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Issue 69
DEC|JAn 2015/16
Jozi Days | jean marc | far from home | KDC 2015
DANNY WAY \ WORLD RECORD 25.5' AIR \ BLABAC PHOTO AT D C S H O E S .C O M / B E YO N D - M E A S U R E
0 8 THE F UTU R E • 1 2
J o z i D a y s • 2 2 J e a n m a rc - w h
ISSUE 69
Contents • 54 Redbull grassroots tour • 56 DC halloween 2 | sessionmag.co.za
h e r e i s m y m i n d ? • 3 0 f a r fr o m h o m e • 4 2 K D C 2 0 1 5
Cover: Jimmy Wong skating an amazing sculpture a long way from home in South Korea – Photo Albert Retief Contents: Hidden away in a boat factory in Cape Town, Chris Cab floats an air inside a mould before they can get it out on the water. Let’s hope the boat floats too – Photo Grant Mclachlan
J a m • 5 8 I A m - LU C I ANO DE V I LL I E R S • 6 0 C l o s e t E n v y sessionmag.co.za | 3
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Š 2016 adidas AG. adidas, the trefoil logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.
THE FUTURE the Red Bull Grassroots Tour and he did his utmost. From being the only guy in the crew with the balls to bungee jump off the Bloukrans Bridge, to slamming really hard but keeping going while trying to smith grind the Sea Point handrail in Cape Town. If you just give a guy like Siphiwe a little opportunity, he’ll amaze you.
mclachlan
Siphiwe Keshwa is the future of South African skateboarding. Hailing from a township in Kimberley, he’s only been skating for about two years. He’s had the chance to travel a bit on KDC’s ‘Kimberlaaities’ road trips and he’s made every second count. After showing great promise, he was afforded the opportunity to go on
Siphiwe ollies a large gap at Gariep Dam in the Free State. Photo – Tyrone Bradley / Red Bull Content Pool
Creative Director
Brendan Body
brendan@sessionmag.co.za Editor
Luke Jackson
info@sessionmag.co.za Photo Retoucher
Clint van der Schyf
Photographers 69
Physical Address:
Sam Clark, Jansen van Staden, Tyrone Bradley, Jono K, Werner Lamprecht, Albert Retief
Session Magazine, 2nd Floor, Earlgo Building, cnr. Kloof & Park Rd, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001.
CONTRIBUTORS 69
PRINTERS:
Andrew Morck, Oliver Walker, AD Henderson
Paarl Media - Paarl
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Jozi Days with Jonathan Kyriakou
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Interview: Luke Jackson Photos: Jono K
Where are you from? I grew up in East London, moved to Cape Town as soon as possible and then kind of moved around after that. I’m based in Cape Town right now. What do you do for a living? I do stuff in the general freelance film industry business. Is this your first skate video? I’ve done a few parts and adverts, but this is the first complete project. If you live in Cape Town now, tell us how you ended up making a video about JHB? I was looking for somewhere new to go and live for a bit, Jozi had always interested me. I’d never lived there and to be honest I knew very little about it. In terms of the video, I liked the fact that it hadn’t been well covered in recent years and I thought the city would be a great backdrop for any kind of visual piece. I’ve lived in a lot of places in my life and Jozi is one of the few I can consider home. How long did you work on this project for? It was a little over 4 months and then another week to finish off the parts. In terms of filming, it wasn’t just going on missions on the weekend and seeing what happens, we planned and tried to go as often as we could. I think in a good week we’d be filming on four or five days out of the week. Did you discover any new young JHB skateboarders that you didn’t know about before, who really stood out to you? I didn’t really know most people. So there might be guys that are new to you and I, meanwhile they’re known within the Joburg scene, but they remain relatively undocumented. On a whole Joburg guys are killing it. I think Wandile said it best in the video, the scene is youthful and energetic, there’s also this new influx of kids coming from the city and Soweto that didn’t have access previously. Some of them skate LBGs almost every day, they’re out there practicing and skating the city as much as they can. There are a few young rippers in the ‘friends’ section. Also, shout out to the VeG squad, that video is going to KILL, they are really holding it down! Filming on the streets of Jozi can be sketchy at times, any stories to share? Sure, in terms of us filming with the guys nothing ever happened. Stuff happened to people I know during the time I was there, and to me, but nothing while filming. I think people are quick to damn the city and the level of violence, and things do happen, but at the end of the day it’s a city full of people trying to live their lives and carry on with a normal existence. It’s no different anywhere in the world.
“I was looking for somewhere new to go and live for a bit, Jozi had always interested me.”
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Taylor Sturgess lights a smoke and hurries to makes it over a handrail before having to tuck around a tight corner, with security in pursuit.
How did you end up picking the guys who have full parts? Mitchell Rice always used to say to me that if I go to Joburg then I should go film with his brother Trae. Taylor I knew through our involvement with Technique. TK I saw on some Pretoria edit, he did a wallie nose manual and I remember thinking, “who is this guy?” So I got hold of everyone and they were interested, but I now know they all kind of thought like, “whatever, who is this guy?” But then I rocked up and we started filming. TK and Taylor live together which made things easier and Trae lived down the road from the homies I was crashing with. Tell us 5 things about: TK Modise 1. The nicest dude. 2. He can wallie anything. 3. He knows all the lyrics to most rap songs. 4. He hates it when I suggest tricks. 5. He’s a pretty good photographer. TK Modise props up a sheet of plywood to loft this kickflip at an old JHB classic that somehow survived all the surrounding renovations in Newtown.
“there’s also this new influx of kids coming from the city and Soweto that didn’t have access previously”
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Taylor Sturgess 1. The nicest dude. 2. He can also DJ, so I’m told. 3. He parties at Truth a lot! 4. He can ollie massive double sets under pressure, which I didn’t film. 5. He has his shit on-lock! Nothing takes him more than a few tries. Trae Rice 1. The nicest dude. 2. He stresses balls all the time. 3. He can smash any tranny you throw at him. 4. He smokes in bed. 5. He takes a lot of kak.
Trae Rice with a long noseslide at a one-push-run-up ledge in front of the Johannesburg Civic Theatre. sessionmag.co.za | 15
TK Modise front blunts one of the recently renovated pyramid planters across the road from Carlton Centre.
There are quite a few spots in the video that have been around for a bit but never really been documented before, who lead the charge to go out and film at all these different spots? Trae knew a lot of spots. Wandile as well, he was called in as the guide but mainly we kind of planned and missioned, watched old AVs and read old Sessions. In general we tried to get away from the usual. Really though, in four months we covered a lot of Jozi. I was driving around for work quite a bit so I would find stuff too. Tell us about the DVD and zine project, where can we get it? It’ll be at the premieres, that’s it. There’s not going to be a lot. You set off for JHB months ago with a vision, did the final project meet your expectations and is there anything you didn’t get that you’d like to go back for? Man it went so well, the guys worked so hard on this thing, we all did. It’s amazing to see what can be achieved in such a short time. Trae was broken at one stage, he wasn’t answering my calls anymore so I’d just rock up at his house and be like, “get in the car we are going on a mission!” I think when filming skating you can never have enough, considering most videos take years. I wish I could carry on with this project but I just couldn’t justify it financially. I’ll be back!
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TK Modise nollies out of a backside wallride, down a Hillbrow alleyway.
“TK and Taylor live together which made things easier and Trae lived down the road from the homies I was crashing with.� sessionmag.co.za | 17
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Taylor Sturgess goes the distance with a backside heelflip outside the new Wits Art Museum in Braamfontein. sessionmag.co.za | 19
Trae Rice with a frontside 180 to switch crook on a crusty old bank in Randburg, just around the corner from the infamous Alicats watering hole.
Have you got any plans to work on any more skate videos? Not in my personal capacity at the moment. I’m branching out for now. We’ll see what comes up in the future. I can honestly say that filming ‘Jozi Days’ was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. That being said there were definitely days where I would be sitting in some trash-strewn and piss-soaked gutter wondering what the fuck I was doing. No different to anything in life.
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Where can one check out more of your work? There’s stuff on my Vimeo page (Jono Kay), and you can check out my insta @jonokyriakou Any final words? The music was a big source of inspiration for this flick, all the music was offered by the musicians to use in this one. And I really wanted to try and incorporate the new sounds in South African Electronic
music, and help give the video a more local feel. The video is very much about Jozi, as much as the people who feature in it. So BEhr, Buli, LEEU, Vox Portent, HLASKO and Big SPACE - thanks so much for all that you did. Thanks so much to all the goons, the Wasted crew, LBGs skaters and Homegrwn guys that made me feel welcome and to all the people that helped in the missions and making of this video. Rachel, Thor, Jenna, Lex and Kevin - Thank you!
Nosepick in Muizenberg. Photo - Bradley
Bongi ‘Bon Jovi’ Manyala drops in on a sloping ledge and ollies out to front 5-0 on a tall electrical box.
“The video is very much about Jozi, as much as the people who feature in it.”
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jean Marc where is my mind?
Jean Marc is a somewhat quiet guy that you’ll always see at skate events, but you don’t really know all that much about. He is undeniably talented at riding a skateboard, always trying some crazy tech combo. He also maintains a large social media presence, something that gives him both a following on the one hand, but also tends to alienate a lot of skateboarders on the other. Whether you love his approach to skateboarding and sponsorship or you hate it, there’s no denying his name is one that comes up a lot in conversations about local skateboarding. He has made an impact. interview: Luke Jackson Photos: Grant Mclachlan
How old are you and where are you from? I’m 24 and I’m from Athlone in Cape Town. You seem to travel internationally more than the majority of local skateboarders. You are quite heavily involved in the contest circuit, do you proactively contact guys to get involved in these events or do guys just mail you invites? Some are invites but being proactive about it has helped me, I mean getting anywhere is possible these days. Going out in any contest, winning is a plus, but staying part of a circuit is harder. So I always try and get focused and make sure I can continue to compete even if the first time around the contest is difficult, you get experience each time and it pushes you to do better and learn for the next contest. Where have you travelled to compete, thus far? Paris, Amsterdam, Middle East, Muscat, Lebanon, China, Los Angeles and Tampa (Florida). How do you fund these trips, it can’t be cheap to travel to all these places? My sponsors help me a lot with getting to events, as well as the events team themselves, depending on where it is. They will try and help wherever they can. Do you work at all, outside of skateboarding, or are you studying? I was a student at City Varsity, but I am currently just skateboarding. I also own a Charity ini-
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tiative called FILL THE GAP that also works with brands that I am involved with, as well as other non-profit organizations from South Africa. You have a really long list of sponsors, are they helping you to make a living or do you just get product and that sort of thing? My sponsors are Almost Skateboards, Tensor trucks, Globe, Nixon, GoPro, Biogen, Outdoor Tech, Connexion Wheels, Vonzipper, Virgin Active and Vida e caffe. All of my sponsors and the brands I am supported by play such a big role in my career, whether it is financially or not, I would not have been able to make anything happen without all their support and belief. Social networks are obviously valuable tools in helping promote skateboarding to a wider audience. You seem to be more active in this regard than most local skateboarders. Is that sort of promotion something that you are actively conscious of and pursue, it seems like it’s something that works for you, when considering your diverse collection of sponsors? Social media has taken over everything, especially skateboarding. Fortunately, for many skateboarders it will play a very big role, since Instagram got big I realized that everyone has the same platform to work with here, which means the same opportunities if you’re willing put it to good use. Not too long ago we would all film ‘sponsor me’ videos and send it to a brand to try and get involved, but now there
Jean Marc sails a kickflip out to frontside noseslide.
Nosepick in Muizenberg. Photo - Bradley sessionmag.co.za | 23
A crusty back smith with help from some trusty scraps.
is a daily platform to do this. It wouldn’t work for me if I did not consciously want it to. It’s something that you need to know why you’re using. It works for me, not just from a skateboarding perspective but also where a charity initiative is involved for example, or a business, because I am also actively involved with and work with other social media platforms as an individual. Whether it’s to create some really good content or just work on a future project. Although, every one has their own reasons they use social media.
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You are regularly posting pretty insane clips of technical tricks on social media. What inspires you to keep trying these technical things and how many hours do you spend working on them? I watch a lot of skate videos and keep up-to-date with what’s going down these days. Honestly, I think my mindset changed after spending some time skating with Sewa Kroetkov, Chris Chann, Jason Park, Micky Papa and guys like that. I just wanted to push myself to do
things that I haven’t seen. This year was the year I said I was going to try and do everything I talked myself out of. I got into this whole mindset of trying to think of things that are impossible and just try it to see what happens. I’m working on a part and I hope I can get some new tricks in there.
Switch inward heelflip tailslide and 270 out, at Cape Town’s ‘go to’ ledge spot, Civic Centre.
“Whether it’s to create some really good content or just work on a future project. Although, every one has their own reasons they use social media.”
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Switch backside flip at Cape Town Harbour, you get bonus points at this spot because of the awful fish smell.
“I hate wasting time at spots or coming back because I’m trying to do a trick that I don’t really know. I’d rather have it locked down and get it.”
You were recently in China, what did you go over there for and did you get to skate some of those amazing spots? I was there competing in the FISE World Series. China is skate heaven! I filmed so much out there. Every corner you take there is an untouched marble spot. The contest itself was awesome. I haven’t been that nervous in a long time, but I was stoked to qualify in 8th place for the final rounds. The crowd and turnout was massive, the largest I’ve competed in front of. Acknowledgements seem to be something quite important to you, you did that container stunt a while back, was that the biggest coverage you’ve had in mainstream media? I ollied a 3.4 meter gap from one shipping container to another, they were suspended three stories high. It was placed in a permanent exhibition in the Museum of Sport In France. I was also listed in the Soul id Top 100 athletes in the world, which I’m stoked on. You seem to skate a lot! Do you skate every day, and who films you all the time for your social media posts? I skate every day for sure! My good homie Byron Pietersen is always filming me.
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I remember you were in a band, do you still play and how big a part of your life is playing music? I have been a musician longer than I’ve been a skateboarder actually, I am currently not with my band anymore and we have not performed in a while. Right now it’s not a big part in my life, I put 110% into skateboarding. Tell us about shooting with Grant, you guys have been talking about shooting this for a while, how did it finally come about? I have been shooting with Grant for as long as I can remember and we always wanted to shoot a full article, we shot a few pics here and there but neither of us had the time to focus on getting this one together. I don’t think the timing could have been better, I’m a lot more confident with bigger obstacles and I spent a lot of time actually getting tricks locked down before we shot them, so it came out perfect. Also, back then I never knew much about shooting other than I would get to the spot, land the trick and that’s it. Now I understand the importance of lighting, time of day, etc. For example, the flip FS noseslide went down at around 7AM and it was the first spot for the day. There is so much more detail, but it’s all worth it and I’m stoked we made it happen.
Front board at the Gateway to Robben Island terminal, at the Waterfront’s Clock Tower building. He had to bang this one quick with security in pursuit. Skating inside a mall complex is never an easy task. sessionmag.co.za | 27
Are you often out looking for new spots or do you prefer to spend more time working on new tricks? I spend a lot of time skating and working on tricks, if there is something I’ve got that I want to shoot I will be on a lookout for the right spot for it, before I shoot something I already have a bit of an image of how it might look, so I can kind of imagine the spot from there. I hate wasting time at spots or coming back because I’m trying to do a trick that I don’t really know. I’d rather have it locked down and get it. Where do you see yourself in five years, are you aiming to go overseas and try and get hooked up by some bigger sponsors or do you think it’ll be possible to carve a successful career in skateboarding at home? In the next five years my main goal is to turn pro and also to get back to LA, it’s my dream just like any skateboarder to pursue it out there. Next year I’m hoping to get out that side and make that happen. Any final words? I want to give a very big ‘thank you’ to a few individuals that have been there every step of the way, Roxy Morris, Ference Isaacs, Byron Pietersen, Imraan & Gaamid, Grant Mclachlan, Clayton Petersen, Dewald at GoPro, Sewa Kroetkov (thanks for everything bro), my folks and everyone I had the pleasure of skating and working with. To all my sponsors and brands that support me - thank you for believing in me all the way and not doubting me for a second! It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you have or don’t have, you can do anything you want to, even if no one else sees it for you, you have to see it for yourself. There is NO amount of money, qualification, fame or praise that will ever make you believe you can do something. You have to accept where you are and the responsibility that you’re going get yourself to where you want to be. You’re in control here, so persevere and make it happen. Here’s to 2016!
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“You have to accept where you are and the responsibility that you’re going get yourself to where you want to be”
Spanish Grind at a newly built ledge on the Sea Point promenade. In case you didn’t know, a Spanish grind is a backside 180 nosegrind where you then revert back out again. So basically you backside 180 in but then rewind and switch back 180 back out. Got it?
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far from home Jimmy Wong is ‘Big in Korea’ A conversation with Oliver Walker
Photos: Albert Retief
Oliver - Tell me about how this whole Korean trip came about? Well I guess my chick was planning on coming over to teach and knowing you’re here kind of just made sense. I’d wanted to come over for years, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Oliver - What was your first impression? Ah man it was a super long flight and I arrived at night so couldn’t see much. That first night was kind of a wild party though and after traveling for so long I didn’t really realize how tired I was. But I do remember eating some mad chow! Oliver - Yeah...I took you to chow Korean BBQ. Muscle man probably has the best Korean BBQ spot in Seoul. You were pretty wasted and you pissed the bed that night!
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Aaaaaah man! Fuck I did, yeah! Dude, I woke up and had no idea where the fuck I was! Oliver - Classic Wong move! Anyways, let’s talk about the trip we did? We planned on driving down to Busan and catching a ferry to an island south of Korea, called Jeju. Last minute planning as usual, we found out there were no spots on the ferry so we booked a flight, borrowed a car from a friend and drove to the other side of the island. We arrived super early at like 6 in the morning and the waves were looking super fun! There was a surf contest on and everyone was kind of in compo mode, so we bailed from the beach and went looking for spots. Ah man, that day was fucking hot! Ended up skating for a bit, then just grabbed beers and just swam and chilled on the beach all day. Super good first day! That night there was like this little
after party from the surf comp, so just ended up making homies with the locals and having a bit of a jol. Maybe too much of a jol! I ended up sleeping on the beach. So wild! I woke up and the sun was just cooking me! But my phone was still in my pocket and my wallet too. I couldn’t believe it! Oliver - Yeah that was an awesome day. I was dossing hard in the car. Crazy how safe it is over here ay? Yeah dude so rad! Oliver - What happened next? Ah dude we woke up hanging balls and I guess the best plan was to find a motel to drop all our shit off and just kind of crash for a bit. We ended up making good friends with one of the local surfer girls and they kind of showed us around a bit and took us to this mad swimming spot! So wild!
Wong draws a crowd wherever he goes, even when he wallies off a drop in South Korea. sessionmag.co.za | 31
Jimmy Wong frontside wallride, South Korea. Photo - Albert Retief 32 | sessionmag.co.za
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Oliver - I actually took you there. It’s my favourite spot in Jeju! Calm down cool guy! Oliver - (laughs) Sheesh I remember you being so sunburnt! Duuuude! Yoh was I sunburnt! My whole body pretty much blistered up! Oliver - What about the rest of Jeju? Ah bro it was fun. We had a really good time. We were only there a couple days but found some really cool spots. Drank a lot and just kinda kicked it. Oliver - After Jeju we flew back to Seoul and drove to the east coast. Bro I was still so sunburnt! Yeah so we drove six hours to the east coast to this spot called Yang Yang. Somehow by the time we got there the people already knew we were coming. Our friends we had made in Jeju must have let them know or something, so we got pretty hooked up. We stayed at this rad backpackers on the beach for free for the first two nights, it was awesome. Oliver - Yeah I think that had something to do with Instagram and you drawing all over the girls at the jol! Yeah, I guess. Oliver – The raddest thing was that there was that big beach festival going on. That was awesome man! You got cut up!
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Oliver - Yeah that slip n slide they built was gnarly! My back was bleeding pretty bad. How funny was it teaching those dudes how to skim? Jesus, dude! Those dudes were blacking out! It was so weird. They were wearing hot pants, shoes and socks, running around like little kids. I thought we weren’t going to get the board back. That was at least two hours of skimming, right? Oliver - Yeah, maybe more! Shit, that was funny. What else stood out from the east coast? Stone Fish is this awesome little restaurant run by these really cool creative couple, Q and Suzy. It became our local and we were drinking and eating there every day. They even let me do a mural on one of their walls, which was really cool. They didn’t have cash to pay me but they were like, “ah you can have free beers and food while you paint.” That was nice of them but I don’t think they knew how much we could drink! LOL!
A big snap over the rail and then a long ride down the bank, it’s a long walk back up if you jump off your board half way down. Let’s hope this is one photo that didn’t take too long.
Oliver - Yeah we drank a lot! We actually ended up splitting the bill with them because I felt so bad! Remember?
Oliver - Shit bro that night was wild! Getting home the next day was such a mission!
Ya! But such genuine people and rad vibes! We jammed with those musicians that night too! Remember? Oliver - Oh shit yeah! Weren’t they famous or something?
Bro that drive was heavy! We were both so hungover. Dude and that first gas station we stopped at had the craziest sculpture, so we had to skate it. Man it was hot though, sheesh. Ah dude and then we ended up in that car crash!
Fuck, I don’t know. But the party on the last night was mental hey?
Oliver - Yeah, we were so lucky! I can’t believe we made it home.
Oliver - Yeah, I am surprised you even remember that! You passed out around 4PM. I had to wake you up. You hated me for waking you up that day. But, at least you made it to the jol and we could enjoy our last night there with the homies.
Yeah man, we did everything on that trip! Slept on the beach, surfed, skated, raved and then finally we had to crash a car. Bro it was scary man. How’s that dude just illegally tow our car then try rash us for all that cash. Dude you were just talking to him in Korean and I was just freaking out because I didn’t know what was going on.
Yeah bro once I was up I was ready to rave! It was wild! It was a full outdoor rave on the beach with a foam machine. We had our shirts off going full boytjie on the dance floor (laughs).
Oliver - Yeah, you started vomiting and almost had a panic attack.
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Nosepick Muizenberg. Backsidein5-0 at what Photo is now- Bradley quite a famous South Korean skate tour stop.
Fuck, that sucked! I was also freaking out when you kept failing that Breathalyzer test. Oliver - Yoh! That was pretty hectic when the guy was like, “clean your mouth out, this is your last chance.” I was so hungover that I forgot to brush my teeth. I can imagine it was weird for you. Not understanding the language and what was going on. Yeah man I was puzzling bro. I was just looking at the dude’s face and he looked like a real tough guy. Fuck tow-truck drivers bro, no matter where you go in the world those dudes are always scum! Oliver - What has your experience been like in Korea in regards to the language and cultural differences? I guess not understanding what people are saying is a bit
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strange but I’m kinda used to it. When living in Germany I never knew what was going on either you know. So I just kinda do my own thing. Oliver - Ah yeah I didn’t realize you would have experienced that in Germany. What was that like? It was kind of different cause I was working all the time so I kinda picked up on the words I was hearing every day. And then when we’d go out and party I’d be like whaaaaat? Owes would be talking fast and using slang, I’d just be so confused. So I’d just end up dopping way too quickly. Oliver - Did you enjoy building skateparks in Europe? Yeah dude it was an amazing experience bro. The language barrier really sucked though. Sho dude it’s not the job for everybody. You’ve got to be tough. Not just physically, but
“Calm down cool guy!”
Oliver - Yeah, I can imagine it was hardcore. You hit 4 different countries in one weekend didn’t you? Yeah so I was working up in Germany on the Thursday and then drove down to Austria on the Friday to work there. Then my boss Hannes was like, “dude there’s snow on the mountain in Italy.” We went to stay with one of his friends and we went snowboarding. Fuck that was insane man! Next thing I know I’m in a cable car to the top of the mountain, just blacking out! It was my first time snowboarding too, so I was a bit nervous, but I got it super quick! The maddest feeling ever! Backside powerslide, yoh yoh yoh! So much fun! Then on the Sunday we kicked it through to Switzerland to go skate this massive plaza in Zurich. Not a bad weekend hitting up Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Wild times! Oliver - Too rad! So what do you think about Seoul compared to the European cities you have travelled to? Seoul is massive bro. It’s probably the biggest city I’ve ever been to and the safest for sure! It’s crazy, there’s no such thing as crime here. I could leave my phone on the floor and go back the next day, and it would probably still be there. Oliver - Yeah it is safe ay! But in regards to skating, what do you think?
mentally too. Man it’s heavy! This one time I was living in a container, working the gnarliest hours. So gnarly! Every day it would rain at about 5 or so, we’d have to stop working and then there’s nothing to do cause you’re living in a container, so you just sit in the rain dopping. Crawl to the container and then you’re back hammering pins at 6AM. By 11 I’d be frothing for another beer. Dude I was so dirty! I didn’t shower for like three weeks man. We were working in the dirt, sweating like a pig every day. You’re never going to catch a hook-up looking like that! All in all I loved it and hated it, but it was an amazing time. I would have loved to continue but just the whole language barrier and not having my choms around sucked!
This city is jam packed with spots dude. Fuck, I wish I was a little curb Nazi, there is just marble curbs everywhere. But I hate skating that stuff. Kids in SA would honestly blackout if they saw these spots. It’s crazy too cause skateboarding is still kind of new so you don’t really get kicked out that much, and when you do the security guards are so friendly, the kind that you sort of just listen to. But you can always get another couple tries in after being told to leave. Oliver - What was your highlight of skating around Seoul? Definitely cruising around with Albert (Retief) dude. That guy’s knowledge of the city is pretty good man. Sheesh did we mission bro. Some days we’d just walk and walk and walk bro. Sheesh that guy can walk man! But it was always good because you can drink beers in the street, which is amazing. Just get some tins and cruise. Albert’s theory was one photo a day, but fuck even if we got nothing we’d still have an awesome time. For me it’s cooler than getting pics or a clip, to just roll with friends. Oliver - What was your favourite spot? Definitely DDP. It’s this crazy design plaza. Security is super tight though, but we’ve been able to skate it a couple times. On the Friday night of the House of Vans party we got to session the banks going down this hill for maybe 30 minutes. That was all time man! sessionmag.co.za | 37
“Slept on the beach, surfed, skated, raved and then finally we had to crash a car. Bro it was scary man”
Oliver – Your favourite photo? I like that wallie back 180 shot at Dongdaemun Design Plaza. I just like the way Albert cropped it. In the black and white it looks so dope! Oliver - What has been the strangest thing that you have experienced in Korea? I got into a weird fight. Koreans aren’t violent people at all so it was quite bizarre. We were out in this park and I was looking for a light, so I start speaking to these 5 Korean dudes and the guy in the middle gets up off this jungle gym and just starts swinging. I duck twice and was like nah, so I bang this guy once and he passes out and I’m wondering what the fuck just happened there. While I’m talking to his friends, this dude gets up out of nowhere and just bangs me solid in the face. As soon as he hit me the cops were all over us, ripping us apart. They were asking us if we wanted to press charges, but we were like nah fuck that cause then we would have to head down to the station and we were in party mode at the time. My buddy Scotty Soul took us to this club and got us so smashed! At one point I looked up and you were dancing with a chair on the dance floor. Oliver - I think I was semi-concussed. I got a stray fist to the face while trying to break up the mayhem. So anyways, you have been in Seoul for a few months now, what are your plans for the future? I’ve been here a long time now and haven’t really been working much at all, so I’m planning on getting over to England for a bit to make some pounds and catch up with family and friends over there. I would fucking love to be heading back to Cape Town for summer but the flights are just too expensive! I’m really not amped for winter and I’m lucky to have dodged it for the last couple years. So I guess I’ve just got to rock this one out, make some cash and then can start planning my travels for next year. I’m not too sure where I’ll be off to but I’ve definitely got to do something. If anyone is planning anything then hit this honky up and let’s go get creepy somewhere. Oliver - Rad Wongy! So I guess that’s it. Anything else you would like to add? There is an edit coming out alongside this interview. It’s called ‘Far From Home’. We were lucky to get support from Olympus, they gave us some mad equipment to play around with. Please be sure to check it out.
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Oliver - Sweet. Anyone you’d like to thank? This list is going to be way too long! But I guess you’re going to be on the top bro. If it wasn’t for you and your help over here then I wouldn’t have had such an amazing experience. Megs too, she helped out a lot! To my good friend Talbot at Vans for hooking me up with a mad travel budget - thanks a lot boytjie. Thanks to my boy Jamie at Dope for hooking me up with some awesome threads. Thanks to Albert for missioning with me around Seoul and for taking pics and being so patient. The boys at Session for this opportunity, thanks Chinas. Thanks to my ballies for giving me the freedom to become whoever I wanted to be and always having my back even though most of the time I’m full retard. To all my boys back home! I fucking miss just sitting on the bench outside Baseline, chowing some maccies and drinking beers from Gourmet Boerie. I’ll be back, or even better if you get up and get on a travel vibe and come meet me somewhere! Let’s roll! Thank you skateboarding.
Wong is always bouncing off the walls.
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KDC 2015 Ridiculous skateboarding, insane heat, big crowds, wild moshing, huge money, late nights and for one... even some jail time. It all happens at the Kimberley Diamond Cup. KDC 2015 was quite possibly the best one yet. words: Luke Jackson Photos: Jansen van staden, Sam clark
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van staden Front board - are you going up?
Heat and Dust Everyone comes back from KDC each year talking about the insane heat in KBY and the dust that covers everything. This year was no different, if you were out in the sun from morning to night, a day can take its toll, but for a full week coupled with late nights and skateboarding, it can break you. You have to pace yourself. Thrasher Skate Rock A big highlight this year was the Thrasher Magazine Skate Rock tour. These guys greatly added to the overall entertain-
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ment. KDC organizes two international tours to the country each year in the build-up to the main event. This year both came to the country concurrently and continued on around the country afterwards. The Thrasher Skate Rock tour was a chaotic mix of Bad Shit, Arctic, TCIYF (from Soweto), a roadie crew and somewhat odd additions such as Baby Scumbag (Steven Fernandes) and his homie Aramis. Bad Shit consists of Jake Phelps, Tony T and his lady. Arctic is Don ‘Nuge’ Nguyen, Justin Figueroa and Frecks. Also along for the ride were Grant Taylor, Braydon Szafranski, Rowan Zorilla, Pat McLean, Raven Tershy and even artist Neckface. That is a heavy crew right there!
van staden
hooked them all up with transport and accommodation.
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The long road to Kimberley Somehow, this was my first trip to the KDC main event. I’ve visited Kimberley for Midway Mayhem and been to Skate For Hope events, but I’d never made it out to Kimberley for the big show. I boarded a bus in Cape Town on a Tuesday evening with half of the Cape Town skateboarding contingent and wouldn’t arrive until the following morning, 12 hours later. Skateboarding and travel go hand-inhand, by any means necessary, but the flight from CT is really expensive, so everyone who can scrape together some cash gets together and rides the bus. Also on board were the CT based Wild Card winners from throughout the year, KDC
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Gustavo Servin flew all the way from Mexico to shred the park and did a bunch of tricks from the high side of the rail every single try. This frontside nosegrind looked easy for him. sessionmag.co.za | 43
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KDC was blessed with a performance by Arctic on Thursday night at the Occidental Bar and Friday night at the beer tent, which meant that the evenings were sorted for entertainment. Bad Shit only arrived on Friday and during their performance the crowd went buck! During ‘All Hail Cardiel’ Grant Taylor went full retard and charged into the fired up mosh pit with a metal barrier, the police stepped in and that was that, Skate Rock Kimberley was over. TCIYF weren’t able to play. The Thrasher crew didn’t return to the park on Saturday, rumours suggest they were then kicked out of their hotel for causing chaos later on Friday night and spent the
Nosepick Muizenberg. Bradley Horowitz backlips in a long sleeve shirt, you wouldn’t think it wasin35 degrees Photo in the- desert.
rest of their stay in KBY camping outside of their hotel and having braais on the sidewalk. Figgy, Rowan, Nuge, Braydon and co all skated the qualifiers on Friday but they were really in the country for Skate Rock, and thus didn’t feature in Saturday’s finals. I did see Figgy in the reception of the Protea Hotel on Saturday morning along with Rowan, naturally they were bare foot and ordering double Vodkas for breakfast. The Skate Rock tour then headed to Durban on Sunday for a performance at The Winston. A few days in Durban were followed by a stint at Indigo, which in-
cluded a car crash, and then they ended up in JHB with shows in Soweto, Maboneng and one last appearance at the Germiston Bowl before flying out. Can’t wait to see what P-Stone’s coverage is like on the Thrasher site. TWS The Transworld Magazine tour was far more productive on the skate front. The crew consisted of Brian Delatorre, Tom Remillard, JT Aultz and Willis Kimbel. Also in the group were filmer Joe Pease and tour manager/TWS web editor Blair Alley. Sam Clark was local tour guide and photographer, and he also pulled Yann
Horowitz into the travel party. They departed KBY for the Garden Route and eventually ended up in Cape Town a week later. Coverage of their expedition will also be out soon. African Championships This year was the first KDC African Championships. Skateboarders from around Africa were invited to take part and many travelled all the way to KBY, thanks to funding for transport and accommodation provided. Madagascar, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya and more were all in the mix. Probably the longest trip to get to the plaza was
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Yoshi Tanenbaum had two insane video parts drop online the week before KDC. He’s also had a good year crushing contests. He was a surprise to many locals but certainly a name to watch in the future. His alley-oop backside flip across the quarter pipe was a crowd favourite all weekend. Here he shows his diverse ability by lofting one over the handrail too.
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Nosepick in Muizenberg. - Bradley Chase Webb and JS Lapierre come out the gate with Photo guns blazing. Synchronized noseblunts as the clock starts in their head-to-head battle.
Protea Hotel The Protea in KBY is somewhat infamous in local skateboarding. The hotel hosts all the big names and is overrun with skateboarders for the whole week. The party
Josh Chisholm Special mention needs to be made of our mate Josh. The hype man for sure, more juiced than anybody else. He was the one individual we know who ended up in
jail over the weekend. He was posted up in the Sun 1 hotel with many of the other Wild Card winners from around the country. The police were called 2 nights in a row due to Josh’s hyper activity late into the night. The second night resulted in him spending a few hours in jail. Rayne Moses found him on Sunday morning, walking barefoot through the streets of town and carrying a charge sheet. He was naturally pissed, as he doesn’t remember why he was arrested, but the charge sheet suggested he was disturbing the peace. We all had a big laugh about it with poor old Josh when we were reunited on the bus back to CT on Sunday night.
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in the bar on Saturday night went well into the night. Quite a bizarre scene with a certain local skateboarder having his balls out and in the corner pocket of the pool table, while Nyjah Huston is buying people drinks behind the bar and the staff are trying to close it down for the night at 3 in the morning. The Protea staff had a lot to deal with, but they held it down for sure.
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for guys from Tanzania who bussed it! The African island of Reunion took top honours and dominated this division. It led to a little drama as some people said that Reunion is legally an overseas territory of France. But whatever, it’s still an island in Africa and in fact even closer than Mauritius, which is legally an African country. KDC is hoping to do more in Africa soon, hyped for that!
Josh Chisholm prays to his god – Figgy! sessionmag.co.za | 47
van staden Clark
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Nosepick in Muizenberg. Photospent - Bradley Moto Shibata from Japan more time on the vert ramp than anybody else, working hard for it. The local kids appreciated his efforts.
Brandon Valjalo flips to front board.
Yasiin Bey Another highlight was a surprise performance by Yasiin Bey (the artist formerly known as Mos Def) on Saturday night. After the fireworks show and performances by several local musicians, Yasiin decided to take the stage. Why on earth was he in KBY you say? Well, he lives in Cape Town with his family, and a bunch of his kids skate. They came for the skateboarding, but Yasiin also gave us all some good entertainment. Luan vs Nyjah The level of skateboarding was insane all week, but it came down to two in the final on Saturday night. Many had predicted it beforehand and it was mental to see live. Luan had dominated Nyjah throughout the year and Nyjah was looking for 48 | sessionmag.co.za
Aura Bredart backside nosegrind 180, she held it down for the ladies all week.
redemption. It’s difficult to describe how much ability and consistency these guys have. You have to see it for yourself to really comprehend. Nyjah just edged out Luan to claim the win, but I personally feel like Luan was the best to see live. Luan stepped off a few times in the final, but if he’d had his run from the quarters or semis, I’m pretty sure he would have knocked Nyjah off the top spot. In the end Nyjah was the clear winner, based on his well-rehearsed selection of stunts. Luan was the crowd favourite though. The Local Contest Brandon Valjalo took first place in the local contest for the second consecutive year. He is really consistent and gets his lines down. A lot of the other locals tend to just wing it with a more loose ap-
proach. Brandon seems to take contests a bit more seriously and made it count. Dlamini Dlaimini Dlam was once again the local who really stood out. He was the only South African to qualify in the top 10 for the finals on Saturday. He came up against an insanely good Tommy Fynn, but Dlam held his own and did amazingly well. Vert Contest We don’t get to see world-class vert skating in South Africa very often, or any at all for that matter. KBY local Damian Bramley is charging the vert ramp more and more every year, and it was good to see some veterans like Dallas and Brett Shaw in there as well. Guys like Andy Mac and PLG are household names around the
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That is proper airtime on a vert ramp, even more insane to see live and in person. We don’t get to see that too often in South Africa. sessionmag.co.za | 49
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world but also in attendance were a bunch of younger vert skaters who are all killing it. The vert championships on Friday night were a real spectacle and Jimmy Wilkins bagged the title. Ladies Championships The recent rise to global fame for Brazilian Leticia Bufoni is a big talking point in women’s skateboarding. She was a big talking point at KDC too. However, the real star and outright deserved winner was Alexis Sablone. Instead of partying she was working hard in her hotel room on her studies all weekend, she studies architecture at MIT. When it mattered the
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most she banged a kickflip frontside 5050 down the hubba and got first place in the process. I do feel like one lady was robbed in the contest though, the young Pamela Rosa killed it! She got 4th place but certainly deserved higher. Marisa Del Santo looked like she was having more fun than just about anyone on the course all week. Thank You Kimberley Big thanks to Mike Chinner (The mayor of Kimberley) for holding it down in KBY, hosting us and keeping KDC on point throughout the year. Big thanks to Markus and crew at OSP who work long
hours on all the logistics, Riaan and the NSA guys, Craig and Glenn who work hard behind the scenes and Tim & Diondra at the WSF. Also to Mark Waters for getting all these pros out here and making pro tours happen. The Northern Cape government and Kumba Iron Ore make the whole thing possible. KDC 2015 was a good time from start to finish, see you in 2016!
“In the end Nyjah was the clear winner, based on his well-rehearsed selection of stunts.�
Clark
Dlamini holds it down for the local homies and bangs a noseblunt into the finals.
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Road Trip
Red Bull Grassroots Tour Photos -Tyrone Bradley / Red Bull Content Pool
Following the KDC main event in Kimberley, Moses Adams and his brother Allan jumped in a van with Red Bull international team riders TJ Rogers (Canada) and Mikey Mendoza (Australia) for a road trip back to Cape Town. Also in the crew were Kimberley locals Siphiwe Keshwa and Mike Chinner. Bloem was the first stop before heading down to the coast via Gariep Dam. Coastal stops included PE, Mossel Bay and eventually they ended up in Cape Town. Travelling 1600KMs over 7 days. Check out full tour coverage form the tour at redbull.com/za/ en/skateboarding/stories
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Everybody on tour in Bloemfontein stops off at this infamous white rail at the university. But not everybody skates the stairs. Moses means business and bangs a flip down the 12. He also did a frontside tailslide down the rail, just for good measure.
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Pay Day
DC Halloween Jam
The annual Halloween Jam presented by DC shoes in association with Red Bull, Von Zipper and Old School Productions went down at PTA legend skater Puddy’s backyard on the 31st October, for the 3rd time. Skaters from as far as Durban and Cape Town made the journey to this event, and with some of the best transition riders in attendance, it was sure to make the event as awesome as usual. The action started just before sunset where a wildcard jam was held to select 4 wildcards that would join the 12 pre-seeded riders who performed at last year’s event. Then, at sunset, the 1st 4-man jam kicked off, and through 2 elimination rounds a final 4-man jam would be the deciding round. The final jam consisted of Evan Binge, Daniel Miltiadou, Khule Ngubane 54 | sessionmag.co.za
and Moses Adams. While Binge and Miltiadou used their local knowledge of the ramp to keep their runs smooth and flowing, Khule & Moses attacked the ramp with their usual tech approach. A couple big missed tricks landed Moses in 3rd, while Evan Binge flowed the ramp with all sorts of old school inspired tricks and got 2nd. The level of skating in the finals was really high, and all 4 finalists’ scores were really tight, but there can be only 1 winner and Khule Ngubane managed to edge out the competition with his flip variations. He took the title for the 2nd time in 3 years. Some Von Zipper sunnies were awarded as ‘treats’ for the winners of the best costumes, and then everybody partied on until their beer ran out, and then they went searching for more...
Words: Andrew Morck Photos: Werner Lamprecht
Khule Ngubane 360 flips to fakie, and into first place. Maybe he got the girl too?
Results: 1st - Khule Ngubane 2nd - Evan Binge 3rd - Moses Adams Best trick – Moses’ kickflip nose stall to fakie on the vert wall.
“everybody partied on until their beer ran out, and then they went searching for more...”
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I AM
Luciano ‘Okkie’ De Villiers
We all come across those guys that can hold a skateboarding conversation, they know the tricks and details, but they left it behind them at some point or another. They may talk the talk, but the one thing that separates actual skateboarders from the delusional enthusiasts is that we are fucking determined. If we want to skate a mall, we will. If we have to go back again and again, we will. If we want a certain feeling at a certain spot, nothing is going to stop us. For me Luciano is one of the most determined dudes around, in our neck of the woods (Somerset West). It doesn’t matter where we’re skating, what the spot is like
or what the weather is doing - Okkie will make a mission. I’ve seen him try a dropin that should not be physically possible… and it wasn’t. He basically just dropped from over a story high to flat ground, but the point here is his determination. He goes in hard and he’s constantly trying to get others on the mission. Luciano is not going to be one of those “I used to skate’ kinda dudes… He’ll be the old guy attaching his rocker to a cruiser, rolling down the street swearing obscenities at the cops and egging the young ones to charge as hard as the possibly can. Skateboarding needs more dudes like Okkie.
“It doesn’t matter where we’re skating, what the spot is like or what the weather is doing - Okkie will make a mission”
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Photos: Jansen van staden Words: AD Henderson
Half cab heelflip into a bank on a Stellenbosch rugby field. Homies are as serious as murder about their rugby out there. A Springboks game is probably a good time to hit a spot in that town, because everyone is glued to their TVs.
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LIARS
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