Postcard From Marseille — An Interview With Victor Campillo

Interview by Elliott Wright
Portrait by Guillaume Lebel
Other Photos by Victor Campillo

QS has harbored a distant fascination with the Marseilles scene ever since the first Unemployed Skate Co. edits began popping up on Vimeo. Over the years, it has only grown, seemingly alongside the scene’s international profile and collection of new spots. Victor Campillo — originally from Aix-en-Provence, France — has been on a wild productive streak over the past several years and stands out as somewhat of an ambassador for the Marseille scene. We had Elliott Wright, a onetime Marseilles resident, get ahold of him to gain an understanding on why the south of France feels like its having such a moment.

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Tax Day

Just got back from Greece, so maybe there’s a heightened awareness thing going on, but it kinda seems like ~going to Greece~ is becoming more of a moment now that a second generation of Americans has successfully re-done the entire list of ABDs from the 2000s at the Le Dome double-set ;) ANYWAY! You should watch the new sixteen-minute edit from our Greek friends at Screw Loose Fastening Co. to break you out of the République / Southbank / Barcelona / etc. European content spiral. It looks different, and is a lot of fun.

Jenkem has the raw files from Gang Corp’s Black Business video.

Elsewhere in a northern corner of the state: b-sides and extras via the Buffalo-based Jeb video that we linked up a bunch of parts from last year. Another upstate trip is definitely still on the 2019 resolutions list.

“The history of skateboarding is the history of the built environment, and of the ruins left by overreach.” Here’s a really rad photo essay about how hill-heavy condo developments in North Carolina that were left all but abandoned by the Great Recession have become ripe for skateboarding.

“Stranger Than Paradise” is the new mini vid from our new gen Miami friends at Andrew Skateshop:

Aaron Herrington has a day in the life-esque segment on Thrasher where he discusses Street View-driven deep dives for New York spots, sobriety, etc.

Paul Young did a quick refurbish of some used footy for a tribute to sandwiches.

“Places are all very different but also the same, right? A lot of it is what you carry around in your head.” Big past week for Jacob Harris on the ol’ non-Thrasher, non-Instagram skateboard content circuit: Atlantic Drift’s auteur talks to the Slam City Skates blog about his process and how Las Vegas is kinda the same as London at the end of the day ♥

Can’t tell where these dudes are based out of, but there’s a solid bit of New York footage in the teaser for the Sportsman Shit video.

How insane is it that the two French skate spots most recognizable to Americans have simply been, like, renovated and restored to brand new condition over the past twelve months? There’s actually this cool place by the Brooklyn Bridge that could use a similar treatment, but that probably makes too much sense, right? :(

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Enjoy Giannis in these cute early years before you have to get used to him breaking your team’s heart for the next ~decade are so.

Quote of the Week: “The Sombrero is the only spot in New York that isn’t a bust.” — Cyrus Bennett

En Route

They were gon’ lie to you but they just had to tell the truth. The dickhead who couldn’t get his weird bagel order fast enough last month got arrested, by the way. Imagine explaining to your loved ones that a slow cinnamon bagel was your reason for getting locked up. Be patient with everyone 2k19 we outtt.

No, “First Post of 20__” this year because we’re already on the way…

Instead of rumor mongering, Village Psychic got on their responsible journalist shit and found out the truth behind the hearsay re: Tiago getting banned from the U.S.

Not sure what Soup Skateboards is, but their new promo has Jason Spivey footage + it’s always a pleasure to see footage of the childhood-favorite Zipper Ledge (across from the grate ledge on 114th and Morningside), which has been under scaffolding for a century.

We had to call an emergency office meeting on Sunday to debate whether or not we could, in clear conscience, link a video that has a 360 shove it front smith body varial out in it. Talks were held, feelings were hurt, norms obstructed, but after hours of deliberation and taking into account the slow news week behind us (plus the really sick FedEx line), the link passed along party lines. Sebo Walker has an “8 Days in New York” part up on Thrasher where he skates some of the city’s standard tourist traps.

Bronze uploaded a few John Shanahan outtakes from It’s Time.

Quick New York section at the start of “Pack,” a video by [I’m guessing] some Austin dudes.

~Boil the Ocean want some more~ here’s an addendum to the site’s “Best Parts” countdown, with ten more worthwhile 2018 parts, and quick blurbs about each.

Mark Gonzalez made a video tribute to Dylan Rieder’s 360 flips.

Peter Spooner’s new video, Skating is Easy, has a New York premiere in Bushwick tomorrow. 101 Wilson Avenue, 8 P.M. Flyer here if you think we’re lying. This line from it is sick.

Lyon seems fun :)

McNally Jackson is staying in the same space. Lurk on.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: The Sports Desk is a stubborn place. It wasn’t until the 2016 Finals and The Greatest Sports Game of All-Time that we realized, yeah, we gotta stop with our silly Lebron freeze. Enough is enough. But we still can’t bring ourselves to give James Harden a play of the week because of all the excruciating final five minutes of NBA games he has robbed from our lives. So here’s a young man doing a behind the back dunk…in a high school game.

Quote of the Week: “Yeah, it’s terrible…but I’ll still skate it all the time.” — Zered Bassett re: that new skatepark next to the B.Q.E., which nobody can seem to come on a consensus on a neighborhood for.

Happy belated birthday to Max Palmer da G ♥ thanks for the inspo. Baby you’re a firework.

An Interview With J.B. Gillet

Intro & Interview by Frozen in Carbonite
Collage by Requiem For A Screen with photos from @scalpfoto + ?

Summer of 1998: I had just moved into a closet on W 124th Street. The only video I had was Rodney vs. Daewon 2. However, I did not own a VCR, so I took the train down the The Wiz across from Union Square, purchased one, and lugged it uptown in a backpack. As I digested the video over the next few days, J.B.’s trick selection, previously-unseen Euro spots, speed and precision with which he attacked everything (e.g. that one nollie frontside 180 flip) [Ed. note: nollie half cab flip*] made it seem as if the dude came from not another continent, but from another planet. Planet EuroTech.™

ANYWAY, here we are twenty years later, checking in with him on the Quartersnacks web site. Circles, bro, life fuckin’ moves in circles.

+++++++

Yo, what have you been up to lately?

I’ve been in France, just skating but taking it easy. I’m supposed to film for Hélas with a filmer in Lyon, but it was so hot this summer; we didn’t really do shit. I’m going on holidays…taking a break in Hong Kong and Bali.

Do you have some kind of exercise or health regimen that keeps you skating at a high level?

I’m drinking a Heineken now [laughs]. I try to eat not too crazy, but I’m not too radical about it. With age, there is no secret; you have to stay a little healthy and do a little exercise. I go in at the gym a little bit sometimes. It didn’t matter before, but now I see the difference — so fuck it.

One of your last clips was filmed all in San Francisco. How has the city changed since you lived there?

It was kind of different, eh? There is no more Pier 7 — no more plaza skating, really. There are some new kids, but then you still see the old guys, like Chico is still there, and the guy from FTC, Ando. It’s like the GX guys doing their thing over there. I stayed only one week and it was pretty short, so it’s hard to tell, also.

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Hell Yeah Yeehaw

Tompkins Mega Ramp via @kyotaumeki

Thanks to everyone who grabbed something from the webstore. We spent all holiday weekend catching up on orders, and if you ordered something, and have not received it a shipping notification yet, you should expect a confirmation e-mail within the next 24-48 hours. Thanks again for the support ♥ Available now at your local shop in case you missed out on something as well.

Keith been moving calm, don’t start no trouble with Keith

Here’s a belated “spring break” clip from the Kyota and the Frog Skateboards Jr. team. (#TRENDWATCH2018: LNDN DRGS? Didn’t see that one coming…)

Some inspiration for the 30+ crowd — a Patrick Bös part, entitled “Visiting Friends,” of which a ~third is filmed in New York.

New five-minute montage from the guys who everyone spent the past decade ripping off: “Gang Green” via Winnepeg’s Green Apple Skateshop. It’s somewhere between Ty Evans’ Genesis video from 1997, and Sinner in Theatrix.

TWS uploaded a remastered edition of 411VM #3. Philly Metrospective is gold.

Boil the Ocean weighs in on Jason Jessee.

It’s helmet season! Cooper Winterson has a three-minute clip from Riverside Skatepark, which contrary to a fall 2017 QS tee, was not taken by aliens, and has not been demolished for its approved redesign.

“No one knew what kind of permit he needed to operate a ski lift in a snowless area.” Huck usually posts awful stuff pertaining to skateboarding, but they have an interesting-enough article about a dude who retired from winemaking in the late-80s, and tried to essentially make a ski hill but for skateboards outside of Montpellier, France. The video kinda paints a better picture than the photos though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nothing to do with skateboarding but everything to do with skateboarding: the design podcast, 99% Invisible, tells the story of how curb cuts were invented in America.

Spot Updates1) For whatever fortuitous reason, the Parks Department removed the knobs from the runway of the Battery Park City ledge-to-flatbar. Haven’t been here all spring, so not sure how recent it is, but yeah, it’s a go. 2) The scaffolding is off from the Chase steps.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: We’re potentially in for a 4-0 Finals, so here’s Joel Embiid making a funny on a Philadelphia streetball court.

Quote of the Week: “Bro, you should just move to Kips Bay.” — Brengar

This is the best song he’s made since HNDRXX came out. Beast Mode 2 orrrrr…?