Interview by Daniel Nodzak
Photography provided by Aaron Hobgood
Stefan Brandow released his 2019 profile for Roces yesterday and it’s proven to be some of the best skating he’s ever produced and a worthy contender for one of the best non-vod releases of the year. Over the weekend I caught up with Stefan to talk about the production, team shake-up’s at Roces, his approach to filming sections, and the importance of shifting gears when an edit requires change.
You released your BU crowd funded edit on Dec. 3rd 2018, so it’s been just over a year since your last interview on BU so why don't you bring us up to speed on what's been happening with you over the last year.
At that time I was living in Maryland, had torn the ligaments in my right ankle in the Spring, and was just feeling comfortable on skates again but still couldn’t do a lot of tricks.
In February of 2019 I got to go to the Netherlands and Winterclash. I stayed and filmed a bit with one of my best friends Cavin Brinkman for a 50/50 introduction edit. I came back and made two trips to North Carolina to finish filming for that. Then at the end of May I started moving back to Columbus, Ohio and couldn’t be happier. I’ve always loved the city and so many of my absolute best friends are here. Since coming back I’ve just been doing as much as I can here with everything the city has to offer and skating as much as possible to get back to 100% again on my skates.
Since you mentioned Winterclash let’s get this out of the way because it’s still on a lot of people’s minds. Winterclash 2019 was as crazy as ever but Roces wound up going through some shakeups with Joe Atkinson leaving the team. Can you tell us anything more about that?
I think Joe and Roces both got undeserved ”bad press” for that when neither of them deserved it. Both parties wanted very different things that they couldn’t provide each other so they parted ways. People like to think they know the details of something without having any actual knowledge. I think everyone is in a much better position now anyway.
That’s true, the rumor mill in blading can get ahead of itself really fast especially when it concerns big names of the sport. So let’s try to put some of it to rest. What’s your experience been like as part of the Roces team for the last year and a half?
Absolutely incredible. I've been taken care of way more than I ever would have expected to. They want to hear our opinions and ideas on products and designs. They try to get the team together when they can and keep the conversation of ideas flowing. Everyone on the team is VERY different from each other but it's rad we all have a mutual respect for each other. People seem to think Roces has all this money laying around and can do so much more than they actually can. But even though aggressive as a whole doesn't have/make much money Roces is always trying to support and help us in any way they can. l'm really lucky to be involved with who I am right now because everyone goes above and beyond what is normally done for people in blading.
That’s good to hear. So let’s talk about this edit. When you start to film a proper video how do you approach things? Do you set out with a specific vision you try to stick by or do you let the skating shape the end result?
I pretty much always have songs I love that I want to use for video parts of myself or friends. This one started out with me wanting to use my favorite punk song and having a very specific vision of specific tricks/types of tricks I wanted to do for it. It's how I've always made things but this is the first time it hasn't made things easy. I've had the discussion with friends that I had an easier time filming for my BU part with an injured ankle over 2 months than I did for this one being almost healed and filming for 8 months. There were so many tricks and spots I wanted to get it for it that just didn't work out and filming a lot of the time was extremely frustrating, but I wanted to make the best thing I'd made to date after being injured and skating at a sub-par level for so long. A week before I was supposed to send the file to Roces I changed the song that I had been editing to for 8 months and it all just fell into place and I finally was happy with it.
A perfect example of how filming a lot of the time went for this was when I made a trip to Pittsburgh to get a couple very specific tricks for in an area of the city I had skated so many times before living there. When we had all met up and arrived at the spot we found out the whole area had been torn down and rebuilt so everything I was planning to do was gone. It turned the weekend into a mad rush of trying to find similar tricks to do before the sun set early since it was already Fall.
I guess that’s the way to do it. There’s nothing wrong with trying to stick to a specific vision as long as you know when to cut your losses and pivot in a new direction. What was that song you originally planned to use?
I'm not going to give it out because I'm 1000% making another part to it in the future. I love it too much to not do it justice. But the footage I had for this fit The Mob's "Another Day Another Death" too perfectly for me to use anything else and it really helped, because for months I wasn't happy with the part until I re-edited it to that song it all fell into place.
So you gave us an example of some of the frustrations that came with filming this part but what stands out to you as some of the most fun you had while filming?
Of course filming with my Columbus/Ohio crews is always my favorite thing in the world to do, but two trips for while making this definitely stick out.
The Pittsburgh trip I mentioned was definitely one. It was the last time I was going to be able to see and film with my really good friend Logan Fuller (who filmed most of my BU part) before he moved to Florida. It was a rough filming weekend that didn't go as planned but I did end up getting two of my favorite tricks from the video in the same day (the royale 270 wallride into the bank and the full cab ao soul to transfer soul to wallride). I have just as much fun filming with that crew of scooter riders because they're amazing humans and hitting spots with someone who has a different perspective on what can be done makes for the best sessions.
My girlfriend had never been to Nashville so we went down for a long weekend to hit all the stores and restaurants and tourist spots we both wanted to go to. We met up with the blading crew there one day and my girlfriend was tired and wanted to chill so we decided to skate even though we had never planned on it. I ended up only skating a steep wallrail in the rain with no warm up that also broke me off pretty good but it was unexpected fun getting to see old friends on a trip that was already a blast that wasn't supposed to have any skating involved.
You’ve been very open about how much you enjoy skating and filming along side scooter riders in recent years. Do you have any plans to showcase that dynamic in front of the camera and release something along the lines of a “Stefan Brandow x Scooter Dude” collaborative edit?
I want to SO badly. Those guys are some of my best fiends and they love rollerblading and are so supportive of all of us. It's always a great time riding with all of them I think Logan Fuller and I could make something amazing together since we're on the same wavelength when it comes to filming and spots. Plus our friend Mike Hohmann likes to hit roof spots too so he and I collaborating on something would make a lot of sense.
We’ve talked about Roces but I'd love to know more about what you and your other sponsors have been up to over the last year. You just got your first pro wheel from 50/50 and it's sporting a really nice, clean, design. How did that come together?
Last Christmas I bought myself a pair of balance frames. I had spoken with Lawerence previously when I was in skate crisis since he also runs the Back To Blading pages as well as 50/50. He messaged me when he saw the order and said to let him know how I liked them because he wanted feedback. I've skated the frames in the past so I knew I'd love them and it didn't take anytime to get used to them or feel comfortable. When I let him know he asked if I wanted to be a part of the team and I immediately said yes. I love what he does for blading and he's such a genuine person, plus 50/50 is such a legendary company and to be a part of it is amazing.
A few months later he had started working on wheels for flat setups. He wanted to have an anti-rocker wheel to offer as well and asked me if I wanted it as my wheel. With it being the first product I ever had that was mine I wanted the design to be something special. I tried to incorporate Columbus and our soccer team as much into the design as I could because without my skating crew here I never would have gotten a wheel so I wanted it to be as much for them as me. I ended up using an owl logo that I've used for my clothing brands Outward and Lumen and turning the laurel it sits on into a radial pattern around the wheel. From our soccer team here I used the phrase "Glory To Columbus" and the 60mm/90a size sits in the shape of their crest on the wheel.
Okay Stefan, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me and congrats on the edit. It's incredible and I'm glad people are finally able to see it. In the spirit of the holiday season why don't you end things by letting us know what you're thankful for this year?
I'm extremely thankful for my super supportive parents, my creative and loving girlfriend and her crazy corgi (Yoshimi says hi), and all the incredible friends I've been able to meet through rollerblading especially my Columbus crew. Can't thank Roces, 50/50, and S9 for believing in me and supporting me as much as they do I'm so appreciative. Rollerblading has given my life so much and I don't know where I'd be without it.
