INTERVIEWS

Here’s Why Tiago Lemos Left Boulevard for Primitive

Published

4 years ago

January 2, 2019

Tiago Lemos’s visa issues are now all cleared up. Village Psychic honored the occasion by publishing an interview with Felipe Ventura—who has been managing Tiago for the past several years—that goes on the record about what happened. With a fresh Transworld part in tow, Tiago is now back on U.S. soil, and ready to leave his mark on Southern California’s picnic tables and handrails. Ventura also sheds some light on the move from Boulevard to Primitive, which has yet to be fully discussed until now.

Tiago had no plans to quit Boulevard at all, but when he was in London he skated with the Primitive squad and Wade asked Tiago about joining the camp. He wasn’t really tempted until we randomly bumped into P-Rod in Paris at this spot, and he asked Tiago personally. Also being on the team with Carlos Ribeiro helped the deal a lot. It wasn’t until after the Glory Challenge when I was in California, and had a meeting with Heath [Brinkley] and Oliver [Barton], that we shook hands on it. We had six weeks to get an introduction plan together, and they stopped their presses just to get Tiago’s boards made in time. We gave Boulevard that month as notice, and he kept skating their boards until the day the Primitive guys surprised him at MACBA with his pro boards, and welcomed him to the team.

Tiago was on Boulevard since the first time he came to America in 2012; he had mad loyalty to the team, and refused so many offers in the past three years. But eventually, he told me he was ready to move on, try something different, and find himself some new inspiration. From what he told me, it’s all love for both brands because true skaters are behind them both.

Given Primitive’s video output, it’s safe to assume that we’ll be seeing much more of Tiago in the coming months.

Image Via Mike Blabac

INTERVIEWS

‘Good Work’ Episode Features Lisa Whitaker and Meow Skateboards

Published

2 weeks ago

September 23, 2022

Skate Newswire

Skater Lisa Whitaker narrated how she started Meow Skateboards in this episode of “Good Work”.

She also related how she got introduced to skateboarding and how she founded Girls Skate Network in 2003.

Whitaker started her skateboard company in 2012. Now, Meow has more than a dozen talents including Vanessa Torres, Mariah Duran and Kristin Ebeling.

“Lisa has always been the catalyst for women skateboarding”, says Torres who was one of the first skaters to join Meow’s roster.

Produced by Red Bull, the Good Work series features skater-owned and operated businesses.

INTERVIEWS

Monster Energy’s Aspire-Inspire Episode Features Mami Tezuka

Published

1 month ago

August 31, 2022

Skate Newswire

Get to know more about Mami Tezuka in this episode of Aspire-Inspire by Monster Energy.

Surrounded by skaters growing up, Mami showed interest in skateboarding at around the age of three.

She started participating in competitions abroad in 2017. In 2021, she won silver in the X Games Women’s Skateboarding part. She landed third place in X Games Chiba 2022.

Fellow Monster Energy rider and friend Lizzie Armanto describes Mami as easy-going, fun to be around, and inspiring. “When I’m around her, I want to push myself better,”

Tezuka admits that she enjoys filming video parts more enjoyable than participating in contests.

“Competition is kind of stressful for me”, Mami said. But added that she does enjoy seeing everyone at contests.

“Filming part is more fun for me…it doesn’t to be hard, tricky trick, but you can see the style and progress of the skating”, explained Mami.

I want to inspire girl skaters and young people. Do what you love and then don’t be afraid to be yourself.
Mami tezuka

Aspire-Inspire is a mini-documentary series by Monster Energy. Previous episodes featured Aurelien Giraud, Kelvin Hoeffler, Rune Glifberg, Ayumu Hirano, Nyjah Huston, and Matt Berger.

INTERVIEWS

The Nine Club Features Elliot Sloan

Published

1 month ago

August 24, 2022

Skate Newswire

Elliot Sloan narrated how he injured his neck while doing a 900 and his other worst slams on the ramp in this episode of The Nine Club podcast.

He also talked about getting into vert and then mega ramp, building his own vert and mini mega ramp in his own backyard, and hosting the X Games in his backyard among other things in the two-hour podcast.

Sloan is a four-time X Games Big Air gold medalist. In the recent X Games held in his backyard, he landed second place in the debut of the Mega Ramp category and first in the Skateboard Vert Best Trick.