Bastien Salabanzi: the Thrasher interview.

THERE'S A LOT TO BE SAID about this young talent extraordinaire, but I'll keep it short. The first time I saw Bastien skate he was 14 and tiny. He was doing insane tricks pretty much every try and it was clear that he was miles ahead of his league (and pretty much everybody else, for that matter). He's come a long way from wherever it is he's from.

I'll end it like this: Bastien Salabanzi has the skills to be reckoned with! Boo-ya!--Mark Appleyard

What's your family like?

I live with my room and my two old brothers I grew up with. I moved a couple of times but I lived in the South of France for 10 years or something. I started to experience a lot of stuff with my friends there.

What city did you live in?

Toulon. Right next to Marseille.

Is that where you learned to skate?

That's where I kind of discovered there were some tricks and stuff with the board. I was skating before that, like, riding down hills with a massive fish board, you know?

Do you remember the first time you ever saw skateboarding?

Yeah. It was a long time. It was a snowboard station up in the mountains. I saw these guys do an ollie in the parking lot and I didn't understand what happened, yon know? I wanted to have a skateboard straight away! I went to a skateshop and I asked for a regular board--not a fish shape, just a regular double nose shape. After three weeks I received a massive fish hoard. I was so disappointed. But I didn't care. I just wanted to skate. A little later I met a guy and he was like, "You know what is an ollie?" and he showed me. That's when I finally understood what I saw in the parking lot.

Where are your parents from?

My mom is French and my dad is from the Congo, but I never really met my dad. I was little when he was around.

What about your two brothers?

The oldest one is 24, he is Danien and the other is just a little bit older, he's like, 21. His name is Augustetin.

Do they skate?

The younger one, he skates.

And you're 177

Yeah, pretty soon I'm gonna be 18.

Oh shit. Do you remember the first trick you learned?

After the ollie? I was just really excited about controlling the board. The first trick I was really stoked on was the ollie 'cause that's what made me want to skate. I didn't understand what it was all about. That was crazy when the guy showed me this trick. He did it on my own board and I was like, "That means I can do it too!"

How old were you when you started skating a lot?

This happened when I was nine years old or something.

Did you get really good really fast?

At this time I was living in a really small town so I didn't really know about skateboarding, but when I moved to Toulon and started skating with some guys who were doing some tricks that I had never seen before--grinding or kickflips and stuff like that. One time I saw a big group of guys and they were all doing tricks all over the place. I started skating with those guys. After a year and half I started to learn a lot of tricks. It was just like, everyday, "What about this trick?" and you just learn it. Without even caring about anything, I won a contest one day and then I have a sponsor.

Did it happen that quick?

Oh yeah. I won my first contest pretty much. It was pretty crazy. I was really young. I was 11 or something. It was in the South of France at Marseille. It was the first skatepark that I skated.

The one with the bowls?

No. It was a little set-up one. It was nothing that crazy. Salman Agah was judging. That was the first pro I saw in real life.

Were you nervous in your first contest?

When they call your name you get kind of nervous--you worry that you will have a shitty run, but I don't really worry about it. After you make your first trick, you don't really care. I never thought for a second that I might win or get to go to LA.

So this was that Vans contest where they flew you to the finals in California?

Yeah.

And this was the first contest you ever went to?

Yeah. Well, I went to this one contest in Montpellier. I was so little. I was still pushing mongo and this shit.

You started mongo?

Yeah, that's why I push both ways with my back foot now. My brother. It's because of my brother. He tells me, "Nah, nah. See how I'm pushing with my back foot? That's the way to do it." He made me switch.

What was your skate crew like in Toulon?

Everybody was older than me, you know? But when you start only by yourself and then suddenly you move to a place where right down the street there is the biggest spot in the town you live and there are 35 skaters--you see tricks all over the place. I was like, "What the fuck?" I was scared at first to go skate with them. We'd always meet up at that place and then we'd go to some other spots. That was good.

Did your mom let you run wild?

No. I was skating only on the weekend and on Wednesday afternoons there is no school.

So that contest you went to in LA, is that the one at Skate Street where I shot the picture of you?

The pop shove-it to tail grab? Yeah. That was my first time in America with my brother.

What did you think when you went to that contest?

Everything looked so different, even than it looks now, you know? Everything was so huge and it was unreal. It was three days. When you're 11 or 12 and you're in a massive hotel in the jacuzzi at night and playing tennis with your brother. It was pretty crazy. Everyday someone shows up and takes you to the skatepark with all these people. It didn't seem real, you know?

What was the first English you learned?

I learned some English in school, but when you try and speak with some English you learned in school--it's not easy. I don't remember what my first words were. Do you remember?

All I remember is I tried to ask you questions and you didn't know what I was talking about. I asked you how old you were and that was about it. Did you see that picture when it came out?

Yeah. I had it. I was stoked. That was my trick back in the day.

How'd you do in that contest?

I got, like, second. Billy Rohan won it.

So you started out in contests?

Yeah, but l was never skating parks. I was always at home skating street with my friends.

Did you get hooked up after that?

Yeah. Do you remember Sixteen? That guy Rodney hooked me up with that. That was fun. It was good. Vans gave me some shoes and stuff but after a little bit they lost contact.

I remember when I saw you in Europe then, you'd charge around doing every single flatground trick at all the demos.

You probably remember better than me. It's kind of crazy when you meet Kareem when you're 13. You see those guys in the videos and then you see them and they're normal and talking to people and smiling while they skate. You think, "This is really happening!" Maybe it's different in Cali, because you see the pros all the time, but for me over there it was super crazy.

Who were your favorite pros then?

I really liked Ronnie Creager then. I was really into manuals when I was starting and I liked the control of Ronnie Creager--just manuals and chilling on the board. I was a big fan of that. Also, Lavar McBride. I'm so pissed that he's not around any more. I saw him at a contest once and l was all the time watching him to see what he was doing. I respected him a lot.

How did success in skateboarding affect your schooling?

I was kind of bummed to be, on one side, doing what I dreamed to do--having sponsors and getting free stuff and skating and so when I go to school I'm like, "What the fuck am I doing here?" I stopped going when I was 15 or 16, but really, in my head, I stopped when I was 13 or 14. The teachers were always like, "What is this, skateboard? You'll never go far with this skateboard."

What did your mom think?

I don't know any parents who would be like, "Sure, you're 15, go ahead and quit school."

Did you get in fights with her about it?

Not fights, but if you don't care about what she says you're gonna pay sooner or later.

She told me I needed to go to school and that skating wasn't going to get me anywhere. Then when she saw that skateboarding was more than what she thought she was like, "Yeah. Go for it."

I was always amazed at how independent you were at a young age. I remember in Spain three years ago, when you were 14, you'd just go out at 11:30 at night to get food or whatever. Have you always been pretty self-sufficient like that?

It's when you don't have your dad around and your mom is working a lot, you kind of have to do for yourself. My big brother was the guy who was telling me about everything. He'd tell me, "No, don't do this! This is fucked!" When he was doing something like smoking hash or when I was young and would ask him about girls or something, he'd tell me, "OK. Here's what you do. You do it like this." He'd just tell me the truth every time. Basically, it wasn't like no one cared about me. It's true that when you travel and shit, I wasn't seared to go out by myself at night, but I know that sketchy shit can happen. People in Europe don't see their lives the same way as in America. In America everyone is worried about, "Oh, don't do this or don't do that!" In Europe the parents more think, "OK, I am who I am because of what I have done. Maybe my kids need to make some mistakes to figure something out." Still, they're not going to let you smoke a joint in your room with your friends at two in the morning, you know?

Did you ever get in any sketchy situations when you were a kid?

I don't know. Probably when I almost died from drinking two bottles and a half of red wine--a dollar a bottle.

When was that?

When I was, like, eight years old. It was before I was even skating. I was just out on the weekend with some friends.

You were drinking wine when you were eight?

Yeah. Over there you don't even have to say that your grandmother is in a wheelchair and she must have her wine. If you have the money you can buy it. No one cares about that. Anyway, I was in a coma and I had to have transfusions. Now I can't even smell champagne or wine without feeling sick. I can't. My body refuses to.

That's good. So when did you get on Flip?

It was a little later at another contest over there in Marseilles. Rune was there, skating the vert and he saw me and probably told Jeremy or Ian and they called me a week later. It was pretty sick Io hear. That was in '98 and Flip was the shit. Everyone was really stoked on it, so I said, "Of course I want to ride for that shit!"

So did you get to meet the team right away?

For like a year and a half I was just receiving some product, Nobody was ever saying that we're working on a video or need an ad or any of that shit, you know? But skating the boards--new shit every day, it's good, you know?

Tell the story about the time in Spain when Fred put you in the headlock--the Fredlock.

When he put my head in the seat? That was seriously right before his nervous breakdown. If Rune is not in the van, we're not allowed to even play with a lighter in front of Fred. He will brake in the freeway and kill us. I was just rolling a cigarette or something. We were not even rolling. we were waiting for you guys and I was rolling and he grabbed me by my neck. He slapped my hand and everything flew up by my face. I was like, "Why did you do that shit?" Then he went crazy and grabbed me by my neck.

Are you friends with him now?

I will never be really friends, but we try to, like, work together. You know?

Why do you not eat all day and then you eat a giant hamburger in the middle of the night?

In France we don't have that shit. We have pasta and salad. We don't have the seriously rough shit that your brain tells you to eat. Like, "Oh, I want that massive burger!" If we had them, I might eat it. This thing is massive, yon know?

Would you rather have pasta and salad or a giant burger?

Maybe the burger. What the fuck are these questions? Nah, I'd keep the pasta. I prefer the pasta and salad.

I know you just got done with the Lords video, They Don't Give a Fuck About Us. Who are they talking about?

It's kind of like if someone goes to Barcelona and does a trick on the four block. The locals might say, "You know, Jean Francois Whoever already did that," and the guy says, "Who? I don't give a fuck about him!"

Yeah. But wouldn't you do the same thing?

Hah! No, no! I don't think I would.

So if some dude did it in the Puzzle video and Mark wanted to do it for the Flip video, you think that would be lame?

If the trick has been done really nasty, I'd be like, "OK Mark, do that shit!" I don't know. I learned pretty early, that if you don't do something in California, it doesn't count. It's like, "Why doesn't it count?" You have to get around California. Why can't you do the trick at your house, you know?

Yeah. But why do they care? They know they did the trick. Why do they care if some dude in California knows about it?

That's not it. I've been talking about this shit for years. In America it's way bigger and there are sponsors and companies. That's why it's important.

But it's the same thing in the Midwest. If you went to a rail in Iowa and they told you, "Billy Bob already did that," you'd be like, "I don't give a shit about Billy Bob!"

Yeah. But in America if you are good, sooner or later you'll get hooked up. In Europe you can be good forever and maybe make 150 bucks or something.

Maybe. I understand what you're saying, but it seems like today it doesn't matter where you're from. It sucks you might have to go to California to get an American sponsor, but there are more non-American pros today than ever before. I shoot with just as many non-Americans as Americans. I don't care where you're from.

That's true. Thanks to the Brazilians, I think.

Anyway, I give a fuck about you. Who are the underground Europeans superstars that we should all care about?

I really like JB Gillet.

Yeah. He's great.

Yeah. But he doesn't have a board sponsor right now and he's so good. Florentin is ridiculous. He's starting to get hooked up so it's well good for him.

Did you have to consciously step it up for the Flip video?

It wasn't really for the video, but the first time I went to America and skate with Arto and that shit--the level, the casual level just warming up, like on a 12-stair rail, was unbelievable for me as a 13-year-old kid. Coming out of some flatground, some three stairs, some five stairs--that was kind of crazy at first. I had to get on it. I had to try something.

How'd you break the ice?

Seriously, I was really scared when I boardslid the Beverly Hills rail. I think, "I can eat some shit, I can whack my balls on this rail!" I did it--the boardslide on the rail--even if Arto is doing some crazy shit.

Did you start to feel more comfortable on the rails?

I started to really feel more comfortable on my board when they built this massive skatepark in the South. I was skating it loads. When you skate it everyday you start to feel more comfortable with you lines, It's like, you just have to be with your board for a long time.

How was living on your own in Barcelona this summer?

It was good. I kind of went off. I rented this four-bedroom apartment. It was kind of a mess, but it was good to get home and have my own place. It was good.

What did you do on your off time?

Sometimes, when I was sick of skating it was really, really mellow. I kind of go to bed really late--like five or seven in the morning after a season of soccer or football on Playstation and smoking, like, 20 joints.

When did you start smoking weed? When you were nine?

No. A little later.

Are you getting stupider?

I'm not trying to be like Einstein, you know. They say you only use a small part of your brain. I think I am killing a part of my brain that I'm not using right now.

You're messing up the part you're not using right now?.

Exactly, you only use 10-percent or something like that.

In the last few years you've been a contest champ. Do you like contests?

Yeah. If the skatepark is good. The park I skated in the South of France, it wasn't perfect. It didn't have perfect quarterpipes or anything like that. It's more like they just build some crazy pyramid and say, "Here you go. Skate that." So when the skatepark is good, it's fun to get your line down. When people are always saying, "Oh you always win," I never thought I was, like, the killer in the contest or something.

I've seen you get pretty amped after you do good in a contest. What do you think about people saying, "Oh, Bastien's a show-off" or "Bastien's got a big head?"

I have seriously been hearing this kind of thing since I was 11 or whatever. You know when people have been skating for ages and they see this little kid get sponsored in two years or less and he's going crazy in the contest or whatever--of course no one is happy. Fuck, you can't really please everybody, you know? That's OK. But in a contest, if I do good and shit, I like to have fun and fuck around. I totally understand that some people may not understand what's going on in my head, but I don't really care. We're talking about skateboarding, right?

Do you ever make yourself do a big stunt that you don't want to do?

I've done this two times in my life. The one time for the Vans commercial in Germany--the crooks back lip with the graffiti background. I wasn't really feeling it but there's all these people in the landing going, "OK, let's see it." It was fucked up. I had never seen this rail. It was pretty much raining but everyone was waiting for me. The other time was that weekend trying to shoot the cover--going to all the massive rails. Sometimes you feel comfortable on a 20-stairs rail, but other times you can have a good ad or a cover without jumping on a 15-stairs rail or a triple kink or whatever.

Would you rather skate a perfect rail or a perfect manual pad?

I think the manual pad, even though I can probably do less tricks on the manual pad.

How's the photography coming?

Good. One day it was my girlfriend's birthday and I wanted to buy her a camera. I got her a Nikon FM3 and I started looking at it and trying to figure it out and I ended up buying one for me too. In Barcelona Arto's friend Antton has all these cameras and I start to ask him, "What does this do? What does this do?" I like it.

Do you want to do it as a job some day?

I don't know how you have a job for the photos I take. When you shoot photos like me, I don't know. What do you do with your photos? So I don't care, you know? I just take photos of whatever. I don't shoot skating. I see a place and I think, "That looks rad!" and l want to make it look a certain way. It comes out and people say, "Oh, that looks good," or whatever, I'm happy but I still want it to look the certain way I imagined it.

Is there any older pro whose career you'd like to emulate?

I've already been skating for eight or nine years and I can feel it in my body. It's been like three years of being crazy and I can feel it. Guys like Geoff, he's 25 or whatever, he's not old, but he's been skating some pretty crazy shit for a long time. You have to be kind of gnarly to keep skating like that, you know? Being in California and getting killed every other day, I'm telling this to you: you want to stop skating sometimes! You want to go to the beach or whatever!

A lot of skaters out there are nerds. What would you say to all the skaters out there who say, "You know, I just can't get girls?"

I just can't get girls? The thing is, for guys, that's just how it works, We don't choose girls. That's the girl that says, "OK, I'm gonna let you step. I'm gonna let you talk to me." I see all day long some guys who try and get the girls' attention all day, but it's never gonna work! Only when you think it's never gonna happen--boom! You're in a good situation. You don't even know what happened and you're with a gift. It's only when you try too hard that you have nothing.

Do you always have girls around?

No, I don't think so. I think that any guy seriously needs sex all the time, casually. It's like brushing your teeth or something. It's really healthy and important.

Wow. Anyway, who's your pick for Skater of the Year 2003?

I don't really know what's going on, man, in Cali-World 2003. I don't keep up with all that.

Who's your favorite amateurs?

I have no idea.

Yeah? Well, who are your favorite pros of all time?

Favorite? That's kind of hard. I really like Mike Carroll because I saw him in video or live on many different spots and he always has the same style and does the gnarly tricks. I think, "No way he can do that!" Mike Carroll, I like him. I don't really want to say people from the Flip team, because they say, "Oh, those are his friends," but I see really gnarly shit every day with them. I see it every week. That keeps you going. Some of the Flip guys, like Mark, really inspire me. I just see that skating and it's like, "Just don't think about anything else. Just try that shit and you can do it."

Is there any trick you can't do?

For awhile I kind of hated the switch kickflip. I knew how to do it, but my right ankle wouldn't work. I finally learned to use my right shoe. That feels good, you know?

Tell me about your recent trip to the Congo. Did people really think that you were white?

Yeah. That was a big surprise. In France the people are asking you, "Where are you from?" and I'm like, "Well, I'm French," and then you go to Africa and you think I'm going to go with my brothers to the roots where I come from and people are staring and calling you famous names of white people. They called me Sean Connery. I was also called Mick Jagger. It was really crazy. I was thinking, "No, you are all like me," and they were like, "C'mon man!" It was very strange but I'll get over it.

What else was interesting about your visit there?

What really touched me was that people can be happy with five percent of what we have in America or Europe. Like cars or TV or DVD or toilet--people don't have that. They have a hole in the back of the garden and that's where you do what you have to do. It's so sketchy--no water, no electricity and people are being happy. It's pretty crazy when you see things like that.

What do kids ask you about when they meet you?

In Europe, they want to know how old am I. I have been traveling around Europe for a long time and they want to know how I got on Flip. They want to know about America--how are Geoff and Arto and all that stuff. They think about America as where everything is--like 411 and that. You get here and it's like, "411 is shit." You're like, "What?" In Europe you can't wait for the next issue to come out! Here, it's a joke. You're like, "Whoah, OK."

Do kids in American recognize you?

I went to Colorado recently and some kids knew who I was. It always feels good when you're not even close to your house and people know who you are. But really, I don't want to be like Geoff where people call your name when you walk down the street--yelling at you in a bar and coming up to your table.

What's the worst pronunciation of your name you ever heard?

I don't know where, 'out I had a Basty-air Salabunz. Or you guys in Thrasher with your Bastard Salad Bar Seat.

That was my idea.

It was a bad one.

It was a joke. I'm sorry. Do you have a message for the kids?

If I could say something, I think in America, the kids always know what's going on with the pros and they always see the pros at the spots and I think they maybe too much copy them to try and get sponsored or whatever. Maybe they are a little bit distracted from having fun and skating with their friends. That's what really gets you started in controlling your skateboard and having people tell you you're good. If you are too busy worrying about this and that--that will slow you down. Just skating around with your friends is the best firing. That's all you should worry about. That's it.