Dustin Dollin, a name synonymous with excess – on and off the board. You can find the countless stories, legends, and myths that surround him in skateboarding’s history books under the headline “The last of the Piss Drunx.” From the bar straight onto a rail, puking in Epicly Later’d, seven day weekend, all of these are written on his business card. One of the people that invented this rock and roll lifestyle in skateboarding is Steve Olson, who still in 2018 looks as if he actually played the lead role in Rebel Without a Cause. On July 24, both these men met in the café Fluctuat Nec Mergitur at Place de la République. Usually, you’d imagine these two hardened veterans in a rundown bar, but there’s beer here just as well. After a few rounds of those and lots of cigarettes, the interview is wrapped up with as many prejudices confirmed as destroyed.

Sven Kanclerski is a name that has been buzzing around in the German skate scene for a long time, and a couple of months ago, I finally had the opportunity to meet the person that bears this name at the 2er DIY spot in Hanover. If you meet Sven within a skate context, you’d suppose he’s just a skate rat. Conversely, people who meet him in an art context probably wouldn’t assume that he’s skating. However, Sven is interested in a wide variety of things. Between skateboarding, sculptures, photography, traveling, and building his own cruiser boards, he is a very multifaceted guy. Since that is one of the best characteristics to make a person (and their skateboarding) interesting, it was obvious that Sven had to get an interview.

As far back as 20 years ago, people already rolled to Barcelona in droves, following the call of the spots that were legendary even then –and they still do it to this day. Barca’s spell has remained unbroken and the output produced there is inexhaustible. Even if the city has already filled up shelves with videotapes, only a few of those countless skaters, who cruise through the alleys of the city center, will be remembered in the long run. Javier Sarmiento is definitely one of them – although he’s technically living in the Basque Vitoria. That’s why his current Sk8Mafia board shows him performing a backtail at the MACBA ledge. Impressive footwork that makes even the likes of Lionel Messi look old has also been proven by Jesus Fernandez and Dani Lebron, and furthermore, these three are united by their love for Flamenco and their times in America. That’s why it was clear to Javi that his friends had to be there too when we met in Barca: MACBA, Sants, Flamenco, and the last rays of sunshine before the onset of winter in Central Europe. Here we go, three days with three legends in Barcelona.

Skateboarding is actually old enough now that revivals are possible. A while ago, you felt reminded of the early ‘90s, whereas now the late ‘90s or early ‘00s are coming back with their flashy baggy clothes. Nowadays, no one embodies that as evidently as John Shanahan, who could easily be beamed back into 2003’s The DC Video for a cameo appearance. With two ender parts in this year’s DC output Street Sweeper and the following Bronze video, he not only wrote himself directly into the history books of skateboard videography but also brought the style of the millennium back to 2018, with as much boom as Chad Muska’s beatbox.

We had the pleasure of welcoming the German Magenta agent Kenny Hopf in our Bordeaux castle for a few days this summer. It’s always interesting to have foreign skateboarders in town and see what new spot or twist they will dig from the local landscape. It’s even better when it’s Mr. Hopf, sehr polite, ganz friendly, and his precise skateboarding that pay the visit. We enjoyed his beautiful English, outstanding German (of course), and excellent Japanese – especially our Japanese roommate who had been talking in sign language with us for weeks. We are planning to pay Kenny back his visit and meet him in Hamburg next spring. In the meantime, enjoy the photos.

Sometimes it’s easy: you get a WhatsApp message from Alex Pires with some photos and they’re all banging! It’s Jan Henrik Kongstein, whom you can see on those pictures, and after you talk to him, he even shoots some more photos the next days. Then you ask Karsten Kleppan, one of Jan’s best friends, if he could do the interview and he’s down. Interview done. This might have been the easiest ever.