Page 28 - BackSIDE rollbrett-heft 25th Anniversary

21:35
JonnyGiger
Ollie Indie - Buchs, Switzerland - 2007
What was your first trick besides ollie?
I learned strawberry milkshakes before I learned ollies. I actually thought I invented it
since it was my brainchild and I hadn’t seen it before. But of course it was invented way
earlier. My very first trick was a 50-50 on a round flatrail though. Now that’s a real
surprise. Before I even knew what an ollie was I heard of this thing called „grind* it
sounded so cool in English (I mean „schliiife“ in swiss german sounds kinda not so cool)
but I didn’t know how to ollie. So I built a kicker and put the rail right in front of it.
Problem solved as there was no need to ollie. A�er 1-2 hours of failed balancing acts I
finally managed to roll away from one. I tried to elevate rail and the kicker which
succeeded to a certain extent. But on this one day it was just the sketchiest
construc�on ever. When I hit the rail the thing just „exploded“ and I dislocated my
finger.
One of my standard ques�ons is which skateboarder did inspire you most. I think I
know the answer on interna�onal level. Rodney Mullen. Who is this now locally?
It’s either way Rodney, Daewon song or Chris Haslam. On a regional level it was Deny
Hoop, Thomas Sprecher, Roman Staub in the early days. On a Na�onal level it’s
Alexander Rademaker, Lino Haefeli, Dominik Müller, Henrique Goncalves, Jonas Fetz,
Simon Perro�et and many more.
Let’s have a quick chat about Alex Rademaker. It looks from the outset that at one
point you have taken him under your wings. Who is this guy and what is he up to
now?
Alex is a skateboarder from Geneva who is just a bit younger than me. In my opinion
he’s the most underrated Skater on this Planet. His crea�vity blew my mind from the
very first �me I saw him skate. This guy was doing primo-slides way back in the early
2000’s! He’s an absolute genius, can’t say that enough. Unfortunately he got injured a
while ago and he wasn’t able to skate much since then. I sincerely hope that he’ll get
back on track soon. I’m not sure if taking him under my wing would be the right thing to
say, because to me it more felt like he was the one taking me under his wing. He taught
me a lot and I’m grateful to call him my friend.
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21:36
JonnyGiger
I can understand Rodney Mullen from a technical perspec�ve but when you
started ska�ng in 2004 his heydays were almost over and I say this without
being disrespec�ul to his mind blowing legacy. How did you find out about
Rodney Mullen?
As soon as I found out that doing tricks with the skateboard was possible I spent
a lot of �me on YouTube watching skatevideos. You didn’t have to dig deep to
find Rodney Mullen’s Globe Part. I think it was the most viewed skate video back
then. Ever since that day I probably watched the part over a hundred �mes.
What is your go-to trick?
My Warm up Trick on flat is usually 20 shove’s in a row, no-complies and
impossibles. You might have no�ced that none of them involves any flick. A�er
spraining both ankles a million �mes it takes a long �me for them to get warm
un�l I can actually do a kickflip for instance. Maybe I’m just ge�ng old too. Ah
and I love to do the infamous boneless down gaps. It’s a good way to check on
the impact and speed but I don’t skate a lot of gaps anymore.
What is your signature trick?
I’m not sure if I do have something like that. I like Blackfoot varial heels and BS
180 late flips and they are two rare tricks that I got pre�y consistent. My
audience has been asking for a „Giger Flip“ which ended up being a SW FS shove
late hardflip. I don’t take this trick name or signature thing too serious though.
Which trick is s�ll on your wish list?
Ufff. Should I read some from my notes? Hahaha ok let’s try so:
- pop shove it late impossible (i’ll probably never do that)
- Varial heelflip primoslide varial heelflip out (that’s doable)
- tre flip to an� casperstall on a bank
- Heelflip late shove it crossfoot (landed that one but sketchy)
…and the list con�nues
What is your proudest moment in your current skateboarding career?
Hmm probably the infamous game of skate against Prod. I landed some good
tricks and I think it was a good game. Looking back I’m also glad that I lost. I think
it’s crucial for a healthy personality development to be good at loosing too. A big
loss like that was hard to take at first but I learned so much from it.
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