Page 29 - BackSIDE rollbrett-heft VOL.4 25th Anniversary

21:35 21:36

JonnyGiger JonnyGiger

Ollie Indie - Buchs, Switzerland - 2007
I can understand Rodney Mullen from a technical perspec�ve but when you
started ska�ng in 2004 his heydays were almost over and I say this without

being disrespec�ul to his mind blowing legacy. How did you find out about
Rodney Mullen?
As soon as I found out that doing tricks with the skateboard was possible I spent
a lot of �me on YouTube watching skatevideos. You didn’t have to dig deep to

find Rodney Mullen’s Globe Part. I think it was the most viewed skate video back
then. Ever since that day I probably watched the part over a hundred �mes.

What was your first trick besides ollie? What is your go-to trick?
I learned strawberry milkshakes before I learned ollies. I actually thought I invented it My Warm up Trick on flat is usually 20 shove’s in a row, no-complies and

since it was my brainchild and I hadn’t seen it before. But of course it was invented way impossibles. You might have no�ced that none of them involves any flick. A�er
earlier. My very first trick was a 50-50 on a round flatrail though. Now that’s a real
spraining both ankles a million �mes it takes a long �me for them to get warm
surprise. Before I even knew what an ollie was I heard of this thing called „grind* it
un�l I can actually do a kickflip for instance. Maybe I’m just ge�ng old too. Ah
sounded so cool in English (I mean „schliiife“ in swiss german sounds kinda not so cool)
and I love to do the infamous boneless down gaps. It’s a good way to check on
but I didn’t know how to ollie. So I built a kicker and put the rail right in front of it.
the impact and speed but I don’t skate a lot of gaps anymore.
Problem solved as there was no need to ollie. A�er 1-2 hours of failed balancing acts I
finally managed to roll away from one. I tried to elevate rail and the kicker which
succeeded to a certain extent. But on this one day it was just the sketchiest What is your signature trick?
construc�on ever. When I hit the rail the thing just „exploded“ and I dislocated my I’m not sure if I do have something like that. I like Blackfoot varial heels and BS
finger. 180 late flips and they are two rare tricks that I got pre�y consistent. My
audience has been asking for a „Giger Flip“ which ended up being a SW FS shove

One of my standard ques�ons is which skateboarder did inspire you most. I think I late hardflip. I don’t take this trick name or signature thing too serious though.
know the answer on interna�onal level. Rodney Mullen. Who is this now locally?
Which trick is s�ll on your wish list?
It’s either way Rodney, Daewon song or Chris Haslam. On a regional level it was Deny
Hoop, Thomas Sprecher, Roman Staub in the early days. On a Na�onal level it’s Ufff. Should I read some from my notes? Hahaha ok let’s try so:
Alexander Rademaker, Lino Haefeli, Dominik Müller, Henrique Goncalves, Jonas Fetz, - pop shove it late impossible (i’ll probably never do that)
Simon Perro�et and many more. - Varial heelflip primoslide varial heelflip out (that’s doable)
- tre flip to an� casperstall on a bank
Let’s have a quick chat about Alex Rademaker. It looks from the outset that at one - Heelflip late shove it crossfoot (landed that one but sketchy)
point you have taken him under your wings. Who is this guy and what is he up to
…and the list con�nues
now?
Alex is a skateboarder from Geneva who is just a bit younger than me. In my opinion
What is your proudest moment in your current skateboarding career?
he’s the most underrated Skater on this Planet. His crea�vity blew my mind from the
Hmm probably the infamous game of skate against Prod. I landed some good
very first �me I saw him skate. This guy was doing primo-slides way back in the early
tricks and I think it was a good game. Looking back I’m also glad that I lost. I think
2000’s! He’s an absolute genius, can’t say that enough. Unfortunately he got injured a
it’s crucial for a healthy personality development to be good at loosing too. A big
while ago and he wasn’t able to skate much since then. I sincerely hope that he’ll get
loss like that was hard to take at first but I learned so much from it.
back on track soon. I’m not sure if taking him under my wing would be the right thing to
say, because to me it more felt like he was the one taking me under his wing. He taught
me a lot and I’m grateful to call him my friend.

28 29