ANTIZ Skateboards – SAMANTHA
SAMANTHA
– ANTIZ SKATEBOARDS –
SAMANTHA
ANTIZ SKATEBOARDS
Photos/ Fede Casella & Sem Rubio
It certainly would not be far-fetched to call Antiz one of the most legendary European board brands of all time. So, when Julien Bachelier, the main man running things over in Lyon, reached out to us with them good news that they would be adding another full length to their already rich video history, we felt like it’d be nice to hit up their newest additions to the team – i.e. Isak Oskal, David Sanchez, Bjarne Tjøtta, Joel Juuso, André Gerlich & Marco Kada – as well as the commander in chief – Thanos Panou – to chat about these guys‘ favourite blasts from the past and everything Antiz. You may wanna watch „Samantha“ on a the biggest screen possible (it’s been edited by none other than Fred Mortagne!) and then, take a trip down memory lane via the article down below.
Isak Oskal: I really like Thanos’ part in Festen. He skates fast and hits gnarly spots, which inspires me to skate some scarier stuff as well. When I was going on my first Antiz trip, I was told that Thanos would certainly interrogate me as the new guy. Well, he was as intense as his skating…
André Gerlich: I still remember the Z-Movie quite vividly. I guess, I first watched it when I was 16 or 17 and it definitely broadened my horizon. I’ve always loved the intros, especially Furo starring as Edward Scissor Hands, and the skating of Steve Forstner was shocking… it still is, actually! I couldn’t be any happier to be a part of Antiz myself these days. Every trip just feels like a family outing. Julien (Bachelier) is the craziest workhorse over at the office. Alberto (Della Beffa) is the craziest workhorse behind the lens and keeps everyone entertained with some heartfelt Italien swear words, whenever he gets on the board himself and doesn’t land his tricks within a couple of tries. And of course, we’ve got Thanos (Panou), the commander… „One spot a day is unacceptable“, even though he’s always by far the last one to get up.
Thanos Panou: In the summer of 2007, after landing and spending a day in Lyon with Hugo Liard, I took the train to the South of France to meet the team. As soon as I hopped in the van the vibes were super friendly, good vibes, doom rock and plenty of time to get to know each other. Fabien Ponsero offered me a beer from under his seat. I grabbed the beer, and it was boiling hot… “This is a joke, right?” But he just calmly responded: “ Ah, you don’t want it? Hey Ludo (Azemar), you want a brew?”, “Sure, cimer mek!”. Well, I have been drinking warm beer ever since and never complained again! My favorite Antiz video of all time is the Z-Movie, a real masterpiece by Mr. Paul Labadie. When I first watched the Z-Movie, I was thinking: “Wow, these guys are truly making skateboarding look cool!” Only unknown spots and creative hammers, the best soundtrack and the most epic intros. Julien’s intro especially – that one’s my absolute favorite! These guys blew it trying to be pro-skaters, they should have been chasing acting careers. And Steve Forstner’s part in the end is one for the books, this guy was on a different level. Heavy-weight European skateboarding, plus he skated to Diamond Nights’ “Saturday Fantastic”. I am still listening to the whole soundtrack of this video, and I’ll play it through the speaker whenever them boys need some hype “avec style”. If you’re a skater over 30, don’t watch the video from the beginning, though. Go check the credits first and read the names of all them people involved, shed a little tear, then watch the whole damn thing and cry even more! In terms of up-to-date works, I think Samantha is quite an eye-catching and a vibrant video! Fred Mortagne delivered an undisputable visual banger! Antiz has also got its newborn babies now. André, Marco, Bjarne, David and Isak are all kids from the same factory, that produces crooked clones, broken gene patterns and individuals with an equally amazing taste in music, who are stupid enough to spend their entire life rub-bricking spots. I love them!
Joel Juuso: As for my favorite part, I have to go with a fellow Finn, Samu (Karvonen). His part in OAF really hit me as a teenager. Lots of style and control! But all of Steve Forstner’s parts had quite an impact on me, too. The Grinderman song in OAF makes the part even better and I still listen to that one quite often. High speed and flawless style, that’s what makes Steve’s skating stand out for me. I haven’t really met too many of the Antiz OGs yet, and I’d like to get to know all of them of course, but there’s just so many good stories about Hugo (Liard)… so, I really hope to meet him one day, he’s a legend!
Bjarne Tjøtta: The first thing I remember, when it comes to Antiz, is from when I was 10 years old. I was at this contest, without a board, and Gabriel (Engelke) tried to sell me some Globe shoes, so he could afford to go back home after the contest. As for my favorite part, I think I’m going with Love Eneroth in Antizipated. Good style and Japan Airs!
Marco Kada: Overall, my favourite Antiz video is OAF. The intro is so sick and you really don’t see this kind of creativity too often. They went all in for that one and I just love the beard that Michael Mahringer cut himself for the intro and the way he moves and plays… fucking amazing! I also love the part of Hugo (Liard) in the video: the song, the tricks, it’s just so gnarly. Then there’s Julien’s part and the Yama section in the Z-Movie, Thanos‘ clips in Healthcare, then there’s Peter Molec in Out of the Blue… the list goes on and on. But my all time favourite part from any Antiz video is Dominik Dietrich in Out of the Blue. He was such an all terrain vehicle and the part’s nothing but insane. Apart from their video history, I’ve always appreciated about Antiz, that they’ve always been going strong in the Austrian scene. They always went on tours through Austria, they’ve had Steve Forstner, Michael Mahringer and Dominik Dietrich on the team… So to me, as a little kid growing up in Gmunden, Antiz has always meant a lot.
David Sanchez: Do any of you guys remember this software called m.irc or something like that? You had to stay on this page that would spit crazy codes, and every now and then a message would appear in parenthesis, like (flip skateboards – sorry). You would have to copy a whole code and paste it into some other window of the program, so that it would start downloading the file. Then, you had to wait for a day or two until the download was finished and hope that your pc wouldn’t explode in the process. The Z-Movie was one of the first videos that ended up in my download folder and I watched it over and over and over again. It had all these amazing intros and Steve Forstner’s part is still ingrained in my head. The halfcab into the bank right before the end title… The Z-Movie will always remind me of the early years of my skateboarding.