67 days on tour. 16.000 kilometres on the road. Jump into the van and join a bunch of tent people, forrest people and fire people on a cross-European DIY adventure. Featuring Robin Bolian, David Bachl, Wouter de Jong, Jan Hirt, Jonas “Ginger” Bünger, Ramon Notz, Jeroen Bruggeman, Tim Rebensdorf, Jan Hoffmann, Matisse Banc, André Gerlich, Joe Lascar, Matteo Vandeputte, Niels Bennett, Uryann Raudet, Émilie Alexandre, Marco Kada, Thanos Panou, Arthur Bultynck, Jeanne Lagger, Lorenz Schneider, Simon Gärtner, Catherine Marquis, Sergio Reinhardt, Ruben Lücke, Noam Lichtenstein, Mehdi Soltane, Andrei Balaban, Max Schröer, Colin Sean Hollinsworth, Andrea Dubourgeat, Dallas Rockvam, Yann-Xavier Horowitz and so many more.

July 18 – 22, 2024: The angel-like human being, that is Matisse, got turned pro by the devil spawn himself. Others got locked inside of a bathroom, and they’d probably still be there if it wasn’t for Thanos. He broke the lock and went on to stack one of the very first clips for what would turn into “We Still Live Here.” Fireworks in broad daylight. Uncle Dusty went swimming. Downhills, no downtime. August 08 – 09, 2024: “I didn’t know it’d take us so long to get to the spot. Imagine someone had forgotten their board at Harry’s place.” Quite a joke Hoof made during an hour and a half long drive from Bruges to Antwerp. Guess who had actually forgotten his, though? Man made sure to double check the next day before we headed out to Brussels.

September 08 – 12, 2024: We probably spent more time scouting some awkward real estate and rub bricking / clear coating all kinds of atypical architecture in Luxembourg’s autumn drizzle than actually skating anything. Jan and André made it worth it. October 28 – November 04, 2024: ”Where are we going?” – “I don’t know, somewhere for sure”, the driver answered. Said driver was Andy. Happy-go-lucky through and through. If everyone had a Designated Andy in their lives, the world would be a better place… We were lucky enough to have the OG one with us in the South East of France. He brought a full crew from Biarritz to Montpellier and we hit Barbecue DIY. Post session hide-and-seek with 12+ people. A Halloween party with 300+ people. Goats that roamed the steep transitions while team Switzerland could get rid of their clothes and climb some trees. An ice-cold river nearby. Beaulieu and A54 DIY within reach. We decided to live there for a while. Thanks for letting us do so, Enzo! And thanks for being our Designated Andy, dear Andy!

February 09 – 17, 2025: “Fire is important. It’s one of the elements.” Maybe Angelo, our main man in the Milan suburb of Rho, should not have brought a gas can to Robin, but hindsight’s easier than foresight… Anyways, it was raining just enough for Mattoni DIY not to burn down, but way too much for us to skate anything within the next few days. So, Alberto took us to Bologna’s El Puto DIY – unfortunately, Elbo wasn’t skateable (Daniel Cardone hasn’t left much to do there anyways) – and then further East to Fano’s Adriatic Bowl and Camerano’s Big Air Bowl. A night in an old storehouse of Samurai Distribution, then back West, via Saronno and Arosio’s Frontyard skatepark, to one of the most magical places that anyone of us ever got to crash at: the Della Beffa residence in the hills above Turin. Sunrises for days, Cinghial DIY in the backyard, the best pasta you’ll ever eat, and the best of times you’ll ever have.

April 19 – 21, 2025: Tim had gotten injured in Laax and David’s night bus from Linz to Cologne just never showed up. But we got Lorenz back on the road again. Essen, Solingen, Wuppertal and Remscheid with Pasqi, Patty, Hoof and Ruben. April 25, 2025: “I fucked up… I broke my foot.” Due to unforeseen circumstances Ginger’s filming was cut short… but by the time you read these lines, the Wonderland wunderkind should be back on the board.

May 27 – June 08, 2025: “Where can a bum find bed and board, when you gonna make it stop rainin‘ lord?” Warren Zevon’s blasting from the speaker of our nine seater van as we’re driving through a heavy thunderstorm. Tree branches on the highway, aquaplaning, lightnings and hazard lights as far as the eye can see. Everyone and everything’s still soaking wet from last night’s camping disaster. We’re on day six of a thirteen day tour. Up until that point, it had felt like a smart idea to disregard all weather forecasts and stick to our plan, i.e. a 3000 kilometre journey from Belgium via Luxembourg to the French Alps, then all the way through Switzerland and Germany to the Austrian capital. Luckily, Julien Bachelier and the good people over at the Antiz office in Lyon gave us bed and many a board – just like Ben Daeleman over at Jean Jacques Distribution had done before during our stay in Mechelen –, and a couple of days later, including a one of a kind session at Saint Jean de Maurienne’s concrete paradise, we were on our way to Vienna. The almighty Gnarathon was calling… “Seems like it’s raining harder today, the rain must of known I was coming this way, it ain’t easy living on the run.“ David Allan Coe blasting from the speaker as we’re crossing several state borders and some more thunderstorms on day ten of our tour. We’re deeply sorry if it was us who brought the rain that would keep coming down during the Gnarathon weekend, but hey, we also brought the arguably greatest DJ that Vienna has ever seen: Mr. Yann-Xavier Horowitz. Man knows how to make them floors vibrate, not only when he throws down fakie flips.

July 25 – August 03, 2025: “Some animals think I’m a flower because of my hair.” Felt good to have Tim riding shotgun again. Wouter joined in and we headed out to Bern and Fribourg. Wanna learn by example which lines to take at Bernside and Mooswerk DIY? Or maybe you just wanna go on the worst late-night spot tour of all time? Jan and Ramon got you… Picked up Matisse and escaped the rain from Bern back to Luxembourg. Fourteen people meet up at Philharmonie – and the crew wasn’t even complete yet. Four car loads of chaos out in the streets for the next couple of days. “I take care that we’ve always got enough brewski. If you guys got any other questions, don’t ask me.” Jeroen took over the role of assistant team manager and killed it on the job. First time ever on a public campground and last one, too. Banned for life.

August, 16 – 17, 2025: Wouter returned to Luxembourg for some unfinished business, accompanied by our good friend Marc Bolhuis. A three and a half hour drive just to get kicked out of the spot in question, followed by a rolled ankle at some random rail. You may as well call it a day… or limp over to the Grand-Duchy’s equivalent of China Banks and take on the large bench, untouched and with a twelve meter death drop to the other side. Wouter’s a working man and chose the latter. 

August 21 – 25, 2025: Late arrival in Copenhagen, straight to a night session at Wonderland. Robin battled a line for two hours, culminating in a switch frontside air in the oververt. No roll away, though. From Fælledparken to Hullet DIY, where Ginger hosted this year’s Cruise and Booze. With its destruction looming in the dark of Danish fall, it might have been the last big dance for Hullet. Mange tak for 15 years of stoke! From Underbroen DIY to Valby, where David took on spotter duties. Some random guy pulled up, stopped his car in the middle of the road and tried to start a conversation. David told him nicely but firmly that he might wanna park his car elsewhere. Random guy drove off, came back a couple of minutes later, and turned out to be none other than the legend himself, Jesus Fernandez. Perdón! Back to Wonderland for another late-night session, where Robin finally rolled away from the switch frontside air – after yet another two hour battle, eight and a half hours before departure. 

September 04 – 08, 2025: The impact squad returned to Luxembourg. Put a four block, a nine stair with a wall rail, another four block, a twelve stair, a five block, a thirteen stair as well as some pizzas on the menu, sprinkle some ledges in-between and add a seven stair for dessert… Artie, Marco and Matisse will eat until they cannot walk anymore. Matteo was pretty hungry as well, though. So, he joined the boys for a quick lunch. And even though they could not quite finish all their dishes, them boys actually ate so much that we had to split the bill with Volcom and Zero. Hence, only part of the feast will be seen in “We Still Live Here”.