welcome back guys! happy to finally see you again! after milano, lyon, berlin, paris, barcelona, copenhagen... malaga, we’re coming (in your fucking face)! are you ready for the best skate-trip of your life once again?! so here’s the book, with a 3 teams concept this time: team 1: miro + sancho + boris + jey team 2: mäd + claude + ulla + grufä team 3: milä + simu + charles + Marc beside that, nothing really new, it’s all about challenges, missions, games, fun, crap and other random shit, to get some points... only one thing changed: now, to valid all those things, we need video footage and/or photos. no discussion. that’s it, that’s all. sorry. Versus skatezine et plus #93 “the Book” - king of malaga - december 2013 - www.versus-skatezine.ca - jeremyversusdurand@hotmail.fr
Let’s start from the begining. To change. For once. Alright... Boris came... For a second... But left as fast as he joined. His way back home to France, cost him more, than what I spent during the entire trip in Malaga...
I prepared another book with challenges, missions, and other crazy random shit & crap to do for the trip. Claude made some great looking Versus DIY T-Shirts. And we had 3 teams this year: Team 1 : Miro - Samir - Jey
So here I am alone in Malaga, wearing only a T-Shirt in december, waiting for the Swiss part of the Versus Army to join, eating the coping of a miniramp, finishing to destroy my half broken teeth...
Team 2 : Mädder - Claude - Ulla - Grufä
After to nights at the hostel, another mess to find out where the boys were, we finally met. Always a great feeling to see all those idiots years after years, skatetrips after skatetrips. Unfortunately, Marc didn’t join the trip, because, sometimes, life sucks... Stay strong man... But Grufä was there! Like in the good old Goofy Days time! I also met Ulla for the first time. Nice kid. Miro was there too, for his first Versus Trip. Sick. Milä, who got us the best fucking appartment we could dream of was there, with his bro’ Simon, Charlie Passion always down, Claudius The Dude himself, Mad Mäd, & Sancho-Pancho... Pascal(s)? Working sucks guys!
You win some, loose some, it’s all the same to me!
Team 3 : Milä - Simu - Charles
The action started at the DIY park in the ditch. Guys were killing it instantly. Ulla doesn’t speak much, but you know, action speaks louder than words. We were there since 5 minutes, he already landed more tricks than I did in my entire life. And Miro? Wasn’t on a (real) skateboard since years, but still, was doing pretty much every trick on the flat bar. Fuck I’m old...
Check those idiots on the picture above... The IDJ Team! In Diana Jones! Full of joy and passion. With guys like that, you could travel around Gaza and still have fun! Oh yeah... Like I don’t remember you shot what (it’s been almost a year now... sorry...), let’s say a huge thanks to all the guys who were paparazzing around during the trip... Simu, Claude (analog shots), Charles, etc... Love you guys. This issue would be pretty empty without you. Peace. I don’t want to get into a too serious talk, but here in France, we always heard on the news that Spain is pretty fucked up lately... Ok... Might be true. But how comes Malaga got a way better skatepark than any in France? Maybe France is a bit fucked-up nah?... Anyway, this place is so good, we went twice there. There is nothing better than carving a craddle for breakfast! Too bad I don’t have a decent picture of Miro there. Kid was totally upside down! Greem Room Bitches!!!
Early birds session... Amazing! A bowl, sun, friends, I mean, what else? Maybe some more random crap to do here and there? Yes,! And we did plenty too! Shaving foam Versus graff? Yes! Ride a surf board inside a bar? Yes! Get some stupid hat? Done! Drink a beer upside down? Check! French fries Versus design? Ja voll! Shotgun for breakfast? Inäääää! Write down Versus with your own blood? Ja sicher! Etc... We are just a gang of fucking idiots! Forever young! And we love it this way!
This famous “Church” spot in Malaga, with sets of stairs, ledges, etc was a really heavy session... Everybody killed it on his on way... Milä first, with a backside 50-50 down the long hubba in just a couple of tries. Then started a long battle with backside 5-0... and kickflip 50-50... This time, the ledge won... Next time Mile... His brother Simu did a frontside tailslide for all of us. Once to fakie, once to regular, once for my lomo fisheye, once for the cameraman, once for another photographer, etc... Wow. Just, wow! Charly, dropped a dangerous, scary, narrow, slippery ledge first try, just because he can. Full Passion. Mäder, kicked my ass easily during a game of skate... Simu & Ulla killed the stairs after that. Crazy lines. They did more tricks down those sets than I can do on flatground... Don’t really know how to feel about that, anyway, was a blast to watch live! Then... then... Samir... took his chance down the 6 flat 8 and fucking nailed it (after a hard fight). Simply mad. Watching this was painfull. But with Miro, kicking his ass between each tries, Samir couldn’t give up. Bust or bail. Happy for him it paid off in the end. Thanks for the show kid, that was crazy!
Widmer Brother’s in crime! Next time Milä, next time...
Welcome to the machine. Skateboarding the mind game. Fucked-up your shin. Don’t complain. You win some, you loose some. You can’t always get what you want. But still it’s awesome. If you’re a idiot or a savant. A state of mind. Always on the road. Go get some grind. Forget your zip code. In a deep pool. Down a steep street. There is no rule. But you can’t cheat.
“Wall” ride back to reality This one is a last second trick. Claude found this spot the last day, but everybody was too sore to skate this thing... So after 3 minutes of this stupid “chair-stand” challenge (the only challenge I won by the way!) we did in front of our appartment, waiting for the last dudes to come down, I managed to carve around this thing for the objective of the Dude. And it was already time to take the train to the airport... Every good thing has an end... The boys left, and I spent the night alone sitting on a chair at the airport... The day after I arrived in Geneva, took the train home, and was finally home for a “real” night before... going back to work the day after, in the mountains, at the ski-lift, in the snow! This was the end of my “endless” summer!
Mä öpis freisen?! We want more! Great and cheap food. Thanks Malaga. We’ll be back. We (I mean the real men) didn’t even found the time to hit those famous blue rails hey... Check how happy MadMäd looks like in front of this DIY sardines-stand at the beach!? Huuumm! And this kicked-out spot with the bank?! (Versus #46 cover) Fuck I don’t have a picture... Miro was so close to land the craziest wallie of all time there! No skate picture from Grufä...? So rad, because he ripped! But yeah man, skateboarding or drinking, you should choose before the 6th beer you fucking idiot!... Another twisted ankle... Maybe next time some more old guys from the Goofy Days crew will join who knows? And what about the frenchies?! Let’s do this again kids, let’s have another best time of our life kind of thing once again before we are too old and serious!
Claude, Ice-Plant baby! Between two shots, and after a long battle with a 3-6 flip (bank to bank, like the one Milä did), The Dude chilled out a bit on a trannie, doing Ice Plant like the one you can see on the picture above. For the book. For me. For him. For the love of it. The session there, at the brand new amazing park, was heavy. Everybody was ripping. Simu was sooooo closed to land one of the biggest backside flip I’ve seen live... Samir did 2,000 tricks down the rail, Ulla skated everything, Charlie rocked every inches of all the trannies, Grufiz felt a bit more in love with the concrete. Miro killed the bowl and the random original part of the park... Even if the San Miguel was constantly pumping out, and some guys are total party animals, the skating was always there! Like Gang Green was singing, “Skate all day, drink all night!”
Kids (Miro & Samir) having fun all day!
The man behing the trip, killing it: Mr Michael Widmer!
Mäder, the lady-killer! He introduced us to “The Belt” (I mean, THE belt dude!) and there is a reason behind that for sure... He’s Mäder, the lady killer! Ladies were tripping out (me too to be honest...) when he started randomly to sing in the middle of the street... Wow... On the picture above, you can see him trying to buy some beers... Something we all did. But no one of us was closed to bring the cashier-girl back with us... Aaaaaaah Domanova, he’s even sexier on his skateboard! Love you man. Can’t wait to do a skate quizz with you again! Cheers bro’
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Passion himself, Charles Moore!
Frontside (Ulla) or Backside (Samir)... Lipslides all day!
White pants? Yes! Heath Kirchart? No. Samir Isis. Frontside Blunt slide? Yes. First try? Yes. Thanks kid! That’s exactly what I needed with my Lomo Fisheye!
Simu... Like a Rolling Stone! “Action speaks louder than words”. This sentence could be from him. Doesn’t talk much, but when he does get ready to get some. Same same on his skateboard. It all goes with his feeling. Won’t skate every spots, when he does, he kills them. He’s a cat on wheels. I’m so sure he really has the passion, because he doesn’t talk a word a French or English, and I can’t really speak Swiss German... So it’s kind of hard to communicate with him, but, anyway, he has the talent for sure. If you want to do a game of skate with this guy, you have to be Luan Oliveira or fucking nuts, there is no other way. Simu man, can’t wait to see you skating again. Peace!
Tequila Suicide time... now a classic! “I feel like Baker, Pissdrunx and our whole crowd, might have done some damage, and I’d like to try and repair that as much as I possibly can.” Andrew Reynolds / Jenkem interview. Huuummm... Kids... I’m sorry... But I know you guys are way more clever than me so I’m worrying much about your future. Charlie has the best advice for you anyway. Stay on your fucking board! See you soon for some more crazy adventures! Versus Army for life bitches!
Best way to end the trip... maybe not for Charly...