JOE WEBB

EDITO
J’étais encore parti pour faire
un édito tout plein de haine, parlant de pantalons trop courts,
d’ourlets, de drônes, de HD, de
Lil Wayne, d’overdose de ralentis,
de Jaws vs 25 vs Ali, de musique
“ é m o t i o n s - d r a m a t i q u e s - g a r a n t i e s ”,
d’chaussures de football, de wallies tous les
2 tricks, de clips Instagram en guise de vidéopart, de la Street-League, de filmer du “street”
en skatepark, des anciens Piss Drunk devenus
straight-edge, des Jeux Olympiques, des wallrides
en tout genre, des pros qui ne font que de cruiser, des amateurs qui font des cascades, d’la fin possible du Soma Skaterock, (?) etc... et puis en fait, Non.
Je suis parti à Bâle à la place, donner un coup de main,
à Oli Bürgin et son équipe, à monter le nouveau park indoor de la ville (juste à côté de Port-Land). Il n’y a pas à dire,
c’est quand même vachement plus constructif et enrichissant
comme activité. Voilà, va falloir vous contenter de ça, et de
l’interview d’un gars qui ne fait même pas de skate, Joe Webb, et
d’un autre, qui lui, fait du fingerskate. Bref, n’importe quoi! Quand
j’vous dis que ça ne me réussi pas d’travailler! Allez si, quand même une
dose de haine avant de boucler ce texte ridicule: Star Wars...
C’est vraiment de la merde!
JOE WEBB
interview
it might be a bit strange for you
to be asked for an interview in a
skatezine, but actually, I saw in your
art, a lot of common points with the
skateboard-art-culture. That’s why I
asked if you would be interested in
doing this! And I’m stocked you are!
Yeah, as I said previously, you’re doing
posters, using only “old - school”
technics. Totally DIY, which is also
an important aspect in the skateboard - scene. Why?
Are you anti-technology?
Well technology is everywhere now.
We all spend a lot of our time looking at screens. I think its important
to find ways of being ‘offline’. That’s
why I chose an analogue way of
working, There’s no real challenge
in finding images online to make
collages from. Theirs more an element of serendipity when you find
an image in a found newspaper on the
train or bus.
The ‘Zine scene is also using those
technics since years. Do you have
anything to do with fanzines?
I sometimes allow my images to be
used in fanzines. I like the DIY
approach of them.
The messages in your art are strong,
and really critical, against a lot of
aspect of modern society. Do you
think art, and yours especially can
change anything? I mean, do you
think people will waste less water,
or won’t buy a Gucci bag for example
after seing your stuff?
I hope the art will make people think,
do I really need all this stuff… and
where does it come from, whats
the impact of it on the world,
who’s making these… a sweatshop
somewhere? I’m not here to preach
though, it’s up to the individual
to make up their own mind.
Can you live from your art? Or you
also have to do some crap sidejobs, like shitty flyers-ads for huge
corporated companies, using Photoshop and all?!
I live from it. Making prints of the
works helps…plus the support of
some good galleries who help sell my
stuff.
Alright, what’s next for you?
I have a new solo exhibition at
Jealous Gallery, London in February
and March.
Hey that’s it. Thanks for your time.
Wish you all the best. DIY or die!
Cool, thanks for the interview.
Check out more of my work here:
www.joewebbart.com
facebook.com/joewebbartist
instagram.com/joewebbart
Hannes / fs 5-0 / fabio Stoll
boris / sw heelflip / fabio Stoll
samir / get fucked / fabio Stoll
charlie & miro / drop that shit / g.i.jey
eddy / drop that shit / g.i.jey
TOM DIETRICH / FS BLUNT / MATTHIAS SOMBERG
boulal / kickflip fakie / g.i.jey
flo / kickflip rocks / g.i.jey
manu / wallride / g.i.jey
Does size really matter?
Hi Martin, what’s up? Busy dealing with all your fans and new
sponsors since you became a star after your interview at Jenkem?!
Hi Jey, oh yeah, I´ve been super busy since then! TV shows, interviews,
press meetings etc., I barely have time to breathe anymore. Joking
aside, the interview was a really great opportunity to give a little deeper
insight in the fingerboard universe. In general I´m about to prepare the
fingerboard world championship “Fast Fingers 19“, which will take
place here in Schwarzenbach at the end of May, and much more stuff
like tradeshows etc.. Busy days in 2016!
Just kidding. No seriously, this interview was sick. I realised,
I really had no idea at all about fingerboarding. Sorry to say that,
but in my mind, it was just a toy, which I had fun with a while ago,
in school-class, at home during a rainy day, while being hurt, etc...
I even thought TechDecks were the first and only thing you could
get! But actually, fingerboarding started way before I was even born,
you guys built a whole scene, amazing parks, great fingerboards,
etc... Could you tell us a bit more about how it all started for you?
When I started to discover fingerboarding, I was eager to have
fingerboard ramps with perfectly fitting copings, perfect radiuses.
I´d been building skateboard ramps for a long time back then and
when I couldn´t find anything to buy on the internet, the idea of blackriver-ramps was born. Starting to organize contests and demos around
2000, led to the development of the fingerboard scene. Basically we
were the first ones who took fingerboarding seriously and saw more
than a little toy on the supermarket shelf.
FS Smith / Murat
Since you sent me this box full of products, I realised, that, actually,
the only good thing about TechDecks, is, the price... Because, in fact,
it’s like riding Wallmart kind of crap boards!
How does it feel to see companies selling shit, taking over the
business, while you are struggling, eventhrough, your products are
100 times better?
Kickflip 5-0
I don´t care how much money they make with their toys, it´s just a
pity that they do not sustainably invest in the fingerboard scene. So
much more could be possible, for example event sponsoring like it is
common in skateboarding. Years ago we had requests from big supermarket chains, which wanted to distribute our products. We ´ve always
denied that since I don´t want to see my products on their shelves. Our
main drive has always been to make great stuff for ourselves and the
fingerboard scene. Money has never been in the foreground. It´s the
same in skateboarding, you don´t want to see your favorite brand in
the supermarket. That´s good for the short-term cash flow of a brand,
but that´s it. It might sound trite but we make stuff by skate-/fingerboarders for skate-/fingerboarders and until now the customers have
appreciated that.
You said in your interview, that “fingerboarding feels real”. I can
understand, ‘cause, that’s how I actually understood how I had to
put my weight to have the righ balance for a smithgrind!
Did fingerboarding helped your skating as well and/or the opposite?
I think I can say that fingerboarding contributes a lot to a better
understanding of skateboarding. When I see folks like Luan Oliveira
or Torey Pudwell, I can´t help but think, that those dudes fingerboard
with a skateboard :-) If you can pop an ollie with a fingerboard you´ll
automatically understand how it works with a skateboard. And that
applies for all technical tricks on a skateboard. So all those fingerboard kids will naturally gain a better understanding of skateboard
tricks. Just compare it to Tony Hawk´s pro skater although it´s a poor
comparison since it´s just about pushing buttons. Still - everyone can
do it and gets a glimpse of the fascination of skateboarding. Fingerboarding is similar, just that it´s a real physical act doing tricks with
your fingers. You can definetely feel the tricks. Due to that I think the
quality of fingerboarding has a bigger impact on skateboarding and is
more, so to say, “real“.
FS Wallride / Hies
FS 5-0 / Assmuth
To me, it’s also a great way to get over my frustration of not being
able to land anything technical on my skateboard! (laugh) I mean,
with your fingerboard, for example, I did land some - nollie flip noseblunt - (on the slappy curbs you sent me)! Something I can’t even
dream about trying on my “real” board!
I can totally hear you, especially when you get older the motivation
is often bigger than your physical capacity. I love doing kickflips on
rails with the fingerboard - i´m always excited and it´s extreme fun,
although I´d never do that with my skateboard. I have a big respect for
skaters who have this kind of stuff on their trick list.
What about Blackriver-ramps? You guys also built some “real”
skateparks and stuff; You seem to be really active in the local scene!
Skateboarding has gone hand in hand with building ramps since my
very first days on a board. I´m from a small town in the Bavarian
outback, we didn´t have great streetspots and mostly we skated curbstones. That was the main reason why I started building ramps at a
young age. My first big project was the „Ass Hall“ in Hof in the early
90s, I was 19 back then. In the last 20 years more than 10 parks and
spots have been built within a radius of 15 km.
Is the DIY movement important for you? Because the design of your
parks seems to be similar to the Blackcross bowl, or Port-Land in
Basel for example... Tight transitions everywhere!
FS Invert / Beckmann
The DIY movement is great, it reflects what skaters actually want to
skate – small playful spots. In fact the big commercial skatepark companies should learn a lesson from the DIY scene. Though, I think, you
can´t really compare our parks to the Port-Land or Black Cross Bowl
since for us the gnarly factor doesn´t play a role at all. Single spots
have tight transitions in our parks/bowls, but they are definetely the
exception. Maybe the heights are similar, but apart from that every
spot is easily accessible, i.e. most spots are smooth and the copings
Layback FS Rock’n’roll / Assmuth
do not stick out that much. Skating itself is hard so why should one
build parks/ramps, which are hard to skate? If you have relaxed spots
every skill level will develop in opposite to what will happen in a
“standard” park. I know very few skaters who are keen on skating 3-4
meter transitions or jumping down a 10-stair set. Those measurements
are out-dated and my experience has proved that these kinds of parks
are mostly unused since just exceptionally talented skaters have fun
there. Seeing that is a stabbing pain in my skater heart.
You told me you love ‘zines right? How’s the scene near you?
Because overall, skatemags seem to be slowly dying...
I love zines - they show skateboarding in it´s purest form without a
lot of glamour and without having the back up of big corporations.
Unfortunately I don´t know any people who make zines here. I grew
up with skate mags and it´s a pity how they developed. I hope though
that more and more small zine editions will be published in the coming
years, because printing has got cheaper and more accessible than ever
before. Zines will never die.
Time for a classical Top 3 shizzle...
Top 3 Spot
- Blackriver Space Bowl
- All parks around Malmö
- Selb “Wavegarden” skatepark
Top 3 Magazine
- Boardsteine (RIP)
- Thrasher
- Fingerboarder Magazin
Top 3 Skateboarder
- CJ Collins
- Daan Van Der Linden
- Elias Assmuth
Wallride nosegrab to fakie / Prager
Pivot to fakie / Herzog
So in the end Martin, does size really matter? (laugh)
Apart from the actual size I do not think there´s a difference.
Skateboarding happens first of all on a mental level and both
in fingerboarding and skateboarding, you visualize and feel the
tricks in your head first. Referring to the physical aspect it´s
different and not different at the same .me. The feeling of doing
the trick is the same just that you use your fingers. The main
difference is the physical ac.vity though and the involved release
of adrenaline. Some people need that, others don´t.
If you refer to the size of the equipment, there´s a difference
indeed, since physics play a role. The very first fingerboards were
plas.c boards and they were just 24mm wide and really lightweight. Over the years we discovered that wider boards as well
as wider trucks are way be5er to control.
So, nowadays our fingerboards are 33.3 mm wide and that´s an
en.rely different world. The same in skateboarding, slowly people
start recognizing that wider boards and trucks have certain advantages like more stability and thus more board control. The
whole grind performance changes and you land tricks be5er, too,
since you literally have more wood under your feet. Back in
2009 we started to sell 9’’ new-­school street-­shape boards and
our manufacturer thought we had gone crazy. At that .me 8.5’’
boards were s.ll considered to be ships. Regarding the development of board sizes, it´s way more common to skate a board
over 8’’ now.
Alright, that’s pretty much it... Wanna add something?...
What are your plan in 2016? Any last words?
Wallride / Hopfensberger
Mostly I´m not able to plan that much in advance, as I pioneer you
never know where the road will lead you. In any case my plans include
a lot of skate- and fingerboarding, building one or another concrete
skate park, spending time with my son and if everything goes well
travelling to the US and going on vacation to Portugal. I think that´s it
for 2016. Thank you very much for the interview, it was a pleasure.