Bjarne og Gabriel
From catching glimpses of them in Pekka’s full-lengths (Jadda, Skamnice) and the Vans Scandis edit, to their shared Gabriel og Bjarne part we hosted last year it’s safe to say Gabriel Bjørsvik and Bjarne Tjøtta have been on our radar for a while now. A decision was made that it was about time we learned a bit more about these Norwegians, so our own Sam Ashley headed to Oslo this spring to get some pics of the two. Whilst there Sam attended a local trivia night with the guys. The host of the trivia night, Fredrik Perry,
made quite an impression: ‘I couldn’t understand any of it really, I just had a gut feeling he’d be good for this, like I could tell he was a piss-taker…’ Sam said.
So it was decided: Perry would interview Bjarne and Gabriel for us. We didn’t know much about the guy, but Pekka vouched for him, so we reached out… After a few back and forth DMs Perry obliged and said he’d do his best. His last DM was this: Will Free regret handing an interview over to a snowboarder? Only time will tell 😈
Oh no, had we made a tragic mistake? Had we been hoodwinked? Read on and judge for yourselves.
–Will Harmon
Interview by Fredrik Perry
Gabriel: Oh, now I’m regretting wearing shorts… But I’m fine…
Fredrik: What are your regrets in life, Gabriel? Any regrets?
Gabriel: Hmm, any regrets…
Or are you one of those guys who are like, ‘no regrets dude!’, ‘cause that’s bullshit.
Bjarne: Of course you have regrets.
Gabriel: Yeah, I regret my choice of study a little, even though I don’t ‘cause they were good studies.
What did you study?
Gabriel: I studied Culture and Communications, then I studied Anthropology, which I thought was very cool and interesting. And then I started a Master’s degree in Anthropology, but there was way too much school and not enough shred.
That kinda sounds like something you’d regret.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha…
I’m kidding!
Gabriel: So I quit that, and then I’ve worked a lot in school since then so I should’ve just studied to be a teacher so I could’ve made more money.
And now you’re regretting wearing shorts, which is classic Norwegian. Oh, it’s sunny out let’s go get a beer, but it’s March and you’re not wearing a jacket and the sun sets and it gets fucking cold and everybody gets sick.
Gabriel: I did it last month at Mølla, so stupid.
Bjarne, backside 180 to switch frontside crooked grind, Oslo. Ph. Sam Ashley
So, hi boys. Where are we now?
Bjarne: Torshov.
And why are we here?
Bjarne: Because we’ve been shredding.
Gabriel: Because there’s a cool skatepark here where everybody meets up and skates, and Bjarne just built a spot.
Bjarne: I just built a curb, so we’re a little delayed…
You also said that if the park was too crowded we could go to one of your two balconies, which I thought was a hilarious rich flex.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha, it’s not a rich flex at all, ‘cause all the balconies are accessible for everyone in the building.
Okay, ‘cause I was like, ‘Who the fuck has two balconies!?’
How come a couple of blonde, good looking guys, with baggy shorts and tre flips on lock, who happen to be passionate and sociable – are single?
Bjarne: Oh wow. You wanna go first, Gabriel?
Gabriel: Ha ha well, we’ve both been in pretty long relationships, so just chilling with that stuff at the moment.
Bjarne: I skate too much, ha ha.
You guys going on dates though?
Bjarne: Yeah, I was on a date last night actually.
And you’re on the apps?
Bjarne: Yeah, you’ll find me on Tinder.
Gabriel: I ́m pretty bad at that stuff these days, but you can find me also if you look.
What does your bio say?
Gabriel: Instagram @
Bjarne: In mine it says: A nice guy that can fix everything.
Any skate photos on there?
Gabriel: Yes.
Bjarne: Of course!
Why is that an of course?
Bjarne: Because even though they might not get that it’s a hard trick, they usually find it pretty cool.
So you think it works?
Bjarne: Yeah.
So then women, in your case, you think they’re attracted to skaters?
Bjarne: Sometimes there are really hot chicks who are attracted to skaters.
Gabriel: Ha ha.
Gabriel, gap to backside lipslide, Oslo. Ph. Sebastian Bjerkvik
Okay, ‘cause I thought the era where skaters are hot and cool was over? I heard it from someone who said that
the cool kids in school aren’t the skaters anymore – it’s the rappers.
Bjarne: Oh, okay, ha ha.
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Like seventh grade. Since you work at a school, can you confirm this, Gabriel?
Gabriel: So the kids are very cool these days, a little too cool for their own good at times. And I work with some cool skater kids. I don’t know if they’re actually cool, but I think they’re cool.
What about the rappers?
Gabriel: There’s not that many of them that rap yet. But they love walking around with Spotify all the time and flex what they’re listening to. And that’s a lot of crap.
Did you tell your date that you were going to build a curb at Torshov today?
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Bjarne: No, but I told her what it’s like to be a skateboarder, like how accessible things are when it comes to travel and stuff. Like if I go somewhere in Europe I’ll always have a spot I can crash.
That’s very true. Where’s a place you wouldn’t have a place to stay with a homie?
Bjarne: Paris, maybe?
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Anyways, good to get the obvious start about dating out of the way.For the readers who aren’t familiar with you, let’s give them your full name, age and where you’re from.
Bjarne: Bjarne Tjøtta, 30 years old and I’m from Bryne, Norway.
Gabriel: My name is Gabriel Sebastian Bjo/rsvik, I am from Nesodden, a small place just outside of Oslo, Norway and I’m 26 years old.
What’s it like to grow up in these places? What’s up with Bryne?
Bjarne: Bryne is a small town. It’s not as rough to grow up there as I would say it could be in Oslo, more soft, but at the same time like rural rough. People drink a lot etc., but I managed to stay away from that stuff when I was young because of skating.
Bjarne, ride-on 50-50 to wallie out, Oslo. Ph. Sam Ashley
So how did you discover skating in a place like that?
Bjarne: Through my big brother. We built a rail at this junction on a patch of asphalt on the side of the road. We just stacked wooden planks on top of each other, cut angles in the middle of the top one, rested a sign post on top of it and skated it as a rail. We just had to move the post back every try because it would slide every time
we hit it.
Any other skaters we’d know of from Bryne?
Bjarne: Reffi? There are some local legends but I don’t think anyone would know. Hmm. Maybe the biggest legend is this guy Kristian Steinmoen. I learned all my flip tricks from him.
You sound a little hesitant talking about good skaters from Bryne. So here is my question: Does that mean you’re the best skater of all time from Bryne?
Bjarne: Ha ha ha, fuck.
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Bjarne. Fuck. Yes. Ha ha ha.
Ha ha, you HAD to say yes, if not you’d be a silly billy. Imagine that. The best skater that tiny town has ever seen.
That being said, the southwest region of Rogaland where Bryne lies has done pretty well raising amazing skaters. We’ve got Gustav Tønnesen from Egersund.
Bjarne: Yeah, and Heitor Da Silva from Haugesund.
Eirik Svendsen. Steffen Austerheim. And the legend Freddy Austbø.
Bjarne: And you got Fredrik Nærland. Kristian Nærland. They’ve done well.
Gabriel: Eirik Ballo. Haugesund.
What about Nesodden, Gabriel?
Gabriel: It’s like a cabin place just outside of Oslo. You can take the boat for 20 minutes from Oslo. It’s common to live there and work in Oslo, or like me go to school in Oslo, so I took the boat every day.
It sounds kinda idyllic to take a boat to school. How did you discover skating over there?
Gabriel: I had gotten a toy store type board one time, and I never used it. But I got bored one day and tried it outside and it was… fun. Ha ha.
Bjarne: Ha ha.
Gabriel, gap to frontside tailslide, Oslo. Ph. Sam Ashley
You hadn’t seen people skate, you just got it, ignored it, tried it.
Gabriel: I saw skating in the city ‘cause I was there a lot, and I’d often see people skate at Rådhuset since that ́s where the boat would come in. Sometimes I’d just sit and watch.
Did you know anyone there that skated?
Gabriel: Not at first, but when I started skating I did. A friend of my dad knew Jan Inge Janbu, so he was the first good skater I got a skate date with. He actually referred to that the other day and was like, ‘Do you remember that?’. Of course I remembered, it was a big deal, I was 12 or something.
What did your parents think when you got hooked on skating?
Bjarne: In the beginning they liked it. But then after a while they noticed that it was all I wanted to do, so they told me that I needed an education or a certificate or something. My dad asked me when the hell I was gonna put away the plank and get a real job, ha ha. But they’re right, it’s good to have something to fall back on.
And you got your certificate.
Bjarne: I did. In glass. So I work with glass, assemble windows, showers, interior glass, mirrors, all sorts.
And break glass.
Bjarne: And break glass. Ha ha.
‘Cause that’s all I know from your job is when you break glass on your story. How does that feel?
Bjarne: It’s the best. Tempered glass. It just smashes into a thousand pieces.
Gabriel?
Gabriel: My parents were always supportive about it. My dad took the initiative to build an indoor park at Nesodden with other parents. And my mom was always very interested. My dad tries to name tricks when I’m watching videos like, ‘Oh, was that a big flip?’.
That’s sweet. My dad would do the same when I watched snowboarding, ‘Was that a loop de loop?’.
(We all smile and giggle)
Bjarne, you went to the Malmö skate school, Bryggeriet. If you left a Yelp review what would it say?
Bjarne: 10 out of 10. It’s the best concept if you’re going to put skating into schooling. Skate and have fun, but set some goals. Like tricks and things you’re obsessed about.
I talked to Steffen Austerheim who you lived with in Malmö.
Bjarne: Hehehe…
Bjarne, switch ride-on 50-50, Oslo. Ph. Sam Ashley
He said it was all about skating, and that there wasn’t time for anything else. Like anything. So you had to get creative…
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha, no, fuck. Steffen, I’m gonna get you back, ha ha.
What am I referring to now, Bjarne?
Bjarne: You know exactly what it is. Holy fuck, ha ha.
He said that you had bought a pocket pussy, and that when he came home to the apartment the pocket pussy would just be laying around all over the place.
(At this point we’re all laughing really hard, and Bjarne can barely talk).
Like it was just left in random places in the apartment.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha, yeah it would often be left in the bathroom to dry, ‘cause we had a heater for the towels.
He said one day when he came home it was in the sink and he told you to move it, so you put it on a heater where it melted in half.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha, yeah. But I have another story on that. Karsten, Petter and that crew came to visit us, and I noticed the thing was really sticky so I threw it up on the ceiling where everybody was sleeping. It got stuck up there, we were all dying laughing.
There it is.
Bjarne: But I have to add, Steffen bought a pocket pussy too! And he was going to sell it to Jaran (Jacobsen). Jaran came home with us one day, and that fucker used Steffen’s pocket pussy without telling him. So Steffen used it again after him, ha ha ha.
They fucked the same pocket pussy without knowing?
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Did Jaran tell Steffen?
Bjarne: No, no. Jaran thought I told Steffen but I forgot, and he told me he wasn’t stoked on it anymore so I didn’t think he was gonna use it. When Steffen found out he got so fucking bummed, ha ha. He didn’t know how to get rid of it so he just went outside and threw it into a field.
Ha ha, holy shit.
In Malmö you’re just passing the pocket pussy around, huh.
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Bjarne, wall bash, Hokksund. Ph. Sebastian Bjerkvik
Okay, moving on. Bjarne, what’s the deal with the DIY thing?
Bjarne: The thing is that Oslo has an insane amount of spots, but a lot of them are only almost-spots. A little patch of concrete here or a little transition there can make it a dope spot. It doesn’t take much, a sack of concrete or a little crack fill, or something to make kinks slide better.
What’s the best feature you’ve built?
Bjarne: A wallride spot in Stavanger with a 90-degree turn, which I made transitions to, so you could hit it almost as a pool corner. That’s the sickest one I’ve made.
Gabriel: Tjøtta Side, right?
Bjarne: Yeah!
What about your biggest build failure?
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Bjarne: It’s a granite bench with a bunch of cracks in the run-up. We were gonna patch them up, but we patched it all wrong, so when we were gonna go skate it the run-up was totally in the wrong spot. Spent a lot of time on it and it wasn’t even skateable.
Gabriel: I started laughing ‘cause I thought you meant the green ledge that Magnus Bordewick was gonna fix. He took out a bunch of shit from the crack and tried to make it even, but he just made the crack even bigger and nobody has skated it since, ha ha.
Antiz skateboards. How did that come about?
Bjarne: I was randomly in Gjøvik one weekend when there was a contest called Gjøvik Open going on. I went down to skate it just for fun. I met Gabriel Engelke there and we sessioned the bowl, and after he asked me if I had a board sponsor. He reached out to them, and then three weeks later I went to Cyprus on a trip with Antiz without knowing any of them. Then they were like, ‘you’re on’.
So you weren’t on before the trip?
Bjarne: No, but I got on during the trip. That’s the best way to do it.
You just had to throw a Bjarne demo?
Bjarne: No, they already knew I could skate so they just wanted to know if I’m a nice person.
You’re 26 and 30. You’re not old but you’re not young either. I feel like you’ve both been in the game for a long time. And I’ve been thinking, when are these guys gonna blow the fuck up? So, when are you guys gonna blow
the fuck up?
Gabriel: I’ve never thought I’m gonna blow up or have interviews anywhere. I started skating so much later than everybody else I knew that skated, so I just tried to skate as hard as I could to catch up.
Have you had any ambitions within skateboarding?
Bjarne: I always wanted to work, ‘cause I like to have a job to go to, but my biggest dream in skating is to experience the world and get to travel and have my outlet. Not to be done with it, but to have done it. Heath vibes. Ha ha ha… Not be some old dude begging to skate you know?
Gabriel: I always had a little ambition to get as far as I can, try this thing and see if it works.
Gabriel, backside 180 kickflip, Oslo. Ph. Sebastian Bjerkvik
Do you have a skate dream?
Gabriel: That’s a good question. The skate dream used to be to go on a trip that I didn’t pay for. But then that happened, and after that it’s been like, what if I could JUST focus on skating?
So to get paid.
Bjarne: You want that ‘cause it gives you freedom to focus on skating. Both of us have jobs and need to get the daily stuff out of the way first before skating.
Gabriel: Yeah, I’m working full-time all of a sudden, which was nice during the winter, but now it sucks even though it’s a good job. It’s hard to reset from working 8-4 with a bunch of kids and yelling all day, to getting clips on a sketchy spot. It doesn’t always work out.
What’s the motivation then? What makes you want to go DO this thing.
Bjarne: I can’t stop thinking about it.
Gabriel: Because it’s fucking fun.
Bjarne: Mad fun. The best feeling in the world is to land a trick.
But is it fun to slam and all that?
Gabriel: But it’s a part of the process.
Bjarne: In the context of drugs, drugs are just a shortcut to the high. I don’t know but getting a hammer probably feels like doing 15 lines of coke, ha ha. Only that you actually worked for it.
And you get street cred.
Bjarne: And that, ha ha.
So how far would you go to live the skate dream? Would you ride for an energy drink sponsor?
Bjarne: No. I’ve thought a lot about that actually.
Gabriel, backside smith grind, Oslo. Ph. Sam Ashley
Same, because it’s very common in snowboarding. And there are dope ‘core’ skaters that ride for energy drinks.
Gabriel: Yeah.
Bjarne: The only dope skater that does that is that OG dude from NYC.
Gabriel: Zered Bassett. I don’t think he’s on Red Bull anymore but he was one of the first ones.
What about a wack shoe brand for a lot of cash that lets you take one year off from work?
Gabriel: No, I think I’d lose my spark. Just look down and get bummed.
Bjarne: I think so too.
Gabriel, who would win in a wrestling match between Bjarne and Karsten Kleppan? And Bjarne, who would win in Trivial Pursuit between Gabriel and Karsten Kleppan?
Gabriel: Bjarne looks really strong and is a beast in the gym, but Karsten is strong also and very competitive, never gives up… Bjarne says they’ve wrestled before… But I think Bjarne would win.
Bjarne: Gabriel would win Trivial Pursuit.
Those are exactly the answers I wanted! Perfect.
Gabriel: Let’s do a wrestling and Trivial Pursuit night to find out.
That’s a good idea. Maybe we can do it before the mag comes out. Has your skating changed in the last five years? If so, how?
Gabriel: For me, definitely. I used to think everything was cool.
Bjarne: And then you started hanging out with Pekka, ha ha.
Gabriel: And then I met Pekka. The way I look at things now, I kinda feel like he shaped me from being wack to a little cooler. Not that I would consider myself cool, but when I look at footy from five years ago it’s not something I’m especially stoked on compared to now. When I started skating I was just like, ‘there are so many tricks, I’ve got to learn them all; flip way too much and spin way too much.’ It was really refreshing when I found out that I don’t have to do all that stuff. It can be simpler and cooler.
These are some words I wrote about your skating: Flip in flip out. Quick. Tries everything. Pop. Element of surprise.
Gabriel: Mm.
We’ll talk about the change in your skating too, Bjarne, but this kinda leads us into that you have this feature together, you made a part together, but you skate so differently.
Bjarne: Mm.
Bjarne – Salads, smiths, hurricanes, foot-plants, wallrides. Difficult spots. Control. Speed.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha.
Gabriel: Yeah, agreed.
And the flip in flip out part, Gabriel, was more to show that you’re tech.
Gabriel: It changed when I started flipping in and out, like this isn’t fun.
But did it happen organically, or because Pekka told you to? ‘Cause then I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough cred, because it’s your skating.
Gabriel: That’s true, but I remember when everyone was at Bryggeriet, and I was in Oslo and had nobody to skate with. Then I met Pekka and those guys when they were filming for Firetre.
Prime hot shit.
Bjarne: That was prime time to come in.
Gabriel: And I realised this is cool. I tagged along with that and got really inspired by what they were doing. The first thing I filmed with Pekka was a bs big spin over the big bucket at Rådhuset. I never thought I could do it but Pekka was like, ‘I can see that you’ve got this.’ I ended up getting it and it opened some doors.
Did you think you were good at skating then?
Gabriel: That day I did. But I’m not gonna shit on everything I did before that, and I skated with a lot of incredible skaters before that.
Bjarne: Yeah, and it shaped you to who you are today.
What about your skating, Bjarne?
Bjarne: It changed the most during the first or second year at Bryggeriet. I realised it was sicker with flow than flipping into stuff. When watching Zero and Baker 3 when I was young it was all stairs and rails, and that was all I skated, that’s what I liked. But at Bryggeriet people were skating bowls and with a lot of speed, and I watched In Search Of The Miraculous nd the lines they were doing.
This is very interesting to me.
Bjarne: Fredrik Nærland and my friends in Stavanger told me that after I came back from Malmö I had become the skater I was supposed to be.
Yeah, and it makes total sense. The way both of you are skating right now is your own skate identity.
Bjarne: But like Gabriel is saying, I’m glad I did what I did when I was a kid, practised all those tricks, you still have them in your bag. I can still do a kickflip fs 5-0 on a rail, but I never do it.
Gabriel: I’d like to see that, ha ha ha.
Claim. We’ll put it in with the wrestling and Trivial Pursuit night. Who slams the hardest?
Bjarne: That’s Gabriel!
I knew the answer to that. Deedz says that you love to slam, Gabriel.
Gabriel: I’ve gotten that one as a rumour. I think it’s because I try stuff where I’m like, fuck it I’ll see if it works, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. A lot of the time if it goes bad, I think it can probably go equally as bad if I keep trying, but it’s definitely not gonna go worse.
Bjarne, ride-on 50-50 to 50-50, Oslo. Ph. Sebastian Bjerkvik
When did you guys move to Oslo?
Gabriel: Five and half years ago.
Bjarne: 2013.
When you grow up as a skater in Norway, is it like, ‘I’m going to Oslo’?
Both: Yes.
How long have you thought that?
Bjarne: Since I was born.
Gabriel: Ha ha.
Ha ha, first word: Rådhusplassen [Oslo’s City Hall plaza].
Bjarne: It was the hub. It was where everything was going on. All the G’s were there.
Gabriel: I hung out a lot at Bernhard in Oslo and saw photos of the gold rail at Rådhuset in magazines. We mostly skated at Nesodden, but on Saturdays we’d take a full day in the city and check out spots. Rådhuset was very accessible.
Has it lived up to your expectations?
Bjarne: More than that I think.
Gabriel: Absolutely.
Bjarne: When getting to know people in other cities in Europe, I realise how nice we have it here. Pekka is always down to go film, not a lot of cities have that.
Gabriel: He gets more bummed than you if we don’t go filming.
Bjarne: I’ve never gotten a ‘no’ from Pekka when trying to go film. He loves skating.
What a nerd 😛
Bjarne: Ha ha, yeah a nerd, it’s so dope.
Gabriel: The Oslo scene in general is very good, a lot of good skaters in a relatively small place. There’s always somebody to skate with.
Bjarne: And the level is so high.
Gabriel: Yeah, a lot of skaters that people abroad probably have never heard of.
Who’s the MVP these days in Norway?
Gabriel: Deedz. I’ve never seen anyone with that kind of tunnel vision.
Bjarne: Deedz. He’s got a motivation that’s out of this world. It seems like a lot of skaters that go
pro start chilling more, he was the opposite. And then some up and comers, one kid that I’m trying to get on Antiz is Isak Oskal. He’s super sick. From Tromsø up in the north.
Gabriel: And Patrick Riberg is killing it.
Yeah, I saw the new edit from Wietse Thomas that’s coming out soon, he was killing it, all those guys were.
Bjarne: Those guys kill it.
Who’s the spot guy out of you two?
Gabriel: Bjarne is, I’m not as creative in finding weird corners you can make skateable.
Bjarne: I just walk by the same spots several times and keep thinking about what you can do there, and I write it down on my trick list.
Gabriel, gap to frontside smith grind, Oslo. Ph. Sam Ashley
Oh, you have a trick list. Gabriel?
Gabriel: I have one, but I don’t always follow through with it.
Bjarne: You gotta have one. Okay, I’m in this area, I’m feeling good, let’s go there.
Gabriel: I mostly use my map of photos, I always take photos of spots no matter how shitty they are. So when I’m in an area I can see what’s close.
You skate in the winter also. That seems fucked to me. Slamming hurts regardless, but now you’re slamming in freezing temperatures.
Bjarne: If you’re warm it’s fine. But that footage looks so much doper than anything else.
So you want snow in the shots?
Bjarne: Oh yeah, you want snow.
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Ha ha.
Bjarne: I mean, it’s something unique about where we live, there’s snow four months out of the year.
Do you wear wool underneath your pants? Long johns?
Bjarne: Oh yeah, stilongs. When I watch snowboard videos, I dream about getting a skate clip where it snows. It looks so sick.
So Gabriel. How can you be so tech and so loose at the same time?
Gabriel: Ha ha, eh. Tech and loose. It might have something to do with me trying to be so fucking tech when I was younger, but now I think it’s kinda lame and wanted to be more loose so now it’s a little
mix I guess.
Did you try to be more loose?
Gabriel: No, but be more comfortable on the board. I used to not let myself go home from the park if I hadn’t learned a new trick, and I guess that probably could make me look a little stiff.
Your loose ass trucks probably help too.
Gabriel: Yeah, Janno has told me off a few times about that. So I’ve tightened them a little. So he was right. Switch tre flips became a lot easier with a little tighter trucks. But I like cruising around. I don’t necessarily consider myself a loose skater though.
Arthur at Free used the word ‘wildcard’ when I talked to him about you, which I think is very fitting.
Gabriel: Yeah? I dig that.
That you don’t know what’s coming, but that it’s going to be dope. Is that just the way you ride now or do you want to land bolts?
Gabriel: Oh, I don’t give a fuck about bolts. As long as there’s no toe drag, then I’m good, ha ha.
That’s easy for you to say when you have good style, but if you’re a person with bad style and you take what you can get as long as it’s not toe drag, then you’re in trouble.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha.
I’ve coined your skating as ‘charm tech’. Hard tricks that are really cute also.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha.
Gabriel: I’ll take that. Charm tech.
I looked through your gram yesterday and I found the kickflip nollieflip line at Lakkegata, and I laughed out loud. I’d forgotten about it and it’s so dope. I’m putting the link for the video in here so
people can see it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTAIVu2Fogm/
How many people do you think will actually write this down?
Gabriel: If three people do it I’ll be happy.
Bjarne and Gabriel, Oslo, 2023. Ph. Sam Ashley
You went to the States last year. Where, why, how was it?
Gabriel: I went last year and the year before that. Long Beach, because of Tiago Lemos. We’ve gotten to know him and he’s got a spot there. I’d saved up money so I wanted to check it out. It was really fun the first time and I got the opportunity to do it again last year.
Did you film?
Gabriel: The first trip I filmed one trick and then got injured twice in three weeks. But it was a good trip, I got to meet a lot of people and see cool stuff. But there wasn’t a specific reason I went.
So you’d saved up money and paid for your own flight?
Gabriel: I got half the flight paid by Poetic this last time.
Poetic Collective. Please do tell.
Gabriel: Poetic is a board company from Malmö that Tom Botwid runs. He’s also the TM of Vans Scandinavia, he hooked us up with Vans after Jadda. And that’s when Vans Norway stopped being a thing so that was convenient.
Bjarne: And refreshing.
So then you got some support?
Gabriel: Then it was proper, got shoes and stuff. Vans Norway wasn’t really a thing, hehe. And after skating for Vans a while he asked me if I wanted to skate for Poetic. It’s been very nice; I’ve been on for two years.
As we’re rounding up, let’s talk about tricks. Bjarne. 50-50 bs 180 switch 50-50 on the up down ledge.
Bjarne: That was a major fix first. Big cracks that I filled with cement. Didn’t know what trick to do, but that trick was a dream trick. I don’t know how to do it. I actually got my nickname during that trick, which was my nickname that year: Påsan (the bag man).
Gabriel: Ha ha ha.
Bjarne: It was the first spring day in Oslo, and there were a bunch of old alcoholics sitting there, and one of them yelled at me. ‘Come on, Påsan!’. I didn’t hear it, but everybody kept yelling Påsan at me.
Gabriel. Fakie treflip over the ledge.
Gabriel: I practised it over stuff, went and did it over the ledge at the police station, which is a miniature version of the spot in Frogner Park. So we went to try it, and it didn’t take me that long actually. I cracked one board, tried it on the cracked board, landed on it and broke it, so I landed on it twice in a row. Then I had to use Vi Duc’s 8.0 board with stiff ass Venture trucks, but it kinda made it easier ‘cause it was so short and snappy. Got it a couple tries later.
Are you leading that spot?
Gabriel: If I’m the leader of that spot? That’s a cocky thing to say.
Bjarne: That’s cocky.
Hey, I’m just asking. Bjarne, is he leading? The best trick ever done over the ledge?
Bjarne: No.
Gabriel: No, I ́m not leading.
Bjarne, wallride to frontside crooked grind, Athens. Ph. Sem Rubio
Okay, so then who’s got the best trick?
Bjarne: Tiago, switch varial heel.
Gabriel: Henrik Lund, switch bs flip. O/yvind Nissen nollie back heel.
Fakie tre doe…
Bjarne: But… You’re the only one who’s skated fakie over it.
That’s what I’m saying. Regards from someone who can’t skate.
Bjarne: There’s not a lot of people that could do that.
Gabriel: Yeah right.
Hey, Tiago did switch varial heel for a reason and not fakie tre, ha ha. Just saying. We’ll leave it for the people.
Gap 50-50 kickflip. To slam. The slam is one of my favourite moments in the part.
Gabriel: I felt so dumb from that slam. That spot has always been there, (Eirik) Ballo does ollie, ollie in the dark. It’s a type of spot I like, you gotta have quick feet. It was a random crew, me, Pekka and Flo Marfaing. But it was cool, he was stoked. But all of a sudden the spot was gone, which was a shame, because I had claimed a bunch of tricks I wanted to do on it. Deedz and I went and claimed we were gonna do this and this and this.
That’s interesting. Claiming. ‘Cause in snowboarding there’s something called the boot claim. You go to a spot and claim some heavy trick. But when you come back and strap in to your board to actually hit it you’re like, ‘Oh shit’. Then people will ask ‘Was he wearing snowboard boots when he claimed it?’ ‘Oh he was wearing sneakers, all good.’ The boots make your legs so much stiffer and it’s a totally different world. Does that exist in skateboarding in some way?
Bjarne: Yeah, but we’ve got more bar claims. Tomorrow I’m gonna go and grind that rail.
Gabriel: Yeah, either the drinking claim or the hungover claim. Like that spot is no stress at all. Or what Pekka calls winter brain.
Bjarne: Yeah, that’s no joke!
Gabriel: You walk around during the winter and see a spot, and go man I’m gonna do a crazy trick on this thing in the spring, but then the pile of snow isn’t there anymore…
Bjarne: You know what the best winter claim I’ve ever heard is? It’s actually Jonatan Drab. You know the black curbs down by Vulkan? He was like damn, these curbs are so sick. Next time I rode my bike past it I was like dude, it’s all fucking gravel down there.
Ha ha ha. I’m glad I asked that. Favourite question yet.
Gabriel, 360 flip over the wall (and into the lead!) at Frognerparken, Oslo. Ph. Sebastian Bjerkvik
What’s the plan going forward?
Gabriel: I want to do fun stuff. Oslo, Copenhagen, Malmö. I’ve gone to Malmö quite a bit because of Poetic. No big plans though, but something always happens, which is why I’ve been working so much so that I can say ‘fuck it’ and go wherever.
Bjarne: I’m going to Vienna at the end of the month.
That sounded pro. A pro thing to say. I know two really cute girls in Vienna. Can I come?
Gabriel: Now I feel like I’ve gotta say something cleverer. Hmm, what’s going on these days…
So when Bjarne says he’s going to Vienna, you get self-conscious and want to change your answer? It’s not a competition.
Gabriel: Maybe I just got a personal crisis ‘cause I haven’t planned anything. And all the work stuff is just excuses.
You don’t need excuses, you do kickflip, nollieflip lines on the bumps, which is the loosest shit ever done on
a skateboard.
Gabriel: I didn’t work back then.
Bjarne: Ha ha ha.
Gabriel: I’m not gonna work so much after the summer.
I’ll be pissed if you do. Is there going to be a Gabriel and Bjarne 2?
Gabriel: Yes.
It’s happening?
Bjarne: Yeah, it’s almost done.
So why didn’t you say that when I asked what’s happening going forward?
Bjarne: It’s gonna drop, but don’t know when.
Gabriel: I need some more time, Bjarne is done. I don’t have an ender.
You probably have five enders. I have a title suggestion: Bjarne and Gabriel.
Bjarne: That’s what it’s called.
Ha ha, genius. Last question. What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from your fathers?
Bjarne: Handywork. And to chill. He’s the chillest person. I love my dad. But I can’t chill. Totally opposite of me. I think about it when I work. He’s also a perfectionist, he’s been a furniture carpenter for 20 years and never had a single return.
Gabriel: Hard question. I have an amazing relationship with my dad. He’s a very happy go lucky guy that does a lot of stuff, a little too much at times. It’s a little cliché to say that it either works out or it will pass, but he’s taught me to take things with a pinch of salt. I quit my Masters, and he says that was probably smart, that I listened to myself. If I tell him I don’t know what to do with my life, he says that he’s never known himself. And he’s
doing good.
Thanks for the chat boys. I love you guys and now I’ve gotten to know you even better.
Gabriel: Love you, Perry. And Bjarne, I guess.
Bjarne: Ha ha, wow.
