Thanks to all of you (in no particular order), on to the next issue!: Jimmy Raes, Griffhin Deschijnck, Niels VSTK, the Byrrh-crew, Rampaffairz-crew, Flesh and bones-crew, Willem Jones, Jojo Vlerick, Diertho Goethals, Arthur Bultynck, Nick Steenbeke, Laurens Willems, Simon Deprez, Kevin Martens, Kevin Baert, Yamine Bensafia, BOTW-crew, Switn, Ni-Liege-crew, Ben Daeleman @Jean Jacques distribution, Bart Flour, Ruben Vermeulen, Slick, Bart Bling, Gummy Piracyleague, Mr. Mong, Danni Lavrovski, Kribo, PJ Claeys, Curb-shop-crew, Elliott Vandenbroeke, Jochen Vandendriessche, Herpoele, Yeelen Moens, Rob De Clercq, Vans-crew Rik and Dominique, City of Ghent youth council, Daan @Suburban, Maiken Vanoverberghe, Laurence Vandekerckhove, Joren Losfeld, Josh @Globe, Stijn Brands, Stijn Lammertijn, Stéphanie Humez, Damien Lewinski, 911 shop-crew, Andres Vandepitte, Tondelier (RIP), Trevor, Tshala, Axel, ... Humble apologies to anyone we might’ve forgotten, we didn’t mean to! And many thanks to all readers, viewers, skaters who will help out in the future!
Illustration by Mr. Mong
Cover: Arthur Bultynck, Varial Heelflip - Terneuzen
EDITO This is always strange to write. Sort of a blatantly obvious publicity for what people will find out on the next pages, if they read it from left to right. If they start at the end this doesn’t even have a purpose other than showing off egos, and I don’t think we’re about that. This magazine is great, yay! This magazine is fantastic, weee! There, mandatory words written! There’s really good things though, there’s no ads in this magazine whatsoever, and we’re quite proud about that! It took less effort keeping it adfree than I expected it would too. True, we got help from the city council of Ghent, muchas gracias for sure! And Vans helped out a big chunk too, thanks waffledudes! So this is all skate, 76 pages, digital and thx to the city of Ghent also in print! We embarked on this adventure in the middle of February, not knowing how any of it would work out, a young photographer and an older writer/journalist. We’re nearing the end of june and we’re almost there, the first issue! It feels good, the working folder ‘ideas for issue two’ is now open. The Bolts-bosses, Sybren and Laurent
In friendly collaboration with:
Yeelen Moens 4
We’re happy and proud to give you Yeelen Moens’ interview. Yeelen has a true skater’s spirit, is always up for rolling and ripping, has wallies galore and is Antwerp City’s ultimate allround ‘Veiger’ We met up with him after a typical working day in Lockwood skateshop and took our time in the evening sun at the KNS to talk about the 90’s, the essence of skating, music, tricks, trips, friends,life. Apples helped fight a sticky mouth after all that talk so his pictures finished the interview! Yeelen knows and speaks the truth. Words by Laurent Derycke All photos by Sybren Vanoverberghe Illustration by Bart Bling
5
FS Crooks pop over - Antwerp
I’m 22 now and live in Berchem, part of Antwerp city. I started skating when I was around 11 cause of my brother, he was always skating at the KNS, the ‘old’ KNS (has always been a landmark skatespot in the ancient days). It looked completely different. When he skated less and less I started using his board. That board had been lying around outside in the elements and was pretty crappy. That was a powell board. Or was it a world industries? With the Flameboy? He’s five, six years older than me. But he stopped when I got really into it. But I looked up to him. Once you get into skateboarding and start making friends that skate, find that right vibe, you soon find out if you’ll be going for it, I thought it was the coolest, definitely hooked.
6
B: and what makes skating cool?
B: Ollieing did that for me.
Yeelen: It’s totally different from anything else, it stands by itself, on its own…. That’s a tough question... It changed my life, for sure. You get to know yourself through skating. It’s about getting way outside your comfort
Y: True, ollies are magic. Going for a session with the right crew. It doesn’t even have to be a crazy set of stairs or a rail. Something small can get us there. It’s all about the vibe really! I also started skating cause I
zone…Getting satisfaction out of landing tricks, feeling the stoke! The moment I first had that feeling, the moment you land a trick,I was sold.
had way too much energy going on. I played soccer first, like every Belgian kid, I was a goalie even. I’m happy I found skating, it makes me put my energy into something, let go of inner pressures, stress, forget all rotten things going on in your daily life. I try special stuff on my board cause it hypes me.
7
Sw Bs Noseblunt - Madrid
8
B: Are you a quick learner?
B: Can you feel that you’ll get a trick when you start learning it?
Y: I think so yeah. It wasn’t like that in the
Y: It depends, I can go to a spot with one
beginning, I think you can learn talent. It has to do with your state of mind, how you look at skateboarding. I think different about a trick now than I did then. I was very sloppy in how I went about tricks. I skated ok but I hit concrete about fifty times before making something. (grin). My efficiency has gone up lately so to speak, better board control helps! I’m happy, I have better control, I can anticipate better. I think in a more logical way about tricks, I’m older, that must be it!
or two tricks in mind and there’s tricks that serve themselves up in the heat of a session. If the hype is there, tricks follow! I don’t really go on a trick mission, that’s not me. Normally we just roll around town with the crew, we hit every spot we see and move on, New York style. Cruising. That’s a good session. The level of skating also grows during the ride. There’s a lot of perfect flatground in Antwerp, curbs, little stairs, and a couple of really good spots all over town, so rolling around is mandatory. In the city centre there’s the Meir, a big shopping street, filled with curbs, you can wallie up every wall, which I love doing (grin), we destroy The Meir on a daily basis with the Lockwood crew. The KNS, where we are right now is good too, we have our own little rail here that doesn’t get taken away anymore, the city council tolerates us sessioning here. Cops are annoying depending on the situation, some are ok. If we’re skating an ancient statue they tend to be dicks, which I get. Usually it’s people living here that are more narrow-minded, they call the cops at four o clock in the afternoon. Cops show up and don’t really see the problem.
‘if the hype is there, the tricks follow’ Left picture: Wallride - Antwerp
9
10
‘Led Zeppelin is still my favourite band.’
11
B: You have quite a personal skate-style. There’s old and new in there.
B: Who influenced your style? Y: I’m a heavy Jake Johnsson-fan, Callum
Y: I try to pick up on different stuff. I have a lot of respect for the technical dudes, for the vert riders that fly up in the air. Skateboarding in general is cool. My trick selection is personal. Wallrides and just ‘rondveigen’ is what I love most! Cause it is fun, cause it is fun to look at. Plan B movies don’t really give me the urge to go out and skate, see. Get me flicks that are about skateboarding and the unity, the friendship feeling that it brings. That will make me go out and shred! I love those underdog New York videos. Tricks that make you go ‘What!’ I think it’s really cool to try and look at spots in a totally different way from everyone else, from the standard bag of tricks that should go down there. That trick would be beautiful on this spot, that feeling. 12
Paul and Jordan Sanchez too. The whole Polar-vibe too. I get some Polar stuff through Jean Jacques distribution, all hail Ben!, some Polar decks. I was really stoked to get that stuff. It fits my view on skating. I wouldn’t want just any boardbrand. I was a Polar fan before. Kevin Rodriguez is a master, great style! I’m really happy to ride for Vans too, I wanted to ride for them! Vans helped in building skateboarding. They have always supported skateboarding. There’s brands that definitely have not done that.
‘Cherish your tranny skills’
B: Will you be rolling forever? Y: Yes, I skated a lot of tranny and have some skills there so I know I’ll be in it for the long run, you can skate tranny forever. The old dogs ride mini-ramps, I’m all for that. You gotta cherish your tranny skills to keep on going having fun. Just cruising, going fast, taking weird corners, skating all day long.
B: What’s next on your trick list? Y: Vert skating can be fun, little airs. It’s a different feeling too, slams are way chiller I think, you can anticipate more. I’m still scared of it too, but I got some tricks there.
‘RondVeigen!’ is what I love most. B: what about skatetrips? Y: I love’em, but they’re difficult to combine with the full-time job I have at Lockwood skateshop. But I try to sneak out for a week here and there, I went to Madrid with Sybren, went to London too before that. I got some travelbudget too now. When I return to Belgium after those trips I feel like a new man. Happy! That could be my life. But for the moment it’s not possible, but it’s definitely a dream, you need dreams. But I want to keep on loving skateboarding above all. Being fully on top of my game every day, performing at max level every day, I don’t know if I could manage that. There’s days when I don’t even want to take my board in my hands. The feeling must be right for skateboarding. I don’t think that could be my world, it would not be skateboarding anymore. I want to do what feels cool on the right spots, obstacles,…I don’t know. ‘Cherish your tranny skills’
B: what keeps you busy outside of skateboarding? 13 Y: Drawing, i have a degree in graphic design. Illustrator on computer, photoshop. I’m into that again more and more. Music has been my main thing for a while, making music that is. Making beats, hip-hop stuff, electronic stuff.It’s always been skateboarding, drawing, music, a good creative combo. Listening to music goes from hard rock to mellow soul. I love funk, jazz, black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin is still my favourite band. Oldschool 90’s hip-hop, I made a lot of beats in that style. I worked on stuff like that with some Antwerp rappers. I’d love to put some more time in that stuff. Going for the combo of little skatevideos with my own music. That’s an ambition for sure, my own part, own music. Willy Crank and Ralf ( Goossens), and Tijs Vervecken are my filming homies!
Nosebonk - Madrid
14
BS crailslide - Madrid
15
B: What era of skating would you want to live in? Y: 90’s. That time was different. You lived by the one great video or dvd, that’s all you had. You watched that stuff again and again. Skate part evolution nowadays is crazy. It’s good that there’s a lot of rippers out there that take there shot. But it’s a bit weird too. It was more intense then, end of the 90’s. A bit like the Octagon project we did. I went skating with Bram De Cleen and Davy Van Laere in Lille, France and we met Joaquim Bayle en Valentin Bauer there, from Octagon. They had this sick idea for a skate-video, very different. I went filming a lot with those guys, the London trip too. Check out the end result if you didn’t already, that video’s great.
16
B: What’s your setup,
B: Any injuries?
Y: Polar board 8,25, I ride a lot of cruisers too, squaretails, poolboards. 54mm ‘Phil Zwijsen’ Muckefuck wheels,slide for miles and no flat spots, Muckefuck for the win, better than Bones! And Indy’s, always!
Y: Yeah, they stop me from going harder sometimes. I’ve got weak ankles, swollen most of the time. But I try to work at that, get them stronger. Had some messy wrists for a while, a surgery and an iron rod in there for a bit, not very chill! Getting back from an injury can be a drag, my hip hurts at times too. Pieces of bone swirling around in my elbows,…Working towards a great future (laughs)
B : Any thanks, shoutouts? Y: All the ACS homies! Lockwood skateshop! Sven Aerts, the boss, he still skates with that big pop! Cause he lets me work there. Sybren, for the pictures. Dominique and Rik at Vans. Ben Daeleman, for sure, the one Beneral Van Daeleman! All my sponsors. Shoutout to mom and dad! They’ve always supported me. My dad’s a musician so that’s where all the music comes from. Music and skating is so close to one another.
B: Thx Yeelen, I’ll leave you to a good ‘Veiging!’ session now.
Sw pole jam
17
Sponsors: Polar through Jean Jacques distribution, Vans, Lockwood
Little Smile 18
The tv is on but it’s just randomly playing bullshit or a music channel. Your girlfriend is asleep in the sofa and you’re scrolling your facebook page with one hand and instagram with the other. You’ve seen every post at least twice and you’ve reached the status of an empty headed zombie. It’s safe to say you’re screwed and it will take a big deal of effort to get unscrewed. Things that can get you unscrewed are unexpected life events or maybe even a clip or picture on the net that gets to you. Now hold on .. it is often very hard to come across such content these days. Skateboardwise , comicwise, showwise , icebucketwise,...there is so much crap out there! But I saw this video that said ‘Jamie Thomas: my war’. I’m not a big Jamie Thomas fan but the word war was kind of appealing to me so i clicked. 5 minutes, I hope i can pay attention, with all these random 15 sec clips i’m not used to concentrating any longer than 15 sec. Jamie goes on in the video about how skateboarding is a real struggle and you have to really want it in order for it to work for you. He talks about going back five times and some more blablabla in order for him to get the impossible 50-50 on the famous Clipper ledge (rip). Jamie is done talking and ready to do some sticking, he ought to after four minutes of talk and this being his fifth time out there! He lands one and everybody goes crazy. He casually says his truck wasn’t on completely and goes for another one, gets in perfect, sticks, and lands it like a seasoned pro should be able to do! All of this is great! Really it is! But that’s not what got to me.
When you see him rolling away from that last try, that final push, knowing he’s been here four times before. You figure out right then and there if you are a skateboarder or not. Jamie cracks a little smile when rolling away from the Clipper beast. That little smile .. it got to me, every skateboarder in theworld will understand that and relate to that. Something you put all your effort in, blood sweat and tears, nightmares, daydreams and it finally works out, you pulled it off like you imagined it in your mind. That ladies and gents is skateboarding ! That’s Jamie’s war with an impossible 50-50 on Clipper but i’m sure everybody felt satisfaction when seeing that little winky smile on Jamie’s face, we all had this feeling when you are for real and practice skateboarding for real, not to be cool. You know that smile, you feel that smile, it made me shiver and gave me goosebumps . that smile showed the ultimate happiness for a skateboarder and the process shows a small amount of what is needed in human energy physically as well as mentally in order to get success. I met up with my cousin later that week. ‘Did you see the Jamie Thomas my war clip , did you see his smile? That’s skateboarding’. See my cousin got me into skating and still skates every now and then. He surfs a lot now and his knees are pretty jacked but when he saw the smile he got the message an understood it perfectly. Skateboarding is about the smile, the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling no one can ever take from you! It’s about your war and your victories ! Words: PJ Claeys Illustration by Bart Bling
19
20
New York
21
All photos by Thomas ‘Switn’ Sweertvaegher
22
23
Phil Zwijsen, wallie boardslide - NY
24
Axel Cruysberghs, BS noseblunt
Axel Cruysberghs, 50-50 - NY
25
Phil Zwijsen, 180 into bank - NY
26
Niklas speer von cappeln, Treflip - NY
27
Axel Cruysberghs, BS Smith - NY
28
29
30
I started skateboarding in spring 1987, i was 11. Life was simple back then. My ‘marraine’ had just died, which was sad. I had just gotten my first computer, tons of fun, a Commodore 64, 64kb of power! I was in the local swimming club and studying traverse flute (big mistake), doing well in school. My mom bought my clothes, I knew nothing about music. An evening I was over a Tom’s, a friend, he asked me if I wanted to ride his skateboard. ‘What’s a skateboard?’ I said. ‘You’ll see, it’s great!’ I had never seen a skateboard in my life, we went over to a parking lot near his house. His board was a Vision Psycho stick, with white Tracker trucks and lime green Slammer wheels, black grip. We never rode on our knees for a second; get your feet up there, right foot in front, that made me goofy. Push, roll…jump off, realize what just happened. I was hooked, bewildered, down for life. California Pro, first bruises, going out on the streets, meeting other skaters, licensed to ill, red Converse All Stars, my first board a Vision Mark Gonzales, Fear of a Black Planet, starting skateboard club Red Skate (rip), building a quarter, ollies, Ollie 180’s, rock’n rolls, frontside rock’n rolls, Powell Peralta, H-Street, Santa Cruz, skating every weekend, every day after school, skate stickers, looking for spots, how many decks can you ollie, Tony Hawk in Ban This, Matt Hensley, Guy Mariano, Ray Barbee, messed up ankles, demos in Leffinge, wreaking havoc, doubleflips, skating in Ghent, Brussels, Kortrijk, Ostend, De Panne. Huge pants, New Deal, Blind, World Industries, Templeton, Gonzales, Howell, Guerrero, Danny Way, Mullen, Plan B, Birdhouse, The Cure, The Smiths, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Lard, the dark days of skateboarding, really small wheels, treflips, pressureflips, impossibles… and I’m only up to 1994 by the going of this list. So what’s a skateboard? It’s the piece of wood that has been guiding my life for the past 28 years. It made me who I am, got me most of my friends, taught me wisdom on serious and silly things. Gave me music, friends, art, culture, tolerance, patience, creativity, goals, another way of looking at the world, keeps me young at heart, vent anger and frustration in darker days, life-defining moments, a skateboarding state of mind, liberty, freedom, happiness! What’s your board like? Words by laurent Derycke Sketch by Bart Bling
31
32
Words by Laurent Derycke All photos by Sybren Vanoverberghe
Bolts Sealand trip
‘Thunder up!’
33
34
In a bout of melancholy i offered ‘why not go to Sealand? It’s close, I know a couple of spots there, there’s bound to be new ones by now, the people are really friendly towards skateboarding and friendly in general, that should work!?’ Melancholy because Sealand was my first skatetrip ever, back in 2000? For another magazine, r.i.p.. This province of Holland is also quite unknown to basically everyone, except leisure bikers and fried fish ‘ kibbeling’ aficionados.
Finding a crew to rip was easy and two cars were packed fast. Techwizard Nick Steenbeke, up for anything young buck Laurens Willems, party-entrepreneur Griffhin Deschijnck, all-out jawdropper Simon Deprez, Streetbeast Arthur Bultynck, stylemaster Diertho Goethals and whirly wildchild Jonathan ‘Jojo Jackson’ Vlerick. Bolts-lensmen were Sybren Vanoverberghe (pictures) and Niels Vansteenkiste (camera) and myself, the senior, to record and archive all mayhem for future generations. The battlefield consisted of Aardenburg, Breskens, Terneuzen, Scheveningen and Goes.
35
Jonathan Vlerick, FS lipslide - Breskens
36
Simon Deprez, BS Crooks - Breskens
Nick Steenbeke, FS Tailslide - Breskens
From the start it was quite clear, this is the next generation in skateboarding, capital N. We’d set the little public skatepark
Terneuzen is home to a couple of wellknown spots, the Kevin Vu-stairs, the Jelle Deschout-rail (check Homemade skateboards
in Aardenburg as our meet-up point at a reasonable hour, ten in the morning, and behold, the organizer, me, was last (!!) to arrive. Better still, tricks had already gone down and everybody was ready to roll. Must be the smartphones that get everyone everywhere on time! Just a couple of years ago it took more than 70 phonecalls to get riders out of bed and false documents and a nearly shredded driver’s licence to get them into the UK ( never forget Greg & Boulbi!). We drove out and headed to Breskens, stopping along the road in look of the sometimes empty public swimming pool, unfortunately scumfilled, and some roadside spots that amounted to nothing, they do love their biker tunnels, tranny those sidewalls though Seapeeps!
videos for evidence). Manny-fun can be had, agreed it’s difficult, on the organic stone bumps near city hall.
Breskens turned out to be a really good bet, a narrow ledge over grass-spot and a friendly plaza-like spot filled with newrusty, but very skateable, curbs and some concrete mannywork snaked benches. The sun was blazing, our first fried fish consumed, the coastline observed, drinks refilled, tricks landed (Bolts! For sure) We wandered around a bit in Breskens and Laurens came up with this frankly quite frightening steep ledge next to a near-deadly fall and cars on the other side. The surface was pebbly, rough and included some nasty cracks. But Laurens tightened up his trucks and never looked back, he dropped it three times, higher up each time. We held on to our hearts and nerves but cheered him on when he rolled away at speed, unscathed. Sure, he didn’t drop from the top, just go there and see how far up you make it for the drop, thing is seriously serious!
The city used to be really well known for its coffeeshops, which the dutchies got sick of in the end due to drugtourism, but will henceforth be known as probably the only Sealand place housing a skaterhating elderly maniac in a cycler-outfit. The stairs spot welcomed us with his near-hysterical grandma-wife, screaming at us before we hardly set wheel there, bad news but no biggie, she retreated in her screamcave after a couple and was gonna call the cops, go ahead! Hardly five minutes later, the boys were warming up, her freak cycler husband arrived and started screaming before he nearly threw his bike at us. ‘Get lost! I’ll count your little babyteeth for you, bunch of lowlifes! I’m calling the cops right now!’ Ten minutes later the cops arrived and I went over to say hi, I sure didn’t see the problem, we were not destroying anything but our own feet and boards. As it happens, the cops, actually two really nice and friendly policeladies with a don’t-mess-withus attitude didn’t see the problem either. ‘My colleague’s talking to the couple right now on the phone in our car’ one of them said. She opened up the cardoor for a second and I heard the other policelady say ‘Well misses, if you are just going to call me a bitch that’s the end of our conversation and this ‘problem’! Case closed and a friendly bye to nice cops, ACAB didn’t apply this once, our enemy bit dust and shells.
37
38
Laurens Willems, BS Boardslide - Terneuzen
The Jelle-rail proved to be a notch too high up for everyone, except Simon who wanted to skate an even heavier, similar rail. In
The Bolts-team made spaghetti for everyone, pings were ponged, stories exchanged, busdriver cardgames driven and
the end he decided to wait, we do have to go back there Simon! I’m sure you can do magic on that one! Driving around town with ghetto-tunes ended us up at Vu’s stairs where Laurens, Jonathan, Simon and Arthur popped. Boardslide, backside 360, hardflip over the rail and varial heelflip in that same order. Arthur got the cover for this first issue and worked really hard for it. In the end his make is also the cover picture we are using, the ladies in the background beaming at this ripper as a nice and well-deserved extra. The homies ecstatic and ready to cross the water onto Serooskerke, where we would be staying for the night. If you ever go there stay in Serooskerke with the Goedbloed couple on their magic farm.
drunk, arrows shot and we had a really fun evening in a very serene and quiet place, you don’t always need kebabs, strippers and mayhem, bright stars and battlestories work too! Day two set us in Scheveningen, after healthy breakfasts and a warmup in the local park, where we rolled around, enjoyed the sights, found some good manny spots and an epic boat-spot that might get some really nice Sybren-and-a-heavy-ripper shots someday. Many ankles, feet and elbows were bluebruised already so we took it at leisure, or did we?
39
40
‘the roughest bump of concrete I have ever seen’
41
Diertho Goethals, Kickflip - Scheveningen
42
Arthur, Nick and Jonathan were chilling, their points were made. Diertho, Laurens en Simon still had bangers up their soles. Laurens popped it, Diertho kickflipped it, the roughest bump of concrete I have ever seen. Most of us hardly dared to roll or walk off it and the harshness of this beachspot is instant scrapes and bruises guaranteed! Simon shut up any doubters and rolled up to another handrail on the way back to Belgium. Also in Terneuzen, right next to city hall so go there when the workers have worked. Unfortunately Diertho messed up his foot while going at the rail for a 50-50 but Simon made the iron bar pay with a smooth crooked grind fast delivered and stylish. He finished the trip off with another true banger but you’ll have to wait for his video-part to come out and witness that beauty. Sealand and even its cops was good to us, we were good to the spots! Thanks to the riders and lensmen.Trips are the best, on to the next!
43
Simon Deprez, BS Overcrooks - Terneuzen
44
45
Curb Skateshop This new Ghent skateshop will have celebrated its first birthday when BOLTS comes out. Dirty South og Mohamed Saouti, 28, is shop boss.
46
Words by Laurent Derycke All photos by Sybren Vanoverberghe
Mohamed: I get support from all the local kids, they like what I’m trying to do here and I want to keep that vibe going. I’ve organized several trips to new parks in Belgium. We went to Köln most recently. We have a bunch of regulars and I see new faces popping up too. Last park there were fifty of us! People between ten and 37 years. We went to Nieuwpoort, Oostduinkerke, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Eindhoven, Breda, Utrecht, Rampaffairz.
B: Who’s on the shopteam? M: Guillaume Clincke, Victor Vanpuyvelde, Siebert Glele and Slick. I had already talked to them about it without them fully knowing what was going to be in it for them, and they were down no matter what. It matters that they support the shop for the shop, not for the stuff they get out of it.
B: Are you skating more or less since the shop? M: I’m starting to get that working flow figured out and I skate quite a lot again for being 28. When my body and the weather are ok with it I try to skate every day and I still learn lots of new stuff. If you look at Koston, I should be ok for a while. 47
B: How was starting a skateshop?
B: What message and ideas about skating are you passing on to the kids?
M: I just went for it! Some people in the skatebusiness knew I had plans and supported me right away. New blood, new shop, new vibe, never a bad thing. I had been planning it for about a year and a half while working at my previous job. Every skater’s dream is going pro or getting a job in skateboarding. And if you have something good it should and will work, that’s what I believe. Making your passion work gives satisfaction. Passion is never just a routine. I’ve been skating since I was 14, it’s my life, my obsession. I started out with Saymour (Lincoln).
M: I want to promote skateboarding as a positive culture, good kids, a socially accepted way of living your life. Skateboarding has taught me endurance, to not judge people by their looks, dealing with failure and getting back on board and persist in what you want to achieve, have an independent mind. Skateboarding is something I can always fall back on.
Nick Steenbeke We sit down at the little Zuid skatepark right after Nick treflipped a longboard, yep a longboard. After the interview he continues to pressureflip that giant and unleashes several outlandisch tricks on the curb and hip cause that is just how Nick’s mind works with skateboarding. Bolts: Where are you at sponsorwise?
B: Big gaps or high-tech manual lines?
Nick: Primitive through Fabian Verhaeghe, I’ll be filming my welcome trick soon. That’ll probably be the switch hardflip I did at that big set in De Panne. I was going for some manuals here at the park but I didn’t make it on the first day of filming. I was working at that line for three hours and on the maketry Saymour’s battery gave out, so no footy, yay! I’m up to about ten hours filming for that line. Switch heel to manual switch flip back five-o.
N: Manuals are chiller. With gaps I’m thinking ‘knee’. I just had a kneescan last week and need to get that to my doctor. There was a whole lot of blood in my knee joint when I shockingly overstretched it last year in Mallorca. After six days they took a scan but a lot of the blood inside had clotted together so they couldn’t really see what was going on. It tires way too easily and it gives these pretty weird clicks when I move it. I stretch a lot but I really need to know what’s going on with it,I did 150 physio-sessions.
48
Ollie into the bank - Ghent
B: You’re quite the internet sensation. N: That all happened through #metrogrammed. Those guys have 400.000 followers on Instagram and are connected to Thrasher and Skateline, which I was on two times! I did a Nosegrind nollie flip nosegrind at Tondelier skatepark. They picked that up and started following me and reposting my stuff, I made it to their page more than ten times. I have about 9200 followers on Instagram, it’s pretty crazy. I don’t have much coming from that though, for all the work I put into it. That nosegrind nollie flip nosegrind for example. It was raining like hell, I put on my raingear, took the bike to Tondelier. I got there and there was no-one around, ride some warmup, solo. I had that trick on Go-pro in twenty minutes, back home through the rain. (laughs) Crazy shit.
‘My phone just gave up after that post’ Words by Laurent Derycke Photo by Daniil Lavrovski
B: But you get satisfaction from those lines? N: Sure, trying tricks without expectations is one of the best parts in skateboarding. And you can feel when it’s working out, I can feel that in my head. And once I feel that it’s possible it’s only a matter of time. I get those tech-lines mostly from playing around. My best clip on best insta-skaters has 165000 views and that’s a treflip landing one foot, to primo flip primo, to nose wheelie nollie flip. Metrogrammed shared another clip but when people liked it they got to my page where they saw this one. My phone just gave up the following hours because my Instagram was exploding. B: Who do you look up to? N: Daewon, Haslam, round three, I grew up with that stuff. Now I look up to the underground rippers, skaters that lead away from formulaic skateboarding, go for different ways of looking at it. I really like the 2up-contest that The Berrics’ got going on. PJ Ladd was pretty amazing, it’s pretty hard following up on a part like wonderful horrible life. That’s also a reason I want my part to live up to what I can do, be on my best level! The knee is my judge there! Sometimes I get five clips a day, sometimes I get nothing in two weeks. You got to be out on the street, all the time.
49
I was in Peru with Mikkjel and Sam. We had a bowl session in Ayacucho with 3 boards for 20 kids. They didn’t have anything to skate with, not even shoes.
50
Ni liege means: don’t lie’. When someone is trying a trick out of his reach, but trying anyway, just to show off we consider it lying. At that moment we shout: ‘Ni Liege’.
We organized a sticker contest, put the sticker on a spot you thought was a good lie, take a picture and send it, we had a party to hand out the prizes for the contest.
I gave the NiLiege stickers to the kids there and they just put the sticker in front of their mouths, first thing they did when they understood what it meant, so great!
Girls of 10, dropping in a concrete bowl with the toes sticking out of their Crocs. The energy was amazing.
All the profits from the party went to David Van Haute, who helps out Peruvian street kids 51
Please, keep on leaving your old skateboard materials in the shops, we will come to pick it up. You can’t imagine how many kids you make happy with it! And remember, NI LIEGE!
Thanks to everyone who gave things and to all the skateshops who helped us getting skatestuff out to the Peruvian kids! Special thanks to Woodz boardshop in Turnhout!
Words by Ben Daeleman Black&White photos by Yeelen Moens. Color photo by Mikkjel Dolferus
Three times a ripper A Trevor Cappon, Simon Deprez, Jonathan Vlerick interview
Words by Laurent Derycke All photos by Sybren Vanoverberghe
52
Jonathan: 19 yrs, skating for 8 Trevor: 23yrs, skating for 10 Simon: 20 yrs, skating for 8 years, years, sponsored by Vans, Volcom, years, sponsored by Rampaffairz, sponsored by Rampaffairz, SBQ, Habitat, SBQ, Rampaffairz. SBQ, Huf, Primitive. Globe, Sweet, Thunder, Bones.
Bolts: I remember you from the Kortrijk bowl being this little kid. Jonathan: Poolboy, he knows his way around the concrete. He rips in tranny. I was scared of Trevor. (everybody laughs). He had this mean look about him, seriously! It took a while before I dared to shake his hand. Trevor: When we skate now, it’s nearly always together. Simon: Every week. Trevor always pushes you when you’re skating with him, in a good way. When he does a trick he expects me to do it too.
T: Even though I think they go way harder, They do heavier stuff on spots. S: Not really. When we go skating at the Kortrijk expo rail Trevor is landing stuff before we’ve taken our boards out of the car. Lipslide first try after setting the afternoon drinks down. T: But rails are my thing. My knee acts up on stairs, but I try. I don’t like stairs, too much impact. Throwing yourself down stuff. J: Streetrails, still working out how to do those. S: Big streetrails, I don’t know.
B: Simon, you have tricks on every spot we did during the Zeeland trip!
B: When you guys are riding together you know what tricks are coming?
S: I can street days on end, I guess. It’s not
T: We know what most of us have on film,
continuous, it’s a spot per spot thing. J: I was pretty beat up from the Germany trip I did.
even that. Or ‘don’t go for that, you had it on a heavier spot’. When they go easy on themselves, when Jonathan does a backside flip or Simon doe a hardflip, and we all know they can go for harder tricks on harder spots, we’re hard on eachother (grins). They don’t like me saying that but afterwards they’re happy I pointed it out. J: (grins) T: We were at this spot, Jonathan was going for something simple, I think it was in Villeneuve d’asq. In the end you did a nice bigspin because I called you out. J: No, I just switched up my tricks cause the simple things weren’t working, and I ended up sticking something heavier. I was going for a frontside 360° ollie down some steps first but I didn’t feel that. S: He was going to skip the spot. Good thing we called him out.
B: I noticed, but that’s normal. J: I underestimated the duress of a trip like that. Getting up at 8 and going for hammers right out of bed, those Dutchies go hard! Till late at night and the same thing the next morning. It was kind of a reality check. But lots of fun too! It was really good being out skating with Jonathan Thijs and Timothy Deconinck , Sebastiaan Vijverberg and the other Dutch rollers. ‘Ja man! Ja, Gek!’ (laughs) you don’t know their bag of tricks, they don’t know yours, it’s interesting to see what everyone brings to a spot. Point you out!
Simon Deprez, Bs Crooks - Lille
53
Trevor Cappon, Fs Nosegrind - Zulte
54
B: What space does skateboarding have in your lives?
T: First qualifier in London is automatically in for Berlin.
T: First place. I’ll see how the next ten years
Spaghetti legs
go. Depending on how my body holds up. B: Heaviest contest-tricks? B: Jonathan? T: He’s on top of his game. J: (laughs). I skate as much as I can, waiting for the next skate trip, probably with the Vans dudes. Ride some contests. S: I go out and skate as much as I can. Now is the time! B: Any goals? T: I really want to make a good street-part. All killer, no filler, nice edit. Ride some high-level European contests. I just did Far’n High, next week we’re going to London, London am, and Mystic Cup Prague later on. First time I’m going for those kind of contests, pretty exciting! J: I can’t make those, school and exams. I’m down for Helsinki Hookup though. Simon and me made the finals last year. We didn’t win a thing in the end but it was a really good experience. T: Dave Bachinsky’s a contest beast. Flip front tail 270° out while just passing by a curb in the middle of his run. Crazy. J: The Russians killed it! Maxime Krugelov S: That Igor with the bigspin frontblunt! T: There’s two Igors. J: There was a switch hardflip Igor too. Or was it Igor and Egor, I don’t know. S: But the spelling was the same. T: Crazy, anyhow. S: I rode the contest in Barcelona, and the London one is sort of the same concept. It’s the Nike European series. Like the contest I did in Berlin last year.
T: treflip lip, flip lip? Flip smith, depends on the obstacles. Bigspin board, when there’s a big rail. I have those on lock, and they look heavy. Bigspin board bigspin out, those too on a flatrail. Bigspin board to feeble. S: Hardflip late flip. Biggerspin flip. Hardflip front board. J: Backside 360° kickflip, I made it to Skateline with that one, so…
55
B: What sucks about skateboarding? T: Jojo! (all laugh)
56
the spot, there was a streetlight blinding me, messing up my sight…I just had to give up in the end. That sucked! I’m going back there though! With a different trick. And a
J: Simon, I think. T: Injuries, of course. Seeing a spot you know from a shot, thinking it’s great, getting there and realizing it actually sucks. You had a trick in mind you were gonna go for but the runup is nasty, the rail too high. J: That makes you see how hard the tricks are that HAVE been done there. S: I hate nearly getting a trick and having to stop cause your body is done for the day. T: We were looking for a spot, somewhere in the north of France, finally hooked up with a skater who knew where the spot was, found the spot. I tried a kickflip over a rail, all but had it first try, just didn’t roll out. After that I was working on it for nearly two hours. Still a bit hungover from the night
good nights’ sleep. J: Tricks that you normally land every single time but just can’t stick that one day, even after twenty tries. Having to relearn a trick. Or heavy tricks that you know you can do but don’t really like doing.
before too (grins). Spaghetti legs. Daylight was fading cause it took us so long to find
Zeeland first try, one hand down though.
B: Why would you do tricks you don’t like? T: That 270° lip Jonathan does, he slammed quite some learning that, that’s probably why. J: And I know I’m going to slam again, every time I go for that trick. Getting it is great though. T: Jojo doesn’t like to work. B: Not true, he had the backside 360° in
J: Which was ugly, so I beat myself up 30 more tries going for a clean one. (laughs)
Simon Deprez, Wallride - Valencia
57
T: I’m a big fan yeah. The vibe there is just amazing, having a beer at night at Macba, it may sound silly, but I love those moments. I’m thinking about the group picture we made with all the Brazilian guys. ‘What are you guys up to tonight?’, ‘o, we’re going to Plaza Real’. Our hotel was right there so that was convenient, other than that there’s really nothing special to that square, there’s one night club, ‘we’re just going to chill in front of that club, having some beers’. It sounded pretty boring really, but we turned up and there were about 40, 50 people there. Just sitting around on their boards, having a beer, turned out to be a really great night. Felipe Gustavo showed up there, just like that. One big bunch of homies.
B: I have the idea that Barcelona’s been good to you Trevor?
J: Bringing people together. T: Yeah, after a while you know skaters from all over the country, from all over Europe, that’s pretty cool.
B: What makes skateboarding great?
Ice Baths
S: We often get to a spot, Jonathan doesn’t feel like doing one single thing, till we push him to go for it, then he skates till he’s beat. J: I didn’t get that on the Germany trip, I guess you guys must be the reason, (laughs).
‘When we skate now, it’s nearly always together.’
Jonathan Vlerick, Fakie Kickflip - Harelbeke
58
Simon Deprez, Hardflip - Valencia
59
Simon Deprez, Heelflip - Madrid
60
B: You still have unfinished business in Barcelona Simon? (all laugh)
see him sticking it! Maybe backside 360°, no flip there, maybe more doable. J: I made it to the street while skipping it, I just don’t know if I’d be in the little slanted
S: Indeed, that hardflip down the Macba street gap. I passed it when I was there for the Nike sb-contest, couple of weeks ago. I realized, once again, that I really need to go back there and stick it, go for it, even more than last summer. I’m going back at the end of this summer. T: Not many people know that Jonathan tried backside flip there! So he still has business there too. J: But nothing about it has been seen online, so nobody’s nagging that I have to go back. Simon DOES have that problem! T: The curb was way too waxed when he tried, made it really sketchy for the backside pop. He slipped heavily on one try, but I can
bank on the street when I’d try to put it down. S: Which is the nice little plus on that gap, the little bank for the landing. The KNSgap in Antwerp does not have that, I’m not skating that thing, it’s very make or break. Trevor made me start the hardflip on Macba, the bastard (laughs)! I slept about three hours, I got in by plane after Berlin and tried it right then and there. I tried about one hour on the first day, I tried four days. J: People were blocking off the street so he could have his tries, crazy. T: I sort of hyped up the crowd, about 50 people watching! I said ‘Well Prez’, it has started!’
Trevor Cappon, Kickflip - Madrid
S: Forty, fifty tries for four days, till my legs and feet gave out. Ice baths afterwards. J: Right after Simon gave up there were three other guys trying it too, they didn’t
B: When did skating click for you?
make it though. Trying to draw the attention with tries on Instagram too, silly. T: Maxim Krugelov will be going for it, I heard. I think he has it in three! He has that big gap hardflip.
guy’s board, I probably came in last, but I had fun. Most of my friends stopped, I just kept going. J: Tony Hawks’ Underground two did it for me. There were some skateclips you could unlock in that game, a Shorty’s one, Chad Muska, that blew me away! ‘Hey, you can really jump with skateboards, make it flip!’ I was sold! S: Started with friends and I built my own park in our big garage, so, that speaks for itself I think. Skating there with friends, great times.
B: Still, Simon’d rather hardflip something than just pop it in ollie. S: True. J: That gap really needs top speed. S: Yeah. I think it’s six, seven metres maybe. T: I wouldn’t try it. S: You said you were going to double flip it! T: I had way too many beers when I said that. (laughs). Tailslide 270° kickflip is the craziest thing done there. Big drop.
T: I just started skating with some friends in my street. I entered a contest with another
61
62
Jonathan Vlerick, Kickflip - Harelbeke
63
Trevor Cappon, Bs Hurricane - Madrid
Trevor Cappon, Fs Lipslide - Leuven
64
Simon Deprez, Fs Crook - Valencia
65
Jonathan Vlerick - Bs 180 - Harelbeke
66
B: When did you realise you weren’t half bad at it?
B: What riders do inspire?
T: Like I said, they stopped, I kept going. I
J: Austyn Gillette, Dylan Rieder, Anthony Van Engelen, Gilbert Crockett.
never gave up, they’re all working a steady job now. I work too, but I’m still skating. Skating’s too much fun to stop! J: Skating was bigger when I started, all parks were crammed with skaters and locals. T: I think there’s a big wave of skaters coming again! If you stop watching online footy for a week you missed out on so much. It’s an overload, but inspiring too. J: I don’t get much inspiration from a Nyjah part though.
T: Wes Kremer’s part was good. Nyjah, cause what he does is insane. Madars Apse, Rieder, Gillette. S: Nyjah, Evan Smith, Brandon Westgate. Different styles, different tricks, all inspiring skaters. Evan is unbelievable, he just doesn’t stop, even when the contest wasn’t on he was throwing crazy stuff. T: You appreciate skaters more once you’ve seen them skate in real life. Mark Suciu is amazing too. B: thanks guys!
67
Manuel Thiry, aka Slick is probably the friendliest and surely one of the funniest Belgian, Ghent skaters around. He’s 37 and has been around for a long time, og Manny Master. Slick is coming out with his own wheel brand, Slick Wheels. Roll with us.
68
Bolts: How long has this brand been in the making? S: About a year. I was at a bbq talking to my homie Stijn (Lammertyn) and we were going on about wheels and that’s sort of when the idea came up. Soon after I went to school again to get a business degree so I could start my own business. It was weird since school was never really my thing but I was really motivated to make it happen so I passed my tests with ease and got the go! My teacher, a lady, was really good and helped me out with the more difficult stuff. And I picked up on a lot of new stuff! The more boring part of skateboarding, counting numbers and making them work. How V.A.T works, and other tedious stuff like that. The fun part was, yeah my own wheels, but the financial part is essential.
Words by Laurent Derycke Photo by Sybren Vanoverberghe
B: Growing up? S: Also, Belgium can use some skater-owned brands. I think people will like Slick Wheels, I’ll be bringing out little videos with the riders, stuff’ll be happening. A little contest, some sponsoring, going abroad if everything works out, I’ll see! I know people in The Netherlands, France, Germany. I’m waiting for my first shipment now, coming in from the States, I should have it soon. I have stickers, t-shirts, all worked out. There will be 50mm and 52mm wheels. If these sell fast I’ll probably get some 54mm’s in the next batch. I’ve been testing samples for a couple of months now because I really want good wheels, good quality, no rubbish. I rode a sample with the same fomula that Bones stf wheels uses and much like the Spitfire formula 4, my wheels will be in that good area of quality. The cheaper models Creative urethane provides
are ok, but they feel cheaper when you’re riding them. I don’t want that, my wheels have to be really good. Unfortunately the dollar is quite strong at the moment, which is not good for business. B: What wheels do you ride at the moment? S: Bones, 50, 51mm. Not too narrow, not too broad. Slick wheels will be like that too. They have a bit of an inwards going shape towards the bearings, the designs last longer that way. B: Will this be a full-time job for you? S: No, but It is definitely my passion! It will probably be 2-3 days a week. I’m also designing skateparks so I have enough stuff on my plate, don’t worry. The income I get from designing parks might be a good helping boost for the wheelbrand. Stijn is doing all the visual stuff, wheeldesigns, t-shirts, stickers. Daan another good friend is making the shirts, Bas did the stickers, it’s fun working with friends through their own business. And I’ll be bringing the wheels to the shops. Skateboarding’s my life!
B: Will there be a Slick Wheels-team? S: Fries Taillieu, Kevin Tshala, Nick Steenbeke, Mohammed Saouti and myself. And I got my eye on some other riders that might get added to the roster later on. I want to make this something fun and make it work, get outside Belgium maybe, work in Europe. It’s not wrong to have some achievable dreams.
‘It was weird since school was never really my thing but I was really motivated to make it happen’
69
Elna Gurvitz, Pivot Fakie
70 Josue Watts, BS Tailslide
71
Photos by Rafael Gonzalez
Miguel Castro, Fs 180 Nosegrind
Photos by Rafael Gonzalez
72
Ernee Martin, Bs Powerslide
Kevin Tshala, Kickflip over the rail - Ghent
Photos by Sybren Vanoverberghe
73
Mario Cano, Drop in - Valencia
74
Colophon Publisher: Bolts VZW, Burgstraat 32, 9000 Gent, 0497627900. Editorial staff: Laurent Derycke, Sybren Vanoverberghe, PJ Claeys, Ben Daeleman, Mr.Mong, Gummy Piracyleague, Bart Bling. Yeelen Moens, Rafael Gonzalez, Thomas Sweertvaegher. Layout: Scarfish Font: Kefa Printed at Printing Feys, Spoorwegstraat 8, 8770, Ingelmunster This first issue of Bolts Magazine is printed on a limited edition of 100 copies. July 2015
Photos by Sybren Vanoverberghe
-Better Our Lives Through Skateboarding-