had the idea for the double trouble project?

That was Phil’s idea. He’s an idea machine, without him I would have sat in my couch for the whole year.  How did you choose where to go skate?

We chose together. Just thinking where it might have looked good, where sick spots were, and where we haven’t been to much. We got some budget from Nike SB for this and that’s amazing. At one point in Athens we had to plan one last trip so we were all laying on our beds thinking where on this Earth we should go skate next to each other and let our asses be filmed.

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DROP IN_Mechelen

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We’ve seen the footage with all the sick tricks you guys landed, but was there maybe some battle that you didn’t win?

is skateboarding sometimes taken too seriously in your opinion?

Were there any tricks that you had in mind, but that Phil couldn’t land, and viceversa? It was a struggle sometimes when we were at a spot and one of us could do a trick but the other one could not, ha ha… but it didn’t happen too often. In a way it was easier because you can both do a not too gnarly trick. Just both people landing it is already gnarly in itself. When we tried some original board changing stuff or whatever, then it got pretty hard.  What was the most difficult trick, and which one gave you the most satisfaction? The most difficult one was a line we did at 3rd and Army I think: there was a little bit of acting involved as well, so it was hard to concentrate on acting and doing the tricks. All three of us were dead after this, but it gave us a team feeling, ha ha. The most satisfying... I can’t think of one, but there was a lot of stuff that, after we both landed it, involved some hugs.

What’s next for you? I’m not sure, maybe I’m going to film another part. I have some experience now, so I kind of know how I want to do it. For the rest, I think I’m gonna move somewhere where I feel good.   What’s your clearest memory about the double smith grind you and Phil landed at the Vans Shop Riot finals in Lisbon… it was the sickest double I’ve ever seen! Ha ha, thanks! I just remember the Portuguese guys were killing us. I saw the treflip lips flying around me, so I thought like, “fuck, we have to do something crazy!” and we had done that trick once before, so we thought, “fuck it! This has to happen now!” Haha. Next thing I remember, is almost kissing my wife’s neck.

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Looking at the pictures, it’s clear that you guys had fun doing it, and that fun was a key factor in the whole thing…

Yeah, it was fun and it was very different too, just trying to film tricks. It was a very good experience. It’s hard to say because you can’t be smiling when you can die or make the trick. But there is a lot more to skating than just filming a part, putting it together, and putting it out. Anybody can take skateboarding the way they want to, but I prefer to see people just having fun, too.

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BOARDSLIDE_Antwerp

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Photography / Davide Biondani Interview / Mario Torre.

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Kevin Coakley is the skateboarder you’ve always wanted to see skate.

He has that style that perfectly fits the videos he’s appeared in, such as Static

or Blueprint... just to name a few. He comes from Boston’s historic scene, and

finding myself skating with him was really fun. Kevin is a sociable and pleasant

person with a good head on his shoulders, and is especially enthusiastic of the

things he does. See you soon Kevin.

Hi Kevin, how are you doing? Please introduce yourself to the skate world... Hey Mario, I’m good. I’m just back in London at the moment after that trip to Naples. My name is Kevin Coakley and I live in Brooklyn, NY at the moment. How is traveling through Europe? Traveling through Europe is great. I wish I got to spend a little more time in Italy, but I’ll just have to go on another trip soon. London has been good because I’ve been able to visit old friends I haven’t seen since I rode for Blueprint. You were on the team during the last days of Blueprint, then you moved first to Think Skateboards and then to Traffic, can you think of one word that comes to mind for each team? Blueprint-Magee.Think-SF. Traffic-Ricky. You were born in Boston, then you moved to SF and now you live in NYC. How are these cities for skateboarding and to live in, in general? Can you tell us a little about each city and the differences between them? Boston was good because it was where everything began. I was able to find all my own spots and not have to deal with what’s been done. New York is endless, for as skated

as it has been for so many years there still will always be new shit to find. Just the energy alone makes it even when you’re just pushing through the streets. I didn’t really skate much when I was in SF, but I really liked SF in a lot of other ways besides skating. I got heavily into yoga and meditation there, and I’ve been able to maintain a regular practice to help me mentally and physically. Every city I’ve lived in has been great for many different reasons. I couldn’t tell you what my favorite city is, because they all just marked different times I was at in my life. What about Traffic these days? Traffic has been good these days. We are actually working on a video now which hopefully will be out towards the end of the year. I’m going on a trip to Chicago soon to film for it, and then I’m just going to wrap things up back in New York before it gets too cold. Right now you ride for State Footwear, what is it like to not ride for a major shoe company these days? Not riding for a major shoe company is great because with State we can actually do what we want and have more say in what we put out. I think the skate industry needs more of this these days with all these corporate companies taking over. It’s just refreshing in my eyes to see something like State come about.

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FAKIE NOSEGRIND_

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You are originally from Boston, which has had so many good skateboarders (you are one of them). Pick your favorite and tell us why you like him... My favorite skater from Boston would probably have to be Tommy Wisdom or his brother John. They both really inspired me at a young age skating Boston and had a huge influence on me at the time.

even with all the big brands in the scene. As long as you put out good shit then people are going to recognize it. I guess social media is a good way to get people to see it although it’s very short-lived. I think smaller brands have already proved that they can survive in this market. The thing is that skating is so big now that everything has its own market and certain people will always like what they want to like. Will you go to the Olympics? Ha ha ha!

They just had it all, the style, the tricks, and the attitude. I learned a lot from them. In a world where corporations seem to influence our world more and more, how do you see the future of independent skateboard companies? Is there still room for them to survive in the market? I think independent companies are able to make a pretty big impact on skating these days

You wouldn’t catch me dead at the Olympics… ha ha. Are you working on any new projects at the moment? What’s next for you? I’m just focusing on finishing this Traffic part and then going to India to do a yoga teacher training program when it gets too cold in New York. We’ll see what’s next after that ;)

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PLACES_

POMPEI

Photography // Davide Biondani

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NEW! a brief glance sweatshirt

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issue _39