Gavin Rosenberg. Photo: Ben Hull
INTERVIEWS Jesse lindloff ................................... pAGE 17 Gavin rosenberg ............................. pAGE 33 exteenager ........................................ page 56 Ace pelka .............................................. pAGE 83 Kervin Miranda. Photo: Olman Torres
DIY SPOTS Suvilahti diy - finland .................. PAGE 24
bubuland DIY - france ................ PAGE 61 eskina - costa rica ...................... PAGE 69 platz seven - germany ............... PAGE 77 cyriax pool - germany ............... page 95
FEATURES CONFUSION ILLUSION ...................... PAGE 40 windhoek, namibia ....................... PAGE 64 LUANDA, angola ............................... PAGE 79 zine reviews ........................................ PAGE 89
opglabbeek, belgium .................... PAGE 91
Artwork: Robbie Arias
Jesse Lindloff. Photo: Stas Yamnitskiy
Mikael Rautio. Photo: Keke Leppälä
Ace Pelka. Photo: River Ramirez
Bjørn Lillesøe. Photo: Nicola Debernardi
Photo: Xavi Simancas
Philipp Fischer. Photo: Christian Murgia
Alexandre Crevel. Photo: Valentin Melocco
Confusion Staff EDITOR Jonathan Hay
PHOTOGRAPHERS Adam Conway • Albert Garcia • Ben Hull • Bertrand Pelfresne • Bolle Christian Murgia • Christian Petzold • Clement Chouleur • Enrico Rizzato Félix Maurugeon • Garric Ray • Gary Scott • Henry Banyacski • Joe Runkle Jon Campbell • Kai Jabs • Keke Leppälä • Maik Giersch • Maren Petzold Mike Bargas • Montse Font • Nicola Debernardi • Olman Torres • River Ramirez Roberto Scano • Roger Ferrero • Ryan Maddox • Ryan Miller • Sam Cole Stas Yamnitskiy • Taylor Ballard • Tobias Haussmann • Valentin Melocco Vincent Coupeau • Xabi Goitisolo • Xavi Simancas
WRITERS Arne Fiehl • Bernt Jahnel • Bertrand Pelfresne • Christian Petzold • Jeroen Sars Jonathan Hay • Philipp Fischer • Taylor Ballard • Tuukka Rautopuro • Xavi Simancas
INTERVIEWS Jonathan Hay
ARTISTS Disaikner • Mark Hubbard • Robbie Arias
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Vanessa Hay CONFUSION MAGAZINE AND CONFUSION LOGOS COPYRIGHT © 2018 CONFUSION E-MAIL info@confusionmagazine.com SEND ALL POST TO: CONFUSION MAGAZINE Hafenstraße 70 48153 Münster Germany WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION: info@blacksheepdistribution.com ADVERTISING RATES: CONFUSIONMAGAZINE.COM / info@confusionmagazine.com SKATE SHOP SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: shop@confusionmagazine.com
WWW.CONFUSIONMAGAZINE.COM instagram @confusionmagazine facebook.com/confusionmagazine confusionmagazine.bigcartel.com On the cover: Gavin Rosenberg frontside air off the pillar and through the corner into the bathtub pocket at FDR Photo: Ben Hull
One footed eggplant in Arizona Photo: Stas Yamnitskiy
JESSE LINDLOFF PHOTOGRAPHY BY TAYLOR BALLARD, SAM COLE AND STAS YAMNITSKIY
Name, age, and where are you from? Jesse Lindloff. 20. Kenmore, Washington. What’s up with your backyard ramp? The ramp is just a project me and my dad worked on about three years ago. It’s aways been my dream to have a ramp then once I scraped up enough money my dad went in half on it. How did you get into bowl and vert skating? When I first started skating I mostly skated street. Like ledges, rails and hips. I always was super into skating the mini ramp though, more than anything. Then after that it’s kind of all a blur, I just really got fascinated by vert skating way later on and I just got stoked on it.
And now it’s pretty much all I do. You skate for Scram, how did you meet Nolan and the rest of the crew? I had always seen Nolan around Seattle then I got to know him a little and started skating with him at Judkins. Then once Scram started it all just kind of came together naturally. I was getting Creature boards at the time then bailed from that as soon as I heard Nolan was starting his own company. Who are your top five most influential skaters? Gonz. Chris Livingston. Chad Vogt. Alf. Keenan Witte.
Tailgrab in Boise, Idaho Photo: Sam Cole
These days unless you are one of the skate industry’s “chosen ones”, you can’t skateboard for a living. What do you do to support your skateboarding addiction? I work at Taco Bell.
Arguably, you can stall your inverts longer than anyone, how did that come about? I just learned handplants and really wanted to learn how to stall ‘em so I practiced nothing but inverts for like a year straight.
Texas jump in Arizona Photo: Stas Yamnitskiy
“Watching the progression of Jesse’s skating over the course of the last four years or so has been absolutely insane. Jesse can do it all from grinding 20 stair handrails to skating some of the gnarliest transition out there. His bag of tricks is huge and whenever he shows up for a session you are in for a treat!” - Taylor Ballard
Backside air at Ballard Bowl, Seattle Photo: Taylor Ballard
Sadplant at Marginal Way Seattle, Washington Photo: Sam Cole
Frontside hurricane at Marginal Way Photo: Taylor Ballard
What is Dolp planet? Dolp planet is a ramp house in Seattle where all the homies kick it and skate and have good times. Max, Josh and all those dudes kill it with building crazy shit and filming dope edits.
something. I just like havin’ fun and not taking things too seriously, I’ve been wanting to get back at it though.
What’s your favorite drug, or are you straight edge? I like weed. Do you like to go out and shoot photos and get clips or do you prefer to skate without documentation? I’m down to stack clips, it’s just mentally straining wanting to go out and hit a fat rail or Photo: Taylor Ballard
SUVILAHTI DIY
THE PEARL OF HELSINKI ••
••
PHOTOS BY KEKE LEPPALA • WORDS BY TUUKKA RAUTOPURO
Pat Duffy. Back smith. #savesuvilahtidiy
Taneli Eriksson. Losi stall
Suvilahti DIY, located in Kalasatama, Helsinki is well known within the skate community around the world. Since 2011 countless hours of labor have been spent building 900 square meters of DIY park like none other here in Finland. There has never been a formal plan or blueprints for anything, just trying to make the best obstacle possible with the materials and funding at hand and then move on to the next one. Sometimes the biggest and most beautiful ideas have started from merely throwing rocks in a pile, spray painting outlines on the concrete and just saying out loud: “Come on, we can do this! We can go bigger! Why the hell not?” Take that attitude, add several truckloads of beer and cigarettes, tons of sweat and swear words, a solid crew willing to spend their free time, pocket money and mental health no matter the weather and what do you get? Something that we have started to call: “The pearl of Helsinki”. A unique piece of landscape that has stolen the hearts of skaters, painters, artists, tourists and the locals. Too bad that the sweetest dream could soon come to a very rough end. “Pack up your stuff boys, the city has big plans and you’re not included. But thanks for the free advertisement!” The Mayans said the world will end in 2012. They were off by a couple of years - our clock will run out on us in 2020.
But then again, this shouldn’t surprise us. DIY is a fragile form of existence. One day it’s there and the next, well only tomorrow knows. Many places have come and gone with some spots having the lifespan on mere days. The previous DIY located in Brahenkenttä, Helsinki was demolished hastily, although there were talks about giving the local skaters a time to make a survey about the park and its future. Guess someone didn’t get the memo because apparently it only took one angry phone call from the right person and the bulldozers came rolling in hard. Tulitikku DIY in Tampere met the same fate not so long ago. What took years to build, came down in a matter of hours. This is not a trend just in Finland, many DIY spots around the world have come under the same hammer and unfortunately have been turned into piles of rocks. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as they say in the movies. So as I write these words, the future is uncertain, but there is always a glimmer of hope. Suvilahti DIY was given an honorable mention by the Helsinki Culture and Leisure Committee in 2017. Many people have stepped up and raised their voice over our beloved park - politicians, musicians and the common folk as well - with all saying that demolishing something so unique
Teemu Korhonen. Back tail
Bennett Harada. Frontside layback smith
Mikael Rautio. Frontside air off the Fafas spine
would be a shame. Helsinki takes great pride in being the culture capital of Finland. There should be room for something that doesn’t create revenue, but gives something to the community just by being there. If nothing more, it’s an example of what can happen if you give people the space to be themselves and create their visions in peace. When I was told a couple of years ago that the Suvilahti DIY crew was going to build an actual pool, I thought it was mental. “Why on earth would you try to build something so complicated?” A friend of mine looked me in the eye and asked: “Why the hell not?” Five months later I spent almost all of my spare time learning how to mix concrete for the coping of the pool and when the last piece of coping was put in its place it wasn’t mental at all. It was beautiful and it looked like it should have always been there. The sheer energy and pride
of the crew when someone drops in for the first time is breathtaking. “Fucking hell boys… we actually made this! What should we build next?” So believe me brothers and sisters when I say, we ain’t going down without a fight. If we go down, we will go down with our heads held high and our boots covered in concrete. The road to survival will be long and hard, but we are willing to go the extra mile. To lay down and just accept isn’t an option for us. Too many people have set their handprints on the park and for many people, myself included, Suvilahti DIY is a place of personal pride. “If I haven’t done much in my life, at least I’ve helped to create something for everybody.” Like one of the Suvilahti DIY crew members told an organizer of a music event that was taking place in Suvilahti; “You might be here for just one weekend, we are here forever.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Fafas spine. Work in progress Pete Ruikka. Stand up frontside grind
Sakari Leskinen. Front smith Birdseye overview. Suvilahti DIY. 2018
Rock ‘n’ Roll at the Brute house pool Photo: Ben Hull
GAVIN ROSENBERG PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN HULL, HENRY BANYACSKI AND RYAN MILLER
“I remember when I first met Gavo. He was just a kid who grew up skating shitty spots and shitty parks in suburban New Jersey. One day he decided to come to FDR and he fell in love with concrete. I’ve been skating and filming with him for about 5 or 6 years now and I’m continually amazed with how much he’s always progressing. He’s become a local favorite and has some of the most unique lines at the park. All you need to see is one backside air and you know!” - Andrew Metzger
Frontside grind over the death box at the L-Pool Photo: Henry Banyacski
Backside wallride yank to flat Photo: Ryan Miller
Age, nickname, where are you from and where do you live now? I’m 22. Everyone calls me Gavo and I’m from Marlton, New Jersey but I moved to Philadelphia, PA a couple months ago. How did you first get into skateboarding? I was just born a fiend but I grew up close-by to a real good indoor skatepark inside of a mall in NJ called Black Diamond but it got torn down when I was about 14. I started skating there all the time when I was six years old. What are you favorite bands? The Spits, Black Flag, McRad... Chuck Treece is my favorite musician and also a huge inspiration in skating too. Favorite skate spots of all time? FDR, Alter Street, and this indoor pool we call the Brute House. It’s not going anymore but it’s one of the most unique shaped pools and some of the funnest times I’ve ever had. Did you use to be primarily a street skater? If so how did you get more into skating transition? I grew up mainly street skating all the time because it
was what all my friends skated, but around the time I was 15 I started going to FDR on a regular basis and that place turned me into a fiend to skate more bowls and pool coping and vert. What’s the gnarliest shit you’ve ever seen go down at FDR? Skate and non-skating related? I’d say some of the heaviest skating I’ve witnessed has been watching Darren Menditto and Dan Tag skate the vert ramp. Those dudes are twice my age and legends from this area and they’re the sickest to watch skate the ramp. But in the park, I know Zach Cusano’s slob plant off the trump head was one of the most fucked things I’ve seen that went down recently. He also handled a fastplant to fakie over the finger on the bunker wall which is so brute. There’s too many things I could go on about here... Willy Akers lines were the sickest. To me it’s more so about all the lines than the tricks. Non-skating wise I think the gnarliest thing I’ve ever been apart of was pouring the capsule in the new bowl. 3/4’s of it was hand stacked and the gun was only used for the other quarter of it which was the inside of the top half. The build sessions that went down on that new bowl recently were so insane to be apart of and that thing is one of a kind.
Backside wallride pull off back in Alter street. South Philly Bowl, Philadelphia Photo: Ryan Miller
You recently went out to the west coast to skate some pools. How is the scene out there (spots and skaters) compared to on the east coast? The parks are too perfect but they’re all still fun. I had the most fun skating pools because we don’t got em like they do on the west coast. They’re definitely out here but not as much so it feels too sick when we find a good pool here. Cali always gets me motivated to skate harder when I come back and everyone there was fun to skate with and stoked to show me around which I’m grateful for. I can’t wait to spend more time there. Which guys do you like to skate with at home? My friends Jordan Beverly, Ryan Cardone, Jeff Rasp, Alder Wilson and everyone at FDR. Have you ever had a feature in a skate magazine? Just been in Confusion two other times and I’m about to have a Juice mag interview coming out real soon. Who have you had the best sessions with? All of my friends during 4th of July or other parties / contests that have gone down at FDR are the most fired up sessions. Best times.
Tell us about Andrew Metzger’s new video Gnarhammered “The Wrong Way to Trip”? My buddy Andrew lives in Philly and films / rips. He just put out a full length, it’s all the Philly locals and it has a bunch of footage from trips we’ve gone on in the past year along the east coast as well as a Colorado trip. Tons of FDR local footage that you won’t see anywhere else. Favorite skateboarder of all time? Tony Farmer, Allen Losi, Ishod Wair. Are you sponsored? Chuck Treece just linked me up with his friend John who started Ace’s and 8s Skateboards in Maryland and he started sending me boards recently. Any thank yous? Much love to all my friends and everyone who’s filmed or shot photos of me. Thank you Pete for putting me on when Shallow End Skate Shop existed and thanks Zoli and Chuck Treece for everything you guys have done for me. Any last words? Smoke weed.
Crail air to tail in the church pocket at FDR Photo: Henry Banyacski
Philipp Ayad. Crailslide over the portal in Taghazout, Morocco Photo: Tobias Haussmann
Chris Cope. Fastplant at WSVT San Diego, California Photo: Tim Aguilar
Sam Beckett. Crail stall at Broen DIY Copenhagen, Denmark Photo: Keke Leppälä
Pol Carceller. Back smith over the door at Spotter DIY. Barcelona, Spain Photo: Albert Garcia
Frank Shaw. Tail drop off the retaining wall into the bank in Camas, Washington Photo: Garric Ray
Sergio Dotor. One foot ollie over the channel Skatepark Gulliver. Valencia, Spain Photo: Montse Font
Sean Kirkpatrick. Frontside grind in an east coast Smallwood gem Photo: Henry Banyacski
Bastien Marlin. Layback bulldozer grind in southern France Photo: FĂŠlix Maurugeon
Igor Fardin. Fastplant ceiling bash not to fakie in Bondy. Paris, France Photo: Vincent Coupeau
Fabio Bottelli. Frontside nose blunt Solagna, Italy Photo: Enrico Rizzato
Jaime Mateu. Judo air Miranda de Ebro, Spain Photo: Xabi Goitisolo
Dezmin Lane. Frontside rock slide Barefoot Mike’s bowl. San Diego, California Photo: Joe Runkle
Vinny Sandoval. Crail slide in the pool of an abandoned hotel in Holbrook, Arizona Photo: Stas Yamnitskiy
Lenni Janssen. Frontside nose grind at the OMSA Pool that was in Hans’ backyard in the german countryside Photo: Kai Jabs
Tyler Lucero. Barging a frontside 5-0 on the roof of a church in Colorado Springs Photo: Mike Bargas
Sean Kirkpatrick. Sunset slash at FDR Photo: Henry Banyacski
Paola Flores. Blunt to fakie at Arenys de Munt, one of the oldest skateparks in the world, dug out about six years ago por nuestros amigos Photo: Roger Ferrero
Jordan Thackeray. Texas plant on a sculpture in Veldhoven, Netherlands Photo: Nicolas Debernardi
Thomas Courteille. Frontside rockslide. Sèvres, France Photo: Clement Chouleur
EXTEENAGER THE ARTWORK OF ROBBIE ARIAS
Where are you from and your real name? My name is Robbie Arias. I was born and raised in San Diego, CA, now living in Colorado with my 11 year old son. How do you choose your subjects? My drawings are mostly inspired by skateboarding, usually I draw from looking “closely” at photos from skate mags or instagram. I try to draw the subject as close as I can to real then add a few twists (like a baghead or skeleton). I like drawing concrete and transition, pool coping is a good time... love the details. How did you get into drawing skaters? I choose photos of a style burned into my soul from admiring skaters like Hosoi and Cab started this love for skating mid 80s. It was all about judo airs, tweaked methods and the way crossbones look, it’s why I love skating and drawing skating. Do you have a favorite drawing? One of my favorite drawings is just a simple guy wearing a bag on his head. A scary face with a tree branch arms. I called him “EXTEENAGER”. That led to drawing him blasting off launch ramps, doing tricks like Axe-Murderers (or wigsplitters) and methods, etc. I always wanted to make a book featuring this character. Have you ever received any negative feedback for you art from the skater or photographer portrayed? Feedback on my art has been positive. I think skaters get hyped when they see someone spent their time to draw their sick ass skating (a few skaters had nothing to say or even like ‘em). I don’t draw these pics for anyone’s approval. I just love the skaters I draw and their skating is amazing. I rarely wonder if they trip on having a baghead??? (Not sure if anybody has asked what it means) Larb
knows. It’s fucking cool looking. The photographers get hyped too! Shit, they get the rad shots. These guys have been rad: Chuck Katz, Adam Concannon, Phil McKenzie, Taylor DeHart, Dan Sparagna, Mark Nichols, Monkey Glove, Chuck Hultz, Ryan Maddox...” I’m sure to piss someone off soon - or already have? I just love skating and drawing especially when I’m moved by a photo - something makes me draw it. What materials do you use in your art? Mostly pens and colored pencils, what else? My mediums are white / black colored pencil, acrylic paint, black pens and watercolor on toned paper. I start a drawing with white pencil so white paper is no good. What else are you into except skateboarding and drawing radical skateboarders? My other interests besides being a dad and working as a tile setter are record collecting (tape too!), punk record 7”s, LPs - 90% Punk Rock. Been collecting since the late 80’s, anyone who knows me knows that. Skate collector too!
I’m going to be drawing one of Chris Livingston for Vagrant Skateboards real soon. I had to “pump the brakes” on John Worthington for Cockfight Skateboards but still might happen. Maybe Skeleton Key? Their art is killer! I recently sold a drawing of “Mondo”. It sold at a gallery called El Quervo. they do some killer skate art shows! Do you have any plans for your art, books, art shows, or other outlets to sell your art?
Do you accept commissions? I accept commissions and have done a few graphics. Someone will DM me on my instagram and will send me a photo and we’ll work out a trade or price. I recently drew one for Ryan Maddox and he sent me a bunch of records - that was cool. Have you sold any of your artwork to any skate brands or is this just a hobby for you?
I plan on doing local shows. One at a new skateshop here called “Mutual Friends”. Josh, the owner (actually skates too!) wants to do a small exhibit and a shop graphic on decks, he’s sick! I want to send art to zines, compile drawings for a book, do more skate graphics and hopefully get some drawings silkscreened for print runs that will soon be available for purchase (or trade) off a link on my instagram @exteenager Favorite contemporary artists? I’m inspired by a ton of artists. Of course, the greats like (Jim) Phillips, (Mark) McKee, (Todd) Francis, but lately guys like Nathan Kostechko, Madfire, Bec Negre, Joey Velam, Arkaid, Prefuk, and Bobby Brown, they skate too! Also Riddickart, Andrew Sloan, Matt Bailey, Defame, Johnny Attain, Bergeron (don’t know if they skate?) also Chris Alliston, he’s amazing.
EXTEENAGER
BUBULAND DIY PHOTOGRAPHY BY VALENTIN MELOCCO AND BERTRAND PELFRESNE
Bubuland... Adrien Bulard’s DIY Some riders prefer their local skatepark with their rules, some don’t. Adrien Bulard is a real free spirit, so nothing is impossible for such a hyperactive guy like him, so last year Adrien decided with his homie Alexande Crevel aka Croc to start a local crowdfunding.
right moment, it was like a demo every day. But after some months, the spot became a victim of its success, too many riders, too much bullshit. The end started when a couple of French rappers (Vald and Alkapote) filmed a rap video clip in this diy... 5.5 millions views on youtube.
With the little money collected they began to build their own DIY next to the local skatepark. After some weeks and the help of his best friends, Bubuland was born.
They burned some tires and of course the cops came, the spot was discovered by more locals and the authorities came and destroyed the spot a few days later.
Despite the rad spot it is, the place quickly became a place of freedom, a meeting place where the local scene prefered to ride, drink some beers and have some good sessions rather than being enclosed in a skatepark full of scooters.
But because of Adrien, during this short period the local scene rediscovered the pleasure to ride a real skate-core spot without rules, and for that alone, Adrien deserves to be supported.
- Bertrand Pelfresne
Like usual, Adrien was one of the only to be able to rip his spot. Only 15 minutes of real skate per day, but if you were there at the
Adrien Bulard. Backside nose blunt Photo: Bertrand Pelfresne
Adrien Bulard. 360 flip and switch wallride. Photos: Valentin Melocco Nosegrind pole jam. Photo: Bertrand Pelfresne
BUBULAND DIY
WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA ARNE FIEHL VOM BOARDSTEIN
In February and March it was time for another Skate-Aid project, the german non-profit organization (www.skate-aid.org) which has built quite a few skateparks in so-called third world countries during the last years, mainly in Africa. This time the destination was Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and David Conrads from Cologne, Austrian Peter Stromberger and I were hired to build the country’s first concrete skatepark, in six weeks, with the help of some local workers. An exciting mission for the wintertime, so off we went... The skatepark was supposed to be built on the ground of the school for hearing and visually impaired children and the credo was to not go too crazy with the design and keep it kinda basic considering it would become the first park of the country and would mostly be used by disabled kids. Skate-Aid brought equipment and Gabriel Roma Santos from Spain would stay two months after the opening to give lessons to the kids which he has done in other countries before as well. So needless to say the time we spent there was an awesome experience since it’s always special if you spend time in a country actually dealing and
PHOTOS BY MAIK GIERSCH
working with the local people. And when you tell them the first day to please stop calling you ‘sir’ they get to realize instantly that skateboarders are not the typical white tourists they’re used to. So shout-outs and bigtime hugs to Desmond, Erwin, Oskar and Dijambo, the four local guys who helped us finish the park in time (as we were told it was actually the first Skate-Aid project where the park was finished in time). We gained each others respect and friendship by working our asses off in scorching heat and they definitely became our brothers from different mothers, age difference and language barrier aside. So, yeah, we built the skatepark and enjoyed our after work hours at the Paradise Garden backpacker along with a lot of other young german people who all had their aid-missions in one form or the other, good times for sure! What else did we do? Damn, we skated a lot! Travelling there we didn’t expect too many spots and were surprised that Windhoek is quite a modern city with some unique gems spotwise, at least if you love them rough and crusty. Because of the hills there’s some really cool banks and downhill spots, but you need at least 58mm wheels to really enjoy it. We managed to put out
David Conrads is now called Catastrophen Conni, damn, he kept us in line with his Conni-style antics, starting by missing the flight and coming a week later. He made up for it though, tearing this quarter a new one including some nice ollies to fakie. Good that we added this ramp to the original design...
WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA
quite a good video part of the trip which you can check out on the website of this very magazine. After we had stacked quite some footy after the first week, even without Conni, ‘Full Part’ kind of became our battle slogan when we were skating those deserted streets at night. The meaning of the general term ‘TIA’ aka ‘This is Africa’ we had learned within a few days. Africa is definitely different from any other continent and there’s endless possibilities of dangers. I would have loved to go on more camping trips into nature besides the one time we visited the Spitzkoppe, a fantastic rock formation in the middle of the flat desert resembling Kata Tutja in Australia. And even if we were in Swakopmund that very weekend, the tourist beach town, we didn’t check out that legendary desert concrete miniramp that seems to be a mandatory spot for every skater passing through. We didn’t have too much time for stuff like that, but after the project Peter and I
went to Capetown for nine days to spend some time with his friend Chris Cab and experience that amazing city. Love and kisses to Chris, Susi and all the locals at The Sorrows who we spent some epic times with, great scene down there in Capetown. So the best thing about this trip was definitely once more all the good people I met and got to know. I mean, for example, I got to know Peter for the first time at Frankfurt airport for the mission of spending some intense weeks together and we instantly became best friends because we’re like-minded individuals who share the same tastes and interests. And that is so typical when you go on these building trips in far away countries or just do this job full-time. You meet people who are just like you and share the same passion for the right causes. Thanks to everyone involved in this project, I think, we did a good job. Off to the next one, we ain’t done yet, skateboarding is still No.1...
- Arne Fiehl vom BOARDSTEIN
Yeah, we know, hand not on coping, not a proper frontside invert, but you have to consider Peter learned them at this very session and was super happy until we told him about the unwritten laws about legit stalling. As if we could do them... Left: At our only official photo session DJ BOARDSTEIN handled this transfer tailslide before it got too dark and got the kids stoked that even men with grey beards can skateboard. Safe to say, this whole project was a global experience for everyone.
Braulio Sagas. Ollie to fakie Photo: Olman Torres
ESKINA SKATEPARK
PLAYA GUIONES
COSTA RICA
Article by Christian Petzold • Photography by Olman Torres and Christian Petzold Artwork by Mark Hubbard
Eskina Skatepark is located in the north of Costa Rica in Guanacaste / Playa Guiones. It is a small peaceful surf and yoga village. Erin, the owner of Eskina skatepark got inspired to build the skatepark after attending a 4/20 skate bash from Enrique and Spacialle’s in 2011 that featured a DJ and a rad skate session on a wooden halfpipe. One hour away from Guiones there is El Mutante, a sick 700m2 skatepark that Kaleb Stevens and his friends built about eight years ago. It was Kaleb’s first skatepark and all D.I.Y. with five guys including Kaleb and one mixer. So Erin contacted Kaleb to help build her idea. After three meetings it was clear that Kaleb would build the Eskina skatepark. Kaleb started with the hardest part of the skatepark:
an eight feet deep pool. He never built a pool before so Kaleb told me he had to do the hardest part first because Erin wanted to test him and see if he really can do it. Finally, after 78 days of hard work Kaleb finished his masterpiece. His idea was to build it more like a backyard pool, steep and tight with a light and a death box and with hand shaped pool coping made with a piece of pvc pipe around it. For the rest of the skatepark Erin’s idea was to let it look like a city park with open grassy portions, vegetation and benches for spectators as well as have a multi-function purpose for events. Kaleb and Erin collaborated on the skate park layout with the idea to also give it the feel of an art gallery, but the rest was all up to Kaleb. So he put in to that design a lot of details that you’ll never find in another skatepark. For example, he incorporated a fishing boat what he found abandoned at the Garca Beach. Now it is at the skatepark with a concrete wave breaking on it.
Kaleb Stevens. Stalefish, troweling and backside disaster Photos: Christian Petzold
After one year the whole Eskina Skatepark was finished. Three years later Erin decided to make the the skatepark bigger and to turn the party location into apartments and studios. Kaleb did a design for the addition of the park. For several reasons Kaleb went to the US for a couple of weeks. In that time Pato, a local skater from Costa Rica, was in contact with Mark Hubbard from Grindline. Mark was down to come for ten days to Guiones and help at the new section for Eskina. In that time they worked on a new design - some woodwork for the park and poured a few pieces. After Mark left Costa Rica I was there to finish what he had started. In that time Ale called me and asked me to finish the project as soon as possible. As I arrived Kaleb was also ready to come back to finish what has started. So we started thinking over Mark’s and Pato’s design and made some changes and started with pouring a tombstone and bank
Michael Scott. Frontside kickflip Photo: Olman Torres
Jos. Rock ‘n’ Roll Photo: Christian Petzold
Christian Petzold. Sugarcane Photo: Maren Petzold
with a curb on top and a few other pieces. To be honest I was kind of confused with the construction site how Mark left it and at the same time it was impressive what the guys had done in only ten days - but there where no plan or notes that he left us to finish and it was quite a big push for us to figure out how we were going to finish it right. It took a while to realize that this was exactly what Mark did - giving us a big challenge to get the most out of that project. Because the project had a small time schedule and I knew already that in Costa Rica some times “Pura Vida” takes a little longer than expected. I asked my friend Janno from Germany to help us out to make some progress. In the last five years I worked quite a lot with Janno in several projects and I knew he was going to be a big help. So he came for three weeks and after some days we had a good team and workflow together.
Braulio Sagas. Kickflip transfer Photo: Olman Torres
Jerry, a surfer from Esparza had a lot of experience in construction and Ale was in charge of getting the materials and everything else from the hardware store at the right time. Then also Tiharino and his brother - both from Guanacaste mixed us the concrete and supported the good vibes and also Kien Mas, a skateboarder and graffiti artist from San Jose, Costa Rica, came to help out for a few weeks. The biggest challenge for me was to work in the 32 degree sun and
Jhancarlos Gonzalez. Ollie transfer Photo: Olman Torres
hand staking each ramp because we only needed 15 minutes to find out that the pump and concrete we ordered were good for nothing, so we decided to use a good old concrete mixer. We continued and decided to make the more complicated pieces while Janno was there. We started with five foot over-vert corner that ends in a wall ride going from one foot to five feet with a little love seat in the middle and we made the wood and metal work for the doorway. Janno had to leave and around 50 percent of the park was done, so me and Kaleb continued and were super happy about every helping hand. A big help was Jos, a friend of Kaleb with a lot of power, experience and skills who helped us to finish the last pieces and destroyed it the next day with his skateboard. For me and a lot of other skateboarders here in Costa Rica it is one of the best skateparks so far, because is just pure fun to cruise around there without pushing once. A lot of people from Costa Rica and all over the world are coming here to skate and surf. On the weekend you always have a rad session going on
with live music, DJs and an organic market in the day time. Herbert, originally from Guatemala, gave skate classes to the kids from the area and to visitors. It is such a crazy thing to watch the kids and locals skating this park. If you plan a skate or surf trip in Costa Rica you definitely have to spend some time in Guiones.
- Christian Petzold
Photo: Adam Conway
R.I.P. MARK “MONK” HUBBARD 1970-2018 “BUILD BOWLS NOT BOMBS” gofundme.com/Mark-Hubbard-memorial
PLATZ SEVEN KONSTANZ GERMANY
Not your typical DIY spot, located at the University of Konstanz - clean surroundings but one hell of a ramp! In 2015, the Big Ramp and the rest of the skatepark in Moos needed to be removed and it was pretty much done after 15 years anyway. Another miniramp had to go and even the metal sheets of our old Konstanz ramp, built in ‘85 and popular from “Streets on Fire”, were just lying around. Since we had some used construction material like metal surface, most of the trannies and some wood in good condition, which was too much to throw away, the plan was to build a big vert-mini combo like the “Animal Chin Ramp”, inspired by modern park design. The ramp has a lot of flow and tons of possibilities for stunts and transfers, but even just cruising around is way more fun than just going back and forward, like in a regular ramp.
Bernt Jahnel. FSA Photo: Roberto Scano
Like always, you have to have the space, finances, stoke and motivated helpers and good plans and all at the same time - there is no one without the other. So I claimed I did have the money (I just
Photo: Bolle
took it out of my retirement plan). I needed professional plans for construction, so my old friend Schützi helped me get my crazy ideas on paper and my local skate buddy Bolle, who works at a construction company, brought all the professional equipment to build a ramp of that size. Zero money involved (but a lot of beers) for all the workers. After the University’s official okayed to build what we think is a good skatepark, we finally started in spring 2017. About two thousand man hours later, we had one of the most diverse vert-mini combos ever, and we are ready to add more! Konstanz Skate Scene rules! A lot of free helpers made the whole project possible. Thanks to all of you!! If you are into riding bigger stuff, this is your place! Don´t be a pussy - check it out! Call Skateshop Konstanz (+49 753122466) for sessions or simply show up on Thursdays after 7pm for open sessions. Be sure to join our killer contest / party on September 22, 2018! Let the good times roll - see you in Konstanz.
- Bernt Jahnel
Jacob Mauersberger. Tailblock Photo: Roberto Scano
ANGOLA
THE RISE OF SKATEBOARDING
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY XAVI SIMANCAS After 500 years of Portuguese colonization, Angola suffered more than 30 years of civil war, which turned this African power into a completely destroyed country with thousands of refugees. In 2002, the end of the war brought new life into this new free country. Big modern buildings began to appear aligned in a vertigo skyline in Luanda, the capital and largest city in Angola. The country’s most populous city is an important nucleus located on Angola’s coastline facing the Atlantic Ocean. Luanda is one of the biggest Portuguese speaking cities in the world.
It’s no secret that life is not easy to live in a concrete jungle of five to ten million people. If you add to the equation that this city is in Africa, the situation gets tougher: daily traffic jams start as early as 4am and nobody is completely safe from assaults or accidents. If it rains, it’s like the sky is a massive waterfall and roads turn into rivers easily. Everything is overpriced, education was postponed as a priority for many years and in the last few has finally made a comeback to stay for good. I was living in Luanda since 2011 and to be honest, I never thought of taking my skateboard with me from Europe on one of my trips home, since there was no place to skate, literally. But, over time, one day I saw a kid passing by me… skating. While I was trapped in traffic, on top of everything - “Hey! there’s a kid skating!” - I thought to myself to reinforce what I was seeing and still not believing was true. All of a sudden, in less than a year’s time, there were a lot of kids skating the streets of Luanda… What a sight! I was so stoked that I thought I had to do something to eternalize this moment and the
Clockwise from title photo: Ollie. Marginal deTailblock Luanda Jacob Masuberger. Spot check: Hotel Panorama, Luanda Back tail. Marginal de Luanda Fortaleza de Sao Miguel, Luanda
idea of taking pictures in a massive skyline in Africa had the thumbs up seal of approve of the skaters. With this idea in mind, I started to photograph them while they performed their tricks at multiple spots like new banks’ buildings, an abandoned hotel on the beach and even the city’s fortress which is more than three centuries old. If you think for one second these skaters are mere beginners and can’t do next level tricks, please take note from the pictures and think again: 3 flips, backside and frontside flips, and… and some do these tricks wearing flip flops! For us coming from another country, to see how these kids skate, with the little material they have, and believe it or not a deck can cost up to $150, truly looks like adoration to skateboarding. It is of such an impressive purity that makes you go back in time 20 years, back when one started to skate with inherited boards from elder brothers and when the most important thing was not the material or the more technical tricks, but to enjoy yourself with your friends and hang out in your neighborhood.
These Angolan skaters really do see things differently, where one sees broken houses and neighborhoods, they see their arena and personal playground… How well they skate is only up to them! How cool is it to perceive the world like that where every small thing counts and is an upgrade from what you have? It truly makes you put things into perspective and reconsider what you have for granted. Long live Skateboarding! - Xavi Simancas
Here: Front smith. Largo do 1ยบ de Maio Left: Ollie and backside flip. Marginal de Luanda
Gray slide. Photo: Gary Scott
Is Ace your real name? Aislan is actually my full name, but I’ve pretty much gone by Ace since birth. Age, where you are from and where do you live? I’m 21 years old, originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan now living in Oceanside, CA.
Are there a lot of pools going around you? Is the pool skating scene blown out, or better than ever? Unfortunately most of the pools we had going got shut down recently all around the same time. I’m sure there’s more going in my area but I’m pretty out of the loop. I’d say the scene over here is pretty average, most of the pool action seems to be in LA right now!
What first got you into skateboarding? I first moved out to Menifee, California when I was about nine years old. I remember within a few weeks of living there I was playing out front of my house. Some neighborhood kids came up to me and asked if I skated and if I wanted to ride with them. Prior to that I had never stepped foot on a skateboard but I had an old Walmart board laying around the house, so I just grabbed it and cruised out with them. Been in love with it ever since!
What’s your take on the commercialization of Skateboarding? It’s definitely been strange to see the drastic change of skateboarding over the years. As with any industry that becomes highly profitable, Corporations are bound to come in at one point and hop on the bandwagon. There’s pros and cons I guess. The pros are that lots of skateboarders seem to be pretty well off financially nowadays. The cons are that these huge companies who know absolutely nothing about skateboarding are Who do you skate for? Independent Trucks, The House of Vista Skateshop, Hard knocking out the smaller grassroots brands who have Luck, Assault Skateboards, DC Shoes, Plague Hardware been here since the beginning. I mostly just wish that all these energy drinks sponsors could disappear, stuff is and OJ Wheels. straight poison! Yeah the 2020 Olympics will be one hell of a mark for history, I guess it’s time to start training, haha. You have a unique style of skating, do you have specific skaters from earlier eras that you get Is it important to skate for only “skater owned” some tricks from? The funny thing is I actually grew up skating nothing but companies, or at least skate brands that were started by skateboarders, or does it not really matter any street and loved jumping down things. I eventually blew more because the corporations were let in and there’s out both of my feet pretty bad when I was 16 years old. As I started easing back into it I would cruise around the no turning back now? It’s extremely important to support skater-owned bowls and transition at my local park, because that’s all companies, nowadays it just seems to be harder and I could really do. I ended up falling in love with transition harder with more of these core brands dying off. In the skating and my entire perspective on skateboarding end, if these corporations want to spend their money on changed. From there on out I discovered the hidden world of 70s and 80s skateboarding (pools, vert ramps, us skateboarders than so be it.
curbs, ditches, etc.) I was hooked and it completely changed my way of skating. I fell in love with dudes like Lance Mountain, Ben Schroeder, Pat Ngoho, Jeff Phillips, Monty Nolder, Lucero, Tom Knox, Matt Hensley, Neil Blender, Peter Hewitt and so many more. What gets me fired up today is watching dudes like Grant Taylor or Raven Tershy skate. Everyone rips nowadays though!
Who do you like to skate with locally? I usually just cruise to the park and skate with whoever is there. Shaun Ross, Vance and Jonah, Steve, Max, Bobby pretty much whoever! I also occasionally roll out with the House of Vista dudes for street missions.
Any places you have never been that you want to go on a skate trip to? Any places you have been and would love to return to? So many places, but I’d mostly love to check out the European and Canadian skate scenes. Oregon and anywhere in the Pacific Northwest is always a favorite for me, lots of crust! What’s your favorite magazine cover ever? Jeez that’s a tough one, but one that really stuck out to me was when Koston got the cover of Thrasher doing the wheelie/nose wheelie slappy on two skateboards. That was so sick let alone seeing a curb on a cover!! Layback back smith. Photo: Jon Campbell
Slappy and destroy Photo: Ryan Maddox
ACE PELKA
Nose press indy grab at Clinton Keith pool Photo: River Ramirez
This or that? Wallrides or Wallies? Wallrides Pools or Backyard Bowls? Both are great Colorado or Oregon? Oregon So Cal or Nor Cal? Oooooh sorry Socal I’m going to have to go with Norcal Black Flag or Black Sabbath? Dang can’t compare the two! Skater girls or surfer chicks? Well my girlfriend is both so I’ll just go with both haha. Hawaiian shirts, GG Allin or David Allen Coe? GG Allin in a Hawaiian shirt Rudimentary Peni or Subhumans? Rudimentary Peni for sure. Do you eat meat? Grew up vegetarian and started eating meat in my early teen years. It’s hard to find all the good fats our bodies need when being vegetarian or vegan. I keep it light on the meat nowadays but when I do eat it I try to make sure it comes from a good Organic farm that humanely raises their animals. Those crowded cow farms make me sick!! What’s the best diy you’ve ever skated, and what’s the best one you haven’t? Lower Bobs or Washington Street. I can’t choose one because they are both epic in their own ways. I wish I had gotten a chance to skate Skate Fe in Visalia, that place looked heavenly.
What place do skateboard magazines have in this world when there is endless photos and videos all day on instagram? Skateboard magazines are not only beautiful but they are also tangible, which social media isn’t. There’s something really special about holding a photo in your hands, a feeling that social media can’t provide. I hope Skateboard magazines live forever especially Confusion, you guys are doing it right! What’s the gnarliest slam you’ve ever had, and worst injury? Worst injury has to have been when I was trying to willy grind this handrail, and it was one of those super skinny round rails where your wheels can get locked up. Anyways as expected, my wheels locked up and I flew to my face and blacked out. In the midst of all that I had apparently reached out my arm to try and catch myself but didn’t get it out in time. I ended up tearing off a piece of cartilage from my arm, dislocated my elbow and tore a bunch of ligaments, wasn’t fun at all. Do you have any fears? My biggest fear is growing up and having to make a living doing something that doesn’t make me happy. Which is why I will continue to play on this wooden toy for as long as I can! Future travel plans? Been meaning to head to Albuquerque soon because it’s ditch / pool paradise over there. Any thank yous or fuck yous? No fuck yous, but muchos gracias to my family, girlfriend, friends, my work and sponsors for giving me the endless support I need to keep rolling! Big thanks to Confusion as well for holding down the DIY scene in all parts of the world, y’all da realest!
Wall drop Photo: River Ramirez
ACE PELKA
ZINE REVIEWS
REPEAT FOODZINE REPeat is an artistically created cooking zine by Tibor Rep of the Slovenian Boldriders crew. About 40 recipes beautifully illustrated in color by Tibor on high quality paper with easy to follow instructions using simple and healthy ingredients for those that choose not to consume shitty processed foods or to eat fast food made by evil corporations that destroy our planet for their profit and our personal and collective demise. Some of our favorite recipes include Cheesy Leek Crumble, Chilli sin Carne, Spicy Chickpea Lemon soup and Beetroot Brownies. All recipes are either vegetarian or vegan and won’t cost you an arm and a leg to buy but will save your heart and soul. Limited to 100. More info at repeat.si or grab a few free recipes to try yourself @repeatandskate LAYBACK MAGAZINE #2 The long awaited second issue of Layback Magazine a 68 page mid-format magazine from Northern Rivers, Australia chock full of professional quality photography shot by editor Jerry Burke, with some contributors from various other top notch Australian photographers and writers. With a good balance of transition and street skating, contents include spot checks, “Dirty Deeds” photo gallery and skater spotlights including one on all terrain ripper Scott Standley. Overall, a well put together mini Australian skate mag. laybackmagazine.com GUERILLA SKATEZINE #3 Black and white 28 page zine from Sevilla, Spain. Issue #3 has an interview with Carlos Neira about the Farol Skateboarding project with some mixed media artsy
collages, text sometimes in spanish and other times in english, an interview with Danel from Barcelona, and skate photographer Kuba Baczkowski from Poland. Support the rebellion! guerrillaskatezine.com @guerrilaskatezine SKATE SHEET 12 page color skate zine from New England with interviews with skateboarder Damien Garon and an artist profile with skate artist Jeff Wheeler both from New Hampshire and a few random skate photos. Short but sweet. @skatesheet SENTFIELDS MAGAZINE Mini format color zine put together by the STFS Boiz from Barcelona with a US roadtrip article, Spotter DIY feature, skater interviews, stories from Macba, DIY design sketches from Richi Larios, and a list of things that define Antihero for them. Creative content with good vibes and a sense of humor. #sentfields VERSUS SKATEZINE #FTW The long lasting prolific VERSUS zine just dropped a mega series of 8-12 page mini-zines. A diy collage “best of” project from Jey, creator of Versus, who explains how he “had no space for magazines anymore. I didn’t want to just throw them away, so I gave them one last second of fame”. So what you get is a 12 pack of zines compiled via cut and paste, his “best of” other skate magazine photos with some creative humor re-mixed in with random note style messages like “Skateboarding, I love it so much I want it to die, die, die” or “Fucking awesome radical independent diy skate zine from Hell.” @versus_skatezine
OPGLABBEEK-BELGIUM PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICOLA DEBERNARDI • WORDS BY JEROEN SARS
Bjørn Lillesøe. Frontside disaster
When Nicola came back to Eindhoven from the contest in Brixlegg, Austria, he brought the Danes Bjørn and Jonas “Ginger” back with him. They stayed here for a couple of days before flying back home. One day we decided to take them to the new bowl in Opglabbeek, Belgium, built by Bruno from Mechelen and his crew. The bowl is built next to some 90s style metal ramps on an asphalt skatepark. Opglabbeek is a little town with a couple of thousand inhabitants, but somehow they have this perfect bowl in their town. It has pool coping all around and is super smooth and
steep enough to be challenging, but mellow enough to be fun to cruise and carve around. Upon arrival Ginger and Bjørn started rolling in and grinding over the loveseat and into the hips like they were locals from Obglabbeek! With the boombox blasting, a few joints and the beers flowing the session went on ‘till sundown and ended with Ginger’s patented hang up rock ’n’ roll 360 spin on the front foot to fakie when it was pretty much completely dark. If you’re ever near Obglabbeek this bowl is definitely worth a visit! - Jeroen Sars
Jeroen Sars. Frontside smith grind
Jonas BĂźnger. Sex change smith grind
CYRIAX POOL Words By Philipp Fischer
Photos By Christian Murgia
Philipp Fischer. Layback back smith
Photo: Immi Griesel archive
Back in 1868 hessian farmer Conrad Hermann built a barn to store his cereal harvest. Besides providing the local residents with food he saved his families financial existence by selling the grain. In 2018 there is no need for the barn’s original purpose anymore.
So 150 years later it shelters the CYRIAX POOL, which now satisfies the locals hunger for skate. Thanks to the SARC CREW that built this gem of a pool with the locals help, it will be skated for sure even longer than the next 150 years.
Julian Gorski. Stand up frontside grind
Jan Zechmeister. Frontside fingerflip to tail
Philipp Fischer. Frontside carve grind