Karsten Kleppan Interview

I was pretty surprised about the board. I didn’t know that Hansi Hinterseer is famous in Norway as well.

He’s for sure not famous in Norway at all; it was super random, my girlfriend knew about him. She said I should check him out, cause he’s amazing and showed me some YouTube videos of him. Some of his skiing videos and it was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

How did your girlfriend find out about him?

She is Danish. Maybe because it’s closer to Germany he’s bigger in Denmark, because all of her friends know about him and when they saw the board they thought it would be really hilarious as well. I don’t know how they heard about him. I think just because he’s big on YouTube. Maybe also some older people in Norway know him from skiing, cause skiing is big here as well and he was big in skiing at one point.

And how did the boardgraphic come together?

At first I never thought about making a board graphic, but Brad [Staba] asked me for an idea for a graphic and I sent him a photo of this guy and said I just want something of this, how he poses with eagles in the Austrian mountains. But I can’t say I do know him super well. I just saw that he was hilarious from the YouTube videos and his songs. He is Austrian right? Is he famous in Germany as well?

Yeah, pretty much. My parents listen to music like this and they like him, and they also met him once when they were hiking in the mountains and made a photo with him which now hangs in their house. As you said he had a skiing career, he is also an actor and a singer. Wich of his careers do you admire the most?

For sure I liked the most the combination of the skiing and the singing, that was so good and I really laughed my ass of when I saw it the first time. Brad and I tried to give him a tribute board or something just to show my appreciation for him. The first idea was to faceswap me in or just have a photo of him on the board cause I thought it looked so good and then Brad worked on it and it turned out a little bit different than the original idea but I think it’s funny. I don’t know if you saw the letter of him…

Brad wrote the letter?

At first I didn’t know about the letter but it’s supposed to be from me. We thought it would be a nice touch. Maybe that’s Brad’s feelings put into this letter.

I guess Brad was instantly down for the idea?

Yeah he loved him right away, it was love at first sight. He thought it was so funny. How can you not find him funny? That smile, that face with that hair and everything, it’s killer! So I am really stoked actually.

In my imagination he is now listening to Hansi Hinterseer all the time. I think it would be a good fit.

A good fit, yeah. At first I thought we would use a photo but as I saw one of his graphic designers dropped that drawing, I thought the drawing of me looked like Hans, too. Well executed.

Did you ever talk to Hansi or his management about the board?

No, but I hope when he notices it he’s stoked.

I saw that a German website for this kind of music wrote about the board and they were pretty hyped that skateboarders think Hansi is cool enough to give him a board.

That’s great, hopefully he’s seen it and is happy.

Do you think about maybe using some music from Hansi for a part?

I don’t thought about that yet but it would be a good idea. Most of the songs I can’t really understand but I can imagine it’s something really nice with happy lyrics.

He’s mind is definitely a happy place.

Looks like he is walking on hikes on Austrian mountains and it’s all about getting the good vibe. I can imagine that people outside of Germany don’t get it, but it still is good and looks funny. Maybe people are wondering who he is and do some research.

Yeah, I’m sure people will find the videos on YouTube. So you maybe can promote him in the US and make him big there as well?

Yeah, let’s try to make him big outside of Germany!