Volcom – Road Tested: Greece
Rolling Stone – Volcom in Greece
When I finally got a hold of Omar Hassan he was in Spain, on a little side mission, skating a ditch with Roberto [Aleman] and a few other Volcom compadres. This was directly after a 2-week trip with Volcom through Greece with Thanos [Panou] and a much larger crew. During our call about the trip Omar told me he went on his first skate tour three and a half decades ago. Wow… To still be jumping in the van, in 2026, is nothing less than impressive. From packed demos in stadiums and shoddy wooden ramps with PVC coping in car parks, to months-long filming trips, Omar has witnessed firsthand how skate tours have transformed over the years. After all those miles covered, clips logged, and videos completed, he’s amassed some fond memories and learnt a thing or two along the way, but most importantly, he still has that love for it in his heart. That love of exploring new terrain with his four-wheeled toy. As you peruse through Gerard’s photos of the Greece trip, we pick Omar’s brain about touring past and present and contrast that with the nascent experiences of Volcom teammate and NZ new jack: Theo Clarke.
Interviews by Will Harmon
Omar Hassan, Madonna over the hip, Nafpaktos
Omar Hassan
Can you remember your first skate tour?
My first actual skate tour was in 1990 out here; we did a seven-country tour. It was kind of random, because it was for Tracker Trucks, which at the time they were a pretty big truck company. That’s when the Eurorail was going, and we just basically hit seven different countries: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, etc. What was cool about it was at the time I felt like you weren’t really going on a lot of international tours, like a lot of people hadn’t gone to Australia or a place like that yet, so for me it really opened my eyes up to what skating in other countries was like. And at the end of the tour, a bunch of us went to the Münster contest in Germany. Going to Münster and this other contest in France that they have every year wasn’t necessarily a tour, but it seemed like it for us coming from North America. The Münster contest was like the Superbowl of skating I felt like.
Simon Bannerot, frontside nosebluntslide, Athens
I remember seeing those comps in old mags. Ed Templeton won back-to-back ones I believe. So were you mainly doing demos in these countries? Or were you out trying to shoot photos and get clips?
Back then it was mainly demos, visiting shops… The first video that I really filmed for was Splendid Eye Torture for Blockhead Skateboards. That video came out in .1990 as well, so we were filming, but we were filming more in the US, and then when we went internationally, it was usually for contests. It felt like the contests were the proving ground whether you could turn pro or not, and results mattered, you know what I mean?
Yeah…
I don’t feel like filming trips really started happening ‘til about the mid-‘90s. In ‘93 and ‘94 you started seeing people going on just trips instead, and you didn’t have to be skating contests so much.
Eniz Fazliov, noseslide to noseslide, Thessaloniki
That’s interesting, so you were there for that switch, in the mid-’90s.
I feel like Powell Peralta came out with their videos and Vision, but then Blind’s Video Days came out…
That’s right, Gonz and Jason Lee were just street skating around in Paris and London, no contests, just gathering clips…
Yeah, and then after that, people were realising, like, “Fuck, all right, well, we don’t even… We can just make a video production!” and the contest became not as important. Then obviously I really feel like the 411 video movement kind of helped a lot when it came to the progression of international skating, because 411VM would cover everything.
The days before the internet! Looking back, do you have a favourite skate tour or trip you’ve done in your lifetime?
Yeah, actually, one of my favourite ones was when we went to Israel on a Vans trip. Preston [Maigetter, aka P-Stone] had gone out there by himself to meet this guy Avi before on a trip, but no one had gone out there on a skate trip, so it was kind of like uncharted territory. It was kind of during these tourist warnings and all that, but we went out there and it was with like [Tony] Trujillo, Andrew Allen, I think [Chris] Pfanner, Angel Ramirez, and obviously Preston and Joe Hammeke, who have both passed away; it was a cool trip, because the simple fact that we didn’t know what to expect.
Liv Lovelace, nosemanual, Athens
The great unknown…
Even this trip, when we went to Greece, like,I didn’t know what to expect, and a lot of us had never been to Greece, so that’s the best part of going on trips, you know? At first, it went from like a little bit of a culture shock to suddenly you’ve adapted to where you’re at. But one thing that was cool is having people from Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe, and we all knew each other somewhat, but when you’re on a trip like that, you really get to know each other, bond, and it becomes like a very family-orientated situation.
It’s also cool to see some of the newer kids who are really hungry, they’re so excited, because it’s new to them, so they start ripping and going for it even harder than they would if it was just on a normal trip in their country, you know?
It’s funny you say that, because I’m going to speak to Theo [Clarke] as well, and find out his perspective.
Well, Theo is a perfect example, he is super talented at skating, if there’s a spot that’s up his alley, he’s not hesitant at all, and has a really unique, cool kind of quick skating, which comes easy to him, and I feel like his style is really good. And it’s like he’s looking at all this shit like he’s a kid in a candy store: “Holy shit, I got some Skittles over here, I got some gummy bears…” like, he’s just fucking tripping out on everything.
Theo Clarke, frontside 50-50, Patras
Anything notable happen on this trip?
One day we went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, the water was so warm and crystal clear… We had that one day off, and everyone was really hyped that we were able to just kind of have a couple beers and swim in the ocean. That was really nice.
It was cool because Zoolz [George Kousoulis] was with us, as Zoolz speaks the language. He’s a great filmer, and having him, we were lucky, because he was a great interpreter along the way. And then Liv [Lovelace] absolutely killed it. Simon [Bannerot], obviously, as usual, killed it, but all in all, we didn’t really have any problems. No one really got too smoked, and I felt like it was one of those trips that everyone left on a natural high, you know? Everyone was hyped.
Had you been to Greece at all before?
I’d never been there. Obviously we get pretty spoiled in America, the spots were quite a contrast as far as the ground; it’s a different terrain.
Lucien Gourdal, crooked grind, Athens
How was it with Thanos [Panou]? I know he must have had spots lined up.
I could definitely see the military background, haha! But he took us to a lot of really cool spots, and I felt like it’s kind of putting a lot on his plate when you have all these people coming to your town and you have to try to make them happy. It worked out in a way where I felt like he did his best to be hospi-table towards everybody.
He got a trick the very first night that we showed up, because we were all fried, you know? When we got off the plane he took us to spots, like literally straight off the plane, and then we skated pretty much ‘til we had to get back on the plane… But his approach to giving up the spots that he gave us was cool, because he’s probably not doing that for everyone.
Being one of the oldest a lot of time on these trips, do you feel like you have any fatherly instincts that creep in? Do you give advice to the kids or anything?
It’s actually the opposite, haha. Yeah, it depends on what I’m doing, how I’m feeling, and how much toxins are in me, haha. One thing that I do a lot of is answering questions that they have when it comes to people they’ve never met, that they want to know more about, who I’ve spent time with, and try to get a little insight of what it was like then, and how that person was then, you know? And also they want to know how skating was different back then. Skating was a lot less accepted, as far as, you’d be getting kicked out of spots so much more back in the day, and before skate-stopping was around, that was a whole other crazy time, especially in America and Canada… They just started skate-stopping everything. And I think now, especially with the Olympics and all this shit going on, skating’s gotten way more accepted. You remember when they used to have those stickers, “Skateboarding is not a crime.”?
Jechu Corvalán, boardslide, Athens
Yeah…
I feel like we’ve moved past those days. Some of these kids still want to know how skating was back then… I mean, you basically were way more of an outcast than you are now. People understand skateboarding a lot more now. Now you’ve got guys that are the mayor of the city and their kids skate, but back in the day it was not like that in the slightest. Now it’s way more accepted, and acceptance brings understanding, and now I feel like the world’s way more of a skatepark than it used to be.
Theo Clarke, crooked grind pop-over, Athens
Theo Clarke
Where are you right now?
Well our van broke down an hour into this Always trip, it just stopped accelerating, and we were on the side of the road for like maybe three hours, and then got picked up by an AA tow truck, and now we’re at a service station, and there’s a mechanic here, trying to figure it out, but it’s not looking too good.
You came directly to London after this Volcom trip, and you guys were heading to Scotland, right?
Yeah, and then as well the filmer homie was filming all this shit, like the van getting towed and stuff, alongside the road, and then we just got in the van and then he realised that he left his camera bag on the side of the road.
No!! Who is it? Shane?
Yeah! So the Xtreme is just currently sitting on the side of the motorway.
Harry Lintell, frontside 50-50, Athens
The Xtreme fisheye lens!?
Yeah, in the camera bag, like in a bush. But like, the chances of someone finding it are very, very slim.
But how can you guys go back to find exactly where that was? Would you be able to know?
Well I guess, we were like taking photos and stuff, and that should have the pin, like on the map.
That is stressful!
He seems pretty mellow, but dude, if I had a fucking $15,000 piece of glass sitting on the highway in the middle of fucking somewhere, I’d be stressing out.
I know those things are hard to come by.
Yeah man, I know! But that’s pretty much where I’m at.
Wow, okay… So let’s jump into my questions, cool?
Yeah…
Simon Bannerot, frontside wallride, Athens
What was your first tour/trip with a brand?
My first proper trip was a Volcom trip back in 2023, where the Microwave video idea stemmed from. It was kind of Grant’s [Taylor] idea, when he was still on, to do another video. So I was in the van with Grant Taylor, Simon Bannerot, Giovanni Vianna, and like, Rob Pace, Rome [Collyer] and everyone from Australia. So they flew to my hometown [Auckland] and we spent a week there and then went to Tauranga and Hamilton, and a few other small towns around New Zealand. But yeah, that was my first proper skate trip, like, getting invited to go on one with pros.
Straight in the van with GT!
Yeah, that was insane. Some crazy stories from that trip… Just like nights out drinking, and I got videos of him and Simon trying to skate the ironing board on the table and falling over and he was throwing bottles at the fucking TV and shit, it was chaos.
Marco Kada, shove-it flip, Megara
Welcome to a Volcom tour…
Pretty much! On one of the last nights, my friend Kingsley, who takes photos, was editing a photo on his desktop computer and GT just throws a bottle of beer at his screen and just shatters the whole thing, and was like, “Boring!” Everyone’s drinking, and like, what are you gonna say to GT? Volcom ended up paying for it, but yeah, he was pretty loose… That trip was like a getting thrown into the deep end type of experience, with some big dogs, and some pretty cool memories. But yeah, Grant’s funny, because he’s just like… Well he’s the infamous Grant Taylor, but he’d be sitting in the van all day, maybe not doing too much, just eating pistachios all day, and then all of a sudden a switch would turn on, and he just pipes up, you know? And just starts revving everything up! It’s pretty fucking dope. I definitely feel blessed to be a part of that, especially because he doesn’t ride for Volcom anymore, which is a shame. But that was my first proper skate trip with a brand.
Omar told me his first skate tours consisted of plenty of demos. Did you ever go to any demos as a kid?
I remember my very first demo was a Kr3w demo. I think Cyril Jackson and Lizard King came to a local park, and that was my first memory of seeing pro skaters. I’m actually not even sure if I skated at the time, but I think one of my friends did, or his dad did, and we just went to hang out. And then another one would be a DC demo, where Chris Cole and Nyjah [Huston] came to our local skatepark. DC has come a few times actually; Cons came once but it rained… Not too many people come to New Zealand.
Have you ever done a demo yourself?
Nah, I haven’t. We’ve been to lots of Volcom events where it kind of feels like a demo, but nothing where we’re the only ones skating. It’s more like get everyone at the park for a sesh and like, give out some shit. But I’ve never done a so-called demo where it’s like, “Come watch the team skate!” I haven’t done one of those.
I know your first one was just three years ago, but do you have a favourite tour or trip you’ve done so far?
That first one definitely holds the most value, not only because it was like the first, but it was just so memorable. Like all the stories that I have and the friendships that I built from that, you can’t take away. That definitely always sticks in my mind. And then maybe the one that we just went on [to Greece] was insane, because that was my first international trip.
Matisse Banc, frontside halfcab kickflip, Athens
Yeah, how was it?
I never even thought that I would ever go to Greece to skate. So to have the opportunity, and just seeing such different places, because I’ve been to Europe a bunch, but Greece is just like on another level. Going to the small towns, and even the big ones, like Thessaloniki and Patras, it’s just beautiful, amazing food, the beaches were crazy, we had like three vans and like 15 people. It was a really big crew, which kind of made it hard to film, but also it was kind of nice, because the stress is not on a handful of people, it’s on a lot of people, and then everyone gets shit done.
I like how we’re kind of merging the European dudes and the Australia dudes together, because they came to the Microwave premiere tour as well. That’s how I met Roberto [Aleman], Lucien [Gourdal] and all them. I’m not really sure exactly what happened in America, with Remy [Stratton] and Volcom, but after that happened, my team with Shane Azar, and the European team, with Roberto, got a lot more control.
Liv Lovelace, kickflip backside 50-50, Lebadea
Yeah, I know Roberto has really helped steer the ship here in Europe.
So I think Roberto and Azar just really wanted to just bring back the old vibe of Volcom and just get the ball rolling again.
It’s a new era of Volcom.
It is, I think that’s really what they’re trying to push, you know? And getting people to think about Volcom a bit more. I think it’s definitely working with all the articles and the videos coming out, people are like, “Oh shit, it’s back!”
Indeed. Okay, tell me about Thanos Panou’s passion…
He is hands down the most passionate skateboarder that I’ve ever met. He is like a TM in his own heart, without anyone asking him to be a TM. I’ve known of him for a while, just watching clips, and I remember that Pocket Skate Mag “Followed” of him came out. I just remember watching it and thinking, man, the way this dude talks is so enticing, calculated and proper, but in the most passionate way for skating. It was unreal.
Tom Barthélémy, ollie in, Athens
I’ve been on a trip with him, and I’ve never seen someone so motivated and trying to hype people up to skate a covered spot on a rainy day.
Yeah… I remember he sent a spot book… So the whole point of this Greece thing was to hit “uncharted territory”, so he put together like a Google Docs page full of spots that pretty much no one has ever skated in Greece. He made this, well actually I’ll get it up, one sec… “Welcome to Greece. This presentation is intended solely for use of Volcom team for Greece tour. Any unauthorised use, reproduction, or adaption of this content for future progresses, you might be strictly prohibited from any other projects.”
Thanos wrote that?
Yeah, he wrote that. So like, anyone else who gets this spot book you’re fucking getting booted. Not sure how serious it was, but after meeting him, I think it was, you know? He doesn’t fuck around. He’s a really nice guy to talk to, because he’s very uplifting, and he’s very not afraid to tell you what he thinks, good or bad, and he’s always really interested in what you’re saying. Like he’ll definitely take his time and make sure he understands what you’re saying and respects it and responds correctly. That’s how I saw his approach to communication, if you will. I can see how people maybe think he’s intense at times, because he is pretty intense, but I was super into it, like just making shit happen, you know? He did his research on everyone, like, he knew all the tricks that I could do, so he found spots for me.
Simon Bannerot, frontside 50-50, Patras
No way, sick!
The first thing he said to me, I don’t even think we had even met yet, but he comes up to me, and he says, “Hi Theo, I love your trick selection: handrails and tech manuals. I’m Thanos. Nice to meet you.”
Haha!
He was a really great guy to have on the trip. Yeah, not fucking around… Shout out to Thanos for doing that for us!
And Omar, you think you’ll still be going on skate tours when you’re his age?
Dude, I fucking hope so. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but he does.
Does he have any stretching routines, or did you talk to him about this stuff?
No dude, I don’t think I saw him stretching. To be fair, he’s not skating every day, but when he does skate, like we call it Omar’s birthday. When Omar gets a clip, it’s Omar’s birthday. So yeah, no stretching, but that trip everyone was doing a fair bit of partying and chilling.
Mini Pro, taildrop, Athens
And he was right there in the mix then?
He was right there in the thick of it, and I was not expecting it, because when I met him in Australia, I think he might… I’m not sure what, but maybe he had some health conditions going on, health issues, and he wasn’t even drinking coffee, not getting drunk or maggot with us at all, and then this trip, it was just party Omar. So I guess he sorted it out. I mean, he’s old enough to be my dad, but he lives it, and gets treated like he’s just one of the youngest dudes on the team, you know? Me and him, like in the in the back of the van, he’s fucking sharing rooms with people, like, he just loves it. Yeah, so to answer your question: I hope so. I wonder if my body and brain could take that?
Lucien Gourdal, frontside nosegrind revert, Loutraki
*And in case you were wondering, a little update from Theo on the missing camera bag and Xtreme lens:
We got a new van and went to the spot we thought Shane’s camera bag was at. Got there and got out and started looking and we then realised it was the wrong spot, but we lost Shane for about 30 minutes in the bush. Then we got it! Man it was nuts; Xtreme on the side of the road for six hours, haha! Finally made it to Scotland at 4am. Now at the Airbnb but all the fuses blew so no one can charge their phones and no hot water, hahaha… Insane start to the trip.
