88 CONCRETE WAVE WINTER 2012 MONTREALTHE LONGBOARD SCENE EXPOSED? BY MICHAEL BROOKE Concrete Wave Montreal is a city unlike anything you’ll experience in the rest of North America. It seamlessly blends art, history and culture into a tantalizing mosaic. At times it can be mysterious and maddening, but I have always found it utterly mesmerizing. There is an endless amount of incredible food that can please any type of palate. The extraor- The Big O was dug up and moved 80 meters dinary number of bars that stay open to the early hours have sealed Montreal’s reputationto accommodate as quite the newthe partystadium. town. Is it any wonder I wanted to share this magical place with the readers of Photo: Michael Brooke But what about the longboard scene, you wonder? I am pleased to report that not only is there a thriving longboard scene in Montreal, but it is one that is incredibly hospitable to visitors. You just have to expe- rience it – to jump in and grab hold of the “joie de vivre” that oozes from this city and its inhabitants. My first visit to Montreal was in 1978 on a school trip. While it was enjoyable, it wasn’t until 1983 that I truly fell in love with the city. Montreal is only a five- hour drive from Toronto and a four-hour drive from New York City, but as you will soon discover, it feels like it’s in its own unique world. Numerous people have helped nurture the long- board scene in Montreal. I’d like to introduce you to one Christian Chenard-Lemire (left) and Alaric LeBlanc of Restless . of its founding fathers: Pierre Gravel. Gravel has lived in the city for about 18 years. Ini- tially from Alma, Lac Saint Jean, a fairly remote northern town, he moved to Montreal for work. “I moved with my longboard and I never saw anyone riding at the time,” he says. “It was only in 1996 that I started to see other people.” By that time a few shops had started to carry longboards. “Spin Boardshop had them, along with Le Roi Lizard.”

THE LANGUAGE OF STOKE The official language of Quebec is French, and while many in Montreal are bilingual, it’s always much more convenient to communicate in your mother tongue. Back in the mid- to late ’90s, the Quebec longboard community hung out on the NCDSA website. Gravel says, “I met Paul Demers at the forum, along with Jim Z (Ziemlanski). But after this, we all started to congre- gate to the Motion Longboards website.” From there, things moved rapidly to the website of

Bob Couet, the owner of Urge Longboards, Top Challenge, a downhill event that took place in the stands in his 9' x 6' workshop. heart of Montreal. Pierre set up the site, and the Mon- treal longboard community started to communicate. Sadly, the site ceased to exist and its entire database dis- appeared after the death of Top Challenge. Undaunted, Pierre decided to create a new website, Montreal Ses- sions, which now has more than 2,000 members. Helping Pierre were Yann Lhermitte and Fabrice Gaëtan. “Mike Bottreau, Myriam Arsenault-Jacques and Simon Benoit are also helping to maintain order,” recalls Pierre. “Sometimes the forum got a little heated!”

Friday night sessions at Le Taz indoor skatepark are a must for many longboarders.

90 CONCRETE WAVE WINTER 2012 The KebbeK Krew: (left to right) Marco Waldorf, Stephen Peters, Kevin LeFrank, Kayla Hill and Pierre Gravel.

WHEN FABRICE MET YANN videos and adapted what they saw to the terrain of Fabrice Gaëtan started at the age of 30 Montreal. Interestingly, Yann credits Fabrice as his after he had broken his wrist while bike riding. “I had mentor for sliding, and Fabrice credits Yann as his met up with a few folks via the Internet. As we started mentor for going fast. “We were learning from each to go faster, I felt the wheels and I wanted to other and it was pure fun,” says Fabrice. push things further,” he says. At the time the two were sliding with a fellow Mon- Joining up with Fabrice was Yann Lhermitte. Yann had trealer, Nicholas Senequier. “It was all about going fast arrived from the French Alps to study and work in Mon- with slides – it was the concrete,” he adds. treal. “We were just having a blast sliding,” says Yann. I asked Yann and Fabrice about their style of sliding. “People used to give us very strange looks. They just “We have a history of putting our hands down when we couldn’t understand the gloves or what we were doing.” slide,” says Yann. “We have a laid-back, low positioning Fabrice and Yann took inspiration from Supaflex style. We stretch out.”

Graffiti sanctioned by the city of Montreal for the 'Under Pressure' festival held every August. AJ Powell proudly shows off his snowskate collection.

WINTER 2012 CONCRETE WAVE 91 Fabrice Gaëtan and Marc Séguin hit a Montreal Dmitri Komarov, Ludovic Tremblay, Maxime Robitaille and cemetery during a snowstorm. Kelian Duplain at St-Donat in the Laurentians. Photo: Martin Duquette Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc

Hanging out after the interview at Underworld skateshop. If you visit Montreal, it is imperative you eat a smoked meat sandwich.

Yann Lhermitte faces down old man winter. In the beginning there were three distinct crews: Photo: Fabrice Gaëtan Yann and Fabrice’s little group, the guys from Motion and the KebbeK group. “Dwayne Pereto, Pierre [Gravel] and Ian [Comishin] would be doing crazy things in Westmount,” explains Yann. Dom Mahe over at Motion had a website and there was a message board there. The board got filled up with messages, and the gang realized they needed something bigger. Thus was born the Montreal Ses- sions website. During the 2005 Top Challenge, Fabrice organized an outlaw slide comp. “We knew we had some of the best riders in the world, so we took the opportunity,” he says. “We did it the night before and it was amazing. It is the best souvenir I have from my time in longboarding.” The one key connection between Yann and Fabrice other than their riding ability was their skill at capturing images of the action: Yann has produced a number of MJ's father runs Urge Longboards videos, and Fabrice attended school for photography and she loves to slide. Photo: Bob Couet and was working in a production facility where the duo spent nights editing film. This unique combination meant others could get a glimpse into their world. “We were taking the time to make good videos,” Yann says. “We used video technology that was a little ahead of its time and people appreciated it.” Unfortunately, Fabrice got burned out on the business

92 CONCRETE WAVE WINTER 2012 Emilie Gascon at the Montreal Slalom Outlaw. Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc side of longboarding. He left the scene, but there is no Bar just down the road from their warehouse. Most of that doubt he left his mark. Ironically, he credits longboarding conversation will remain off the record. for getting him back into photography. He is now a full- Restless are spending a lot of time prototyping with time photographer supporting a family.Yann still travels their vacuum press. “It’s a Venturi system, which uses and competes in numerous events while balancing his compressed air,” explains Christian. “We are also using career as an engineer. He seems to be doing well at it. In 3D modeling to make our own molds.” November 2011 he held a push race; despite rain and The team at Restless is excited for the future. “We see wind, more than 90 skaters showed up. the growth of longboarding,” says Christian. “Our idea is “I have a desire to charge hard and keep traveling,” to create a diverse amount of product that appeals to Yann says. “My goal is to mix my passion for longboarding riders looking for a superior ride.” with my job. WEST COMES EAST RESTLESS – NO SLEEP ’TIL PJ’S BAR Jim Ziemlanski, Jody Willcock and Ian Comishin are three Restless Longboards was founded in 2004 by Christian individuals who have collectively had a huge impact on the Chenard-Lemire, Alaric LeBlanc, Dither Flores and longboard scene in Montreal. As Pierre explains, it was François-Olivier Théberge. Originally, they were set up as Jim who first contacted him to try out a slalom board. The an online shop offering custom graphics with different two traveled to an event in Boston. Pierre has turned a lot models. Restless still offers this service but has over time of folks onto the fun you can have with cones. “I got Jim created a unique longboard brand of their own. I met up into slalom, but it was Jim who got me into downhill.” with Christian and Alaric in their R&D facility in Montreal. A year later, Pierre met up with Ian. “Those guys were We also took time to spend a lunch at the infamous PJ’s younger than me,” Pierre says. “They were fearless! I

WINTER 2012 CONCRETE WAVE 93 Ludovic Tremblay in Quebec City. Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc

Dmitri Komarov plays with the devil's toy in Westmount. Charles Ouimet at one of the locals’ favorite spots. Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc

started following them but couldn’t go through every red light like they did. It was fun.” Ian went on to found KebbeK Skateboards. The brand has forged a unique place within the scene and its boards are now sold worldwide.

THE GENESIS OF TOP CHALLENGE In the early 2000s, Pierre was riding with a long- boarder named Frank Fontaine. “He told me he wanted to start a race and asked me to help out,” Pierre says. “I hooked him up with Ian and Jim, as they had been involved with numerous races.” Frank was passionate about creating something, Pierre says, but was unsure how to put it on: “He saw the potential of a downhill race right in the middle of the city.

His choice was Mont Royal. The first dry run of the event There is life among the dearly departed. Dmitri at a Montreal cemetery. took place in 2002 with 10 racers. I broke two fingers just Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc a week or so before the event, so I couldn’t ride.” Top Challenge was ahead of its time, with key spon- sorship from Bud Light. Fontaine invested a huge amount of time and money in Top Challenge, and repeatedly tried to get Red Bull on board as well. The energy-drink company had sponsored downhill events in previous years, but for some reason, things just didn’t gel for Top Challenge. Still, the memories of that time are something that will never fade. The sight of thousands of spectators lining the streets was some- thing to behold.

A VARIETY OF DISCPLINES If there is one element about the scene in Montreal that keeps appearing, it’s the concept of riders embracing all types of . “I am really the numerous private security firms that prowl the area. LE TAZ proud of the fact that many skaters here are willing to The spot got its name from a 1966 National Film Board Opened in the spring of 2009, this indoor skatepark is try different things. I encourage street skaters to try documentary on the skateboarding scene in Montreal. It’s absolutely massive. The $10 million project also fea- longboards and vice versa,” says Pierre. a classic, and you’ll cringe at the site of clay wheels hitting tures a second level with a nice wooden kidney bowl. the hills of Westmount. The introduction states: “This film Friday night sessions are populated by a number of THE DEVIL’S TOY is dedicated to all victims of intolerance.” Like many things longboarders who love to carve with their pool decks. A number of years ago, skating the “Devil’s Toy” run in emerging from Montreal, the film truly was ahead of its While the infamous Montreal weather can be horren- Westmount was pretty easy. Nowadays, it’s a bust due time. Do a quick search on Google and you’ll find it. dous from late November to April, Taz is nice and toasty.

94 CONCRETE WAVE WINTER 2012 Behind Taz is a free DIY concrete park called Area 45 HILLS, TRAFFIC AND NERVES built by a number of passionate locals. OF STEEL While there are numerous hills surrounding Montreal, GOING UNDERGROUND the truth is that they are the least of your concerns. If you Eight years ago, at the age of 18, AJ Powell moved down want to survive longboarding in this city, you’re going to from Laval to attend college in Montreal. He too has had need to handle the traffic. Montreal is well known as a front-row seat to the growth of longboarding in Mon- being an explosive mix of insane drivers and fearless treal. I asked what made the scene so special. pedestrians. Both parties seem to have a love affair with “It’s definitely not having all the seasons to skate,” ignoring traffic signals. At times you get the feeling it’s a AJ said. “Winter has a huge impact on the scene here, scene out of “Deathrace 2000.” Longboarding in this city so you have to be adventuresome.” requires lightning-fast reflexes and nerves of steel.

Charles Ouimet at the Caserne. Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc

of fixing the gradient on a mountain road. There was a certain pitch to the road, and Freddy realized that if was good for a car, then it would be even better for a long- board. A few adjustments later, and presto – the perfect run. The only issue was that the contractors couldn’t figure out how they had used all that additional asphalt!

THE NEXT GENERATION I had an opportunity to interview some of the next gen- eration of Montreal longboarders who are building upon the city’s strong foundations: Kevin LeFrank, Maxim AJ, Yann and Jace Samikov escape the grip of winter. Racers start very early in Quebec! Photo: Mikael Bottreau Photo: Luc Bertrand Garant Rousseau and Dmitri Komarov. Kevin is originally from Ontario and now works at For example, AJ explained, there are 34 kilometers KebbeK. He says the camaraderie is what drew him to of underground in Montreal that you can skate. There longboarding. Maxim discovered the scene when he vis- are pedestrian tunnels that connect to malls and major ited La Source Attack race. “I ended up finishing fifth hotels along with huge parking-lot spirals that go deep. and got addicted,” he says. He is an ambassador for You can skate for hours without going outside, AJ says. Loaded. Dmitri, who is originally from Russia (he left Of course, the sessions at Taz Skatepark also compen- when he was 8) has also been riding for four years. sate for a tough winter, too. AJ also enthusiastically Since Kevin hails from Ontario, he has a unique per- rides his quiver of snowskates during the winter. “The spective on the differences between the scenes. “Both companies making them originally didn’t understand scenes are friendly, but I find that the Montreal scene is how the truck should work,” he says. “Now we have a a bit more inclusive,” he says. “No one pushes anyone steering mechanism that works. You should check out away – it feels like family. There also seems to be a will- Rocker Trucks.” ingness to share spots.” Hey, don’t blame Concrete Wave if you hang up your “You have to expect cars to show up in blind corners,” Maxim comes from Quebec City and also has a dif- longboard and take up snowskating full-time! says Pierre Gravel. “There’s rarely a clean empty street. ferent take on things. “Something that is cool about Footbraking, sliding and speed-checking are skills you Montreal is that people actually live in the city,” he says. THE ROOKIE must possess – because you’ll need them!” “In Quebec City, a lot of people live in the suburbs. Here, I’ve known Pascal Jean, a.k.a. “The Rookie,” for a in Montreal, we just grab our boards and go.” number of years. He skates it all: parks, hills and cones. FAST FREDDY Everyone meets up around the mountain – it’s the He’s also a big proponent of snowskating. When I met Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet up with the focus that drives the stoke. him at the Taz skatepark he was padding up for a ses- legendary “Fast Freddy” Desjardins on this trip to Mon- “What’s kind of crazy about Montreal is that none of sion. I asked him what he’d been up to. treal. This was a severe disappointment, as Monsieur us are actually from Montreal,” says Dmitri. “Somehow, “I have footage of me hitting 73 kilometers an hour Freddy has also been instrumental in building the scene, we all ended up here and it feels like our town.” on my snowskate,” he told me. “I’ll send you the link.” including starting up Street Missile Longboards, along The gang all nodded in agreement when Kevin piped I sense that if more longboarders knew about with a race series called Attack. So I wanted to get his take up with, “Home is where you hang your hat.” snowskating, they would actually look forward to winter. on things. I also recall meeting him at Top Challenge in Dmitri has definitely found a place in Montreal and Besides being one of the nicest guys you’ll ever 2003 and standing in awe of his ability to party and skate! the longboard community. “Through longboarding, I meet, Rookie is a highly acclaimed DJ. Tune into his There are numerous stories about Fast Freddy. The learned French,” he says. Talk about the benefits of Rock Therapie podcast. latest one I heard was the time when he was in charge immersion!

WINTER 2012 CONCRETE WAVE 95 THE PARTY SCENE No article on Montreal could be published without a mention of the party atmosphere that pervades the city. I’ll be blunt here: Montrealers know how to have a great time and live life large! But when your bars are open until 4 a.m., you run the risk of sleeping in and missing Lord knows what event or race. It’s happened so many times to so many skaters that people just roll with it. “It’s not just that there’s a party after each race,” says Maxim “but there’s also a party BEFORE each race!”

TEAMQUEBEC.ORG Thanks to the hard work of a dedicated group of riders, Yann and his magic flying carpet longboard. Photo: Olivier Séguin-Leduc. the web is allowing people to get a sense of what is hap-

also creating some extraordinary decks. Vinz over at Motion Longboards has been manufacturing since 1999 and utilizes a number of substrates in his decks. And be sure to visit Dom at Free For All BoardShop.

HEARTS IN THE RIGHT PLACE There are numerous riders of an extremely high caliber in Montreal. The interesting thing is that there is now an older group of riders and a younger group. “We are all friends and we keep a good spirit together. There isn’t much rivalry. We have different skate companies here and we all skate together,” says Pierre. Niko Desmarais has a degree in kinesiology, which he puts to good use! Photo: Luc-Bertrand BIENVENUE – YOU ARE WELCOME! pening in the world of Quebec longboarding. Modeled The scene in Montreal is very welcoming. Don’t be after the success of Skate House Media, teamquebec.org intimidated if French is not your first language. Even an is forging a huge amount of unity. “We are working with attempt to speak just a little French will go a long way. so many different people and we all have the same goal,” Before coming, however, it’s a good idea to visit some says Dmitri. “It’s really bringing people together.” websites and get a sense of the place. You’ll find the hospitality pretty incredible. Pierre and dozens of other LOOK NORTH locals have hosted people they’ve only met on the The hills in the areas of Mont Tremblant and Internet and formed lifelong friendships. As someone Saint Saveur beckon riders from the city. You can easily who has experienced firsthand the generosity of the Snowskate enthusiast "The Rookie" has hit over 40 mph. hit 60+ mph, and there’s new asphalt being laid. locals, I can assure you that your first visit to Montreal Montreal called Repentigny. Here we met Bob Couet, will not be your last. A MOVING TRIBUTE owner of Urge Longboards. Bob makes longboard TO THE BIG O PIPE decks for small children (under the age of 10). He does LAST WORDS It’s a rite of passage – practically every skater makes a this in a workshop that is 9’ by 6.’ Yes, you read that cor- Pierre Gravel pilgrimage to the Big O pipe at the site of the 1976 rectly, he works in a 54-square-foot workspace. The “At almost 50, I am happy to be riding. I still enjoy the ride.” Summer Olympics. The pipe, originally a corridor for amount of stoke that Bob has for longboarding is off the athletes to walk under, has been sessioned now for charts. He truly embodies what it means to be a skater. Fabrice Gaëtan almost three decades. A few years ago plans were Bob, merci pour ton hospitalité! “I am proud of what’s been accomplished in Montreal. I under way to tear it down. Thanks to the hard work and did not expect things to get this big this fast. We started dedication of Barry Walsh and Marc Tison (two leg- HEAD EAST FOR MORE! to push the engine and have fun.” endary locals), the pipe was spared. The weekend I was Just three hours down the road and you’ll hit Quebec there, crews were in the process of moving the pipe City. It’s a whole other experience and definitely worth a Yann Lhermitte about 90 feet from its original position due to the need visit if you have the time. We’ll get to a scene report “Longboarding saved my life. I am living a dream and I for the adjacent stadium to have extra space. Kudos to eventually, but I did want to mention some incredible intend to keep riding for a long time!” cheese maker Saputo, who picked up the $63,000 tab. folks there who are making their mark on the scene in Montreal. Miguel “Mig” Marco is not only an exceptional Dmitri Komarov THE URGE TO SHARE slalom skater, but he’s created quite a buzz with his “I had an opportunity to come to either Montreal or Hal- Yann Lhermitte and I drove out to a town just east of company, Fullbag. The guys at Rotule Longboards are ifax. I’m glad I wound up in Montreal!”

96 CONCRETE WAVE WINTER 2012 AN INTERVIEW WITH Ian enjoys a late fall session. doing just about everything ourselves. He apprenticed Photo: Pierre Gravel IAN COMISHIN me on CNC philosophy, which was very rare in the OF KEBBEK SKATEBOARDS world back in the late ’90s and early 2000s. So, Ian, you’re a transplanted British Columbian. How Jim hung out for a few years, but BC was beckoning him the heck did you wind up in Quebec? back too, so he left. The reason I am in Quebec is that I had a disastrous run with a skateboard/punk rock tour. It left me and a bunch So then it was just you? of my friends deeply in debt. There was a business I was on my own for quite some time. I then had a long string opportunity that came up in January of 2000 that of apprentices who came to work with me, but virtually all of allowed me to get these debts paid off. It was only sup- them threw in the towel within a few months, as I can be posed to be for one year. But I became a father out here, very picky and very sloppy at the exact same time. AJ Powell so now I’ll be here for at least 20 years. was really running the show while I helped my friend relaunch his robotics company in the wind energy industry; How are Jody Willcock and Jim Z connected with you it required a very special sort of shoestring, broke-ass man- and the Quebec scene? agement style that only one who has been in the skateboard Jim was one of my roommates when I was living in Ross- business for 15 years can understand. AJ tried hard, but land, BC back in the mid-’90s. Jody I’ve known since when the CNC blew up we had to do more manual work, grade three. We were in Cub Scouts together. (Editor’s and things were tough. note: The thought of Jody being in Cub Scouts boggles my mind!) We just grew up together as skate rats. Pierre Gravel at the Devil's Toy. Photo: Ian Comishin

What were you riding on back then? We were using these Highway Skateboards that Jody was building back in Prince George. These were the low- ered-platform decks. It was really exciting because it allowed us to open a whole new style of riding in British Columbia. We hit big roads – straight-up bombing. No sliding or drifting. We went as fast as we could.

So what happened next? About a year later (in 2001), Jody and Jim said they were interested in moving to Montreal. I had offered to get some CNC technology for them. They had been bor- it felt to us – pre-Internet days. We didn’t get much Tell me about the German master craftsman. rowing it from a local college in Prince George. They exposure to hard cornering or hard drifting. One day Tim Brodesser from Germany walked through wanted to build their own. So I said I would help finance the front door and said he was an engineer in wood- this, but only if they came to Montreal. We started How did KebbeK Skateboards start? working and he wanted to work for free. In the last few building boards together. KebbeK is actually an offshoot of PM Skateboards, years he has rebuilt the style of production, helped me which I started in 1992. When Jody came out, he had a to rebuild the CNC machine a few times over, took on I assume it wasn’t long before they started hitting the hills. contract to build boards for Landyachtz. Since these Kevin LeFrank as an apprentice and really brought our Jody was very astute in tracking down the location of lowered boards were so weird-looking for a lot of reputation back to where it was in the early 2000s. He’s runs from the film “The Devil’s Toy.” Jody and another people, we decided to introduce a brand that would be now moved back to be with his family in Germany. guy named Jeremy Webb, along with Jim and myself, a complementary brand that would compete on a would go and skate these runs in Westmount – all from friendly basis. This would mean that there would be two Who’s running things now? the film. It was an interesting feeling of nostalgia. companies making lowered-platform boards. We’ve got Stephen Waldorf, Kevin, Marco Peters, Kayla Additionally, Chris Chaput of Abec 11 had asked Jody Hill, Pierre Gravel and myself to try and make all the From speaking with people who remember seeing you and Jim to come up with a board that he was interested rippers their rides. guys at the time, your crew had quite the reputation in. This deck became the Smoothcut that was based on for speed. Chris’ public files that he had put on the Internet (a What about the future? Jody’s design of boards allowed us to go fast. We had design he called the Roughcut). It was 2001 when we It’s looking as exciting as it has always been. People love the confidence to go into corners. The lowered platform launched our first KebbeK speedboard. to talk about where things are going. PM/KebbeK turns helped us push things and not get the wobbles. At the 20 years old in 2012. Time is actually kind of standing time this was something unique; it was a game changer. What happened next? still now. Skateboarding is not changing or evolving or There was a downhill scene at the time – you had EDI in Jody left back to BC pretty quickly after moving out to becoming something else, it’s still just skateboarding. It California, for example – but it wasn’t focused on highly Montreal, as we found that our friendship was clashing is to me today what it was to the kids in “The Devil’s Toy” technical moves like scrubbing your speed in the cor- with our debt management, and frankly, he just really film shot in 1965: a piece of wood that rolls and you can ners. It was all about pushing roads to their limits and missed BC life with the great and being stand on it. If you are a personality type who can take having this sort of experience that we didn’t think close to his family. Jim really helped form the style of something so simple and utilize it to fulfill one or even existed anywhere else in the world. At least that’s how the company as we moved away from subcontracting to all your aspirations, then you are a skater. CW

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