Utrecht has spoken! Here’s new Dutch brand ho66y’s first full length, featuring Jelle Maatman, Jaap Langenhoff, Stephan Schuuring, Teun Janssen, Justin Wagener and many more. Filmed by Jesse Voerman & Derek Zomer and masterfully put together by the latter. Curious to find out a bit more about these guys‘ hobbies and interests, the city of Utrecht and the brand itself? Check out the interview below…

Let’s get the party started with a little introduction round!

Jesse: Alright. Anyone of you guys wanna start? No? Ok then… I’m Jesse. I’m from Soest, a little village close to Utrecht, where I’ve lived for 13 years. Recently moved to The Hague. I’ve been skateboarding for close to 20 years now and I’m still trying to skate as much as possible, trying to combine the adult life with skating, surfing, filming and being out in the streets. I work as an English teacher and carpenter. That’s it I guess (laughs). Who’s next?

Giel: Yew! My name is Giel van der Leest, 32, living in Rotterdam at the moment. Lived in Utrecht for years, the place where I met Jesse and all the other skaters, which became my group of friends. They got me the hype and a complete setup for my 26th birthday. I had been skating a bit when I was younger, but never really got any serious moves down (laughs). Since Jesse and those guys got me back into skating, I’m more hyped than ever. Really love their support, enthusiasm and patience for yet another 50-50 in the streets (laughs). I just enjoy sitting on a random sidewalk in a random neighborhood with the homies, taking photos and having some fun on the board myself. That’s basically it. Living life in Rotterdam with my girlfriend and I’m doing some data science kind of stuff for a living – cartography, geographical data. So, it’s great to have skating – and also surfing – to get me away from the computer. But well, at the end of the day, even skating brings me back in front of the computer, like when I have to work on some photos or jump on conference calls with you guys (laughs).

Derek: Stoked you’re here with us… well, my name’s Derek. Just like Jesse, I grew up in a village close to Utrecht. When my parents split up, my dad moved to Soest, where Jesse was living at the time, and we just kinda met in the streets. That’s some good ten years ago now and we’ve been skating together ever since. I’ve been working as a freelance filmmaker and photographer for about eight years now and I’m doing mostly commercials, social media ads, stuff like that. I’m living in Utrecht with my fiancée and I’m still skating and using it as a creative outlet. So when Giel and Jesse approached me about hobby, I saw it as a great opportunity to take my love for documenting skateboarding to a higher level. That’s how I got involved in the project.

So ho66y had been going on for a little bit already before you got involved, Derek?! What was it that made you guys, Jesse and Giel, start your own brand?

Giel: I think there’s two different stories actually. I’ve got mine and Jesse’s got his, I guess. So what I experienced was just that we had this crew here, but as things go, everyone got older and moved out of Utrecht, to Rotterdam or Amsterdam. A super close group of friends began to fall apart. So, my main incentive was to create something that would get the hype back, even if we were no longer out skating together every day. Also for me personally, I wanted to have a reason to learn some new things that come along with starting your own brand, like creating a visual identity, capturing footy on my handycam, building a webshop and many, many other things (laughs). And also, I guess, a third motivation of mine was to create a platform for people around us, who skate really well and deserve a platform to get exposed. For me, it’s been all that combined, but at the end of the day, I guess it still was Jesse who gave me a call to pitch the idea (laughs). Ho66y’s a good reason for me to take photographs and go on trips with friends.

Jesse: I think my story’s not too different, though. For me, it’s always been such a natural thing to film skateboarding and to bring people together that way. Do you remember the brand Falus? I’ve been a part of that for ten years and I’ve made some videos for them as well. In the end, I was part of the team behind it… That’s the group that Giel mentioned – the one that kind of fell apart. When that happened Yannick, one of the founders of Falus, offered me to take over the brand or share it with him, but I didn’t want to influence the legacy of Falus or change it into something else. Still, I wanted to keep doing what I was doing: skating, going on trips with friends, exploring, … I don’t know, Giel and I are really good friends and we started bouncing around all kinds of ideas about starting our own brand. We’ve basically brainstormed for around six months until there came a point, where we were just like “fuck it, we’ve got the name – h066y –, let’s just start it, make a video first, make some clothing and see where it ends up!” And that’s what we’re doing right now. Derek joined during the making of the video. I feel like where we at, we’re still looking for some sort of identity, but the video definitely helped. I mean, even though it’s a brand, it’s more about giving a stage to the people around us and having fun, while doing it. It’s just a creative outlet for all of us!

Kind of surprised to hear your thoughts on ho66y’s identity, to be honest. Cause to me, after watching the video and seeing some stuff, it feels like you guys have managed to establish a very strong and unique one already – at least visually!

Jesse: Well, thanks. I mean, we’ve taken inspiration from all over the place, from older skate videos like Mindfield or the early Static videos, but also from all sorts of inevitable influences from outside of skating, like all the AI shit going on at the moment. And Derek certainly played a big role as well in giving the video its own look.

Derek: I used what little we had in terms of graphic design, whatever Giel and Jesse had made. Giel did a poster for the premiere and I just kind of used his drafts as an inspiration for how the video should look, typography-wise, colour-wise, … all of the other visual effects just came from what I thought was cool and what I’m currently inspired by, and also what had not been done too many times already. I really wanted to experiment with combining skateboarding and AI, so I reached out to a friend from Utrecht who also skates, he’s really good at creating AI-generated animations. This together with vintage experimental films I saw when visiting the film museum is kind of how the whole look of the video came to be. I guess, I did play a role in it, but at the end of the day, it’s just all the three of us and all kinds of ideas of ours put together.

Giel: It’s cool to see that it’s some kind of loop, since my inspiration for the poster was the look and feel of Derek’s raw edit’s, he made after every street sesh. Colorgrading-wise and the vibe that was set.

A common creative outlet for real, then?! To me, personally, the video felt a little dark yet very playful and I really liked it.

Jesse: Thanks! What I, and I guess all the three of us, like about skate videos is when there’s some element that you don’t quite understand, something that doesn’t really make sense and can be a bit dark. I mean that’s something I like about skateboarding in general. It’s gonna be tough sometimes, there might be some weird shit happening on a session, unexpected shit happens. Even while filming for a video, people go through phases of feeling well or feeling unwell. I’m certain that there’s many other videos out there that will make you feel like what you’ve just described – at least in some sort of similar way or even more so or even stronger –, and I don’t really like to call our video “elusive”, but I guess most people who skate know what I am talking about. At the same time, we wanted it to be fun, something with friends. I’m honestly happy about what you’ve just said.

Derek: All the three of us have some different sort of creativity, and I’m stoked that you saw the video as some sort of whole instead of three different things and different styles put into one project (laughs). I like to show the fun side of skateboarding, but also the raw, gritty, sometimes dark side of it. As for a combined style, I think we’re all looking to find or do something that hasn’t been done too often already – which is extremely difficult in an oversaturated environment like skateboarding.

Ok, then… There’s three different sorts of creative inputs or styles in this one big whole. How would each one of you describe the input of the other two? How would you characterise each other, in regards to ho66y and in regards to life in general?

Derek: Jesse is definitely the most critical out of all of us – in a very good way. He has seen the most skate videos, he knows about everything that’s been done. It’s great to have someone like that to check in and see if we’re on the right path (laughs).

Giel: Jesse will be like: “No, this design looks way too much like something that’s been there a couple years ago already.” Jesse’s also pretty easy going in actually making decisions and taking steps, while I’m rather on the other side of the spectrum. I’m kinda perfectionist (OR just hard in decision-making!), I guess, and tend to contemplate ideas for longer times. That’s something that we’ve learned about each other and I guess that we’re positively influencing one another. As for Derek, he brought in years of experience in the creative sector. He’s gifting us with some guidance in the creative process and he’s got a hand for anything organization related – from putting up our video premiere, to creating all sorts of to-do-lists.

Jesse: Yeah, Derek has always been super consistent, reliable and hyped, ever since he joined. We’ve had so many sessions, so many missions for this video together. People were battling tricks for hours, wouldn’t make it and then Derek would always be down to go back multiple times to get them clips. He dragged us all through the heaviest of missions and he’d still send over footage at like 2am. And as for Giel… well, I mean we’re still trying to figure out how to run our brand and whenever it gets a bit more hectic, I tend to get really heated, while Giel’s just staying super calm. He has made me realize that you can appreciate the process of making something, even when things get hectic and you can’t fix them straight away.

Derek: It’s also fascinating to see Giel’s creative perspective in terms of graphic design, clothing design and also in terms of the video itself. I feel like Jesse and me are always out in the streets, filming and stuff, and even though Giel will be there as well from time to time, he’s much more on the other side of the operation. And I guess, that’s what makes his perspective slightly different and very refreshing.

So Giel’s the quiet mastermind behind it all?

Giel: Not sure about that (laughs). I got concussed pretty badly from skating a slappycurb, haha, a year and a half ago. Combine that with reconstructing an apartment and the pretty demanding full time job that I’m doing, makes me feel a bit more like staying in the background and focusing on designs and on running the brand instead of hitting the streets myself. Plus, there’s Jesse and Derek out there anyways and they are putting in so much work with the filming.

Big up to you guys! Passion projects like yours – just like our little mag over here – do take a shit ton of time and I love and respect when someone’s out there putting their heart and soul into their own creative projects, while working full time day jobs. Where do you think ho66y’s gonna be in three or maybe even five years?

Jesse: I hope we’ll be going on a lot of trips, regularly. That’s my vision (laughs). I’m not even interested in making any money for myself with the brand. But of course, I hope that we get somewhat profitable, so that we can put the money we make into some sick trips… skate some unseen terrain with friends. I can see us screen printing clothing from our own little office/shop and creating stuff that embodies our surroundings at that moment in time.

Giel: I like that vision. I mean my main reason to start was to have a reason to get out on skate and surf trips. And I don’t know what the next years will bring, but it’d be nice to make a video like once a year or so, have a consistent feed on instagram, regularly come out with new products (and people being hyped to proudly wear our products), make a little bit of money for the team and for trips, … Furthermore i’m always spotting for empty buildings around the neighbourhood. It’s kind of a dream of mine to find a good one and rent it cheaply, maybe with some help from the municipality, so that we could have a place to produce our products, have our own little shop, exhibitions and maybe even offer a remote working space in there – cause I also need a place to do my day job (laughs). But I don’t know. As we say in Dutch: We’ll see where the ship strands (laughs). Most importantly, though, I hope we keep having fun and maintain our great relationship with each other.

Derek: Well, I can only agree with you guys! Personally, I wanna keep experimenting creatively outside of my day job. Quality over quantity, though! I hope that we can stay original and authentic with ho66y. I’m down to experiment with different kinds of cameras or new techniques to work with in general.

Sounds good and I wish you all the best for wherever the ship takes you! Before we wrap this up, let’s talk a bit about the team or should I rather say about the people involved with ho66y? Is there something like an official team yet?

Jesse: Yeah. For me, it would be difficult to talk about a “team”. A “team” sounds so official. It’s more of a crew that just developed organically. I think there were like 2 years straight where street skating in Utrecht was kind of dead. I knew Derek was hyped and filming some guys but he told me he didn’t have a direct purpose for the footage. We decided to join forces and within no time we had a really solid crew ready to go. Of course, I would like to pay everyone involved as a team rider (laughs). Maybe we’ll get to the point of having an official team sometime in the future, but as for now, we’re just out skating and filming with friends and whoever gets something, gets something. But of course, there’s clips that will be left on the cutting room floor, when editing the video in the end (laughs). Anyways, especially the newer guys from out here brought some fresh energy to street skating in Utrecht. I mean, when it comes to spots, Utrecht’s a very very average city and I’ve probably skated everything that there is to skate already, but some of the new guys manage to find new ways to skate spots that have been there forever and that’s so sick! It gets you hyped as well!

Sick! Congrats once again on the video and everything you guys got going on! Do you have any last words or shoutouts?

Jesse: Go out there and skate with your friends if you can. Thanks to everyone for pushing themselves mentally and physically and for sharing good times with us. Big shout to everyone who showed up at the premiere! Hyped for the next project!

Derek: Big shoutout to Wisdom of Time for helping us make this video unique in a way, that skateboarding has not yet seen – hopefully. Thanks to Giel and Jesse for giving me creative freedom and letting me be a part of their venture. Congrats on all the skaters that delivered such a sick part and looking forward to creating more cool stuff together.

Giel: Major shout out to Jacob Wise for providing his custom designed typeface, super happy to have such a sick graphic designer like Jacob close by to talk fonts and designs.