Concrete Skateboarding

Issue 118 MAY 2012 free

Issue 118 may 2012

Five Spot Frank gerwer Sound Check a$ap rocky Art Blender Jaimie Muehlhausen

WWW.SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM DVSSTICKERS@SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM

PHOTO:REDA

JUDO

CARLO

MORE INFO AT LAKAI.COM COLORWAYS AVAILABLE IN APRIL

BREa

LAKAI LI MI TE D FO OTWE AR THE S HO E S WE S K ATE BIEBEL / JOHNSON / MARIANO / CARROLL / HOWARD / WELSH / ALVAREZ GILLET / BRADY / JENSEN / FERNANDEZ / TERSHY / ESPINOZA / HAWK / WALKER / PEREZ photo by Colen / ad #155 / lakai.com / crailtap.com / supradistribution.com / lakaistickers@supradistribution.com

issue 118 • MAY 2012

interviews

22 Jon Cosentino

sugar rush

30 Mike hashbrown Schulze

the man behind the name

38 Ethan Kilgour

vs. the intangibles

46 good times with Jamie Maley 56 Ryan Decenzo

no frills

The Hat Trick cover photo & caption by

Mikendo

From an American’s perspective (and one who knows nothing about hockey), I wasn’t exactly sure what “hat trick” meant at first. Sounds like a magic trick to me. And if you think about it, skateboarding is kinda like magic. Take this NOLLIE FLIP, for example. RYAN DECENZO had to blast off a skinny ledge and into a bank that’s about two storeys tall and steeper than a double black diamond. If that’s not magical, I don’t know what is. But let’s go back to the hat trick.

This is Ryan’s third Concrete cover [he joins Jon West, Max Dufour, Ryan Smith, Corey Sheppard, Alex Chalmers, Paul Machnau and Chris Haslam in reaching that benchmark], and with his professional status in overdrive, a TransWorld part under his belt and a Pro model Globe shoe on the way, Ryan is truly a goddamn magician.

HaYden kelly frontside halfcab kickflip photos

brandon alton

.

visit concreteskateboarding com on your desktop or mobile device to watch the issue 118 commercial.

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Mike Wenham - ollie into bank

photo

sam fidlin

Rise & Shine – Robert Brink Rob nearly shat himself on the first day of grad school when his freelance writing professor said: “If you plan on making any money, you’ve chosen the wrong program.”

Fact of the matter is, the New Jersey to Laguna Beach transplant has written copy for more publications, websites and companies than the word count of this limited paragraph can accommodate. On Fridays he joins the lovely Erica Yary on The Weekend Buzz show [youtube.com/RIDEChannel], during which he chooses to drink “any beer that’s not shitty American beer.” Amongst all the oncamera and print interviews filling his plate these days (he did a bang-up job with Ryan Decenzo’s feature on p.56), Rob somehow finds time to work as Altamont and Emerica’s Digital Communications Manager. On top of that, he visits Jersey to guest speak at the aforementioned professor’s classes about how he made skateboarding his life and career.

robbrink.com

oliver barton

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issue 118 • MAY 2012

departments 10 past blast issue 40 April 1999 14 inventory 18 art blender jaimie muehlhausen 68 exposure gallery 78 capturing history bones brigade doc 82 young bloods racine / tyson 88 video links 90 sound check a$ap rocky 92 the five spot frank gerwer

ryan sheckler

switch frontside bigspin heelflip / melbourne, australia etnies.com

Sheckler 6 timebombtrading.com facebook.com/timebombtrading

SWITCH TRE | BLABAC PHOTO

SEE MIKE MO AND THE DC TEAM REDISCOVER THE ROAD AT DCSHOES.COM/SKATEBOARDING

Existing as Canada’s longest-running skate magazine has its advantages, one being a deep archive that spans back to 1990.

So each issue we’ll take a random look at our past…

ISSUE #40

APRIL 1999 Barry Walsh backside Ollie [o] Jody morris

I’ve known Barry Walsh for over twenty years now. Growing up in Ottawa, my friends and I would take the bus to Montreal for weekend skate adventures, staying usually with Barry. The only thing I really remember from staying at Barry’s house was that they had a talking bird—a Myna or something similar. Unfortunately this particular bird’s talent was a dead-on impersonation of Barry’s telephone; so accurate, in fact, that they had no choice but to answer the phone every single time because they didn’t know if it was real or the damn bird!

We met Barry skating the streets, so we assumed that was his deal. But he introduced us to the idea of being an all terrain skater, and began showing us around outside of Montreal’s downtown core. From a curb spot to a pool, Barry is always comfortable. This photo was Barry at the top of his vert game at the old Taz skatepark in the middle of a cold Montreal winter, and it was shot the old way on Fuji Velvia 50 with a Canon EOS 1. Barry can do a lot of stuff on vert but his floated backside ollies were the cream of the crop, and they still are.

— Jody Morris

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Photo by: Joe Hammeke

distributed by Ultimate

HAPPY HOUR SHADES

dreamer / G2 / casino / black mamba / shocking green

You may know by now, but in case you haven’t heard, let me be the first to tell you. Braydon Szafranski and Bryan Herman have put their years of experience in this game together to launch their sunglass company, Happy Hour. And the name sounds about right. Inexpensive, on-trend slacker shades for the budget-conscious consumer who supports their local skateshop. These are for you.

collection compiled by casey jones

happyhourshades.com

ALTAMONT

T. BEASLEY SIGNATURE JACKET

Thee-Thee got himself a nice four-piece clothing collection in Altamont’s Spring ’12 offering, including a striped polo shirt, a wool six-panel adjustable hat, Fairfax-fit denim, and this classic cotton varsity zip hood jacket. It comes complete with enough pop on the sleeves to get you noticed. There’s even a custom Theotis signature lining to keep it all crisp. Altamont couldn’t have hooked up a nicer dude. altamontapparel.com

HUF

PLANTLIFE CREW SOCK

Like funky socks? Like to surprise the girlfriend’s parents when sitting in the living room to discuss your honourable intentions? If you do, then pull up these Plantlife socks and get out there! They will not disappoint when it comes to cracking smiles, or providing fast exits.

Thanks, HUF, we dig. hufsf.com

ANTI HERO

anti Hero TIMES SERIES

The heads at Anti Hero couldn’t have chosen a better way to follow up the Caddyshack series than spoofing the classic 1982 coming-of-age movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. This four-deck set comes complete with Cardiel, Trujillo, Hewitt and Pfanner models, each one highlighting some of the more classic moments of the timeless flick. As Jeff Spicoli says: “All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine.” antiheroskateboards.com

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distributed by Ultimate

C1RCA x Santa Cruz THE GRIZ

Emmanuel Guzman’s new joint comes complete with a reinforced toe cap, C1RCA’s patented Aerocush midsole-support technology, and it’s wrapped in an authentic vulcanized sole. The result is a clean, light and easy-to-skate shoe in collaboration with one of the most respected, long-standing brands and Guzman’s board sponsor: Santa Cruz. Hit the C1RCA site to check out the four-part Griz commercial series. c1rca.com / santacruzskateboards.com

DC

COLE LITE S

Shortly after the “Cole S” hit the shelves, the big man already has an updated choice available. The “Cole Lite S” silhouette is similar to the original, with a nice clean toe that’s further exposed by heightened lacing, making your flick way smoother. The “Lite” references a special proprietary material called Unilite, which makes for a comfortable and durable shoe that weighs less than what you currently have on your feet. dcshoes.com/skate

EMERICA HOPI MID

Leave it to Emerica to come up with this cool-ass mid. Yes, we had to make space for this even though your feet will die if you skate a pair. That being said, this big brother to the first low Hopi release that Emerica punched out for Fall ’11 comes with a cushy crepe sole to keep your feet on ice after shredding all day. emerica.com

LAKAI

BRADY BELMONT XLK

One of the UK’s finest and one-half of Lakai’s Royal Family duo with Nick Jensen, Danny Brady seized the opportunity to test and approve this team model (not Pro model). Complete with the XLK cupsole seen on other Lakai models, Brady’s Belmont includes the herringbone pattern and tacky gum rubber on the outsole. Low and stylish, grey or black suede, Lakai and Brady did a nice job on this one. lakai.com

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distributed by Ultimate

W

ay back in the late ’80s and very early ’90s there were only two brands of skate shoes, Vans and Airwalk. Jaimie Muehlhausen was right there in the mix with Airwalk. In fact, it was his first real graphic design job. He was getting a bit sick of his 7-Eleven job as a manager and was more than happy to be doing ads, packaging, logos and shoe graphics rather than cleaning Slurpee machines.

His first couple decades of life were spent in Oklahoma, with an all-American background of baseball and muscle cars. He went to Oklahoma State University to play baseball and owned a 1976 Trans Am, “just prior to Smokey and the Bandit... so it was still cool.” He did some more post-secondary at Phil-

lips University, but didn’t finish his degree. Jaimie’s experience has more than made up for any “book learnin’” need in life.

After a few years at Airwalk, and a bit of freelance, Jaimie became the art director at Snowboarder magazine. During his stint there, he art directed the first two large-format Skateboarder magazines.

When the first dot-com bubble hit in 2000 he jumped ship to Swell.com and its sister/brother snow and skate sites. Jaimie knew Tony Hawk from the days of laying out one of his first Airwalk Pro shoe ads, so when the Internet imploded on itself he helped Tony with some art direction for his first big arena tour. The brand empire of Tony Hawk, Inc.

(THI) was expanding and Jaimie came on-board full-time to help manage the brand and contribute his design and writing skills. His role has many facets that include making sure big ad agencies don’t turn a photo of Tony 180 degrees just to be more extreme.

Jaimie’s work on graphics and art is eclectic and diverse. Most recently he’s been doing a great deal of Birdhouse’s art since the brand was brought in-house to THI. His personal take on life is sarcastic and filled with dry humour, which shows in some of the board graphics he’s done.

—Randy Laybourne contusion.com

“Jaimie knows the look of action sports better than anyone, and he understands what it takes to work with ‘corporate’ America while staying true to our aesthetics.

I trust his judgment implicitly.”

—Tony Hawk clockwise from top left:

Birdhouse “Man Face” deck Birdhouse “Stripes” deck Birdhouse “Interlock” deck Birdhouse “Split Logo” deck Birdhouse “Never Was” deck Airwalk “Vic” logo Birdhouse logo “Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers” logo Tony Hawk’s Dissent logo Tony Hawk logo Ride Channel logo “Boom Boom Huck Jam” Happy Meal T-Moblie “Tony Hawk” Sidekick Airwalk Jason Lee ad Poweredge Magazine 1991 cover Skateboarder Magazine 1997 cover

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AIRWALK CIRCLE A Jaimie’s iconic Airwalk “Circle A” logo has been in use for over 20 years, which is a few lifetimes for a logo in the skateboard world.

Lots of times a design will take weeks of development, focus groups and a bunch of meetings. This logo took Jaimie about a couple seconds of conceptual time and 20 minutes to draw. As he says: “Sometimes design is just gut feelings and obvious solutions.”

“Vacation� by Jaimie Muehlhausen. Created exclusively for Concrete Skateboarding.

visit concreteskateboarding.com to download art blender wallpapers for your computer and iphone.

words Brett Keon photos Sam Fidlin design Kelly Litzenberger

When you’ve known someone for almost half their life it’s inevitable that you learn a thing or two about them. And sometimes it ends up being things they may have forgotten from their youth, such as pre-school ballet classes.

Being the owner of CBMK Skatepark in Mississauga, ON, I first met Jon when he was about 10 years old. He was candy-hyper, loud, and loved to recite 2 Live Crew lyrics. His hair was beyond shoulder-length, and he would chew on it like a dog gnawing on a rawhide bone.

There may have been a dirt ring around his mouth because of it, but it was more likely chocolate.

Jon had two mini-ramp tricks back then— rock-to-fakie and tail stall—and you got to see them for 15 minutes straight every time he dropped in. “Dude, how do you 22

Concrete skateboarding

think I can skate for so long now? That was a crazy leg workout and that’s how I got the cardio,” is his explanation when I bug him about it now.

To say he was one of those annoying little kids would be an understatement. But when I tried got him to do blunt-to-fakies, he had five different variations on lock two weeks later. Fast-forward seven years, and the 17-year-old high school student’s dirt moustache has turned into a chinstrap; he’s taller and still annoying at times. But when you see Jon skate the first thing you notice is his style. It’s something you don’t see too often and he makes you want to do it exactly the way he does.

Frontside flip over gap

I eat crazy chocolate and candy

Nollie Heelflip

Searching “Jon Cos” will lead one to realize you’re an amateur YouTube star.

[Laughs] The videos do get a lot of hits and a lot of crazy comments from a lot of haters all over the world.

You seem to get the attention from the ladies because of it. What’s the daily nude photo count in your inbox?

They seem to like it when they find five pages of me on YouTube. You don’t want to see my phone,

though. I just got a new one and got the old one wiped, so there isn’t much now. But I did get some new photos [laughs].

Is it true you took ballet when you were four or five?

No, I’m pretty sure… no.

Where do you get all your energy? Is it from a disorder or your food supply?

ADHD and I eat crazy chocolate and candy. It’s from all the taffy. My mom tried to keep that stuff away from me when I was little. Now I’m all over it!

What type of music do you listen to?

I’d say all of it but I don’t like hillbilly music.

Really, I like a lot of old rock and too much rap.

I think Eminem somehow got me into it. TKO Capone right now is going off; there’s some of that Ray Jones, Waka, Brother Lynch, and the list can keep going. I listen to Michael Jackson a lot now, too.

Kickflip nosebluntslide Ever win any rap battles?

That’s just a joke at my school. Somehow that got out and people like to bug me at skateparks about it.

How long were you skating before you got sponsored, and who are you riding for now?

I was skating for something like three or four years before I got sponsored, and now I’m riding for C1RCA Canada, SK8MAFIA, Momentum Wheels, Theeve Trucks, Hurley, Nixon, Dakine and your skatepark—CBMK.

What crew do you usually roll with?

Ben Paterson, Tatem Dorder, Butterz Garnett, Brandon Del Bianco, and all the Toronto homies.

Do you remember when I tried to get you to learn blunt fakies at CBMK back in the day?

Yeah, it was horrible at first. I don’t know what happened to the thing in between my legs; it turned inside out because I was scared [laughs].

Two weeks later I got it, but ate shit every single time until then. I thought I had to grab it on the way in and didn’t know I had to lean back a bit.

How many times do you land a trick before you feel you’ve got it down?

I would say I have a little OCD. It’s not bad but I like to knock on my wood and stuff. Not my wood, like actual wood. Sometimes it’s a tap to the knee.

I like to do tricks at least five times in different sessions before I take it to something big.

Have you always been a giant pain in the ass?

I used to be worse. You remember! My hair used to be long too, but my chest wasn’t as hairy [laughs].

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Didn’t you use that to get back into the bar in Tampa one time?

I walked out at like 10 p.m., and one of the huge, twin bald bouncers said, “Sorry, man. You can’t go back in with no ID.” I was like,“Man, I got hair on my chest!” and I pulled my shirt down a bit. Then he was like, “OK, go ahead.” I was hyped [laughs]!

You’ve got a lot of park and transition skills, but do you skate vert at all?

I love skating vert! It’s too much fun, but street skating took over my life. Skating a nice little stair-set that has a perfect run-up and perfect flat… I just love it.

How do you and Ben Paterson get into the bar in the States at such a young age? ’Cause we get down like that [laughs]. Naw, this one time last year it was an all ages party, where they marked a big X on our hands and we washed them off [laughs]. Everyone was drinking in there.

It was hilarious. Kool Keith got knocked off the stage by someone and the crowd was going nuts.

You made history when you hardflipped the Sky Dome 13 when you were 15. What was that like?

So weird. Me, Erick Valentic and the crew were skating downtown and we were at CBC manny pad fooling around. Eric got a call saying a bunch of people were going to Sky Dome. I was like, “true,” and when we got there, there were like five people trying tricks. About fourth try in I landed

the hardflip and got pretty hyped, then just sat down until it got dark.

Some say that footy should have been saved, but what do you say to that?

It was me being stupid in the first place doing it in front of like 10 people with cameras.

Who is the next big Canadian Pro? Morgan Smith, for sure!

You’ve done a lot of traveling in your young skate life; tell us some of the places you’ve been?

I’ve been to Minneapolis, Austin and I’ve been going to Tampa AM for the last three years. I go

360 flip nose manny shuv o ut

over to Montreal a bunch and Quebec City. I’ve gone to Woodward, Pennsylvania for three years straight. That was fun, but I don’t like the knee and elbow pads [laughs].

I remember you were an amazing artist when you were younger, do you still pick up the pencils or paint?

Not lately, but I actually drew something recently that was very random and pretty interesting. It was some chick with an octopus mouth with the tentacles coming out of her mouth.

Are you planning on going to college or university?

Hopefully I can go to college in the States. It would be sick to chill with all the SK8MAFIA members in San Diego!

Anyone you want to say thanks to?

You [Brett Keon], Brian White, Elliot Heintzman, Mom, Dad and sis for driving me around to all the parks and putting up with me. Also, Concrete and all those ladies that seem to love me [laughs].

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photo: bryce

kanight

Mike “Hashbrown” Schulze The Man Behind The Name words Matt Meadows photos Rich Odam design Kelly Litzenberger

G

etting noticed in today’s skate world is no easy task. First off, you need to have the skills. Given the fact that nearly every little tyke with a board can three flip perfectly means this is no easy task. Second, you have to be a hard worker. There is no slacking off while on the road to the big leagues, kids. Lastly, you have to be marketable, even if that means taking on a less-than-desirable moniker.

Take Mike Schulze for example. He’s been paying his dues since Day 1. Coming up the ranks through the talent-filled parks of Langley and Surrey, BC, has meant Mike has never taken a day off from skating.

Accepting his lumps and even undertaking a branding from older BMX kids at the park in the form of a nickname, “Hashbrown” has by way of blood, sweat and tears carved out his own place in the Canadian skate industry.

Catching up with such a driven individual is no easy task. Although once you have, Hashbrown is more than happy to break his often skate-serious demeanour for a few laughs, even if at times it could be at his own expense. So pick up a beverage, have a sit down and get to know the man behind the name. This is Mike Schulze.

Backside kickflip Concrete skateboarding

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Backside Bigspin flip

“I INTRODUCE MYSELF AS

MIKE...”

STARTING OFF, I KNOW THE “HASHBROWN” THING HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH. IS IT SOMETHING THAT YOU’RE BUMMED ON OR DO YOU JUST KIND OF TAKE IT IN STRIDE NOW? Well, I used to be bummed on it. I mean, I was getting called Hashbrown, dude!

But eventually I’ve just learned to go with it. There was really no stopping it and no one would stop calling me that no matter how many times I asked.

Some other people just told me to go with it, like it’s a good way to market myself. So yeah, now I just go with it.

IT SEEMS LIKE IT WORKS OUT FOR A LOT OF DUDES WHO EMBRACE THE NICKNAME THING, KIND OF LIKE TRAINWRECK, SLUGGO OR ALIEN. Yeah, man. It definitely does. I get lots of kids coming up to me like, “Oh you’re Hashbrown! I’ve heard of you!” And I’m just like: “I have never heard of you before.” So I guess it does work.

DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD EVER TAKE THE ROUTE OF SOMEONE LIKE TRAINWRECK AND START INTRODUCING YOURSELF AS HASHBROWN? Well, right now I definitely don’t introduce myself as that way. I introduce myself as Mike. But I will say, “People call me Hashbrown.” But I don’t go out of my way to have people call me that. It would be kind of weird, you know?

SO YOU’RE ON COASTAL RIDERS AND ARE PRETTY WELL ASSOCIATED WITH THE SURREY CREW EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE FROM LANGLEY. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT? Well, we used to always come out from where we were from to Surrey just because there was better skateparks and more of a scene.

IS THAT HOW YOU GOT ON THE COASTAL TEAM? Pretty much. I just started skating with everybody and eventually started shopping at the store a lot. I was actually at this one party they had; the team manager came up to me and was like: “Yo, you coming on this trip?” And I said: “What trip? I thought that was only for the riders.” Then he said: “Oh, you didn’t get the email? I thought I sent you one. You’re on the team now, man!” It was pretty slick the way he did it. I was stoked!

THAT’S AWESOME GETTING PICKED UP VIA MEMO. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU TO FIND OUT A LEGEND LIKE PAUL MACHNAU HAD JOINED THE TEAM? Dude, that was unreal! When I first heard I couldn’t believe it. I grew up idolizing Paul, he is one of the gnarliest skaters and to have him on our local shop team, it’s pretty overwhelming. The crazy thing is, now Machnau is one of our friends! I mean, at first when I would see him at the park I was in awe, I would just sit down and watch him skate. Now we all have games of SKATE together and all hang out, it’s really cool.

SO YOU’RE ON DEATHWISH AND SHAKE JUNT AS WELL THROUGH MEHRATHON TRADING. DID YOU GET TO JOIN IN ON THEIR SUMMER TOUR AT ALL? Not really. They stopped by at Chuck Bailey Skatepark and the TM Raj [Mehra] sent me an email; it just said to come down and skate with everyone. So I just rolled by and it was fun. It was pretty crazy to skate with all the people I grew up watching though.

DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE BOOTY SHAKING CONTEST? Uh, no. That’s not really my thing. I don’t really booty shake.

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030-035-issuu.indd 4

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5/24/12 10:19:15 AM

Frontside rockride to Gap

I didn’t mean enter it yourself, I meant as a guest judge!

[Laughs] Oh, no! I didn’t have any say in the judging. But it was pretty self explanatory as to who won.

Fair enough, I saw on the Coastal Riders team page that it said if you weren’t a skater than you’d be a scientist.

Is that something you hope to get involved in outside skating?

Did I say that? Crazy. I guess I just threw that out there ‘cause I have no idea what I would be doing. I just kind of live by the minute, you know?

So you don’t have a secret chemistry set up in your closet like Bill Nye the Science Guy? No, I kind of wish, though. Science is truly very interesting!

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Alright, so let’s try this question again then. If you weren’t skateboarding you would be…

Skateboarding [laughs]. I don’t know, man. If everything got taken away today I would still be doing the same thing I’m doing. Nothing can compare to skateboarding, any skater can vouch for that. It’s just the feeling of landing a trick. I will always be skateboarding ‘cause it’s so fun. To be at the park with my friends, having a good time is way sicker than sitting around a TV and drinking beer.

Funny you should say that. I read in an interview in which your C1RCA Canada TM Elliot Heintzman said: “Hashbrown.

He’s emo. He just sits around and plays Call of Duty.”

I had my phase [laughs]. It was winter and there wasn’t too much to do, so I just sat at home and played Call of Duty when it would rain lots. If nothing was going on, I’d just play video games or watch movies.

Noseslide 360 shuv photos joel dufresne

I can understand that. Truth be told, you seem really dedicated to your skating. So who were the influential people in your development?

It was actually this old skate-club in Aldergrove that I used to go to when I was younger. The youth leader Andrew, he would always just talk to me about skateboarding and about how your personality matters and all that. Also, the older kids that used to go there; I would be the younger guy, so after getting pushed around a bit I learned my place.

Was this a religious program?

Yeah, it was—Young Life. It’s a Christian organization for youth. Back in Aldergrove, like seven years ago, they would have a skate club every Thursday night. I would just go there ‘cause I could skate at night, it was really just something to do on a Thursday night. But it was pretty cool minus the fact they would sit down and talk about God afterwards. I just wanted to skate the whole time.

So, basically the spiritual aspect wasn’t your main draw.

Did it get awkward when they got into that?

Oh, definitely, dude. It was like skateboarding then church right afterwards.

It took a while for me to get used to it. I would just sit there and throw my iPod on or just think about skateboarding. I don’t really believe in religion per se but it’s a good way for people to be good people. It’s hard to explain.

Yeah, maybe we will leave that one to the philosophers.

So, on that note, anyone you want to say what’s up to as we close this out?

Yeah, man! I would just like to say thanks to my Mom and Dad, Andrew from Young Life, if you’re reading this. The old Aldergrove, Murrayville, Brookswood, Surrey, and Fleetwood crews. Elliot at C1RCA, and Raj at Mehrathon for Shake Junt, Deathwish, Brigada, and Quintin. ONE Distribution for KR3W, Craig Williams at Ultimate for Destructo and Momentum, and my friends and family.

Concrete x Mehrathon Trading x Hashbrown video coming to concreteskateboarding.com on april 24th

words

JUSTIN CZANK

photos

SAM FIDLIN

portraits

BEN HLAVACEK

illustrations

ETHAN KILGOUR

Have you ever found yourself in one of those inevitably insufferable arguments about something as subjective as art, music or the meaning of life? I say insufferable because these conversations rarely end in any sort of consensus. Not only that, but it’s very seldom that any of the parties involved pop out anything more enlightened than when they dove in. Trying to interpret and define the intangible pieces of our world is, nevertheless, something in our nature. Humans have more information at their fingertips than ever before, and odds are you’re flipping through this magazine to add a little bit of that new insight to your collection.

There are a couple things to keep in mind when reading and examining the words and photos of Ethan Kilgour. This Hamilton, Ontario, born-and-bred skateboard savage is not only difficult to pin-down geographically—due to his stints in Monterey, just south of San Francisco—but he’s also notoriously selective in sharing his thoughts. If you think you know anything about who the boy is, I can tell you that you’re terribly misinformed. Ethan is out there, right now, being the very thing you and I are inevitably and insufferably about to argue about.

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180 Switch Crook

Frontside boardslide Nollie flip into bank Why do you move around so much? Is it out of boredom?

Traveling is so sick; it’s such a good way to learn and see new things. It always makes returning home that much sicker!

Can you do the splits?

No! And there’s only like three other people in the class—all 60-year-old women.

What’ve you been doing in Monterey?

I’ve been skating a bit, but I’ve been drawing a lot... trying to paint some pictures.

It’s old people yoga? Why don’t you sign up for a younger class so you can check out some girls?

Man, I do get to check out girls. They’re just 60-year-old girls!

Last time I talked to you, you were on your way to an art supply store. What did you pick up?

I bought a travel watercolor set, and I’ve been mucking around with that.

You had an injury in the last year, or a couple, haven’t you?

Yeah, the most recent one was when I was in SF and I got run over by a car.

Are you still drawing dicks all the time?

Well, you know. You gotta draw the occasional one to warm up. And I’ve been trying to draw some vaginas, too.

That’s probably more difficult. How do they look?

Yeah, they’re a lot more complex… I’m no Picasso.

You should hire a model, so you can paint her.

Man, what do you think Google’s for!? I’ve also been going to yoga classes.

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How did you get run over by a car?

Well, it didn’t fully run me over. I came down this driveway and I couldn’t see the road. There was a minivan coming and it was just too late. Tom Berry was there filming. I remember coming down and he was yelling, “Car, car car!,” but it was too late. I couldn’t stop and my foot got caught under the tire and flipped me over onto my stomach. I was lying on my stomach and I fully thought my ankle was completely backwards. I couldn’t feel it, it was just numb. Some dude in his house heard me yell or saw it and called 911. All of a sudden this ambulance shows up.

Ben Hlavacek

Did you have to pay some gnarly hospital bills because of that?

I think it was $2,000 or something. It was a $1,000 just for the ambulance ride to the hospital. Insurance covered it though.

What was the diagnosis?

These are the exact words the doctor used: “You didn’t break anything. You didn’t fracture anything.

You didn’t tear anything… you just fucked up a lot of shit.”

They didn’t give you a cast or anything?

It’s like he expected me to walk out of there! I was like, “Man, I’m going to need to get crutches, at least!?” The funniest thing was in the back of the ambulance, either Andrew Campbell or Tom, poked their head in and brought me an IT’S IT!

What’s an “IT’S IT?” It’s so good. It’s a San Francisco tradition. It’s two oatmeal cookies and you either get chocolate, vanilla or mint ice cream in the middle. I think that’s the one thing you gotta do if you go to San Francisco is try an IT’S IT! Justin Colbourne told me to ask you about having a half vert ramp in your backyard, what’s up with that?

For my eighth birthday, my dad built me… I think it was a six-foot-high halfpipe. Then, over the next few months, we kept adding little extensions to it. It got kind of out of control. One part was like four-foot high, a couple others were five-feet high and sevenfeet high and a 12-foot extension. The ramp itself was only eight-feet wide. It wasn’t a vert ramp, it was more like a Tony Hawk Mega Ramp. It was fun.

“Man, I do get to check out girls.

They ’re just 60-year-old girls!”

Top deck nollie heelflip

Were you around Beasley Park in Hamilton when that whole thing was going on?

I kind of missed out on that. When my friend Justin and I turned 13, his parents started letting him go downtown to skateboard, but my parents were more protective and I wasn’t allowed to go. So, Justin ended up going all the time and he became part of the “Beaz” crew and I became part of the “Evolushun” crew.

Did any of the older Beasley guys influence you growing up skating?

No, I didn’t really see any of those guys when I was growing up. The only guys that I remember, because they skated Evolushun, were Matt Ramage, Justin and Kevin Berzees, and Jason Corbett—he was rad.

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What are you rocking on the iPod these days?

Gotta be the Alanis Morissette!

You’re still on the Alanis Morissette?

I don’t know, some of that Nick Cave stuff is so tight! Have you heard of Nick Cave?

Yeah, of course I’ve heard of Nick Cave.

I love all of his stuff. Alright, my Top 25… There’s nothing good! “Six-Pack Summer” by Keith Urban.

OK, well given your first song was Keith Urban, let’s not go there. What’s up with your favourite rapper, Laura Bronson?

Oh, man! Brony’s the best! She’s a super-sick rapper from Burlington.

Fakie front crook to fakie

I tried to Google her but nothing?

Type in: Brony “There is More.”

Is that your favourite song by her?

Yeah, it’s so good! [Sings] “There is more, there is more, there is so much more!”

I’ll check it out. She’s a white, chick rapper from Burlington, huh?

Yeah! And she owns a skatepark-church-community-centre-type thing. I haven’t been there, but I’ve heard about it! And I’ve met her before, she’s super chill.

Tell us your sponsors and shout-outs.

The people who help keep the fun going are: Trevor Rowan from Flatspot Skateshop in Hamilton. He’s the Fuckin’ Man! He’s really helped me out a lot. Thank you, Trev!

Thank you to Alex Forbes and Bobby Gascon from Vans, Raj Mehra (Baker), Oscar and Rob for Pin Wheels… And, because he asked: big shout-out to STEVE KETTINGS!

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brian caissie

interview David Ehrenreich // portraits by Brian Caissie // design Kelly Litzenberger

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hen you look at his portraits, it’s easy to derive some knowledge about Jamie; he loves metal and skateboarding. He even has “Good” and “Times” inked across his knees, a sort-of tribute to both. A 22-year-old from Mission, B.C., Jamie slid into the Vancouver skate scene three years ago with infectious positivity. Whether with buds or solo, he’s always on his own trip, and I would put money on the fact that if Jamie’s not out skating under the day’s light, he will be tonight.

We’ve been friends for almost 10 years, and despite being four years his senior, I’ve always looked up to him. He’s friendly and approachable, fun and mischievous, and won’t back down from a fight. What impresses me is his ability to balance social and personal freedom with responsibility and regular life. I’m envious. He’s always living on his own terms.

C1RCA Canada TM Elliot Heintzman puts it best: “Jamie will make decisions better than you do, and even if it’s a bad idea, it’ll still be rad and you’ll

end up wishing it was your idea. Sorry about your luck. Everyone should be more like Jamie. All you can really do is go out, buy a mickey of Bacardi White and learn to not give a fuck, passionately, while giving all the fucks in the world about your friends.”

So, three years into city living, Jamie and I sat down with a couple beers to discuss skateboarding, memories and the future in his first print interview.

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dylan doubt

Do you still leave your house without a shirt?

During the summer time, yes [laughs]. But it’s a little sticky driving around in my car because of the leather seats.

I’ve witnessed the phenomenon since my first day of high school, but I’m hoping you can shed some light for me; what attracts metal heads to wearing exclusively shorts?

Great question, but I have no fucking clue.

Maybe it has something to do with cuttin’

things off… like cuttin’ off shit to make it your own. I see the trend, have taken part, but can’t seem to answer that. It’s confidence, I guess—show your legs off.

I remember when you trucked a drug dealer skid and they rolled by the skatepark in Abbotsford for weeks looking for you…

I was defending a friend, but then they were looking for the “skinny, fluffy-haired kid” [laughs]. I went to the Abbotsford park one weekday and our friend Randy was like, “You

can’t be here, those guys are looking for you.” They had a stakeout, waiting for me.

Did they end up finding you?

I was working at McDonald’s at the time, this was about Grade 10, and they rolled in, so I had no choice but to take their order. I was as surprised as they were [laughs]. One of them made a comment, because I had a black eye from the initial fight. They were pretty reasonable and told me I had it coming.

I agreed, and gave them their Big Mac or whatever. Eventually I got jumped, but then it was over.

keith henry

Do you remember when you were sleeping in the grass at the 29th Street SkyTrain Station?

I was hung to the hills, and wasn’t too keen on that first spot, so I took a little nap in the grass. While you guys were skating, I woke up to some dude standing over me going, “Hey! Hey!” and asking me for weed. I’m like, “What!? Weed? I’m having a nap, leave me alone!” But he wouldn’t leave so I gave him a little bit of lip, and I guess I offended him. He’s like “Keep talking to me like that and I’ll stomp your face in!”

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brian caissie

“

Dope moves, dirty pants, bong rips, road trips, granny smokes, Mount Zeus and Mother Hastings. There’s an epic guitar solo in Maley’s mind 95 percent of the time.

—Kevin Kelly

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What happened?

I’m still laying on my back and he’s overtop of me.

So I start to get up, and happen to see him pulling a knife out of his pocket. So I jump back just in time as he swipes at my face! I picked up my board and squared him up; we’re all yelling at each other.

I guess someone called the cops and thought the skaters were the bad guys. Next thing you know, the dude with the knife took off and there’s cops in S.W.A.T. mode swarming us at gunpoint. After some explanation they finally clued in that we were the wrong dudes and sent us on our way.

What type of work would you find fulfilling in the future?

If I could do it, I’d fly a jet. But that’s never gonna happen, so building skateparks would suffice— concrete art. What they do is awesome, the only thing is you need to be committed: 16-hour days in the rain if the job requires. It’s something I’ll be looking into later. Right now, if I want to go skate, I can.

Do you skate every day?

I always try to, and if not I at least stand on a balance board every day for 15 minutes—watch TV and stand on a two-litre. Make sure to put Duct Tape around the cap, otherwise the water can leak out.

Do you know the only other two Mission skaters to have interviews in Concrete?

Well, Dustin Montie is a guarantee. I wouldn’t even strike a guess at the other one. Oh yeah!

Moses Itkonen is from Mission, I forgot. That’s so awesome! His dad was a teacher in Mission, he ruled. He would give out product if you answered questions right. You’d get an RDS tee or whatever skate product. It made him a popular teacher, but I was never actually in his class. I just knew the legend of Moses’ dad.

Down at Leeside, do you clean or help with the builds?

I’m down there on the regular skating for sure—it’s the best. I help out a little with the park, but in all honesty, I’m not the number one dude for building and cleanup. Baxter, FC, Gary Harris, Chris McCallum, those guys are the champs that are always sweeping then shredding.

What’s your day job?

CBR Products. As far as chemically staining your wood goes, it’s an eco-friendly business. The job is kinda fun. I rip around on a forklift all day and work with a couple homies. It’s the best possible gig because they’re really supportive, and with no notice, I can ask for time off to skate. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not a slacker, I really like working hard.

It’s cool to know there is always a place to go skate…

It funny, the city sort of shuns us down there. For example, they won’t give us a garbage can, so we play little games, like with the 911 station that’s right beside the park. We’ll fill garbage bags after a full clean and throw them in front of their gate.

We’ve never heard about it and it always gets taken away, so I guess it’s an unspoken agreement.

“

When someone brings up that name, Jamie Maley, I instantly have an urge to go to a show and push people over, help them back up, then Deer Hunter a couple of beers to my face.

—Elliot Heintzman

No one ever questions this, because everyone seems to want it, so I thought I’d ask: Is being sponsored cool?

The funniest thing is, it doesn’t change a fucking thing. If I could say anything to kids: “Who cares about getting hooked up?” Just go out and skate. I appreciate everything I’ve been getting, and it’s cool to do what I love for free, but that’s basically it. I don’t want a monthly paycheque. I don’t want to be some superstar and attach responsibility to it.

What do you want from skating?

Skating is all I want from skating. Some homies twist the idea and try to turn skateboarding into something it’s not.

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Twenty stairs or a slash grind, it’s all the same—fucking awesome.

Who’s helping you out?

C1RCA Canada, Anti Hero and Spitfire (through Supra Dist.), and BLVD Skateshop.

So much help from all those guys. Some of those dudes don’t even know how much they’ve helped me out, for a good two or three years, before I ever got a photo run.

Has shooting this interview been fun?

Hella fun! It’s funny, at the end of last summer, I’d been working way too much, so I took a month off work to skate, but ended up chilling with this chick the whole

time and barely skating. I felt like I blew it. In the summertime it’s just nice out, so easy to relax… So I called it off with the chick, went back to work, got mega stoked on skateboarding, and started shooting with Brian Caissie… just having fun being productive.

What’s the worst tattoo you’ve ever seen in real life?

I was in Buy-Low on Kingsway, getting my cereal and this guy reached for the same box as me. He was nice and insisted I take it. When he turned to grab another box, I noticed his neck tattoo—a bee wearing kneepads that says: “The Bee’s Knees” across his neck. It was amazing [laughs].

brian caissie

Do you want to talk about Wolf Girl?

Oh yeah, she’s a saint. She taught me how do to Rockfords. You see them a lot in action movies, where you reverse in a car as fast as you can, then rip a 180 powerslide and end up going forwards. I met her at a moving dance party downtown during the 2010 Olympics after you and Benny Stoddard dressed me up in a chicken suit and handed over a two-six of vodka. She was dressed as a wolf and I was the prey. It was awesome.

If you could stack Mount Zeus [Jamie’s fictitious band] like a fantasy football team, who would be in the lineup?

I’ve thought about this very deeply but the lineup consistently fluctuates—always homies, though, and always Seb Templer playing the chainsaw.

Do you wanna thank anyone? Betty and Blaine obviously?

Ah yeah, Mom and Dad! Bloody saints—best humans that ever lived. Apart from that, anyone that needs to be thanked already knows. You know who you are if you’re my bud.

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No Frills Ryan Decenzo

“That was a pretty long time ago,” says Ryan Decenzo, “I was driving to this spot in Fleetwood. I’d just had some dirt McDonald’s and we were sitting in traffic and I was leaking… I had to run.

“We pulled over and I ran into some Subway bathroom and there was definitely some leakage in there. I was not psyched on it. I ditched my boxers in the garbage can and had to skate the sesh commando. You kind of rely on your boxers for some skiddage protection when you are skating big shit, you know? It was one of my first gnarly commando sessions and I had raspberry butt cheeks after that one. It was the worst.”

And it was with that confession that I realized Ryan Decenzo was more than just a superhuman skateboarder who rides his board backwards, lives with Adam Dyet in Huntington Beach, and has a ripping younger brother like all the other interviews said.

He is a man of character—a man of confidence and integrity and honesty. And perhaps, most importantly, a man with a sense of humour who isn’t afraid to own up to shitting himself.

We all shit ourselves. But we don’t all admit it and then share it with the world in an interview.

Be proud, Canada. Be very proud. This is YOUR Ryan Decenzo.

Words Robert Brink

Design Randy Laybourne

joe hammeke

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kickflip 50-5 joe krolick0 “Another time,” says longtime friend of Ryan, Magnus Hanson, “Scooter [Scott Decenzo] gave Ryan two black eyes and we went skating while Ryan’s eyes were still swollen half-shut. He sacked so bad on a rail while we were warming up because he couldn’t see. When he got up he was psyched because the ‘worst had already happened.’ It was the sack in the intro of his TransWorld part. He still got his trick and I thought that was pretty raw. He never gets fazed by anything.”

Well maybe “never” isn’t the right word.

According to Ryan, who’s been Pro for Darkstar for three years now, there were tons of times, mostly while he was an AM, where he thought he might not “make it” down in the States and would have to retreat back to Canada.

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“I was skating with Scott and Magnus all the time,” Ryan says. “I was the older dude, even though I looked young. I was like, ‘Man, it might just be Scoot and Mag who are gonna do their thing and I’m just gonna have to get back to the office work.’”

“Every time you get hurt it’s like, ‘uh-oh,’” Ryan continues. “Or every time you slam you’re like, ‘This is not good. I might have to go back.’ I wasn’t getting paid very much money back then and didn’t know if I was gonna be able to make it or gonna have to pull the plug on the whole situation. That would’ve been depressing because I love skateboarding so much.”

Luckily for Ryan, that didn’t happen. In fact, with the help of that love for skateboarding, in a relatively short time span, Ryan has

already achieved milestones that many of the most legendary skateboarders on the planet haven’t achieved. He won Tampa and Phoenix Am. He was the Dew Tour street champ in 2011 and won an X Games bronze medal in 2010. He got a Thrasher cover and interview with his brother, and he had a part in TransWorld’s, Hallelujah.

“It all happened so fast,” Ryan says.

“When I filmed my United By Fate part, I felt I had a bunch of good footage that I was stoked on and I was like, ‘I hope people see this and appreciate it. I hope it doesn’t get hated on too hard.’ And everything kind of got better from there. I was getting better at skating. I was getting more pop. I was starting to figure it out more and have way more time on my board. I was getting enough paycheques to

ollie ick joe krol get by instead of having to live in Canada half the time and then pay for my health insurance and be broke and have to work at Shoppers Drug Mart.”

“That was the turning point,” he continues. “‘Here’s my Globe part and there’s more to come.’ I was full-on skating and I’ve just been going ever since then.”

Going for sure… full speed ahead with no deceleration in sight. Ryan’s currently working on his Pro model shoe with Globe and a video part to go with it, as well as filming a Darkstar part for an upcoming promo video. Both videos are slated to drop before the end of the year. He also just wrapped up filming a qualifier clip for a potential spot in Street League 2012.

“They’re changing up the format this year so it should be interesting,” says Ryan. “It would be great to get in and skate with all those guys. It felt weird skating the Dew Tour with only P-Rod being there and then skating the Maloof Cup with only Lutzka and Busenitz being there. Obviously, there were a lot of other sick people, like Figgy and Reynolds and Creager, but it felt weird missing Malto, Nyjah, Cole and all those guys.”

“Before Street League started, the finals of all the Maloofs were just insane because everyone was there killing it. It was the best thing ever. I like skating with those guys, and when they do gnarly stuff right in front of me, it’s so sick and makes me wanna do something gnarly, too. It’s just better in the long run if everyone’s skating together.”

“It all happened so fast...”

A spot in Street league would make Ryan’s life a bit less hectic. Allowing him to focus on skating even more—rather than shuffling back and forth across the globe to partake in different contests.

“I don’t have a training facility,” he continues, “so I might as well just be street skating because that’s good practice, too.

It all works together full circle. People can hate on contests as much as they want, but they’ve been around forever. Rodney Mullen did the first flatground ollie in a contest. If he didn’t show the world what a flatground ollie was, maybe nobody would’ve ever started doing ’em. Maybe he would’ve been the only guy and people would’ve thought it was whack.”

“We all like seeing the soccer or hockey highlights on TV but it’s sweet to watch a game too—to see the guys fight and put in everything they have for that goal. I feel like filming a street video part is almost like a highlight reel. I’m comparing it to basketball right now because these are the levels that it’s getting to, which is insane to me.”

One might also consider Ryan cashing $100,000 Dew Tour championship cheques insane too. Not that he doesn’t deserve it…

“Yeah. That’s totally crazy,” he says. “When I was a kid I didn’t really think anything about the money. I was just like, ‘I wanna

joe hammeke

“I’ll be able to concentrate on street skating and getting sick video parts for all my sponsors,” Ryan explains. “What I did last year was the gnarliest thing ever. I pretty much went to every contest you could go to. All those contests and traveling take a toll on your body. And I was going street skating and filming for videos in between the contests. I would roll my ankle the day before the contest trying to film a line and have to be at the contest the next day like, ‘I guess whatever happens, happens’ and hope for the best.”

skate and I wanna get free stuff. I wanna have new boards all the time so I can skate better. And I wanna learn new tricks and I wanna film sick tricks.’ I was stoked to get by with photo incentives and whatever else I was getting by with. All this stuff that’s happening now is just pretty much way too awesome and I’m very lucky.”

“I remember Ryan coming up as this kid who could learn anything he wanted,” says Paul Machnau. “He would just figure it out and perfect it. I knew he was going to make it big at some point. He had the drive and skills to make it happen. He doesn’t really have any gimmick or alter ego that the kids eat up. He is just so consistent and has a huge bag of tricks. That’s probably why he does so well in contests. I wouldn’t call him a contest skater over a street skater, though.”

Gimmick-free is right. Ryan is a 100 per cent skate rat.

“I’m not trying to be hesh or fresh or

“People can hate on contests as much as they want, but they’ve been around forever.

Rodney Mullen did the first flatground ollie in a contest.”

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anything like that,” says Ryan “I just like to skate and see gnarly tricks. I just like to have fun and get a rush out of it.”

Speaking of gnarly, what about ollieing off tractor trailers in Toronto for Red Bull?

“Red Bull likes doing random stuff like that for promotion,” Ryan explains. “I think it’s sick, but at the same time, sometimes they just throw it out there like, ‘Hey! We got an idea. You can just jump these semi trucks!’ or ‘I bet we can set something up and you can just jump from one building to the next.’”

“They have all these crazy ideas that they’re trying to propose and I’m just trying to pick the one where I’m not gonna die.”

“That one on the trucks was pretty scary. I had to call Magnus and be like, ‘Yo, man.

I’m not skating this alone.’ And Magnus put his life at risk, like a good homie would. He can skate anything. That’s why I brought him.”

andrew laser flip mapston e

ip

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nollie fl mikendo Concrete skateboarding

“I’m not trying to be hesh or fresh or anything like that. I just like to skate and see gnarly tricks.”

backtail

kickflip out mikendo

“I’m still just learning how to ride this piece of wood, man.”

ip e kickfl backsid h in r t seu

One of the most endearing qualities of Ryan, though, as if the previous 1,600 words don’t get enough of that across, is his seemingly impossible-to-be-jaded attitude, his appreciation for what he has, and his intense work ethic.

“Ryan’s a skateboarder’s skater,” says his friend John Hanlon. “He can skate any type of obstacle you put in front of him. And he’s always down to drive us to any spots we want to skate. Even when he’s hurt, he’ll always call photographers and filmers and make a session happen.”

“Maybe it was just hanging out with Machnau a lot, Ryan explains. “Or maybe

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it’s just the fact that nobody ever really knows what they wanna do and I usually know what I wanna do. And if I don’t know, I’ll ask somebody what they wanna do and figure it out for ’em so we can get it done. I have fun doing that.”

“If I’m broke off and have to go back again to get a trick or a homie needs me to go Bondo some crack for him or figure out the best time to skate a spot or call a photographer who’s gonna make it look good for him—I’ll do it. I’m doing it on a regular basis for myself anyhow so it’s not a big deal to figure it out for anyone else who needs it. With all these perfect spots in California, it’s way easier to be motivated than when I was a kid in Vancouver. That

motivation is never gonna go away. I’m always gonna look at these stairs or a spot and think, ‘That landing is so good.’ It’s not like in Vancouver when you’re like, ‘Man we need a sign, we need a curb ramp, we need Bondo, we need three blocks of wax and we need a really big broom for this landing that has gravel everywhere.’

I’ll always just be stoked on tricks that are going down—whether I’m watching them or filming them or doing them myself.”

And this is the part where me, the writer, is supposed to come up with some clever or epic ender. Something to leave you feeling like you didn’t waste your precious time reading this—something that gets you thinking, “Wow, Ryan Decenzo is the best

dude ever! He’s my new favourite skater!”

But I don’t need to do that because Ryan did it for me, from the heart, better than I probably ever could have done it for him…

“I’m still just learning how to ride this piece of wood, man. I’m just figuring out how to get some board control. I’m barely beginning. Skateboarding is so hard. You can always get better at it and there are always new tricks you can learn. I’m just trying to have fun. It feels good to skate.”

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QUIKSILVER

SKATEBOARDING

COLLECTION

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MaGnUs HaNsOn kickflip 50-50 mikendo

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ChAd WiLsOn OLLIE

Sam fidlin

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ExPoSuRe eXpOsUrE JeSsY jEaN bArT Pole jam backsmith nathan ethier-myette

WiLl BlAkLeY backside wallride pop shuv brian caissie

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MaTt BeRgEr 5-0 to 360 flip out mikendo

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MiTcH pRyMa Backside kickflip will jivcoff

DaVe NoLaN

BackSide noseblunt jay bridges

ScOtT dEcEnZo noseslide 360 shuv dan zaslavsky

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CAPTURING HISTORY words

frank daniello

The Bones Brigade Documentary

animal chin days

1986

doug pensinger

bout a year or two after I made Dogtown, these guys asked me to have dinner with them,” Stacy Peralta begins fielding a question from the audience. “They told me: ‘We feel we have a legacy, and we would like it if you could make a film about it.’ But I wasn’t feeling comfortable about playing the dual role of filmmaker and subject.”

Looking into the capacity crowd, it’s not hard to see that many of skateboarding’s legends are dotting the human landscape. Alva, Adams, Peters, Hosoi, Olson… Stacy continues: “Lance called me a year-and-a-half ago and said, ‘Look, I really want to do this.’ The thing that got me is he said, ‘We are now older than you and Tony Alva were when you made Dogtown. Please make this.’ So I said yes.”

Bones Brigade: An Autobiography screened on February 2nd at the historic Arlington Theatre during the 27th International Film Festival in Santa Barbara, a place Stacy refers to as “the spiritual home for the skateboard company that spawned the Bones Brigade.” It was in 1978 when he and George Powell first united, anchoring the Powell-Peralta brand in the area.

Learning from his valuable experience as a former member of the iconic Z-Boys and as a top pro in the late ’70s, Stacy wanted to create something special that could go the distance. While still living with his parents,

c.r. stecyk

“A

mike mcgill, fastplant 1985 stacy peralta, camera op

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grant brittain

anthony friedkin

2011

tommy guerrero, wallride 1987

2012

he started sponsoring and mentoring the likes of Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, Steve Caballero and Mike McGill, some as young as 13. Alongside Craig Stecyk, Stacy helped usher in a fresh marketing perspective and introduced the first mass-produced skateboard video—1983’s The Bones Brigade Video Show.

Utilizing his effective documentary architecture we’ve become familiar with, Stacy employs strong and entertaining visual references to the past, but the real cornerstone is the interview material in Bones Brigade: An Autobiography. The stories behind the inventions of groundbreaking tricks like the flatground ollie, the Caballerial and the McTwist, along with contest domination, world travel and skate-stardom in the mid-’80s is balanced by the darker sides of skateboarding’s “Boy Scouts.” Each Brigader candidly explores the personal struggles during this profound journey, with the most surprising accounts coming from Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen, who solidly anchors this film with his emotional outspokenness.

“We all feel very lucky that we lived this experience,” Stacy addresses the crowd at the Arlington after the closing credits of his latest film.

“This is just one of the stories in skateboarding and there are many, many more. But this is ours.”

steve caballero, frontside invert

1986

brittain

santa barbara premiere

brittain

on-set

tony hawk, frontside air

1987

rodney mullen

1987

jim knight

get up-to-date info, and find out how you can see the film by visiting bonesbrigade.com

lance mountain, frontside air

1988

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andrew szeto

age:

15

sponsors:

lives:

Ottawa, ON Top of the World, DVS (flow), Matix (flow)

It’s not uncommon to find Ryan skating the well-known Ottawa spots holding his own amongst the older rippers. Ryan doesn’t talk much, maybe ’cause he’s busy communicating telepathically with his skateboard. It seems like he gets that thing to do whatever he wants it to. With surprising consistency for a 15-year-old, this isn’t the last you’ll be seeing from him. I’m anxious to see this guy progress. Keep shredding, pal!

—Josh Hotz

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josh hotz

Bluntslide pop out

Distributed by:

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22

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Calgary, AB KR3W and SUPRA (flow), Habitat (flow), The Source

My first memories of Denis were of him having a hard time picking if he wanted to be fresh or Corey Duffel.

Switching his clothing style bi-weekly, we had a Skaters shop video come out and he had two parts in it with two different names. Now he’s settled into his style and doesn’t need an alter ego. Thankfully, there weren’t any nicknames to go along with his personas. Denis does alright for himself, running his own business as a dog whisperer. He hasn’t worked a real job in over two years and skates as much as he can.

—Kevin Lowry 84

Concrete skateboarding

photos steve marentette

smith grind

chocolateskateboards.com

crailtap.com/girl-chocolate-video chocolatestickers@supradistribution.com supradistribution.com

concreteskateboarding.com

view issues on your desktop, iphone or ipad

Surrey Stu & jamie Maley shallow end doubles

Instagram @concreteskatemag facebook @concreteskateboarding twitter @concreteskate

photo photo brian brian caissie caissie

Est. 1990: Canada’s original skateboard magazine

PUBLISHER Kevin Harris EDITOR-in-chief Frank daniello

frank@concreteskateboarding.com

Ad Sales Manager Casey Jones

PHOTO EDITOR / staff photographer Brian Caissie brian@concreteskateboarding.com

ART DIRECTOR Dave Keras

davek@concreteskateboarding.com

casey@concreteskateboarding.com

dave@justdontsleep.com

Video Specialist David Ehrenreich

associate designers Randy Laybourne Kelly Litzenberger

copy editor Stephanie lake

Administration Dave Buhr

social media thor media designs

Contributing Photographers

Mikendo, brandon alton, sam fidlin, oliver barton rich odam, joel dufresne, ben hlavacek, dylan doubt, keith henry joe hammeke, joe krolick, andrew mapstone, seu trinh nathan ethier-myette, will jivcoff, jay bridges, dan zaslavsky c.r. stecyk, doug pensinger, anthony friedkin, grant brittain, jim knight andrew szeto, steve marentette, brock fetch, gabe morford

Contributing Writers

mikendo, jody morris, casey jones, randy laybourne, brett keon, matt meadows, justin czank, david ehrenreich, robert brink, andrew allen

Concrete skateboarding is Distributed 6 times annually by Ultimate Skateboard Distributors inc. // east: 705.749.2998 // west: 604.279.8408 Subscriptions: 1 Year for $19.95 (includes shipping / taxes) – 6 issues including The Photo Annual subscribe online at concreteskateboarding.com or send cheque / money order to: Concrete Skateboarding Subscriptions | 150 - 11780 River Rd. | Richmond, BC | V6X 1Z7 concrete accepts unsolicited submissions, but is not responsible if such materials are lost or damaged. submissions sent via letter-mail must include a self-addressed stamped envelope for return sending. for further submission inquiries, contact submissions@concreteskateboarding.com. for retailer inquiries in regards to carrying concrete, please contact info@concreteskateboarding.com.

NEXT ISSUE: issue 119 // June 11, 2012

curated and written by

David Ehrenreich

The sheer amount of skating popping up online this winter was astonishing. One amazing video would come out and the next week we’d forget when it was replaced with another. It’s a testament to the constant progression. And now that warmer, longer days are here, hopefully we can help you spend your online time wisely so you can be out filming, giving us all something to look at when winter rolls around again.

To rt s D r e a ms 3

Droido

vimeo.com/37291668

vimeo.com/34534913

Chris Wardle is an editor/videographer who lives in Toronto. Between doing work for local real estate companies, music videos, Canadian horror movies and fashion shoots, Chris’ after-work project has been in skateboarding. Sometimes an impressive list of credentials doesn’t add up to an entertaining video, but Chris hasn’t forgotten the tried-and-true rules of the independent project: simple, packed with quality moves and a good sense of humour. He did, on the other hand, give himself first part, but the rails he conquered are so hilarious and gnarly I think any viewer can let that faux pas slide. Other highlights include Jeff Folgmann’s brutal, unexpected backflip, and Phil McKnight’s handsome mix of tech-savvy shredding, and a complete Gonzo rail assault. My absolute favourite trick in the video is Phil’s switch nose manny right at the 32:39 mark, making TD3 worth watching straight through to get there.

So the VX has turned to dust in hand, but you’re not sold on the DSLR; the GoPro was grinded right off your trucks attempting to get your ESPN on, and that massive HD fisheye was tempting, but a car and three months rent was more appealing. Feeling this way is common, so the go-to solution is capturing that movie magic on the phone. It’s less intrusive than pointing a real camera in someone’s face, and easy to pull out during hairy situations. Also, poaching tricks is simple since filmers don’t tend to take that little phone seriously. Peter Vlad’s Droido has all this caught on an Android, and 45 minutes of it. There’s good skating, skits, parodies, parts, almost the entire Roger team, and a mile-long list of cameos from Jamie Thomas to David Gravette. It’s the most extensive and entertaining cell phone video I’ve seen to date.

Jo i n , o r D i e

Quiksilver Canada

youtu.be/Gyu9oWwWLCw

vimeo.com/ quik silver canada

Is it possible that 5Boro is finally getting the following and maybe even the monetary success that it deserves? It’s the NYC brand that kids don’t seem to know much about but is respected by everyone 20 and older. This is the company/ family that first hooked up Aaron Suski, Luis Tolentino and Brandon Westgate, only to approve them leaving for greener financial pastures. Excluding owner Steve Rodriguez’ unfortunate appearance as a judge in this year’s horrendous One In A Million New York contest, he’s dedicated his life in a positive way to skateboarding. 5Boro will never garner Street League cash, but it sure will make a damn good video time and time again. Its newest, Join, or Die is obviously amazing and leaves you inspired to make the best of your local spot, all the while pretending that cornfield in the background is Manhattan.

With a reinvigorated skate program, Quiksilver Canada has followed the lead of its southern conglomerate and launched into the world of online skate videos. The northof-the-border team is not only good on the board, but interesting to watch, and the ever-growing Vimeo channel boasts summer tour sections and quality parts. The first to be seen was traveling Vancouverite Torey Goodall, BC-grown California pro Jordan Hoffart, Calgary’s Dustin Henry and Zander Mitchell from the far East. Then, in rapid succession, Magnus Hanson and Cory Wilson released full sections, seemingly out of thin air, that spoke volumes about the revival of downtown Vancouver spots. Shortly after, Torey’s former Board Kennel business partner Bradley Sheppard did some serious spot searching for his part. Each video is well shot, well edited and seem to be coming out at break-neck speed. Quik’s threads are looking good, too. So check the link and get lost in some local cruisin’.

88

Concrete skateboarding

brock fetch words

Jenny Charlesworth

Most 24-years-olds pulling in six figures are computer nerds cashing in on Twitpics and status updates. Then there’s A$AP Rocky. The Harlem rapper has gone from selling drugs to Drake’s bottle service booth, with plenty of pe$os to spare.

It’s the perfect rags-to-riches story, the kind that keeps struggling MCs reaching for the mic. But this urban fairytale is built on more than Cristal and a golden grill—Rocky is hustlin’ to keep the fame machine churning.

His LiveLoveA$AP mixtape all but ambushed the rap industry when it first dropped last year (RCA has since re-released the insta-hit). Yet Rocky— whose well-honed style pulls from the hip-hop of Houston, Atlanta and, of course, the Bay Area— claims his star power still hasn’t registered.

Between touring, meet and greets, press opps and rumoured rendezvouses with LA lady rapper Iggy Azalea, keeping up with the A$AP Rocky blog bonanza isn’t exactly crucial. So, he’s probably not posturing. The young rapper is simply trying to stay afloat in the sea of hype.

When Concrete calls into his North Carolina hotel room, Rocky is in rough shape. He’s sleep 90

Concrete skateboarding

deprived and mumbles something about Wu-Tang Clan before mentioning, sadly, his dead brother.

It takes a question about living large after inking a three million dollar record deal to snap him out of the delirium. Apparently, Rocky doesn’t want to talk about Rolexes or spending sprees. But ask him about the new generation of rappers he represents, and he perks up like someone who just slammed a Red Bull.

“It’s not just about me,” he says. “I grew up with these peeps in Harlem. There’s about a million of ’em,” he jokes.

“We have the Internet and more resources so it’s all a click away,” says the blog-rap star. “That means there’s more competition, so to survive you gotta be true to yourself—and you’ve gotta have the talent.”

“You never know what you’re signed up for,” he says. “So meeting up with all my Mob, and we could skate and drink, that helps.”

The juicy contract with RCA says Rocky has that talent. And soon A$AP Mob, his New York crew (each member has an A$AP moniker like Rocky, there’s A$AP Ant, A$AP Nast, etc.), will prove their own might. “We’re about to get crazy!”

Rocky boasts.

When the A$AP Mob compilation record drops this spring, the ride will get a little wilder for Rocky as the Mob’s kingpin. But he’s hyped for his cohorts to get some props.

With the A$AP Mob currently on the road with him, Rocky gets some backup and an escape when his intense schedule (which he breaks down as: “tour, sweating, showers, no sleep, press and more press”) takes its toll.

When Rocky takes the stage later that night he’ll have transformed back into “that pretty mothafucka” repping Harlem. He’ll whip through his smash singles “Wassup” and “Pe$o,” his cocky swagger and slick flow fully regained. College kids will bounce along, hoisting tall cans as bass booms through the club speakers. And no one in the packed-out room will be the wiser that the 24-year-old born Rakim Mayers—a nod to late ’80s rapper Rakim—could barely string together a sentence just hours earlier.

asapmob.com

Frank gerwer

92

gabe morford

Does the guy really need an introduction?

I mean, if the name is foreign, you must have been living under a rock for the past decade.

Riding for Anti Hero, Frank has blessed the world with his comedy and raw skateboarding talents through video parts such as 2003’s Cash Money Vagrant and Internet broadcasts like Frankly Speaking. Never one to shy away from a good time, Mr. Gerwer is a truly interesting individual. One can only hope that he’ll get better with age, like a fine wine.

—Andrew Allen

Great noses

Pandora stations

1. Jamie Farr (Klinger from M.A.S.H.) 2. Adrien Brody 3. Charles Bukowski 4. Buddy Hackett 5. Lizard King

1. Lady Gaga Radio 2. The Outfield Radio 3. Franz Liszt Radio 4. Fear Radio 5. Kool G. Rap Radio

comedians

Tour Bros

dated electronics

1. Mitch Hedberg 2. Dave Chappelle 3. Richard Pryor 4. David Cross 5. Yo’ Mamma

1. Peter Hewitt 2. Peter Ramondetta 3. John Alden 4. Omar Salazar 5. Mike Carroll

1. 8-Track 2. Pager 3. Nintendo 64 4. Record player 5. Tape deck

Life Lessons

Kill Time...

obscure items

1. Figure 2. It 3. Out 4. For 5. Yourself

1. With a gun 2. Rope 3. Axe 4. Knife 5. Throw it off a building?

1. Sailboat 2. Motorhome 3. Skyscraper 4. Helicopter 5. Another pair of pants

Franks

Canadians

anti hero graphics

1. Zappa 2. Lloyd Wright 3. Serpico 4. Sinatra 5. Rizzo: “Open yer fuckin’ ears, jackass!”

1. All 2. Top 3. Five 4. To 5. Me!

1. Classic Pigeon 2. Cardiel: Monkeys in a Boardroom 3. Thrasher rip-off 4. Lance Mountain series 5. Too many to name

Concrete skateboarding

distributed by Ultimate

distributed by Ultimate

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