Eero Antilla. In the space between thought and word

September 27, 2007 @ 2:41 PM

- Confusious’ words “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions” suits sweet to describe Eero’s character. You won’t find him at the spot sitting on his ass speculating and yapping crap all day. Eero is a man of action. He’s very demanding on himself. He lands everything on absolute perfection and counts nothing else as a make, which must be one of the reasons why he’s become so ridiculously skilful. There’s only a hand full of wizards in the world who can hit any obstacle, pop high up, catch a clean flip or lock a smooth grind, land feet precisely on bolts and remain in the same easy stance all the way through. Eero’s calm style makes mad difficult trickery look effortless. With his almost robotic errorless skating he’ll stand out in any session. Yet, with all his exceptional skills not gone up to his head, you’ll find him humble and nice fellow, well worth meeting.
Mappe

Photos by Antton

You’re from Tampere in Finland. What’s it like there?

It’s a pretty average place I guess, rough spots, tarmac flat. When I started skating there weren’t any parks or indoor spots, so it was car parks in the winter.

Did you have a main spot where you’d meet up and get stuck for days?

Yeah there was this schoolyard in the centre with a bit of flat and a three stair. That was our hang out.

Isn’t there a pretty big gap at that spot as well?

Well there’s a pretty big 8 stair as well, and like a flat gap with a drop in the end. But those are proper Finn stairs, where the top step sticks out an inch and the landing is worn out tarmac. So that wasn’t really something to jump down ever day, but I did feel like I had to do a kickflip there at least once every summer when I was a kid.

What else was there in town?

Some sweaty little curb somewhere, that’s about it. Some sets of stairs and gaps.

What’s Tampere known for outside of skating?

It’s a basic Finnish working class town, they had the Finlayson [textile] factories by the river that runs through it. The whole town just sort of grew around the factory. It’s a pretty mellow gang of people living up there, I’d say.

So how old were you when you started skating?

It was -91, so I must have been like 7. Three years later I got some money for a board for Christmas and when the shops opened after the holidays, I went straight out and bought my first real set-up. Then I had to wait for like 3 months to skate it, because it was in the middle of the winter! It didn’t even occur to me that skating was possible in the winter. The first few years it was more like skating in the summer and then hockey in the winter.

You plaid hockey?

Yeah, I was pretty serious about it in fact. Tampere is a huge hockey town! We’ve got 2 major league teams, Tappara and Ilves. I plaid all through elementary school and until I was about 15. The last 4 years I was playing for Ilves, in the junior league. I think Ilves has won more Finnish National League championships than any other team.

Did you ever use to wish you’d be pro some day?

As a kid, that was the dream for sure! To make it to NHL and earn millions!

How full on was it, would you have practice every day and that?

Yeah definitely. Every day after school and then a game in another town usually on the weekend. And that was one of the reasons why I quit, because there was no time for anything else. It was beginning to be pretty far from fun. Like there was no life outside of school and hockey.

But isn’t it like that with skating too?

Well yeah off course, but in hockey it’s the game that makes you its own, where as in skating, you make it yours. In hockey, you always have the coach telling you what you have to do, for how long and when to do it. And you see the same face shouting at you every day for couple of hours… It bums you out after a while. In skating you have no rules, no referees, no one tells you you weren’t good enough today, it’s up to you.

So when did skating take over for you?

Hockey just got too serious when I was maybe about 15 and at that point it was all year round as well, so it was too much for me. And about a year after that the first proper indoor skatepark opened in Tampere so I could really start skating all year round.

A lot of skaters wouldn’t really know what it’s like to skate indoors half the year.
Can you describe it a bit?

In the autumn it’s pretty fun to go skate the park for the first time–they generally close them for the summer, so you haven’t skated it for a while and it’s definitely a lot of fun again. But at the same time that first session is always a bit depressing too, because it’s a reminder of what you’re stuck with for the next 4-5 months. So it makes you think you have to come up with something or you’ll go insane before the winter’s over. Then again in the spring, there’s no way to describe the first out door sessions. When you’re in school as a kid and haven’t got any chance of going abroad in the winter, you’re completely lost when you emerge from the hall in the spring. You pretty much have to learn all your tricks again, because the ground is so different.

When did you get on the travelling mission?

I think it was in the spring of 2001 in the Pro Skate comp when I got on Mic Mac [Finnish clothing brand]. Kärä [Jussi Korhonen] introduced me to Kaitsu [owner of Mic Mac] and they offered me so much more than what I had with Control at the time, including travel budgets and per diems and everything. So Mic Mac sent me on my first trip abroad to the comp in Dortmund.

How did you do?

I remember my name being called and there was this driveway on the course and I tried to tre flip it as my first trick. I’d done it so many times that day, but that time I just fucked it up completely, I had no idea where my board went, I slammed like an idiot and I think I heard my head hit the ground or something and my board shot out to the other end of the course. I spent half of my run chasing after it, wondering what the hell I was doing there [laughing]. People staring, probably wondering the same thing… I really wasn’t expecting that slam! But the second run went a bit better, I landed the tre and I guess some other flips too, and after that run Arto came up to me and wanted me to meet Ian Deacon and Jeremy Fox in the back somewhere.

Were you pretty shocked?

Yeah, I asked Arto if he saw me running after the board in the first run, almost thinking that this is some cruel joke!

Didn’t you go for dinner with those guys that night? I think I’ve heard some stories about you sitting there not saying a word…

Seriously, at the time I couldn’t speak a word of English and I was so confused and overwhelmed anyway, so when someone would ask me something, anything, I would just completely shut down and not respond at all. I didn’t have anything to say to anyone, I don’t think! Arto, Bastien, Geoff, Rune, Mark, everyone, even Penny was there on that dinner, and Deacon and Jeremy. I don’t think I said a single word to anyone all night. Plus Uuksu [an old legend on the Finnish skate scene], who also rode for Mic Mac was there with me sort of looking after me since I was just a little kid really. He came along for the dinner [laughing] and since it was all for free, Uuksu was up in flames from the first instant, getting pissed and telling everyone how amazing I was! I was so embarrassed [laughing], like these guys have no idea who I am at all and probably aren’t very interested either and some guy’s just going on and on about me!

Probably doesn’t really help to be quiet and shy if you want to make it in the skateworld…

Definitely not [laughing]! I’m sure things might have been different if I’d opened my mouth here and there, but obviously I don’t want to dwell on that, I’m happy with how everything’s turned out for me. I’ve got no regrets.

So that was the start of your stint on Flip?

Kind of yeah. I sort of went with them on their Euro tour and ended up in the Prague comp.

Just like that? Did you call your mom at least to let her know?

I think something might have happened, like I forgot to call home or something… My mom got a bit worried and she was phoning all over town and finally at the Kartel skateshop in Tampere they knew where I was. I think she got a hold of me somehow after that.

And the next winter after that you went to the US for the first time, right?

Yeah… I guess Ian Deacon had heard I was in Barcelona somehow, because I got an e-mail from him asking what I was up to and what my plans were. He didn’t really ask me to come over, though, I think it was more down to Arto. So I went out there, but Arto was hurt for the first month so I sat on the couch, observing. You’re so dependent on other people there, and since Arto couldn’t skate, I couldn’t really ask him to drop me off or drive me around. The Huntington park is skating distance from his house, so I skated there in the mornings. But there’s seriously nothing in that park, it’s a flat bar and a little platform, like a little hunk of concrete sticking out, and that’s it.

How long did you stay?

About 3 months. It was just after they’d finished filming for Sorry and it was about to come out the following summer. But it wasn’t like they’d be chilling and taking it easy though, it was proper night missions with generators, some smaller road trips to out of town spots, pretty full on.

You got a little taste of what it’s really like being a pro in the US.
There’s a lot of sitting in cars. It’s hard work getting just one trick out there. Climbing fences, breaking locks, waiting in the bushes for people to leave…

Did you end up getting any tricks yourself?

A few, but it was all pretty confusing for me. We’d go to some handrails and I wouldn’t really dare touch them.

Did you ever skate rails before that?

Nah, just skatepark rails.

Did you feel any pressure about it?

Little bit maybe. Not like anyone would look at me funny or say anything, more just for myself, cause it was the first time I saw all that. Kind of thinking like, right, if I want people to know my name, I need to skate this 20 stair rail now. It felt like you really had to risk your life for it in a way. But I don’t think like that any more at all though. I realise that you can skate whatever you want, it’s all about what you want for you, not what you think is expected of you.

Were you still in school then?

I’d just started my second year of training to be a builder before I went to the US, but I dropped out after that. The following summer Arto and Antton rented a flat in Barcelona and I ended up staying for the summer and eventually for almost a year.

Was that the time they were filming for Really Sorry? What was your deal with Flip?

I was on flow, I guess. It was never anything official, Flip never had ams as such–either you were on or you weren’t. I was meant to film some stuff for the video as well. And then Sorry came out that summer and I saw what kind of stuff the guys on the team were doing. It just left me in a bit of a shock. Like these are the dudes that I’m hanging out with.

Who was staying there at the time?

Arto, Ali and Antton, Bastien was around a lot, Jani was about. Definitely a good crew to skate with! I turned 18 that summer in Barcelona. No big party, though. I remember I was skating at Para Lel, by myself, and I had a beer after the session [laughing]!

What was it like then, constant filming mission, or more chilled out?

Pretty chill, really, there didn’t seem to be much stress over anything. People would wake up when they woke up and go skate when they felt like skating. In the evenings they’d each do whatever they were doing. I think we sat around the flat a lot, chilling.

So how did that period end for you?

I guess they we’re editing Really Sorry and I didn’t have what it took so they just used a couple of my tricks in Arto’s part. I suppose they didn’t really see any reason to sponsor some dude who’s hung with them for the past year and a half and hasn’t really come through. I suppose they figured I had my chance to prove myself. As for me, I felt like I’d kind of just been watching from the curtains and not really putting an effort in, thinking the whole time that whatever I film it won’t be good enough anyway, so why bother? So when that ended, I was so stoked again to just skate and film without constantly thinking that it has to be the craziest hammer or the techest line I’ve ever filmed in my life. Some of the stuff from that period ended up in my Puzzle part couple of years later.

How did you end up on Alis after that?

The winter was coming in Finland and I had to get out, so I called Antton to see if there were any rooms going in Barcelona that he knew about. He told me to call Simon [Weyhe, Alis team manager] to see if they had room in their flat. I knew of Alis and who was on the team but had never met any of the guys. I ended up staying at the flat with Willow, Petr and Foppa. Flex [O’Connor] showed up a bit later. Simon would show up at the flat every day and motivate people to go skate, show us the spots.

Did he have to crack the whip to get you guys out?

Simon’s the most chilled out dude ever, he’d never put any pressure on us, he just had a way of making it all happen with no stress at all. We became really good friends with the whole crew. It’s a shame we don’t really see each other that much any more.

I never really understood what happened to Alis. You came out with such a banging video with Who Cares and you had a great tight crew, and then right after the video it somehow lost momentum.

I’m still not really sure what happened myself. But what happened to me was that Simon sent me my box and called me afterwards to make sure I got it and then just said that those were the absolute last boards they had in the warehouse and they weren’t going to order more for another nine months. And that was it. Simon disappeared off the face of the earth and I couldn’t get a hold of him no matter how much I tried. Then I heard a rumour that he’s quit. For me Simon was the guy who kept it all together. So when I finally got a hold of him couple months later and he told me he had really quit I just got in touch with Philip [Amar at Jart Skateboards] right away to find out what they were up to. It felt stupid to stay with Alis without Simon, because as far as the skate team went, he made it all what it was, he made it happen.

So in a way it was a good time to change sponsors with a great video part just out?

Yeah in that sense off course, it was really helpful to have the video part fresh in people’s mind when talking to Jart. Philip invited me to come over to Spain and meet the people at Jart and then it kind of took off from there.

That was about a year ago? How’s the Jart video coming along?

It’s all done, the premier is on 5 July in Barcelona.

Are you happy with what you’ve got?

There could always be more time, you know, but yeah, I’m pretty happy!

Have you been travelling with them a lot?

We did a trip to Majorca and another one to Italy. It’s good, I know some of the guys from before, Jan Kliewer from Globe and Jose Manuel Roura just from hanging out in Barcelona.

What else is in the pipeline?

It’s summer in Finland! Maybe film for the Perus video with Pirkka [Pollari], and just keep filming in general. There’s always going to be a next video!

Eero rides for Jart Skateboards, Globe Europe and Mic Mac clothing.

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