🌀: What’s up Vincent! What’re you up to right now, just kicking it? I know it’s night time out in Lyon…
Yeah I’m chilling. It’s Winter time here, so there’s not that much skating, unfortunately. It’s super cold. No skating, no filming, but I have a bunch of work. What about you?
🌀: Ahh, yeah, I can imagine that Winters are tough out there. I’m good, dealing with this annoying time change, it gets dark at 5pm, so that makes it hard to skate. But, it’s not freezing cold, so I can’t complain.
Yeah, yeah. I’ve got the same problem (laughs)
🌀: So what role did you play in the new Hélas “Paris” edit? I know you mentioned to me you had filmed some second angles.
Yes, it’s been about 2 years now since the “Fellas” video, and I’ve been working as the sales manager for Hélas. I was there for about half of this Paris trip, getting double angles with the filmer we got for that trip (Augustin Giovannoni). It was good to be out with the boys, after 2 years of Covid and shit, it was the first trip we’ve made happen.
🌀: Sick! The first thing I noticed when watching the edit was that you guys went with 4×3 HD instead of VX this time, was that your call as the editor?
Yes, we wanted to go HD after the HĂ´tel De Ville edit that we released a little bit after the Fellas video. But, I really wanted to keep the 4×3 format. So, I glued an adaptor onto my MK1 and put it on my P2, and that’s what we used to film this video. It looks pretty good.
🌀: Wow, that’s cool to hear the process of that. I really like the 4×3 HD, it gives that classic feel you get from VX footage but with great quality.
Sure, and no more problems with the tapes, no glitches or anything. I was getting kind of over all of that to be honest (laughs)
🌀: Yeah, way simpler all around. I like the look! So was it just one trip that the team took to Paris to work on this video?
Yes, it was one trip that lasted for a month. That’s usually what we do, we book an Airbnb or something, and send an open letter to everyone on the team saying “We’ll be here from this day to this day, and you can come whenever you want”. So usually you have a few guys come for a week or something, then another crew comes. That’s what we did when we were filming for Fellas, it works better with smaller crews, because you know the team is pretty big. It would be pretty complicated to have like 30 guys on the same trip and in the same apartment, but doing it this way it ends up with 7 or 8 guys at one time.
🌀: That seems like a great way to do it. So, being based in France, I’m sure Paris is a pretty popular destination for you guys. Do you have any specific favorite spots out there?
Yeah, like you said, Paris is the most famous destination to skate. There’s so many spots, it’s pretty hard to pick one. I’m more of a plaza skater, so I like classic spots, like Le Dôme for example. Even if we don’t really film there, since it’s pretty hard to find something to do, you have to hit the big hubba or the big double set, but I just like classic spots in general.
🌀: Yeah. What’s the name of that plaza that has the ledges going down the banks, that I believe is in Paris?
Oh, Créteil. That’s a pretty famous spot, there’s a 3 block as well, and a double set.
🌀: It’s funny because I feel like whenever someone goes to Paris, they skate that plaza, but I have never heard what it’s called. It looks amazing.
Yeah, it’s a little bit outside Paris, it takes an hour or something to get there. The spot is so good, flatground is perfect, you can skate anything. Ledges, the blocks. It’s really really good.
🌀: It looks dope in footage too. I love the tiles that they used.
Yeah, and there’s no buildings around so it’s always in the sun, which is good for filming.
🌀: Yeah, that sounds perfect. Let’s dive into a few clips from this Paris edit. We can discuss them a bit, regardless of whether you filmed them. Lucas’ Nollie Back 180 Switch Front Crook back to Straight.
I wasn’t there for that one, but I know that he did it quite a few times, to get a photo. He also wanted to get a line with the flatground trick, go around, then a second trick on the ledge. So he did the Nollie Back 180 Switch Front Crook trick like 4 or 5 times.
🌀: Wow! That trick was sick, you don’t see it often, and he was locked in so proper.
Yeah, that trick is good, classic Janoski trick.
🌀: Yep! Next on my list, Flo’s Bigspin Fakie Manny. One of the best looking manual tricks there is.
Yeah, he’s got that trick on lock, he can do it anywhere. Flo is crazy with the manny’s, it’s insane. He’s so productive on the trips, it’s crazy. He gets 1-3 clips a day.
🌀: Geez! And he’s the TM for Hélas now right?
Yep! He just started working as the TM, he was there for the whole trip.
🌀: That probably motivates the team when the TM is stacking clips.
Yeah, exactly! When he sees no one is skating sometimes he says “We didn’t come here for nothing, so I’m going to skate it”
🌀: I love watching his footage, so that’s sick to hear how productive he is. Another clip that got me stoked; Victor’s Manny Back 180 Fakie Manny FS Half Cab.
This one is so good!
🌀: I was tripping out, I couldn’t believe it. He has another crazy drop down Manny trick as well.
Yeah, at the classic manny pad with all the colors, that drop down is big.
🌀: It looks like it. The drop down Manny’s have become more popular in recent years, but his were next level. You don’t see tricks like that often
Yeah, right. Especially coming out the hard way (Referring to the FS Half Cab out of the Back 180 Fakie Manny).
🌀: Yeah, back breaker! This Paris edit was about 6 minutes, It seems like these short and solid edits are the perfect formula to stay relevant. Is your plan to keep knocking out edits like this?
Yeah, what I like with this format is that you just have a few tricks per skater, you know? With a lot of people in a short edit, it keeps it kind of entertaining. You don’t get bored watching, because it’s changing a lot.
🌀: Yeah, someone is on the screen for 30 seconds or less, then onto the next.
Other than Flo and Marek, they’re always stacking more (laughs)
🌀: I love that. Even for the skaters, this short video format takes some pressure off, they know they can just try to get a few clips they’re stoked on.
Exactly, on the trip as well, when someone is stacking footage, it puts a good pressure on the other guys and motivates them. On trips, the more days that pass, the more motivated people get to get clips, because they see the edit coming, they see what people have done, so they’re like “Ok, I’ve got to step it up”.
🌀: Definitely. Since the Fellas video dropped you guys have stayed busy, with the Hôtel De Ville edit, now the Paris edit, is there a location picked for the next trip?
No, we haven’t decided yet. The thing is we had a few projects, but of course Covid hit. So, we filmed the Hôtel De Ville edit right before everything shut down, so that’s why we didn’t release it right away. We waited a little bit, because we knew we couldn’t get any content for a bit. We released it, then we chose Paris for this edit because it’s in Europe, and most of our riders are in Europe. It was easy for them to get to Paris once the restrictions were removed, guys were coming from London, Barcelona, all over France, you know? Instead of planning a big trip in the U.S, and then something happens, Paris was easier. So for next year, we don’t really know. We know we’ll have some projects in the works, no plan yet, but we’ll have a few video projects for next year for sure.
🌀: Dope! I’ll be looking forward to those new projects. One thing I was stoked on from Fellas was the raw footage that you guys released on Thrasher, will there be any raw footage dropping from this Paris trip?
I don’t know to be honest, I didn’t even think of that myself. But, maybe we make a rough cut, good question. But yeah, I really wanted to release the rough cuts from Fellas because you can feel the vibe. We all had such good times filming that video, the vibe of the crew was so good on the trips. Even watching the raw footage, we were laughing and stuff, so we were like “Ok let’s put this out”.
🌀: Yeah, I love rough cuts. As a viewer, it gives you more context of what goes on during a trip, and what goes into a trick. A clip can go by so quickly in an edit, but the rough cut gives you a peek into what the process of getting that clip was like.
Yeah, I love it too. I like to feel the vibe, if the vibe is good, the video is going to be good, you know?
🌀: Definitely. It’s also sick to see the team together. Maybe it’s a few dudes getting a clip on the same spot, or you see the team in the background of a clip. It shows that you guys are out there having fun together, and like you’re saying, there’s good vibes.
Yeah! That was the point of Fellas, to get the whole crew together. The video was pretty long, it was an hour, but we really wanted to have everyone involved, and get as much footage as we could.
🌀: Did you have a favorite trip from working on Fellas?
Yeah, the China trip.
🌀: Dude, those Shanghai spots looked crazy!
Shanghai trip was the best. Everybody I think would say the same. It was the best trip, so much fun. It was so different, for most of the guys it was their first time in China, so everything is new. The spots are crazy. Everything was so good. I think that was the most productive trip as well.
🌀: That Fakie Tre Fakie Manny Fakie Tre that Flo did was insane.
Yeah, that one took 2 days.
🌀: Wow, he worked for it, but it paid off.
We left 2 days after he got that, it was the last time we could go to that spot. It’s pretty hectic, it’s a walkway and it’s right at the exit of a Metro station, so there’s a lot of people passing by, it was pretty frustrating. There were 4 guys skating it at the same time, so all the people passing by was kind of stressful for them. But, everyone got their trick, and that was a good day.
🌀: That’s sick. How was the food in China?
The food is the best. It’s my opinion, I love Chinese food, and over there it’s really good. But, for all those who don’t like Chinese food, it’s pretty complicated, because there’s Chinese food everywhere, so they have to go to McDonalds or something. It’s so different from the Chinese food you can find in France, I loved it.
🌀: Yeah, it’s funny cause in the U.S people hear Chinese food, and they probably think Orange Chicken, but I think we created that (laughs).
Yeah, and there’s so much food that I discovered there, that I didn’t even know existed. When I got back from that trip, I went straight to the Chinese store and started cooking Chinese stuff. I wanted to try to do the same as them, but I couldn’t really get close to it (laughs).
🌀: What dish was it that you were hyped on out there?
I don’t know, there’s a lot of sauce. It’s mainly all the sauce they make there, I don’t even know the names. It’s just so good, all the spice, the sauce, the vegetables, there’s so many different ways to cook the food.
🌀: Yeah. So I know we talked about Hôtel De Ville a little bit, is that a local spot for you since you’re based in Lyon?
Yep, I’ve been going there since 1998.
🌀: Wow! So you’ve seen it go through a lot, because it was supposed to get torn out, and then the city decided to keep it, right?
Yeah! I was involved in the project, to get it rebuilt. There were 4 of us; me, Jérémie Daclin, French Fred, and Julien Bacheleir, who created the brand Antiz here in Lyon. Long story short, 5 years ago the city said they wanted to skate stop it for like a year or two, and then they planned to destroy it and build a totally different plaza that wouldn’t be skateable. So, we tried to get meetings with the city, couldn’t get one, so we went on TV and started an online petition, so people could sign it and stuff. After a while, we started to have interviews, we started to have good talks with them, and they (the city) decided to not skate stop it, but that they should rip out the flat ground. So, after 4 years we had a brand new plaza. It’s still exactly the same, but the flatground is brand new. Before, it was all broken, it was pretty hard to skate because of the flat ground. But, these are some of the best ledges in the world. I’ve never seen a ledge like this anywhere else in the world, best one to grind. We just had to say yes to a few things (to keep the plaza), there’s the big sculpture in the middle, now there’s a metal ledge all around it. Even on the pyramid, they wanted to put some metal edges, so there’s more protection, because they just put brand new marble everywhere. Regardless, the spot is like brand new, it’s the best now.
🌀: That’s so sick! Are you able to skate there at pretty much anytime then?
Anytime, there’s no kick out. There’s never been any kick out there. Maybe a little bit in the 90’s, but like once a year. It’s just skateable 24/7.
🌀: That sounds so fun. Another Lyon spot that comes to mind is that long double sided curb where they do the “Slappy Challenge”
Oh, yeah! We call it the “Venice Lyon” because it’s pretty much the same spot (as the Venice Beach curbs).
🌀: I’ve skated the Venice ones a bunch, but that Lyon one looks fun as well.
Yeah, it’s on a little downhill, you can get 2,3,4 tricks with no push. It’s a bike lane and a walkway, so there’s no cars, just a few bikes passing by. You can really skate it for hours and you don’t see anybody, it’s perfect.
🌀: I saw your clip in the Gronze World video, so I could tell you like going there to do some slappys. Curbs are fun!
Yeah, that’s all I have left (laughs), slappys.
🌀: That’s dope though, looks like a good time. Have you skated the Venice curbs?
No, no, I’ve never. I wish, one day. I have to get to the real ones.
🌀: Yeah you’ve got to get here and skate them! It’s cool because there’s the rounded curbs, similar to what you have in Lyon, and then a more classic squared off curb.
Yeah, right, there’s both. I wish we had the square one.
🌀: It’s nice having both because certain tricks work better on the round, and certain tricks work better on the square.
Exactly.
🌀: On the topic of Gronze, you mentioned to me that you just got back from the premiere of “Gronze World”, was that in Barcelona?
Yeah, it was in a movie theatre in Barcelona. It was really good, there were maybe 200 people. It was pretty sick. Then we all went out for a few beers, street bears, classic Barcelona. That’s it, it was pretty quick, I just came for the video and left the day after.
🌀: Had it been a while since you’ve been to a premiere? Since Covid put a halt on that…
Yeah, yeah, it was so good. It was the first one I attended in over two years.
🌀: Back to those Lyon curbs, Flo’s opening line in his Gronze part on the curbs was sick, it made me want to go skate the Venice curbs.
He can skate anything.
🌀: I like his balance between being a guy who does crazy tech manuals, jumping a bit, and then doing slappys, you know?
Yeah, he can skate transition as well, banks, he can skate anything.
🌀: That Alley-Oop Switch Big Heel he did into that bank in the Gronze video is another stand out.
Yeah, he’s done so many tricks into that bank, so many over the years. It’s a classic spot in Lyon as well.
🌀: Any other favorites of yours from that new Gronze video? I know Titi went off at the end…
Titi is the best, so good! That first line is insane. Max (Geronzi) told me it took 5 days to get it.
🌀: Wow. Well I’d say it was worth it, that Switch Heel at the end was crazy.
I don’t know if you’ve been to that spot, but it’s a long way down to get to that street. Having to back all the way every try is insane. I asked Max at the premiere, because he filmed it, he said “It’s been a nightmare, 5 days” (laughs)
🌀: Crazy! I was stoked that Titi skated to “Blow the Whistle”, it made it really fun to watch.
Yeah yeah, the song fit so good with the skating!
🌀: They nailed it. Whole video was dope.
Max and Bobaj made it.
🌀: I always keep an eye out for the Gronze edits, and I know a lot of the Hélas dudes are in that crew as well. Bobaj kills it.
Yeah, we started working on the Gronze Island trips together. He went on the first one, I went on the second and the third one. I edited the first 3, and then he did all the other ones.
🌀: Sick! Well thank you for taking the time to do this. I’ll keep an eye out for whatever you guys got dropping, maybe that raw footage from Paris!
Hopefully, but yeah we’ll have some more stuff coming before Summer for sure.
🌀: Hyped for that.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, I’m hyped to do it.
🌀: Of course! I’m always stoked on what you and the Hélas crew are doing, so I’m glad we got to do this.
Thanks a lot, glad you like it!
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