DC CANADA IN ARIZONA
DC CANADA IN ARIZONA WORDS
JOSH CLARK
PHOTOS
BRIAN CAISSIE
D
uring the spring, myself, Chad Dickson, Sascha Daley, Micky Papa, Will Marshall, Bobby De Keyzer, Charles Deschamps and Morgan Smith from DC Canada packed up and headed down to the desert for two weeks. Tempe, Arizona, was our destination, a small city outside Phoenix full of calm residential neighbourhoods occupied mostly by old retired people. Our house worked out perfectly and had everything we needed: a private hot tub, a big kitchen where everyone cooked together, and nice big TVs so Chad could enjoy his episodes of Nip/Tuck uninterrupted. The vets occupied the top floor, with Sascha and Morgan sharing the double room, while Chad and Micky shared the big king-size bed. On the ground floor some of the guys had air mattresses in odd locations. Will occupied the kitchen dining room with a homemade wall made from sheets and duct tape. Charles chose a nice corner behind the main dining room table, and little Bobby found himself a private getaway in the closet under the stairs that was just the right size for him. Photographer Brian Caissie and I had the master bedroom downstairs and filmer Brian Shannon owned the couch space.
Mitch Barrette unfortunately got denied access into the country, so Sascha had to take over as hype man, waking everyone up early with his speaker on blast. Each day started with a mandatory dip in the pool before hitting the streets in our 15-passenger van. Sascha would keep everyone’s energy up with the Juicy J tunes, and to pass the time during the longer drives, I got notebooks for everyone so they could keep obscure personal journals about the trip by writing or drawing in them. The whole crew was motivated to skate, which made for long days that would stretch through the night and into the following morning. Whether you were the one skating or not, everyone was in good spirits—cheering someone on or rolling away from a trick themselves. DC Canada has such a sick group of guys; everyone killed it and had each other’s back. Enjoy the tricks, notebook doodles and good times in AZ…
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VARIAL HEELFLIP
Will Marshall Big Willy loves to sleep. I hated having to wake him up in the morning because I knew the first 10 minutes would be the worst. But once he’s up you know he’ll kill it on his board no matter what. I don’t even think he’s concerned or thinking about skating until he steps on his board. Will went through some battles on this trip, but got his revenge on the above varial heel over a rail, which took him out for a couple days during the earlier stages of the trip. This time, and to start off the last night session, he rolled away bolts faster than it took to set the lights up.
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TAILSLIDE FRONT BIGSPIN
LASER HEELFLIP
SWITCH HEELFLIP
Micky Papa Micky, the Italian gigolo, has a nice head of hair. Sometimes a bit too nice. He would skate all day and usually be the first to bed, avoiding the party scene. This is likely the reason why he’s so on point and able to do some of the most amazing tricks I’ve ever witnessed in my life. However, on the last night, Micky was definitely drinking Mickey’s during our big pizza and 40 party at the house. His iPod was used as comic relief in the van during some of our road trips through the desert. With everything from Backstreet Boys to Spice Girls, I don’t think he’s deleted anything off it since he was 14, but at times it was exactly what we needed to keep up the good spirits.
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Morgan Smith Morgan was the nutritionist on the trip, with an eye for the organic produce section in every grocery store. He even brought his own blender to make sure he could have big jugs of green smoothie in-hand at all times. This influenced some of the others to switch from greasy breakfasts to smoothies in the mornings. Morgan would be one of the first up in the morning, lending a hand by cleaning up the previous night’s mess before drinking a couple litres of green juice and beating everyone at S-K-A-T-E.
FRONT NOSE
BACKSIDE 360 KICKFLIP
Bobby De Keyzer Unfortunately, Bobby is the victim of being the youngest on every trip. He has to deal with being picked on a bit more, but handles it like a man. The closet under the stairs that he occupied started to smell like a dirty hockey bag after two weeks; maybe we just didn’t throw him in the pool enough. After an entire day of Bobby telling me I looked like Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, I decided to let him loose with the scissors and cut my hair. Turns out his barber skills are mediocre at best, and I’m stuck with a weird lesbian haircut that can only be covered up by greasing it back.
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SWITCH OLLIE
Chad Dickson You’d find Chad chilling out back having a few soda pops around the hot tub, or upstairs indulging in his guilty television pleasure, Nip/Tuck. One evening, after finishing a whole season of the show, Morgan asked for what would become the world’s longest haircut. Chad looked like he knew what he was doing and the final product looked great, but it took almost two days to complete. He’s much better at skating than he is at cutting hair, and he’s the type of guy who skates big stuff. Whether rolling away in a few tries, or breaking his board (or a piece of himself), Chad definitely goes for it!
Josh Clark Obviously the team manager from hell, Josh drives all day, fixes and skates every spot, and gets a ton of clips or films second angles if he isn’t skating. He manages the shit out of everyone, always with his shirt off, and is the dictionary definition of “gettin’ ‘er done.” —Morgan Smith 68
180 NOSEGRIND
BLUNTSLIDE POP-IN
BACK 180 NOSEGRIND
Charles Deschamps Our French assassin, Charles skated almost every spot we went to and came through with much more than a trick or two. For those who don’t know, Charles is the newest addition to the DC Canada team, and he’s a super good guy to have around. He’s fully bilingual now, but still has some funny pronunciations that made the whole crew laugh; like a good sport this wouldn’t bother Charles one bit. He’s one of the most motivated kids I’ve met in a while—down to build or fix any spot at any time. He even helped me rip out a parking curb to skate a bank. Sascha would put him to work cleaning up the house on separate occasions, and Charles would put himself to work in the streets, handling his first team trip like a champ.
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LIPSLIDE
Sascha Daley Sascha is very grateful for any opportunity skateboarding brings his way and led by example at all times. He’s got the perfect mix of partying and taking things seriously, making him a key player in the success of this trip. He would start off every morning blasting “Bad Boys” by Inner Circle on his speaker to wake up the crew, touring it through each person’s room or little corner they where sleeping in. One night, after lighting up a spot in Phoenix for Will, we returned back to the house where Sascha had been ice bathing in preparation for a Tucson spot, an hour-and-a-half away, where he handled two bangers like a boss just before the sun rose. 72
SWITCH BACK 180