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issue issue

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WELCOME TO ISSUE 43

SB SB DUNK ELITE LOW

COVER Photo_Davide Biondani / Canon.

43

The Grind.

yes, we made a book

EDITORIAL 43

T H E

S L A M

C I T Y

C O L L E C T I O N

DCSHOES.COM

C A L I F O R N I A

S P O R T S

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W W W . C A L I F O R N I A S P O R T. I N F O

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Photo_Davide Biondani / Canon.

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O3EPO – Even In Siberia There Is Happiness Igor Fardin - Kickflip � Photo: Alexey Lapin www.carhartt-wip.com

CONTENTS_43 Fragments_ A chat with_Leo Romero Le Brise Lames De Sète Northern Triangle Manchester / Sheffield / Leeds Places / Abkhazia Pitted Down Under Daryl Dominguez Four little stories England / Japan / Italy / Greece

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a brief glance | year VII_n° 43

EDITOR and CONCEPT_ Davide Biondani. {davide@abriefglance.com} ASSOCIATE EDITOR_ Guido Bendotti. {guido@abriefglance.com} ASSISTANT EDITOR_ Andrew Zolin.

TRANSLATIONS_ Jonathan Levin.

PHOTOGRAPHERS_ Leo Sharp, Jonathan Mehring, DVL, Craig Dodds, Brian Gaberman, Marcello Guardigli, Davide Biondani, Giulia Romano, Kirill Korobkov, Reece Leung, Marcel Velmdan, Henry Kingsford, Sebastiano Bartoloni, Ale Martoriati, Fred Mortagne, Joel Peck.

CONTRIBUTORS_ Francesco Paolo Chielli, Mario Torre, Mark Baines.

DESIGN_ M. Bod Ciceri {Question Mark, ink!#?}

GET ALL THE INFO at: info@abriefglance.com a brief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by Fake Donkey Skateboard asd.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher.

All right reserved.

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Thanks to Canon Italia for the support.

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Lukas Garbaciauskas Ride up to fs blunt transfer Berlin Germany Photo Joel Peck

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Josef Scott Jatta Fs wallride Barcelona Spain Photo Gabriel Engelke

Celian Cordt Bs smith grind Geneve Switzerland Photo Sebastiano Bartoloni

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Ville Wester Bs 50 50 Gran Canaria Spain Photo Marcel Veldman

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On a random Saturday morning, you’re ready to go skate the classic weekend spot with your friends, and while you’re driving on the highway, you receive a text message saying: “Hi, I’m Leo Romero, I got your number from Davide, I’m in Naples, do you feel like meeting up to go skate?”

You read the message twice and think it’s a joke, but it isn’t a joke, and one hour later you’re at the spot with one of your favorite pros.

Let me start by saying that I only knew Leo from videos and had no idea what type of person he is. I found out that he’s a very pleasant, easy-going, down to earth person. I’ve always seen Leo as Heath Kirchart’s successor; they have a very similar way of skating, they do not talk at random, and know very well what they want.

One of the things that struck me the most was the incredible amount of flatground tricks Leo does with an incredible style, and if you ever have a chance to see him skate rails in person, the first thing that comes to mind is, “Ok, now I can quit skating!” Ha ha ha.

At this one spot, he asked us what trick we wanted to see, and after a little brainstorming among the crew, we made our request. He got super hyped and landed it in a few tries. After chatting with him over a slice of pizza and a beer, I discovered that his favorite video is Blueprint’s Lost and Found, and that he often watches it before going skating. So then you realize that in the end, there’s not so much of a difference between a top pro and you who skate your local spot every day. Apart from the tricks Photography_Sergio Pontillo Interview_Mario Torre

of course, ha ha ha.

So this is your first time in Southern Italy, right?

Yeah, first time in Naples.

What do you think about it?

I like it, all the spots we hit were very good.

It’s different from the north.

Yeah, it’s definitely different, but there are certain aspects that are the same, like the smooth rideaways and the kinds of materials that they use.

A few years ago I read an interview of yours, where you said something that I found to be kind of funny about ledge skaters, that it’s not the real skateboarding, that it can get boring and that you don’t like it too much. Do you think skateboarding is all about doing big stuff, or more about being well-rounded?

I think it’s about everything, people don’t wanna see me skate stuff like that. I think it’s important to skate everything.

I would rather see you filming lines.

My favorite thing to do is film lines. You see more of a skater when they’re filming lines and pushing.

In your video part in the Toy Machine video Brainwash, at one point you’re pushing like a maniac, you do a 3 flip up a sidewalk among passers-by. Usually, pros will go to a comfortable spot and do a hammer, but in that part you just push through the streets full of people, doing stuff on the sidewalk... it’s more real... that was great work!

I think that’s fun, because some people like to skate when there’s nobody around, where they

can see the spot. It’s easier, and you can focus more, but sometimes, having people around you, it will look cool, you know? It psyches me more sometimes. It’s always circumstantial, I never try to control the environment, I want to work around it. You can’t control it. For example, sometimes a person walks by and you say, “oh, excuse me!” and they walk in the way even more, just not knowing.

When working on video parts, do you have a plan or is it more spontaneous, where you just skate whatever you find?

For the Berrics part that is coming out next, I kinda had a plan about it, but I was hurt when I started it, and got hurt working on it. Usually, I don’t have a plan, because it’s too hard to think that far ahead, things always change, and videos get pushed back and change too.

Do you take care of a video part before you start filming for it, or are you more laid-back about it?

Well, it used to be that you worked on one video part at a time, but now, with so much internet, everyone wants every kind of footage, so it’s tough to work on a video part. For example, if you’re on a trip, they want to make an edit of that trip, while you’re actually trying to work on a video part. Thrasher wants to save the best stuff for their tour article, and it’s like, “Fuck you!

I wanna save it for my part!” And they’re like... “but we’re Thrasher!” And it’s not just Thrasher, it’s every skate mag, and it’s understandable because they’re promoting the trip and that’s how it works. It’s unfortunate that magazines can control where the footage goes now, that sucks, it’s not really up to the skater anymore. It used to be that I worked on one video part, and when the deadline was up, I started working on another video part, but now there are too many places for your footage to go to.

Fs nosegrind.

Ollie.

Today in skateboarding we have to get used to the new “normal” which is the presence of big corporations. In a way it’s good, because some skateboarders get paid to do what they want, but on the other hand, I’ve been on fancy tours, and I was totally disappointed.

It’s so easy to buy skateboarders, just put them in a 5-star hotel or buy them a firstclass flight, it’s easier than going on a trip where you don’t know where you’re going to sleep or you end up sleeping on the floor.

What’s your view of this current situation in skateboarding right now? Big corporations let you skate and do what you want, but in a way they are killing the market.

I see it as dull and plain. If you watch old 411 videos, you can see the Vancouver Slam City Jam, or Tampa Pro, you can see a Shorty’s sticker, you see a DVS sticker, you see an Emerica sticker, you see an Es sticker, you see Kastel. Every single skate brand was all over the course, and now you see one flat color and one corporate logo on it, and everyone’s wearing the corporate logo t-shirt. I don’t think it’s bad for anyone to make money and make a living off what they love to do, if you have kids and family, a mortgage, then get paid! You just lose a little bit of the integrity of what it was, it’s like when there’s a cool small town, people live there and everyone’s really cool, beautiful, small, everything’s mom and pop stores, and they open up a mall there, then they open a Chili’s, and you think, “what the fuck happened to this place?!”

Everyone wants to feel like an athlete...

I’m not an athlete, I’ve never wanted to be an athlete.

I do my exercising for a reason. I think you

need it if you wanna jump down stairs.

As you get older you have to take care of your body more, it’s part of what getting older means, you have to take care of your body even if you wanna fuck longer.

Skateboarding has always been reckless in a way, and now they’re trying to change it, don’t you think?

I think they’re trying to take it, like how Nike owns Olympic sponsorship, and they want skateboarding to be a Nike sport. I’ll never be able to ride for those companies because I’m not cool enough, and I don’t really give a shit enough to do something like that. If they paid me a lot of money I would have to do it, you know? It’s easy to say, “fuck those corporate sponsors, fuck all that!” But it’s just as easy to ride for them and just get paid. In the end, you can see skateboarding changing, and it doesn’t look as cool. There’s a David Bowie anecdote where he talks about when he got into playing rock ‘n’ roll music, there weren’t any rock ‘n’ rollers anywhere, and he got into rock ‘n’ roll music because he was a loner, that was something he could do. Now I go to skateparks, and I see guys that are just normal dudes, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But I look at people skating now and I think, “I’m not a skater.” I don’t look like what a skater looks like nowadays, so if I were a little kid growing up, thinking about skating, I would look around me and see all the jocks skating, all the people that play football skating. Like, fuck skating, skating is lame! In a way, kids that ride scooters or rollerblades are way more rebel than skaters are.

Fs nosegrind overcrooks.

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Fs board slide.

Talking about music and Bowie, you have a band, Travesura? How was it born and how’s it going? I know that you’re doing concerts everywhere, and I saw a videoclip on youtube, and it seems like it’s doing well, like a real bang! Is it something that originates from skateboarding?

I think it’s a part of me being a skater and me loving skating, and all I wanted to do is skate, and then I got into music, like folk music and Bob Dylan and Neil Young, their acoustics... and with skateboarding you’re... by yourself. So I got into music by myself, writing my own songs, and I met all the guys in the band through mutual friends. It just all happened very organically, and it just so happens that they are really great musicians and I’m not, so they make me sound good. I play with them and they like my songs, so it just happens naturally, it works. It’s like skating.

On some days, I’m able to write songs all the way through, easily, and it ends up being a good song. On other days, I fuckin’ can’t even play guitar. Like you can wake up and go skating, and you’re fuckin’ killing it!! Then the next day, you’re wondering what happened to your kickflips?! It’s the same thing. But skating is way sicker.

As a skater, my whole background in music comes from skate videos. When I was young I discovered so many bands that I wouldn’t know about today if I hadn’t started skating.

It goes hand in hand. It’s something you do by yourself, it’s something that grew parallel but together.

It’s singular, you can watch a video part, and

the skater is really cool, but the song sucks. Or sometimes the guy sucks, but he has a really good song, like “why did they use that song on that guy!!?” With skating and music, when you get it right, it’s perfect!

Do you choose your songs, or is it something that comes together with the edit? Have you ever seen one of your edits and decided that you didn’t want that song?

Yes, I have ideas for songs, and I like to work with the person editing the video, because I feel that by doing that my video part will come out better.

If they don’t like the song, it feels like you’re forcing them to edit to it. It’s a better relationship and it’s easier to make it funner for both people instead of just for one person. If it’s fun for both, then both people want to make it as sick as possible.

What’s next for Leo? Let’s see if the Berrics pays me for my video part, ‘cause they owe me money! And they owe a bunch of other people money too! If they don’t pay me for it, I’ll put it out on my own. After this, I’ll be working on a Toy Machine video, I’m not sure whether it will be a full video, ‘cause they got two new ams, and they want them to have full parts, and whoever else films for it. It will probably be more of a life-style, skatin’, music edit. After that, just try to film another video part.

So Leo, thanks a lot, see you back in Napoli soon!

I hope! Cheers!

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Photography & words DVL

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So Bastien called up some friends to organise this little mission. A boat was arranged, and in my mind we would all fit in it.

We gathered with a crew of seven people at the port of Sète only to find out that the boat was a bit smaller than I had envisioned.

It was the tiniest mini Zodiac I had ever seen.

Maximum three people could fit in, which was already pretty tight.

Last summer Kevin Tshala, Sebastiaan Vijverberg and I headed over to the South of France, more specifically to the beautiful region of Languedoc.

There was an outboard engine as well, but after putting in 2 hours of work, Damien Quozbourg, the guy in charge of the boat, couldn’t get the motor running.

Every two years I try to visit my French friend Bastien Marlin who is from that area. And as usual he always has a plan to hit up some bizarre photogenic spots.

Not even with the help of some die-hard experienced boat people from that little harbor. Maybe a good thing it didn’t work out because it was made for a way bigger boat. So that meant we had to use the paddles and row.

Earlier he had talked to me about a mission to the breakwater in Sète. This dike is only reachable by boat or swimming.

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The dike was about 500m away from the port. My only little concern was my photo

equipment, and the fact that there was a tiny hole in the boat made it even more sketchy.

Each time Damien dropped off two people at the dike he had to inflate the little zodiac with a hand pump, all this while floating on the water.

He also brought a small waterproof bag, where only 1/3 of my camera gear fit in. Luckily we made it safe and dry!

The dike itself is 3,2km long and divided for most of its length by a big wall. Reaching the other side of the wall you immediately had the illusion you were on some other planet or something!

All you could see were those randomly placed massive cubes made out of concrete and the open sea.

This in combination with the sound of the wind, the huge amount of seagulls and nobody else to be spotted on the so called island,

created a really mysterious atmosphere.

At least that’s experienced it.

how

I

This entire construction was built in three phases. The oldest part dates from the early 19th century.

Back in those days the old building on the breakwater served as a quarantine for sailors suffering from contagious diseases such as plague and cholera. Nowadays the dike serves only to protect the port of Sète from the onslaught of the sea. Salt water means a lot of erosion, so most of the spots we found were too rough to skate. And the ones that were skateable were not exactly smooth either.

But for some that’s the charm of it all.

One unique little mission I sure will not forget!

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Le Brise Lames de Sète...

Bastian Marlin / Fs grind.

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Thomas Regnier / Fs feeble.

Kevin Tshala / Kickflip to fakie.

Bastian Marlin / Fs wallride.

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Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds are all large cities of the North, all located within an hour of each other. All three are accessible by the A1, M62 and the treacherous ‘Snake’s Pass’. The Northern aesthetics differ from the big smoke and most of the time the spots are a bit crustier but on the upside we have places like the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales just a stroll away if we’re fed up with the city smog. All three cities

have

always

had

powerful skate scenes which give London a run for their money .

Photos & words: Reece Leung.

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MANCHESTER Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium and citizens of the city today are still referred to as Mancunians.

Situated between the Pennines and the Cheshire Plaine, Manchester used to be known as part of Lancashire but then later became know as Greater Manchester.

Known these days as the capital of the North, symbolised heavily as the worker bee because of their hard-working past during the industrial revolution. Famed for their music with bands like Oasis, Joy Division, New Order and The Stone Roses have emerged from Manchester. They’re also known for their football scene where Manchester United and Manchester City rival each other heavily.

Manchester has always been associated with a powerful and productive scene despite the terrible weather with legends killing it such as Gary Woodward, Rick Cooper, Darren Mot, Femi, Tony Da Silva, Joe Gavin, Ben Grove, Mark Kendrick, Gez Curran, Kev Eley, Eddie Belvedere, Lewis Threadgold and Matthew Nevitt to recent residents like Jed Coldwell, Tyrone O’ Hanrahan, Dom Henry, Nick Stansfield, Rikk Fields, Keanu Robson, Jiri Bulin, Joe O’Donnell and Tom Day. Well known spots are Urbis, the demoli-

MANCHESTER

shed Gasworks and Plattfields skatepark.

Joe Gavin

Switch noseblunt slide.

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MANCHESTER

Joe ‘O Donnell

Ride on fifty pop out.

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SHEFFIELD

Known as the ‘Steel city’ for its steel production in the 19th century. The name Sheffield derives from the River Sheaf which runs through the city. Located in South Yorkshire, the city is known for hosting the Darts championships and the World Snooker championships at ‘The Crucible’.

The steel city is known for its powerful skaters such as Jerome Campbell, Mark Baines, Joel and Seth Curtis, Cookie, Ron Calow, Richard Chung and Louis Slater. As the scene continues to grow, some of the new breed are constantly killing it such as Matlok Bennett-Jones, Shaun Currie, Joe Marks, `Faro Phiri, Dan Beall and Southampton lad Joe Paget. Devonshire green and The House have been long standing and places which have contributed to their great scene.

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| Dale Starkie | Ollie.

Foz

Fs blunt pop over.

SHEFFIELD

| Alex Appleby | 180 switch 5-0.

LEEDS

Leeds derives from the old Brythonic word Ladenses meaning “people of the fast-flowing river”, referring to the River Aire which flows through the city.

Located in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

A major mill town back in the industrial revolution known for its wool trade. Leeds has one of the largest populations of the north.

Notable skateboarders who have emerged from Leeds and surrounding areas are people such as Paul Silvester, Lee Rozee, Tom Brown, Rob Burn, Doug McLaughan, Dave Walker, James ‘Schoolboy’ Ewens and Paul Carter. The scene continues to grow with the huge student population bringing in ‘out of towners’ like Mike Arnold, James ‘Foz’ Foster, Martyn Hill and Vaughan Jones.

And local lads such as Manhead, Mike Wright, Joe Lynskey, Tom Harrison, Dale Starkie, George Smith, Mike Clarkson, Liam Hobson, and Tom Zealand continue to kill it. All of which mostly know each other from skating Hyde Park in Woodhouse Moor.

LEEDS Shaun Currie

Crooks.

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LEEDS Tom Brown Kickflip.

| Tom Zealand | Kickflip.

LEEDS George Smith

Ollie.

ABKHAZIA

Photos_Kirill Korobkov

PITTED

DOWN UNDER

DARYL

DOMINGUEZ

Photography & words_Marcello Guardigli.

couple of years back I met Daryl on a Red Bull skate trip around Vietnam. On that trip we coined the term ‘peachy’, which apart from being mainly used to compliment the curvature of the female buttocks, also generated other implications. Didn’t matter if it was a skate-spot, a trick or a chick... the word peachy was our primary adjective to describe something... well, peachy. His skateboarding is Peachy but he’s also a special human being, one of the most positive and chilled people I have ever met in my life.

Always with a big smile on his face even when he’s typically eating shit and working hard for tricks. He loves getting pitted (so pitted) but he also loves getting shit done. In typical productive fashion, everywhere we went we brought home a good snap. If it wasn’t for his injuries (and parties due to the Australian summer) we could have done much more, but I guess that’s life.

I’m particularly stoked that he repped and supported Smoke Beer Skateboards while he was here in Melbourne - which might have contributed to his heightened alcoholism. I really wish that one day he’ll be able to represent it all around the world. But for now I’m sure he’ll find a good home.

So you have travelled a lot in your time. Where were you before landing down under?

This time around I left for Nepal in early October 2016. I was over there for little over a month working on things with Skate Nepal. Then from there I flew to Bangkok to work on Nocturnup Vol.1, which just came out through Transworld a couple weeks ago. I spent the rest of the time catching up and travelling around a bit then decided to fly to Australia a couple days before Christmas.

Tell me a bit about skate Nepal.

Skate Nepal is a non-profit organisation that started up in London mid last year. The aim is to help push skateboarding as a positive cultural and social asset in Nepal. Thanks to Make Life Skate Life & The Community Collective Nepal now has a world-class standard skate park and the project was completed at the end of April.

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Kickflip in.

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Fs blunt.

So you’ve never been to Australia before this trip, what made you want to go there as opposed to say, anywhere else in Asia?

I needed to lay down some temporary roots for 5-6 months. Wanted to call somewhere home for a while. I needed a place I could lay low, that was still new to me but somewhere I could live/work but still be stoked on it being a new place. Melbourne had all those assets good skate scene, good people, sick bars, dope house parties and I’ve met some incredible people being here.

What did you expect to see / find?

I didn’t have any massive expectations if I’m honest. I just wanted to skate but still be able to sustain myself and enjoy the place. Melbourne is forever gonna be dope to me. I didn’t expect to have meet so many amazing humans, literally wouldn’t have worked out the way it did without them so thanks to all of you.

What s your opinion about Australia and Australian skateboarding?

Melbourne in particular is spoilt for skate parks. I’ve never seen so many incredible skate parks in such a small area. This was incredible especially after finishing work and always having options to sink a few beers and go for a session. Every city in the world falls victim to cliques but that’s just how it is, you always naturally gravitate towards the right people anyhow so that’s not even a thing. Saying that I met so many sick people within the Skate community so I got nothing but love for the scene What’s your most memorable experience?

There are many haha. We went on a bunch of road trips with the Smoke Beer boys and those dudes are loose! So there are plenty of stories involving rivets, cheap wine, Aldi, emu’s, goon sacks and getting pitted.

During your 5 months of residence, did you get more pitted skating or partying?

Tough question. Both. It was summer when I landed in Melbourne and I was in a new place so the first couple months were literally the good life on repeat. Skate all day, drink all night, house party, road trips, beach... I had so many injuries here and I’m certain it’s because of that lifestyle haha. I sprained all of the toes in my right foot, fractured my wrist, rolled my ankle twice and pulled my MCL. Both pitted the shit out of me. Thank god for reciprocal health care.

What’s your schedule for the rest of the year and 2018?

I’m in Myanmar at the moment just doing a little bit of travelling before heading back to Europe for the summer. I’m not going to mention too many long term plans cause I got a lot of things I wanna work on in England first. But this summer I’ll be busy, constantly moving and gravitating towards doing dope shit. That’s what matters!

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Crooks pop over.

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5-0 stall.

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Four Four Little Four Little Fo StoriesLittle StoriesLit Storie St

ENGLAND JAPAN ITALY GREECE

ARNOTT KUBOTA TIRELLI PANOU

our Four ttle Four esLittle toriesLittle Stories Stories

JOSH ARNOTT

Bristol, ENGLAND.

Words & photos_Leo Sharp.

Josh and I had already shot a photo of this frontside smith grind previous to this session. He wanted to go back and film the trick, so I thought I’d shoot it again just for fun. It had come fairly easily the first time and Josh had nailed the trick in a relatively small amount of tries. The rail is deceivingly high to get onto, and the surface of the ramp is all cracked and kinked meaning there is only one spot to land where you can roll away. The second session turned into a saga!

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Fs smith grind.

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KUBOTA Gumma, JAPAN. Words & Photos_Ale Martoriati.

A typical day skating with Toshihiro means going to some random spot in the middle of a busy highway.

This spot is insane, the speed you get going down the bicycle ramp is no joke. Narrow and steep, this is the stuff Kubota likes to skate. Pop shove-it into full speed. Gunma Prefecture, Japan.

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Pop shove-it.

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PIETRO TIRELLI Torino, ITALY.

Words & photos_Davide Biondani / Canon.

We were pushing around in Torino with some locals looking for something to skate. We passed by this gallery and since it was a public holiday all the shops were closed and no one was around. All of the guys were quite surprised since the place is always crowded and you are never allowed to skate it. This rail is steep and attached to the wall, and the short kink at the end makes it definitely hard to skate. “Butter legs, butter legs� someone kept saying.

Pepe knows how to skate spots like this one and he made it in just a few tries. Yes Pepe.

50-50 grind.

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THANOS PANOU Athens, GREECE. Words & photos_Davide Biondani / Canon.

Thanos is a beast, the kind of skateboarder who goes full speed and gives 110% at every try. A ball of energy on his skateboard and a great soul off it. Some time ago, I had the chance to skate with him on a trip to Athens, his hometown, and shoot some photos. These Jersey barriers were just outside of the Olympic area, Thanos pushed straight to the spot, ollied up onto the barrier on its side and did this wallie first try.

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Ollie up, wallie.

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Photo_Davide Biondani.

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