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SEPT OCT 2015

VANS AND ANTIHERO TEAM RIDER ANDREW ALLEN

Limited edition Vans X Antihero Pro Classics featuring Durcap Reinforcements and Ultracush HD cushioning plus other ﬁne Vans X Antihero products available now at crustier skate shops worldwide. VANS.COM/SKATE ©2015 Vans, Inc.

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ELLINGTON VULC ERIK ELLINGTON SIGN ATURE

S U P R A S K AT E B O A R D I N G . C O M

ollie into bank | photo: oliver barton

#ETNIESJAMESON

AIDAN CAMPBELL - E-LITE

etnies.com

@etniesskateboarding

In a HUF tour

Make It Count

Thanos Panou interview

Jart spaghetti sandwich

///////////

Pole jam in Warsaw Dani Quintero interview

Converse One Star World Tour

Bombaklats

108 DC tour

Juan Saavedra interview

116 Damned foolish thing in the Balkans

Cover: Rob Maatman, frontside 5-0 grind along the Afsluitdijk, Holland. Ph. DVL Contents: Petter Fredriksen frontside wallrides for the crew, Oslo, Norway. Ph. Lars Gart책

Skateboard enthusiast is more or less the best term I have come across over the years to describe myself. At 17 I told my parents I don’t really give a rat’s ass about studying or making something of myself so to speak. I told them I would just skate and things would be just peachy. Well things have not always been peachy I guess but it has been one hell of a fun ride. That is for sure. Some asshole once said: “Buy the ticket and I’ll take the ride.” I would not trade one moment, bad or good for anything else. I have got to see the world and made friends for life all over this strange blue ball floating in space.

anything like that. We deserve to get everything for free because we are such hot shit, aye. Fax off shitbag!!!! If I hear one more person tell me that there is no point in running ads in a magazine because it’s a dying media outlet I will chop some heads off. It’s a dying outlet because you are all wankers. All you companies and distributions who want to keep selling product and want magazines to feature articles of yours riders, please remember that it’s a give and take. There are people making these mags, who are skaters just like you. Big ups to them for going for it, because it ain’t easy. Plus don’t

Editor in Chief Will Harmon Photo Editor - Sam Ashley Online Editor Arthur Derrien Graphic Design Ben Weaver & Seb Howell Illustration James Jarvis Free is published six times a year by FSM Publishing Limited Printed in the UK freeskatemag.com @freeskatemag freeskatemag@gmail.com

I am not sure why I am writing this but I guess it is a war cry of some sorts. Wake up skateboarders, the man is coming and trying to fuck us over once again. I don’t blame anybody for taking money from all these big corporate sponsors whatsoever... Actually, I encourage it. Take their money and make the most of it but don’t let them tell you what to do, how to look, act and especially skate. Don’t forget skateboarding is about sticking that middle finger up into anybody’s face at anytime, and that without regrets whatsoever. So grow some balls, you’re a skateboarder not a hipster. If you don’t give something back, you suck. That’s right, I do what I want when I want and I will have a good fucking time doing it. If that’s a problem for you then it’s only one for you, not me. Suck it, you wanker. Here is one more thing I would like to add to this whole rant I have just gone on. Everybody complains about how nothing cool happens in skateboarding anymore. Well make something cool happen then. The main problem is that even if someone does try nobody is satisfied with it and of course nobody wants to help out with money or

forget all the photographers and filmers who lay around all day in the filth to get those shots for your pleasure. So come on, lets all stick together. If we all support each other we will be fine. At least that is what my drunk hippie mind believes at this point in time. Who knows maybe I am wrong, it has happened in my life before. I am an idiot after all. Maybe you all prefer to have actual jobs and sit in your offices from 9 to 5. If you do then please piss off and get as far away from skateboarding as possible please, I beg you. I think its way better for things to be a lil’ sketchy, have orders not arrive on time or maybe be messed up because “hey it’s skateboarding, shit happens” we can laugh about it, right? Have a beer, move on and then go skate past those office buildings where all those sad scumbag pencil pushers are sitting and give them a well deserved finger, then continue pushing down the street with a teenagers grin on your face. I know I will until the wheels come off. –NegaSteve (aka Steve Forstner)

ROWLEY [ GR C HIN O ] F E AT U RING STURDY STRETCH DURABI LI T Y

GEOFF ROW LEY VANS.COM /ROWLEY

The Cons Sumner x Louie Lopez

Made by Louie Lopez

Made by you

Photography by Fabien Ponsero

Sebi Dorfer, frontside smith grind pop-out in Berlin

15 Rory Milanes, gap to nosebluntslide in Vienna

Street dancing in the rain tour would be the best title for this lil’ trip we undertook. We were not blessed with much sunshine or even just dry ground in general. But hey, it is what it is and we still had a good time, shared a bunch of laughs and yes, we played with our wooden planks as well. Welcome to the European HUF team. This is the first official tour of the crew. The members are Simo Makela, Rory Milanes and myself. I have the pleasure of taking care of this squadron of skateboard artists. Also along for your visual pleasure was Mr. Fabi Ponsero. Plus as special guest in Berlin one of Austria’s finest humans Sebi Dorfer joined in on some of the fun. I guess in some way, tour is not the correct term for this adventure since we did not really tour around. We spent one week in Vienna being hounded by constant rain showers that somehow always knew when and where we wanted to skate. From there we jumped on a plane and flew to Berlin to see if the currywurst was a worthy opponent of Vienna’s sausage madness. The amount of sausages consumed on this trip were high to say the least. Especially in Vienna it is not easy to find cheap food later in the evening - so the local sausage stands become the go to. During the day it ends up being bread with wurst and cheese from the supermarkets and by the time you know it, a week has passed and you’ve only managed to eat one meal that did not include a wurst. Our French gourmet Fabi had a breakdown and decided he would not have another wurst. So he pretty much went on a 24-hour wurst strike, but made the mistake of solely consuming cheeseburgers from McDonald’s during this period. That ended up backfiring on him and he finally accepted that “The Wurst is the Best”. I guess Fabi was kind of the MVP on this trip but I will explain that later.

Steve

Words

by Forstner

16 Like I mentioned before Vienna’s weather did not really like us. It rained everyday except one. This is always bad when you are on tour because you do feel that you have a certain obligation to collect photos and video material. Somehow it always started with a slight drizzle once we were nice and warmed up at a spot. You know that little drizzle where you think or hope it might just stop any second and be ok. Of course it never did and once somebody really started to try and skate the spot the downpour came. In Vienna Simo was the rain’s prime target. As soon as he would try to skate something the clouds would come rushing in. This definitely tested his mental strength and at times he would lose his composure. I can’t really blame him since it felt like he was cursed or blessed by the rain, depending on how you wanna see it. Eventually a can of beer exploded inside his backpack while on the Metro. From then on it was clear that Simo and Vienna would most likely never become pals. But somehow, against all odds, Simo did kill it in Vienna. Especially the famous Naschmarkt bump over bar with Jersey barriers… He slaughtered them. Big thanks to all the lovely people that helped us out and came to shred with us in Vienna: Spoff boys, Muki, Sebi Binder, Johannes Wahl, Ante and many more.

Sebi Dorfer, ollie over to 50-50 grind down in Berlin

Simo Makela, wallride nollie out in Berlin

After a week of fun in Austria’s capital we boarded a plane to the German capital: Berlin. I love Berlin and know it very well since I did live there for a few years. This led to us arriving and enjoying a wonderful night at the Franken bar. I think it is the only bar in all of Europe that is actually pleased to see me when I show up. Obviously the next day was kind of difficult but luckily for us the rain from Vienna had followed us and now instead of occasional showers it just poured all day long for about 3-4 days. Now as nice as it is to see some rain when you are hungover, it does really start to suck after a few hours. Plus when it is a couple days of rain you start to see the madness creep into the skaters’ eyes. You can try to distract yourself by going to museums or pretend to be interested in art shows but nothing can replace that oh so very important time that you need on your skateboard. Luckily we did get a few days to skate in Berlin as well. The only problem was that we did not have bikes to get around. In Berlin it is really difficult to skate a lot of spots in one day without a bike. Distances are far and the ground is generally crap. Luckily I know the city quite well and with the help of Valeri Rosemako we managed to skate some spots. Plus if there was no spot really to be seen then Sebi Dorfer always managed to find some crazy stunt opportunity. Sebi was in Berlin with his trusted van “Walter” and decided to join our skate any dry moment quest. He is always a good man to have around since he will skate anything and when I say anything I mean anything. If there is nothing but a big crack in the ground he will find a way to skate it.

We did manage to eat better in Berlin since food is cheap and good, plus you can pretty much find anything imaginable. That was a relief because I don’t think my body could have handled another wurst. Now I will come back to my claim that Fabi was the MVP on this trip. Fabi had been on tour for a month straight already before this endeavour, so obviously he was a tad bit burnt out. Then the rain came, which never helps if your spirits are already a bit low. Somehow he managed to keep it all going pretty well despite the fact that he was a bit on edge. Until the last night that is… Last tour nights are always great, you are happy and sad at the same time. You are happy that it’s over in one way but also sad to say goodbye to your homies. Our last night started out very well. We stopped by an art show of a friend and had some free beers. That always gets motivation levels up. After that we moved on to a bar with a massive crew. I could tell Fabi was gonna go gnarly because there were enough French speakers around for him to let loose. So my TM brain kicked in and I took his camera bag and tripods home to the apartment. I ended up being too lazy to go back out and called it a night. When I woke up I knew we would have to check out of our Airbnb flat, so I took it upon myself to clean a bit and get it all ready. Rory had already left the day before, so there were just Fabi and Simo left to wake up. I got them up and told them to get ready to leave. At this point Fabi had realised that he lost his phone the night before. This explained why his board looked like he had tried to skate a 40-stair rail. He basically spent the next two hours screaming around in French, hating on the whole world and repeatedly hitting himself in the head. Since according to him his whole life was in that phone. I did feel for him in a way but at the same time I had to laugh because it was like watching a lil’ kid throw a fit over not getting ice cream or something like that. At some point I managed to get him to pack his things and we left the flat. He was still so angry and did not want any help so Simo and me had to leave him by himself in the courtyard of the building. There was simply no talking to him. Normally I would not leave a friend behind but Fabi was actually not present at this time. Plus I knew he could take care of himself.

Steve Forstner, frontside wallride in Vienna

Well kids the moral of this story is: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Back up your shit to a computer.â&#x20AC;? Oh and have fun on your skateboard rain or shine.

Simo Makela, ollie over to backside nosegrind in Vienna

Jaakko Ojanen makes good use of this little bump with a 5-0 on the fence in Leioa.

Nassim backside smith grinds with all the style controls cranked to 11 in Leioa.

Make For the uninitiated, the Element Make it Count competition is a series of regional amateur contests where all the winners travel to the Element skate camp in California to battle for the top spot. Traditionally, all the winners of the European regional heats travel to an indoor skatepark to compete for the chance to travel to the USA for the ultimate final.

However, this year the good people at Element decided it would be more fun to get everyone in a big house in Bilbao (the Element Euro Skate camp, complete with a perfect miniramp), and just go street skating. At the end of the week Madars Apse, Nassim Guammaz and Jaakko Ojanen would decide the winner based solely on whom they thought ripped hardest throughout the week.

Words & photos by Sam Ashley

MASON SILVA bACksIdE 50-50

photo by ELEMENt advocatE : briaN gabErMaN

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

@ELEMENtbraNd @ E L E M E N t b r a N d|@ M a S o N S i L v a #ELEMENtaMS

#ELEMENtbraNd

Shop: ELEMENtbraNd.coM

Jiri Bulin put it down all week long, and this fakie flip at the bank to fence gap was the cherry on the cake!

Pol Catena with a kickflip backside lipslide at a perfect little plaza in Amurrio.

Paul Hart | @globebrand | GLOBEBRAND.COM | est. Australia 1994

After street skating all day, we would retreat to the house in the evening, where mini ramp sessions would continue until dusk. Jaakko Ojanen backside air in G¨ ue˜ nes.

Count Ultimately there could only be one winner, the Elementeers decided that Holland’s Billy Hoogendijk made it count the most, so off to California he goes!

hart

Thanos

Panou Interview by Will Harmon

Nosegrind,

Barcelona Photo by Fabien Ponsero

The first time I ever heard Thanos’ name was when fellow Finnish friends Eniz and Miki visited Athens with Emerica. Thanos had been their tour guide and they were laughing their asses off while telling me the stories of this Greek beast. Stuff like standing on his motorcycle while driving on a highway and jumping down shit while the rest were still sippin’ their morning coffees. What a restless case indeed. It wasn’t long after those stories when Julien Bachelier from Antiz showed me a video that our Greek distributor had sent him. It was the same guy - we were blown away! It was way too gnarly not to bring him on tour and test him out. It definitely took us a few tours to get used to his determinative personality, or it took a few rounds for him to calm down a bit. Either or he’s a Class-A fit to the team. He skates everything and goes where the tour brings him plus he hardly ever complains. Thanos keeps pushing the limits and lives life to the fullest. We’re glad to have the mayor of Athens on board! Samu Karvonen

Photo by Fabien Ponsero

Can you remember the first time you saw skateboarding? Was it on TV or in person? Definitely it wasn’t on TV, I’ve not had one since I was 7 or 8 years old. It was from my cousin... After keeping ourselves occupied with endless hours of beating each other, one day he bought a real skateboard and that’s when we stepped our game up. I remember him, one of these first days, telling me: “Skateboarding is about rolling and doing tricks in the streets.” So we were doing circles around my neighbourhood rolling as fast as we could and kinda ollieing things but not really... What made you decide that you wanted to get a skateboard yourself? I’d never really decided it on my own. My uncle brought me one, a fake one, as a toy - you know, super thick and wide, straight nose and full of plastic. And then, when I was about to forget about the devil’s toy, my cousin brought me the real deal, the “authentic”. Rumour has it that he stole the whole set up, but I’m not sure if I believe that any more. It was a was “The Firm” deck by the way... So how is it that you hooked up with the Antiz guys? I was kinda getting some Baker boards, but then I was watching all these OG rocker Antiz movies (Antizipated, Z movie) that they were coming up with, and I was like: “What the fuck! These guys are the real deal!” And so, after one year or so I finished a part with a really nice filmer from Greece: Kostas Mandilas. And with the help of Tom Galanis, my team manager back then, we altogether decided to send it to these rad dudes. The next summer I ended up touring in the south of France with them for my crash test trip... So will you have a part in the next Antiz film?Yeah! That’s what Ludo and Juju told me... Let’s see what’s up... Are you often the tour guide when foreign skaters visit Athens? Not really, but I am there for the lucky ones... I heard you were in a motorcycle accident recently. Can you tell us what happened? Oh shit! That’s a bad karma question. So I was returning home at 8 o’clock in the morning of the first day of the year. The distance from where I was to where I needed to go was about two kilometres. I was riding my motorcycle not realising how tired and wasted I was. The next memory I had, I was taking a big time slam barrelling on the asphalt. What I assume is that I’d probably fallen asleep. I ended up all bruised up, my skin was grated, my helmet was fully scratched, but the most severe injury was the fact that the motorcycle went sliding on the road with my right foot underneath it! So my skin, some upper muscles and the tendon of the big toe (70% of it) were torn apart... Fortunately now my foot is perfect again thanks to some

Frontside into

the

boneless bank, Photo by Sam Ashley

Athens

quality physio. Now with a near death personal experience I can encourage all of you to drive wasted; it’s super fun! Yeah I don’t know if that’s the best advice, ha! So as a skateboarder, how has the recent Greek austerity affected you? Oh man it’s really bad. To start with, the very first thing the crisis shot dead back in 2010-11 was the entertainment media - that means skateboarding as well. Huge skate shops, companies and distributions instantly shut down and so all the money and the power for projects were cut short. Skateboarding in Greece didn’t stop evolving though, it just went a bit more underground. Now we find ourselves in 2015 with new measures coming up and no light at the end of the tunnel! It’s just

sad for my generation that we have to spend our days of youth and strength, strangled in a situation that we’re not responsible for, and in the big picture neither were our parents either. Please my fellow skaters don’t fall for the propaganda, the game is big and the ones that always lose are the people not the big dogs! Do you think Greece should stay in the EU or leave? Stay? Leave? Whatever! What’s the best for us is the real question! We can stay in the EU and take some friendly for the people measures and pay back the debt. We can leave the EU take some less friendly measures for our fellow Europeans but still pay the debt. We can stay in the EU and keep on getting raped and keep on being in debt. We can leave the EU and have

Switch

frontside

nosegrind,

Athens

Photo by Fabien Ponsero

Frontside

bluntslide,

Athens

Photo by Samu Karvonen

civil issues and still get our asses drained. Like I said, don’t fall for the propaganda! No matter what is going to happen the big dogs will decide what’s up. They control the money, the power and they can bend and rewrite the laws. So, it all comes down to us! How difficult are we going to make their plans come to reality? I don’t suggest that we, Greeks, were flawless throughout the whole process. We have a lot to manage and take care! But even these edges “they” found to rely their game on, most of them were well framed by “them” in the first place... Don’t stay unaware of the situation, the next door they knock on, it’s your door! Sounds complex. To change it up a bit, what kind of music are you into? I would never say “anything that sounds good.” Fuck that! Rock n’ Roll babe... What is Nightstalker? It’s a kick-ass, super dope, face melting, beer-drinkin’, shit-spittin’ Rock n’ Roll band. They’ve

played stoner rock for many years, way before the stoner mania of now. Back when heroin was in fashion... Have you travelled a lot around the world with skateboarding?

I’ve been traveling a lot, mainly with skateboarding. I’ve been almost everywhere around Europe, but unfortunately not outside of it. I’m just waiting for the first chance for Frisco. Have you ever considered living anywhere else or is Athens your home for good? I’m thinking about living some place else every day. Especially with what’s going down here right now. But as the years go by, my roots run deeper and I’m becoming more and more useful in this community. So in the end I think I’ll take the “long term travel-but based in Athens” option... I see. So what are your plans for the future? Skate harder, barbeque more, shotgun beers faster, become a killer on the dartboard, take more chances and get Greece out of debt!

Interview by Will Harmon

Aaron Herrington, ollie-in, Manchester

Photography by Sam Ashley

So Aaron obviously youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been to Europe a bit with Polar and I know you were over here just recently with the Cons #Pleasecharge thing... How different was this tour to the #Pleasecharge trip?

Tom Remillard, frontside slash, Paris

This past July the Converse team rolled through Europe on the Cons One Star World Tour. The team travelled through England, Spain, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany so we caught up with Aaron Herrington who was on the whole journey to fill us in on what went down.

t was different but it was really similar... um... Different in the way that there was just more people, there was like twenty of us, like fifteen skaters. But I mean as far as like... (It being different) I would just say more skaters and more skating and at the same time more goodbyes and more fun, and I mean more memories. Yeah...

would say it was a little larger budget so we were all going out a little bit, eating a little nicer, and nicer hotels, but besides that... You know I kind of almost prefer the #Pleasecharge setting where it’s less people and it's not as glamorous; it makes it a little more genuine sometimes.

eah completely, I mean when it’s a smaller crew and you have the ability to skate around, push around, then you get to be a skateboard tourist. But when there’s twenty of you and the focus is around demos, not street skating, then you know it kinda becomes a little annoying or stressful. When you know you'll be in Berlin for two days, and then Antwerp for two days, Bordeaux for two days and Paris for two days then you don’t really get to fully enjoy or indulge in the city. But at the same time I guess that’s not really the point of us being there... But I guess it’s nicer when it’s small; you definitely get into more things when there are less people.

So you were on the US part of the One Star tour right? ep.

And how was this tour different to the American one?

Kevin Rodrigues, wallie 50-50, Paris

Yeah you feel like you get to know the cities a little more on the #Pleasecharge tour as you guys are going not just to skate a demo, but you are skating the cities and stuff...

he American tour was different because we were in passenger vans, versus this massive tour bus and jokingly there was like some van rivalry, you know what I mean like, after a weekend you know one van was against the other van and we were shooting fireworks at each other. I would just say that the US tour was, it’s hard to explain; the Europe tour was amazing because we were in Europe, and regardless of where we were like ‘oh we’re in Europe, we’re not in America’ you know even if it’s a small city in the UK, you know it’s awesome. In America, when you’re in the middle of America, like Little Rock, Arkansas or Oklahoma City, there’s not a whole lot to really indulge in you know - there’s not much history and if there is it’s American history, and there’s not much to do. I mean the cities don’t even have a million people in them any more so they’re not really like a metropolis, like the city its just a big mess of concrete that’s just been left there for 40 years. Yeah... ’ll just say there’s not as much to do in the States. It’s not as pretty, doesn’t look as nice...

hen we drove to Amsterdam from Antwerp it was a quick threehour drive and it rained both the days we were in Amsterdam. So that finally gave us a chance to be tourists ourselves and not really have to focus on skating for a day or two. We got to party and go a little wild and have fun. So I would say Amsterdam was probably like the most fun place because there wasn’t really the stress of having to do a demo.

Tom Remillard, 50-50, Berlin

And was there like a favourite stop on the Europe one, like a favourite country for you or what not?

So Amsterdam was fun, that’s no surprise!

Yeah I agree. It’s mainly security guards you deal with, not actual police.

eah I mean we did do a demo but it was super low key, it was more like a ‘meet and greet’ and it was raining so you know we just had to really indulge in being tourists.

think in the States you just get hassled by the cops a lot just for being there but it seems like in Europe a lot of people actually understand skateboarding and kinda like it and get it.

eah, I mean as far as the outlook of skating it’s still the same, but I mean just like the skate spots... There are amazing skate spots in Europe where there’ll be like plazas and crusty urban skate spots. I would say the biggest difference would be that you don’t really have to worry about the cops. You don’t really worry about police too much you don’t get kicked out as much I feel like.

Ben Raemers, tailblock to fakie, Berlin

Cool. So do you feel there’s a big difference to European skateboarding compared to skating in the States?

I feel like you rarely ever deal with the police over here. Whereas in the States it happens like every week or something...

Yeah, abuse of power! eah right, haha!

All right so this tour did have a lot of demos. How did you feel skating them and how do you feel about demos in general?

Sage Elsesser, hippie jump, Berlin

Mike Anderson, switch wallie to switch ride, Bordeaux eah and I mean it even goes further than just talking to the police, you always have to give them your ID and they make sure you’re not a criminal. In New York the amount of times I’ve known of people who ended up getting arrested just for skateboarding because they were in a playground without a child... Just certain things like that... It’s so absurd.

o be honest I really like demos. I think if it’s a good skatepark and a good turn out I think that kind of determines the vibe of the demo. I really liked the vibe of all the European demos. On the US tour we were staying in some of the smaller cities that don’t necessarily have this big skate scene so you go to these demos and these kids 1) don’t really give a shit and 2) not that they have to, but they have no idea who any of us are. So it’s just a normal day at the skatepark for them... I mean so we go to these demos in the States and we’re skating around with all these locals and it’s kinda hectic but then when we went to Europe it seemed as if the kids had a clue and were super interested and were super psyched to see Louie (Lopez) and Sage (Elsesser) and whoever. I mean at that point people actually came and sat down and let us skate and let us do an actual demonstration.

actually think it's really good because sometimes those dudes really rip, like when we were in Manchester for example there was this dude that was just ripping and doing the craziest manual tricks. He was covering his eyes and doing all this weird stuff like a manual trick into primo stall, and you know flipping his board around in his hand, then back to primo stall, and then flip it to manual then nollie flip out and churning out all these crazy tricks. It’s nice having those dudes take the pressure off us a little bit.

Oh yeah that’s great... I never thought of it like that...

Aaron Herrington, tight squeeze bump to bar ollie, Madrid

That’s cool. So what do you think about the hometown heroes and stuff that won’t stop skating do you think that’s a bad thing or do you think it’s all right?

eah I mean when there’s other people skating then that’s a good thing because it kinda takes the attention off us a little bit and puts it into the locals. It makes it not so stressful for us and we can relax and skate a little easier... (Laughs) Ok, so here’s a funny question: How were the donuts in Europe? Sam (Ashley) was saying people were bringing you donuts to the demos...

Mike Anderson, frontside boneless, Manchester eah they’re good! When we were at the Riot Distribution shop (In Bordeaux) they had like two-dozen donuts there and I was like: ‘ah man I just ate food! I can’t even fully indulge in this!’ But I would say the best donuts are... They’re almost like beignets but they’re like a jelly filled donut and they have them in Bordeaux, but they’re like Nutella filled donuts. Oh wow... hey’re so amazing, like slamming!

Sick... nd ah... I mean pretty much any pastry in Europe is always on point. It’s always good. We seem to ruin croissants in America...

Yeah they’re much better over here, especially in France. eah especially France, and just anything that’s like a breaded, pastry product in Europe is always amazing. And then there’s always Krispy Kreme everywhere too. Krispy Kreme’s amazing. Indeed it is! Ok thanks Aaron. That about wraps it up. See you over here again for the Polar video premiere!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few years you’ve surely heard of the Bombaklats crew. Well if you somehow don’t know, the Bombaklats are a tight-knit crew of skaters from Holland who are wrecking shop in Western Europe. Now this is not the definitive Bombaklats article, not all the crew is represented in these photos, it’s just a small sampling of what our friend Davy shot when he accompanied the guys on a short trip up through northern Holland. Bram De Cleen talked to the Bomba’s filmers Sami El Hassani (aka Sami) and Jan Maarten Sneep (aka Sneep) to get a little more info about the crew and what they’ve been up to.

Photography by DVL

Interview by Bram De Cleen

A caption, this trick by that guy

Tim

Zom,

nosegrind,

Lelystad,

Holland

Remco

Stolze,

frontside

rock,

Groningen,

Holland

Bram: Who started Bombaklats? When?

Sami: When I was about 16 years old, I was already filming my homies that I skated with back then, together with one of my friends who filmed as well. It was just with a handycam and after a while, when I had figured out that I really enjoyed filming, I considered buying a VX 1000, which obviously is the best skate camera of all time. My friend that was filming as well wanted a VX1 just like me. So in the summertime I got a job at the same company where my mother worked and saved up 1000 euros in about seven weeks. At that time I found an offer for two VX1000’s on the web, which was perfect for my friend and I. I told him that I found a good deal and he was down for one of them. He didn’t have enough money so my mom let him borrow the rest for his share. We were hyped but after he paid back the money to my mom he told me that he wanted to make a video by himself without me. I felt betrayed and that’s where the friendship ended. Now I was on my own and started filming a lot with my other homies. As I improved my filming skills, I got in touch with the better and sponsored skaters like Sebastiaan Vijverberg, Nassim Guammaz and Tim Zom. My friends where skating less and started to do graffiti, they lost interest for filming video parts. So, I planned to make a video with Tim Zom, Nassim Guammaz, Sebastiaan Vijverberg, Rob Maatman, Robbin Oost and a few others. In that period Sneep had just moved in to town. He had already made a skate video with his crew and was working on a new project. So we were both working on our own projects. Sneep: I remember when Sami first got his VX, I felt like I had to keep up with those kids. We gradually started skating and filming more together and our crews fused into what became Bombaklats. Sami: Sebastiaan Vijverberg actually came up with the idea to do one video with all of us together.

What does the name mean? Who came up with it?

Sami: Alexander Belhadji started saying “Bombaklats!” a lot when he was hyped on a trick or something. The whole crew kind of picked it up and as we didn’t have a name for the video we just called it that.

Who does the filming and editing?

Sami: Sneep and I do both - 50-50.

I really liked the graphics, are they a joint effort as well?

Sneep: Creating those animations was more my cup of tea, but we’d still do lots of those together. We used to set up animation nights, where we’d write “bombaklats” over and over with big markers. That’s also where our logo came from, it was just one of those writings. Sami: At the time Sneep was working on his graduating piece for the Art Academy, and was really into Rotoscope, an animation style. He was really good at it and came up with the idea to use it in the video. I was hyped on that idea and I think it worked really well! He made almost all of them, except for one I did, which ended up first in the video, haha.

You both feel that the animations and graphics work better with SD footage but you’re filming in HD now, does that mean you’re going to stop doing them?

Sebastiaan

Vijverberg,

Sami: We’re going to figure out something new that gives it that raw look, but also works with the HD format. This month we’re going to experiment a lot. So no, we’re not going to stop but we still have to start.

wallie

50-50,

Groningen

Tim

Zom,

ollie,

Groningen

How did the first Bombaklats video end up on the Berrics?

Sneep: We did a premiere in Rotterdam, and an online release a little later. After everything was up on YouTube, I started sending e-mails to all websites that could be interested in posting it. Not much happened, but after about a month I got a reply from the Berrics. They were hyped, I guess! We took it down from YouTube for a while so they could exclusively push it worldwide, one part a day!

When can we expect the next project?

Sneep: We’re working on it. We’ve filmed for about two years now. No date yet though, but the guys did well. Sami: We’re going to start with the edit now, which is a long process, as many people know. I hope we can still drop it this year.

Who will be the main guys featured?

Sami: Nassim Guammaz, Sebastiaan Vijverberg, Tim Zom, Robbin de Wit, Remco Stolze, Rob Maatman, Daan van der Linden and a lot of others! Actually, the crew that was in the previous movie and some underdogs that nobody knows. Sneep: We’re also involved in Shajen Willems’ new video part, together with Zev van Sluysdam and Geoffrey van Hove who filmed some clips as well. It’s going to be insane!!

Sneep, you’re doing the Sneep Memory Screen features on the website as well, what’s the inspiration behind that?

Sneep: Memory Screen is my skate nerd project. For about two years I’ve been re-watching every older video I could get my hands on. I wrote down all the tricks that really stood out for me, back when I watched it then, and when I watched them again, now. My original plan was to turn these notes into short Instagram clips. Two years later there were already a handful of people doing this nostalgic skateboarding theme (@koolmoeleo - my fav). Now I’m basically editing all my favourite footage from my favourite skaters to some music that in some way relates to the skater. The list is long, but here’s a glimpse: Mike Carroll, Josh Kalis, Tim O’ Connor, Karl Watson, Rob Welsh, Brian Wenning, Danny Renaud, AVE, and many more to come.

Rob

Maatman,

backside

kickflip,

Alkmaar,

Holland

I look forward to seeing all of them! So you guys are involved in the POP Trading Company clips as well, right? You guys seem pretty busy behind the camera and computer and are doing a really good job. Are you starting to make a living out of filming and editing?

Sami: Yeah true, when I first heard of POP and what they were doing I thought it would be just a regular distribution. When I heard that they were doing Palace I told Peter Kolks that he should hook up Alexander Belhadji, because I thought he would fit the brand perfect. Then Ali told me there was a meeting with them and I just went there with him! I met all the boys, well a lot of them I already knew, Peter and Ric (The Main guys behind POP) showed their plans for the team, which I thought were pretty dope! And we took it from there... They started organising team days and they asked me to film it since I new about their plans so then I started to film more with them. And now it feels like a second crew. I can say that I do what I really want to do without doing other shitty jobs. I feel very fortunate for this and I’m really thankful to all the people that pushed and supported me over the years. Sneep: Yeah every once in a while Peter Kolks asks us to come film for the POP clips or another project with his riders. It’s been really fun filming with people you don’t really know so well, because they’re able to surprise you. I’ve also been on a couple of Vans Benelux trips, mostly to film with Daan van der Linden. We started filming him to get his name out there, but I guess now he’s already done that for himself. But we still have the footage, so now he’s having a part in our video. So sick! If Daan isn’t your favourite skater right now, better look him up! I feel really lucky to be able to do what I love most.

Robbin

Wit,

nollie

crooked

grind,

Lelystad

J u a n 5

We were really hoping to steer away from the Rich Homie Juan references for this one but the interview made it inevitable. We knew he was a “smooth operator” but being offered a part in Gaspar Noe’s new film at four in the morning? Getting a free Mercedes from 1988 out of the blue? Being in your twenties and having properly lived in three different continents? The way he lives his life does just“make you feel some type of way”.

S a a v Interview Arthur Derrien Photography Alex Pires

F r o n t s i d e

w a l l r i d e ,

B e r l i n 5 7

5 How’s it going Juan? I recently saw you on French TV walking up the red carpet at Festival De Cannes. What was that about? I’m good thanks! Well basically I’m in Gaspar Noe’s new film (Editor’s note: it’s a 3D film called Love; Google it and watch the trailers) that was presented at the Festival. I initially wasn’t really into the idea of going there and having to

walk up those famous stairs etc., but it was the only way I could see the film before its release, so I did. What?! That’s insane! How did you end up getting a part in that? About three years ago I met the director at an after party at my house and at about 4 o’clock in the morning he started telling me he had a part for me in his new film. At the time I thought nothing of it, assuming he must say that kind of stuff to loads of

P a r i s

5 0 – 5 0 ,

people all the time, especially when it gets to this point in the night/morning. He did follow through though and about a year later he asked me for a portfolio. I told him I didn’t have one and that the closest thing I had to that was probably my Facebook and he ended up just telling me to come down for an audition. At the audition he confirmed that he wanted me in the film, but added that I’d have to get naked in front of the cameras. “You’ll be naked, you’ll have sex with girls, there will be anal penetration and you’ll be getting your dick sucked”. Straight away I told him that there was no way I’d ever do that so we kind of left it there... That’s when he tricked me. Shortly after that he hit me up asking me if I could come over and meet the actors he’d picked for the film. He said he wanted to know what I thought of them. I was a bit surprised but I went down there anyway not thinking too much of it. Once I’d been introduced and chatted I remember wondering: ‘Great I’ve met them now, they seem like lovely people; so what? And why does he even care what I think?’. What I realised further down the line is that he was actually doing that to ask THEM what they thought of ME. Anyway after that he asked me if I was available that night to help the actors practice a scene: “We won’t be using it in the film, don’t worry, it’s just to help the guys rehearse.” As soon as I showed up I knew there was more to it than that. Firstly because everyone there was calling me Julio (the role I play in the film) and telling me how happy they were that I made it, secondly because the room where the “rehearsals” were taking place was filled with massive 3D cameras. So I ended up doing what he asked me to do anyway and at the end he said that he was really impressed by my performance and that I should take the part. It was a bit weird because I’d never even considered acting before but I was given this opportunity by this incredible director and felt like I couldn’t turn it down. So I went for it and it was a really good experience. So you got naked in front of the cameras and did everything he’d mentioned before?! No none of that, I told him I wouldn’t do it so those scenes weren’t in there. But he still gave you an important part? Yeah, it’s like the fourth most important part in the film. Gaspar wanted me to be the bad guy; the one that stirs shit up, deals drugs and fucks the leading character/my best friend’s ex-girlfriend etc. whilst remaining the most grounded. All the other protagonists go off the rails and end up a bit

5 0 - 5 0 ,

B e r l i n

to him. If someone else approached me I doubt I’d say yes unless there was already a strong human connection between us and I was really into his idea and the artistic direction he wanted it to take. I’m not an actor and that’s not a world that I’m attracted to. I know a lot of people in Paris who gravitate to those circles and they’re the worst. I can’t picture myself working with people like that... So no I won’t getting an agent or anything like that if that’s what you want to know, haha. But you did study something that had to do with film right?

P o l e - j a m

psychologically unstable by the end of the movie, but I stay fine. Wow... I can’t wait to see it. Are you going to try and pursue a career in acting then? There’s been a lot of hype around this film, I’m sure getting some more auditions shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t think so, no. I’m into skateboarding, that’s what I really love. Gaspar (the director) became a friend and he asked me to do it almost as a favour

F a k i e

v a r i a l

f l i p ,

P a r i s

Yeah, but I was more interested in what was going on behind the cameras – (filming, working with the lighting etc.) and that’s a completely different thing. When I was in high school in America I was the high school filmer. I filmed all the school’s events for about three years. My teacher was also the TV and Cinema production teacher and he got me really hyped on this stuff, which is partly why I moved to Paris, I thought it would be a good place to study that. I quickly realised that studying hard for five years to end up in an industry I disliked wasn’t a good idea. The artistic side of the industry I love, obviously, but the other one I just can’t stand. To me it’s just as bad the fashion industry. Which is why you quit studying that to do applied languages? Yeah. It’s a Spanish and English degree and I already speak those languages fluently, which means that I don’t really need to attend any of the classes. It is what I need if I want to really focus on skating and go on as many trips as I want.

Can you remind us why you are trilingual? (Editor’s note: this interview was done in French) I was born in Columbia where I lived until I was six, which is why I speak Spanish. We had to leave the country because of the violence and the situation with the drug wars. The biggest cartels were in Medellin and Cali where I was born and being in the middle of that and all the tensions with the revolutionary armed forces was becoming unbearable, so my family moved to Paris. My mother always loved the culture so it made sense. Then when I was 13 my family moved again, this time to Miami, where I stayed until I finished high school. I’ll always love the United States but the current system just wasn’t for me, so I ended up going back to Paris after that. What aspects of the system are you referring to? Mainly the fact that to be considered a productive member of society you have to go to a good university. At the time that really wasn’t where

N o s e g r i n d

p o p - o u t ,

P a r i s

I wanted to be in my life. I didn’t want to do something that felt like high school. I didn’t want to go to a place where everything would be taken care of for me, where I knew I’d only be hanging out with the people I’d see in class or on the campus. Plus at that age it’s difficult to decide what you want to do with your life. Film was something I thought I could enjoy studying but it wasn’t my passion. I didn’t want to have to take out a student loan and be in debt for ages because the work market in US is terrible and I couldn’t get a job with my diploma. A lot of my friends from high school are in that exact situation right now and have to go back to living with their parents. If I don’t fit a question about skateboarding in this now I’ve got a feeling there won’t be a single one. Has your current flexible uni schedule allowed you to get a lot of stuff for the Palace video? Well I’ve filmed some VHS stuff in Paris but I think they want it to be entirely filmed in London now so I’m not sure what’s going to happen with it. I really want to go up there soon to get some

more stuff. Hopefully I’ll do it towards the end the summer. Got any plans in the meantime? Well I’m about to go on holiday with my girlfriend. I think we’re just going to drive somewhere, maybe Marseille or Corsica. Not sure yet. Will you go in the new car? Can you tell us a little bit about that one? Another good example of your endless streak of good luck... Basically my grandma’s new boyfriend wanted to give her a car and ended up giving it to me, for free, as she already had one. As you do. Would you care to tell us what kind of car it is? Its a Mercedes 190 D from 1988. It’s pretty spacious... Well I hope good things keep miraculously coming your way. Right now that’s all we have space for. Plus we don’t really need our lives feeling any duller in comparison... Take care mate.

Mark Frolich, Backside flip over the channel gap, Lyon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Photography by Alex Braza

Spaghetti sandwich We’ve received a lot of boring tour articles in our time but Mark Frolich’s original submission for this Jart trip was just too much. No matter how much you love Jart Skateboards there’s simply no way you’d want to read “the first day we did some warming up, then checked some spots the following days” with a spot by spot breakdown of what happened in each city. We couldn’t print it. So we informed him of the problematic situation to which he kindly replied: “We’ve all been on skate trips, we all know how it goes… It’s hard to make this stuff sound super exciting…” Granted this skate trip didn’t exactly sound riveting but once we’ve acknowledged that how do we solve the problem? So Mark came through with a couple of entertaining anecdotes about France’s finest: Adrien Bulard and Benjamin Garcia. –Arthur Derrien

Ivan Rivado, Backside channel ollie, Marseille

Carlos Neira, Wallie 180, Milan

Adrien Bulard, Fakie kickflip, Marseille

Adrien Bulard was the MVP of the trip. He’s by far the most entertaining person to be on tour with. The dude doesn’t ‘skate’ in the normal sense of the word or at least not too much. He just goes to a spot, bangs out the gnarliest trick you can think of and chills. It’s like he can’t really bring himself to skate normally… Like he doesn’t really have the right kind of concentration to film a mellow ledge line but when it comes to jumping down something huge he’ll just switch. He’s got some insane focus mode he activates for that stuff. It’s fucking funny man… He’s so lazy he didn’t even have a board set up for most of the trip. I think he did that fakie flip on his board but every other trick, including that ridiculous switch flip down the Hotel De Ville stairs, was done on Alex Braza’s (the TM’s board). That’s almost 10 days on a skate trip without a board. He’s got a one-track mind when it comes to moshing hard and the only thing that matters is: ‘big is good’. Everything else, including the board he uses for a trick or what the session might take out of him is of very little importance. Honestly we were all pretty worried for him when he was trying that fakie flip. Every try looked so damn painful but he kept going for ages. At one point it was kinda scary already. But that’s what it takes sometimes to bring the best out of you… So hats off to Adrien! His part in the new video is going to be fucked up, that`s for sure! – Mark Frolich

Mark Frolich, Ollie, Marseille

We were at the main spot in Torino, Italy, and there’s a group of sketchy Bulgarians that show up from time to time. Apparently everybody always stops skating when they are around … Anyway Benjamin Garcia was filming some line for Instagram or whatever and didn’t give a shit, so he crashed into them first try bailing a switch heel on flat, which caused them to get really pissed. At that moment it was only us two skating. So he came to warn me like: “Mark better watch out man… Those guys wanna beat us up!” And I was like: “No man, they wanna beat you up because you didn’t pay attention at all and now you are hiding here behind a pole and bringing us all into a stupid situation.”

Anyways in the end I just walked over there to talk to them since I had the feeling that might be smarter than to wait until they come over first. The guy he crashed into immediately started asking me for cash to get some beers. After telling him that all I had in my pockets were 20 cents he explained to me that this could not be true since I’m German and Germans are always rich… So I explained to him that I live in Spain and that skateboarders in Europe normally don’t have the biggest paydays... I gave him my 20 cents and told him: “There you go homie, now you are 20 cents closer to your beer and me, I’m 20 cents further away from my Cuba libre. I’d like to drink right now as well. Find another 2-3 rich Germans and you can get yourself a beer.” Afterwards he tried his luck with some more people and found his way out of the plaza so we could keep skating in peace. – Mark Frolich

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90 Following a Nike SB trip to Miami in April 2014 with Jakub Kaczmarczyk (Kuba), Michal Juras, Michal Przybylowicz and CEO of Xpensiv Shit Modest Mysliwski, I stayed in touch with Kuba and have since been trying to organise some sort of excursion to their hometown of Warsaw. After a year, myself, accompanied by giant baby Casper Brooker, travelled across the English Channel to the country’s capital with photographer Marcel Veldman in tow. Prior to visiting Warsaw I had very limited knowledge of Poland’s capital. I was aware of the city’s troubled history, having to resurrect itself from previous invasions, wars and conflicts, which has led to the capital being coined ‘The Phoenix City’. These dark memories are still evident, an example perhaps being the ‘Palace of Culture and

Michal Juras Quick-footed ollie up and over the channel

92 Michal Juras Gap over to frontside bluntslide

Scienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that was directly opposite the hotel we vacated. Being the tallest building in Europe it is noticeable from most corners of the city. Its undeniable presence led many Poles initially to criticise it, considering it to be a symbol of Soviet domination - a negative feeling that undoubtedly persists today. Despite my little understanding of Warsaw, I still had expectations as to what it could be like, one being a stereotypical

generalisation of Warsaw being a hardened place with noticeable Western and E a s t e r n influences, full of people drinking neat vodka everywhere. Although these assumptions were met to a certain degree, it was clear that the gap between Western and Central Europe

Chris Jones Backside nosegrind

is not as different as I expected. Instead, Warsaw upholds very similar characteristics to a lot of capitals around Western Europe, most likely a result of Poland’s membership to the European Union in 2004 since negotiations began around 1989 following the collapse of communism in Poland. Our trip was very different to what was originally planned between Kuba and me. A solo filming jaunt soon escalated in to

a Nike SB funded mission. The Greek goddess of victory, Nike, transformed the floor I was expecting to be sleeping on into a fancy hotel with a swimming pool and a health spa. Although the outcome was not initially intended to be an article, morning sauna sessions combined with champagne breakfasts led to an improved level of productivity. An equation I think should be used more often on skate trips. Accommodation aside, our five day outing was no different to a lot of other skate trips in

Casper Brooker 50-50 grind up

94 Tomek Ziołkowski Wallie frontside grab

the sense that we woke up, fed ourselves, went skating all day, fed ourselves again, drank beer and went to bed. I also succeeded in my intentions of doing nothing cultural or educational what so ever, choosing to listen to Madonna and watch AVE’s part from the Vans video over twenty times with CaspB. This has resulted with me now being able to recite the entire chorus from Madonna’s hit ‘La Isla Bonita.’ Still, despite my lack of exploration beyond the skateboard sphere, I still have some nice memories from the trip. Our days would usually consist of going for a swim and consuming at least four eggs and drinking too much coffee at the free breakfasts the hotel provided. We would then head out to rendezvous with Kuba, Michal and who ever was keen for a session. Kuba was nice enough to drive us around and Michal would follow on his vintage Honda

Chris Jones Switch kickflip in

motorbike. Marcel spent a lot of his time sat in the back of the car making fun of me, either calling me “Jacket boy” because of my great selection of jackets or ironically a ‘hipster’, despite him being the one with a massive beard who would probably pay £5 for a bowl of cereal. Skating would always be followed by dinner and Marcel and Kuba’s vegetarianism influenced us to become veggies during our trip. So because of this we were constantly eating at vegetarian places, one of the most popular being a great Israeli vegetarian restaurant called Tel Aviv Cafe. Warsaw definitely falls under one of my favourite places I’ve visited in Europe. My fondness stems from the capital’s raw aesthetic compared to lot of other places that are popular skateboard destinations. This is usually something that translates amazingly well on footage, as displayed perfectly in Kuba’s video Grey Area. I can definitely say that I plan on going back to Warsaw and that I was sad to leave there - what made it even sadder for me and Casper was the fact that we had to go back to a Tory run Britain as the general election was held during the five days in which we were away. WAH!

Boardslide tailgrab

Quintero Dani

Photography by Gerard Riera Translation by Patricio McCoubrey

Dani, what to say about Dani, he and I clash! He drives me crazy; he just can’t sit still! How shall I put this, we go out on the streets and he is shouting constantly, making noise or wallieing just about everything in site or drinking a six pack and if that’s not enough pushing me constantly to do a mosher drop. If you think you know someone with ADHD, you haven't met Dani… He is next level!

Sometimes he may even come across as mean but the in reality he is the shit! Going out with him is always going to be unpredictable; if you’re travelling with him it could be that he might throw your dinner on the floor or break the tent, but as soon as the party starts there is no one else that you’d rather have with you than Dani! He is constantly on the move whether it’s skating, playing in his band, out listening to music or at the local karaoke bar singing he is there and it will always be fun. I’m still not sure if he actually sleeps… I don’t know how you do it Dani, but never change! – Julio Arnau

charac ter s i n tervi ewer s

Julio Arnau and Jano Saez i n tervi ewee

Dani Quintero

julio

Hey what’s up Dani? Late as usual hahaha! dan i

Yeah man sorry, I ran out of petrol on my scooter. jano

Yeah sure thing! julio

Okay then Vagaba, (Dani’s nickname in Spanish coming from Vagabond for his nomadic lifestyle) have you changed your underwear before coming here? dan i

Well if I’m honest yeah man, I’ve come from work and I changed them before leaving… jano

Why are you so nomadic bro?

dan i

I’m not sure man... julio

Now every one is gonna call you vagaba because of us… dan i

Well in reality the concept seems a bit shite right, but it’s because I care so little and sometimes I go out and end up staying out for like three days without really caring and sofa surfing. I really don’t mind if I end up sleeping in a pile. julio

I’ve always envied those who are able to travel with just what they have on them, a backpack and ready, as if you were just going to pass the afternoon at the plaza and then spend the next week lost there…. dan i

Bro, I don’t know, but it really irritates me having to go with more than what is necessary. It’s so much easier to travel light so as to not to have to worry about my stuff constantly. I take my phone for Insta, tobacco, lighter and clothes… Well not so much clothes as they are not so essential and if your missing something you can always visit a market and pick up whatever you really need. jano

You don’t leave your glasses behind though right? And why do you always bring them if you never read anyways? dan i

100

Ah man, leave it out, hahaha… I wear them to start getting used to them, the reality is I am quite blind. There have been times when I haven’t had them on and approached a group of people thinking it was you guys and it was a total random group of peeps, or sometimes I don’t realise I’m headed in the wrong direction on the metro. To be honest these glasses have changed my life; they’ve taken a good beating too. Jano managed to fix them for me one time. We were at a gig jumping up and being generally mad, and boom glasses off and me bouncing off a pillar and snapped them and banged my head at the same time. Jano to the rescue fixed them up, even if a bit wonky, and off we were in the gig continuing the madness with a bump on my head and my mad wonky glasses.

Beanplant to bluntslide

Bump gap to nosebluntslide

102

julio

Do you not think some of your loss of sight comes from so much video game playing? dan i

Yo dude you’re touching on a delicate subject! But yeah I love computer games and consoles, like the mega drive, Nintendo 64, Gameboy… I’ve got a ton of them at home! julio

And what do you reckon you’ve done more, wallies or played video games? dan i

I love Zelda!! Fuck wallies, play Zelda!!! julio

Okay this next question is from a colleague, Raul, he is asking if you have changed the name over from the scooter that you bought off his sister as she just got a fine through the post?! dan i

Oh, shit, yeah it’s true I’ve not done it yet. I will do it eventually… It’s taking me years to get around to doing it hahaha… I always pay her the fines, when I get them… Bro I swapped that bike for like six boards with Raul. jano

I have always thought that his sister got the bad end of the deal; she only keeps getting your fines. dan i

Yeah, thanks Raul, love you buddy! jano

So what do you prefer beer or wine? dan i

I’ve always been down for the beers but recently Julio has been pussy so we don’t drink beers anymore! But really I like both, saying that, it is summer and white wine goes down a right treat! julio

But they both give you a hangover of the worst kind. Have you got any hangover cures or trick tips? dan i

Well, I always get up, smashed, I make my way to the beach, and whilst it starts to warm up I go get some Cheetos, a packet of Pink panther wafers and a Fanta. And for lunch some meat balls (laughs)… Basically just eat as much crap as possible and not drink any water! jano

Why is it that you are so good at imitating everyone from our crew? dan i

Well I don’t think I really do a good job but I am always able to pick up on the small details that make every one different. People usually don’t focus on these details and then when I point it out every one goes mad for it... julio

Okay a really important question… What the hell is that prison tattoo on your arm all about? What is “Brothers Choice”???

Gap to lipslide

dan i

It’s the only tattoo I have; well it’s something we have all had for a while. It’s like our crew, and it is the name of a video we have been working on, all filmed in Hi8. Bro we did these tatts pissed up at Miki’s house! It’s from a TV brand. Jano has this ancient Chinese TV at his house and that’s the brand name but it stuck as our crew name and video. In the video will be Jano, Cidras, Kevin, Nanaqui, Xavi, me and well the rest of the crew. julio

And will you be doing the music for it too? dan i

Yeah man, we are most definitely going to attempt making the music for it. We have a band, which consists of Jano, Marce Coque and myself. We have already done one song for a video, which was recorded in a DIY punk style. julio

You can say what it was for if you want… dan i

Well, it was for that video Dani Millan did for Cons’ Bonne nuit, it did come out really well in the end. So our idea is to do something similar you know like how Frankie Hirata did in the Union Wheels video. Those guys would skate, film and make the music for their videos. You hardly see that these days.

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julio

Well, what worries me is if you had to pay for that tattoo, did you pay with food or money? dan i

Of course, but I paid Mikey with what he needed! julio

It’s just a joke bro! It’s because it bothers me a bit, but it was just to take the piss a bit. dan i

It is shite and it hurt a bit too! jano

So how do you manage to travel so much, you never seem to have a job? dan i

Well, in reality I’ve been fortunate thanks to Pali (Negrin) who always tries to get me on all the Cons trips that he can, and since he knows I come at little cost because I’m not bothered by living the high life and I live that hobo life style. julio

Ha, so the reality is that you’re on Cons because you don’t cost them hardly anything, and not even because you skate right? dan i

Of course dude, I don’t spend anything, basically a score a month and one pair of shoes a year…

Pole-jam over the gap

jano

Bro, but you’ve been to Japan twice right? dan i

Bro I went to Japan on 400 euros and when I was there I ran into some great luck… When we arrived the guys at FTC Tokyo paid us to model for some photos for a catalogue and then with that I was able to eat well for the rest of my stay. jano

Have you never thought of leaving skating to be a model instead? dan i

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Yes! Many a time! Before skating I had thought about it - when you’ve got the looks you’re blessed!!

julio

Wallie tuck-knee indy grab

Okay, before throwing away your career with this interview do you want to thank anyone? jano

Yeah basically the usual question, any thanks you want to make? julio

Actually can I thank someone? I want to thank @rafihappy, Rafi is Dani’s mum and without her we would not have been possible to locate you to do this interview. I want to make her Insta famous, she always likes all our photos and videos from the FTC account. dan i

@rafihappy, GO FOLLOW!!! My mum has insta, #followforfollow. Okay I would like to thank Will at Free skate mag who has been nice to let me have this interview, you my people who have helped me with my skating and the peeps at FTC who are like my family. Brothers Choice who I am with on the streets with every damn day. Pali for the all the shoes and taking me on all the Cons trips possible. Octavio for the Tangram wheels and Mike for the Polar goods and sorry for having to use Google translate just so I can email you for boards, which I’m sure makes you laugh every time! I hope this interview has been of interest to some one. Make the most of your crew… They are the ones who have your back.

Josef Scott Jatta, hardflip, Ancona

The DC Special Delivery Tour

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By Madars Apse Photography by Gaston Francisco

What’s a tour good for? Sure, you want to be going to a destination unknown with your bros and have a good time finding new skate spots and hopefully drinking some new kinds of beer... But it’s also known for the world to be a small place, especially if you’re a skateboarder. It’s easy to find friends across different cities all over this globe we call Earth. A tour is bound to be good for any kind of skateboarder.

Perhaps I did not know it in the start, but when I was growing up it was mandatory for me to get outside of my comfort zone. I’m talking about my local skatepark, for some it may be the local skate spot, plaza or the local ramp. Skateboarding is fun, but once I saw what other skaters were doing in nearby cities, later on countries, it just opened my eyes. Up until then I thought all the ledges and ramps were as high as they were

Mikey Taylor, backside smithgrind, Ancona Jaakko Ojanen, ollie over the rail into the bank, Rome

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in my hometown. The foreign skaters just threw their board out and brought it back like it was some sort of a yo-yo trick; they were noseblunting up rails that were twice the size of those I had seen in my hometown. They were going up rails; it was unreal! That stuff just inspired me to go back to my local park and try to become as good as the skaters I had seen earlier. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be good for a few months, sometimes years, but the road has always been calling me ever since. I am sure that the DC Special Delivery tour did

just that for the kids of ODK (Belgium), Osimo and Rome in Italy, Lyon and London. For example, every time I see Josef Scott and Wes Kremer shred, it just puts me in another zone, in other words: I get excited, want to jump up and start running until some concrete wall stops me and puts me back in my place. On this tour we did some demos, signing sessions and also skated some street. Just like every time we also visit some of the local skate shops that distribute DC shoes. For the brand itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to show the link between the skate

112 Madars Apse, frontside tailslide to fakie, Rome

shop and the skateboarder; you know it would be almost impossible to get a new skateboard without the shop. I’ve learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger that any successful person or brand needs to give back to the community that made the person/ brand successful, whether it’s donations, their time or anything to make the people happy, it is worth it. Funny thing is Tommy Fynn on this tour was reading Arnold’s autobiography and I can tell you, Tommy didn’t back down once from the tricks he was

trying. Anyways, this story is not about muscle-mountain Arnold. What I’m trying to say is if the brand is respectful it will get respect in return. Some call it karma; some return on investment, for skaters it might be called plain hype. We were giving out free shoes after all, tricks for shoes, slams for shoes and old shoes for new shoes. That’s the reason this tour was called “Special Delivery”. I personally enjoyed giving out pairs for no reason at all; not everyone wants to jump in the

Tommy Fynn, backside 5-0 grind Wes Kremer, backside nosepick, Rome

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middle of the raging crowd of skaters, elbows out and hoping to get noticed. Every stop on the tour someone from the team took the microphone and tried to make the locals feel our vibe even better by listening to our slang and comments on landed or not landed tricks. Wes just nailed it perfect with this one... Everywhere the guy goes he just makes friends with the whole world; I have a lot of respect for that. Mikey Taylor is also great with the kids... Everyone loves that big smile. A lot of kids got inspired on this tour and positivity was hitting high vibes. There

were a lot of selfies made, posters and boards signed and most importantly a lot of skateboarding was done. It was rad to see Josef, Wes, Mikey and also Thaynan Costa, Gosha Konyshev, Jaakko Ojanen, Antony Lopez and Kristian Krasimirov shredding every skatepark to pieces. Check out the freeskatemag. com website for the video recap to see the wizardry that went down and be sure to follow DC shoes through its social networks to see that this brand is down to give back to the skateboard community and support local scenes. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to get on the next tour!

By Kirill Korobkov Photography by Alexey Lapin

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Damned foolish thing

Dima Shatalov, frontside 180 kickflip, Veles, Macedonia

in the Balkans

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Originally we were supposed to start our first Balkans trip from Sarajevo. Pretty much exactly the same time two years ago we were on the way to Bosnia and Herzegovina when we got stopped during the connection in Belgrade, Serbia. They didn’t let us onto the airplane to Sarajevo because we missed the paper voucher that was supposed to be original letter of confirmation from the hotel that had been sent by normal email with a signature and stamp. We couldn’t believe that only two years ago someone needed such an old type of document as a necessity to enter the country that was supposed to be visa free for us. I guess it was meant to be that way. We had an awesome time in Serbia that turned into true love for the whole Balkans region. For three years in a row now every November we go back to the southeastern Europe for the new countries, new and old friends, warm autumn days, cheap prices, good food and the best untouched spots of the continent. Here is our third Balkans tour with Gosha Konyshev, Yura Renov, Dima Rodionov, Dima Shatalov, Leo Lukin and

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Stas Provotorov. Gosha We went along the Western side Konyshev, from Bosnia and Herzegovina backside through air on the Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia to abandoned Greece. This time we had bobsled along Russians only and the track, most photogenic spots out of all Sarajevo, three Balkans trips combined. Bosnia & is Herzegovina Sarajevo a really interesting mix of different ages. The outskirts are full of big dark looking inhabited apartment houses, which is typical for all ex-Socialist countries. Most of them still have bullet marks from the war that happened in the beginning of the nineties right after that collapse of Yugoslavia. The city centre has beautiful architectural heritage from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The old city has a Turkish or even Middle Eastern look with small wooden pavilions, shisha bars, mosques and

chaotic narrow streets. There are a few modern skyscrapers here and there. Also all around the city you can find Olympic venues from the 1984 Winter Games that definitely saw better days in the past. Mountains surround Sarajevo and because of that, the city is pretty compact. They don’t really have big plazas or open spaces but also it means that everything you need is really close. This city might not have the nicest infrastructure for skateboarding but you can easily cruise around. Skateboarding isn’t a big thing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the local skate community has been doing it for around ten years. The guys showed us their favourite food spots, introduced us to the nicest types of Rakia (fruit brandy popular in the Balkans) and gave some useful spot tips. Old Olympic venues and Yugoslavian monuments are a must visit for all the skaters coming to Sarajevo. The brutal looking stadiums with grey walls made of raw concrete still have some serious skate potential. One of those buildings might have the best natural miniramp you can ever find on the roof. Another outstanding spot is abandoned bobsleigh track, which is basically

a security free narrow half-pipe than goes downhill through the forest for 1300 metres. All the turns have oververt transition and that’s like the best amusement park a skater can think of. It’s really hard to do a real trick on the track but the feeling of just riding down that thing is unbelievable. Sarajevo was a great starting point for our new Balkans adventure. It has everything we like about this region: sketchy taxi drivers, low prices, good vibes, interesting history to learn, fantastic spots and a bit of this venturesome feeling that most of the European countries tend to have lost the last couple decades. It is always fun to explore countries you don’t really know much about. It’s like going to university where your skateboard becomes your main guide. I feel stupid to talk about it but the only two things we could think of regarding Albania before going there were Eniz Fazilov and the Albanian mafia. Since Eniz wasn’t with us we focused on the Albanian mafia. I feel

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sorry for the Albanians, but the image this country receives in the media, movies and modern culture is really criminal. Also we had never seen any skate photos or footage from Albania so we didn’t really know what to expect or what it would be like to be there. We arrived to Tirana around noon hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

Dima Shatalov, 360 flip, Tirana, Albania

I am going to disappoint you straight away. I got nothing crazy to tell you about our Albanian stay. The sketchiest thing that had happened to us was a giant ugly frog we saw in a public park on the first night. Tirana is

Gosha Konyshev, frontside boardslide, Veles

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a decent big city with typical ex-Socialist architecture. It reminded me some of the southern ex-Soviet cities in Central Asia or Caucasus. A few standing out details that I noticed were the record-breaking concentration of all types of old Mercedes Benz’s and the popularity of weightlifting among Albanian men. Pretty much every second car in Tirana is Mercedes Benz. And they watch weightlifting competitions every night on big screens like it is football or Formula One tournaments. One of the things you definitely can’t miss is a giant pyramid that was supposed to be mausoleum for long-term Albanian leader Enver Hoxha. After its completion it was turned into Hoxha’s museum and then later on it contained a nightclub. Then NATO had it as its base there during Kosovo War and now it is used as broadcasting centre by an Albanian TV channel. It is 28-metre

tall surreal building with smooth banks from the bottom to the top, which everyone climbs these days. We hoped it would be an amazing spot, but unfortunately the only skate-able option we found possible was flip tricks on the very bottom of the banks that would look stupid on such a giant structure. Still it was cool just to see such a weird building in real life. I hope Albanians will save it because despite the historical message it had this pyramid is just a really unique structure no other city has. By the way another crazy part of Enver Hoxha’s heritage is the bunkers all around the country. He believed that West would attack Albania and initiated the campaign of “bunkerisation” that resulted in the construction of 700,000 bunkers in every corner of the country. No war like this ever happened but you can still find most of those bunkers everywhere from the streets of the cities to fields, beaches and even in graveyards. We haven’t found a good one for skating but I am sure somewhere

Kirill there should be few nice ones Korobkov, you can skate. Go for it and roof-riding let us know. Podgorica, Montenegro might be the Montenegro most beautiful name out of all European countries at least on my own list. Since we headed south from Sarajevo, Montenegro was our next goal. It was another new country for us. The scenery changed right after we crossed the border. Montenegro literally means “Black Mountain” and if you are over there you can really see why. The bus followed a trail along the magnificent mountain gorge with a river that had an unreal turquoise colour. We should have

Dima Rodinov, backside noseblunt, Sarajevo

really enjoyed that moment, but each of us just tried to get the hottest cell phone photo through the windows of the moving bus. No surprise they all turned out to be absolutely useless at the end. Most of visitors coming to Montenegro go straight to the coast of the Adriatic Sea. For some reason we thought that there would be more spots in the capital and ended up in Podgorica. I think that might be the smallest capital we’ve ever been too. Ethnically people of Montenegro are close to Serbs. They are neighbours, the Montenegrin language is really similar to the Serbian language and Orthodox Christianity is the dominant form of religion for both countries. Also it was the last country out of Yugoslavia that parted with Serbia. Russia has always had special relations with Serbia and Montenegro due to our mutual cultural and ethnic roots so it felt a bit special for us to be there. Right across the river from where we stayed there was a big abandoned sports complex. Some parts of it had been turned into a fitness club and people were still working, but all the main stadiums were not in use. Most of the windows were broken, there was trash and wild

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grass all over the territory and old graffiti on the walls and everything inside was broken too. The roof of the stadium was the shape of giant ramp and Alexey wanted one of us to skate on the top of the building. Since I don’t have a chance to get a skate photo too often (more like once in couple years) the crew nominated me. It was way harder to climb up that roof than actually skate it. After Gosha and I did few drops we were done and tried to leave the spot. Some random guy who had been watching us for around ten minutes shouted at us when we hopped the fence. He asked us to stop and wait for the police to come. We didn’t really pay attention to his words and skated away towards Alexey who shot the photo from the other side of the river. The whole condition of the stadium was so poor that in our opinion there was nothing to care about. Imagine our surprise when police pulled us over 15 minutes later in a different hood. Half of our crew got arrested but half of us ran away and hid in the hostel. Thankfully our hostess who didn’t tell the police that we were inside. We were sure that this would not go too serious. We messaged our boys in the police station and they told us to go to the next spot where they probably would join us. We all got a phone number of the Russian consulate in Podgorica and did what our comrades had told us to do. The next spot was actually a roof too. The sides of the building were banks and it was possible to jump off the roof into those banks. As soon as Yura Renov started trying to ollie security guards rushed in and arrested us too. It turned out that it was some kind of ministry or really important building where we couldn’t skate and film or even get up on the roof. They were so serious about it and there was no other solution than the police station.

It didn’t come as a shock when they drove us to the same police department where our friends had been locked up for about an hour by that moment. We couldn’t believe it went that far just because of skating some roofs with no damage. It was even stranger that the guy who called the police at the first spot was still there with some photos. We didn’t really know what to expect.

Yura Renov, roof ollie into the slant, Tirana

Only a few hours later we found out that the guy was one of the sports complex managers

and he tried to accuse us of all the destruction that had happened to the stadium in the last decade. He had probably got some money to fix it, stole the money and tried to prove to the police that we broke the brand new roof that actually hadn’t had any maintenance for years. Luckily for us the police weren’t corrupt and let us go in few hours. Right after we left the police station we decided that on this trip we should skate as many roofs as possible. Well that was our only full day in Podgorica and we spent most of it under the arrest in police. Things could’ve gone way worse though. We all were free after all; I got a photo on the roof and a good story to tell. We had nothing else to do but to celebrate another day of the trip. Tuesday night in Montenegro can be really fun. A couple guys we met by the bar gave us a proper party trip around their capital. The next afternoon the border

123 xxxxxx roof ollie into the slant in Tirana, Albania

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Dima Shatalov, kickflip into the bank , Tirana

guard recognised us. He already knew that there were skaters who had gotten arrested for skateboarding on the roofs. This is how fast news about us spread around Montenegro. After two previous visits to Macedonia we felt like it became our little home base at the Balkans. We got really got good friends over there. Every time we stay at the same Shanti hostel and we know Skopje almost as good as it was our home city as we have our own favourite food spots and bars. Macedonia hasn’t changed much over last two years. It is still somewhere in between old Yugoslavia past and some kind of new identity that they are trying to find through their history.

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Since we had covered pretty much all spots in Skopje during the previous stays this time we decided to check out a new Macedonian city. Veles seemed to be the best option. It’s a small city in central Macedonia around 50 kilometres away from Skopje. We saw some great looking spots from Veles on Facebook and decided to give it a try. It was absolutely right choice not only

because we got a few more photos for the article but also we skated two more roof spots and successfully escaped from the police. The same night we talked about all the places we skated this trip and honestly the line-up of spots we skated was off the hook. It wasn’t just about roofs or anything particular, but just the general view of those buildings, structures and constructions. I hope the photos for this article speak for themselves. Some trips you have one or two spots like that for the whole journey and the photographer gets lucky, but here we had all that epicness in every city. I strongly believe that skate-wise the Balkans is one of the most underrated regions on our continent and

Gosha Konyshev, roof to roof drop-in, Sarajevo

our trips are the best proof of this. We finished our tour in Thessaloniki, Greece. We didn’t really plan it that way but it was just easier to fly out of Greece than out of Macedonia. Most of us spent in Greece around three hours and that was right about the time for me to ruin my dream about the proper Greek salad. Instead of a real version of the world famous salad I got something that reminded me of salad bars at gas stations by the highway in the middle of nowhere. With disappointment in my stomach and satisfaction about the whole adventure we headed to the airport. Alexey Lapin, Yura Renov and our filmer Pasha Kryukov stayed in Thessaloniki a few more days and even got couple flicks that will probably make it into this article too. They enjoyed all great Greek food and drinks we didn’t have and got inspired by the local hospitality. No surprise they started talking about a big Greek trip for next November as soon as they came back home. Should we go to Greece this autumn or keep it to the Balkans one more time? I would say Balkans again. We got two more countries we haven’t skated yet!

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