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REVIVING A VOLCANO KEEPING DIY ALIVE
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#62
Contents
“...sure as sheep-shit the gnarly Australian just dropped in and launched himself over the gap.” Pg. 14 - KDC 2014
HERE: Dane Burman taking his own T-Shirt’s advice; pad-less and helmetless airwalk at KDC. PH. Grant McLachlan COVER: The Monster crew found a diamond in the rough for Matt Berger to kickflip fakie on. PH. Eric Palmer
8 Redial
12 KDC 2014
x: Left Field 24 Anton Rou gunners 2014: Young of s s a Cl 36 no of the Volca 50 Rebirth n Bowl the germisto 56 Back to vy 60 Closet En 64 Bizness
rd 66 Blackboa
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REDIAL Brendan Body
looking back to look ahead I remember being a young skater and wanting to enter contests and get sponsored, I think every kid who gets into skateboarding wants that in some way, it’s undeniable. We all had our idols from the videos when we were young and wanted to be like them. To try and live the life they did, make money, go on tours, get girls and skate all day. I remember being awake for most of the night before my first contest, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I would compare to the other dudes, because back then there were no local mags or videos to see what was going on in skateboarding. It was 1988 and ‘Look Ahead’ (a clothing shop inside Sandton City Mall) was holding a skate contest on a brand new 6ft mini ramp which was the best ramp I had ever seen, not like the ramps we had been learning on - it was perfect and made me want to skate the contest as hard as I could.
think. Sven won the ‘Junior A’ and I won the ‘Junior B’, I got sponsored by Look Ahead and won a ‘Paula Abdul and Fine Young Cannibals’ album as well as a Swatch watch, it was the best fucking day of my life, thus far. I just got back from the Kimberley Diamond Cup and could see the hunger in some of the younger dudes who currently rip, being shoulder to shoulder with your heroes must be pretty intimidating and when your two minute run is called and it’s your moment to put down what you got, the pressure is high. Those 2 minutes can turn into the longest 2 minutes of your life but can also be the 2 minutes that change your life forever. To take home a million bucks for first place nowadays is definitely something a lot of skateboarders are keen for, as well as all the other perks that come with it - proper sponsors, free travel, money and a way out of having to work for a living. What skateboarder wouldn’t want that? From what I saw at the contest there are definitely a handful of locals that could soon have their name on a board and be travelling the world next to the guys they have looked up to, the level is there.
...a way out of having to work for a living. What skateboarder wouldn’t want that?
1988 orange Converse, Yellow Shirted, Sven Impressing Backside Air. Bod’s first contest at Look Ahead Miniramp. Photo: Bod’s Dad
Brendan Body
Editor in Chief / advertising brendan@sessionmag.co.za
Adrian Henderson
Sub Editor / ART DIRECTION ad@sessionmag.co.za
Luke Jackson
Web Editor / Finance info@sessionmag.co.za
Clint van der Schyf
There were 2 divisions back then called ‘Junior A’ and ‘Junior B’, one for guys older than 15 and the other for guys below 15. At the time Sven Martin was the guy all skaters looked up to locally, I had grown up skating Cresta Bowls and Sven was the king of the place, everyone wanted to skate like him. For my final run at the contest he came up to me and said I could wear his helmet, as I didn’t have one. To this day I still don’t know why he did that but at 12 years old I was stoked nonetheless, it was a proper Pro Tech helmet from the states with rad skate stickers all over it that you couldn’t get here and it gave me more confidence I
Photographers:
Sam Clark, Jansen van Staden, Gavin Scott, Grant McLachlan, Andre Visser, Tim Moolman, Eric Palmer, Werner Lamprecht, Pablo Ponzone.
CONTRIBUTORS:
Brett Shaw, Daniel Miltiadou, Gavin Scott, Shane Robinson, Bod’s Dad.
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Although, remember that contests are not really what skateboarding is all about and shouldn’t count for shit when compared to real skateboarding. They are part of the ‘sporting’ aspect of skateboarding, just one of its many facets. However, at the end of the day THIS IS NOT SPORT.
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Kelvin Hoefler from Brazil skated so chilled. He ran down to celebrate with his homies as soon as he heard he’d won. They were psyched. Switch frontside blunt for Supersport.
CLARK
- - - photos: kdc and monster energy - - -
sessionmag.co.za | 13
T
he fact that I can’t go back to sleep is somewhat of a consolation. The sun is baking my face through the curtains as I lie sprawled on a blanket by the window - the only thing separating my body from the hard wooden floor. My mouth is more parched and cracked than a camel’s big hole and the sound of the hotel reception attempting to give my unofficial roommate a requested wake-up call is busy mining the tissue out of the space between my eyes and the fishpaste my brain turned into overnight. Given that I wasn’t paying to stay there and enjoy all the perks of a 5 star hotel, I decided that escaping the heat would be better done by seeking shade, beverages and air-conditioned ‘Special People’ tents on the actual event grounds. It is after all the reason I was in the middle of the country in the first place. I headed out the fire escape to remain undetected and strolled past the reception which was dotted with international pros, organisers and government officials. I mused upon how the powers-that-be were much more experienced and wisened to the ways of the skateboarders that descend into the heart of the Northern Cape each year. They’ve adapted. They’ve been discussing it, understanding, gathering information and planning. Making contingencies for the chaos that’s
become synonymous with the event. I greeted the security as I left with a squinting salute and they waved, still thinking I was a foreigner.
driven to the border and told not to return to the Northern Cape. As I was making my way off the premises, letters were being slid under every door regarding the use of marijuana, noting that police were staying at the hotel
to curb its usage. It wasn’t unreasonable but rather very polite and explanatory. But it seemed ironic that these were dropped a few hours before a car full of skaters were deported. And by deported I mean driven to the border and told not to return to the Northern Cape. Thank you, dankie, hamba! Being booted out of a province is quite an achievement. I mean, so you got kicked out of a bar? - that’s cute. These dudes got kicked out of a whole province. Considering the ‘wiling out’ coming from that vehicle and the shit-ton of marijuana in their possession, I was not at all surprised to hear how the police dealt with the matter. I’m not supporting the police on this, but the fact that homies weren’t stuck in a Kimberley jail cell until a pending court date is something to appreciate. However, what I don’t understand is how we can still classify something as illegal even though it has proven to actually save lives through its medicinal uses, while what in the actual fuck has alcohol ever saved? Why are we still allowing the unnecessary persecution of people for simply burning a bit of a plant every now and again? How many homies must we lose through alcohol-inflicted accidents before we relax on the alcohol obsession that has become instilled in us?
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CLARK
CLARK
Moses once again threw down a bunch of new things around the course this year but came unstuck in the heats again. One of these years everything will go right for him and he’ll walk away with more cash than he knows what to do with. Just a matter of time. 360 Shuvit with height and sunglasses.
LAMPRECHT sessionmag.co.za | 15
E
xcessive smoking does not lead to half as much shit as excessive alcohol consumption. When stoned, you wouldn’t end up in a situation where you are trying to defend yourself against an 8ft off-duty police officer called ‘The Bigshow’. I guarantee you that the skater who found himself in that situation was definitely not high. He got a shot in, right on The Bigshow’s chin - with a little help from his drinking buddy - but ultimately their proverbial asses were indeed kicked to the dusty curb and out of the event. Apologies to The Bigshow and organisers were needed for them to return to the site the next day, and no hard feelings were harboured between either the skaters or security. However, had those fools been high, there would not have been any hard feelings to begin with. More than likely, there paths wouldn’t have crossed and if they did it would be a pleasant and friendly exchange. Also, a local drug-dealer got accidentally robbed by two drunk skaters. They snatched his bag of pills as he tried to sell some to them and when he wanted it back, shirts came off and the challenge laid down, “You want them? Come get them.” He bolted. Straight up bailed, leaving his merchandise to be tossed into the bushes. Although, this drunk-ass behaviour might have inadvertently been a good deed, saving a few kids from rushing their tits off that night.
I guarantee you that the skater who found himself in that situation was definitely not high. there were now completely destroyed. He returned later with some crutches and in good spirits. Mr Retief wasn’t letting this sprankle ruin his weekend, discarding his crutches in favour of the Sprankle Shuffle, but that foot went all kinds of colours over the next 2 days. While I
won’t divulge any of the tricks he used to fight off the pain, I will impart one thing Pieter proves time and again - don’t let injuries stop your missions. Deal. Similarly, we witnessed Sam Beckett hang up on a footplant on the extensions of the vert ramp. His front truck hooked and he disappeared down the transition, head first. As he slid across the flat, returning to our view, his face was contorted sideways, his lips trembling and his eyes rolling back. The dude was out cold for at least 3 minutes. It was gnarley as fuck, but he skated the comp on Sunday nonetheless. And he made that footplant. Helmets aren’t a joke at that level. In school, we hated sports because we skated. That was the way it was back then. We didn’t go out looking to poes other people because they weren’t like us. That’s what the jocks did. We didn’t go to big events and make a whole big deal about how sick it was and who was there because we never cared. The jocks did that. This year in Kimberley, I got the distinct feeling that we are now the jocks of today. I started to feel like there was no point to everything skateboarding used to stand for and was built upon. Like what the fuck was I even doing trying to continue the ideals I held true as a young ‘skaterling’ while keeping an Instgram feed up-to-date and siphoning information out of people with which to create this article. I smoked a lot of weed to ignore those feelings, but there were a few things that restored my faith in skateboarding that weekend.
MCLACHLAN
Pieter Retief thought he’d broken his foot when he missed a Texas flip over the rail and came down on it wrong. The medics didn’t have any painkillers, or crutches for him at all and just got some gauze to wrap it. We helped him to
grab a seat, but 20 minutes later Wandile was driving him to the hospital to get it seen to. Pieter was leaving that Sunday for a Euro trip and any thoughts he had of skating
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MACLACHLAN
ABOVE: Nassim Guammaz was an instant crowd favourite. He got this 50-50 up every go. FAR LEFT: Alexis Sablone and the kickflip 50-50 that unhinged several jaws in the Women’s Street Finals.
MCLACHLAN
LEFT: Tom Remillard just had fun doing the dorkiest tricks he could think of. For scale, he even asked Sam Clark what he should do mid-run. Sam suggested a boneless and meant for it to be done up or down the euro gap, Tom boosted it out of the quarter and down the Big four instead.
sessionmag.co.za | 17
F
irst, was seeing Dane Burman standing at the top of the Mini Mega, completely padless. His board was in the drop-in position and I thought, “Not-A-Fuck is he going to do that”. But sure as sheep-shit the gnarly Australian just dropped in and launched himself over the gap. It took a few attempts but he proceeded to land an airwalk over it. He reminded me that there are still those few psychos willing to scare themselves shitless for the stoke of rolling away from the ‘impossible’. The second was the contest held on Sunday for the SA dudes. Although, whatever-the-fuck happened during that contest, it definitely did NOT work. It felt like I watched a couple of dudes skate, a couple of dudes
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there are still those few psychos willing to scare themselves shitless for the stoke of rolling...
miss all their tricks and then a completely different set of dudes were awarded cash. Each skater had only ONE 3 minute heat, in the middle of the day (like 35 degrees with no wind) and that counted for 2 separate contests – Juniors (under 16) and SA Open Street. And then they gave a cheque to some Brazilian dude who was skating the SA Street division, I don’t even know why? Was he just skating against himself? I listened to the MCs and followed everything and I was still completely confused by the end of it. The only conclusion we could draw was that the SA contest may as well not even exist at the ‘World Championships’. It’s like dudes were lured there to skate this big comp and win some shit but then they wanted to get us out the way as fast as possible.
PALMER clark
clark
CLARK
ABOVE: This was arguably the best thing done this year. With full speed, a super quick pop up and photographers at the ready, Phil Zwijsen Frontside 180’s the entire hubba to flat.
clark
clark
TOP RIGHT: Dlamini snapping his board at the start of his qualifier run almost put everyone in tears. He was on form ‘til that Front Feeble. He should have done the Switch one straight up.
sessionmag.co.za | 19
MACLACHLAN CLARK 20 | sessionmag.co.za
G
irl skaters... SO many. They were one hell of a breath of fresh air. It was like an alien species had invaded the plaza. Dudes were seriously bugging out over how solid these ladies were charging, especially Samarria Brevard who won it. When Alexis Sablone slammed on a flip FS 50-50 attempt, I could almost hear the jaws dropping. She got up from that with hellfire burning in her eyes and fucken nailed it the very next go. SA’s Mel Williams ended the weekend with a ridiculously huge swellbow from slamming repeatedly the same way, but her stoke was inescapable. Over the weekend she managed to plan a trip from CT to JBay with Elissa Steamer... “I’m going surfing with Elissa fucking Steamer dude! What the fuck!?” That is Mel’s year (possibly life) MADE right there.
She got up from that with hellfire burning in her eyes
PALMER
The fourth thing was Damian Bramley making the Mini Mega gap and a HUGE backside air out the quarter to complete the line. I was seriously too hyped for that 14yo. Long gone were the irritating kid days we had endured from him since he became a regular at the plaza. His attempts to stick the line on Saturday for a brief time led me to begging Neil Hendrix and the course organiser for “just one more go, he’s got this!” but to no avail. We laughed about it. It’s a common question from skaters, but rarely is it asked of a skater. Their schedule didn’t allow them to budge off course. The schedule rules the event and not the skateboarding, but Damian made it clean on the Sunday just before the Best Trick contest went down. Everyone was shouting for the little dude: pros, ams, organisers and spectators alike. It was pure and simple, individually driven progression.
LEFT: Trey Wood’s dad just flys around with him to all the contests. I’d totally do the same if my kid was such a consistent machine. He’s barely hit puberty and chargers harder than the geezers. Mega 540. BOTTOM LEFT: Clay Kreiner was one of Damian’s room-mates when the kid was up at Woodward recently and it was super rad that he made the trip out on his own. Damian was hella amped. Clay flew out to SA on his own budget and proceeded to float higher than anyone on the vert ramp.These Stalefishes were the perfect example.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Jacques Allison took the SA Vert title with an assortment of tricks, consistently hitting all the walls with something different. The fully locked invert was a definite highlight.
MACLACHLAN
RIGHT: PLG seriously has the most tricks on a ramp. Andy Mac has a huge bag too but PLG’s just have the flavour. I think this Method Air came out once or twice but every time it was tweaked waaaaay past 12 o’clock.
CLARK MACLACHLAN
MACLACHLAN
ABOVE: One small gap for Vert Kind, one giant backflip for Woman Kind. INSET: The SA Champion Brandon Valjalo lipsliding his way to 2 checks for 1 run.
We all have our place. We all have our contributions.
We don’t really need skate contests or big events, BUT, they do help us a shitload. I would not have seen any of this had it not been for Monster Energy SA taking us up and fitting the bill so we could cover the contest. They wouldn’t be spending on the event at all if skateboarding wasn’t a big enough deal. Marola wouldn’t be paying
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MACLACHLAN
for his baby’s upbringing with his contest winnings and Moses wouldn’t have ever got to the states. We, the skateboarders, are the direct beneficiaries of these commercial relationships. For all the ‘woulds’, ‘coulds’, ‘should haves’ and opinions, the KDC is pushing on as a world standard in skateboarding competitions. They are building relationships in the areas that skateboarders are rarely able to – big business, governments and corporations. And while doing this, they are putting people like Mark Waters, Chinner and Wandile in positions of empowerment, so that they can implement the things skateboarders do need. We aren’t being bullshitted. Their intentions are the development of skateboarding for those that have not been exposed to it, while our focus is on the existing culture of skateboarding. We all have our place. We all have our contributions. We are all strengthening and sharing skateboarding and that’s fucking great actually. It doesn’t help me smoke any less weed, and the camel’s big hole will always be hot, dry and dusty, but everything has its place and reason. Kimberley, for all the retarded reasons we’ve complained about since its inception, definitely IS a good place for skateboarders in South Africa.
END
MACLACHLAN
L
astly, the thing that really convinced me to not entirely give up on skateboarding was talking to the actual skaters. Their attitudes towards these events is worth conveying for the simple reason that you ‘the reader’ are not part of the general public - you have some understanding of skateboarding. Therefore, when I give contests shit and say that the majority of the skaters that flew down were not here to skate the plaza, I trust that you understand I am being facetious. If you watched Tom Remillard skate the contest, you could see the blatant disregard of seriousness. He just fucked around and had fun. All these skaters were on holiday. It wasn’t about some Championship where they’re trying to beat Nyjah or win millions. Yeah that is a possibility if you skate well when it counts, but seriously, the jokes about being in SA and everything being paid for were flying around in full effect. Skateboarding does make a good show, don’t get me wrong, but skaters understand where these contests stand in the greater scheme of things.
lamprecht
RIGHT: Andy Mac attack over the Mini Mega gap. 360 Heelflip Frontside Grab.
CLARK sessionmag.co.za | 23
WORDS AD Henderson PHOTOS Andre Visser
HERE: We always seem to find these random one-off boat mould spots in this area. When we came across this, Anton just wanted to blunt fakie it. It’s kind of his trick and he had been looking for a blunt photo spot. With a real estate agency board, some red appliance tape, a couple of bandages and stones we got the run up sorted and he was good to go. The following week the mould was gone.
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We don’t ask Anton to try land anything twice anymore. He will slam - hard and often - but it always seems far worse when he is trying something again for the better angle or because he did it first go and no one filmed it. We have learnt to shut up, set up and start recording, because it’s damn-near impossible to predict where this kid is going... On a board, or otherwise.
sessionmag.co.za | 25
I couldn’t really do all the tricks the other guys were doing so I just started going faster.
Closed for what!? This is the first Smith grind Anton has done up anything. Ever.
T
he local park is usually where the new blood get their introduction to skateboarding, but for many in SA, that’s not the case. That shitty pavement spot, the concrete of the car dealership or the bricks outside the municipal building are our training grounds, far more often than not. Add some of the worst wind conditions and a farm, there you have Anton’s early skateboarding environment. His father bought his first board for him when he was around 13. It cost R20, was obtained from a hobo and sold on for R110 to one of my mates at the time – something I only just found out. Anton got an old fishtail complete with rails and noseguards in the exchange and started out where most of us did, trying with all our might to get that heavy piece of shit off the ground. At the end of Grade 7, that holiday, we got new neighbours from Namibia and their son had one of these Pick ‘n Pay boards. We shared that board the whole holiday, skating on the concrete floor of this abandoned sawmill we had found. For my birthday the following year I got a Red
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board from Mr Price with this graphic I was SO stoked on. We started skating a lot more then and met other guys around the area to skate with. We’d link up at the Post Office every Friday and go to skate The Rink every so often.
We shared that board the whole holiday, skating on the concrete floor of this abandoned sawmill The Rink, otherwise known as Smoothies, has been a skate spot in our area for as long as I can remember. We would take boxes and rails down there regularly but more often than not, things would be built, sessioned and either stolen or destroyed. It was in a constant state of change. After a lot of us moved away
for college or work, there was a need for something to get the younger skate community together. This arrived in the form of Boland Skateboarding and the ramps that they got built and left at The Rink, holding regular comps on them. This would have been great had they not expected everyone to join a club, pay membership fees, pay to skate and basically formalise skateboarding. We weren’t having any of it and subsequently shunned The Rink and anything to do with the organisation. For the kids in the area however, it served as a platform from which to grow their skateboarding. The first time we went to The Rink there wasn’t much there, but the second time was actually the first Boland Skateboarding comp. I remember boardsliding the concrete barrier and being so stoked. It was the highest thing I’d ever done anything on. I got amped on that first comp feeling – just charging and seeing what happens. I placed fourth or something I think. We started skating there a lot more because of the new obstacles after that.
The session this photo was taken we got kicked out before he could get the 50-50 land. It was pitch black and he had nothing but a cellphone light to see where to pop. He ollied clean into the bank and rode it out. We almost just left it like that, but we’ve since gone back to get the footage of the BS 50-50. Antontjie doesn’t fuck-around.
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B
y Grade 9 I didn’t want to be at the farm anymore. I just wanted to be out in the streets or at The Rink. Those comps were happening and I got the urge to win I guess. I couldn’t really do all the tricks the other guys were doing so I just started going faster. I couldn’t ollie high either so I’d just go fast and win the longest ollie or whatever I could so I could also get free shit.
because of those comps. I was also skating the rink A LOT! My mom would drop me there at 6:30 AM on the way to work. I’d skate the whole day, not eat, just drink water and then she’d pick me up at 6 PM on the way back. I’d get home, eat, shower, sleep and do it all again. I did that for weeks. I just always felt like if I skated more then I’d get better, if I sat around I wasn’t going anywhere. That’s how it worked.
At that time there were 3 crews in our area: our Strand High group of friends, the Oak Road crew and this other crew. The Oak road crew had a bunch of obstacles in Oak Road and a halfpipe. One of our friends also had a halfpipe in his garden. I remember when we first went down Oak Road and saw these other dudes skating. They had a palette box type thing there as a manny pad and the first thing I wanted to do was ollie it. So I just ollied it, and everyone just went quiet. Like, I stunned them I think. Nobody even clapped. Haha. They all thought I was good because I just charged but everyone could do more tricks than me, so I felt like I sucked. It was weird. That’s when I met Gerald ‘Gee’ Makalane and we started missioning around. I remember Grade 9 was like my ultimate year in that I skated and won so many comps. My competitive side sort of came out
That was and still is how it works. If you’re out skating, not just sitting at the spot but actually skating, then you are progressing. Even if it feels miniscule, the consistency trains your muscles to land more often and it gives you the confidence to get away with more. Antontjie found this out and maintains it to this day. His sheer determination to stay on the board became excitingly apparent. In those earlier days we’d see him landing kickflips to rock in the worst possible way, arms everywhere, board bouncing and weaving down the transition, but he stayed on! It was horrible and absolutely inspiring all at the same time. He also never came across as bothered about who was there or who wasn’t, whether friends wanted to skate or not. To us he seemed to be on his own path entirely. But obviously, homies and crews do play a pretty big role in all our lives.
if I skated more then I’d get better, if I sat around I wasn’t going anywhere.
The infamous Stellenbosch campus rail was Anton’s first actual handrail session. As he was skating trying this Tailslide Fakie, another ‘skate-mentor’ from a few years back happened to walk past the spot. ‘I hadn’t seen Stiaan in maybe 2 years and all of sudden he’s there. I learnt a shitload from him when we skated together. I got all amped that he was there and landed it that very next go.’
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I
n 2010 everything kind of fucked out in terms of skateboarding. My friend moved to New Zealand and a bunch of the dudes we skated with just stopped altogether. The few of us left would session but eventually it was just my younger brother Johann, Gerald and me. We just carried on skating with whoever was amped. What I think of as sort of a highlight of my life so far happened around that time. I’d kind of started hearing guys say, “yeah he’s good” but I never wanted to take it in. Like, whatever, I’m not good, I can do better. But that was the younger guys, the guys my age, the older dudes like AJ Wilmore, Wian Olivier and Visser were saying something completely different. They were saying, “yeah he’s good, but he doesn’t have any style”. My brother told me that. So I figured, well OK, now I have to get style somehow and that was the next thing to figure out. And again, the only thing I could think of to ‘get style’ was to go even faster than before… Despite the rural beginnings of the sawmill’s flat-ground, The Rink is certainly where Anton started to go very much faster than anyone… including ourselves. He did have a sketchy style and questionable trick selection, but the
LEFT: After moving the couches and tables out the way of the run-up; making friends with the store owners; patiently waiting for EVERYONE and their aunty to use the ATM; and then snapping his board, Anton finally got the Bigspin on AD’s 8.4” board and not the usual 8” Elements he rides courtesy of Tristan Bellingan.
speed and slams made up for it. All of sudden he was expelling an energy into the sessions that we were all feeding off. Visser was the one who decided that this kid needed some help and told us he was going to get him out shooting to see what would happen.
Like the Nosebonk BS 180 – I’d never done that on anything before... I started seeing a lot more of you guys. I’d see Andre a lot but wouldn’t talk to him at all. When he got there I’d just sit down and watch him skate, to try learn from him. At that time I felt like I was on an edge, like I couldn’t progress anymore. There wasn’t anyone who wanted to skate the stuff I wanted to skate. Every time I’d go to The Shed in Stellenbosch I would see all these dudes on another level who could do actual tricks, where as I could only go fast and do ollies and kickflips. I remember wanting to
skate with you okes because I felt that was the only way I could get better. Then one Friday I drove past The Rink on the way home from school and Andre and everyone else was there. I got back home, called Gee and was like, “we have to go now!” No money, no lift, nothing. I didn’t care if we had to skate there. Gee was like, “nah it’s waaaay too far” but told me to come to his place and we could maybe catch a ride with someone going that way from his complex. As we got there, the very first car we approached gave us a lift. I’d just got new shoes a week before and had that fresh feeling so I was so amped. Then we got there and everyone had left. I was so bummed. Haha. I thought, we had ‘missed our chance’ kind-of-thing because I really wanted to skate with them. So we just skated the afternoon and then they came back! I was already super tired, but I just got amped to skate with them and that’s when Visser came up to ask me about shooting an ‘I Am’. It was definitely a highlight. We shot a blunt finger flip that day on the barrier thing and that’s basically when I started rolling with everyone.
HERE: This 50-50 transfer was the perfect find and a perfect example of why not to ask Anton to do things twice. Sure we could have got better timing on the photo but he made it first and second go, SO clean. The 3rd, 4th and 5th attempts however all sucked as he slammed on every one. Jammer Antontjie.
sessionmag.co.za | 31
I don’t care if my first rails are the biggest... I’ll learn.
F
or all the nostalgia that these words reek of, it has been exactly a year since Anton became a regular on our sessions and got his ‘I Am’ photo with the frontside flip down the Paul Roos double set (Issue 56). His first real ‘rail session’ was on the notorious Stellenbosch campus rail, the one Pieter Retief Texas flipped. When kids here think of rails, that’s the one they talk about because it’s arguably the best we have in the area. Anton’s first session on it was just with Visser - nobody else skating. In 45 minutes he got 50-50, 5-0, Smith, Nosegrind and FS Tailslide. It sparked talk of this very interview and he and Visser have been shooting for the last 7/8 months. He’s been setting the bar higher and higher with each session lately, but it definitely didn’t start out like that. At first the spots Visser took me to were all kind of ’his spots’. More technical spots, whereas I wanted the biggest spots we could find. That’s when we started just shooting ollies off big things and over big gaps. But then he kind of stopped shooting with me… He was almost ignoring me in a way (laughs). I felt so shit about it that I thought, “OK, I better learn some new tricks!” The thing is though, that I never learnt tricks because I’d thought of them beforehand and practiced them. I’d go to spots and see the trick I wanted to do right
32 | sessionmag.co.za
there. I’d learn it right there. I didn’t need to have done the trick on flat before I landed it on something. Like the Nosebonk BS 180 – I’d never done that on anything before, but at the spot it seemed like the best thing to do. I still pretty much do that, but I’ve kind of started trying to get certain things down before taking them to bigger things. Especially rails.
Everything is so temporary, even that feeling of the land is temporary. When compared to how I came to know skateboarding, it seems like this ‘hobbie’ has grown wings, jumped the nest, and is currently flying over its predecessors, sporadically shitting on their heads by way of gnarlier and more technical skating than was ever previously imagined. Save for a few dudes around the country, nobody really has had this approach to rails since Marola and Christi Wiehahn destroyed every rail they could find, circa 2002-2005. There was a slow-period where things
started stagnating. The desire to push not only personal, but also skateboarding’s, boundaries seemed to just disappear from South African skateboarding altogether. So it really did surprise us to find that Anton wanted to charge harder than anything we were used to. I had never really skated rails, or rather I’d never had the chance to because they are so hard to find. And if you did find one, you wanted at least a small crew with you to go hit it, but it was hard to motivate a crew to go visit this huge thing that nobody else wants to skate except for me. It’s not like I wanted to prove anything to them, I just realised that pain only lasts so long. It goes away. Everything is so temporary, even that feeling of the land is temporary. I don’t care if my first rails are the biggest we’ve got, I’ll try even bigger! I’ll learn. Because I want to look back and say, “Yeah, I conquered that - for myself and nobody else”. It’s easy to forget that the only competitor you need to worry about is yourself. When all is said and done and there isn’t a bone left to break, when you can’t stand or let alone tic-tac to the corner store, when the wheels have truly fallen off and all you’re left with is old videos, magazines and memories - no brand will be there saying, “Hey, remember when you did that? Remember how it felt? Remember the struggle?” No, you’ll have all those
SEQUENCE: Ever skated a hairpin mountain pass? Ever done a Nosebonk BS 180? Anton hadn’t either. BELOW: The pop out over the pavement is far harder than Anton makes it look. Boardslide pop out with pace.
memories in your head and the question of whether or not you reached your potential will be entirely answered through what you remember. How many times did you back away from an idea because you were scared? How far did you go to better yourself as a skateboarder and as a human being? The money, winnings, recognition, celebrations and even friends will fade away very quickly, but the satisfaction that you pushed yourself further than you thought possible will set your mind at rest far more than any material thing skateboarding can provide - especially sponsorship. It really doesn’t mean shit. So you get free stuff and some money maybe, if you’re lucky or suck a few dicks, but all it really does is associate your skating with a brand image. There are all of 2/3 skate companies in SA that let their skaters drive the brand, rather than the brand driving the skaters. So all one achieves once getting sponsored is some free shit and a contract… Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. It’s this outlook that has me wanting to film and skate with Anton more than anyone else. He doesn’t ask for more than he needs, he doesn’t need much to get by, and he doesn’t need to talk about what he has or doesn’t have… All he wants and all he needs is to get out, find new things and overcome challenges in his path. That is the essence of skateboarding and I am so fucking grateful that Antontjie is keeping that bonfire well and truly lit. END
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ANTON ROUX. BACKSIDE NOSESLIDE. PH. VISSER
co fl a2 0s1 s4 Daniel Miltiadou
TINO PETERSEN
ethan cairns
KARl STOFFBERG
DAVID SHIFFMAN
martin STOFFBERG
brian hartell
john ManyaLa
TYLER KAMMIES
cakeboi Barnard
alessandro burzacchi
alistair LINKS
DAMIAN BRAMLEY
the young gunners of today words by brendan body, gavin scott, Adrian henderson, werner lamprecht & luke jackson PHOTOgraphy by gavin scott, werner lamprecht, jansen van staden, andre visser & eric palmer
DAMIAN
BRAMley HUGE backside grab
w
hen I got to KDC this year I spent the first half an hour or so watching some of the vert pros get used to the ramp. Every couple of runs this little kid would drop in amongst them and do a long backside carve on the first wall, pumping as hard as he could, then launch into a 3ft+ backside air on the second wall and then into a 5ft backside air on the third wall. I thought he was pretty decent and was getting some decent airtime for a kid whose board is almost as big as him. At first I thought maybe he’s one of the pros’ younger brothers or something just along for the ride but then AD was like, “Have you seen that Damian Bramley kid skate vert? He also wants to make the mini mega gap!”
palmeR
Vert in South Africa has been pretty much dead since the early 90s, except for a few die-hard guys keeping it alive up in JHB at the Midrand Ramp. Watching Damian skate vert and getting to where he is in such a short space of time is rad. The 14yo doesn’t give a damn about the cool kids or the latest fashion trends in skateboarding, there he was wearing his favourite O’Neil surf T shirt, some cargo shorts which look like he lives in them and a pair of thrashed out skate shoes covered in ramp-skin burns and shredded laces - he couldn’t give a damn about all that stuff. I saw him make the mega ramp gap for the first time that weekend and pop a 8ft backside air on the 18ft quarter... All I can say is, SA Vert skateboarding, here comes Damian Bramely. -Bod
sessionmag.co.za | 37
DANIEL
MILTIADOU Towed in wallride
karl
stoffberg Lofted Backside Flip
H
e’s the kid I saw growing up in my mom’s nursery school and now he’s a dude I skate with on most weekends. A man of few words, Kyle’s skating does the talking for him. Clean and consistent are words to describe his style. His approach to skating differs from his peers and he’s a pleasure to watch. Certainly a name to remember for the future. -Werner
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W
hile trying to shoot this photo, a car with four sketchy looking guys pulled into the driveway and blocked the run up, but before the driver could even get out the car Danny was at the window telling them they were in the way. His proactive approach gets things done (check the volcano DIY article). He’s good on street and he’s pushing the local level of tranny and bowl skating, which is fresh to see. - Gav
SCOTT LAMPRECHT sessionmag.co.za | 39
brian
hartell locked noseslide
P LAMPRECHT
art of Pretoria’s newer generation of skaters, Brian has been progressing his skating slowly but surely. Sporting dreads and preferring heelflips to kickflips, Brian has a loose style and a very chilled attitude. He has a good range of tricks, such as the Manny Santiago inspired varial heel 50-50 down ledges. He also drives a 1400 bakkie with only 3 working gears.
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- Werner
LINKS mini kicker BS 180
B
Our ramp days subsided as we all headed off in different directions for college and work but I remember seeing him again a year or so down the line and now the kid was skating the 6ft extension more than the 4ft side of the ramp. The melon fakies he was popping were getting higher and higher. I realised then that this skate rat just wanted to fly. Hang-time seemed to be his greatest thrill and with the bad pubescent style abating, his skating was something to talk about.
There’s been a large gap between that realisation around 2009 and the inclusion of this kid on our sessions this year. The only thing that’s changed is his height, the tone of his voice, his pop and his repertoire of tricks. Watching him launch over the highest shit we can find has been both heavily inspiring and solidly humbling. “After everyone disappeared, me and a friend would be the only ones skating anywhere. I skated by myself a hell of a lot, but it’s just not the same trying to push yourself on your own. I couldn’t ever really stop completely though... it’s like crack!” - Alistair I am prettyy hyped that this skate rat stuck with it because skateboarding needs more dudes who arrive at whatever spot and are determined to get something. No excuses, not too serious, just amped to charge. This is Alistair Links Harley and he’s only just getting started. - AD
VISSER
alistair
ack in our Radloff half-pipe days around 2006/7 a certain curly-haired kid began showing up religiously. Every time we got to the ramp he’d be there. He’d hang out as late as possible, pumping back and forth and trying to pop ollies to fakie. After a couple months the ollies started hovering around coping level and a few basic tricks had been added to his carefree ‘beginners’ bag of tricks.
sessionmag.co.za | 41
I PETERSEN TINO
flaired out no-comply
’m very much a fan of the weird, obscure and different; and Tino’s skating is all of that bum-rushed into another dimension. He was doing finger-flips, natas spins, one-foot manual things and no comply tricks before he even knew what they were; let alone before they became so prevalent in today’s skateboarding. Tino is a skateboarder’s skateboarder – someone who does not give a fuck about your industry, your standards or your judgement. He pumps and bumps to his own tune and only those lucky enough to skate with him out on the streets will truly understand the genius of Master Artist Tino. But if you think his skating is bananas, wait ‘til you see the comics he has created…
ethan
cairns
-AD
Thibault kickflip
W
wanted to do a line and second or third go he landed it. It wasn’t heavy; just a kickflip there, pop up there, frontside flip off, but I saw his talent shining through then. Whereas before he was just another hopeful, that day I noticed that maybe this kid was someone to look out for. Fast forward to this past Kimberley event and you would have seen this 11 year old feeble grinding the big handrail and skating super
consistently alongside his team members in the Little Rascals. He has since joined the 20sk8 massive and that support is pushing him even harder. He’s good at being competitive – both in contests and on the streets; which means he will shortly become a reckoning force amongst the new breed of SA skaters coming up. - AD
VAN STADEN
hen I stayed in Muizenberg about 18 months ago, I met a whole crew of kids who had a few obstacles we would skate in their complex. Ethan Cairns along with Charl Manasse, were most certainly the stand outs of the bunch; but Ethan was also the most driven. I distinctly remember skating with them in the parking lot and filming some of their tricks for fun. Ethan said he
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VAN STADEN sessionmag.co.za | 43
LAMPRECHT
STOFF- H BERG martin
horizontal stalefish 44 | sessionmag.co.za
ailing from Durban, Martin is a part of a new breed of SA transition rippers. He charges any tranny he can find, so obviously he was suited up and traversing the vert ramp at KDC this year. I watched him skating with SA Vert OG’s Jacques Allison and Werner du Plessis, asking them things, learning. Vert is somewhat new to him so he’s making use of every chance he gets to ride a ramp. And if his concrete destruction is anything to go by, we can’t wait to see how he charges in the next few years. - AD
VAN STADEN
D SHIFFDAVID
MAN powerslide pop
avid Shiffman is a new face to most. However, he has been lurking around the Cape Town skateboarding scene for ages. He’s been a regular lurker at Baseline for several years, eventually becoming an intern and occasionally filling in during a staff shortage. A lot of the kids he used to lurk (and roll) with have moved on and stopped skateboarding but David is more determined (and skilled) and stuck with it. He is in Matric at Camps Bay High, an establishment that allows pupils to skate on school property during
breaks. David is always on the mission, with whoever else is keen. But that’s what makes you a true skateboarder, keep turning up and keep trying rather than fading with trends. He takes a more creative approach and is adaptable to whatever one can find in the city. Powerslide, no-comply, boneless and pole jam – the staples of a modern day inner-city street skateboarder. David does them all. - Luke sessionmag.co.za | 45
brandon
CAKE BOI Barnard
short run-up ollie, to drop again
B
randon Barnard AKA Cake Boi. The Meneer. He’s loud and likes to charge. Thanks to his older brother (Jarryd), he’s been schooled from a young age and is no stranger to the game. Besides taking a homemade cake to the face when he turned 18, he also took a head-first slam on one of these attempts, shook it off and then put it down. This is the Meneer. - Gav
alessandro
burzacchi wallstain BS 180
T
his fucking kid is a total Pile. He’ll just smoke my entjies, steal my tricks and complain about how everyone is just fucking up skateboarding. He doesn’t wait for pedestrians to get out the way, fuck no, he skates through them. He claims he’s half Italian or something but I’m pretty sure that’s just to excuse his terrible behaviour. I mean, he’s the guy that started SiffTape… His nickname is Kotssaki – which basically means PukeBag. He’s actually thrown up at the spot on 3 separate occasions, this year alone.
46 | sessionmag.co.za
But the great thing about a Pile in general is that they go where others won’t. They look at a spot sideways and find those nooks and crannies that most wouldn’t. I’m hella hyped that this fellow Pile went back and got this wallride 180 so we can include at least one complete degenerate to this list of new faces. Mealies and peas on your shoes! - AD
VISSER
SCOTT sessionmag.co.za | 47
VAN STADEN
I KAMMIES TYLER Impossible
tend to ignore dudes under a certain height these days. As you get older it gets harder to deal with younger kids. Tyler wasn’t ever one of those kids, but he is way below that height. However, his capabilities on a board are simply a pleasure to watch. Under the guidance of 20sk8’s Shuaib Philander and Ghetto Royalty’s MJ Johnson, this kid is building a solid style and a definitive
SGT. john
Manyala hubba tailslide 48 | sessionmag.co.za
bag of tricks. We’ve wanted him in the mag for a while, even getting Grant McLachlan to go try shoot a photo with him before school on deadline 2 issues ago, but I think it’s been worth the wait. If he is going to evolve all his tricks like he did to this 3Shuv turned Impossible, then holy crap we’re going to see some amazing things happening below those tiny feet. -AD
S
gt got his name for apparently looking like a cop. I’m not so sure about upholding the law, but I know he has a good bag of tricks, is amped to skate anything and is generally one of the dudes who is always putting it down at the spot. - Gav
SCOTT sessionmag.co.za | 49
Sven Martin - Backside Ollie
T
he Volcano sits in an area called Fourways in Johannesburg. It’s across the road from the Fourways High School, inside a kid’s play park and has been there for over 25 years. It’s an iconic SA spot and one of the first local DIY parks ever built. It was originally built as a waterslide for the kids in the area but with very little water ever seeing it, local skater Michael Burrill got the council to do the conversion from waterslide to skate park in 1989.
words by brendan body & daniel miltiadou PHOTOgraphy by gavin scott (new) & SHayne robinson (oLD)
sessionmag.co.za | 51
T
he locals back then were all Fourways skaters and included dudes like William Amaseder, Shannon Blankfield, Darron Gregor, Alex Rippel and Michael Burrill. Guys like Sven Martin, Eben Combrinck, Brad Napier, Jono Shales and some other JHB locals also made appearances now and then but it always had a heavy ‘locals only’ presence. It’s had various changes made to it at different stages over the years, some included a quarter pipe and hip sitting on the left of the ‘roll in’ bank which was rad, only later to be broken down and replaced with a crappy concrete half pipe and some sketchy rail bars on the opposite side. However, recently Daniel Miltiadou and a handful of JHB locals took to the challenge and solidified the Volcano into one of the best DIY spots Johannesburg has on offer. We caught up with Daniel to find out what they have been up to. - Bod
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Mike Burrill Method Grab
Foreman Daniel Frontside Air
Brett Wolmarens gets Inverted
sessionmag.co.za | 53
Trae Rice Frontside Hurricane
The whole DIY project started off when Cake Boi and myself were keen to do some DIY with this pole we had found.
W
e went around looking for spots to build a pole jam, but we couldn’t find or think of anything so we decided ‘fuck it’, we are just going to build it at the Volcano. After we built the pole jam we built a bank, to land into from the jam. By this time my girlfriend’s dad Mike, who owns a building company, had taken interest in the project and wanted to help us build more. From there the park started expanding a lot quicker due to all the help we had from
54 | sessionmag.co.za
our homies and Mike’s builders. The builders have also been teaching us the right techniques and that has been useful. The building has been going on for about eight months, but not continuously because we have had lack of funds and have been taking time out to skate other shit. Money has been an issue but we have been able to have fundraisers at different pubs and our homies and parents have been helping us along the way. Shout out to the Vé.G squad, SSS, The Building Company, Mike Cardoso and all the other goons who have helped and are still helping us complete the job! #bitchesluhdisshit - Daniel Miltiadou
Miltiadou Madonna sessionmag.co.za | 55
PODIUM Jams, Events & Contests
back to the bowl! germiston bowlriders CONTEST RETURNs TO ITS RAW ROOTS. AUTHOR PHOTOS:
Brett Shaw Tim Moolman
GERMISTON, JHB On the way to ‘get some’ at this year’s Germiston bowl riders, we were listening to Ozzy in my station wagon and right before we got there “Paranoid” came on. So as we rolled into the parking lot Ozzy enquired, “can you help me, occupy my brain?” Why yes Ozzy, we can. So with metal riffs running through our veins we approached one of our most sacred skate spots, ready for anything. The oddly cool thing about Germiston bowl is that nobody cared that the DJ was wearing a Tap Out T-shirt, camo army pants and white Oakleys. I think Steven even cut his board in half for the trophies because I didn’t see him skate and the dude that looked like Manny Santiago is now my new best friend.
There were these ghetto portable loo’s that were so covered in human feces that when you stepped inside it was like being an alpine turd skier, it was so terrible that chicks were peeing behind the toilets up against the wall, prison style. Terry ‘Caveman’ Sherman came straight from work (he’s a motorbike mechanic), he was so amped that he didn’t even change. He just rocked his blue mechanic pants with no T-shirt. When I asked him what wheels he was riding, he pointed at some dude and said, “they are that guy’s wheels” and then he pointed at another lurker and said, “the trucks are his”. Terry just brought a deck, he borrowed everything else. He also killed it, then he told Dave that he was stoked he never
Chicks were peeing behind the toilets up against the wall, prison style. “Kalvyn ‘Tink’ Macmillan was light and nimble and did the most ridiculous stalefish air head high.” 56 | sessionmag.co.za
made the final because he had to leave early so he could DJ at a trance party. Germiston is a magnet for odd individuals so I knew Kev Love would be there at some stage, he arrived there with GL and another cat who somehow managed to break a raw egg in his Canon 7d’s bag. I was very excited to see what would unfold. It also made me feel safe that we had some kind of a doctor on tap because I couldn’t see a medic tent. Kev never let us down and in true form he reprimanded a spectator for smashing a quartz bottle in the deep end of the bowl after ‘Young Will’ landed a 5-foot roast beef.
Spring 2014 | Audio Visual Skateboarding Video Magazine | Issue 24
Exposure 24.1
Spot Check Volcano Field Trip Cons - JHB Dream Take Two Khule Ngubane Weekend Cloudy Brothers Plus Bonus Footage
www.avskateboarding.tv • shop.avskateboarding.tv Advertising, Sales Information and Contributors > Email: info@avskateboarding.tv or go to www.avskateboarding.tv
PODIUM Jams, Events & Contests
Yip no lie, you read that right, a roast beef air to flat and you know what, I cheered as hard as the guy next to me because it was beautiful to see that you can still be yourself. It looks like Will Twala has handed the baton over to ‘Young Will’ because he blew everyone’s mind. He almost got a Unit (Tim explained to me that a Unit is a 540 foot plant? I always thought it was the name for that trick Mike V does). I missed them all so I’ll go on Tim’s word that they were radical. I did however witness a roast beef varial to revert from low-to-high-to-flat. I’m not sure if the revert was intentional but that didn’t stop me screaming like a little girl for ice cream. I obviously look like I know stuff because I got asked a lot of questions, the most popular one being “Is Dallas Coming”. I knew he had been on a serious pool-scouting mission the last few days in JHB because my whatsapp was jammed up with crusty pool pics. Was he coming to his own event? Who knows, so I went with a generic reply, “I’m not sure bro, I’ve known Dallas for 25 years and going on that it could go either way”. Dallas did arrive and declared that we were going to have a longest grind battle, we all cheered except for Kev who then informed me that, “a longest grind contest was lame and that it was sad that skateboarding had come to this”. That was just before he snaked me and almost did the longest grind. Dallas mostly handled the mic, which was cool, only problem was that the mic cable was too short so he couldn’t reach or see anything in the deep end. He was like that kid at school lunch with no friends because everyone was huddled around the big bowl, leaving him standing alone with his mic by the mid section. So he just kind of went on the crowd’s reaction when people landed stuff. I think he was the judge too, were there any judges?
ABOVE: “If you wanted to enter the contest you had to write your name on the back of a stolen pizza box with Tripple D’s pen. ” Layback Tailslide. BELOW: “... the skate gods had possessed Luis because he skated like the man in black.” Smith Grind. BOTTOM: “Rowan didn’t look like he cared..” Bean Plant.
I found out I was in the final because my name wasn’t scratched out on the pizza box. So it was on and 7 of us got in the pit and started to go for it. Dallas and the dude with the Tap Out T-shirt moved their whole rig to the deep end, so Dallas was right their shouting into the mic. He named your tricks as you did them: hurricane - tick, rock n roll – tick. Just in case you forgot the names of the tricks you were doing. It soon became very apparent to me that the skate gods had possessed Luis because he skated like the man in black. He didn’t care if he cracked his skull and his brain fell out. The unfortunate thing for us but fortunate thing for him and the rabid crowd was that he didn’t fall off, so he won and there was nothing we could do about it. Kalvyn ‘Tink’ Macmillan was light and nimble and did the most ridiculous stalefish air head high, we all almost puked with jealousy, so he came second and then Indigo slayer Mazwi and Rowan (from Australia) tied for third. It looked like Mazwi was keeping the trophy because he was holding it really tight, Rowan didn’t look like he cared. That left me, the dude in the red shirt and ‘Young Will’, if you ask any of us where we came, we’ll all say fourth.
I would thank the sponsors but there were none.
There was a local Germiston dude in a red shirt that was super rad and he destroyed the bowl. It’s always pleasant to see the local guys do their thing in their own backyard. His brother ripped too, he told me stories about how they clean out abattoirs with chemicals for a living. The dude in the red shirt got chemicals in his eyes at work the day before so he had to prick his tear ducts with a pin so that he could see, they also had beer and cigarettes for breakfast. I felt very under-gunned, throw a line of ants in there and you could go on tour with Ozzy.
If you wanted to enter the contest you had to write your name on the back of a stolen pizza box with Tripple D’s pen. Not everyone entered which was understandable, as tackling glass in the deep end of a 12-foot bowl is not for everyone. There were about 25 guys going as fast as they could. You couldn’t hear a thing and the crowd was packed so tightly around the bowl that you could smell the mixture of beer, sweat and that foul smell from those god forsaken toilets. 58 | sessionmag.co.za
After prize giving, someone claimed that there was still pizza in the box that we wrote our names on, so everyone started scuttling for a slice of stale margarita in the dark. It was the perfect end to a very imperfect day and we all loved it. I would thank the sponsors but there were none, thank you skateboarding for being so gnarly.
see you back at the bowl NEXT YEAR!
BRAD CROMER
HUFWORLDWIDE.COM Dealer Enquiries: www.baselinestudio.co.za | 021 422 0465
CLOSET ENVY What’s on the shelves.
ADIDAS Busenitz ADV
ADIDAS x Krooked Colab
ADIDAS Busenitz Vulc
CONS Pro Leather
CONS Aero S
VANS Old School
DC Nyjah Vulc
DC Cole Lite 2
DC Mikey Taylor
ETNIES Marana E-Lite
ETNIES Marana Vulc
ETNIES Marana
EMERICA The Westgate
EMERICA The Westgate
EMERICA Herman G6 Vulc
Session Suggests: Emerica Reynolds Low There’s a few things we overheard while grazing through the fields of skate-banter happening in Kimberley this year. One was that Andrew Reynolds only asks a flat fee of five thousand dollars for an appearance. Yes that’s a lot, but come on? It’s The Boss! Nyjah must ask 60 times that. Neither you, nor I, nor himself can deny Reynolds’ notoriety in skateboarding. Millions of kids 60 | sessionmag.co.za
through to adults will call him their favourite skater and now The Boss seems to be using this fame to intrinsically make skateboarding better for skateboarders. We suggest reading up on Reynolds online to fully understand why we’re telling you to go buy a pair of lows and support a true skateboarding legend. Available at Baseline skateshop.
AVAILABLE NOW
facebook.com/etnies | @etniesskateboarding nick garcia | ollie | slab city
Closet envy What’s on the shelves.
HUF Mod 5 Panel
HUF Plantlife 5 Panel
HUF Reversible Tiger Camo
LEGION Eagles
HUF Camera Bag
ELEMENT Fender
ELEMENT Snapback
SKATE MENTAL Alarm Clock
THRASHER Desert Camo 5 Panel
VON ZIPPER Wingding
VON ZIPPER Blotto
VON ZIPPER Les More
VON ZIPPER Lomax
LEGION Eagle Board
LEGION Limited Edition Keys Pack
ELEMENT Backpack
RVCA Fission
ELEMENT Shirt
RVCA Peru Tanks
RVCA That’ll Do Tie Dye
THRASHER Backpack
Get all the gear and more from skateshops and retail outlets around the country. Or contact us on info@ sessionmag.co.za to find out about a stockist near you.
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OCTOBER 2-5
KUMBA SKATE PLAZA
GONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS! BRANDON
VALJALO
ALANA Clark
SMITH
SA Youth Champion and South Africa Champion
Big Air Best Trick
JONO
SHWAN
MiniMega World Champion
Rider Cup Champions FourStacks: Moses Adams, Mitchell Ride, Khule Ngubane, Jean-Marc Johannes
KEVIN
JIMMY
HOEFLER
WILKINS Vert World Champion
Street World Champion
#kdcskate
for more information visit KimberleyDiamondCup.com @KDiamondCup user/WorldSkateboardingGP /KimberleyDiamondCup
experiencenortherncape.com www.experiencenortherncape.com
Technique skateboards
BIZNESS & BANTER Industry News and Skateboard Banter
DC’s Halloween Skate Jam is going down on the 1st of November at Puddy’s ramp in Pretoria, following on from last year’s event success. Other sponsors onboard this year include Red Bull, GoPro, Nixon & Von Zipper - so you can expect a solid prize purse for the skate jam and some dope prizes for noteworthy Halloween costumes. The contest only starts when the sun sets and the bar opens. Dlamini Dlamini recently returned from the USA where he took part in Element’s ‘Make It Count’ global finals at The Berrics. He also spent some time at Element’s Skate Camp. Following that he stacked up a few clips on the streets of LA, expect a few bangers in the adidas SA skate video coming sometime soon. Moses Adams and Khule Ngubane have joined forces with Wandile Msomi’s new skateboard company called ‘EQL’. The boards are apparently going to be available at Boogaloos stores. Converse CONS have a special tour of SA planned for December, more details about that will be available shortly. This one is going to be heavy! In the build up to KDC, international skateboarders Jordan Hoffart, Tom Remillard, Marius Syvanen and JT Aultz spent a few days in Cape Town under the guidance of Sam Clark. Check out a video edit on the Ride Channel’s Youtube account and apparently there might be a few pics in Transworld Skate Mag too.
Yann Horowitz has just returned from Europe, after spending the last few months in Germany, Spain and then England. He’s back in CT for Summer.
Photo Competition
Selfish Skateboards shipments to SA have ended. DPD has decided to focus solely on local brand Technique Skateboards, Selfish flow riders will be making the shift over to Technique. Look out for Adam Woolf, Shuaib Philander and Wesley Schroeder’s introductory ‘Welcome to Technique’ edit, dropping on sessionmag.co.za in November. Congrats to Etnies team rider Brandon Valjalo for winning the under 16 and the SA AM division at KDC The Dope Industries guys were causing some serious havoc at KDC, there was a Kanya mask competition where you had to take a pic of yourself with Kanya’s face, there were some cool entries but Marcel Maassen took the win with his ‘cock sock’ selfie. Matthew Lesch won the first Dope Ind ‘Spot Shot’ competition where you had to take a pic of yourself skating at Thibault Square and post it on the Dope Industries Instagram or Facebook page. The next one will be in JHB and then Durban, so look out for that on the Facebook page and Instagram. Wong and Kanya are back in SA from their overseas excursions. Sam Clark hooked up with Will Twala in Europe and snapped a few killer pics, looking forward to seeing them. John Second visited Jimmy in Sheffield and also snapped a few gems of the man.
This issue’s winner of a new Technique deck is:
Take a photo of yourself with a Technique skateboard deck - if you don’t have one already then grab a friend’s or find one in a skateshop.
Louis Jean la Grange from George.
Photos can feature skating or be lifestyle, even something funny at a party. The most original photo wins and the winner will be mentioned in the next issue.
Technique will be in touch with your prize. Look out for more winners next issue.
Submit your photo via the Technique Skateboards Facebook page or email
www.Damd.co.za
anton roux
LG_Sess_260914.indd 9
Win yourself a Technique deck of your choice in each of the next 2 issues of Session Mag.
2014/09/26 11:44 AM
info@diversitydist.com
Jake Johnson. More at CONVERSECONS.COM
THE CONVERSE CONS WEAPON SKATE
PONZONE
Young BLOOD
Fakie Float on the Murth Ramp
Young blood, young knees, young back… young money. When you are young and hungry the skate buffet can be a confusing table to hit. Do it yourself or glossy, under or over ground? There is no right or wrong because at the end of the day skateboarding needs everyone, the good, the bad and the ugly, to make it work and we all get to go on the same twisting and turning adventure. Only, not everyone comes out on the other side, only a few are ‘lifers’. If you’re into backgammon then I guess your bro’s will be too, if you skate then your clan will most likely be comprised of skaters, musicians, artists and the odd lurker. The cool thing is that when you meet everyone, you won’t be any of those things. You will just be random dudes rolling around, gathering street knowledge and forming a foundation that will stay in your brain forever. A lot of musicians go on about how you get your whole life to make your first album and only one year to make your second album. That’s why people always say, “damn their second album sucks”. It sucks because it was rushed. Same with skateboarding, all those thousands of hours
66 | sessionmag.co.za
you spend dicking around in the street outside your house, busting stuff over an old hosepipe, heckling your bro’s at the local park, showing your Mom your new trick on your smart phone, listening to Eazy E while you skate 10km to the city or firing yourself up to hit the 3 stair
There is no right or wrong because at the end of the day skateboarding needs everyone, the good, the bad and the ugly. handrail by the Spar. All that stuff is part of your skate apprenticeship. Dreaming about being in mags, going on tours and winning contests may seem really important to you but if you don’t soak in the whole journey you are going to miss out on all the cool stuff in-between. Like the
Cloudy brothers going to KDC, they are paying their own way there, nobody is giving them a cent, they are going because they need to be there. Hitching rides, sleeping in someone else’s tent and eating dirt, who knows but they are there to skateboard and to have fun and they are not the only ones. Progression is the most important thing and it doesn’t matter if you are 8 or 41, as long as you are progressing then other skaters will notice, people will talk and you never know, the albatross might just land on your forehead. If someone does hook you up and you get in the van, time will speed up rapidly and all those tricks you learned in your driveway are what you are going to call on when you need to shoot a photo for an ad or on tour. You don’t want to be the guy with 3 tricks, you need a deep bag that you can do on any spot, anywhere and anytime, even on janky legs, mauled boards and no sleep. So don’t try to short-circuit your ride because you’ll only screw yourself. All the dirt-bags you meet while you are a young skateboarder will become your friends for life. Yeah sure you will all live and travel all over the world and drift apart but there will always be that skateboard connection when your paths do cross again. Skateboarding has a weird way of connecting like-minded people together at the wrong time, for the right reason. END
© LOUW
USTRIES MARI DOESN’T WEAR ANY UNDIES UNDER THE “TRENCHTOWN” COAT AND “WORKSHOP” BEANIE. SEE THE ENTIRE RANGE AT DOPEIND.COM
©2014 Vans, Inc.
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