Page 48 - BackSIDE rollbrett-heft 25th Anniversary
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If you do not mind a poli�cal                      trend that will reach their own
    IF                                                                                                                                ques�on too: What is the status on                 countries too, just a ma�er of �me.

                                                                                                                                      the Catalonia’s thrive to become
                                                                                                                                                                                         ButI also want to be very clear I’m
                                                                                                                                      independent from the rest of Spain?                talking about Spanish government –
                                                                                                                                      Status is Catalonia is having now                  not about Spanish people or Spain.
                   you follow Mark ‘Gonz’ Gonzales than there is a pretty good                                                        Independent majority (around 52%)                  Very different things.
                   chance that you came across Sem Rubio as well. End of last year
                   Sem has been all over the media because of the book he has                                                         both in Catalan Parliament seats and
                   done together with the godfather of Skatebaording. A first-ever                                                    also the number of voters. Spanish                 You started ska�ng in 1988. What
                   book featuring intimate portraits, artworks and legendary skate                                                    Government keeps playing dirty with                triggered your desire to give it a try?
                   tricks.                                                                                                            low-fare tac�cs and unfair trials to jail          First it was ‘Back To The Future’ that
                   However there is more to Sem than what meets the lense. He
                   openly speaks about the downside of the industry and why he is                                                     poli�cal opposers. They use their use              made me want to grab a skateboard.
                   about to move on from skateboarding photograpy...if he has not                                                     over na�onal TV channels & their                   I used to do downhills and jump
                   already that is.                                                                                                   interna�onal poli�cal influences to                around landing on my board. Then a
                                                                                                                                      distort the facts and control the                  couple of friends from my
               Hola Sem. Que tal?                                 It’s nice because you get to know a                                 opinion of the public. It’s a shame                neighbourhood started ska�ng too
               Hello Michele. We are doing good,                  lot of people from all over the world
                                                                                                                                      many EU countries are looking the                  and we found the movie ‘Thrashin’,
               thank you.                                         and that helped a lot my English.
                                                                                                                                      other way to what Spanish                          where they were doing ollies. We
                                                                  Tourism season is mainly July &
                                                                                                                                      government is doing. It’s a dangerous              though they glued the shoes to the
               You are from one of Europe’s main                  August though, which for the locals is
               tourist des�na�ons called Blanes at                a bit annoying but rest of the year is

               the Costa Brava (Catalonia) which                  great. September to November is the
               translates to rough coast. How                     best �me because beaches are not
               rough is it at the moment due to                   crowded and water is the warmest.
               Covid 19?

               Yeah, it got the name from the wild                Because of tourism was there any
               coastal landscape. In fact my area is              redevelopment on the infrastructure
               called La Selva (The Jungle). It’s a               which did benefit the local skate

               great place to live. Perfect for the               scene?
               kids.                                              Not really. It has very few spots. It
                                                                  was even worse when I started to
               Regarding the pandemic, just holding
                                                                  skate. At least now you can find
               �ght like everyone else in the world.
                                                                  smooth grounds some�mes, whereas
                                                                  in the 90s was all rough grounds. But
               How was it to live in such touris�c
                                                                  going back to tourism, my friends and
               place? Is it very busy during summer
                                                                  I learned what the ollie was thanks to
               months and in winter there is no
                                                                  a tourist from Madrid. In a �me with
               one around apart from the locals?
                                                                  no internet, barely no mags or videos
                                                                  to watch, this was crucial.




                                                                                                                                                                            Javier Mendizabal & Madars Apse - Canary Islands




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