OWN SKATEBOARDS – OWNTOWN

OWNTOWN

BY OWN SKATEBOARDS

OWNTOWN

BY OWN SKATEBOARDS

OWN Skateboards have been running their operation for 21 years now, producing their own boards, creating their own vibe and putting out their own videos – from numerous single parts to three full lengths to 63 episodes of their own video series. OWN owns Stuttgart and the proof’s in their latest mid length, filmed exclusively in the Swabian capital of downhills. Coinciding with the release of OWNTOWN, we got their video department’s main man on the phone and conducted an in depth interview on everything OWN, which you’ll find down below. Welcome to OWNTOWN everybody!

Hey Michael, your real name might only sound familiar to those who’ve been lucky enough to meet you in person, somewhere in or around Stuttgart. Otherwise, you’re rather known as Aktion Foral. Could you tell us how the nickname came about? And who’s the man behind the name?

Well, my name is Michael Hein and I’m from Stuttgart. Actually, I come from the Eastern part of Germany… Shortly before the Berlin Wall fell, my family and I got the chance to move to Reutlingen. But by now, I would say that Stuttgart has become my home, my home base. Well, at least when I’m not floating around in some warm foreign country during the winter months (laughs). The name aktionforal came from a party story. We gave ourselves some beach boy names. My buddy Ed Braun was named Collin Crusher, for example, and I was named Aktion Foral. Somehow, I’ve just stuck with this name for over 20 years now (laughs). 

 

How did skating and filming come into the life of Michael Hein/Aktion Foral? And how old even are you?

Dude, I’m 43. Old as fuck (laughs)! I started skating pretty early on, with Andi (Welther). He’s also from Reutlingen. I was just a skater, at first. Felix Zenker made a lot of videos back then and pushed the scene in Reutlingen. It was through him, that I first came into contact with filming and editing. At some point, I started going to Stuttgart more and more often, and that’s where I connected with Philipp (Günther), the OWN gang and all those people. Philipp was already doing OWN back then; the brand will soon turn 21! Dani Märtin was one of the first team riders, together with Lem Villemin, Michs Kempf and some others. Dani is still one of my best friends today. We’ve known each other for more than 20 years. Don’t know if this name rings a bell for you?

 

Dani Märtin… isn’t he the guy who did this psychotic drop in next to the halfpipe in Tübingen?

Yeah, that’s him! Dani, Philipp, Benny Müller and the whole gang, they became my people in Stuttgart and at some point, they just got me on OWN, too. That must have been around 2009 or 2010. But over time, I got more and more into the whole video thing. It just happened for the sake of it. We had a camera and wanted to do something. And when we started with the Tagesschau, I realised that filming and editing videos, for me, was just as much fun as skating. And now that I’m getting older, I also appreciate that filming doesn’t hurt as much as skating (laughs). 

Do you still remember the first time you had to press a board? As far as I know, it’s always been the case over at OWN, that team riders have to press their own boards, right?

Definitely! And yes, if you skate for OWN you should press your own boards. Once you’ve done it, you’ll see skateboards from a whole different perspective. Ever since I got on OWN, I keep going back to the workshop – a really nice little backyard workshop. There’s so much time and skill that goes into making a board by hand. You first have to glue the seven layers together and cut them into the right size. We’ve got different concaves, including double tails and things like that. You gotta saw them out, sand and polish them. It’s a lot of manual work and there’s a lot to learn. Nothing you could possibly learn in two or three work sessions, though. You need years of experience to make the boards look and feel the way they should. But we’ve got Philipp and Sheehan (Kneeland), who are the absolute pros and who are always down to help each and everyone of us. I’ve been on OWN for 15 years now and I couldn’t even imagine to skate any other boards. Our boards are something special. Each one’s unique, handmade, … and that’ll make you develop a whole different bond with your board.

 

From the boards you skate and film with back to the Tagesschau, that you’ve mentioned already. Was the Tagesschau your introduction to pressing the red button and sitting in front of the computer for hours? And how many Tagesschau edits are there by now?

We’ve put out a total of 63 by now (laughs). In the beginning, there were like 12 or 13 a year. But our output has become a bit more sporadic these days. I don’t know exactly when the first Tagesschau came out, but it must have been around 13 or 14 years ago. Benny edited the first one and as from Tagesschau 2, all the way til 63 (except for maybe five or six), I edited all of them – together with people like Robin Wulf, Julian Häcker (who is also responsible for a huge part of all the OWN graphics) and Phil, of course. The Tagesschau is a creative platform for all of us. The episodes vary in length and content. Some include a lot of footage and take hours and hours to make, and then there’s others that are a bit more random… we did a Tagesschau with a one-minute train ride, for example (laughs).

 

Haha, I don’t even know that one. Guess I’ve still got some catching up to do. In addition to the 63 episodes of the Tagesschau, you’ve also worked on other, bigger video projects over the years, including the three “Made in Germany (MIG)” full-lengths. How does your latest video fit in the canon?

Well, we took the decision that we don’t wanna make a fourth “MIG” video, because “Made in Germany” as a trilogy feels complete to us. “OWNTOWN” definitely follows the footsteps of the “MIG” videos, especially in terms of look and feel, but it’s a shorter format – I guess, you could call it a modern day full-length. But we’ve done other shorter formats in the past already, like the Andi Welther part, the Glenn Michelfelder part or Robin’s “Guest Board” part. Each one of these parts included cameos by the other team riders, and I would say that “OWNTOWN” falls right in-between these kind of projects and our “MIG” videos.

Definitely some damn solid video output. Where did the title for “OWNTOWN” come from?

Philipp has had the idea of making an OWNTOWN t-shirt for years already. The word includes “OWN” twice, it’s graphically appealing and the “T” could also be seen as a plus sign. So, the idea was already there and I mean, we’ve been putting out Stuttgart footage for years and years already, but since we really filmed the entirety of our new video around here, it just made perfect sense to call it OWNTOWN.

 

You have remained faithful to the VX1000 over all those years. But I mean, with 63 episodes of the Tagesschau, several single parts, three classic full lengths and now a modern day full length, you probably didn’t film everything with the same 30-year-old camera, did you?

No, certainly not (laughs). We’ve remained faithful to the VX, cause it defines our look to some degree. It’s still our instrument of choice and I couldn’t imagine the whole thing without the VX. The VX is definitely not getting any younger, though. It’s just getting more expensive… thanks to VXTrader and company (laughs). Anyways, we bought the first camera for 150€ back then, and well… we’ve probably gone through a dozen of them, including many repairs. We’ve got someone who can repair them. But it starts to get more and more difficult, cause there’s barely any spare parts left out there. We still have our own little stock of cameras: the VX that I’m currently filming with, two VXs that are being repaired at the moment, capture cams, VHS cams, … But as far as our fisheye is concerned, we’ve actually been filming with the same MK1 for 14 years now. Thanks again to Felix Zenker! It has just survived everything so far (laughs). When you think about what was filmed with it, what kind of tricks, what kind of lines – so much sketchy stuff, downhills, everything –, it’s just crazy. The thing’s a wonder, for real! We did kill some cameras with slams, but the fisheye has somehow always survived.

Knock on wood… let’s hope it’ll keep surviving! Over the years, your videos have developed their own visual identity. When you watch an OWN video, you know straight away that you’re watching an OWN video. Could you put into words what makes an OWN video an OWN video?

I would say that we’ve tried to create something unique, something that we like, with just the simplest of means – pretty low budget and all DIY (laughs). To me, it has always been fascinating to see what happens when you rewind an old, already worn out VHS tape over and over again. I started experimenting with recording stuff, running it through VCRs and making VHS remixes. I also kept buying old cameras at flea markets and experimented with them. I guess, that’s how our look came about, in an analog way, through trial and error… and I’ve always liked this kind of analog work. Maybe it’s because of Plan B’s “Questionable” and all my other first videos, that are so deeply ingrained in my memory,  that I’ve got such a passion for VHS. Our titles are digitally constructed and animated, though. But the distortions in the titles are all analog again. Apart from that – and this one’s less about the look itself but more about the overall vibe of our videos – we’ve got Philipp’s impeccable music supervision. Philipp’s a passionate record collector and DJ. He’s been making music for at least as long as he’s been running OWN, and he’s just super influential for all of us when it comes to the musical side of things. He regularly goes to the record store, he’s into all types of genres and he knows the right people. There’s Drifting Carpet Records for example, a great label from out here, and we’ve already used dozens of songs from their artists. They like our videos, even though they don’t skate themselves, and they’re always hyped about it. Maybe they just like the mixtape character.

 

And so do we, over here. There’s always some new music to discover in your videos – and same goes for spots! So much stuff that hasn’t been seen before. Is there anyone among you guys, who’s mainly responsible for the spot hunts?

Haha, thank you! It always changes a little bit, depending on who’s currently working on something. But Robin is definitely the one who sees and finds the most. In all of Robin’s parts, you’ll see spots that no one has skated before – and probably no one will any time soon (laughs). Then, there’s spots we just find on day trips into the suburbs of Stuttgart. The whole crew is always down to search and skate new things. And of course, Stuttgart is constantly changing. A lot is being built here, new spots pop up, old spots are being torn down. Even NorDIY will be torn down soon, but there’s already something new in the works, at least behind the scenes: we’re getting a new area and it’s gonna turn into a massive DIY project.

Stoked to hear that the new area is cleared by now. I’ll try to get Sheehan on the phone sometime soon to talk a bit more in detail about the future of Stuttgart’s DIY scene. But back to your new video: “OWNTOWN” focuses on the two latest additions to the team: Jonny Stoppel and Michi Häussler. Could you tell us a bit about the two of them?

Of course. Jonny is someone who likes to try out new things and he’s a quick learner. He’s the one who pushed the most for “OWNTOWN”. After “MIG3”, I went on a six months motorcycle trip through Africa and when I came back, Jonny had already stacked some clips with Philipp and Robin. He was keen to start a new project. So, we originally started working on a single part… and things just snowballed from there. Suddenly, everyone was involved somehow – Michi especially. He is just a cheerful guy, he brings the hype and he’s always in a good mood. But he’s also got some life experience: traveling, his work in a kindergarten and just all the other things he’s lived. He’s got a good view of the world. It feels good to be out and about with people who don’t just skate, but with whom you can also have a good conversation after the session, one that’s not necessarily about skateboarding. Jonny and Michi are definitely carrying the new video and it’s been so much fun to work with them – and obviously with the rest of the crew, too.

 

As you’ve mentioned in the beginning of our interview, you guys have been in the game for almost 21 years and still going strong – “OWNTOWN” is the proof. How would you, personally, describe the development of the brand? And where will it go from here? 

We’ve all gone the full way together. That’s how it feels for me, at least. All the homies are from Stuttgart or from around here, and we’re just skating together all the time. Of course, people get older and new people come in, but everyone always seems to naturally find their place in the crew. Each and everyone is always pushing some part of the full endeavour. We’ve kicked things off with the Tagesschau, got a bit more on the map with our first “MIG” video and just kept going from there… I feel like the videos have gotten better, the boards have gotten better and we keep evolving. The little kid that OWN used to be has turned into a really good dude (laughs). I think that’s how I’d summarise it all in one sentence. And where will it go from here? Honestly, there’s no real plan or anything like that – there never was (laughs). Next thing we’ll do? Skating, most definitely! 

 

Haha, sounds good. Definitely excited to see what’s coming next and big thanks for the interview, Michael. Any shout outs at the end?

Well, thank you for the pleasant interview and thanks to everyone who has helped and supported OWN in any type of way, and thus, a part of German skate culture, far off the commercial side of things.Thanks to all the haters, we love you, peace.

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