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88 CONCRETE WAVE WINTER 2012 MONTREAL THE LONGBOARD SCENE EXPOSED BY MICHAEL BROOKE 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- dinary number of bars that stay open to the early hours have sealed Montreal’s reputation as quite the party town. Is it any wonder I wanted to share this magical place with the readers of Concrete Wave? The Big O was dug up and moved 80 meters to accommodate the new stadium. 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 Skateboards. 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 longboarding 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 drifting 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 surfing 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.