Skateboarders delight
gnarr kill jun+july 2012
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This years best pro
LUCAS
CISIEWICZ
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Tabel of contents
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6-7
4-5 Words with Leo Romero
11-12 Pool games GNARR KIL L 2
8-9 Local Park Breakdown
13 Feeding the beast
10 Learn to wall ride
14 Trick tips 3 G NARR K ILL
Rome ro
Leo
I’ve noticed that you often try to get a trick before the filmer and photographer have time to set up properly. Why do you do that?
I’ve noticed that every so often you just start hot dogging when we get to a spot. You start charging around, trying all these wild I don’t know. Sometimes I get excited tricks in a row. What makes you and like to see if I can get a trick before want to do that?
Did you have the growing pains of being the most successful skater out of your bros, where people got jealous and stuff like that?
the photographer’s even ready.
I don’t know, ’cause I never really worried about anything like that. Not to sound selfish, but I kind of knew what I wanted and I didn’t really let anyone bother me.
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There’s no set reason why one spot is more hot-doggy than the other. I get more like that when I’m on a trip. You figure, “Well, I’m not going to be here too long. I should try to skate while I can.”
All this fantasy of skateboarding and gOing on trips with friends could end at any moment
Has your success been an opportunity for you to have a different relationship now, where he sees that you aren’t just a Yeah. I really don’t think I’m in that dumb-ass kid wasting time? You’re in the rare position of being able to tell your dad “I told you so” at a really young age. What’s that like?
position yet, ’cause I could break my leg tomorrow or break my back and be right back to, “Fuck, well, here I am.”
He sees there’s some value in it. There’s some sort of career, that it isn’t just dipshits hanging out at the park. I think he sees that and wants to be a part of it, ’cause my mom and brother were a part of it.
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“This year has seen more ams than ever making that huge switch to pro status. Lucas Cisiewcs is one of them, proving his worth in a style that was impossible to ignore”.
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pretty good considering what you have to do. Well, actually, it can be hard. It’s easy and it’s hard, it goes back and forth.
Q:And how’s it with Creature? A:The fucking best. I love it on Creature.
Q:How did you got hooked up there originally? A:I was skating a park in Wash-
ington and they were on their first Creature trip, since it got re-started and I saw them all there skating. I was riding rep flow for Independent and my rep was with NHS and he told me Creature wanted to sponsor me because they liked that I could skate street and tranny. I was riding for another small company called Santa Fe and it sucked because the owner was a super cool dude but I had to call him and quit. It was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve done but was definitely worth it, that’s for sure.
Q:You on the road a lot? A:Yeah. I went to Australia and China on the Transworld trip. Australia was really good except we did so much skating that we didn’t even go to the beach for weeks. I went to the beach once to pick up herb
Q:And what about Creature – is that coming soon? A:Creature’s video is going to
called Hesh Law. I believe that’s coming out in 2009 so I have about six months to complete my part.
Q:You tend to rip in all sorts of places, but what’s your favourite terrain? A:I like transition, just flowing through bowls or long mellow rails, that are low. But they go on for a while so you get on, they’re not too scary to get on, and you just try to hold it.
Q:What’s been the hardest thing you’ve had to do Q: In terms of the whole team, skateboard-wise since you it’s full of slayers. Have you stepped up? ripped with Stu Graham yet? A:It’s been pretty hard filming for A: I have been on a couple of trips the Transworld video, lots of stress with Stu and he’s fucking insane, don’t ever give him Vodka Red Bulls!
Q: Who else on the team absolutely slays it for you? A: My homie Devin Appelo, he’s
one of the new Ams, he’s a fucking good dude. He’s from Portland, so I’ve been skating with him for about three years.
“Skateboarding has been my life since I could remember.”
Q:So you’re from Seattle? A:Yep, Seattle, Washington.
Q:Similar to the UK then… A:Yeah, basically the same.
Q:Is that where you live now? Q:Were you stoked to see A:I pretty much just float around, that it wasn’t pissing down I’m always traveling but I go back when you got off the train? to Seattle for a week or two every A:Well, I can’t even skateboard couple of months.
Q:Does it rain a lot up there? A:Oh yeah, during the winter it rains
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properly because I had ankle surgery about 15 days ago and it’s been torture going to watch people skate every day and I’m just sitting there like “Yeah guys, do you wanna high five?”
Q:How did you do the ankle? A:I broke my ankle two years ago and got it x-rayed twice but they missed the break because they’re dumb asses so it’s been bothering me.
Q:So you reckon it cleared up? A:It should be better in about a
week so I hope to start skating then. It’s been about a month and a half, but I hurt my ankle again so I had to go see the doctor to see if the bone had moved because it felt a little bit worse than before. He said I should get it taken out before it
went up into the joint. That meant I’d wasted two weeks letting it heal when I had to have another surgery anyway and start all over again.I had this bone that kept breaking off the end of my talus bone so I got that removed.
Q:There’s been quite a spotlight on you in mags as a skateboarder over the last six months. How have you found all of the attention, are you enjoying it? A:It’s good for the bank but it’s
Q: Has he got the Portland gnarl? A: Oh man, he’s the gnarliest – chug a whole six-pack and jump the biggest gap you’ve ever seen first try. He doesn’t give a shit – toes through the shoe, board soaked in water, broken – Tre flip footplant 10 stairs, doesn’t give a fuck…
Q: What about the legend-
ary side of the crew, what do you take from those guys? A: I like street skating with them,
that’s a lot of fun because when we go on trips, they like to go out and fuck around. I don’t know how to explain it.
because it was a bit like “here are eight months to film the best footage of your life” and I dealt with a lot of injuries and kept hurting my ankle during the filming. But I got some things…
Q:Which trick out of that particular video were you most psyched on? A:Nose blunt 3 up 3 down in San
Francisco. I didn’t think I’d be able to get it, I tried it for about half an hour or 40 minutes. It was a really long ledge and had to hold it for a long time, that was the scary bit.
Q:Does music play a part in your daily life? A:Oh yeah, I listen to music all the
time. All sorts of different metals, mostly Iron Maiden. I don’t really like rap at all except Andre Nickatina and Lil Wayne. I pretty much listen to those guys all the time, and Hendrix. That’s the playlist.
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LO C AL S K AT E P AR K
’ve hear a lot of skaters scoff at Ioften the idea of a skate plaza. They argue that any city park is a skate plaza. Apparently, these skaters have never encountered joggers, dog walkers, kids playing or police when they skate their local city’s parks. Interesting. I’d think most people would prefer a place designed for skaters to be used exclusively by skaters. Maybe they’re afraid of losing their cult-status.
The fact is that 90% of the 13 million skateboarders are street skaters - skaters who don’t really have use for a half pipe or other ramps that you typically find in skateparks. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with towns building skateparks full of ramps, but does that really meet the need of the average skater?
the world before designing his concept of a skate plaza. With his research, Dyrdek created a handrail inspired by a popular spot on the University of California Irvine campus; benches modeled after those at the Department of Water and Power building in Los Angeles; ledges duplicated from one in Barcelona, Spain; and wide concrete slabs inspired by those at Pier 7 in San Francisco, Calif. Similar to the public art sculptures in Love Plaza, a skateboarding hotspot in Philadelphia, PA, a sculpture at the heart of Kettering’s skate plaza will help to develop an identity for the facility.
“Not a skate park, but What if you went to your l o c a l s k a t e p a r k a n d a park to skate in” found people sitting on all the benches drinking coffee and reading the local paper? Obviously, none of these things ever happen because such people don’t venture into skateparks, they go to public city parks. Hey, wait a minute! Skaters go to these city parks too. Aha! Well, what if the city replicated a public park, built obstacles that were imminently skatable and invited all skaters.
Take a look at the types of obstacles you like to skate. What if you could custom design ledges the way you like them? That’s what Rob Dyrdek did for the Kettering, Rob’s undertaking wasn’t just Ohio skate plaza. as a concerned skater. He had Dyrdek began working with city to learn drafting skills from arstaff and Site Design Group Inc. chitects so he could properly to design the skate plaza. Dyrdek replicate the obstacles that he photographed and measured wanted. to re-create. This way the best skate spots from around he could perfect the runs.
Maybe now you’re getting the point of building skate plazas... GNARR KIL L 10
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