cph pro 2012
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The official Brad Staba VIP magzine. Skateboarding, parties & pigs.TRANSCRIPT
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Probably the best comPetition in the world
CPH PRO pushes the boundaries of what a core skateboard competition can be and sets an
international precedent through involving the city, its spaces and subcultures.
Running over a week every summer since 2007, the contest makes use of several of Copenhagen’s skateparks and spots, and touches many sides of the city through the influx of international guests.
We’re pu�ing Copenhagen on the map and creating probably the best skateboard competition
in the world.
William, Simon and Camilla.
Produced by Bitchslap Magazine for CPH PRO Editor: Nick Bridge
Art Direction: www.iblameme.net Cover photo: Peter Stanners
Photography: Peter Stanners, Lasse Kofod, Rob Meronek, Gaston Francisco, Tobias Plass, Cph Pro
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I missed out on a normal childhood, but it’s also
what got me where I am.
Tell me a bit about your childhood.I skated my first contest when I was 11 and became pro when I was around 14 when I got my first pro model deck.
So you basically grew up around grown ups?Yea I grew up hanging around older people. But it was good you know, it helped me mature. I would say I missed out on a normal childhood but it’s also what got me to where I am.
Do you skate full time or were you in school?I was home schooled by my Mom until I was about 14 and a�er than I just pre�y much skated. I think my parents saw that I had a pre�y good future for myself in skating so why waste time on something else, I may as well put all my energy into that.
And that obviously spun into touring and contests and all that. What’s your favourite part of the game?My favourite part is honestly just having fun skating. I like being at home and skating with my homies. Going out street skating at night time and having a good time. I love contests too, I absolutely love contests. Travelling is awe-some, I personally like being home but it’s cool to be able to see new places like here in Denmark.
So you’re relatively recently signed on DC. What’s it like being placed into a family like that with a bunch of dudes you don’t know?Ge�ing on DC was definitely one of the highlights of my career. It was honestly my top choice of shoe sponsor to get on over anything else so when I got on the team I was stoked. Ge�ing on the same team as Mike Mo, Chris Cole - those guys are sick.
What’s your take on modern contests? You’ve got this type of thing (CPH PRO) and then Street League.Contests have definitely changed a lot over the last couple of years. I think Street League is awesome. It’s my favourite contest because of the format and it’s a really
fair contest. The indoor courses are so sick instead of be-ing outside in the heat like the X-Games and whatnot.
Do you think contests like that are turning skateboard-ing more into a sport?Yea I’d say a li�le bit but that side of skateboarding will always be there you know. Like having photos in maga-zines and video parts is too important for skating that it will never fade. I think that contests growing so much could hurt it a li�le bit but in the long run it’s good for skateboarding because it helps so many new people get to know about it.
When did you cut your hair? Around the middle of last year. I mean, I was over it, I’d had dreads my whole life.
Do you find it was part of your personal branding?Yea that’s another reason I cut it, I didn’t want people just to know me for my hair you know?
You’ve won a lot of contests recently. Do you feel the pressure to keep up the winning streak?Yea, I’ve won a couple of contests and I definitely feel pressure but I mainly put pressure on myself. I have a hard time not doing good in a contest but I don’t expect to win every contest.
This is your first time in Copenhagen. Do you have any first impressions?Yea I just love that you can ride around on a bike. it gives you such a be�er chance to explore the city and enjoy everything more.
Can you remember the last trick you learned?It was probably cab flip back lips but I really want to learn back 3 kickflips.
Do you have a new cover shot in mind when you’re fin-ished this circuit?Yea I have so many tricks in mind and I love skating big rails so I’ll be back on those. ×
FÆLLEDPARKEN AM CONTEST + DC DEMO
Peter Stanners, Gaston Francisco, Rob Meronek
FÆLLEDPARKEN NIGHTBOWL CONTEST / RING OF FIRE
Lasse Kofod, Rob Meronek, Peter Stanners, CPH PRO
What’s up with...
So Trixie, you were telling me it’s bet-ter for you when you play with tights on.Well yea, for me because I get all self conscious whether I shaved or not.
So how do you deal with being sur-rounded by sausages the whole time?Seriously, I don’t even notice it any more. I have a son and a boy dog and him (points to Tony T).
Tony: Not only is she surrounded by them, she takes it too.
So the quote from DJ Wade about the band when I asked him to give me something positive was ‘They’re get-ting be� er’.Did you say bi� er or be� er?
Yea, be� er, that’s just my shit accent.I thought you said bi� er, cos that’s kin-da been the band the whole time. We talk about suicide, cocaine and (Tony: microwaves) murder and serial killers.
How was the show last night?Surprisingly, we ended on time. Phelp-er, though, didn’t even play the guitar half the time. Any reason he could have not to play, like ‘oh they ran into me’ and throw his hands up but we just kept playing. He’d hit that last note though.
But does Phelps have any talent?He can noodle but it’s never the same, it’s always diff erent. We have 35 songs and he can play 10 of them.
Sounds like a liability.He’s already got us kicked off a plane. We’ve kicked him off stage. We were
approached in China and they were like “Are you in a band with Jake Phelps? Come with us please” And they cancelled our departure visa.
Anyone got any ba� le stories from last night?Well I was with Neckface pre-hospital. I le� him on the stairs and asked him if he was alright and he was like ‘ I got it’
So Tony, you’ve been here a few times - what keeps bringing you back to Copenhagen?Why not? The skatepark’s fun and all the new shit, the DIY stuff around the city. It’s easy to get around here, I can actually look at a map here. I was here 5 years ago and we played here at the indoor and about 20 people showed up and started throwing beer cans at us.
Who’s your pick for the win?Shane O’Neill or anyone on the Deluxe team.
Did you guys steal my beanbag?No, Neckface did and it’s in our apartment.
Ok, we’re going to lead out with the best ba� le scar story from last night.My own. I guess I hit a girl in the head with a pedal. I’ve never had so many Copenhagen people hate me at one time.
Oh, no, you have. Every time you play.Yea they hate that.
What’s your top 5 non-rock and roll tunes?I like Hip Hop. I don’t really like too many of my friends bands. They always suck and you have to go to the shows cos you’re obligated.
What’s the nicest thing you can say about Bad Shit?They defi nitely are ge� ing be� er. Those guys are homeys though. I
mean if they played any be� er they’d suck. I mean Good Shit? It’s Bad Shit for a reason.
What brings you back to Copenhagen every year?Of every place I’ve been in the world, this is the best place out there. I bought my wife here and we checked out the nazi elephants at the Carls-berg brewery. Still haven’t seen the fi sh girl, the mermaid.
So who’s your pick to take the contest?I don’t really know who’s in it. I kind of party a lot when I’m behind the dj tables, so skatings like…(pause) I really don’t know who’s in it, don’t ask me that question!
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DJ WaDE GETTING WRECKED BEHIND THE DECKS
TOnY T & TRiXiE BAD SHIT
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What sort of effect do you see Copenhagen Pro having on the city and skateboarding as a whole?The CPH PRO definitely make the general youth more aware of skateboarding in a cultural sense. There are so many sides to skateboarding and I think it’s really good for people to see those rather than just the act of skating. It’s showing more of the artsy side of things, and of course the party side too I guess, but it’s just a nice collection of dif-ferent happenings that are going on so it’s not just a regu-lar sports event. CPH PRO is more like a festival.
The last couple of years we’ve seen the vert side of things in the bowl rather than previously where is was on the vert ramp. How do you see that change?The Fælledparken venue is perfect. There has been a few issues with crowd control, but generally it’s a great con-test and it’s a lot be�er to skate a bowl.
How does CPH PRO stack up to other international contests?The level is up there with all the other top skateboard events that are happening around the world. What makes ours different is the people who travel to come out here really enjoy coming here. Both for the city and the contest itself. It’s an enjoyable place to be, there’s great parties, great stuff to skate, there’s a brand new street course eve-ry year, we’ve got the bowl which is relatively new. I haven’t had any negative feedback from anyone I’ve spoken to re-garding either the contest or the city.
What are some of the most significant changes you’ve seen in contest formats throughout your career?I guess in vert or bowl or the type of stuff that I’ve been in-volved in not much has changed, which is kind of odd. I’ve al-ways pushed the different organisations to try to come up with new formats to make it more interesting, mix it up and make it different. Street skating has changed a lot, going from 45 second runs to best trick or jam kind of formats. There’s been a lot of different variations on how to do it whether it’s Street League or X-Games or the Dew tour.
What would you do differently if you were to change the vert format? I would do wall counts, I would ditch the clock and say you have to do a certain amount of tricks - but that’s for a vert
ramp. If you just say you have to do 10 tricks, people can get their combo’s down. But for the bowl, just some jam for-mats, whether it’s open jam where you can snake or closed jam I guess you could call it, where you jam in order. There’s different ways to do it to make it interesting, but this year in Copenhagen was good.
Is there anything you’re working on right now?I’m not really working on anything in particular right now. I have tricks that I want to do but I’m at a point where I would rather perfect tricks to do it the best possible way you can do it. Doing simple or tech tricks in hard places you know, like at Fælledparken, taking tricks you’ve been doing for 10, 15, 20 years and doing on the over-vert pocket. That’s more of a challenge than doing something new in my mind and when you do it it’s going to feel good because you know how to do the trick.
What does it mean to you to be involved in Danish skate-boarding locally again?It’s good to come back and skate with the local guys who I haven’t skated with on a daily basis for a long time like Thomas Kring and Niki, guys I grew up skating with so that’s pre�y rad. And also skating some of the younger guys like Balder and Stege, Rasmus, the younger genera-tion you know, that’s rad. And I can see a bit of the fire and camaraderie and the scene we had when we grew up, like going on trips and skating together. It seems like those guys have something similar going on to what we had going on in the 80’s.
Thanks for inviting Lance Mountain out this year, it was rad to see him skate again. Who do you want to see out here next year?I was trying to get Hosoi out but it fell through I’d love to see Chris Miller come back. Didn’t get to skate with Pe-ter Hewi� unfortunately so seeing him in there would be great. There’s a few guys that would be super rad to see in there. Ben Raybourn, I’ve been trying to get him out for years but for some reason he just can’t make it happen but he’d be one of my favourite people to watch in there, he just has a unique style and is a young guy and it’s really rad and interesting to see him skate. ×
It’s not a regular event. CPH PRO is more like a festival.
ROYAL CPH SKATEPARKTHE CONTEST
Rob Meronek, Gaston Francisco, Peter Stanners
ROYAL CPH SKATEPARKTHE CONTEST
Rob Meronek, Gaston Francisco, Peter Stanners
ROYAL CPH SKATEPARKTHE CONTEST
Rob Meronek, Gaston Francisco, CPH PRO
What’s up with...
So Wes, what’s your next trick?My next trick is to pimp out 20 girls at one time. I really hope so.
Why here, why Copenhagen Pro? Because I go�a! Not even, I love it dude. I would find someway to make it out here even if DC didn’t have it as the first stop of the trip. Copenha-gen’s amazing.
Some other dude - You guys got some long papers?Yea man of course.
You’re always so stoked man. What keeps you stoked?Honestly, the reason for living. Just being alive, being on a skate trip instead of being behind a desk working. Seriously just not having to
work a 9-5. This is a 24-7. I know it’s not gonna last long so enjoy it while it lasts.
So who’s on the up and coming map these days now that Nyjah is ge�ing old?Dude I don’t even know, I used to get all my info from magazines before everything was instant but I remem-ber meeting Raven about 5 years ago and was like why isn’t this guy hooked up. I mean, he’s a G and on top of being an insane skater he’s a real person and he’s cool as fuck to everyone.
And what about old school dudes?I have to go with Jason Jessee and Neil Blender.
WES KREMER SK8MAFIA / DC / ROYAL / OJ WHEELS / PARADOX
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Streetmachine · Kronprinsensgade 3 · 1114 Copenhagen K · +45 3333 9511 · facebook.com/streetmachinecph · streetmachine.com
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Dedicated to skateboarding Est. 1989
Tell me about your favourite thing last night?Probably the ring of fire. Seeing how sketchy that was. Serious danger, I’m surprised no one got damaged.
Swedish girls or Aussie girls?I have to say Jamerican - a mix of Jamaican and American. I’m ge�ing married in November.
What’s the last trick you learned and the next one you’re going to learn?I dunno cos I skate different everyday so sometimes I’ll have tricks and other times I won’t even be able to do things I’ve been doing for 10 years. It’s different every time.
Favourite spot to skate in Copenhagen. A�er being in Fælledparken yester-day I’d like to skate that without all the people. When I was a kid I lived in Sweden and we used to come out here and it was completely different, a li�le bowl and a bump.
Why the CPH PRO?It’s a big contest but it’s so laid back. Everyone’s chilled and doing their own thing. There’s good food and beers. I like it. You don’t feel like there’s any pressure on you.
How much do you get stopped in customs?Look at me man! Every time. They’re like what’s in the bag, it’s either drugs or bombs. They usually let me pass with the beanie on. They’ll pat it down and do the swab and maybe a metal detector.
Who’s your pick for the contest?From what I’ve seen, Ishod Wair is kill-ing it. Busenitz is killing it, I like dudes that skate fast. Ramonde�a is good. There’s a couple of good Brazilian guys out there.
Thanks man.No problem.
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LEWiS MaRnELL NIKE SB / SPITFIRE / VOLCOM / THUNDER / ALMOST
Streetmachine · Kronprinsensgade 3 · 1114 Copenhagen K · +45 3333 9511 · facebook.com/streetmachinecph · streetmachine.com
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Dedicated to skateboarding Est. 1989
So Mr. Mountain, what’s you current business in Copenhagen?Rune asked me to come out. It looked really awesome last year but I missed it so I just came out for this and I’m going home tomorrow morning.
How do you feel about the massive resurgence towards transitions again?It’s really healthy. Typically through the history of skate-boarding it kind of hopped around. In the beginning it was freestyle and then slalom and it was like what ever it
went to it said everything else was bad. In the beginnings everyone skated everything, the good skaters were good at everything: Slalom, high jump, bank riding, bowls, free-style, and then it got very specialised towards the end of our era, the ramp era. It got very formulated and that kind of killed it. It’s taken a long time to recover from that and I think it’s also healthy because people focussed on one thing and took it to such a high level. And now it’s come full circle where you have a lot of specialised guys that can do everything. Skateboarding is saying ‘you know what? This is all good’ and they’re building for everybody and
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I like backyard pools. As you get older you end up going back
to what you enjoyed as a kid.
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advertising and the contests accommodate and it’s just healthy right now. I think it’s great. This bowl (Fælledpar-ken) is a very modern way of riding, it’s very different from what’s comfortable for me. There are certain techniques, like the way Rune skates it, you have to be on the lip for a 10-15 foot grind and line things up and it’s lightyears ahead of what everyone else is doing.
So what do you prefer to ride?I like backyard pools. As you get older you end up going back to what you enjoyed as a kid.
Tell me about modern pro skateboarding.The truth of it is that someone’s paying you to go inspire other kids to go do it. There’s a bit of ‘go win a contest’ but if you strip that all away it’s really to inspire kids to fall in love with this thing. Maybe winning a contest is it, maybe going and building something is it and all the really rad dudes like Blender and Gonz came through and touched so many people. There are a lot of avenues within skate-boarding right now to inspire people and it’s just healthy!
Best job ever!Yea! And this is a really really cool scene here. I mean, we don’t have anything like this at home (points over to Fælledparken where there are hundred of kids drinking beer and moshing to Bad Shit)
What’s your take on the contest scene now compared to 20 years ago?The only way I can really explain it is that I won my first ramp contest and I had to buy my own plane ticket to get there and it cost me 350 bucks. I won 300 dollars so it cost me 50 bucks to win that contest. So the contest scene now is be�er. Kids can make a living. It’s way be�er now, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. To be in that and to be a part of the evolving years, I wouldn’t be able to skate-board today if I wasn’t part of that so I really appreciate that. And even though the contest level was high then, it was with maybe 20 dudes and the competition level today there are just hundreds and hundreds of kids. People are still coming up with interesting things.
All time favourite spot?It’s really hard to pin that down but you go�a go with your local skate park so Skate City which was Whi�ier. We had 5 pools, that was like our time. Even though you don’t
wanna still be there. They’re probably a lot be�er in your head than they really were. We had a few parks earlier, but that’s where it all started happening. That was our park. Tony had Del Mar and Selba and Miller had Upland. Marina had theirs. Each park had its own vibe. Marina were like the original Dogtown crew so they were more like very big egos so that park was like the legendary dudes and I kinda went to Upland a lot but we were taking those guys out by going bigger and higher and faster. Del Mar was very like trick oriented, like Gator and Tony Hawk and it was a li�le more advanced and progressional. Steve Olsen and Duane Peters were like the punks so that was where they were from. Whi�ier was like, most of the locals were kids that loved skateboarding more than they loved themselves and goo�alls and they always messed around and yes, we were the best ones.
You’re good like that cos you chat.I ramble.
You should definitely come out next year and spend some more time.Yea I really want to. I mean when you come out for these type of things you get 5 rides and you go home. I’d like to have the opportunity to have a look around. ×
ROYAL CPH SKATEPARKPIG AND PARTY
Peter Stanners, Lasse Kofod, Rob Meronek
ROYAL CPH SKATEPARKPIG AND PARTY
Lasse Kofod
What’s up with...
What’s the best thing you’ve done today?The best thing today is that I woke up and didn’t have to announce a contest and knowing that we’re gonna end up on a boat.
What makes this so special?It reminds me of Tampa. The vibe is here, the skaters are here. It’s taken 6 years but it gets be� er every year. It’s like a backyard bbq, but it’s a professional event.
Do you sleep with a microphone under your pillow?Yea, I love listening to myself so much that even when I brush my teeth I have a microphone on the side and I practise my lines and I go to bed dreaming about what I’m going to say the next day.
Tell me your view on the state of skateboarding right now. Skateboarding companies need to go outside the bubble of skateboard-ing to make it. Just as the Levi’s, the
Nike’s the Converse have broadened their brands into skateboarding’s bubble, the brands that don’t do things outside of skateboarding… unless you’re Anti Hero or Real - they have their niche need to take it step further, and they have.
So, Tampa is 20 this year right?Skatepark of Tampa is 20 this year so it’s a time for Bitchslap Magazine to make it to Tampa. I’d even put you up.
50 bucks towards the plane ticket?I’ll put 1000 bucks in to get you over.
Braydon Safranzki sits down so we ask him about his latest trick.Oh you know what? Fakie fl ip switch crooks
So how about this week? We didn’t see you in the death race? That’s your thing!Yea, that’s my main regret this week is that I missed the death race because I was too busy si� ing with Grant Taylor and those guys smoking a joint.
So what’s happening?I’m standing in my VIP area.
How did that’s come about?I requested it basically. I requested a VIP area with beautiful women and champagne. There’s a fucken dead pig there, I didn’t request that. It’s Denmark man, mofuckers don’t fuck around.
Do you know what’s missing?My dick ge� ing sucked? Oh no, it’s a deep fryer and some jalepeno poppers
So what’s on the rider for next year?Oh man, I’m ge� ing a hot tub and a golden ticket to the fi nals.
Weiger rolls up: Good run Brad, prob-ably the worst run I’ve ever seen.The German fucken cheated.
BRian SCHaEFER SKATEPARK OF TAMPA PARTY TEAM / THE BRICKS
BRaD STaBa SKATEMENTAL / NIKE SB / ROYAL
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FEATUREDEXPANSION
ACCESSORIES3D HERO®
SystemChest Mount
LCD BacPac™
Wi-Fi BacPac™
(Coming Soon)Wi-Fi Remote(Coming Soon)
Battery BacPac™
Suction Cup Mount
WristHousing
Head Strap Mount
Handlebar Seatpost
Mount
M S R P : $ 2 9 9 . 9 9
2X MORE POWERFUL
11MP Professional Sensor
2X Sharper Glass Lens
2X Faster Image Processor
1080p | 960p | 720p | WVGA
Full 170° | Medium 127° | Narrow 90° FOV
100 | 50 | 25 Frames Per Second
11MP Ten Photo Burst / Second
Wi-Fi BacPac™ + Remote Compatible
World’s MostVersatile CameraWear it. Mount it. Love it.
facebook.com/playgroundgear
FEATUREDEXPANSION
ACCESSORIES3D HERO®
SystemChest Mount
LCD BacPac™
Wi-Fi BacPac™
(Coming Soon)Wi-Fi Remote(Coming Soon)
Battery BacPac™
Suction Cup Mount
WristHousing
Head Strap Mount
Handlebar Seatpost
Mount
M S R P : $ 2 9 9 . 9 9
2X MORE POWERFUL
11MP Professional Sensor
2X Sharper Glass Lens
2X Faster Image Processor
1080p | 960p | 720p | WVGA
Full 170° | Medium 127° | Narrow 90° FOV
100 | 50 | 25 Frames Per Second
11MP Ten Photo Burst / Second
Wi-Fi BacPac™ + Remote Compatible
World’s MostVersatile CameraWear it. Mount it. Love it.
facebook.com/playgroundgear
Rob Meronek, CPH PRO
SUNDAYBOAT BOOZE BONGSPOT
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