At the age of 29, Austyn has seen more of the world than most of us might see in our lives. Starting off as a hungry skate rat, quickly landing himself a spot on the best teams and in the best videos out there, and growing up being one half of team handsome, Austyn has not been shy to shake things up and find his own road in the past few years. He has been releasing records and music videos, creating his own vision of a brand with his friends, and still constantly amazes the world with his insane level of skateboarding. We shot some photos with Austyn on the road in Paris and called him a little later to lift the curtain a little bit and listen.

Stuttgart, Munich, and Innsbruck – that was the route on which demos, signings, and street skating took place. A classic tour. Chris Joslin, Barney Page, Trevor McClung, Thomas Eckert, Jiri Bulin, and Nassim Lachhab were sitting in two vans filled with the sounds of Afroman songs, along with Mike Manzoori, who occasionally put the gimbal away to bag a few tricks himself. He’s like Clark Kent once he takes off his glasses. The weather caused a demo to fall through, but nobody wants to read something about the weather or demos anyway. It’s much more exciting to hear that a few locals followed us to a backup street session in a subway station, where an eleven stair was worked on. Nassim did a nollie flip, Joslin a switch frontside heel, nollie heel, and fakie heel (business as usual for someone with his skills), and one of the locals didn’t waste any time to jump with Chris, trying a – Caution, the following could lead your brain to melt! – pressure inward heelflip to backside body varial. At least, that’s what we think it was. Remember: we’re talking about an eleven stair right now, and the dude was built like a fridge. What looked like him throwing his board into the void and jumping blindly after it in the beginning, lead to the whole crew freaking out 30 tries later as he was about to land that thing. 30 tries after that (and three broken boards) he had almost knocked out his teeth, shot his knee to pieces, and destroyed his elbow. Luckily, he got out of it with a halfway intact body. He had to stop doing the trick eventually, but that’s not the point. What was the point? I don’t know. Skateboarding; most likely. Having a good time; always. Friendship; in any case. So jump into the van and follow the guys on their way to spots and bliss in Germany and Austria. Or as Barney Page likes to say, “I hate people.” Blinker smiley.

You’ll hear Victor before you can see him, and when you see him, it’s already too late. He’s like an unstoppable force of nature that is moving forward. That’s how he lives, that’s how he skates: the baguette propelling, doobies devouring, beer burping, monstrous spots leaping, loudly yelling Frenchman with the Sideshow Bob haircut. If Doobie is around, it quickly gets intense and maybe too much for some – understandably. Those, however, who are blinded by the fireworks that ignite as soon as Doobie appears, miss the fact that Victor is a sensitive person as well, who likes to fish and relax, is full of intimate love for his friends and family, and ponders about life and existence in quiet moments. Most of the time, he comes to the conclusion that it’s best to simply enjoy the here and how, whenever and wherever it’s possible. That’s why he trudges through life with his legs spread apart and a smile on his face, full throttle – just like his grandfather did before him. Seeing him in full action is like watching a lion on a hunt, and it’s rather difficult to translate all of that into words and pictures. There are just too many things missing: the yelling, the sweat, the blood, the rumbling, the roaring, and the trembling. The electric shimmer in the air and the orchestral laughter. The slobbering, smacking, and burbling – and the sweet breeze that you can smell when it’s all over. Nonetheless, we have done our best to portray Doobie in all his glory with these magazine pages. Watch out and hold on: three, two, one… ignition!

If you ever meet Kenny Anderson, be assured that you will have the best experience. He’s just such a nice and humble person (I know that sounds corny, but it hardly applies to anyone better), and he’s also an interesting conversation partner. Obviously, you can talk to him about skateboarding, but he’s also into modifying old Mercedes-Benzes, so that they’ll run on vegetable fuel. Another topic to talk about would be his vegan diet and his healthy lifestyle that has advanced over time. Or you could ask him how it feels to be a Drugdealer cause he’s now playing the trumpet in a band with that name. Or you could get into a conversation about photography, which is also something he has always been doing. We chose the latter for this article and Kenny sent over a selection of photos. Not only does he have a good eye for the right trick but he also has the feeling for the right moment, in which he is putting a frame around sections of our surrounding reality that provide our mundane daily life with a colorful vibe. Perhaps that reflects the visual expression of his desire to make the world a little better.

I would say that the majority of skateboarders are having a lot of fun just skating around even if their own potential (just as mine) doesn’t bring handrails or switch flips down stairs anywhere near their realm of possibilities. It doesn’t have to anyway. Then there are those that skate really well and can pretty much do whatever they can imagine. Furthermore, there are those that look really stylish while doing so. With that combination, you are most likely in the world of sponsorship, maybe even a pro. However, there are these few that, in addition to their style and abilities, have this pinch of exceptionality as icing on the cake. There is something within their actions, something so very natural that wasn’t there before and that interprets skateboarding in a new way. Mark Suciu can definitely be counted as one of the latter. His tricks and how he’s doing them, nobody does them like that. On top of that, he is a character that you rarely find in skateboarding. That’s why skateboard enthusiasts altogether bite their nails nervously, in anticipation of new footage. We can already reveal so much: your blood pressure can go back into relaxation mode because there’s gonna be a lot of stuff to see of Mark soon.