I’m back with another Instamix, this time it’s Hjalte Halberg. With his tasteful trick selection, high speed approach, and ability to make it all look fun, I dug deep into his Instagram to pick some of my favorite clips.
I was first introduced to Hjalte’s skating years back in a Polar video, but I first found myself obsessing over the way he skates in the “Looks OK to Me” video where he shares a part with Bobby Worrest. I’ve made it clear that I’m a fan of that video, and from that point on, I’ve clicked on anything with Hjalte’s name on it, from the Nike x Soulland edits, to Ben Chadourne’s beautiful web clips like “Firesides”, and giving his Bunt a listen, a couple times.
With Hjalte footage, I’m always left wanting more. In the best way, because his skating makes me want to skate. His balance of hard to do ledge tricks, speed, and simplicity is what I love. As I’ve touched on before, sometimes Instagram clips can convey this sense of “fun” better than a video part, the Dancer IG clips are a great example of this, as it always seems that Hjalte, Ville and their crew are having a great time, and just happen to be do amazing tricks on their skateboards.
Here are some of my favorite IG clips of Hjalte mixed together –
My list of favorite skateboarders could go on forever. About every week or so I have a skateboarder that I’m extra hyped on, it could be someone I’ve been a fan of for years or someone I just saw for the first time. Regardless, I always do the same thing, watch this person’s video parts, read their interviews, and lurk through their Instagram. Well, this past week it’s been Jake Hayes. Jake is someone I’ve been familiar with for years, but this week I’ve taken a deep dive into his footage, just appreciating his simple trick selection, unbelievable pop, and … Continue reading Jake Hayes Instamix & Loops 📼🌀
2021 has been off to a hot start with video parts. With 2 recent pro announcements, and the fact that I’ve been spending time digging into some of my favorite videos/parts from last year, I figured I’d share some recent stand out loops. With new videos dropping daily, a topic I think about all the time is how to make them last more than one day, how to keep people talking/posting about them. Hopefully these loops remind you to take a look back at some of your favorites from the past, and recognize that all the work that goes into … Continue reading What’s Loopin’ 2/14/2021
He’s known for his next-level ledge moves, but there’s a lot more to JP than just those tech skills. He’s always joking around, betting on every try, and just bringing good energy to every session. I love seeing people get the recognition they deserve, and this past week has been just that for JP. We touch on his pro surprise, new part, being offered $600 for an ollie, his wild bag of tricks and much more!
🌀: This past week seems to have been a memorable one for you, you were surprised with 2 pro boards, and dropped a Thrasher part, how are you feeling?
Dude, feeling crazy, feeling nice man. It was a trip, you know? Got the board surprise, I knew it was coming but I didn’t know when. It was a crazy feeling, it was how I always dreamed it would be, with all of my friends there. I had a BBQ at my house after and I couldn’t eat. I was just drinking, but drinking was hard too because I would get this weird feeling, like this thing I worked for for like 20 years or something finally happened. The part I’m most hyped about is that my friends and family were even more happy than me. That was the best feeling, everyone being proud and like “He got it, he made it”.
🌀: Let’s get into this pro surprise, it was at the Willmington Ledge, a spot you seem to love, what did you think the plan was that day?
Tyrone, he’s the brand manager at NB#, he hit me up to do a wear test of this shoe that he knows I love and asked if I had someone to come film. I was like “Oh yeah for sure, my friend Shane can do it”, Shane is the guy I filmed this part with, he’s been my friend for a long time. So I was like “Ok, let’s go to Willmington”, we go there, the ledge was knobbed, so we were just going to skate flat to show the shoe. Shane came to film and he said “Yo, Joey (Brezinski) is going to come film a second angle”. Joey is a pro for Visual, but he also likes to film, so I was like “Cool, sounds good”. Carlos (Ribeiro) pulled up too. I was playing a game of skate with Carlos, and he lost and broke my board. I had no more boards with me, only old boards in my car, so I got pissed off and went to grab his board and broke it too. I went to my car, picked up an old board, and as I was setting it up, that fool (Carlos) pushed me and broke it. I was so pissed, like “This fools a dick, he’s trying to be funny right now in front of you guys, he thinks he’s the shit”. I was like (to Carlos) “Now you’re going to go to the car, get a board for me, and set it up for me”. He picked up another old board from the car for me, as I’m setting it up he pushes me again, as soon as he pushed me I was thinking “Dude, there’s something wrong, what the fuck is this dude gonna do?!”. He broke the 3rd board and I saw Steve, the Visual owner, with some boards in his hands, and he looked at me weird. He said “Hey, I heard this guy was being a dick and breaking your boards, so I thought you’d need some more” and right there, boom, my pro board.
I’ve been friends with Billy for years, my first memories are seeing him do the most tech manny and quarter pipe tricks at PQ park, the more I skated there, the closer I got with Billy. Over the years we’ve been on trips, countless sessions, and spent plenty of time inside Slappy’s Garage together. Stress Skateboards just dropped their new edit “Duwop“, and Billy closed the curtains, so I figured we’d get the backstory on him getting on Stress, traveling for this video, his roller skating roots, and what Kombucha he’s cracking to celebrate the release. Enjoy!
🌀: So the new Stress edit dropped today, are you feeling more so relieved or excited?
I’m relieved, the past week or two I’ve just been anxious about having a full part in it. I know it’s only a 6 minute edit, but actually closing it out…
🌀: Yea, you’re the guy in it!
It’s so weird, you know?
🌀: Yeah, it’s sick though. Well deserved. Did you pick the song you skated to?
That was all Kevin, he said he found a lot of it on Spotify, he just stumbled upon them. He actually wanted to use the song Almost used for Dilo…
Yeah, so Kevin was like “What do you think about this song?”, and I was like “Dilo used it”, I feel like out of everybody, Kevin should’ve known that (laughs)
🌀: That’s funny. To go back to the beginning, how did you first get on Stress?
Just hanging around the shop (Slappy’s Garage), there was an event here when the shop expanded and they approached me like “Yo, we’re thinking about doing this company”, a few months passed and nothing came of it, then they announced the team, and a couple months after that they felt it out and said “Yo you wanna skate for us?”, and I was like “Yeah, let’s do it”
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