- 15 YEAR EDITION ISSUE 79 AUG / SEP 2017
CONTENTS Alex Williams back 180 nosegrinds onto his second cover. He was only 1 when Session started. Photo Grant Mclachlan
10) CT YOUNG GUNS PHOTO FEATURE
16) VANS DURBAN JULY THE VANS TEAM HIT KZN
24) TRAE RICE WHERE IS MY MIND?
34) WASTED CREW WITH TAYLOR STURGESS
40) ASIA TRIPPING WITH PIETER RETIEF
48) RED BULL UNLOCKED CT VELODROME
52) CPH OPEN 2017 COPENHAGEN FOR THE SUMMER
58) I AMS
TAYLOR REID AND SHAUN DEAN
Juan Smit is the king of awkward spots. A new building popped up in Cape Town harbour and Juan wasted no time in nosebonking the new bike racks. Photo Sam Clark
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ISSUE 79
“ALEX WILLIAMS IS ON THE COVER, AND HE’S ALMOST THE SAME AGE AS SESSION. JUST THINK ABOUT THAT FOR SECOND, WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHERE THIS GENERATION IS GOING TO TAKE IT.” SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 3
Redial
15TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE The first issue of Session Magazine dropped in September 2002. Which make this issue our 15th anniversary issue. I’m turning 30 later this year, and that means Session has been around for just over half my life. I’ve collected every single issue, every time it’s dropped. I keep them in numerical order on the bookshelf in my apartment, and often find myself digging back through the archives. 15 years of local skate history in tangible format. I regard my Session collection to be one of the most valuable things in my possession. It’s not an easy task running a print mag in our current economic climate, but I’m stoked we made it to 15 years. A massive thank you to all the brands that make it possible, being a free publication it’s the brands that pay for it. Without their support we wouldn’t have the resources to create it. Look at who supports
Words - Luke Jackson
Session with ads and projects, those are the brands that are supporting the scene. Along with Brendan (who founded the mag back in 2002 and Joubert (who has contributed more to local skate video production than anybody else) we hope you’ve found some inspiration along the way. SA skateboarding has evolved massively over the past 15 years and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Alex Williams is on the cover, and he’s almost the same age as Session. Just think about that for second, we can only imagine where this generation is going to take it. Session is a platform for skateboarders and contributors, who take the initiative, to get exposure throughout the wider local skate community. It belongs to all of us. Thanks to all of you who make the most and contribute, those who go out there and charge!
Brandon Valjalo is another young gun on the rise. He just spent some time over in the US. He front boards at the iconic Hollywood High and lands himself a new spot on the DC South Africa team. Photo Justin Crawford
EDITOR Luke Jackson info@sessionmag.co.za ADVERTISING Ockie Fourie info@sessionmag.co.za FOUNDER Brendan Body brendan@sessionmag.co.za
PHOTO EDITOR Clint van der Schyf PHOTOGRAPHERS 78 Sam Clark, Grant Mclachlan, Jansen van Staden, Mosako Chalashika, Albert Retief, Jono Kyriakou, Gavin Scott, T-Kay Modise, Phoenix Jurgens, Justin Crawford, Maksim Kalanep.
CONTRIBUTORS 78 Brett Shaw, Jono Kyriakou. PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Earlgo Building, cnr. Kloof & Park Rd, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001. PRINTERS: Tandym Print.
SKATEBOARDER OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 2002.
MAIL US - INFO@SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA @SESSIONSKATEMAG
WWW.SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
SESSION SKATEBOARDING MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED INDEPENDENTLY 6 TIMES A YEAR. SESSION WILL WELCOME ALL LETTERS, E-MAILS AND PHOTOS. WE WILL REVIEW THE CONTRIBUTION AND ASSESS WHETHER OR NOT IT CAN BE USED AS PRINT OR ONLINE CONTENT. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MAGAZINE, ITS OWNERS OR ITS MANAGEMENT. SESSION SKATEBOARDING MAGAZINE IS THE COPYRIGHT OF SESSION MAGAZINE CC. ANY DUPLICATION OF THIS MAGAZINE, FOR ANY MEDIA OR SALE ACTIVITY, WILL RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION AND A SLAP!
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BUILT BY SKATEBOARDING JAMESON SL
FIELDWORK CAPE TOWN YOUNG GUNS
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Photos Mosako Chalashika
Tyler Kammies frontside smiths at Artscape.
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Iviwe Yekani nosejams and bombs down Commercial Street.
Allan Adams back smiths at Civic.
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FIELDWORK
Byren Bredenkamp back blunt transfers at Thibault.
Chris Mashua fakie front crooks on Wale Street.
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Jonanthan Jomba switch crooks on Adderley Street.
Tyler Kammies hurricanes in Milnerton.
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FIELDWORK
Sean Feldman boardslides outside parliament and lands to manual off the curb.
Squad Deep .
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VANS DURBAN JULY Durban is the land of endless summer so everyone was fired up to leave the semi-wet Cape winter for some Kwazulu-Natal sunrays. We are a mangled family of odd characters but that’s why it works, and this trip was one seriously mixed bag. Words Brett Shaw Photos Jansen van Staden
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Joubert van Staden and Chappies do the double in Richards Bay. SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 17
Dallas Oberholzer frontside grinds a backyard pool vert wall. Somehow he always finds a way to make it work. 18 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
Simon Stipcich with a guest appearance kickflip in Ballito.
T
his wasn’t really a set tour of sorts as everyone was working on a different project. Firstly, Anton is working on a part that is going to be mind-blowing, that will be up on the Vans YouTube later this year. Wez is almost finished his killer part so he was just looking for some knockout punches and Chappies is working on his ‘Welcome to Vans’ part. Dallas and I are finishing up our ‘30 years of skateboarding’ parts too. Joubert and I were the filmers and Jansen shot all the photos. Simon Stipcich and Shaun Dean pulled in for a day and then Charl Jensel and Dave De Witt hit all the spots with us so we had everything covered, young rippers, huge street spots, gnarly tranny and double angles, so every spot got man-handled. Durban has always been an odd place on the skateboard map with a lot of divided cliques, but that seems to have changed now with the changing of the guard. The last 5 years have been rugged for our brothers on the coast with the passing of Roland (R.I.P) and the next generation of Durban skaters like Yann, Ryder and Khulu moving to Cape Town, Gary went to London and for now Dlamini and Thalente are living in California. No one can deny that Dlamini and Yann are some of our best rippers so that was a huge loss for Durban. Khule still lives in Durban but he’s not there much anymore because he’s also had a taste of the outside world or he’s doing demos
HE BOUGHT A BAR ONE CAKE FOR A FAMILY IN PIETERMARITZBURG SO WE COULD SKATE THEIR POOL” on the Monster mini ramp. The OGs are raising families now so they have different priorities and generally stick to themselves when they get a gap to skate. Plus with the shocking economy the Pavilion park closed and Gateway is just a ghost of its former shell now. Skateboard scenes are continually redefining themselves all over the world so Durban is no exception. Whether it’s a new generation of skateboarders filling a hole in a scene or just boredom, because as skateboarders we need change so that we can progress. From the ashes the Cloudy Brothers have risen, Mike Sparrow, Alessandro Galassi, Luis Mateus, Suhail Kader, Nkosi Dlamini, Trent Sloan and Wez Coertzen are keeping the streets alive and the bowls on fire. Chris Nderitu and his beach park crew are also all over the streets, which is killer to see. Jamie De Villiers and Siba Booi are also getting out there
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Brett Shaw is not one to be left out of a good pool mission, he gets some for himself at Bruce’s.
so the Durban skate scene has re-invented itself and is looking solid. There are also a lot more nameless skateboarders up and down the north and south coast doing their thing, so we are going to see a lot of new rippers coming out of Durban again. Ethekwini Skate Supply is making sure everyone has access to solid skate product so hell yeah! Sparrow is the unofficial ‘Master of Ceremonies’ and the Cloudy HQ is your first port of call for us always. Durban is a gold mine for spots big rails, empty pools, slappy ledges, half built bowls and wallrides, it’s got everything and the lure of a top notch boneless mutton bunny so that’s why we try to go every year. It’s just a friendly place and we love it. Anton shut down the huge Ballito rail (but you’ll have to wait to see it). I’ve been there
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with US and Euro pros over the last 15 odd years and everyone has just passed it off as a joke. Anton doesn’t like to joke around, it took him 6 tries, 2 bruised heels and 8 scabs to land a frontside lipslide and it was the gnarliest thing any of us had ever witnessed live. He went so fast that when he landed he rode through a car park then jumped off his board over a road barrier and sprinted across a main road, and almost went over the side of a bridge into a jungle just to slow down. Then the parking lot erupted, we all went mad to celebrate our bro’s victory. It was insane to finally see someone man up and conquer that beast of a rail. Anton cemented himself in the Durban history books. People will be talking about this 30 years from now. Don’t worry we got 3 camera angles and Jansen got the photo so you will see it all in full 1080p soon! The scariest part was that it’s not even going
Anton Roux full power ollie out to frontside wallride, the hill bomb must have felt good! SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 21
Dallas front feebles a steep one in Richard’s Bay. 22 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
Chappies nosepicks near Pietermaritzburg.
“THIS TRIP WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT CHAPPIES GOT TO FLY ON AN AIRPLANE. CHAPPIES IS A MACHINE, IT’S CRAZY TO SEE HOW MUCH CONTROL HE HAS AND HOW MUCH ENERGY HE HAS” to be the ender in his part, he has gnarlier stuff!?! Anton is the perfect example of how everyone should live their lives, be super friendly and don’t f#@k around, just go for it! He’s one of my favorite skaters, hands down. He did the Damnd crew proud and I hope one day the skate Gods will honor his wish for the Damd crew to all be reunited so they can set the open road on fire again. Dallas is a real tripper, while he was buying hummus and lentil seeds at the store he also bought a Bar One cake for a family in Pietermaritzburg so we could skate their pool. A gnarly pool, it had 2 foot of transition and 7 foot of vert, it was nasty with ladyfinger coping. Dallas has the same approach as Anton when it comes to transition so somehow he MacGyver’d himself into some grinds. Joubert blew us away with a double truck grind in the deep end, which was rugged. ‘Huishond’ has some serious transition skills. Joubert is the ‘horse turd to ice cream’ converter, he makes everything work. When you have so many strong personalities you need a solid dude to lay down the law. Damn the man can skate too, everything and anything, without him none of these trips would happen. We all appreciate it man.
We set up our HQ at ‘Blufftopia’ - Bruce and Vivian’s place, and they are epic hosts. Just watch out when you hit their pool table they will smoke you properly. Some epic pool battles went on inside and outside. Bruce has a skateboard heart, his body is mangled from a life of hard knocks but he always goes for it and gets some, that’s why we all love him. Next time you see Bruce thank him for everything that he does because Durban would be a very different place without him. You need all the generations to make skateboarding work so we can pay it forward to the new guys. This trip was the first time that Chappies got to fly on an airplane. You could just see he was stoked, I guess anyone would be stoked if they got 2 minutes of footage and 5 photos every day. Chappies is a machine, it’s crazy to see how much control he has and how much energy he has. Our only problem was he’s got so many tricks that we had to explain to him that you don’t need to do 40 trick lines, save 20 for the next spot. Nobody escaped this trip without getting bruised and beat up which means we did it right. Thank you VANS for having our backs and trusting us enough to give the next generation of rippers the opportunity to ‘get some’ in a different town.
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TRAE RICE WHERE IS MY MIND? Interview – Jonathan Kyriakou I think when making a skate video Trae was an easy choice. He oozes style, rips tranny and always looked so comfortable on a board. Little did I know that he would message me incessantly and take way longer than needed to get most tricks. That being said, when it worked and a trick was landed it was always worth it. We often joke that despite external appearances and the amount of grief Trae gets from his homies, the guy is an undercover genius. I don’t know if anyone in South Africa approaches skateboarding with more neurosis and meticulous planning. Last year was a rough one for the dude, but he’s back on track and filming a new part as we speak. Everything in Joburg is a rush, just like this article. – Jonathan Kyriakou
now. It’s working, but now getting off the pills is a problem. At the end of the day being in the position I was in I had to take them and I am grateful that they work.
You went a bit crazy last year, what happened?
Do you think though that maybe that is a reflection on the state of South African skating?
I guess just growing up in Joburg being naughty all throughout high school. I started out at an ‘all boys’ school and I had my shit together. Then I moved to a co-ed school where there were women, no uniform and smoking. I was just like “fuck, I’m on holiday!” I think that in moving schools I went off the rails. I was just skating hard, partying and smoking zol. Fast-forward 4/5 years later and all this misplaced energy and anxiety started catching up on me. I only had skating. I really wasn’t doing anything else. I was stressing myself out, by myself. Then going back and doing nothing but skating, which would make me even more stressed out. I was also smoking a shit ton of weed and that didn’t help either. It started getting worse around the time of the Vans Ethiopia trip (I got quite sick). I decided to take 4/5 months off and just try and figure things out. I wanted to evolve my life, to not just be focused on skating, and since doing that things have been a lot better. Do you take medication? In the beginning I wasn’t too happy about having to take pills. My condition was pretty serious. I had to keep going for tests, which were stressing me out more, but then the only option was to take something to calm me down. It’s been like 6/8 months of taking medication
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Have you found a new perspective on life and skating? Definitely! I feel like I’m having more fun now than I ever have. Opposed to just constantly stressing about skating. Now that I found so many other things to do other than skating I actually enjoy my skating more than anything. It helped me find the actual reason why I skate. Skating is just for fun, and being with your homies. Instead of pushing myself to get certain tricks I can just enjoy it.
I feel like everyone is trying to get it. But at the same time it’s not like you can make a living out of skating here, at best you just get by. Now going through all these dramas and struggle it feels like skating is just an outlet, no one can really tell you what to do. Only you can determine what you are going to do when you go skate. You lost your board sponsor as well, what happened there? Ah fuck, I actually don’t really know. I know Revolution just closed down, but they kept me on as kind of a shop sponsor, so I got boards at a good price. But thanks to Revo for having my back for like the last 5/6 years. Clayton has looked after us. Where does the nickname ‘Malibu’ come from? Back to Omphile (S/O to ‘White Bread & Butter’) and Spani. We were skating LBGs and then we went to Kitchener’s and Omphile kept going on about ‘Malibu’s Most Wanted’. Where the guy stands on the roof and starts shooting. Omphile was like, “Yo! Your nickname is Malibu” and it just kind of stuck from there. I think it was a reference to how wild I was at that stage. So now everyone calls me Malibu or ‘Malibs’.
Frontside wallride into the Jozi night. Photo - Jono Kyriakou SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 25
Feeble at Randburg Sports Grounds. Photo - Jono Kyriakou 26 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
You started off BMX racing, are you an all round athlete?
open my mouth again, moving bone around, wiring the jaw shut – chaos!
Ya, I used to be until I fucked out at school. I was racing from the age of 6 until 16. I was no.1 in Gauteng for like 6 years, and 5th in SA. I used to play
You got super healthy as a result of everything you’ve been through though?
a lot of hockey and cricket too, I had a scholarship at Parktown Boys High, that place is fucked up, Malcolm Raw knows what I’m talking about. Two weeks prior to going to London for a BMX competition I broke my arm. It was around that time I realised that skating is all I got now. So, you’ve been wrecking your body for while now? I broke my arm racing. My ligaments got destroyed thanks to racing and skating. I broke my collarbone twice. The first time racing and then second time skating, trying to skate over a handrail it just popped out. I went for surgery and they took the plate out, and ten days after that I broke it again (3rd break). 3 months later I skated a Wits set with Neil and Ryder, and I fucked it again. But otherwise it’s just my hip, my lower back and nice swelling on my elbow. And the thing with your mouth? When I was in Grade 9 I fell off a balcony. This chick was spinning on the balcony handrail putting her legs vertical. I was like, “I have to do this”. My brother and them were all there drinking, I had a couple of drinks but I wasn’t fucking drunk! Everyone says I was drunk, I wasn’t! So, I ended up trying it. I’m leaning over the balcony with my waist on the railing, trying to get my legs straight up. So I tried like 3 times and then went for it, and as I did I pushed too hard and went over. I basically summersaulted down a two-story building onto my face! I lost my jaw, broken nose, lost my teeth, I had plastic surgery on my lip, and then they wired my jaw shut for 3 months. I had to eat through a straw, and then I had to learn how to read and count again. Wait! Why did you have to learn how to read and count? Cause I hit my head so fucking hard! Possibly why I have been ‘fucking out’ so hard. It took me a while to figure it out again. I had to learn how to count again. It was probably just major concussion. Then a year later I’m at a party and this dude chooses me for no reason, and punches me in the face. I lost my teeth again. I’ve had no teeth for like 8 years, just a plate. When I was 21 I ended up going for another bigass op, I was in hospital for two weeks. I couldn’t
Ya, no zol and no cigarettes. I’ve been making lots of smoothies. Spinach, celery, banana and those little fucking pink fruits with seeds inside. Pomegranates! But actually I like all kinds of different ones. And you’ve been riding your bike a lot lately? I guess while I was ‘fucking out’ I had to keep busy so I got back into riding my bike. I would just go out and ride as far as I could. Sometimes I’d time it. It was better than sitting around. You get to see parts of the city you wouldn’t normally, riding at night when the streets are quiet. Pinkhard and Wandile are setting the trends? Ya they helped me out a lot, pointing me in the right direction. I’m trying to get a road bike right now. With all the Jozi partying did you lose your virginity young? Of course! Learning from my brother, of course I did! What was it like growing up in Jozi, why are all you kids so fucked up? Haha, Joburg is the realest! Skating in the streets since a lightie molds you. Always going to town and seeing the older guys skating - Bergen, Luke, Thabo, Maanda, etc. Wandlie is the reason why I skate today. He used to come drop off shoes for me all the time. I remember waiting in my tree house for him haha. Neil is one of my favorite skaters on and off the board, he used to drop off boards for me too. And just the likes of Siya, Kanya, my brother, Gavin Scott, Sam Khumalo and the Famila dudes - Adrian, Luke, Gavin Morgan, Yann, etc. Just growing up and seeing rough shit, you realize at a young age what’s going on and that starts affecting how you see the world. All the homies from here are the sickest, maybe as a result. It’s grimy! There is so much shit here and so many people that everyone becomes competitive. Like “how much money do you have?” or “ok, I’m not going to date you because it’s not enough.” It’s cut throat! But Joburg is the shit, I’ve been here since day one, I don’t think I’ll leave. Well, obviously I’m going to leave.
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Tailslide ditch transfer somewhere in the south of Jozi. Photo - Jono Kyriakou
“I WANTED TO EVOLVE MY LIFE, TO NOT JUST BE FOCUSED ON SKATING, AND SINCE DOING THAT THINGS HAVE BEEN A LOT BETTER” 28 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
I don’t know if you are though? Haha maybe. Mitchell (your brother) has done some crazy shit. What was the dynamic like growing up? To be honest I was pretty influenced by him, watching him skate after school every day. Watching him battle jumping down handrails and losing his mind, and I was like 12/13 just watching him skate. So I think it came naturally just from watching and observing. Mitchell always said, “I did it on my own, you got to do it on your fucking own, I can’t help you.” I think just by doing that, slowly losing all the other sports whilst gravitating toward skating. It makes you realize you can be independent with your skating. You can do whatever the fuck you want! Just watching Mitchell go through it I was automatically drawn to it. Did you skate a lot together? Ya we did, but not necessarily all the time. Sometimes I couldn’t go on the missions he was going on. Before skateparks got built Mitchell was skating the city and I was probably a bit too young. Once we got the Brightwater park I started getting into skating a bit more and we would go skate there together. Brightwater was your training ground? Ya if we had time we would go skate there because it was super close to the house. It was rad to go see the Brightwater homies, all the Randburg dudes. But we skated there a lot – RIP. What’s your favourite spot now? The city is always rad, cause you can always skate something different. I don’t go skate there a lot, but when I do I really enjoy it. You can see the craziest shit in town. It’s very visually stimulating too. They closed off a section of LBGs, what do you think the impact in Jozi will be? It’s a shame that it closed, I remember growing up there watching all the guys skate and setting the bar for tricks, a lot of stuff got done there. It’s the meet-up spot. No matter where you come from in Joburg, LBGs is the meet-up. Anyway, only the one section is fenced off, the other side is still skateable. In a way it’s the end of an era.
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Slappy crook near Primrose. Photo - Jono Kyriakou 30 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
Frontside smith in the deep at Germiston bowl. Photo - Jansen van Staden
Kickflip over a manhole and into a steep bank in the south of JHB. Photo - Gavin Scott
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“I BASICALLY SUMMERSAULTED DOWN A TWO-STORY BUILDING ONTO MY FACE! I LOST MY JAW, BROKEN NOSE, LOST MY TEETH, I HAD PLASTIC SURGERY ON MY LIP, AND THEN THEY WIRED MY JAW SHUT FOR 3 MONTHS. I HAD TO EAT THROUGH A STRAW, AND THEN I HAD TO LEARN HOW TO READ AND COUNT AGAIN” What’s the hardest trick you ever worked on? I think on the Vans trip in the middle of fucking no-where we were skating a ditch with the whole Vans team and Steak. We spend like an hour digging out this ditch, and it’s poes hot weather. Everyone was in their slops. It took me about an hour to stall the top and pull-in. It took like 3 hours actually. I landed and we rode off into the sunset. Best trip of my life! You bailed on the Ethiopia Vans trip. Set the story straight… Ya, so like I was saying I got sick prior to it, also going through some personal shit, just not balancing everything well. I was working on a job with my dad in the Magaliesburg, and there was no toilet out there. I used to just shit in the bush all day. Funny enough I got tick bite fever a week prior to the trip. Going to the doctor the night before, realizing I wasn’t well, throwing up and blood problems. It didn’t work out. But shout out to Vans as well for having my back. In light of all the recent closings (Homegrown, Revo and fucking Brightwater), what do you think about the current state of Joburg skating? Joburg has always had its ups and downs. I would say all the kids out there skating the streets are actually going about it the right way. I think South African skating is the shit, but there’s not that much money behind it. At the end of the day we have a lot of skating to give and for people to see. I think there’s a rad scene, everyone kind of knows one another, and everyone is trying to push the scene. Shout out to Cloudy Bros, VeG, Wasted, SSS, Joubert, Session Mag and everyone that helps out and has a passion for skating. You’re working on a part, what’s up after that? Since I’ve been finding my way back I’ve been working on a part with Sid, just trying to get back into skating, filming and doing what I love doing, which is getting out and getting clips. Thanks to you dudes for filming. It has been cool, it’s all been on my own terms, no time limit and just choosing the spots I want to skate. Shout
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out to Chris, Chennai and Sid for having my back, you’re dirty cunts. Sid’s been a big part of me getting back on my feet. I also just got a camera, so I’m excited to shoot more with that. I’ve always had an interest in this film thing, since working with you and Joubert. We also got some plans with the dudes ‘Tavern’ in December. And your new flick! And get a real job haha, and honestly one day travel and just skate and document everything. VeG Squad is your crew? Ya, VeG Squad! All the homies and ‘Wasted’, also shout out to SSS, those are my choms, they hold it down! It seems like you guys are always on about some kind of beef? Ya, but also I can be an idiot sometimes. When everyone is constantly poking you, I’m gonna bite back. I got mad love for those homies, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for those homies. Shout out VeG! Sid, Chris, Chennai baby, Mark, all the Brightwater cats, my G Bryce (funniest out there), J-Dawg, Cake boi, Dan, Bongi, Levi, the Raws, Lucho, Brendan Jack, Pinky, Gavin Scott, T-Kay, Taylor, my bro, Mo and everyone, you know who you are ek se. ‘City of Gold’ Volume 1 just came out. Shout out to Levi, I think he’s working on Volume 2. Love you dudes. Keep it grime! Any thanks? Sid ‘Hammer Time’ for putting up with all my shit haha, watch out for his new Dirty Wednesdays edit and some new Desolated gear coming soon. I’ve had a blast working on this little project with you (Jono), I’ve learnt a lot, hell yeah, thanks playa. VeG Squad and Wasted Veggies. Gavin Scott for helping out, much love for you and your new family. Ryder Nel for filming the scene in SA. All the homies that were there for me when shit was rough and always down to help me out. Chris, Chennai and Joubert. Vans South Africa, my family and Session for the article. Go skate, have fun and fucking charge! Go charge!
Fastplant. Photo - Jansen van Staden SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 33
Taylor backtails over the steps in downtown JHB and keeps on going! 34 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
THE r WASTED CREW WITH TAYLOR STURGESS Photos - T-Kay Modise Interview - Luke Jackson Who is in the Wasted crew? T-Kay Modise, Kelvin Vosloo, Clayton Gerasmus, Siphiwe Dhlamini, Fuaad Hough, Brian Dlamini, John de Villiers and me. Where did the name derive from and how long have you guys all known each other for? We’ve all known each other for years. Clayton was probably one of the first guys I knew that was in the crew. It already existed, but a lot of the guys stopped skating around the time we were just starting, so we carried on the name. Are you guys all from the south of Johannesburg, and where about in the south exactly? Yeah almost all of us are from the south, we stay in Kibler park which is about a 15 minute drive from the CBD. You and T-Kay are not just friends, you’re more like family and live together right, so how did he end up moving in with you? He’s my bro! We met each other through skateboarding, he used to sleep over like every weekend and we’d go skate together. Some events happened which made him have to move to his mom’s house, but he chose to stay with us, ever since then we’ve been living together.
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Taylor Fs 180 over sign.
Taylor can backside 180 heelflip anything.
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Kelvin Vosloo with a precarious downtown kickflip transfer.
“I LOOKED OVER THE WALL AND SAW THIS CABLE LYING ON THE STREET WITH THE ELECTRICITY STILL FLOWING OUT OF IT, THEY CUT THE CABLES AND WAIT FOR THE POWER TO BE CUT-OFF, THEN COME BACK AND TAKE THEM” You used to be an estate agent, how did that come about and how long did the training take to become qualified? I did real estate for over 4 years. I dropped out of school in Grade 10 and started working with my dad at a real estate company called Century 21. I worked at a few others too, I had to get an NQF4 qualification that took about 3 years, it was fun. Now you’re studying, what exactly do you do at college? I work on music production. Do you need a lot of equipment and technical skills to make the music you’re into, explain it a little if you can? You don’t even need equipment these days to produce, everything is digital and on your pc, equipment will always make your music sound
more real and it’s a lot more fun though. You kind of need to know how to use keyboards and hardware, it takes a while getting used to the programs. Where can someone hear some of your music, do you have a Soundcloud or anything like that? Yeah I’ve got some music and mixes on SoundCloud, I’ll be dropping a lot of good stuff after my studies. Do you ever DJ at parties or anything? I’ve mixed at a few house parties. I’m focusing more into club scenes and hosting our own events. List your 5 favourite musicians that someone reading this can look up, in order to understand what sort of music you’re into? Stimming, David August, Ryan Murgatroyd (South Africa), Mario Aureo, Midas 104.
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Taylor going the distance with a back 180 from the bump and over the pole.
Where do you guys usually hang out at night, like what sort of clubs do you go to in JHB?
What are the best 3 things about your area in Johannesburg?
We’re usually partying at someone’s house but if we’re in the city we go to toytoy, Carfax, The Goodluck Bar, etc. Truth is probably the best nightclub you can go to in Johannesburg, it’s got 5 dance floors.
I’ve met some really good people, we got the best crew out here, and just being able to grow up here has been dope.
Where do you guys skate mostly? Now that they fucked the library up we’ve been missioning around looking for new spots, but we kind of mostly around the city (downtown).
Is the stereotype true about people from the south modifying their cars and racing a lot? Haha yeah it is kind of true, some guys want to show off their rides, or show you how fast they can drive. I’ve been in a few races.
Are there any dope spots in the south or even parks that you guys roll at frequently?
You told me a story once about people cutting power lines in your area, what’s the story with cables getting stolen around your hood?
There’s two skateparks in the south, the one is on a tennis court with shit ground and the other one is a pretty cool mini ramp in Turffontein, it’s a pretty dodge area though. We’ve found some dope street spots that people haven’t even skated though. Right now we don’t really have a spot that we can say we’re frequently at, we just look for new shit to skate.
Most areas have the new cables that you can’t steal, but the street we stay in has the old ones, last year there was a stage when they were being stolen almost every week. I once woke up and heard like a flare sound, I looked over the wall and saw this cable lying on the street with the electricity still flowing out of it, they cut the cables and wait for the power to be cut-off, then come back and take them.
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Kelvin frontside flip.
You started skating downtown JHB pretty young, it can be a pretty gnarly place to grow up, how many times have you been robbed over the years? When I was younger I got robbed a few times, I’m in town every day now and people still try do some shit. Anywhere you go it’s always good when there’s a bunch of us. T-Kay shot the photos for this article, does he shoot anything else outside of skateboarding too? Yeah he’s done some jobs for a few companies, he’s busy with some new projects of his own and recently he’s been taking photos of a lot of shit. The Wasted crew has been working on a video right, how long have you been filming and when are you hoping to release it? We’ve been filming for just over a year now, the video is dropping real soon! Skaters that people haven’t heard about, the footy is looking dope and we’re hyped to see what people think.
“WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I GOT ROBBED A FEW TIMES, I’M IN TOWN EVERY DAY NOW AND PEOPLE STILL TRY DO SOME SHIT” Any final words to end this thing off? Shout out to everyone supporting our wave, The Wasted & Veggie Squad, all the kids that are pushing, my friends and family. Converse Cons, T-kay Modise and Session Mag for making it happen. Follow us on instagram -@skatewstd and me @taylorsturg haha.
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TRIPPING IN ASIA WITH PIETER RETIEF Interview Luke Jackson Photos Albert Retief
So you quit your job and decided to go traveling, did you have a set plan of exactly where you wanted to go and what your mission would be? I left adidas in March of this year, after 6 years of employment. I had the best times and learned so much there, but I wanted to do my own thing and travel a bit. My brother Albert has been traveling on and off for the last 7 years so I really wanted to connect with him and go on an adventure. Our initial idea was to go ride motorbikes in the north of India, but the weather in May was not very favourable for the trip we had in mind, so we made a last minute plan to go elsewhere. You started off in Sri Lanka, how long were you there, who went with you and how much skateboarding did you manage to do? We bought one-way tickets to Sri Lanka making it the first stop on our trip. The idea was to move around Southeast Asia and take it from there. My friend Adriaan Louw heard about our trip and decided to join us, and so the three of us began our journey to Colombo on April 9th. We are all pretty experienced travelers so we never had major logistical issues or just straight up bullshit amongst each other. Both Adriaan
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and Albert shoot and film so we could document most of our journey. It was cool making skate missions around Sri Lanka, any spot we could find was worth skating. I managed to get a photo in all the big cites we visited around Asia. You did some surfing too right, are you any good? Ollie, my brother’s good friend, was in Sri Lanka at the time, so we spent 3 days with him on the south coast. He surfs so he hooked up a board for the day. I struggled with a small board, it was like skating a 7.5, too small. I need that 8.5 hahaha‌ Tell us the story about how the tuk tuk got rolled? We rented a tuk tuk on arrival and took that thing around the island. That was our home for the next 2 weeks. We took that thing everywhere we could. We were hanging out at this one bar when Albert offered to give some tourist a lift back to their hostel, he came back about 10 minutes later only to pick up more people and take them to their accommodation spot. It was a little bit out of town so I guess the journey back got a little boring with just one man behind the wheel, he took a corner too fast and flipped the tuk tuk. He was only going about 10km per hour but those bends are super sharp. He was fine and the tuk tuk only had minor damages, we got it all fixed for under 10$.
Nollie frontside 180 in Yangon, Myanmar. SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 41
A lucky mini ramp discovery in Sri Lanka.
Ok so where did you fly to from there? Adriaan went home 2 weeks later while we headed for Malaysia. It was just a pit stop for Albert to sort out some paperwork for his South Korea working visa. He could not sort out what he needed to do, so we booked tickets to go to Myanmar and left the admin for later. Myanmar is a pretty rare place to visit, were you nervous at all before arriving? I was never nervous about Myanmar even though you hear about religious conflicts on the west border. The country is still very much run by the military even though they had a democratic election. I guess when you’re travelling you can choose to focus on fears, threats and the unknown or you can choose to be adventurous, open yourself to new experiences and still be conscious of safety and global issues. I felt very safe throughout my entire journey through
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Myanmar. I have never known much about the country itself, which is why we wanted to go there. It turned out to be the best place I visited on my entire journey. The country is new to tourism so you really get to see amazing places and interact with genuinely friendly locals. I highly recommend Myanmar to all travelers. You visited the DIY park there, tell us all about that? The park is built so well in terms of the space usage and flow. Simple designs just work. The park will definitely brew some tranny rippers. You did some long rides on the back of bikes in Myanmar, what’s the story with getting stuck on the mountain passes because of landslides? We met a guy that runs a tourism business who was telling us about this town called Matupi. He said it’s a mission to get there, but it’s worth the trip. We were keen to travel to unknown destinations
How long were you in Myanmar and what was your favourite area of the country? A general tourist visa for Myanmar allows you to stay for 28 days, so that’s what we did. I could probably stay for 2 months, but we wanted to see more places in the time we had. The Chin State, which is situated north west of the capital of Yangon, was my most memorable and genuine experience. We did a 2-day hike to a small village outside of Mindat where the Chin Tribes live. The ladies of the village are renowned for their beauty and face tattoos. The story was told that when the King of Myanmar travelled through the nation he always took woman from the Chin State as his wives because of their beauty. The families were devastated and decided to cover their daughters faces with tattoos so they could appear “ugly” and would not be taken. The girls were only 9 years of age when they got tattooed. The practice was banned in the 1960s, so for us to see these ladies was truly an honor, as in time this cultural practice will no longer exist. So from there you then headed to Thailand, what parts did you visit there? We arrived in Bangkok on a Friday night, not the experience I was prepared for after our stay in Myanmar. We hadn’t had alcohol for 3 weeks and had spent most of our time hiking in the mountains. Arriving in the hub of Thailand was a bit too much for me. Albert managed to sort out his visa applications so we headed north, back to the mountains haha! We spent a couple of days riding motorbikes between Chiang Mai and Pai. You guys did some serious trail riding there, what exactly did you get up to? so we gave it a shot. There was a minibus leaving in the afternoon, but we were ready to hit the road early so we decided to hitchhike. We took a couple of rides to get out of town and waited at the start of this mountain pass. Two guys on motorbikes stopped and said we could go with them. The one guy was transporting a pig on the back. They could not really speak English but we figured they were contacting a friend to come assist. Four minutes later we started a journey that ended 10 hours later. We experienced some heavy rain showers and plenty of landslides resulting in delays of up to 40 minutes at a time. At one ‘stop and go’ it was already too late for anyone directing traffic so the bulldozer was just moving ahead and pushing massive rocks down. We had to signal him ourselves to get through this tight mountain pass. The rocks literally fell behind us as the last bike went through, blocking the road completely until the morning when they could continue down below. The views were insane and a journey I will never forget.
We rented motorbikes in Chiang Mai and headed north. We took all the small back roads and did a 5-day loop back to Chiang Mai. At one stage we were so far off the main road we thought we would re-enter Myanmar. All the ‘roads’ would somehow link back to a village or main road. Fortunately, people were very helpful when we thought we were a bit lost. You also linked up with Siya Ntuli and Krige Venter in Bangkok, did you get a session in with those guys? Siya was actually in JHB when I first arrived in Bangkok, but when we came back from our bike trip we managed to link on the last day before we departed for Cambodia. We all linked up at Krige’s little local spot and skated for a couple of hours. The night ended with all of us sitting outside a Seven Eleven drinking “LEO” beers and doing powerslides in the rain for money. We managed to score 35 baht, just enough for a taxi ride home!
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Frontside smith stall at the Yangon park in Myanmar.
Wallie in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Bench ride in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tell us about your border crossing into Cambodia? This was probably the worst experience any traveler could ask for. We booked a really cheap bus ticket to Cambodia, almost too good to be true and I guess it comes with some downfalls. The drama all started just before we crossed over into Cambodia. The bus pulled off at a random location and the bus driver asked everyone to get off, as we got off three more guys arrived and quickly split everyone into groups. You now had three groups with one guy per group starting the hustle. These guys were super aggressive and demanded that everyone hand over their passports and 42 US Dollars for them to process your Cambodian visa. The standard price is actually 35$. If you did not comply they told you to get the fuck off the bus and to find your own way to Siem Reap in Cambodia. After being pushed around and shouted at, we somehow remained calm and waited for the entire process to end so we could get to the border. Four people left the bus and made their own way to the border. We were not going to give in as we only had enough money to get to our destination, so no extra expenses could be afforded. Some people on the bus paid and others got their visas before leaving Bangkok. It was only Albert and I that stood up against these guys. We got to the border and once again the guys took everyone
off the bus and made them all gather outside the ATMs, right here we left the group and went to sort out our own visas. Throughout this entire drama our bags were still on the bus, so we never really wanted to cause too much shit for these guys to mess with our bags. We got stamped out of Thailand and thought we were in the clear but had one more hurdle to cross before successfully entering Cambodia. The customs officer demanded 100 baht (Thai currency) plus one ID photo to process your visa. We scrapped together the money and luckily Albert had ID photos. He handed over his money plus one ID photo and 5 minutes later I did the same using one of his ID photos. It all worked out and we were back on the bus for the last stretch to Siem Reap. We did however make one more stop to load food and goods (taking up half of the space in the bus) so everyone was now sitting in the front part of the bus. On arrival the last little hustle awaited us, we got dropped off in the middle of nowhere with hungry tuk tuk drivers promising the best rate to take you to the city. We asked one guy which way to the city and started walking. So in the end we never got scammed and managed to stay calm throughout this entire process. Some of the tourists got scammed for 37$. These guys do this every single day and for a tourist entering Cambodia this is not the best experience to be welcomed into the country.
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Nosegrind transfer at Inle Lake, Myanmar.
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50-50 in Bangkok, Thailand.
What was your favourite place to skate throughout your Asia expedition?
If you had to pick one place to live from all of the places you visited, which would it be and why?
The DIY park in Yangon was super fun and getting a photo at the Shwedagon Pagoda was also pretty cool.
I would live in the mountains close to Hsipaw, a small town in the east of Myanmar. Life seems to be very chilled out there and the people really take pride in their villages. You could become one of 3 things when living out there, a Myanmar militant, a rebel or a farmer living off the land. I’d choose the latter.
Was there anything you and Albert tried to shoot that didn’t work out? I started skating a ledge in a small alleyway for about two hours. The ledge had obviously never been skated so it was super rough and I could not pop out. You know when you start something and you’re getting really close to landing it you have to push through, so that’s what I did. It was just a 50-50 but I really wanted to land it. At one stage I thought I was going to faint, but I rolled away clean. That night Albert accidently deleted his memory card and the photo was lost forever. Did Albert shoot any skate footage perhaps, or did you just get photos this time around? We only shot stills, the same way we did when I was travelling through Taiwan with Albert back in 2013. You have to choose between photography and video if you’re only one guy behind the lens. How long were you away for in total and what was the longest you spent in one country? The trip was just over 2 months and we spent 28 days in Myanmar.
Top 5 tips for backpacking in Asia? 1 - Book one-way tickets. 2 - Travel light, you can get everything you need out there. 3 - Eat with the locals, the lady cooking her food under the bridge uses the same recipes as the restaurant around the corner. 4 - Engage with locals, ask questions and share your experiences with others. 5 - Don’t get scammed crossing the border into Cambodia. You’re planning to head out on more travels later this year, where to next? I’ll be based in Cape Town for now, but I’m definitely keen for more adventures. There are so many opportunities for travelling and working abroad and I’m keen to take on some exciting projects.
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RED BULL
UNLOCKED 2017 This year was Red Bull’s 5th annual ‘Unlocked’ event, and the final installment they report, going forward they suggest we can look out for something new. The event returned to Cape Town for the second time, and when Red Bull hit us up for spot
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ideas, one iconic venue jumped to mind. The Bellville Velodrome opened 20 years ago in 1997. It was initially developed for the South African Olympic bid, unfortunately the bid was unsuccessful, but the venue did host the World Cycling Federation Championships in 1999.
Photos Sam Clark Words Luke Jackson
Joshua Chisholm back smiths.
Chappies frontside lipslide.
Shuaib Philander front blunts. SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA | 49
Moses Adams 360 flips into 1st Place. 50 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
Anton Roux frontside nosegrinds.
Most people knew it as Cape Town’s main concert venue for about ten years. However, it was then replaced by Cape Town stadium following the 2010 Football World Cup. The huge banks are an obvious draw for skateboarders, but the venue has a whole lot more to offer skateboarders than just the banks. This was a ‘one day only’ opportunity to have unrestricted skate access to the space, before it’s closed down. A massive redevelopment project is about to commence which will see the Velodrome shut down for some time. But that also means they gave permission for anything to be skated within the space.
The idea was to have a series of best trick jams on several obstacles around the venue, instead of a conventional contest. Red Bull also paid to have guys travel in from different cities around the country to take part. Guys flew in from JHB, DBN, PTA and PE. Co-sponsor Vans also flew some of their guys in to be part of it. Because this was a once off opportunity, spectators also had the opportunity to skate in the unique space, in-between the official jam sessions. In the end Moses Adams topped the podium for the 4th time out of all 5 ‘Unlocked’ events. Brandon Valjalo came in second and Anton Roux finished in third.
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CPH OPEN 2017 A grand total of 20 South Africans (those currently residing in SA or expats) made it over to Copenhagen for the best event in skateboarding this year. For four days the Danish capital turned into one big skate festival with skate jams and parties taking place across the city. A number of JHB’s Veg Squad crew were in town and rented an apartment that ended up housing half the South Africans, as well as Euro friends from France and Germany. We can only imagine what that skate house must have looked like at the end of the week. Despite the many late nights, you should be seeing some footage from
them in Ryder Nel’s ‘Chakalaka’ video, coming soon! Different Pros and Ams from across the world compete in a series of random events over the 4 days, including bowls, street spots and even a 80s inspired jam. But it all comes to a conclusion at the large indoor CPH skatepark where the finals are held. Ishod Wair deservedly took the win in the finals this year. Thanks to Monster Energy for hooking up Session again this year.
Louie Lopez Bs noseblunt.
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Photos Maksim Kalanep Words Luke Jackson
Neverton Casella switch flip.
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Shaun Dean Frontside Noseslide. Photo Phoenix Jurgens 58 | SESSIONMAG.CO.ZA
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