Eniz Fazliov Get On The Fast Train
December 03, 2009 @ 7:39 AM
Frontside Noseslide
You were just in Malmö with Pontus for the release of his colour way. How was that? Are those spots really as hard as they look in photos?
Probably depends on what you’re used to I guess. The spots in Finland are pretty rough, so I felt OK there. We went to that alley, TBS, where they’ve built all those banks and trannies. They’re not the easiest for sure, so maybe if you’re used to Barcelona or something, you might hate on them a bit.
Are you going to have a part in his video?
Maybe, I don’t know. Pontus asked the two filmers I’ve been working with to send him some footage, so we looked through it and he picked what he wanted for the video, I think based on what fits the style of the video more than how difficult the tricks are or something. I had some stuff from China for example and he didn’t want that, cause it would just look too weird in there. It’s cool that he sticks to his own style, it’s sick to be part of the thing. He showed me the footage he’s got for it so far and it’s pretty crazy stuff, especially after having been to those spots they skate. The wallrides they do on the alley are like what the fuck…
Isn’t that wall made out of like wire mesh?
Pretty much and it’s really flimsy, plus it’s an alley, so you have to carve into it like 90 degrees going full speed.
Who do you usually travel with?
Mostly Emerica and Volcom. Emerica most of all, I’d say. I haven’t been on any Alien trips yet, but I’m looking forward to doing something with them. I was thinking if I get a chance to go to the US this winter again, it would be cool to meet those guys. I know Arto a bit of course, but I haven’t met any of the other dudes at all.
You quit your first board sponsor, Happy Hour, about a year ago to ride for Almost. Was that a tough decision then?
Yeah not even a year, it was around January I think. And yeah it was really hard to leave Happy Hour because they’re all my good friends and I rode for them for years.
Ollie 360 flip
Your stint on Almost was pretty short lived.
I rode for them maybe five months. It was weird because I had to leave a really cool thing we had with Happy Hour and when I was on Almost I just felt like so then what? Now I’m on this big company, and is this how it’s supposed to feel? Don’t get me wrong, everything was good with Almost, and having Sami, another Finnish dude, looking after me at Dwindle was great cause my English is so bad. Their boards were great and I always got plenty of them, so I want to thank them for that. But then when I was visiting the local Sole Tech warehouse in Finland to pick up some shoes the owner, Markus Aarni, asked me how I was hooked up for boards. I told him I get boards from Almost, but I don’t know what their plans are for me really. He told me he knew Arto and the dudes at Burton [the owners of Alien Workshop –ed.] really well, so he would ask if they can do something for me. Then a couple of weeks later Arto phoned me and asked if I was interested in Alien. He told me they could send me boards for now and then take me on some trips after a while to see how everyone got along together and so on. I spoke to Sami and told him what Arto had told me. Sami said he’d speak to Almost in the US and see what they could do for me, but it was just the time when everyone was broke and doing shitty, so they said they couldn’t really do anything more right now. So I sort of felt like well, if I’m going to play this game then I might as well go all out and try another route with Alien. It seemed like waiting for a year and a half – two years was such a long time, just to see if anything would come of it with Almost. Now I really want to stick with Alien and see what I can do for them and what they can do for me, because switching sponsors really sucks and the last thing I want to do is to hop around from one company to the next. I suppose I’ll give it some years and if it’s going nowhere I’ll go back to buying my boards and painting houses or something. But yeah, it was really Aarni who helped me get on Alien initially, so thanks a lot for that.
What’s the most important thing in your mind that makes you like a company?
The graphics, the previous videos, the skaters they have. But I’ve always liked the dna brands ever since I was a kid. I’ve looked up to skaters like Anthony Van Engelen all my life. Some companies just have all the right ingredients. I’m definitely stoked to be able to ride their boards. I know it’s just wood like any other at the end of the day, but it makes a big difference to me personally.
You ever go as far as picking your boards and shoes purely because of the pro?
No, definitely not. I mean, it’s cool to have product that also has some cool dude’s name on it, but that’s obviously not the purpose of having it. When the Hsu came out, I skated those for a long time, but then I got sick of the high top, so I’ve been skating a lot of Romeros. But it’s not like I put on Leo Romero’s shoes and think I can fifty up big rails now. Good shoes are good shoes at the end of the day.
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