Versus Skatezine & Plus #113

Hehe, there are really a lot of herti sieche!

There’s not one favorite dude. A good trick who fits perfect to the spot is always a pleasure to shoot.

With chli bierli u dumms Gschnurr it’s even better!

Let’s talk ä chli tech-shit now...

What kind of kamera are you using?

And, how can you afford all this equipment?!

5 Years ago, I bought a Sony DSLR, because it was the cheapest cam for sequences. That’s the reason today, that I still shooting skate pics with Sony (alpha99 at the moment).

Otherwise I’ve a couple of analog cams, which also fascinate me very much, like the Hasselblad xpan.

And, I go to work almost every fucking day..!

Sarnen, middle of nowhere, 9 000 people, have a great skatepark since a couple of years already.

Bern, capital of Switzerland, 130 000 people, and you don’t have shit.

Oh yeah... “Platz”...

Which was downsized a lot...

Was ist los?! What the fuck?!

Hmm... That’s right. But there’s many Project in the pipeline! Bernside, Reitschule (maybe) Steffisburg... And fuck yeah the flattest Platz-ramp will restored...

Anyway, it’s great to see that people are still motivated, and keep on pushing the scene with a new video pretty much everywhere year...

Congrats for your part in Memory by the way dude! Schgeil gsi!

Yees, it’s really geil, everybody is still motivated for skateboarding and filming!

Kleino is on the best way to be the next masta film editor. Maybe there comes a “Grubenhunde” full movie next year. Thanks for the compliment!

Okaaaay schoen fertig! Any advices for the kids? Last words? Thanks?

Kids, don’t buy a cheap tripod...

Thank you Jey, that you still publishing this mag, keep on!

Merci vielmal für dein bilder Fabio!

Tschüss und ich hoffe bis bald! Cheers!

Nei merci dir! Yes bis den, adieu!

Pictures: @ Fabio Stoll Sancho 5-0, Nico BS Smith, Billy Ollie, Boris Noseblunt, Jan BS Tailslide, Sancho FS Blunt, Kleino FS Smith, Sancho Cruising, Gianluca Crooked, MM FS Bluntslide.

For more: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabiostoll/albums

RID(e)

Charles / FS Slasher / Photo: G.I.Jey

Once again, it started pretty sketchy and bad for me...

So yeah, we were about to go to Barça, to try out the new Poma skatepark, until Claude joined the conversation and said: “Why not Madrid?!”.

Quick check on internet, ok, flight are cheap, so... Inäää!

We built up a strong team, composed of Mädman, Le Charles, Miro The Dropper (now The Slasher!) Marky Fresh, Grufiz, The Dude, and me.

Milä, busy daddy, but still an active Versus Army member, found us a great appartment. Et voilà, we were ready for another best skatetrip in our life!

I went there one day earlier than the crew, because it was cheaper this way but... felt pretty sick. So I spent the first day pretty fucked up, chilling at the hostel, between 2 meals at the amazing Museo del Jamon restaurant.

Finally met the crew the day after at the airport, exhausted, high on drugs, but

Marc / Portrait & Boardslide / Photo: G.I.Jey

Charles / FS Door Slasher / Photo: G.I.Jey

really happy to see their faces again! Oh, and it was Charles’ 30th birthday too! How great?!

This time, I didn’t made any “King of the road” kind of book, just a small one with spots, maps, etc... And even if pretty much all the dudes had crazy smart phones, it was still really usefull.

So, yeah, we went to the appartment, did eat some tapas, and went straight to the first park: Arguanzuela!

And... That was pretty much the end of the (skate)trip for Mädman already... Huere bad slam, hit his head, knee, hip, elbow, all in one! Kind of a “Fully-Flared” combo-slam!

Charles, also felt on his shoulder, and after that, he wasn’t really able to bail the way he usually loves/does...

Time for our first Museo del Jamon freisen session all together, followed by another crazy party thing for the boys, except Charles and me, who went for a “early” schmüsele session at the appartment instead of... Wise choise, because, at 9am, beside The Dude & Miro The Kid, nobody was really into the early session at the amazing Alcobendas skatepark!

Breakfast and go!

Claude / “ Hit the lip! ” / Photo: Charles

Charles / FS Hurricane / Photo: G.I.Jey

We were there since something like 2min and Charles was already FS grinding the deep-end... 3h later he was still FS grindding... but over the door this time! And let’s say this one didn’t came “that” easy!

I tried my best to help him out, with a FS rock’n’roll first, and then a BS carve...

Mission accomplished! Bro’move!

I came back right on time from the grocery to celebrate his make with the first beers of the day!

Everybody had a blast. The Dude was cruising over the stairs with ease, Miro was flatspotting his brand new wheels powersliding everything on his way, etc...

Shoot-out to local heroe, Sergio Fernandez who was there too teaching kids how to rip! Hope to see you soon again mate!

Then, after some great tapas and beers, we met the rest of the crew at the great Tetun plaza. Charles went straight for another banger, FS Hurricane on the slippery as hell brick-tranny, while everybody was “street” skating.

Miro / BS Deadly Slasher / Photo: G.I.Jey

Claude / Wallride / Photo: Miro

He ended up destroying his shoulder, but he made it! So good. This guy is really a warrior. Incredible. Grufe & Marc made a “noselide for a whisky-contest” which was amazing to watch! On my side, I was just stocked to see that I was still able to do some ollies! Thank you Miro for the passion! The Dude was shredding the entire park, with lines including polejam, ollie up to 50-50, FS slasher, etc... Sick!

It was time to go to the Museo del Jamon resturant again!

And then we ended up all going out late again... Walking from one bar to the other, beer, met some crazy Swiss guys, Tequila Suicide, lost each other, whisky, walk some more, wine, couldn’t get a cab, etc...

The morning after, you can imagine that the entire crew was kinda dead...

Miro / Portrait & Rock’n’roll / Photo: G.I.Jey

in l

Marky-Fresh jumped down the biggest ledge of the park (covershot) and then, also boardslide the big rail, all that, in less than 10 minutes! So good! This fool, gave me enough passion to pop some stuff here and there again too! Thanks dude! Best session I had since a while!

- Cruising time! The session ended-up how it started, pretty easy, cruising the bowl, where The Dude FS Slashed the deep-end, talking to the really cool locals, drinking beers, enjoying the sun...

I mean, What else?!

From then on, we went again for a metro-ride, singing our new favorite “panpipes” song, and again out, from bar to bar, without missing “Chez l’Dax”, the bar I went last spring with the frenchies...

Short night, back to the airport, et voilà, it was time to say goodbye. I am so thankfull I have friends like them. It was again, one of the best skatetrip in my life! Can’t wait for the next one!

Marc / Boardslide 2nd angle / Photo: Claude

“You think you have it all worked out so well. Your brand new board packed, the skate-trip for your thirtieth birthday planned.

You know your mates, with whom you shared so many laughs and struggles, will all be there.

And then comes the so desperately expected morning of your departure. One last look in the mirror, telling this guy staring at you that you are the jolly lad who`s going to fs slash every last quarter in sunny madrid as if they were the miniramp in your dearly beloved hometown.

At the station you kiss your pretty girl goodbye, give her one last smile knowing that no matter how good this trip is going to be, you will miss her like a alcoholic misses his beer in rehab.

And then… then it starts. You meet your mates, some you see often, some you haven’t seen in a while, some you have known forever, some you don’t know so well but you all have one thing in common, you all are so exited to get on that piece of maple wood with the 4 urethan wheels to go out and achieve stuff you didn’t even know, you are capable of.

And then something happens and you begin to feel that your so peacefully started dream is turning into a nightmare.

And you ask yourself what’s the point of a shotgun at 8:00 am.?

Crew / Chilling / Photo: Marc

Is drinking beer in a pretty retarded way at a pretty retarded time really a guarantee for this trip to be a success? And the questioning continues at that nice spot with that steep bowl that has that scary door in it. And there is nothing in the world you want to do more then to fs slash over that door. But it’s hard, it’s fucking harder then you expected it to be. And all the scooter kids, who are even more annoying than a heelbruise, aren’t exactely making it any easier. But what would make it easier, would be a couple of mates cheering you on. But apparently it’s more important to be hung-over like a sailor, than to cheer on a mate, who is trying his hardest to land that trick that he promised him selve to land.

So you try to fit in. You do all in your power to make shure that on the next morning you’ll be as hung-over as you have to be to qualify as a core skater (that’s why in german you say „i ha ä (s)kater“). And then, on the next morning, reality smiles at you with a big wide grinn, telling you that hang-overs still suck and that they got nothing to do with being a core skater. And you start to wonder, what it was you looked forward to so much? And it comes to you that instead of looking forward, you were looking back at all the good times you had.

Charles / FS Slasher / Photo: Marc

King of MADrid... was really a MAD ride!

This time we didn’t have a challenge book with us but we didn’t need one because the Versus Army is always ready for any challange anytime anywhere for anything! The MADrid crew pushed each other 24h/day! Mille organized a really good appartment like always, maybe he should start a business for getting great appartments for other people.

The weather was sweet, the parks had everything you wanted but the ground was kinda slippery. A legendary spot was the “Museo del Jamón” where we ate TAPAS like the Spanish Royal Family. The trip started with the celebration of Charles 30th birthday at the airport. There we almost got busted for lighting up firing a table bomb. Once again we partied too hard! Unfortunately there were also injuries also. But the dudes did handled it and kept going. Madrid is a fucking cool place.

The crew had a awesome jam session in the streets with Mäder playing guitar - he’s a real mariachi hombre! Grufä is the man with the power moves.

He organized nur everythingyou want like ambulance, romanian food, etc. The Dude messed with the Policía as on every trip. Charles ripped every bowl in madrid apart. Jey mutated into a streetgod and did executed his tricks clean as clean can be. Miro is a killer, he is a fucking machine, he parties and skates till bones are broken for real! I wish Miro a speedy recovery so he can enjoy surfing in Costa Rica! I jumped on the big ledge in the last moments of the trip and survived it!

In other words it was MUY CALIENTE! Marc

“ Wosch es Bier Schätzeli? “ / Photo: Claude & Niniche

Miro & Crew / “ Drop that shit! “ / Photo: Claude

Charles & Crew / “ Grind that shit! “ / Photo: Claude

Hello Tobias! Alright, you kinda “famous” in the Bernese skate-scene, but, a lot of readers from Versus never heard about you, so, could you introduce yourself?

Hahaha famous??? Fuck not!!! Bern is really small, so everyone knows everyone, we are all famous!!! Introduce myself? My name is toby, most of people call me spnx (spanxx) and I love skateboarding. Thats all you need to know. More important is to introduce the AJVT Magazine: it’s a skateboard magazine with pictures only! Because I cant write! It’s not only about Bern, in the AJVT 4, we work together with Luzern, the Paranoia crew, with Geneva, the Thanks boys, with Thun, Solothurn, Biel and many more. Maybe we will work together in future! And the most important thing about our magazine: it’s for free and it will always will be!!!! So go and get one!!!

AJVT... What the fuck this means?

It means „An Jedem Verdammten Tag“ ! in english “every damned day“. You can interpret what ever you want!

What’s wrong with you man actually?... I mean, skatemags are dying everywhere, and you start your own?! Are you crazy?!

Maybe I am crazy. But I don’t care. Most of the mags are dying because the publisher want to make money too early, they pay theirselves a lot of money. We do that job for free, for the fun and because we can!

Why not “only” a webzine like it seems to be really trendy lately?

I hate webzines, it is just bullshit for real photographers. You dont look twice in a webzine. You just take one look an then the pictures are forgotten. A printed magazine, you maybe have your whole life. I also want to print my pictures and the pictures of the other photographers to give credits to the skateboarders that almost kill themselves every damned day! I really hate webzines! I really hate the internet, it kills the traditional photography, the pictures are getting worthless.

How many mags do you plan to do / year?

I think two are enough! No stress!

Do you get any helps from locals shops / brands etc?

Without help it would be impossible. Doodah, KSG, Fizzen, Titolo and Brazil distribution support the AJVT magazin! Thanks a lot!!!!

Are you doing everything by yourself? I’ve seen you’re also shooting pictures quite a lot…

No no no! We are a club of five people that do the magazine. But every photographer, friend, skateboarder helps us, when we need something! And yes I shoot a lot of pictures, but I don’t do the selection for the mag by myself. So I cant privilege my pictures! ;-) I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but “Platzt” (the local “skatepark”) is the best, but also the worst thing that happened to the Bernese skate-scene...

Because yeah, it’s a place where you guys have a bit of freedom, can skate and chill... But in the other hand, this spot made people lazy. Everybody is just hanging there, without “really” asking for anything else. In the end, Bern, capital of Switerland, ended up being one of the last city of the country not having a “real” skatepark!

Anyway, things seems to be slowly changing. Bernside... And maybe one day...

The Reithschule... What do you think about all this?

We are streetskaters, our park are the streets! Last summer I think i was two or three times on the platz. To drink beer and chill! Hahaha! It would be nice, if there is something else, a real park. But I don’t want to spend my time to organize something big like this. Bernside and Pablo, a lot of respect for you guys, you are fighting since ten years!!! Lots of power to you!!!

Anyway, AJVT is really important for the scene. Congrats on what you’re doing man, it’s sick. I’m pretty sure every skateboarders, and photographers, are stocked to be part of your project!

Alright, would you like to add something else?

I would like to say thank you to every skateboarder that is addicted like we are!

I would also say thank you to every skateboard scene supporter that is addicted like we are! AJVT will always love you!

Thanks for your time, and long life to AJVT! Cheers!

Thanks to you! Maybe we will do a collaboration one day.

Call me if you are in Bern!

photos: @ fabio_stoll

TOP 3 magazines: - Transworld - Skateboarder Mag - Thrasher Alright getting there, before we shut this thing down, do you have any advices for the kids out there? Thanks for your time Mike. All the best!

Any last words? Thanks? Cheers!

Keep on pushing kids... Whatever you do!

I’m glad for you guys, now you have That Noize and AJVZ magazines to support the local scene since the big names died, like Kingpin, Monster, Skateboarder, SLAP, etc...

Still great to have magazines in a time where people spending most of their time in front of a screen. I do support that, but the world is spinning fast, so it’s difficult to predict the future of printed media...