Leon Charo-Tite – Not doing shit, then doing shit

When Dennis [Scholz] came up to me during a session and was like, “Yo, let’s go out street skating more often, I’m working on something,” I hoped it was gonna be something like this. And when I went to Cologne and skated the Lentpark (Dogshit’s hotter sister), I ran into Gino [Fischer] and he was literally like, “Hey man, how’s the Solo interview going that you’re working on with Dennis?” Well, from that moment on, I knew what was waiting for me and here I am. Side note: It’s not an interview. The Solo guys offered Dennis and me 13 pages and gave us more or less free rein. I decided to lay it out as a day-in-the-life kind of thing and step away from this run-of-the-mill interview thing because nobody wants to hear another crazy night story or when and how I got into skating...

I picked Saturday for this occasion because it’s my favorite day of the week. Everything’s open and you know you can sleep in on Saturday and Sunday as well. Jackpot! Well, I actually never really sleep in, because I love to wake up around eight in the morning. The beauty and energy when the day starts is just too intense. You can also take it super duper easy without losing too much of the day. So after I wake up, I usually make a coffee, sit by the window, and practice doing nothing until I’m finished with the coffee. It helps me to deal with this annoying pressure to always be productive that almost everybody in our time and age suffers from. Sometimes it’s hard and scares me, but usually it’s chill. I love to face anxiety sometimes because most of the time you end up realizing that there is something beyond fear, that it’s not a horizon you can’t pass.

Now it’s time to read or draw to get the mind going. The good homie Leon [Moss] aka Mosby showed me this online radio NTS, which plays those cool melodic sets, the other day. Drawing with those tunes in the background is the dopest shit ever! Last year, I bought an iPad on eBay to draw. It’s so much fun and the best thing is that it’s instantly digital, so there’s mad potential. One of my achievements is a collab with Helen [Bucher] aka Studio Stetten (Stetten is a district of the city we’re both from) and two graphics I did for Boardmag (also a cool brand from the area I’m from). There is also more stuff to come for my brand SOMETiMES. I’m neglecting that at the moment... That makes me think of how I met the good homies (Jules aka Julian Ruhe and Mosby). I first met Jules in the Titus store where we both worked. I guess we bonded a bit because we were always talking about what and how much this place sucks and we had a shyish quarter chat (this awkward conversation you have to face every time you come to the park and wait for your opportunity to skate) every now and then at Dogshit. That’s where I also met Mosby in real life. I say real life because I saw him on the Gram and wondered who this guy with the hilarious Rick Ross pear profile pic was (at that time, I didn’t know his name). Anyway, Jules introduced us and we immediately had a good time and filmed a little clip at the spot. Two days later, Mosby wrote me on Instagram and asked when I’m free to skate. I was like, “Who the hell is this dude?” So I asked him and he was like, “Yo, we filmed this clip at DSS the other day.” Embarrassing. That’s almost two years ago. Crazy! Time flies differently here in Berlin...

Back to the routine: waking up, coffee and not doing shit, then doing shit. Okay, we’re back on track. The best shit ever is when Jules picks up the phone and says he hasn’t eaten yet, because that means we meet up for a breakfast in his backyard. Breakfast is always the same: vegan scrambled eggs with veggies and bread. Lea [Uhle] introduced that to me and I will always love her for that! Having a dank ass breakfast with your friends is sooo the best thing you can do on a weekend! I fucking love watching skate videos, especially with friends to get hyped for the sesh. What gets me hyped the most is everything that contains Max Palmer, Rowan Zorilla, Kader, Oski, and lately, Kevin Rodrigues. Oh my goodness, his latest part in the FA video? Holy fuck! (Drunk in Paris plays in the back of my head.) Being fully hyped now, we’re tryna debate which spot to skate. Done with that, we meet the homies somewhere by bike and are off. The crew? Always mad beasts! I usually meet up with Mosby, Julian, Kalle [Wiehn] and his doggie Knödel, Sergio [Mario], Rocco, Kaio, and Hirschi. Actually, we go skate with whoever is down, which always brings more influence and inspiration. It’s nothing exclusive. If you’re hyped and chill, let’s go! I feel like the majority of skaters I met in Berlin so far are incredibly good and mellow at the same time, you can push each other without ending up being super competitive.

Skating in Berlin can really be a tough mission most of the time. If it pays off though, you’re twice as stoked because most spots are either mad far away or hella crusty (or both). Sometimes there’s a spot where even rolling can be considered a trick, haha. Maybe it’s not that bad, but it takes a lot of willpower and creativity. Barcelona, for example, which is basically a big skatepark, has all those perfect ledges and plazas with stairs and all kinds of stuff. Whereas in Berlin, you have a backyard straight outta the year 1756 with shitty floor and a wedged stone and you call it a spot. I like it though. My skating and my perception of skating and picking spots really adapted to the city. The other day, I saw this electricity box with no run-up and a glass container next to it and was like: “Yo, that’s a spot!” Because nobody would even look at it and approach it. I like to operate in that niche. I know I’m not this type of skater that practices insane ledge tricks with mad combos and puts them to the streets. I don’t have the patience, so I just wanna do fun stuff. I’m tryna work with what I got and it feels right. So, actually, it’s what you make of it. Let yourself fall and see where you land. This works pretty well for me here in Berlin.

Since I moved here almost three years ago, dreams have come true! I found good people, developed as a person, got to film a part with Felix [Schubert] for Place that also opened more doors! Shout out to Roland [Hoogwater] and Daniel [Pannemann], you don’t even know how much that meant for me. Big love! None of that would’ve happened if I stayed in Lörrach. Dennis would’ve never asked me to ride for the Stripes and Alex [Deron] would’ve never asked me if I wanted to try Element boards. This project right here would probably also just be a dream. Anyway, we skate and have fun and shit, we try to stack some clips and then maybe hang out at a Späti and have a drink or whatever and some falafel. It feels so weird being outside and there’s no lockdown anymore where you feel scared you might get fined by the po po. We have some laughs, some drinks, and around twelve, that was it for me. I’m getting sleepy and all I want is to go home, maybe have another late-night snack, go to bed watching random shit, like One Piece or Detective Conan, and do the same thing again on Sunday.