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When the Greek tragedy was established 2500 years ago, it was characterized by several features. One of them: masks. Using those, actors were able to slip into different roles and embody archetypical figures instead of bringing their own personality into the role. However, sometimes using different masks is actually making your own personality all the more apparent. That’s, for example, the case with Malmö local and newest addition to Polar, Filip Almqvist. He really likes to slip into different roles and characters and has now used those countless alter egos to invite himself for a chat for this article. One person – multiple angles, a self-reflection of a different kind. Jesus Christ has the floor.
Filip: Ehhhhh…
Filip: I’m a very happy and at the same time sad person. I go from 100 to zero real quick. I say yes to things I wish I’d said no to [maybe like the idea to do this interview with his multiple personalities, editor’s note] and no to things I wish I’d said yes to. I’m very impulsive.
Filip: I think I have a bit of ADHD. I burst into a supernova within one second and turn into a black hole the next, but it’s getting better with the years.
Filip: Maaaatt Daaaammoon! I love you, and yes, I love to do stupid shit. I imitate dialects and different types of people. Nowadays, all we do is kind of stare into our phones, and it’s probably that and all these filters on Snapchat etc. that got me started talking to myself and doing a lot of weird characters.
"I get this super energy burst in a matter of seconds that I need to evolve into some kind of sketch/act/review of a pasta package."
Filip: I drove two hours to get you, bro, and I always wanted a pet. I never had one because my sister was allergic to fur.
Filip: Yeah, we had a rabbit in the garden, but I once forgot to lock the cage and it escaped and was found later without a head, so I thought I wasn’t meant to have a pet, but you showed me it’s different. We’re best homies.
Filip: Yeah, I play a lot of video games on the PS4 and was down to start a stream to sit and waste my supernova burst on that, but my internet was too bad. I ordered new internet some days ago and shit is about to pop off. Don’t forget to subscribe, mattdamondeluxe on Twitch. [laughs]
Filip: I like tech tricks, but sometimes it’s too much of flipping in and backflipping out. I prefer a long grind/slide without the multi-flipping part. It feels like it’s more pleasing to do and to watch.
Filip: I know you don’t like it, but it has to be done. I get this super energy burst in a matter of seconds that I need to evolve into some kind of sketch/act/review of a pasta package. Sometimes in different languages that I make up or a Martin Scorsese-type dialogue about how Tony Two Times Thompson likes his new Venture trucks so much that he could eat a whole plate of cannoli.
Backside Tailslide
Filip: Yeah, I do. It adds some funny flavor to it and I’m a crazy cat guy nowadays. It all comes from an instant vibe from hearing Dean Martin tracks that make me wanna do it.
Filip: If I watch The Nine Club, I wanna do a cooking show, just like Chris Roberts: “Well, today we have a special, speecial, speeecial steak and it’s about to be marinated.”
Filip: Yes, because I waste so much energy, I get so low, almost dizzy and shaking. I need to learn how to control it better and the best ways are to make some comedy sketch act out of it. Because before I got these bursts, I didn’t do anything, I felt depressed.
Filip: I told you, I’m working on it. I bought a camera and the new Wi-Fi because I love playing games – and when I’m not skating, why not sit in front of a camera, act like an idiot, and play games? You can even earn some money from it. Otherwise, I’m just wasting money on drinking.
"I’m a very happy and at the same time sad person. I go from 100 to zero real quick."
Filip: Not now, thanks. I have to do an interview, and yes, I like beer, but I don’t love drinking. I can’t really get super drunk, because I can’t take a hangover anymore. I get panic attacks the day after. My mind just trips because my body feels so shitty. It feels like I’m dying and my brain is fooling me that I have no feelings in my left arm and that my heart is really jumping.
Filip: I was feeling depressed, I didn’t skate much, I was living at home, and I drank more or less everyday and a lot – until one morning. I woke up feeling great. I felt like I’d beat hangoverism. I didn’t feel shit until I was shaving in the bathroom. I just dipped and felt like I was about to fall asleep. After a while, I started to pinch my arm and I wasn’t feeling it. It was numbing away. Then I started to panic, my heart was pounding, and it was hard to breathe and walk. I grabbed the phone, dialed 911, and told them I was having a heart attack and was dying. The medics came, took me to the hospital, and hooked me up – I was fine. It was just my mind playing tricks on me. The next day, I got a note for a shrink, but I never called because I’m not insane.
Filip: Okay, I thought about calling and somehow I regret that I never did, because it took me four years to fully recover after that.
Filip: Being someone else and feeling fine is not right. You always have to be able to be yourself and feel like a muuuuuufukking G, but it kind of helps me to just get it out. I talk a lot to myself and film myself doing stupid shit. It’s like therapy for me to look at myself through a different perspective – and fucking around, I just love it.
Frontside 180 Fakie Nosegrind
Filip: Most definitely! You are home to a wide arsenal of people. You are a special place, an industrial wasteland that is slowly turning into a wannabe-Berlin hipster place – I love it. You have the older generation that sits at home, smoking 100s Blend cigarettes under the fan, complaining about how the world and Malmö turned into a crime scene and blaming it all on the immigrants – cause, “It’s their fault!” Then you have the Möllan hipsters that study. Damn, they wear glasses without glass and they try to be so different. Basically, everything that is easy, they make it hard just to stand out. “Ooh, heey, I’m Erik, but you can call me Billy. I only drink IPA that tastes like the dirt in a subway station full of junkies and eat bread that is baked with the bark of 1000-year-old local trees” – and then the skate scene here is truly epic! The gymnasium, the skatepark Bryggeriet, DIY spots, etc.
Filip: I remember that time as well when I worked as a delivery guy for a carpenter store. I was delivering stuff to all these work places. I really got into the blue-collar character when I delivered. [laughs] The classic conversations of these typically 35- to 45-year-old men working at the construction site would be like, “Yo Sven, how are you? The weather is shit today, again, and it’s Monday. That fucking sucks right?” “Yes man, and we have like ten people sick today. Damn kids, they don’t know how to work like me. I started hammering nails when I was six years old and had my first vodka when I was ten, but then there was this woman, who now is my wife, and she got pregnant with these kids that hate me. What can I do? Life is hard.” “Sure, you’re right Sven. Have a good day. See you tomorrow.”
"I grabbed the phone, dialed 911, and told them I was having a heart attack and was dying."
Filip: Yes, Fiddy Cent! He came to take some photos with me here in Malmö.
Filip: Well, we tried, but my body was so sour from a Paris trip that I couldn’t really skate. We biked around a lot and claimed tricks that never happened. I really tried but got super angry because it hurt too much and I was yelling and focused my board. I hope ze German star photographer doesn’t hate me after he was here. Oh wait, I have an incoming call. “Who dis?”
Filip: Ah, I’m sorry, that doesn’t go too well with my schedule. I started this streaming channel and have to go online now, but you can speak to my personal assistant.
Crooked Grind Pop Over
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