Let’s start with the end or – spoiler alert – the ender. Marcel Weber has it with a nosegrind on a double kinker, into which he launches himself with a huuuuuge ollie (and injured his knee attempting this stunt, which forced him to pause for several months). Which ender, you may ask? The ender of Going Nowhere, the new video of the German, Austrian, and Swiss Vans team, which should be released at the same time as this mag. Marcel is kinda new on the team, just like a lot of team riders who only got to know each other through filming for this video. Other additions are: Daniel Lepori, who’s better known under his nickname “Schianta”, which is Italian for slam (just because he slams funny although it’s even better when he stays on the board), Willow Voges from Hamburg, whose talent on a skateboard already got Pontus’ attention, and Tim Rebensdorf, who has no fear of going big on transition spots. You could continue this list for quite a while cause the team now consists of 35 riders (of which you can see 13 in the video). They were chosen by team manager Max Pack, who not only is in charge of the team but (besides Leon Moss and Paul Labadie) filmed most of it, organized the trips, and in the end, edited the video. This video is pretty much his baby and he did a great job showcasing the skating and vibe of the crew – although three rolls of Super 8 film came back from developing just black… However, you’ll be stoked when you see it anyway: Jan Hoffmann’s part alone or the appearances of Julian Ruhe and Kalle Wiehn – yeah, it’s a big team.

If you’re from Europe and already skated before the year 2000, there is no need to explain to you who Helge Tscharn is. If not, let me put it like this: he is one of the main skate photographers from the ‘80s till the millennium and almost a maniac when it comes to his photos and their quality, which filled most of the pages of Monster Skateboard Magazine (you could say the predecessor of Solo) for over a decade. After having a massive impact on skateboarding photography in Germany, he took a quite drastic change and moved to Brazil. However, after some relaxed years next to the beach, life brought him back to Germany, and he directly continued where he’d left off – but with a different approach. He revisited the spots of some of his classic shots – this time without the skaters – to see how time has changed them and finally published the results in a photobook with the title Local Continuum.

The first time I saw Alex was in Summer 2019 when he attended the Euro SB contest in Germany, and from out of nowhere, skated the infamous Olga rails on one of the street missions like they were some relaxed flat bars and everybody was just like, “What the fuck!?” You could see that this kid has something special. As this interview also shows, he has his very own style and a great trick selection. He is a graduate of Bryggeriet school in Malmö, just like Heitor Da Silva, Oski, or Ville Wester, who he hung out with during his time there. His skating is on the same level. It’s well-rounded and has something unique, and it’s just a matter of time till his name will be as well-known in the skateboard community as theirs.

The title of the interview, inspired by Gilbert’s “Doin’ Thangs” part – which will forever be burned into my memory because of its genius intro with the catchy “NO FUCKING AIR BUBBLES” punch line –, hints to what Gilbert is focusing on these days. In between making art, pants, and fixing things around the shop, he answers the phone driving through Richmond, Virginia, momentarily doing away with the confusion as to why he chose a good old-fashioned phone call over a Zoom call to conduct the interview.

Adrian’s Portfolio initially caught our eye because of the way he blurs the lines between skateboarding, lifestyle, and fashion photography. Getting his start in professional skateboard photography after moving to Madrid from the Canary Islands, where he was born and raised, Adri developed his style by shooting his close circle of friends initially for commercial work. His client base has since outgrown the world of skateboarding, but despite shooting back-to-back productions for known fashion labels, you’ll still find him at the spot shooting the old trusty Nikon D3 he nicked from his dad years ago and will probably never return.

If you look at Catherine Marquis’s Instagram profile, you’ll see a lot of laughter. Whether she’s in a DIY bowl, a mini ramp, skating in the streets, snowboarding in the garden, wallridin’ in a Brazilian hotel hallway, or rocking on a cow, the 27-years-young yung_k_t is obviously having fun. From the Swabian Alps to the Arizona Deserts, good times are the order of the day. We wanted to capture them with her.

With etnies being founded in 1986, the brand can celebrate its 35th birthday this year. A lot has happened during the time in the company that was originally founded in France under the name etnics, and over the years, it grew into Sole Tech, under whose umbrella further brands such as Sheep, Emerica, and éS were created. In addition to Pierre-André Senizergues, it was primarily Don Brown who built and shaped the company. If you don’t know Don, it’s hard to introduce him to you with just a few words cause he’s done so much, like coming up with the idea of “Go Skateboarding Day.” Originally from England, he became a freestyle pro for Vision in the ‘80s before he started working at etnies, where he was in charge of team-, brand-, and whatever-else-managing, shaping brands, and also designing shoes. For us, he opened the treasure chest in the office to dig out some classic designs and the stories that come along with them.