Tim Débauché – "Letters Never Sent" Videopart & Interview

Filmed by Ruben Delisle, thumbnail by Andrew Peters.

What time do you normally get up? You guys were getting up late here.

It depends, you know. If I do nothing the evening before, I would get up around nine or ten. If I go out, it’s more like eleven or twelve. Yeah, it’s not early.

You don’t have any early morning rituals?

No, not really. Sometimes I wake up early to go fishing or stuff like that.

What got you into fishing?

During the pandemic lockdown with some friends, we bought some fishing stuff and we really enjoyed it. So now we’re fishing a lot.

A ton of my friends in Australia did the same thing. They all started fishing together.

Yeah, that’s so cool.

You know Josh Pall? Or you know who… He even started an Instagram called @_FishingwithJosh_.

So cool. I’m actually at the lake where I usually fish right now.

Have you got a fishing rod in hand?

Not on me. I’m just chilling.

Yeah, is it near your house?

Oh, yeah. It’s a ten-minute scooter drive.

Sick! Do you drive a scooter around? Do you need a license?

Yeah, it’s like a little scooter. Everyone has that here where we live in Biarritz. You need a license, but you can drive it at, like, 14 and it’s a hundred bucks. It’s pretty cheap.

Is that how you guys get around skating?

Yeah, it’s funny.

That’s so much sicker than L.A.

Yeah, but L.A. is too big for that. It’s really small here. You can cross the city in, like, 15 minutes.

Did that trip you out when you came to L.A.? It never ends.

Yeah, a little bit. It’s so big, you can do a two-hour drive to go skating and you’re still in L.A. That was crazy for us.

You guys were finding a bunch of spots out here even without your own car.

You can find spots everywhere. We stayed in a pretty good area. Echo Park is perfect to search for spots while skating, with no car and no driver’s license.

You had the ultimate American experience getting to travel with your two best friends as well.

Oh, yeah, that was the best thing to do.

You and Noah pretty much filmed, like, full parts. Yours is going to come out with this magazine, right?

Yeah, I hope so, it’s pretty cool.

While you were out here, you started getting Welcome boards, right?

I got them from Daniel [Vargas]. After two or three weeks skating with them, he was like, “If you want to start riding Welcome boards, I’ll start sending them to you.” He’s so nice.

Are you going to invite the Welcome team to France now?

Yeah, maybe in August. Paris and down here, you have to come too. We need you. We’ll be down to come back to L.A. with you too.

What is the first thing you are going to take us to as our host?

Maybe just head to a beach and watch the sunset, drink some beers, because that’s what we do here. I’m sure you guys are going to like it.

Do you guys have a local skate spot you all meet up at?

No, because we don’t have that many street spots. We usually go to a skate park. It’s in another city, like a ten- to fifteen-minute drive from my house and we go skate there almost every day.

Is that where you grew up skating?

Kind of. There is also an indoor park in Biarritz.

Did you get into skating because of your brother?

Yeah, because of my brother and my father too.

Your father too?

Yeah, he was a skater.

No shit. What sort of shit did he skate? Was he a transition skater?

Yeah, but like in the eighties and nineties, so when my brother was born, he had to get him into skating and then me when I was born.

You were just born into it. You and Noah as well, both your dads fully skate. Did they skate together when they were younger? Does your dad still skate?

Uh, no, he passed away when I was, like, ten.

That’s tough. Well, I’m sure he would be fucking stoked to see you guys skating now.

Yeah, I hope. Thank you.

Do you and your brother have a skate rivalry?

No, no, no. We just get together and have fun. He’s a really technical skater, like, on curbs and stuff. He’s so good.

How do you describe your own skating right now?

That’s a hard question. I don’t know. Before, I was kind of the same, like, more technical. Right now, I just like trying to do what I like and what is fun to me, you know? I don’t want to struggle for two hours on a trick. Just have more fun with it.

I’m hearing rumors that you grew up skating the competition circuit, which seems a bit different then the Tim I met in L.A.

When I was young, I was doing a lot of competitions. That’s how I met Noah. He did all the comps as well. He was living in Normandy and there was the French championship when we were like 13 or 14 years old. It was fun at the time.

You don’t do those as much anymore.

No, no, no. It’s not my thing anymore, I don’t really enjoy it.

You used to be sponsored by Red Bull.

Yeah, I got on Red Bull when I was 14. I was young and I was pretty stuck with that. Last year, however, I quit because it was just not my style anymore.

Did you have to wear a hat?

Yeah, I did. I had to wear the beanie all the time, like in clips, in contests, and everything, and that was so annoying.

Do you get in trouble if you don’t?

In contests and everything. Like two years ago, I was filming in Paris for a part and it was so annoying that sometimes I would take it off, but for most of the tricks, I had to wear it.

It’s a lot to have to wear a thing on your head all the time. They, like, own your head.

I don’t want to do that again. It’s not worth it.

Even if you’ve got to work a little side job to make up for it?

Yeah, exactly.

You don’t really need to make too much money, living that good 20-year-old life with no responsibilities. You’re still not allowed to drink over here.

No, that was so annoying.

How did you manage to get beers when you were in L.A.?

I was the oldest and I was born in 2001, so I was showing my ID and sometimes they would only look at the 2001 and figure I’m 21.

So you were just counting on them being idiots?

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. After that, I was with Ryan and you: beers, wine, and backyard fires.

What was your favorite food when you were here?

That’s hard because I love junk food, so I love everything out there. Oh, I know, I know. The chicken.

Oh, hot chicken.

Yeah, hot chicken. We don’t have that in France where I’m from. Daniel brought us to Dave’s hot chicken. After that, Noah and I were going there all the time. Every night.

You should open up a hot chicken store and Biarritz.

Yeah, it will take off. It could be sick.

That can be the side job. You don’t need Red Bull. You got red hot chicken.

I would much rather look like a red chicken than a Red Bull.

Perfect. Was there any food from home that you missed when you were here?

Not that much. Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. The bread! I forgot. We were buying bread at the store, but it’s not the same as where we live. I think I can say bread is better in France.

What’s your favorite French meal?

To be honest, I don’t eat vegetables, so I’m really not a big fan of French cooking. I like it really classic.

French is pretty good for that. All you need is steak frites, that is my favorite shit.

Yeah, that’s what I like. That’s the shit.

What about the wiener dogs in America?

Oh, the corn dogs. Those are sick. Remember the place we went to in Pasadena, I don’t know the name, but we were together. This place was so good. The corn dogs and hot dogs were perfect.

You got to get some real sustenance up in there. We need to keep you healthy, man.

I’m eating fruits. I like all the fruits. I’m not difficult with fruits. Yeah, I really need to get into vegetables.

What’s the general day in the life of Tim?

I just wake up and go skate. Then meet up with some friends, and after some time, maybe we go to watch the sunset and drink some beers. That’s the classic one.

You’re living the good life over there.

I’m trying. I’m enjoying it.

Have you got any travel plans coming up?

Right now, not really, but I’m going to try to go to Paris with Ruben in June or something like that.

What for?

I’m going to try to film some more stuff with Ruben. Start a new thing.

You’re already finished the Solo part. Is it only L.A. footage filmed in those two months?

Yeah, it’s only L.A. footage.

I like it when you can tell where something is the whole time and it’s all coherent.

There were just so many spots to film out there. It’s good to keep it focused in one place.

Did you do an all-Paris part as well?

I did one in 2020 during summer, but that was really short. We filmed it in two weeks.

No way, a whole video part? You guys are just machines, huh?

Noah is a footage machine. He’s the best at this. He can do a part in one week if he wants.

That’s what it seems like. I was really stoked to get to see you guys skate out here.

I miss that right now.

Oh, it’ll come again, but that was a pretty epic one. You’re going to remember that trip for the rest of your life. What’s the next city that you want to have a part filmed in?

I would be so down to film a part in England, going around London and everywhere. It looks so good on video.

Oh, that’s a good one. Have you skated out there already?

I’ve been there once but only for, like, five days, so I didn’t get that much.

That would be awesome. Is Ruben your go-to filmer now?

Yeah, he’s really trying to get into filming right now, he’s one of my best friends too. We met around three or four years ago cause Ruben was hanging out with some friends of mine, and it just worked like that.

And he’s a fucking legend. What song are you going to skate to in this video part?

The band is not really well-known. They have, like, 2,000 views on YouTube. It’s called “Everyone Asked About You.”

How did you find it?

Cause I like searching for songs. It’s almost like emo music or something like that, the melody and the guitars.

Where do you go searching for songs in general?

On YouTube, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Find one thing and then just keep on searching through.

I was surprised, when I had you over to my house for the backyard fires, just how eclectic your music taste was. I was hoping to get introduced to some new French music and you all played was ‘90s American pop punk and country music.

My father loved music, so, at my house, we were always listening to hard rock, metal, and stuff like that. I think that’s how I got into it.

A lot of American music.

Yeah, yeah.

Who is your favorite American musician or band?

It’s really hard to tell. It’s kind of impossible.

Sorry, that’s a bad question.

Really, I like a lot of things. I can probably write a little list and send it to you afterwards if you want?

You should write a playlist for this interview.

Oh, that could be a sick one.

You should do it. We need 15-20 songs.

All right, let’s go.

That’s the perfect way to end this interview.

Keep an eye out for Tim's Playlist on our Spotify soon!