Theotis Beasley at the Berrics skatepark
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Time to return to The Berric’s, Steve Berra’s and Eric Koston’s skatepark ( if you didn’t know yet
) and they have been busy as usual. Well what do you expect actually, them not skating their private park?? Of course not.
Their latest recruit, Theotis Beasley, has got some smart footage up on the site currently. He is one good tech skater, packing out loads of different flip, manual, 360 trick in the book and more on top with some of the most perfect and non-sketchy landings I’ve seen. A kid to watch - yet again. Ummmm, that’s probably why he’s the recruit of the day, right?
Find out more about Theotis in this interview over on the Active Ride Shop website and click on the picture below to watch his slick video part at The Berrics….and while you are at the site, check out the many other videos. Steve Berra is still ripping it very well is all I can say.
Cody McEntire and 4 minutes of video
Sunday afternoon, I’m a bit beat still so I’m cruising through the Interweb and I came across this damn good short video featuring Cody McEntire. Let me be honest here: I’m more of a vert/pool skater but I must have had my earphones on cause this guy is damn good. Check out his riding right here and the freaking gap flip tricks he does!!Bastien Salabanzi speaks with Europeskate
A couple of weeks ago I got in contact with the guys behind Jart Skateboards, mostly being a bit curious about what is going on with Mr Bastien Salabanzi, a personality in skateboarding with incredible board control and an array of tricks in his pocket that most of us will never even get close to in a lifetime. Lucky for me (or us…) Bastien took some time to answer a few of my questions, first asking and congratulating him in the same question about his new-born child:
Hi Bastien and thanks for taking the time for these questions. As you’ve probably already been asked many times about your childhood, growing up in France etc. I’ll stick with what is going on today and maybe just a bit of your past if that is okay with you. And of course, congratulations to your new born child. Is it a boy or a girl?
It’s a boy, his name is Lao. He’s amazing.
After the split-up with Flip and Etnies you seemed to leave the major skateboard scene for a while only to come back in very impressive form (let’s mention Copenhagen 2007) I can’t help to be curious? What were you up to in the time before coming back? Practicing secretly?
Well not really, I was in Paris with my familly taking some time off. I wasn’t skating much at the time.
Bastien Salabanzi - Flip BackNoseblunt / Photo:Thibault LeNours
Let’s make sure we have our facts right: which sponsors do you ride for currently?
Currently I ride for JART Skateboards, Hawaii Surf Skateshop and Alis.
How did the sponsorship with Jart Sakteboards get started?
I went to the factory in Spain to meet all the guys, not only the riders but all the members in JART. Everybody is motivated to do things right so that’s how it got started for me.
How do feel about the skateboard industry today? Being a pro skater, it does help to pay the rent when you sponsored. Are there sponsor deals/companies which you just would not deal with even if they offered some crazy amount of money?
Of course , if you’re not stoked or you’re not into the company which you ride for it will affect you and your skating no matter how much they pay you.
Bastien goes bionic / Photo: Vincent Perraud
You have just been in LA with other Jart team riders, unluckily you injured yourself (get well quick). How was the trip up till then and what spots were you skating?
It was cool going back to LA, all the guys were excited to be there. A cool dude named Tim showed us some really good spots that I never knew of, so every new spot was something special and that everybody wanted to skate you know. It was a lot of fun men.
Your confidence is what really shines when you skate contests or just generally skate. Do you feel encouraged to try new tricks with a crowd watching ? I’m refering to the Globe Metz contest earlier this year. your skating was just insane!
Not exactly, you know when you have a session with 10 other riders down at a spot and the vibe is cool it motivates you. Everybody’s trying their best trick in a good spirit it’s all about fun you know pushing ourself.
Do you have any favorite tricks or spots at the moment ? Any tricks you are working on?
One of my favorite tricks is fakie flip fakie manual, the feel is one of the best to me. I am practicing my sw flip and other sw flip trick these days.
Music has always made a huge impression on skateboarding and these days the ‘typical’ skater can be seen with headphones on during a session. What music influences you? What do you listen to?
Ho men? It goes from Otis Redding, Herbie Hancock, Mavin Gaye, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Gang Starr, Talib Kweli, Common, there are too many I like a lot of different style.
Life isn’t of course is not just about skateboards. What else do you like to do in your spare time?
Most of time I’m with my son and when he gives me the time I grab my guitar, I love playing.
Which skaters do you think are really influencing skating the most or will be in the near future (other than yourself !)?
It’s hard to say there is a lot of skaters that inspire other riders out there, skaters like Marc Gonzales, Kareem, Koston, Penny, Marc Johnson or Mariano - all those rider did influence or still influence skating today. So many more tough.
Switch Heel B/s 5-0 / Photo: Thibault LeNours
To wrap this up, how’s the future look for you? Any big plans for this year? Know where we will be able to see you skate?
This year is very special being a dad. It is something very important and will stay my priority this year but I want skate as much as possible, travel and do all the things that I used to. I am trying to take things as they come without pressure and I love it.
A big thanks to Bastien for sharing his thoughts with us. Watch out for this guy, he really can skate! Try out this video from this year if for some strange reason you haven’t seen him skate before!
Arto Saari’s Alien Workshop products preview
Things can move really fast in the skateboard industry and this can be seen with Arto Saari’s change over to Alien Workshop. The designers have been busy putting together his line of products which go by the name “Abduction” (pretty much fits the picture…) showing Arto on his decks being brainwashed by some…yeah, you got it, aliens!As you can see below Alien Workshop has even put together a special “Arto Abduction Kit” with 3 decks in different sizes, a t-shirt, a pillow case (what? well, it does look cool but why a pillow case? Have special brainwave manipulating creatures been sewn into the fabric? Probably not…darn.), some stickers and a poster. Should be interesting to see where this package can be bought (international or not), anybody know?
Mike Mo, Alex Olson and Sean Malto turn pro
Girl Skateboard Company has just bumped up Mike Mo Capaldi, Alex Olson and Sean Malto to the pro ranks. Be on the lookout for their boards in stores this July. Alex Olson, by the way, is the first son of a pro skater to follow in his father’s footsteps and turn pro as well. Great to see how skateboarding is starting to really span generations…Being a grandpa later in life is going to be great when you can gather your grandchildren around you and tell skate stories from back in the old days and the kids will just love it.
- The Girl Skateboard Company website
Fallen’s “Ride The Sky” premiere dates set
All of the dates for the upcoming and much expected Fallen Footwear video “Ride The Sky” featuring Jamie Thomas, Chris Cole, Billy Marks, Josh Harmony, Tommy Sandoval, Tony Cervantes, James Hardy, Matt Bennmett, Brain Hansen and Gilbert Crocket.
- the Fallen “Ride The Sky” website
UK skaters wanted for Cliche and Stereo teams
Picking through the sites as usual I’ve seen a couiple of companies currently on the lookout for new blood for their teams. Stereo Skateboards for one is searchign fro a young british skater who doesn’t ride for any other company. The new talent will be chosen by Chris Pastras himself so if you think you could fit into this team, get your footage together and send it in to “Out of Step Distribution” asap (wes@outofstep.ltd.uk).And Cliche is also looking for a new UK rider which has sparked off a massive run on the forum entry over at Sidewalk Skateboards. It’s a who’s who of British skateboarding and lovely comments, sure got me laughing. Should be interesting to see who makes the race. John Tanner, Shaun Witherup, Daniel Clarke or somebody else? Stay tuned…
Kev McKeon talks for the Gyppo Army
Kev in the middle of a beanplant at Washington Street
The word of mouth can be a powerful tool when used properly. So can a stick of wood put under the feet of a talented skater. Put the two together and we ended up with this interview with one of the founders of the “Gyppo Army” team out of Great Britain, Kev McKeon. If you have had your eyes and ears open lately receiving visual and audio impressions from the skateboard scene, then you’ve picked up on this team which is packing quite a punch. To start this off right have a look at this sequence of Kev at the Cantelowe skatepark.
Be sure to also check out thr Gyppo Army blog on a regular basis, loads of updates and quite a few laughs as well: http://www.gyppoarmy.blogspot.com
Sequence by Phil Procter and cheers to the great Caught in the Crossfire website!
- Tell us a bit about who you are, where you come from, age, skateboard background etc.
Well, I was born in Cork in Ireland and my dad’s Irish and my mum’s French. We moved over to London when I was 3. I’m 18 now and I’ve been skating for about 6 years. I skated at Meanwhile Gardens skatepark in London every weekend for the first few years then I got into travelling and skating loads. Nowadays I try to avoid being in London!
- What’s a typical day in the life of a Gyppo Army member look like?
Well, I usually wake up and dick around on the computer for a bit in the morning, eventually whoever is sleeping on my sofa will wake up and we’ll go and skate at Cantelowes skatepark, which is a 5 minute skate from my house. After than we’ll end up going to either my house Ann Marie’s house (the mum of 2 skaters at Cantelowes) with some booze or we’ll end up going on a pub crawl around Camden. Sometimes Cantelowes is replaced with another park or skate spot, but the other stuff happens usually everyday. Ant’s on his way round to my place now and we’ll probably end up going to Ann Marie’s tonight!
- The Gyppo Army: it’s definitely a group of skaters/company to look out for in the near future. What is “Gyppo Army” supposed to mean? How did the entire idea start and what are your plans for this year?
I got really into travelling to skate in different cities and realized I could go abroad for pretty much the same price if I cheaped out on not eating properly and sleeping rough. I ended up dragging Aaron around with me and after a while people started calling us “Gyppos”. I can’t remember where “Army” came into it, but it’s here now. I thought that we could get more done and travel more if I started up a board company.
Aaron and myself quit our previous board sponsors and brought in a few mates on the idea, some of which didn’t have previous sponsors, some did.
Aaron and myself are heading to Marseille in a couple of weeks for some competition over there and to skate with our French rider Momo. We’ll probably end up at Bowlriders in Sweden and maybe the Mystic cup in Prague. Hopefully we’re going to go on a 3rd Document trip in August, but nothing’s been planned out yet. I’m trying to plan another trip to the States for about a month too for this September.
- The Gyppo Army team is represented by some of the best in British skateboarding (including yourself), Aaron Sweeney just took second place at the Volcom TXOTX mini ramp contest down in Spain a few weeks back. Who are the current team riders and are you planning to expand the team?
The current team so far stands at Aaron Sweeney, Anthony Demascio, Myself, Momo Linier (France) as well as our flow riders Doug Parmiter and Elliot Jones. It’s a pretty London based team, but there should be some new guys joining the team from other parts of the country too over the next couple of months. I won’t mention any names for the time being!
- Just this year you started your own line of decks. Who did the designs for them? Any more plans for Gyppo Army products?
Aaron has a mate who he used to go to school with who ended up doing graphic design, so I spoke to him about coming up with a couple of graphics. He designed the “Bush” and “Caravan” graphic. We’ve got 2 new graphics coming out in late June, which were designed by Toby Walker and Jake Schneider as well as some new T shirts.
- You were lucky enough to make it over to the States earlier this year. What was your general impression of skateboarding over there and what was your favorite spot?
Skating over there was different than back here. Pretty much what everybody says about the place is true, the spots over the are good and are smaller in real life compared to what you’d imagine them to be like after having seen them in videos. The police over there are absolute cunts. I’d say in general the skateparks over there are better than here, but having said that, the quality of skateparks in Europe are definitely on the up, as is the standard of skating over here, the gap between Europe and the States seems to be getting smaller and smaller, which is only a good thing!
- What set-up are you riding right now?
I’m skating a “Bush” 8.1 Gyppo Army board, “44” Ace Trucks, 55mm Death Wheels and some crusty bolts and bearings that have gone well past their sell by date!
- Who do you think is ripping it up at the moment? Give us some names…
My dad, Papa McKeon, he was doing switch frontside bluntslides at Southbank last night! Killing it!
- Any final words for us?
Buy our stuff and help to pay our bills! I’d like to thank my girlfriend Liv, as well as my parents and everyone at Gyppo Army. You (Jonathan) for the interview. All of the Portuguese kids at Cantelowes skatepark including “Borat”. Nic Powley at Vans, Wes and Brewer at Outofstep distribution for ACE trucks, Neil Urwin at Gumball, Phil at Nueu as well as Nick Zorlac for Death Wheels and for distributing Gyppo Army through Power Distribution! There’s also this fantastic blog which I feel you should check out, you can find it here at http://www.gyppoarmy.blogspot.com
Carhartt Limited Edition Boards
This news went straight through my fingers and I forgot to put it up a few weeks ago but no despair, some of my brain cells are still functioning the way they should still and I do keep archives. Lucky me… it’s always great to get to see a new series of decks used as a real possibility for artists / designers / skaters to show some of their talents on a plank of wood.Carhartt has brought out three series of team-designed boards which are - sniff - not for sale. They can be seen at exhibitions, in Carhartt shops, some skateshops and some lucky person/s can also win a set in their local magazine (I’m looking into which magazine they mean by the way!).
Series one:
Pontus Alv (Malmoe/ Sweden), Christoph Merkt (Basel/ Switzerland) and Hugo Liard (Lyon/ France)
Series two:
Vincent Gootzen (Düsseldorf/ Germany), Tobias Albert (Munich/ Germany) and Mat Fowler (London/ UK)
Series three:
Ben The (Annecy/ France), Anton Juul (Copenhagen/ Denmark) and Christian Neuenschwander (Zurich/ CH)
10th Annual TWS Awards nominees announced
More awards, more nominees, fame, fortune and more- it’s all in the mix and with over 150 proos and thousands of readers voting, it should be interesting to see who wins. Here’s the official press release. Just one question: why isn’t there a “Best Vert” award in there? One of the biggest magazines and no vert??? Anybody have an answer for that one, I don’t…
Hosted by Chris Pastras
Winners To Be Announced on June 13, 2008 in Hollywood, CA
Oceanside, CA – May 16, 2008 – Transworld SKATEboarding, the world’s number one skateboard magazine, announced the nominees for the 10th Annual Transworld SKATEboarding Awards today. The winners will be named during a live event on June 13, 2008 at Avalon Hollywood.
The Transworld SKATEboarding Awards honor skateboarding’s top riders, presenting eight awards to professional skateboarders in the categories of: Best Rookie, Best Street Skater, Best Transition Skater, Best Team, Best Video, Best Video Part, Best Two Video Parts, TWS Readers’ Choice and the TWS Legend Award. The award winners are determined by polling more than 150 professional skateboarders worldwide with thousands of Transworld SKATEboarding’s readers voting for the winner of the TWS Readers’ Choice Award. This year’s TWS Legend Award will be presented to one of skateboarding’s biggest stars, Tony Hawk. Previous winners of this prestigious award have included Mark Gonzales, Lance Mountain, and Steve Caballero.
To commemorate the 10th Anniversary, this year’s TWS Awards will also include a ten-year photo slideshow featuring the most acclaimed photography, art direction, and storytelling in skateboarding. Plus, the post awards party will kick-off with the world premiere of And Now, the newest film by Transworld SKATEboarding’s Jon Holland and Chris Ray, featuring Sean Malto, David Gravette, Matt Miller, Richie Jackson, Kenny Hoyle, and Nick Trapasso.
“The TWS Awards have always been the biggest and best awards in skateboarding, and that’s because it’s the pros who decide who truly rose above for the year,” says Eric Stricker, editor of Transworld SKATEboarding. “There isn’t a more meaningful award than garnering that kind of respect from your peers. And with the level of skateboarding turned up thanks to the astronomical number of video releases in ’07, whoever wins deserves to party that much harder.”
Here are the official nominees for the 10th Annual Transworld SKATEboarding Awards:
BEST ROOKIE
Silas Baxter-Neal
Nick Dompierre
Shuriken Shannon
BEST STREET
Stefan Janoski
Guy Mariano
Andrew Reynolds
BEST TEAM
Girl
Habitat
Plan B
BEST VIDEO
Habitat, Inhabitants
Lakai, Fully Flared
Osiris, Feed The Need
BEST TWO VIDEO PARTS
Silas Baxter-Neal, Inhabitants & eSpecial
Corey Duffel, Feed The Need & Cataclysmic Abyss
Stefan Janoski, Inhabitants & Nothing But The Truth
BEST TRANSITION
Dan Drehobl
Jake Duncombe
Emmanuel Guzman
BEST VIDEO PART
Stefan Janoski, Habitat, Inhabitants
Guy Mariano, Lakai, Fully Flared
Omar Salazar, Nike SB, Nothing But The Truth
TWS READERS’ CHOICE
Mike Mo Capaldi
Marc Johnson
Guy Mariano
TWS LEGEND
Tony Hawk
The 10th Annual Transworld SKATEboarding Awards is proud to be associated with sponsors: New Era, Stereo Sound Agency, Vans, and Zoo York. For more information on Transworld SKATEboarding and the Transworld SKATEboarding Awards, please visit skateboarding.com.
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