Find The Texture — An Interview With Eze Martinez & Emilio Dufour

📝 Intro + Interview by Zach Baker
📷 Photography by Hardbody

Skateboarding, socially, is like weed. If you come across anyone in the world who …uses it, that should be intersection-enough to amenably hang out, at least for an hour or two. I’d wager a buck that, as the two [idiotic] activities have become more accepted into the mainstream, the chances of happening onto a deeper connection than that, i.e. beyond rolling around/rolling up, have slimmed.

Meeting and getting to know Eze Martinez and Emilio Dufour has been refreshing. It’s satisfying to know that this thing still has the power to forge real friendships between disparate strangers. While yes, our initial get-to-know-you banter involved such topics as ABDs and the psychosis of rolling up switch to The Sombrero, I think we’ve found other mutual interests to latch onto, and have found that we three share similar worldviews, whatever the hell that even means at this point.

It was exciting to see them do some of the stuff from “Never Enuff III” in person, and all the more thrilling to see what I hadn’t in the final product. Skating in New York is awesome, but let’s face it: it has never been harder to do something memorable on a skateboard in this town, let alone on a trip, in a couple of months, in one summer. I think these guys and E.J. made something lasting; a thing worth remark. Now I’m glad that a few more people get a chance to get to know my sick ass Rio de la Plata homies.

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Did you guys just learn English through skating?

Eze: I studied English for a couple of years. In school here, they teach you English, but it’s kind of wack. I did English classes for like six or seven years. I feel like I learned the most by going on trips for skating, learning the slang. When you study here, they teach you British English, so it’s way different.

Emilio: I went to a bilingual high school.

Eze: Ooo…

Emilio: Yeah, you didn’t know?

Eze: I had no idea. Damn, fancy.

Emilio: Yeah, I had classes in Spanish in the morning and then in the afternoon, it was all English for three hours or something. After I finished high school, it was just like shit talking on skate trips.

What’s the last trick you learned?

Emilio: Dude, actually yesterday I asked myself that question. But I couldn’t remember.

Eze: You already know how to do every trick, so it doesn’t count.

Emilio: In this last part that I did, I did front noseblunt nollie kickflip out. I had never done that before filming it. That was a month-and-a-half ago. I went and tried that trick and couldn’t do it, so I went to a skatepark and did a bunch of crooked grind nollie flips. It had been like four years since I tried that trick. I did like five and then went to the spot again and did the noseblunt nollie flip in like five tries.

Eze: Damn, so it’s only noseblunt nollie flip? That’s easy.

What’s yours Eze?

Eze: I was trying switch back tailslide on a mini ledge …and I got it. I was pretty hyped. I tried for so many years and it didn’t work, but somehow, I did it the other day. Felt pretty good. What’s yours Zach?

Mine? Fakie front nose back to fakie. I can do those now. The Kevin Tierney. Eze, growing up, who did you look up to as a skater in Argentina?

Eze: My father skates and I grew up skating with all his friends. I’m from Mar del Plata, which is like four hours away from Buenos Aires. I was going on trips with my father when I was six or something. He always took me to skate with everyone. A couple of pro skaters here in Argentina are like my uncles. Those guys are my influences: Gianni de Gennaro, he’s like an O.G. skater here, and Spiro Razis from Chile. Then, yeah, the Butcher [Diego Bucchieri] was, at that moment, like the skater – the only one from Argentina who made it out. I mean, yeah, there were guys going to contests. There were a couple who did really good, but Diego was the only one who made it, moved to the States and lived off of skating, got on brands, got the pro board and everything. For Argentina, he was the first one for sure, and the only one until my brother [Milton Martinez] did it.

So you’ve been surrounded by skateboarding since you were born.

Eze: Pretty much. My father ran a skate shop — both my parents actually. We were all pretty much surrounded. I was born in ‘95 and they opened the store in ‘98 – the first one – and we lived at the skate shop for… I don’t remember exactly how many years. But we used to live at the skate shop. Me and my brothers used to have this little room in the back of the skate shop. My parents used to set up a bed, every day, in the skate shop. It was crazy. That lasted probably seven years, and then we moved but they kept the skate shop. They closed that one a couple of years ago, but my mother still has a store in Mar del Plata.

When did she open that store?

Eze: It was like ten years ago, maybe twelve. It’s called Social. It’s still going. I would say it’s the best skate shop in Argentina. She carries everything. It’s the only skate shop that actually brings brands [into the country]. It’s crazy.

What’s a board cost right now in Argentina?

Eze: In U.S. dollars, like $180 for an American brand. But for like $80, you can buy a local brand. Cleaver is Diego’s board company from Argentina, and then Sincope is like an O.G. board company from the 80s that they brought back a couple of years ago. There are more board companies though.

Emilio, how did you encounter skateboarding?

Emilio: I started skating because of my cousin. I went to his house and he already skated. We spent the afternoon playing Tony Hawk on PlayStation 1. He ended up giving me that game. I got hooked from there. After like six months of playing it, I got a board. That was pretty much my introduction to skating. Not actually seeing people skate.

And your town is called Florída?

Emilio: Yeah, I was born in Florída, which is like an hour-and-a-half from the capital city of Uruguay. I skated alone for one year pretty much. Then I met my homie Rodolfo from Florída. He started skating at the same time as me and he became the skate homie. There were a couple people who were a little bit older, like 16 or something. I remember them giving me a VHS tape of stuff they were filming. Skate tricks, random stuff, CKY-inspired. Then I started skating with those guys. But from that original crew, two or three people still skate.

When you were young, did you watch a lot of skate videos? And was there anything that stood out to you?

Eze: Yeah, for me, in the skate shop, I used to watch everything. VHS videos that were playing there. As I got older, I started paying more attention. Back then, it was Flip videos and Transworld videos, Mind Field. Mark Appleyard in the Flip video — the one with the Placebo song — I feel like that’s the one that stuck the most. And then Mind Field, I loved that whole video.

Emilio: I feel like that Mark Appleyard part might be the first part that I watched. The same guys who gave me their VHS tape, gave me a CD with two videos on it: Flip Sorry and The DC Video. I can’t remember which of those I watched first. I was also really into this Montevideo video right when I started skating, Mitten the Movie. It’s Montevideo-based, all Uruguayan soundtrack. Up to that point, before watching those videos, the only skate footage I saw was from the Tony Hawk game.

Eze – I’m thinking of Sebas Gonzalez, David Gonzalez’s brother. He skates so different from his brother, but he’s just as sick, in my mind. So that’s kind of my question for you. I feel like everyone I know who has a sibling who also skates, they find ways to skate so different from each other. Why do you think that is?

Eze: Yeah, it’s like – exactly opposite. He’s always been hyped on skating the most giant, biggest spots he can find. Since he was young, he loved rails and stairs. I was attracted to weird spots, or spots that have a weird feeling. As a little kid, I had that phase when I tried to see the biggest gap I could take, especially in Mar del Plata, because we’ve got a lot of different sized stairs. But after that, it was like “Alright. This is cool, but it’s not that fun.”

Emilio: One thing that I’ve been saying to Eze these couple of years is that I think he’s kind of trying to go Milton now. And Milton is trying to go Eze. The past couple years, Eze has been like, climbing roofs. Checking out drops, type shit. And he never used to do that.

Eze: Somehow we influence each other. At least when we skate together, he’ll push me, like, “ollie this” — and then he sees me do a weird trick or something and he’s like, “I wanna try that.” Then he does it, because he can actually skate everything. So when we skate together, it’s pretty fun. We push each other into different things. We have another, younger brother. He’s kind of a mix between the two of us; he’s gnarly and tech. He’ll like…hardflip a 12 stair, crook nollie flip, that kind of skating.

Emilio: Just wait for Eze’s gap to lipslide.

Eze: Yeah, in Manhattan, the cellar door to ledge. That’s my gap to lipslide. That’s my brother’s inspo. But I feel like for me, it’s always been about finding that weird feeling. Me and Emilio, we’re always joking like: “feel the feeling.” Find the texture.

Emilio: Yeah, yeah. Taste the flavor.

When did you guys meet?

Eze: Four years ago, maybe?

Emilio: Dude, I’ve been Eze’s fan since …I don’t know. Ten years or something. He’s been good forever.

Eze: We met four years ago when he came to Buenos Aires and hit up Tommy [Scicchitano]. He’s a filmer, my roommate. We ended up skating together, but I’ve seen Emilio in Uruguayan videos since I don’t know how long. I knew who he was before meeting him. Him and Kolo, Emilio’s homie. I’ve been seeing him skate for 10 or 15 years. Uruguay is right next to Argentina so if there’s a new Uruguayan skate video, I’ll watch it for sure.

Emilio: After that, we kind of kept it going.

Eze: He started coming to Buenos Aires more often, and I started going to Montevideo. We started going on a bunch of trips.

I know that Argentina and Uruguay are close and you have a relationship – like the two cultures and scenes have a relationship with each other. Does that extend to other places in South America?

Emilio: I would say, yeah. It extends in a certain way, but with Eze, for example, Rio de la Plata [the estuary that separates Argentina and Uruguay] culture is pretty much the same. Buenos Aires and the other main cities in Argentina, and Montevideo have pretty much the same culture.

Eze: Between Buenos Aires and Uruguay is the Río de La Plata culture. We talk exactly the same. We have different little words, but we speak the same slang pretty much. If you go to a different state or province in Argentina, they speak so differently. But with Montevideo, it’s crazy because if I go, it’s almost like being home. We call Uruguay “The Little Province.”

Rude!

Emilio: The cool one.

Eze: He’s a proud Uruguayan.

Before Colombian colonization, before Europe came over, I imagine it was just the same place, right?

Eze: Yeah. It was the same, like they weren’t even called countries back then, but it was the same virreinato, which was like, Spain owned this specific area: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and a lot of this area was the same “country” pretty much. And it was not that long ago. But with Uruguay [and Argentina], we all drink mate, we eat dulce de leche, eat empanadas, same kind of foods, football, it’s pretty much the same.

When these guys came to Buenos Aires for that Vans Quartersnacks trip, how did you meet?

Emilio: Actually, it was Nick Michel.

Eze: Yeah, we met him three months before. He came on this Thrasher trip and we got along really well. When he knew he was coming back, he hit us both up to show him spots or whatever, guide them, and skate.

So then that’s how you met E.J?

Eze: I skated with them the whole trip, but Emilio came for a day.

Emilio: I went to shake E.J’s hand and he’s like, “Yo, Emilio!” And I was like, “Yo! Cool! What’s your name?” “Emilio!” I didn’t even know that he was the one running Hardbody. We kept in contact on Instagram. A couple months after that, he said, “Yo, if you ever need boards, just hit me up.” That was pretty much it. And then, I was in L.A. with Eze, and I hit him up to get some boards. And he kept it going. Then a couple of months after that, he turned Antonio and Hjalte pro.

Eze: Back then, when he came, I had kind of heard about Hardbody. He gave me a t-shirt and we ended up talking about fabrics: the quality and how he made it, but I didn’t know it was an actual board company. I don’t even know if it was back then. I just knew it was something, but not exactly what [laughs].

Emilio: We still don’t know [laughs].

Eze: After that, he gave Emilio some boards and we did this Costa Rica trip. I don’t remember if I posted a clip of Emilio or me skating, but he was like “You guys should come to New York.” After a month, we ended up going. I kind of made this guy go. I was like, “Alight, I bought my ticket. You’re getting yours now.”

Emilio: The first trip, he made me go and on the second, I made him.

So that was like your sponsor-me, kind of? Or what? Like were you already on? Are you on? What is Hardbody?

Eze: We’re still trying to figure it out.

Emilio: Dude, I don’t know if we’re on.

Eze: I think it’s just gonna stay like that forever. Nobody knows. I don’t think E.J. even knows.

What do you guys, like, “want” from skateboarding?

Emilio: We were saying, when I was trying to get those boards, “Man, it would be so cool to work with a brand where we can go on trips, work on videos, whatever.” Just having a platform. And that’s what ended up happening, which is pretty cool.

Eze: Yeah, and I feel like it happened organically. Before E.J. started giving me boards on that New York trip, I left Diego’s company. They offered me some things, but I didn’t fit in some ways. So I kept riding whatever, and then this happened. I like the boards, I like the videos E.J. makes, I’m skating with Emilio. It fell into place.

Where I’m at, while you’re both very different skaters, I think you both fit whatever Hardbody is really well.

Eze: Yeah, we somehow fit something. We don’t know what it is.

Emilio: It’s funny because the first trip we made, we were strictly skating every day. And I feel like on the last days, when we were already super tired and fucked up from skating, we ended up hanging out a little bit more and got time to actually be friends. We ended up getting along really well.

Eze: We all share a sense of humor, for sure.

Is the video just from those two trips? You came for a month and then you came for another month?

Eze: Yeah. On the first trip, we skated so much it was crazy. I’ve never skated like that in my whole life.

Emilio: The last week of the first trip, I was so bummed on skating.

I mean yeah, I’ve never seen anything like that. The amount that you guys skated in a month. How much skating is too much?

Eze: That was too much. After that trip, I couldn’t even walk. But when you get that feeling for skating, when you’re super hyped, it’s sick to go for it. It doesn’t happen like that usually, at least for me. I wanted to — how do you say it? — drain that energy or something. Use that energy. Especially in New York; it’s such a good city for skating. Everything gets you hyped. The concrete, the asphalt, the curbs have that metal. Everything feels like a skatepark.

Why do you guys like ConEd so much?

Emilio: ConEd is sick!

Eze: It’s kind of rough, but it’s not that rough.

I feel like for people here, it’s such a heartbreaker spot.

Emilio: I can’t believe people hate on that spot.

Eze: I remember the first time I was in New York, I really wanted to skate that spot because I’d seen it in a bunch of videos …and none of my homies wanted to go. Tommy, the filmer, was like, “Nah, that spot sucks. The ground sucks. You won’t be able to do anything there.”

Emilio: On the second trip, that was the first spot we went to and Eze tried a trick for like three hours.

Eze: But it’s always like that for me. Running, not even skating. I’m not a skater, I’m a runner.

What do you guys have planned for the next few months, the next year, the summer, whatever?

Eze: Emilio is going to be an economist in the next year.

Emilio: I’m trying to pass these couple subjects that I have left for my degree. Then I’m planning to skate a bunch after that. I have to pass this semester, then I have two semesters left. Right now, I’m doing that and I’m trying to finish this video I have to put out in June. It’s for Vans Argentina and Uruguay. I’ve been studying math and going out and filming the guys. I gotta start editing.

How about you Eze?

Eze: I’ve got to finish this part that I’ve been working on. It was supposed to be this part with Emilio, but he didn’t wait for me. Next month, I’m going to Italy with a couple homies. It’s Tommy and Geronimo Bravo, another homie from here, and Dana, a homie who lives in Barcelona and Tyler Surrey. They’re gonna meet us there. We’re gonna make a trip video and probably stay in Europe for a month after if I can.

Emilio: I’m so bummed I can’t go on that trip.

Eze: This guy was supposed to come, but yeah …economics.