I’ve seen Karsten around for the last 10 years, he started skating around the time when Oslo’s biggest skatepark was suddenly built in his neighborhood of Bekkestua. At first I thought he was just going to turn in to a skatepark rat, but I was wrong, he’s decently one of the raddest street skaters out there at the moment, with full-on power and speed. The last time I meet him was randomly in Paris this summer, whilst he was on a Lakai tour and I noticed that he was enjoying skating with bigger confidence than before, I realised then that he had stepped up he’s game to the next level. – Gabriel Engelke

Hey Karsten, what have you been up to since Berlin?

Yo Sem! Everything is good!  Just been skating a lot and hanging out with friends!  Normal stuff I guess!

How’s your elbow by the way? I remember it swelled like a balloon after that slam on the rail. 

My elbow is back to normal after the slam. The thing was that I had an infection in my elbow two weeks before the trip to berlin.

Stalefish. Ph:Nykwen.

Ah yeah, I remember now about the infection.

Yep. So it was really vulnerable and then when  I took that slam straight to my elbow it just swelled up crazy!

Do you actually live in Norway? Where exactly? 

Yeah I live in Oslo, the capital of Norway!

Isn’t it too cold to skate there now? 

It’s way to cold to skate! It’s freezing!

Do you have good indoor parks?

We have two small indoor skate parks in Oslo and they are so crowded all the time! We really need a new one.

Bluntslide. Ph: Sem.

And how’s skating and living in Oslo?

My city is pretty mellow! It’s not too big not too small, and it’s really good for street skating during the summer. I usually skate with a few friends I live with.

Do you share a flat with skaters?

Yeah, we’re four friends sharing a flat in the east part of town. And we’re all skaters, so it’s perfect.

During the spring and summer I try and spend as much time as possible in Oslo ‘cause it’s so good, but when fall and winter come I try to travel. Like right now I’m in Long Beach with Nassim, skating and enjoying life!

True that, I’m sorry I called you earlier today, I didn’t realise it was so early over there. So, How is Long Beach going? 

Ha ha, no problem man! I had to get up anyway. I’m going to stay here for one month!

Switch smith. Ph: Sem.

Is it your first time there?

It’s not my first time. I have a couple of friends over here so I usually go a couple of times a year. This would be my 6th time I think.

Alright, now I understand why your English is so good. Is it a personal skate trip or does Element want you to be there for some reason?

It’s both. I’m coming here to film for the upcoming Element Europe video and to chill and escape the Norwegian Winter.

And how’s the US this time then?

Well when I arrived at the airport and had to go through the border control. The lady didn’t like me, or something, so I had to go through another control and wait for one and a half hours before they decided that I wasn’t a terrorist and let me go!

Karsten is 22 and rides for Element, Lakai, Session Skateshop, Spitfire, Thunder.

Lakai have just released this nice little Stevie Perez part to introduce their latest shoes: the Camby. Damn that kid is smooth…

If you have doubts as to why they turned him pro (I’d be very surprised if any of you did), you might want to rewatch this.

As far as Canadian skate videos go, the Green Apple ones have definitely always been up there with the “North” series. It’s funny how the whole editing unrelated incidental footage into skate edits thing they pioneered has become so popular now…
Their old videos Modern Love and Supper’s Ready are classics, if you’ve never heard of them then you’ve got some serious catching up to do. The sections I’ve posted below should give you a good idea of what all the fuss is about.

As you can see the flyer is in French but you should be able to just about make out what’s going on.

Marseille hasn’t had a proper skateshop in almost 10 years so to celebrate Bud skateshop’s grand opening the locals have organised a massive event that includes  Cliché (24/05) , Volcom (28/05) and Lakai (04/05) demos, Tommy Guerrero (26/04) and Wu-Tang (24/05)  concerts and an invitational contest on the ridiculously tight DIY bowl Julien Bénoliel is currently building…

Here are some photos of what the bowl looks like so far.

Marseille is also European capital for culture this year which means that tons of money has been invested into the development of new museum, theatres and art galleries as well as in the redevelopment of  run-down areas. This mean stuff to do when you aren’t skating and millions of  new spots to hit when you are skating. If  you were looking for a place to go on holiday during that period then believe me Marseille is your ideal destination. And I didn’t even mention the weather or the legendary bowl by the beach…

Check out this website for more info.

Someone just uploaded Ludo Masselot’s part from Anagram’s sick new release: “Crazy Extreme Skate”. Head over here if you want to watch some of the other sections…

But we at Kingpin we are convinced that some of the edits that hit the web deserve to be remembered as more than “just another web clip”. So to prevent legit skateboarding from being diluted in this way we’ve decided to launch this new section on our website. From now on at the beginning of each month I’ll be posting (in no particular order) what the Kingpin editors consider being the best 5 edits to have been released over the last 30 days. I’m sure those of you who have better things to do than watch every single video that gets posted on this site (like actually ride your skateboards) will benefit from these little monthly recaps.

Street Machine Copenhagen: VORESKBH

I have to admit that it was quite difficult for us to choose between this one and this month other excellent Scandinavian release: Oslo 5. Hjalte’s section with the Pontus cameo probably gave it the edge… I think it’s the first full part I’ve seen from the Scandinavian Smithy and I was blown away! His skating is a mixture of spontaneity, flow and a little something special I can’t quite put my finger on. It has to do with the way he makes every spot look tiny without looking too big for his skateboard. I’m not denying the fact that he’s a rather imposing young man but it has more to do with his rythm and how he barely moves his feet before he glides out of every trick. I think I must have replayed his switch back tail at least 5 times in a row. I love how he’s completely leaning back and looking the wrong way as he lands, everything about it looks so switch. It’s such a steezy little backwards swerve.

The standard of skating in crew videos is so high these days that it takes a little more than a bunch of stylish tricks to stand out. In this case the way the scene’s atmosphere is portrayed is probably one of their main assets. Here recurring spots and shared sections obviously help show this but I’m convinced that the few trip sections sprinkled between the parts are what really make a difference, even if the skating’s not taking place in Copenhagen. Seeing this group of friends take on some spots they’ll probably never get to skate again is one of the best parts of the video. You actually get to compare what they were naturally inclined to try and enjoy everything they managed film in a short amount of time rather than the usual 3 minutes of offcuts these sections usually offer. It felt like it was the first time someone did this properly since “Bon Appétit”.

The Philadelphia Experiment:

I’ve always been a fan of Chris Mulhern’s work but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by his switch from VX to HD. Of course he’s one of the few filmers who actually knows how to use those bulky cameras but I was worried that he’d never quite be able to recreate the something as good as “This Time Tomorrow”. Then he released this incredible time travelling experiment. Reading him say “the way the headlights streak on actual film emulsion is something that HD can never recreate” in his Theories Of Atlantis interview was all it took for my faith to be restored. Of course a lot of you may find the whole the VHS/90’s look a little bit played out but I don’t recall it ever being done so effectively and frankly, out of all the current skate video trends, it’s by far the one that makes the most sense. It may have lost a little bit of its novelty but I’d much rather see skateboarding take this route than the HD slow-mo ledge dancing one. At least those cameras actually capture the way skateboarding feels rather than dumbing it down for a wider audience. Plus slipping some of Ryan Gee’s old high 8 clips in there was a stroke of genius! It keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat, asking yourself “wait a second was that new Ricky Oyola footage”? The confusion created by the recent clip of Brian Panebianco rocking the classic 1995 swishy pant/Chunky DC outfit at LOVE park is also one of the highlights.

Then there’s the whole Mark Suciu phenomenon. We had to decide to not have more than one Suciu clip in here, but objectively his Sabotage 3 remix and his Adidas part were probably amongst the 5 best edits that came out last month. Taking his Californian (robotic?) consistency to Philly was definitely excellent for his career. I can’t think of a better way to gain a bit of extra credibility than than move to a city with tons cellar doors, crusty looking spots and an iconic “back from the dead” plaza.

Sylvain Tognelli’s Kingpin interview edit:

No matter how determined they are to ruin a legit company, the Blueprint owners must suffered from the serious blows they took last month. I’m not even referring to the Hitler video or the pages and pages of hate on the forums and on their Facebook. I’m talking about the rise of Isle and all the hype that came with it, Brady getting on Palace, Coakley’s sick welcome to Think clip, Smithy killing it in the National Promo and of course Sylvain’s Kingpin/Lakai edit. Blueprint’s demise doesn’t seem to have slowed them down one bit and I’m sure the future (The Grey video, Palace’s video, Morph/Kev Parrot’s video) will show that this painful episode has fuelled their motivation if anything.

In terms of skateboarding I feel like there really isn’t any need to explain why this clip is in the top 5. It may be a shorter than expected (I’d be curious to see what the Americans filtered out…) but every single trick is incredible. Who else have we ever seen do a nose wheelie on a wall?

Dimestore’s “Dime Turd”.

Anyone who’s seen a Dimestore video knows exactly why this is up here. On one hand you’ve got all the elements you’ve learnt to love an expect from them: footage of Montreal’s weirdos, Crackheads and gnarly street fights; sick skating (Antoine Asselin, J-S Lapierre and Charles Rivard always deliver the goods) and the editing is always hilarious. Who else uses the X-Files theme song or makes giant reincarnations of their mates appear through the clouds?  On the other hand they are completely unpredictable. This one for instance is full of skaters that weren’t in the previous ones. That includes cameos from big names like Wade Des Armo as well as full sections from unknown nutters like Alexis Lacroix, the guy  who “mono-sky bombs” over that gnarly SF double set.

Another notable surprise in this one is the absence of their beloved mascot. Judging from the filter YouTube has imposed on their first video I’m guessing they must have had a few legal issues with her. What a shame we were just getting to know her.

Lucien Clarke’s welcome to KR3W clip.

Out of all of the unique styles London has produced Lucien’s is definitely one of those that I find the most interesting. It takes so many ingredients to create such a peculiar balance of finesse and power. One of them is probably his flick. You just don’t expect someone with Lavaresque flip tricks to be able to do them down massive gaps, let alone with the same delicacy as on flat. Then theirs his ability to make to roughest grounds look as smooth as MACBA. The footage of him frontside flipping some stairs at 0:29 is a good illustration of what I mean. When he absorbs the impact it looks as if he’s landing on some buttery Californian schoolyard asphalt but believe me that is one shitty set of stairs. It’s only 5 minutes away from Bordeaux’s outdoor skatepark which means that tons of skaters roll past it everyday yet I seriously can’t remember anyone ever bothering to skate them before Lucien. I guess chucking yourself down horrible British sets for years is bound to enhance your ability to adapt to anything… Finally there’s the way he always seems so calm and in control. It’s as if he was taking his time without necessarily going slowly. It might be a little more noticeable in This Time Tomorrow (it’s easier to see this kind of thing in a 5 minute part) so use this as an excuse to rewatch his section (starts 43 minutes in).

Interview: Jan

Photo: Sam

Err… Well, in my opinion, skateboarding these days is at a point where everyone needs to choose their path; and that might involve splitting up. It is going to be interesting to see the future of it all.

I don’t agree so much with the article. They claim corporates will be aiming to rationalise skateboarding, so that it can be more easily consumed by the masses, and I don’t really agree with that. I believe they can profit of normal street skating, if they brand it well. And that is half of the article, which really is an interesting read, but in truth it reveals more about the author’s take on it. My take is this: when you go to a skate shop or wherever and buy skate product, with what you buy, you participate in the industry and culture. And, after all, skateboarding is an industry, people in it are here to make money, I’m not judging that. What I’m getting at is that investors from the outside, who are not skating and have no background in it, will be much quicker to pull the plug and get out if the profits can be made more easily elsewhere. Not saying there is evil in the corporate, that’s just the structure of it. It’s made to make money, period. So, if you picture skateboarding as a wall and each company is a brick, it’ll end up getting pretty sketchy once too many of those turn corporate. Because, if too many pull out, the entire wall is coming down. At least this goes for the industry side of things, ignoring all things cultural for the moment.

You have people ending up with only an energy drink sponsor, thinking, “What happened?!” At the same time it gets harder and harder for core brands to keep up with the money the others are willing to offer up. Just staying in business for them turns out to be a challenge.

But as I said, it’s not all bad…

No. What I’m saying is: if you’re supporting a brand that’s not from a skateboarding background, you’re taking a risk; you’re making the industry more fragile. Of course, at the same time you make it bigger. However, you’re feeding something that is most likely to leave one day. By the time the masses’ attention shifts towards the next trend, the hover board or whatever, that’s where those corporates will be going.

At the end of the day, there will be some accountant or manager who decides where the money goes. And if he doesn’t see investments make a profit, he’ll put them elsewhere. Looking at skater-owned brands like Antiz on the other hand, who haven’t really made much profit in ten years or so, they still keep going, because, what are they going to do? They’re not going to invest in something else instead!

Frontside feeble (Photo: Coulthard)

Yeah, it’s the same thing. All the farmer knows is farming, that’s his thing. One year his crops will be better than the other, still he’ll always go on to do what he knows. He’s not going to start investing in pharmaceuticals the next year, because that’s what a corporate farming company might do with half their budget if one winter the prospects for rocket doesn’t look too good.

Well, with Blueprint: the thing that no one knew was, that it was in fact owned by Nike and Red Bull; and we didn’t want to support corporates any longer (laughing). But seriously: Blueprint was bought by Pure Distribution three years ago, which was the best option the guys in charge had at the time, because Faze 7, the old owner, was being liquidated. There were not a lot of options at the time as the industry was in a bad place but Pure seemed fitting because it was actually owned by an old skater, he knew what he was doing, had promised to push the company and also keep Blueprint its own entity, away from other brands he owned. Everyone of the riders agreed on making the move, and it was good. We all were actually quite motivated on the new thing, getting some new guys on, who were picked really well by Shier and Magee. Some people in England were not super stoked on Blueprint going to America, but at least the team was happy about it and still together. But with time, some things didn’t go that well and doubts started to arise. Magee wasn’t motivated, Baines left and eventually Shier. Hence, what made Blueprint was gone. So then us riders felt there was no point in staying. There has been talk of mutiny or whatever. But mutiny implies you rebel against your boss. To us the boss is Shier!

Well, all of us on the team have been, and still are, really good friends, we wanted to stay together but that is sometimes hard when Blueprint was a team of 12+ guys. So, right now we’re in the planning phase of creating something new – a new little family to keep going on trips with. Because that’s what we want to do: go on trips with good friends and work on some videos! We aren’t here to take over the world or cash into new trends, just to carry on doing what we love to do.

I don’t know. I think, our generation, we don’t really know anything other than going on trips and filming for videos. Not so much more…

I think younger brands might be more aware of what skateboarding really is at this stage, the state of skateboarding being a bit more mainstream. They know how to create a hype outside of skateboarding.

My studies weren’t about how to create a company hype. I know a little bit about social media and the way people build their personalities therein. But this was sociology. I don’t know about marketing at all, I only have theories.

Wallride fakie (photo: Price)

What I can say is: I’m exited about what we’re going to do. I’m excited for the things to come. I just don’t want to say too much because everything is still at the state of planning right now.

The last Euros I had left for this month I drank away last night, and what was left you borrowed for coffee just now! (laughing) If I had money, I’d happily consider it, I think a lot of the others are in a similar position. Thing is though, we don’t want to have another secret owner like before, because I think that was one of the reasons Blueprint went bad: people were not sure who was behind it and that is not how any brand should be run. When people used to ask me who owned it, I would say Magee, even though I knew in reality he didn’t. The next thing is definitely going to be owned by us, the skaters, with Paul Shier backing in financially.

It’s mid-December now, we’re still in midst of planning things. But what I can say is, the brand is going to reflect what we are: close friends that like traveling together – because anything we’re not really about we’d have no resources for. The original spirit of Blueprint is not really about a location, it is more what Shier, Colin, Baines, Magee and those guys brought to the plate. They could go anywhere in the world and bring their own vision and tricks. So, I don’t think we will need an office in London or any of that. But yeah, for sure some things will be similar, because that’s the skateboarding we’re all into.

Yeah, for sure some new people. We’re definitely moving on. We‘re not trying to blueprint Blueprint, we just share the roots. Here again we are still figuring out the team. Shier is pulling the strings. We all talk a lot. Shier is trying to introduce us into how a company works, Nick is getting interested in art direction etc… I guess we’re all at this age now, where we don’t just want to skate for a brand but also be involved as well. So that’s going to be exciting in 2013.

That’s not my decision to make. I just try to do my thing.

Yeah, a device inside the board noting every trick and the most points qualify you to enter Street League – now you spoiled the whole secret… (laughing)

Well, (taking a look out of the window at a snow-covered pavement) now I could go for a good ten degrees more on the thermometer. And, yeah, some of my friends from there I really don’t see enough of. At the same time I didn’t really feel that good skating in Lyon. So, it was a good decision to move somewhere else. However, it’s true, it was a big deal for me, meeting the Wall St. dudes and then the guys from Antiz. Every day they’d bring me to a spot to skate. They introduced me to the way skating works. And I could see a brand happening. I could see the guys, how they do it. You feel the spirit, go on little trips…

Feeble (photo: Sam)

I think it could have happened, if Blueprint would not have happened.

I was really fan of Love (Eneroth) back then. Then he was gone, so that would have been my opportunity to take this guy’s seat (laughing).

I’ve been swimming a lot the last weeks. I play golf a bit and table tennis in the summer, [I] try to play pool in the winter… There was a little story: two years ago I had a surgery on my foot and I couldn’t skate for few months, so, I really wanted to get into playing pool. It got to the point where me, my roommate and a couple of friends started arguing about the rules. I even printed them out and brought them to the pool place, that’s how serious it was!

Not really. At the time maybe a little bit, but then I didn’t play the whole summer and that was it. I always tend to get really passionate about stuff. Same with golf: I got really amped on it, and then I went to LA and played Shier who hadn’t played for years and he kicked my ass! I have been getting back into playing pool this winter though, just this time much more relaxed, and chess too.

Other than that, yeah, I only skate. I don’t make a lot of money, just enough to get by here in Berlin, which really doesn’t take much compared to other cities. So far, it’s been really good that way.

Actually, I said two months! But I think I was just lying to myself. I knew right then I wanted to stay longer but I was anxious about leaving. So, I just took two little bags, telling everyone in Lyon I’d be back soon. Steve (Forstner) did the same and we ended up moving in together. He was gone a lot, but he also paid the rent a lot! And I’m still grateful! We lived pretty far out though, so it was not that easy. But after a year relocated towards the Benches, so now it’s perfect. And I really like it in Berlin. Despite it getting super rinsed, and despite rising rents – even though it’s probably the best time to move somewhere else!

When my girlfriend, who’s from here, finishes with her studies, I could maybe picture myself moving to some other place with her for a while and then coming back. Or am I lying to myself again!? (laughing) Yeah, so in September we’ll be moving to Mongolia, living in a tent – I heard it’s cheap and getting trendy… (laughing)

Backside nose grind 180 (photo: Sam).

Not at all. If you move to Berlin and are into partying or going out, then it can get hard to do anything, not just creating. There is just so much entertainment and distractions. But I’ve never been that much into any of that. For example, when I said yesterday, “Meet you at the bar,” I went home took a shower, turned my phone off and I was ready to go to bed. But then I felt this guilt, like, “ I don’t want to be that guy again,” turned it back on and went to Franken (bar). But yeah, I think I’m more the type for chilling. So ultimately, there is no problem for me being in Berlin.

I’ve decided not to talk about it anymore. It’s better to keep this memory in a nice place in the back of my head. Because every time you talk about something, the memory that’s stored in your brain gets altered. And I don’t want that to happen. I’ve been star-struck, it’s powerful! It lasted a couple of days, like a bad hangover. In 10 years I’ll probably say I used to hang around with him…  (laughing)

Yeah, skating here definitely challenges you more than say Barcelona. But also, in general, people tend to say, “Oh, five years ago, everything was so much better!” But, in truth, hasn’t it always been that way? Maybe in twenty years people will look back and think, “2012 was so sick!” It’s always really subjective and relative to the now. And as for Berlin in particular: the prices may go up a bit, people might change slightly, but there is this spirit that if you want to do something, you go and do it. And that is in people’s minds, you can’t just take it away!

In a way it is a bit similar. In the sense of: not waiting for an institution to do stuff for you. Because, that’s how I grew up: if you wanted something, you have to go to the city council and apply for it. Here it works more liberal. Like just outside here for example: If people want to light their street for Christmas, the neighbours just go ahead and do it!

Frontside 5-o (photo: Coulthard).

Yeah, I skate with him a lot and we get along quite well, but his take on skating is almost the opposite of mine. Still, it’s one more reason I disagree with that article. I don’t think you need to model skateboarding on tennis or any other sport in order to sell it. Everyone who really skates knows the value of creative skating, and that it touches more people than just the skaters. For example, one of the first videos I was really into was “Mosaic” and I could show it to my girlfriend at the time and she would be able to see the creative value in it. Of course she didn’t care much about the tricks, but for sure for the vibe, the motion and maybe the graphics. So in that respect, I really don’t believe, skateboarding needs to be turned into a sport!

Yeah, exactly. On the one hand, the Street League stuff, the sport and the points, all of that is definitely happening. But for other reasons, I don’t think it’s all because of corporates wanting to rationalise and force it into becoming a sport. All the niches will stay independent. Who knows though, maybe in the long term there will be some skaters who only skate Street League. To me, as soon as you start putting numbers on skaters, as soon as you count points, the emotional facet is missing, and that’s an important part! Sure, I can watch Street League, I can watch all the contests; I can connect to it. But as soon as I step on my board, all of that has nothing in common with what I do. Also, what’s maybe more important in street skateboarding, and what most people don’t even realise is, that we skaters might be some of the last people who really use and take the public space. And it goes far beyond tricks or whatever. Like back in the Roman day, the forum was where everything happened. All of social life, politics, business… Today everyone is just going from A to B, everything else happens in the virtual world. You see, when people stop and watch us and get really stoked, I think they take notice, they see the political movement. I think they get stoked to see people using their surrounding to make something out of it. And it is a crazy power to do that, to have this knowledge. Imagine some filmer, say Josh Stewart, who spent years and years of his life in the streets. With all the knowledge he gathered, in politics he could be a consultant to some really important decisions on social city life…

Actually, I was talking to Hold Tight (Henry) about this the other day and he was getting where I’m aiming at. He said he’d be really into digging into the topic. I could see that turning out really interesting! And it’s an experience you only get from street skating. Skateparks are a complete different story. We should be grateful to have it, we should cherish it. It’s a state of mind that let’s you see the world with different eyes. In the end, I don’t even know, what I intend to declare [by] saying this. I just want it to be printed (laughing).I think I just want people to think for a minute and ask themselves, “What am I doing when I go skate?!”

Nosewheelie wallrider (photo: Sello).

Here’s some Robbin De Wit footage to remind you that the new Bombaklats video is dropping in a few weeks time. Let’s hope Zom and Nassim both have full sections…

You can already pre-order copies of the DVD here: www.bombaklats.com

The amount of footage someone like MJ filters out during the editing process of a video like Pretty Sweet is insane… Lakai have put together 2 minutes of footage that didn’t make it in his part, or in the extras, or in a Pretty Sweet “Lost and found” clip.