k a n ya s p a n i i n t e r v i e w PLankie x dope colab video a d i d a s o n t o u r | DIY : J u a n s m i t
issue 59 | apr / may 2014 | RSA R34.95 / OTHER R30.04
contents Cover: Kanya Spani coasts through a long 50-50. Ph. Sam Clark Here: Louis Taubert returns to SA for a holiday and a rooftop Shifty Flip. Ph. Jansen van Staden
16 DIY-er: Juan Smit 22 adidas welcomes Dlamini Dlamini 36 Where yo Mind at? Kanya Spani 46 Making of the Dope x Plankie Video 08 Redial 10 Recents 12 Latent Potential 56 Closet Envy 60 Bizness 62 Podium 64 The Passenger 66 Blackboard
FRONTSIDE 180 SWITCH CROOKS PHOTO BY: MICHAEL BURNETT
@NYJAH_HUSTON @ELEMENTSA @ELEMENTAFRICA ELEMENT SOUTH AFRICA
SEE THE SKATE COPA COLLECTION AND VIDEO AT ADIDAS.COM/SKATEBOARDING
© 2014 adidas AG. adidas, the trefoil logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.
#ADIDASSKATECOPA
BENNY FAIRFAX BACKSIDE NOSEGRIND IN LONDON, ENGLAND
Redial
Brendan Body
CLARK
Fro me wiff a spanna!
When I moved down to Cape Town a year ago Kanya’s interview was on the cards and had been scheduled to run in Issue 55. He was always someone we had talked about getting an interview with, not just because he has heaps of style and kills it on his board but because little else was known about this elusive ripper. Whenever we would run into each other around town or at Baseline I’d ask him how his photos were coming along and we would both just look at each other and start laughing. We both knew that things were taking longer than expected. I took the deadline off his interview and decided it was better to run it when he was happy with it, no pressure! Well, we finally got something together. In the publishing game sometimes things just take longer than expected and various spanners are often thrown at you that change the course of each issue’s content,
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 photo Editor clint@sessionmag.co.za
this mag being no exception. Legion rider Jacques “The Jaakness” Erasmus was supposed to have his Left Field feature in this issue but rolled his ankle midway through
We would both just look at each other and start laughing. getting his photos and had to postpone it, leaving us to make another quick decision. In walked Jansen van
Photographers:
Sam Clark, Jansen van Staden, Pablo Ponzone, Tyrone Bradley, Gavin Scott, Tim Moolman, Rudi Jeggle, Werner Lamprecht, Grant Mclachlan, Jonathan Pinkhard, Adriaan Louw, Andre Visser, Dwayne Erasmus.
CONTRIBUTORS:
Brett Shaw, Matt Henderson.
SUBS! R150 for 6 Issues Email subs@sessionmag.co.za with your name, address and contact number and get your Session delivered to your door. 8 | sessionmag.co.za
Staden with a pile of Juan Smit pearlers which he recently shot during the filming for the Plankie video. Oom Juan is a top dude who brings plenty of flavour to our skate scene and is always hyped to search, build and skate new spots. We hope you enjoy his long overdue feature, even if it is actually a few issues early. The rest of the mag’s planned content worked out great with the adidas tour running as scheduled as well as the making of the Dope x Plankie video, the DVD will be dropping on our cover shortly. Please make sure to drop in at www.sessionmag.co.za for daily updates, videos and regular skate banter. Grab a cup of tea or coffee, take a seat and page through our free back issues as they go up online too! Bakgat, Bod
Physical Address Session Magazine, 2nd Floor, Earlgo Building, cnr. Kloof & Park Rd, Gardens, Cape Town, 8000. PRINTERS Typo Colour Printing Specialists www.typo.co.za WEBSITE Above The Fold - www.above-the-fold.co.za DESIGN The Lightbox Studio - www.thelightbox.co.za DISTRIBUTION / SUBSCRIPTIONS RNA Distribution - www.rnad.co.za For subsciption enquiries contact sessionssubs@rnad.co.za / subs@sessionmag.co.za
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* Support Independent Skate Media Session Skateboarding Magazine is published independently 6 times a year. Session will welcome all letters, e-mails and photos. We will review the contribution and assess whether or not it can be used as print or online content. The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the magazine, its owners or its management. Session Skateboarding Magazine is the copyright of Session Magazine cc. Any duplication of this magazine, for any media or sale activity, will result in legal action a camel eating gecko sent after you.
Recents
votano
jansen
Mooki
We kick this new regular off with 3 SA filmers currently making things happen.
Omphile Bogatsu
Joubert van Staden
Jay Besaans
Films For: White Bread & Butter AV Skateboarding Age: 25 Based in: Johannesburg
Films For: AV Skateboarding Plankie Skateboards Age: 27 Based in: Cape Town
Films For: Durban Streets AV Skateboarding Age: 34 Based in: Durban
DSquared is on adidas. Man I am hyped for the homie.
(silence)
Baby number 3 is on the way.
saw
That tripple kink darkslide. That shit cray.
A street kid run facefirst into the side of a bus.
A dead crow.
felt
Really, really hyped on the SA skate scene. Everyone is making it happen.
The pain of bombing hills at night.
Hungover.
tasted
The new Oreo and Cadbury chocolate bar. It’s 100.
Toasted cheese and jalepeno.
Native ale.
smelt
Like a fire, blame it on the bammer.
Some jalepeno ring-sting poop.
Like shit.
thought
It would be cool if I had a free access pass to the Grand in Joburg, Mavericks in Cape Town, the Max X in Edenvale and Teazers Nation wide, anyone with the hook up, holla.
“Fuck there’s a lot of people at our flat.“
Many things.
watched
Skhotane by the Ve.G squad. It was dope.
A shitload of American Dad.
Dlamini’s new part.
read
An SMS. Reading gives me a headache.
That our fingers wrinkle in water to improve our grip in wet conditions.
A street sign.
wasted
Time.
R7 on the worst sandwich ever made at 7/11.
Time.
drank
That dirty Sprite.
A few too many Shack whiskeys.
Tea.
Into some fly girls who incessantly refused to let a nigga holla.
Home after street fighting Pieter outside Rafikis.
Onto my board.
The Randfontein DIY ledges.
Some mountain DIY Barriers.
A stone bank.
fantasised
About Eva Mendes and/or a much younger look-a-like hollaring at a nigga.
Of more mountain barriers.
About nothing.
hated
Not being able to skate/film ‘cause of the recent rain in Joburg.
Phones.
Myself.
made
A craft knife / shank, out of an old pencil, masking tape and a surgical blade.
A poop.
Pasta.
Recently I... heard
ran Skated
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LATENT POTENTIAL Tahiti Pehrson
hand-crafted inspiration Rough spots and get-it-where-you-can skating. There is some good fire out there.
Skateboarding, music and art are all intricately interconnected in a myriad of ways. Each aspect influences the other and forms the basis of the very culture we value. As skateboarders around the world we are all connected by our appreciation of this culture. An example of this is a recent Library of Congress lecture by Fugazi front man Ian MacKaye who talked about how skateboarding shaped his musical sensibilities: “Skateboarding is not a hobby. And it is not a sport. Skateboarding is a way of learning how to redefine the world around you. For most people, when they saw a swimming pool, they thought, ‘let’s take a swim.’ But I thought, ‘let’s ride it.’ When they saw the curb or a street, they would think about driving on it. I would think about the texture. I slowly developed the ability to look at the world through totally different means.” Skateboarding, music and art involve universal ideas with the potential to instantly connect individuals on opposite sides of the globe from California to Cape Town, who seemingly had no initial commonality. In February, the Nevada City Film Festival, an independent international film festival based in Northern California, began collaborating with ground-breaking filmmakers and artists to create an original short film series that will premiere at this year’s film festival in September. The series explores various vantage points around art, music, film, culture, and the human condition. Filmmaker David Nicholson travelled with artist and skateboarder Tahiti Pehrson to South Africa where Pehrson exhibited his art in a solo exhibition entitled ‘Connectivity’ at Salon91 Contemporary Art Collection during the Cape Town Art Fair. The show was co-sponsored by Baseline Skate Shop and RVCA South Africa. Their trip was particularly enriched by a journey to Khayelitsha, where they had the chance to collaborate and create with the kids at the Ithemba Labantwana Children’s Centre. The pair went on various skate missions with the Baseline skate shop crew and visited some of Cape Town’s DIY skate spots in the shadows of Table Mountain. Their journey concluded with a trip to the Kruger National Park guided by local skateboarder and photographer, Rudi Jeggle. Tahiti is a life-long skateboarder who has been constructing intricate works from hand cut paper for over 15 years. He reflects on his trip to South Africa: “Being there and seeing the patterns on the animals and just some of the South African patterning, I can feel that seeping into my work. I’ve wanted to do something more organic for a while and being out there made me want to touch on the wild aspect of that. When you see the zebra, leopard and giraffe there is a logic in there that is related. It sticks with you. I was psyched on the skate scene too. It reminds me of growing up in Grass Valley. Rough spots and get-itwhere-you-can skating. There is some good fire out there, a lot of ripping going on.” Pehrson’s artwork has recently been featured in the pages of Juxtapoz Magazine and on ESPN.com. He is also part of the RVCA Artist Network Program.
For more info on Tahiti Pehrson go to - www.tahitipehrson.com For more info on the Nevada City Film Festival go to - www.nevadacityfilmfestival.com Photos: TahitiPehrson.com
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BILDERBERGMOTEL LORIEN / AVAILABLE ON WHITE VINYL / OR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FOR MORE INFO: www.bilderbergmotel.com www.facebook.com/bilderbergmotel www.bilderbergmotel.bandcamp.com
5725/2
E X C L U S I V E LY AT S K AT E S H O P S W O R L D W I D E
L E V I . C O M / S K AT E B O A R D I N G MAJOR JONES, BERT WOOTTON OUDALAY PHILAVANH, WILLIS KIMBEL & SEBO WALKER SHOT BY JON HUMPHRIES
PHOTOS: Jansen van Staden WORDS: ADrian Henderson
Not only is Juan a fighter of fires and saviour of broken skateboards, he is also a spot-finding ninja and well on his way to becoming a paramedic. All this whilst being a sponsored skateboarder for the most part of a decade without much interest in fanfare or fuss. What makes him stand out is that he is a seeker. He is a searcher, the one who wanders around every corner to see what’s there - what new possibilities he can share with others. A long overdue insight into the myth and legend of Juan Smit ensues. And yes, we got him to tell us some jokes.
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ABOVE: Frontside Smit in the Playground. RIGHT: Frontside Blunt on an obscure roof.
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LEFT: No Comply with No Problems. Right: Nosegrind pop out.
My first response from Juan regarding the basics (sponsors, age, hometown, etc) was this: “Really... Sponsors? Stance? Is this an ‘I Am’?? So is the next question how many stairs I can kickflip, or what bearings I’m riding!? Hahaha!” Needless to say, the 28 year old Juan Francois Smit has been around skateboarding for a long time. He started his obsession with planks in 1999 and for the record is regular footed. He currently rides for Enjoi flow through Revolution and is one of the first Converse CONS South Africa riders. I remember first noticing him skate at Canal Walk Boogaloos. He had long hair at the time and we thought he was just a park-shark who didn’t really skate street…how wrong we were. “You learn how to skate a skate park yes, I just learnt how to skate in the streets first - making missions the whole day or after school. Skating 5km just to wax and skate a curb or a 4 stair. That’s how you learn what it means to be a skateboarder. Finding spots, making spots work for you, building obstacles, boxes and rails. I would say the Boogaloos park was fun and helped create the skater I am today, but really, who wants to hang out in a f###ing mall all day?” “We are lucky to be getting these rad government parks popping up everywhere these days. I hope 18 | sessionmag.co.za
I hope skaters are grateful that the OG’s of skateboarding stepped in and made a future for all of us. skaters are grateful that the OGs of skateboarding stepped in and made a future for all of us. I’m probably going too deep into this question! Hahaha” Over the years of getting to know him, Juan has proved to be one of the most resourceful and entertaining people on a board. Hailing from a solid Afrikaans family, living in Goodwood, his admittedly interesting usage of the English language has been a constant point of heckling, especially when he has a new joke to share. These jokes are usually very long, usually in Afrikaans and usually involve some or other member of the Big 5 with a poodles name like Mossie or Frikkie. I cannot explain to you in mere words how Afrikaans jokes come out when translated into English on the spot by Juan. I can get him to tell you one though:
So Valk vlieg en sien vir Mossie wat kos soek op die grond. Hy vlieg na hom toe en vra vir Mossie of hy ‘n lyn wil snuif. Mossie sê, “NEE, nee, nee… Leeu het vir al die diere in die jungle gesê niemand mag meer drugs doen nie.” Maar Valk sê, “Nee man Mossie, net ‘n klein lyntjie?” Mossie bewe en stress en Valk sê, “Net vir die een keer Mossie…” en toe is Mossie oortuig. Valk maak sy vlerk oop en gooi ‘n lyn op sy vlerk. Mossie snuif en Valk vra hom, “Voel jy iets Mossie?” En Mossie sê, “Nee fokkol.” Valk sê, “Nee man Mossie,” en hy maak sy vlerk oop en gooi die keer ‘n lyn twee keer dikker en sê, “Snuif Mossie.” Mossie snuif en Valk vra, “Voel jy hom nou???” Mossie sê, “Ne, ek voel fokkol.” Valk sê, “Ag fok Mossie! Ek gaan vir jou nou die goeie goed gee!” Hy maak sy vlerk oop en gooi die keer ‘n lyn driekeer dikker en sê vir Mossie, “Snuif die kak Mossie.” Mossie snuif en Valk vra, “EN? Voel jy dit?” Mossie sê, “Jinne Valk ek voel fokkol… Ek voel nie my voete nie, ek voel nie my vlerke nie, ek voel nie my bek nie, ek voel FOKKOL!!”
visser
Hence he’s received the nickname he doesn’t quite embrace yet, Oom Juan. Oom’s main endeavour right now is Snap Originals - upcycling skateboards into different objects. His Yo-Yo’s, rings, doorstops, spoons and frames are hand-crafted from friends and sponsors’ old boards. It’s a novel concept that has seen various niche products being created worldwide. Snap however strays away from just one specific product and various different items are often created on request. “...there are always people out there that want things made for themselves and their loved ones. It’s not an easy industry but I make the best of it. The snapped boards are already a bonus because I don’t buy material to make the products - just the usual DIY woodwork machines and sandpaper. I don’t make lots of money out of Snap but I love making stuff for people and seeing their reactions, how they appreciate it. Maybe one day my boat comes in and I’ll hit a big deal with an overseas company, you never know.”
The term ‘a creative’ is usually associated to some hipster-swaggerrific-artsy-motherfucker, but it suitably fits Juan’s work with Snap. As soon as one idea is created and perfected, he’ll be starting on the next – eager to find a new shape to produce from the boards. It’s an approach that is easy to spot in his skating. You often hear, “oh, that dude’s a creative skater.’ WTF does that even mean anymore? It’s become a loose term thrown at anything that’s not a defined trick, more often than not involving a footplant, wallie or anything not requiring a pop. Creativity is a given in skateboarding. No skater became well known for copying someone else. We all look at things differently. We can drastically alter what is about to go down at a session through our own creative initiative. That initiative is apparent in the spot selection of these photos. “There are so many spots if you just get in your car and drive the back roads of small towns.” Juan is continually finding serious good spots in random parts of the Western Cape and beyond. He recently posted spot photos in an attempt to start a SA spot Whatsapp group with over 100 skaters nationwide. The few photos he did post were gold, but then someone posted a photo of a man with a vagina… “You know how these groups are, dirty jokes, homo photos and pics of skaters’ blue balls. That’s when it stopped. 84 unread messages later…”
Despite the filthy group conversations he accidently instigates, Juan has done some model-citizen work as a contract fire-fighter during spring and summer months since 2008. More recently he began studying to become a qualified paramedic. “I’ll see how that goes. It’s not easy if you are a rock-spider... in the fire brigade you deal with medical incidents a lot so it’s not something new for me. I’ve seen heads roll and plenty of blood and guts. Some days are like a good old Jean Claude van Dame Action thriller.” It seems despite having a list of sponsors over the years, Juan hasn’t ever justified trying to just skate for a living. He’s always been doing something behind the scenes. Skateboarding however, has always been about friends, spots and missions, and that’s the way he likes to keep it. He tagged along on the Plankie tour up to Pretoria recently while they filmed for the video collaboration, no doubt adding to the friends section and finishing off this interview. “Pretoria has the best ditches ever man and I love going on ditch missions.” What epitomises a DIY-er is a hands-on mentality to everything, not just skateboarding. Granted, not everyone has the same talents or drive, but the DIY-ers are the ones that more often than not shape skateboarding for sessionmag.co.za | 19
generations. They make things happen for others and don’t complain or ask for compensation. Durbanville Skate Park is a great example and one that Juan and the rest of ‘The Streets’ crew have been evolving for a number of years. “We started building there around 2006 when Craig and I first started hanging with ‘The Streets’. I used to build DIY stuff at home but building with cement and concrete was something new and a learning experience. It was trial and error. I didn’t know much when I started but that’s how you progress. It’s great to have a DIY skate spot in your area. It lets you appreciate the effort you put into it so much more. But it is expensive to build stuff out of your own pocket. Ask Jamie he will know. I take
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my hat off to guys like him. Your Moms Wheels and Anker Ramps too, who do a lot of DIY fix-ups on skate spots in Cape Town. That’s fucking amazing man, I love those missions.”
Pieter slapped by an organiser’s girlfriend for shunning their proposed event. Juan was there as ‘back up’ and laughed about this for weeks. Yet it was upheld and the park has seen a steady growth due to their efforts.
I didn’t know much when I started but that’s how you progress.
Juan and ‘The Streets’ have made many a mission unforgettable. The great thing about road-tripping with Afrikaans people is how prepared they are. Watching Juan, Pieter, Leon and Dewald operate is like watching a time-lapse of a building go up… and then get destroyed. Everyone plays their part to the point that the food is munched and then the chaos can commence. Juan will usually have his bottle of OBS and be hurling random insults in Pieter’s direction. The weekly nightlife would often mimic this chaos, but Juan says he’s a bit over that these days.
Over the years the crew has had obstacles sponsored from the likes of Globe and Redbull and hold a very simple, yet effective principle: if you want to have an event here, contribute to the space. It’s a policy that got
visser
LEFT: The first attempt at skating this boat mould got one small town local extremely upset. Thankfully no one had an issue this time. Crailslide. TOP RIGHT: The finder of this gap to ledge gets his photo. Frontside Smith. MID RIGHT: Hauling ass across Pilditch for a Backtail.
“This heavy party life is not for me anymore man. Waking up smelling like Black Label the next morning with someone’s blood on your shirt and a dick drawn on your forehead… I don’t do that so much anymore. Stay away from EVOL! I try to live healthier now, exercising and eating right. I surf / swim a lot which keeps both the body and mind healthy. I still do missions and hangout a lot. The world is much bigger than Long Street haha, fuck clubbing.” From whatever place in skateboarding you are reading this you can be assured that you, as a skateboarder, will change. What you skate, how you skate, and who you skate with are all variables. Progression will inevitably take you there, for better or worse. We get tired of this or that and find new things. The ice creams are replaced with cigarettes, the 7.5 replaced with 8.2, the cokes
replaced with beer, the lifts replaced with long drives, the beer replaced with whiskey, the parties replaced with yoga, the stair sets replaced with backyard ramps. Its evolution and it’s pretty unavoidable, but it’s alright though. It keeps things interesting. Keeps things fun. And speaking of fun… 4 blondies stap in ‘n bar en begin lekker kuier. Hulle skree so vir die barman, “4 shots Tequila!” en toast op 51 dae. Na die 5de ronde shots, raak die barman nuuskierig want hulle toast op 51 dae die hele tyd en vra die 4 blondies toe. Die een sè, “Nee Oom, ons toast op 51 dae want ons het ‘n puzzle klaar gemaak waar daar op staan: 2 - 4 jaar. En ons het dit gedoen in 51 Dae!”
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PHOTOS: sam cLark words: pieter retief
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My dawg, you want me to sleep in a ditch with flees and bugs everywhere? BELOW:
Might as well do a few Bluntslides ‘til the fire is ready right? Leon Bester gets out from behind the lens.
RIGHT:
Stretch. Fruit. Stretch. Nollie Frontside Heelflip. Dlamini Dlamini Demo Demo.
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As if one Dlamini brother wasn’t enough to deal with on tour, adidas SA recently added Dlamini Dlamini to the ranks. There’s no question as to why he’s on the team. Dlamini has been on point since day one and consistently progressed from there. And if his recent online part ‘Forget about it’ is anything to go by, he’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
Clinton Theron was visiting Cape Town for a couple of weeks and needed a lift back to PE. He had a lift from George that could take him the rest of the way, but we all know that you can’t leave a homie behind. Clinton was squashed in the back of the bakkie with Yann and Dlamini for the whole trip. His contribution was an extra camera and a playlist filled with Juicy J.
On previous team trips we would visit one city and stay there for 10 days. To change things up a bit, and because we’re filming for a full length video, we decided that there is no better place to get footage than on the road. We had one destination in mind and 10 days to get there. When I informed the team that we would be camping without any reservations made and no real time schedule I received mixed responses. Yann just wanted to know when we were leaving so he could take off time from work, the filming guys are always hyped and then we have the Dlamini bros to deal with. They’re always keen to travel but maybe just not the way we intended to.
You will definitely not find the music played on tour in your top played albums at home. In PE it was DJ Birdsnake and on this trip it was Juicy J. Dlamini and Clinton could not get enough and soon everyone was on board.
“My dawg, you want me to sleep in a ditch with flees and bugs everywhere? No my dawg!” – Dlamini Dlamini
The one thing that comes with camping is the unexpected creatures of the night and the early mornings. To make things easier, I would suggest remembering the tent poles and not settling for a 4 man tent on a 7-now-8 man mission. The first night in the ditch must have been the worst. Everyone was down to camp, but not with Khulu farting in the tent as soon as we closed the zip. To save us from the lingering odors and uncomfortable rocks beneath us, Leon took out a bottle of Whiskey. 20min later… Out!
sessionmag.co.za | 25
We got through the night only to be greeted with a 40 degree day in the ditch. After breakfast we heard a loud bang resembling a gun shot of some sort, immediately thinking it might be the farmer whose land we had invaded. Closer investigation revealed stickers and Tupperware pieces strewn everywhere. The deodorant inside my suitcase had exploded from the heat, leaving behind a mini battle zone. This was definitely the hottest day on the trip but between sessions in the ditch and in the dam next door the guys produced the goods and we headed out. Sam Clark, Leon Bester and Adriaan Louw were once again responsible for the documentation of the trip. All three are always hyped and ready to shoot. Now that we had Clinton on tour, it also gave Leon an opportunity to
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get on his board. It’s not easy to prioritize filming over skating but somehow he pulls it off and still manages to get some bangers. More often than not, SA spots are challenging. The sketchy run up or landing, the weird angle, the surface, the bust factor, etc. It all makes the land so much sweeter. But every now and again the spot is perfect, like Willowmore banks, and that’s when crazy things happen. That’s when Yann tells you he is thinking of gapping out to front wall ride and then goes at a hundred miles an hour, flies for about 20 minutes, rides the wall and rolls away. The rough spots are all preparation for that magic. Seriously, the board control and skill that Yann possesses when it comes to anything curved or angled is mind
blowing. Willowmore in the Karoo was definitely a highlight. On our arrival we were welcomed by the local kids playing on electricity boxes and sliding down the concrete embankments. Soon after we took our boards out these kids bombarded us from all corners. They were hyped to see what we were doing there. Yann looked like the leader of a marching band with kids mimicking his every move. He had them running around and entertained them with iPhone footage of themselves making horselike faces. Living in a small town and getting to meet a character like Yann must be quite an experience. Again when we skated the township of New Brighton in PE, the kids were running after Yann. Either they were amazed by his tattoos or they realised from their young perspective that this is what skateboarding should look like and why bother with the rest of us.
TOP LEFT:
Exploration is the key. Pieter Retief Nosepicks a conveniently placed barrier.
MID LEFT: Khulu Dlamini floats like a butterfly, stings like a beer. ABOVE:
Dlams blasts a Frontside Flip, out the bank and past the wall.
Living in a small town and meeting a character like Yann must be quite an experience. sessionmag.co.za | 27
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LEFT: Yann Horowitz charges through the intersection and braves the SA paving for a quick Nosegrind. RIGHT: Pushing the limits of an old wooden handrail. Pieter gaps to 5-0. BOTTOM RIGHT: Yann Sugarcanes an abandoned ramp in the Karoo.
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you get it, you got it, you good. LEFT: Pretty much all the spots on this the trip were at churches or schools. Yann gets some with a Boneless Bluntslide Fakie. RIGHT: Just a casual Backsmith to the 3rd pole. Fah-get ab-owt it.
On every trip you need a day off where you can relax and try to recover from your injuries. One day chilling can do wonders to the team morale. We spent a night in the town of Hogsback and the next morning we walked down to “Madonna and Child” waterfall and made a proper “skottel” breakfast. No one wanted to leave this place but we still had a lot to look forward to. Fort Hare University provided us with a perfect 10 stair to session, but most of us just sat back and watched the Dlamini show. He inspires in so many ways. He is without a doubt one of the most talented skaters around and his approach to skateboarding is level-headed and admirable: Look after your body, stretch before you skate and know what you are capable of. It definitely seems to be paying off. The amount of footage that he stacked on this one trip is borderline unbelievable.
Every year the adidas family grows by one new addition, but at the same time we’ve encountered some temporary loses. Jansen van Staden has taken a step back after struggling with a knee injury for a while now. He was missed on the trip and we wish him a steady recovery. ‘Get, Get, Get It’ became the catchphrase for the mission. When you get it, you got it - you good! That’s how we rolled over these ten days. A big thanks to adidas for making this trip possible, Clinton Theron and Casey Theron for their hospitality in PE, photographer Sam Clark, videographers Adriaan Louw & Leon Bester and finally to the team for all the good times and endless laughs. Welcome to the team Dlamini Dlamini!
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LEFT: Dlamini Boardslide Fakies a typical SA Rail. RIGHT: The amazing thing about Yann’s Switch Front Shuv is that you can turn your head 90 degrees to the right and it still looks right.
LOUW
BELOW RIGHT: This is the second Dlamini brother Wallie in 2 issues. Nkosi, it’s you next.
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LOUW
LOUW
sessionmag.co.za | 33
Yann horowitz. frontside wall attack. photo clark
van staden
van staden
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PHOTOS: sam clark & jansen van staden interview: the session crew
Switch Flip Backsmith
sessionmag.co.za | 37
Kanya Spani is a familiar face to everyone who follows local skateboarding because he is always putting in work and getting coverage. However, nobody really seems to know all that much about him. For years we’ve watched the video parts, read the tour articles, witnessed his contest wins and heard his contagious laugh but is there more to his story? The Session crew sat down with Kanya to find out. Where are you from originally? I was born in PE and lived there until I was about 7, it was boring. After that my Dad got a job in Joburg so we moved up there and that’s where I actually grew up, so I call it home. I’m down for JHB! Tell us about the Weltevreden Park crew you grew up skating with in JHB? We just used to mission around and go skate everything, there was a local skate park which was known as ‘the church park’ and that’s where I met Siya Ntuli. Siya was rashing us like “Yo yo yo where you guys from?” It was me, Andrew Raw, Malcolm Raw, this kid Patrick and then Omphile Bogatsu came into the picture because he lived down the road. We would all just mission and go skate, I must have been 12 or 13 at that stage. Miss those fools! Tell us about the Montecasino Missions? When Montecasino opened it was by far the best skate park in JHB and that’s where we got to meet the Sunninghill gang like Bergen, Sam, Thabo, Maanda and all those dudes like Luke Jackson who were a bit older than us. We would hang around them and go skate together. We became one big northern suburbs crew. That’s also when we all started making missions to downtown JHB and went to places like LBGs, we were so hyped. That’s when we started making proper street missions. Have you ever been sent to ‘the mountains’? Well that’s why I went missing for a month in 2010. It’s a month in the middle of nowhere, you do fuck all. Being a city kid and then you having do shit like survive in nature, make your own food and defend yourself… Let me just say it’s not for everybody. It wasn’t how I thought it would be. They don’t try and scare you intentionally because dudes run away and once you run away you are not considered a man. There is all this bullshit that goes with it, but it’s the Xhosa culture and it’s pretty deep stuff which we shouldn’t really talk about too much. You put this special white stuff all over yourself because you are not allowed to bath, it basically keeps you clean and you have to put it on all the time. At first you chill because for the first week you can’t leave your hut, it’s some deep shit. People bring you food and shit, but no women are allowed to come be there at all. There is a certain type of Xhosa you have to speak and basically you get circumcised, it’s a traditional rite of passage. People do die and shit sometimes, it’s scary but once you go through all that then you are considered a man.
that’s why I went missing for a month.
Gap to Front Smith
sessionmag.co.za | 39
Frontside Feeble pop out.
THE one just grabbed my face and put it in there.
40 | sessionmag.co.za
Why did you decide to move to Cape Town a few years ago? Well I just needed a little something new, move out of my parents’ house and make it on my own you know. I was kind of getting over JHB and saw where everything was going. A lot of people in skateboarding were coming down here so I was like yeah let’s move to Cape Town. The girls here are rad I’m not going to lie, that was a big part of it.
out a lot you meet girls that just happen to be German. Khulu has had way more than me, that guy is on a roll, it’s like he has to have one haha. After dating a German broad for so long, can you actually speak any German? Probably just enough to get by but not really, it’s quite hard to learn.
You went on a skate trip to Germany a while back, what was that like and do you have any plans to go back there?
You recently experienced your first motorboat, how did that happen and what did the current lady think about it?
It was my first time out of the country so it was a big eyeopener to see all these crazy things and people. Guys who aren’t even hooked up just killing it and I was like what the fuck are we doing? It was the best time ever, I got to meet so many new homies and just see different kinds of skating. It definitely changed my way of skating and outlook on life. I’ve got some stuff in the pipeline so we’ll see. My girlfriend is moving back at the end of April so I think I’m going to go there again for a little bit.
Haha that was at Lefty’s, we were chilling with these Lesbian girls and they bought me a drink. The one just grabbed my face and put it in there, she had glitter all over her boobs as well which I had on my face for like 3 days after that. They were also just making out and shit – I told Mia (girlfriend) about it because of all the glitter and stuff. She just kind of laughed and was like, “you had fun last night.” It’s Cape Town bro.
What is the secret to getting a German girlfriend?
Why did the Spanish embassy not allow you to travel to Barcelona?
Uh haha I hate this question, I’ve only had two. There are so many German girls down in Cape Town, when you go
I don’t know, I sent in everything that they said I needed but apparently I also needed a letter that actually stated I
Top: Switch Flip Bottom: Backside Flip
would be coming back to South Africa, my whole trip was paid for and booked with money from Nike but I couldn’t go. I didn’t even ask for my passport back I just left it there and then had to order a new one. They probably thought I was going to try and live there illegally or something. So bummed I missed out on that trip actually. Two of your oldest homies Mooki and Siya are over in Thailand, have you ever thought of trying that out? I don’t think I could handle teaching English to little kids, I’d probably lose my mind but it would be tight to just go visit and hang with them. I should definitely try that out sometime. I don’t think they have a really good scene there, it’s probably quite small. What do you currently do for a living? Well, that kind of changes every now and then. Deliver sushi, retail, web development and skating. I do whatever comes up really. I did the sushi thing because I just needed to make cash plus you can eat free sushi. I did the deliveries with my girlfriend’s car. It helped pay the rent. You used to have a day job, what was it and why did you quit? I used to be a front end developer for a company in Woodstock. The 9 to 5 just wasn’t for me basically. I missed skating with my friends and stuff so I just sacrificed money for the lifestyle I have now. It’s a bit of a struggle but I like it. You get asked to sign autographs quite often so you’re clearly more recognised than most local skateboarders, do you still see a realistic possibility of making a career out of skateboarding in SA? Yeah I think it’s possible, if you put in the work then hopefully you are going to get something out of it in the end but I’m not going to skate for some random company with shitty graphics and not doing anything. I think down the road it could be a career here in SA. Do you ever get recognised as DJ Skateboard from the Vodacom advert? I remember after that ad came out this car guard would come up to me and go “ya you, ya you” and I would say “no it’s not me, it’s not me.” He knew, haha, but a couple of people did because it was on Long Street. I have done a few smaller ads and stuff but for that one I got like 40 grand which was tight. Who hooks you up? Element Skateboards, Nike SB, Baseline, Dope Industries, Von Zipper and Dakine. sessionmag.co.za | 41
van staden
van staden
The Other 50-50
I’m Hyped! It took me 16 cans to go wizard.
Is the 50-50 on the cover of this issue the largest handrail you’ve ever skated? Probably the longest rail, I also skated that 13-stair on the cover of AV with Marola too, that was scary! I’m getting a lot more comfortable on rails now though. Is there anything you were trying to get for this interview that didn’t quite work out?
You are no stranger to the nightlife in Cape Town, what are the best tracks to get a party started? Juicy J - Smoke a nigga
Yeah I’ve been bust at the planetarium so many times. We got something like 4 tries in 5 days. I really wanted to get something there. I might still go back.
Juicy J – Scholarship
Why don’t you ever skate flat gaps?
A$AP Rocky - Houston old head
I just hit my head once in Newtown (JHB) a couple years ago and I’ve just never been amped on them since. Hooking up isn’t the best thing in the world.
Talking Heads - This must be the place
What are your biggest influences in skateboarding? When I see homies just doing cool shit, kids like Allan Adams killing it at Salesians, he’s next level now. I get 42 | sessionmag.co.za
hyped when I can see someone is really trying and progressing, whether it’s a cool ass wallie or whatever as long as you’re going fast! I watch a lot of Hellaclips and Ishod Wair is also a big influence.
Notorious B.I.G - Machine Gun Funk
Modeselektor - Berlin You recently went wizard for the first time at the Baseline Xmas party, did that make you any more wise? You were claiming that for days after the weekend.
Gap to Backlip
I was hyped! It took me 16 cans to go wizard. Plus I had a brick taped to the bottom for support. You and Khulu seem to go partying the most, where do you guys hang out? No ways JJ and Mark Donaldson, those guys rage all the time and Hughes, oh my god that guy! Khulu is always amped to party though, let’s just say anything to do with Black Label and he’s down! It has definitely calmed down in the last year or so but usually Manila bar, EVOL, Clarke’s, The Shack, The Assembly and Yours Truly. Being a ‘professional’ is something you guys joke about and tease each other with, what do you think actually constitutes being a pro skateboarder in South Africa? Dlamini also got in on it the other day, every time someone lands a trick we were like dude “you’re a fucking pro” just back and forth to each other but it’s just a joke you know. There are some politics when it comes to Facebook Fan pages and what not, Facebook shit ain’t street cred!
I guess in SA it’s just someone who is out on the streets, getting regular coverage and getting good stuff on a certain level. For example guys like Dlamini, Mosey, Marola, Yann, etc. I can’t say too much yet but at the end of the month I’m going to start getting paid which is cool, I get good packages too. In hindsight, do you think getting into skateboarding was beneficial to your life or do you think that we all get addicted and then can’t escape? Yeah it helped me otherwise I probably would have done a lot of bad stuff when I was younger but I just wanted to skate you know, I don’t think it’s a bad addiction compared to other things. If you didn’t skate, what do you think your life would be like today? It definitely would have been a lot different to how it is now. Maybe some corporate shit, maybe soccer, you never know.
Final words to end this thing off? Thanks to everyone who has helped me out - my parents, family and homies in JHB, DBN, CPT and PE. Thanks for the good times. Thanks to my lady – Mia. Thanks to my sponsors. Thanks Jamie O’Brien for always being down. Thanks Jansen and Sam for the photos, Session Magazine, the Baseline fools and Wong you’re a crazy man. Thank you skateboarding. Roll forever!
van staden
44 | sessionmag.co.za
Kickflip over the rail, past the pole and down the hill.
sessionmag.co.za | 45
lamprecht
the maki n g o f the Do pe i n dustri es and p l an ki e skateboar d s co l ab v i deo.
J imm y W o n g A l a n Ma r o l a K a n ya S pa n i C h a r l ‘ S kippy ’ s t e y n C r a ig L e a k d yl a n va u g h a n J o u b e r t va n S ta d e n g a r y m cn a u g ht o n will t wa l a and more
PHOTOS: jansen van staden words: adrian henderson
TOP: “Nico’s kid Rocco just got in the mag.” Thanks for the caption Joubert. Here he boardslides while Jansen keeps the Fisheye close. BOTTOM: Wong wallrides in on his home turf of Durban.
bradley
sessionmag.co.za | 47
LEFT: Skippy rolling deep in Germiston with a Flip Backside Disaster. RIGHT: OG Plankie member Deon Fourie is back at it. DIY Frontside Rock.
Crew videos are becoming more and more prevalent in our weekly skate video intake. Shep Dawgs, Perus, Happy Medium, Trunk Boys all these am and pro skaters bringing out some of their best skating in homie videos. The videos themselves aren’t often as well-produced as a brand’s full length which makes it both more tangible and instantly entertaining. It’s those same principles that propelled the likes of Baker to its current heights of success - a crew of skateboarders on missions every day. What a skateboard company is actually all about. Not the product they happen to rep.
48 | sessionmag.co.za
We’ve seen both Dope and Plankie grow in similar veins, establishing teams based on who clicks with the brand and what feels right, rather than flavour of the month. So when we first heard that the two companies had been talking about filming a colab / homie video we were hyped. Plankie have been bringing out videos consistently for years and their next offering was already sounding good having added newbies on the roster. And after wrapping up Unlikely, Jamie O’Brien of Dope Ind. was also open to a new project when the idea started to look like a reality.
we all skate and hang out and it would be cool to capture what we get up to together
“We finished our last Plankie video about 4 years ago.” says Joubert, “So Jansen and I thought was the perfect time to start filming our fifth video with the 3 new guys on our team – Alan Marola, Craig Leak and Dylan Vaughan. At the time I had been joking around with Jamie about the idea of making a video together. To me, it made total sense. Firstly, because we all skate and hang out and it would be cool to capture what we get up to together and secondly because it would be easier with another filmer on the never ending quest to stack up some footage.”
A task easier said than done with team riders on different schedules, not to mention on different continents as in the case with half the Dope team. It limited the extent to which the teams could get footage, but nonetheless, the beauty of the collaboration really lies in the meeting of Dope’s production with Plankie’s energy. As in the case with their product line, as Joubert explained “We got Seamus Casserley (Dope Ind. Designer) involved to design the logo for the clothing and boards. He based the board graphics on two famous spots from each company’s home town; City Hall in Pretoria and Civic Centre in Cape
Town. We had the idea to back the graphics up with a road trip from Cape Town to Pretoria and back to Cape Town again. This turned out to be a tough gig...” Though the trip was very one sided, the most was made and the newbies started proving their mettle. Latest addition Dylan Vaughan was more than stoked about the trip. “It was bluddy great man! We arrived in Pretoria with the idea to go skating and that´s what we ended up doing every day. Not a single night of partying and no plan of where to sleep. I think Joubert always has a
sessionmag.co.za | 49
plan in mind, but he reveals it as it happens to add a little mystery. I was so bummed that Jansen couldn´t skate the whole trip, but he was our designated filmer. I´m also glad that Jansen has been learning meditation in Worcester, otherwise we wouldn´t have filmed my 3-day line. Craig however didn´t need 3 days to film a trick, not even 3 hours. Dennis (Collins) put it quite well: “Jirre, Craig rip die Pretoria spots hard! Harde biscuits. “ Joubert spoke of the Leak destruction too, “It was clear that Craig had never been to Pretoria. He killed it. He got a clip - or 2 - at almost every spot we took him to and he finally got to skate Skinner and Pilditch.”
50 | sessionmag.co.za
I wish Jansen could have had a full part. The filming process is often an extra mental cloud to deal with. Sometimes it’ll be happy and light, where you push for things and they work, other times it’s like a hurricane of frustration and rage blocking you from just skating the damn obstacle. Knowing your footage is going towards
something is both a hindrance and the most motivation you can have. As Craig comments, “To a certain degree I would have to say yeah for sure I skated harder for the video. You want to give your best effort while still keeping it fun. I definitely fought a few mental battles for this part and had to go retry tricks on a few occasions. I hate quitting a trick, especially when you get really close, but sometimes you have to come back with cleared mind and make it happen.” Craig also shared Dylan’s sentiments regarding the elder van Staden brother, “Honestly, I just wish Jansen could have had a full part. People don’t realise how much he is capable of doing. Every now and
LEFT: Dylan Vaughan does his last crusty Wallride for a while. RIGHT: Ribs lives in the states but whenever he’s down he’ll always join the missions. Back Nosegrind in Caledon.
52 | sessionmag.co.za
LEFT: Skippy ends the trip with a banger Hardflip in Jozi. RIGHT: Spani knocking out a Nosebonk. BOTTOM: New father Alan Marola Frontside Hurricanes the mountain barriers before nappy changing time.
again he mentions what he would do at a spot if he could hit it… Things no one would think of.” Meeting up with Skippy and Jansen in Pretoria allowed the video to truly merge the two team’s roots. With new skaters to introduce to old spots, the time over Christmas 2013 spent in Pretoria was put to good use. “Being on tour brings out the best in a skateboarder,” says Joubert, “it takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to adapt to unfamiliar spots. Even though we only had about half the original squad the tour still turned out pretty productive. The weekend skate missions and little trips all came naturally. It still felt like we just cruising around the city with the homies and skating what we found. Just like old times.”
Being on tour brings out the best in a skateboarder Obviously Cape Town is more than covered by all. Both Kanya and Jimmy Wong have been piling up a considerable amount of shredding for their parts including the footage of this issues cover shot. While most are eager to see Mr Spani’s part, he also has his recommendations. “Leak. Definitely Leak. My boy Wong as well. And Joubert. He won’t ever hype himself and he’s mostly been filming, but he’ll get some shit every other mission. He told me he’s got lines. Just lines.” Having been more used to filming with Jamie, Kanya has the viewpoint on both filmers. “Joubert takes his time because he wants to see you land it first, and then again maybe, because you’ll do it better. Whereas Jamie, you’re out the car and the camera will be out and ready. Joubert doesn’t give a fuck about the lighting, but Jamie will make you wait for a trick ‘til the light’s just right or some shit like that. It’s all good though, just different styles.” Through either lens, the footage is now pretty much wrapped up and safely stowed on hard-drives says Joubert, “After about a year of filming we are almost done. Guys are working for that final ender as the deadline creeps up. This is definitely the least amount of time we have spent on a video. Even with that being said we are itching to get it out there.” The two companies approached us to put the video on next issues cover and with a little help from Monster SA you’ll be receiving your copy of the colab if you buy next issue. Kanya puts the motivation behind the whole colab video pretty succinctly. “It’s to hype people up you know? It’s our turn to show what we‘ve been doing. And we’ve been putting in work. There aren’t many SA videos coming out like this, at least not of this calibre. It’s not some clip you won’t want to watch again.”
sessionmag.co.za | 53
STEFAN JANOSKI
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closet envy
What’s on your rack?
Element Skateboards
Plankie Skateboards
Technique Skateboards
CONS KA II
Vans Crockett Pro
Etnies Marana
Nike SB Blazer PR SE
CONS KA II
Vans Lindero
Etnies RCT
Nike SB Koston 2 LR
Neff Yachter
Neff Fold
Neff Fold Grey
Etnies Rolling Strong
Thrasher x Huf Colab
@CONVERSE--CONS
CONS AMBASSADOR NICK TRAPASSO, SWITCH POLE JAM
closet envy
Winter is always lurking...
Von Zipper The Lesmore
Neff Bang Tortoise Skullcandy Air Raid Von Zipper The Lesmore
Neff Spectra Von Zipper Elmore Lime
Skullcandy Koston Aviator
Skullcandy Koston Krusher
Dope x Plankie Pocket Tees Skullcandy Hesh Black Brown
Skullcandy Hesh 2 Santa Fe Snake
Fit In-Ear Hot Blue Skullcandy Crusher
Fit In-Ear Koston
adidas Sweatshirt
Etnies Good Times Tee
Win with adidas This Benny Fairfax Skate Copa jersey, Lomography Camera and more adidas gear is up for grabs. Simply send you answer to info@sessionmag.co.za The Question
List the 5 other adidas team riders with a signature Skate Copa jersey and the countries they come from. Supported by: 58 | sessionmag.co.za
RYAN SHECKLER / BACK LIP / PHOTO: ARTO SAARI
The BIZNESS
Industry News and Skateboard Banter
Steph Morgan Frontside Heelflips in Berlin. Ph. Sam Clark
Thrasher Magazine just completed a tour of South Africa that consisted of heavy hitters like Grant Taylor, Raven Tershy, Cory Kennedy, Ronnie Sandoval and more! Jake Phelps was en route to our shores with the crew and was sadly sent home from a transfer in Europe after it was discovered he didn’t have space in his passport to enter another country (yes this is a true story, we aren’t joking). Look out for the SA tour article in Thrasher Magazine and a video edit later in the year. Sam Clark was their tour guide and shot some pics that you’ll also see in Session later this year. Familia Skateboards just completed their own SA tour. Gavin Morgan flew into JHB from London with his bros Andy and Steph as well as ex-Durbanite Shaun Witherup. They were joined by Loucas Polydorou and Yann Horowitz from Cape Town. After skating Jozi for a few days the crew headed down to Durban and then did a road trip all the way down the coast to Cape Town. You’re sure to see coverage of that coming soon. DC team rider Gavin ‘Moses’ Adams just returned home from a trip to LA where he took part in ‘Battle at the Berrics – Joes vs Pros’. He dropped a few instagram clips during his stay that showed him slaying the park. Keep up-to-date with the weekly match ups to see how he did in the contest. Volcom recently hosted South African premieres for their new film ‘True to This’. Check out the Session website for a recap of what went down. Converse CONS are now available from Baseline skate shop in CT (and via their online store with free shipping anywhere in SA) and Boogaloos skate stores. The local CONS team has just been recruited and the details will be announced in the next issue. adidas Skateboarding welcomes Dlamini Dlamini to their local squad, welcome edit coming soon! DPD teams Selfish SA, Technique Skateboards & Tech 60 | sessionmag.co.za
Wheel Co are working on a series of webisodes. The first one drops at the end of March and features Allan Adams. Technique Wheel Co is dropping a new edit to welcome a list of newly recruited riders from across the country very soon. Look out for updates on their Facebook pages and the Session website. Technique Skateboards now has a wider range of decks - 8.25, 8.5 and 8.75 with new concaves and their new Wood Stain logo series. Most of the team has left for greener pastures so Dope Industries is looking for some new young talent that will hang around for a while. Jimmy Wong has left for Germany to build skateparks, Will Twala is due back
Jake Phelps was en route to our shores... from Switzerland for a holiday and Gary McNaughton finally got a job in the UK so hopefully no more robbery and stompie smoking for him. At least Kanya Spani is still killing it locally. Scuf is now importing Dope Ind into Australia so tell your cousins over there. This year the Skateboarding For Hope Tour has added more stops to make the 2014 event series bigger and better. Check out www.kimberleydiamondcup.com for updates and make sure your schedule is free for KDC. The new Dope X Plankie collaboration video will be released with the next issue of Session... everyone is finishing up their parts. AV Skateboarding has a new website and this means you can now watch AV Issue 22 online for free! If you’ve missed an old issue don’t worry because the whole archive will also be added to the website soon. SA skateboarding is becoming more accessible to a global audience. Damon de Clercq is on the cover, he just
finished his Debut before immigrating to New Zealand. We wish him well with his new life over there. Etnies team riders have been on some personal tours: Brandon Valjalo has just got back from a trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai where he hit up some amazing spots and Dylan Vaughan is in Germany for a few months skating with some of the locals. He’ll be hooking up with Sam Clark soon and possibly getting a few snaps. Tao Havenga is moving to Cape St Francis, J-Bay homies be on the lookout for him. Ofentse Ramakanye is working on his part for the SSS video ‘Fatherless kids’. Keep a close eye on www.sessionmag.co.za (and our Facebook page) for daily updates. That’s the primary web news source for all things to do with skateboarding in South Africa.
Autumn 2014 | Audio Visual Skateboarding Video Magazine | Issue 22
Exposure 22.1
Spot Check PE Skate Park Debut Damon de Clercq Contest Midway Mayhem Close Up Anthony de Mendonca Plus Bonus Footage
Now Premiering at www.avskateboarding.tv Advertising, Sales Information and Contributors > Email: info@avskateboarding.tv or go to www.avskatebaording.tv
everybody wins
Podium
Contests, Events and The After Parties
Midway Mayhem in Kimberley
photos: dwayne erasmus
Khule Ngubane won because he had lines for days. I think he missed 1 trick in his first run. Frontside Feeble.
shaun burger won because he got a photo with 57 people with his left nut hanging out. online gallery coming soon.
all these people win.
khule winning er’thang. 62 | sessionmag.co.za
quinton robertson won because he climbed a robot.
Especially Kanya on the roof.
Bryce rheeder won because he rolls deep, Tk modise won because he wallied into the quarter & pinkhard won because his eyes are closed.
evan binge won because he skated the vert with a hell hangover. frontside tweaker.
This dude did not win anything.
nike vs adidas. you decide.
the group photo caused a mini riot.
bevan wins the most because he is still alive after a taking a bottle to the head.
new TeeShits
INFO@DIVERSITYDIST.COM
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TECHNIQUE_SKATE
DEAN MARAIS - FRONT SIDE BLUNT SLIDE
photo: Tim Moolman
TheLegionSkateboardCompany LegionSkateboarding
LegionSession 200913.indd 2
2013/09/20 9:25 AM
DYLAN RIEDER DYLAN RIEDER
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H U F W O R L D W I D E .C O M
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THE PASSENGER All in a day.
photos: sam clark
Basically just bro’ed down in the middle of the street with the whole crew.
“We’re up that road. But dude, you should have seen... We just had an incident with the cops... ” “Oh, you get bust?” ‘Well, no... a different kind of incident. Jesus, I can’t even explain, tell you when you get here.” Sam couldn’t explain. I didn’t fully understand until I saw these photos either. These two cops stopped to see what 10 skateboarders were doing alongside the road and through Khulu’s jeering and hyping ended up as class act entertainment. They hand-cuffed Khulu, skated, towed, joked and even humoured getting water thrown at them. Basically just bro’ed down in the middle of the street with the whole crew. Onlookers must have seriously questioned the spending of their tax money. This was just the start of the day. Kanya got his gap to Backlip for the interview and Dope/Plankie part but Yann got robbed of a magnificent line that he’ll hopefully get for the next Familia promo currently in the works. With spirits high, the 13 of us piled into the 4/5 cars and headed to the next spot. The set of stairs and gaps we arrived at were already being sessioned. 20sk8 along with MJ Johnson, Mitchell & Trae Rice, Grant McLachlan 64 | sessionmag.co.za
and a few others were busy filming for their full length. It brought our numbers up to around 30 dudes hanging out in a parking lot in the middle of Wynberg. It wasn’t planned at all, just a random coincidence of 3 crews ending up at the same place. We attempted to stay together to check out a set in a little corridor. We only got as far as sessioning the tiny corridor before the crews split off in different directions. We followed Sam Clark and Yann to a gap on the side of a busy road. It was a bank with 4 stairs in the middle. Yann flew at it a couple times before clearing it cleanly. It was on! Yann pushing down the road to hit the ollie was more amping than the trick. He was damn near falling off with every gigantic push he mustered, but he eventually got his speed and rhythm and then cleared the gap comfortably. The day was all hype. At times it felt like I’d arrived at a weird skate festival. There weren’t any stalls or live music, but there was more than enough entertainment going on all around. These are the missions we all crave. The shit that goes down while we’re out there is often unheard of or underexplained in a 2 second clip. This is where The Passenger comes in - Telling the stories from the streets.
blackboard
Brett Shaw is currently in LA filming and skating with Thalente for his documentary.
Jon Coulthard
Thalente in LA
Los Angeles, California is the belly of the skateboard beast and every other bastard wheel fad. Downtown there are small packs of bladers, scooter riders, longboarders, roller skaters and even dip stick (rip stick) warriors. They are all gathering footage like Cro-Magnon’s for their next #nipplecornrow web clip. You don’t know where the spots are? Fear not for there is an app for ledge, ditch, stair, rail, park and even where Koston’s house is. It’s actually pretty cool to see how big skateboarding is here and nobody is from LA so everyone is pretty friendly. The Pros are also normal human beings and they breathe, poop and live like the rest of us. So you can bump into Greco having coffee in the Art District and see Reynolds and the Baker guys who are always at the North Hollywood skate park. When you’re riding Lance Mountain’s pool Raybourn could sling by, who knows man it’s like a lucky packet. There are young, old and weird looking dudes as well as chicks at every park and spot that you will never hear of and they absolutely kill it. So why won’t you ever know
66 | sessionmag.co.za
who they are? Because they are operating outside of the bubble, they ride to live and live to ride and as long as they can hustle some money from somewhere to pay rent then they can skate and that’s all that matters. If you love skateboarding you need to come to LA because it’s an important part of your 4 wheel life journey.
... he even refereed a Pros vs Joes battle. Besides a few trips down south, Thalente has been living in LA for over a year now. He’s rocking a 5 year visa and has some killer sponsors. Hell yeah it’s rad to see one of our brothers doing so well. I am busy roaming the streets with Thalente and his filmer / bro Lawrence (@justfilmit) so we can wrap up the filming for the I AM THALENTE
Documentary. He’s also going to drop a part soon and shoot an interview for Session. It’s mind blowing how we’ve all watched Thalente grow up from a small beach park kid to a semi-grown ass man that hob knobs with all the skate Pros. Riding the Berrics whenever he wants, he even refereed a Joes vs Pros battle the other day. He has sessions with Marc Johnson and Guy Mariano in their private TF. Cruising down to San Diego to hang with Tony Hawk, hitting up the Trunk Boys mini ramp, some flatland with Felipe Gustavo, road trips to Las Vegas with Kenny Anderson and watching Tom Asta shoot his Transworld cover. That’s basically what most skaters dream about when they hit the sack at night. So next time your homie is whining like a little bitch give him a skull flick because good things happen to good people and dreams do come true. Just don’t drink the Mexican milk drink over here because it tastes like the inside of a goat’s bum hole. Start saving and get some, then get it straight, ride crooked. It’s the only way.
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