Slam Skateboarding 224 Spring 2019

Instagram has become a hungry beast that devours skateboarding vids and spits them out, only to be forgotten in the endless digital abyss. Everything gets lost in the boundless scroll of selfies, cute animals, softcore porn, and what so-called influencers fake for breakfast. It’s common practice for skateboarding brands to eat up quality footage for the sake of Instagram hits and three-minute clips. We’re all basically running on the ’Gram’s hamster wheel, and while (at this point in time) it’s a necessary evil for every company to stay relevant, the need for instant gratification on social media is also largely responsible for the decline in full-length skateboarding films. Pass ~ Port has grown to become Australia’s leading skateboard brand over the past decade, but surprisingly their latest video offering, Kitsch, is…

Recording the first Chats album. We recorded our first album in a school studio with our friend Fin Wegener. It was our first time recording, so we didn’t think about it much. We just played and didn’t really care how it sounded; I think the bass was recorded through a Roland keyboard amp, and I just used the snare and cymbals that happened to be there at the time. Finding out that “Smoko” had gone viral. It was Patty Gemzik’s birthday and we were all at Straddie [Stradbroke Island] for the weekend having a sick time. When we got back after the trip, he showed me the views on the vid. I thought it was hilarious. We made that video expecting just our mates would see it, but it had gotten so big…

A property in the bush. I live just out west of Noosa, in the bush on the Sunshine Coast. It’s an acreage in between towns. It’s super nice and I love it up here. The backyard bowl started with Red Bull wanting to build something skateable in a drain somewhere. I had just got the property, so I said maybe we could do a build at mine instead. It snowballed from there. I had Red Bull, Vans and Volcom help out with the money and I paid for some of it as well. I can’t thank those guys enough. The bowl was finished around the end of March 2019. Dimensions. It’s eight foot in the deep end and six foot in the shallow. It kind of looks like a choad with a uni-ball.…

The video features the full Pass Port team – Josh Pall, Dean Palmer, Callum Paul, Jack O’Grady, Mikey Mieruszynski, Jason Rainbird, Matlok Bennett-Jones, Glenn Wignall, Bernie Foo, Geoff Campbell and Trent Evans – plus a bonus section with the Hoddle dudes. Having made various trips to Europe, The US, NZ and obviously all over Australia, Kitsch is a testament to Pass ~ Port’s unique contribution to skateboarding, from Australia to the rest of the world. With a big, bold and boozy premiere at the Sydney Opera House on August 29, the film headed out on an international run of premieres in LA, New York, Tokyo, London and Paris. It’s set for worldwide DVD release in late September. In light of such a highly anticipated production, I spoke to Pass ~ Port’s…

When skateboarders burst onto the scene at a young age, they can often find themselves unfairly defined by the traits of their younger selves. Noah Nayef is still only 17, but his days as a contest-sweeping, handrail-chomping young teen are largely a relic of the not-too-distant past. The following photos were shot in roughly a 10-week period, during which Noah had two loose rules: no handrails and no spots outside of Sydney city. He stuck to them both. By pulling himself away from those old comfort zones and redefining his approach to skateboarding, Noah’s prodigious talent has begun to thrive more than ever. The kid from Bankstown has genuinely come of age since his New Gen back in 2017. Forget about the future – Noah is one of the best…

What are your first memories of each other? Glenn: It was at a Boom/Strobe demo at the old Rec Centre in Wellington. It was an old indoor roller rink and sports centre that had all these ramps that they’d pull out from Friday to Sunday. The skateboard scene in Wellington revolved heavily around the Rec back then. I’d say this was 1996, maybe ’97. Bernie was there skating with this ghetto dreadlockspiked kinda hairstyle, which I found out later had been done with Shoe Goo. Anyway, he was the best dude I’d seen on a skateboard in real life, so I took notice straight away. Bernie: My first memory of Glenn would have been around the late ’90s at the Rec Centre. He was rollerblading and every now and then I would…