Well we sponsored the Surrey Pride Festival went as a vendor. There were tons of people there having a great time, it was super sunny and hot. The music was pretty good, I liked the first band – Goatface Killaz. They were pretty funny, and they were totally stoked when Ryan Brynelson walked up and threw down his board in front of the stage and started ripping it up Freestyle. Handstand kickflips, Pogos and Spins, and just Walking the Dog across the entire park, the crowd’s attention was suddenly turned to him and the band recognized it right away, calling him “Skater Guy” and giving him props over the microphone while singing their songs.
Ryan attracted many people over to watch him skate as he put on short demos throughout the day and lots of people were taking photos of him. I heard a lot of people talking about how amazing he was.
We showed up, me and Jaden sold some gear, and Ryan Brynelson ripped it. It was a good day.
Alright, Welcome to GLORY DAZE with Hippie Mike. We’re here at the Monke Warehouse and Dry Spot with owner and chief – Ben Chibber.
Hippie Mike: How’s it goin’ Ben?
Ben Chibber: I’m good, how are you?
HM: Good, Um, just to start off, give us some history about Monke Skateboards. Number one, how old are you right now and how long have you been skateboarding?
Ben: Uhhh, I’m 40 years old now and I’ve been skating for I think 27 years now. On and off for 27
HM: What made you wanna start a skateboard company?
Ben: What made me start? Well, actually… I was sponsored in California, and then I didn’t really like California so I didn’t think I could live down there, so I was up here trying to figure out what to do and I went to college and I wasn’t really into the college thing and I was just like, I gotta get back into skating, what can I do? And the first thing I did, actually I started, or was in partnership with a Skate Shop (Ground Level) up by UBC
and I was importing Girl and Chocolate skateboards and basically just carrying that stuff in that skate shop and after that I was just like, wasn’t really into the retail thing so I went for the wholesale, distributor thing. And I started a Skate Company
HM: That’s Monke Skateboards
Ben: Yeah
HM: What’s the hardest part about a skate shop?
Ben: What’s the hardest part of a skate shop is just basically sitting there all day long. And just trying to market the skate shop. I’m into more moving around and being active so it didn’t really fit what I wanted to do in life…
HM: So what year did you actually start Monke?
Ben: Uhhh, well I was thinkin’ about it for a couple of years. Actually I think I started thinkin’ about it in like ’95 and then I was going through different concepts, but I didn’t actually choose one until like ’98
HM: Why “Monke”? Where did “Monke” come from?
Ben: “Monke” came from, ‘cause we’re basically monkeys just fooling around on our boards. You know, like a lot of parents call their kids monkeys, right? When they just like climbing on stuff and playing around and that’s basically what we do, we’re just a bunch of monkeys foolin’ around on a board
HM: Did you create the design?
Ben: I came up with the concept, and then I brought the concept to my artist, and then we worked on it together
HM: Okay, ummm, Spring Clean Up…(laughing)… What d’ya got? Let’s see some Old School here
Ben: Okay, well, this here is the first Monke Video (Pulls video off shelf and shows camera)
HM: Monke Madness
Ben: Monke Madness. I took my time to figure out how to film, and bought a camera, and…
HM: What’s your favorite part when you watch Monke Madness?
Ben: Oh, my favorite part would be, obviously, Ted DeGros. Just his skating back then. He was only 15 or 14 in this video, and he was just such a rad skater. Had a bunch of different guys in this video…
HM: I know a guy named Ben Chibber that’s in that video and he skates Langley Industrial. That’s the old Langley. I think your part starts there
Ben: Oh yeah, yeah that’s right. But uhhh, yeah, Ted DeGros’s in this, Russ Milligan, Geoff Dermer, Trevor Houlihan
HM: Jason Bailey
Ben: Bailey. Infamous Bailey, from Tsawwassen. Can’t forget him. Bunch of other guys. Oh and in the friends section, I had Keenan Milton, Jason Dill, Tony Ferguson, and uhhh, a couple other locals like Cyrus and… I can’t remember who else. I haven’t seen the video in so long. I only made a thousand copies, and this one’s actually still sealed
HM: What year is this, like 2000?
Ben: Yeah it was, it was 2000. It took me 2 years to film this video and then I put it out, and Jeremy Petit – Big Guns…
HM: You know that I moved here in ’98 from Ontario and I knew Monke Skateboards before I moved here?
Ben: Yeah I was workin’ hard back then (laughs), tryin’ to get it out there. That’s sick. It was actually easier to get product out there, but now a days, I mean back then a video was cool, like how many videos came out? But now we got the internet and the so much skate footage out there that you know, you start a skate company and put a video out there, no one even cares
HM: (Holds video up to camera) Do you kids even know what one of these things is? (laughs) It’s a VHS
Ben: I don’t know what else I got here… Oh, I got Russell milligan’s promo tape… I got Brian Weary’s video. People know Brian Weary, 403… Current sponsors: Source Skate Shop, United Riders, 403. I liked Brian Weary, but we just had already too many people on the team. You can only commit to a certain amount of people
HM: So whad’ya think, lookin’ back in time, what was your favorite experience in the 1990’s?
Ben: As a skater, the 1990’s?
HM: ‘ Cause I mean, to me, the 1990’s were what made skateboarding what it is today, because in the 1980’s, skateboarding was huge and then it kinda fell down, and almost fell right off the map, and then the ‘90’s brought it back, and today has fed from those technical days of the 1990’s. So what do you remember the most about the 1990’s
Ben: Oh, just goin’ down to California and meeting everybody that was part of the skate industry, and all the main dudes. I was lucky enough to like meet all those guys and skate with those guys, and hang out with those guys
HM: Like who?
Ben: Well, obviously I grew up with Rick Howard skating here in Vancouver. Now he owns, or has his hands in like 5 different skate companies and he’s done really well for himself. I mean, I remember skating with Jamie Thomas and Ed Templeton, and just being there. I was down there when like World Industries first started and just seeing that. Just seeing those guys kind of doing their thing, like when H-Street was huge, that was pretty sick, right? It was just cool to be down there. And Vision was super big, the company, and just meeting all those crazy fuckin’ ‘80’s skaters. They were just, they were crazy
HM: They were. ‘Cause skateboarding was definitely a different feel back then, like we’re not accepted into society, you know, skate parks if they existed were out in the trees, and really they didn’t exist. So there was Vert Ramps, there was Pools and there was Street
Ben: So you’re saying, what was my favorite, what do I really think about? Well yeah, I guess I think about the first time I ever went down to Cali, and you know, I hung out with Jason Dill when he was like a little kid. And like hangin’ out with the first girl that did a handrail…. Sasha Clark. She’s the first girl to do a handrail. Actually she works for, I think she works for Soul Tech. And just seeing all those people, yeah it was rad. Seeing Gonz down there, that was sick
HM: Yeah
Ben: What little I have, I cherish (laughs) because I don’t have that much, ‘cause I wasn’t that competitive for that long. (Pulls out a skateboard trophy)
Anyways, this one right here is probably my favorite. This is my most talked about skate contest when I was a kid. It was 1989, I don’t know what the day was, I think it was like Spring or something. But we used to go to these contests in Corvallis that were like to qualify for the ones in California. So we’d go to Oregon, and then the next ones would be in California, and then the next ones would be in San Diego, if you made it all the way to the finals. So this was the first one, and I got 4th so that means I would’ve qualified to go to the next one. I got fourth… the first place was this little kid named Chris Brandon, I don’t know how he got 1st, but he beat Salman Agah who got 2nd, and if you don’t know how Salman is he’s the guy that basically made up switch. He did all the first switch ollies, the switch nose wheelies, the switch kickflips, I think. I remember him doing back footed kickflips, I’d never seen that before. He has a Pizza place now in L.A. by the Berrics(Pizzanista!). So anyways, he got second, and then 3rd was this asian guy, I can’t remember what his name was… Yip… no his name was Yip Tat. He got third. And then I got fourth, and then I think Mike Carroll got fifth. And Mike Carroll, obviously everyone know who Mike Carroll is, he was skater of the year before, I don’t know what year it was but I was lucky enough to beat him so… don’t hate me. (Pulls out another trophy) And then there was the mini-ramp contest. So there was the street and then the mini and on the mini-ramp I got 11th.
HM: Nice
Okay tell us about this picture (pointing to a magazine photo on the wall)
Ben: That photo…. I went on a skateboard tour with Vision Skateboards. So they flew me down to California and we went in a van with a bunch of guys from Cali and we went to this Regional Contest. It was an Am Regional Contest, it was the major contest back then, you know. There wasn’t that many things goin’ on back then so that was like the main one. So that was at Phoenix, Arizona. So we all drove out there. This is a really famous spot in Phoenix, Arizona, all the locals know it. And I ended up shooting this photo and they gave me the back of Transworld. And actually I was the first Canadian to get the back of The Skateboard Magazine. I guess that’s a good feat right?
HM: I’d say so
Ben: Actually I want to find the original. (finds it in another room)
I found it. It was sittin’ right there, forgot where I put it. So here it is. This is how everyone knows me, in California. So the Transworld Skateboarding Mag, June 1990, I think the photo was taken in the winter, in Arizona. And on the front cover, here’s Jim Thiebaud (flips magazine over), and here’s me. See Jim Thiebaud’s one of the owners of Real Skateboards, right? And actually at the Real Premiere, I didn’t really know Jim Thiebaud, I had just seen him, like I remember seeing him back in the day doing wallrides in San Francisco. But I went up to him and I was like, “Hey Jim, how’s it goin’? I’m Ben Chibber.” And he’s all like, “Oh I know you.” And then after and I was looking again at the magazine, I was like, oh, maybe he knows me because he was on the friggin’ cover and I was on the back. I don’t know if he got another cover or not, but it was monumental. Back in the day, there was only 2 skateboard magazines and it wasn’t even that thick, so if you were a skater, you would know every single photo in there. It not like now where there’s a million photos and there’s a million magazines, and there’s a million kids, back then there was only a few people in the magazines. Oh there’s Tony Hawk doin’ a 5-0 on a handrail
(Pulls out another magazine)
This is the first Concrete Powder magazine. It’s not even the first Concrete, it’s the first Media Kit for Concrete. There’s Sluggo on part of the cover, and then there’s me. I got the 3rd page. Doin’ a 1 foot.
So this is basically the first print of Concrete. And there I am, I don’t know what it says about me. It talks about the Expo Banks, The Langley Skate Ranch, Rob Nurmi – he was the main photographer. They mention the Richmond Skate Ranch, thanks Kevin Harris. That was huge. And this is how they started the magazine. That’s my buddy Darren at the Langley Skate Ranch, and then I think I got one more. Oh yeah here on the back, right there. And then Colin McKay, doin’ a nose grind tail grab. So sick
HM: Tell me about this picture
Ben: Oh that picture, okay. That’s probably one of the first 5-0 grinds that I ever did. That’s probably ’89 or ’88. See there’s Colin McKay right there (in the background) grabbin’ his nuts. Colin was a funny guy back then, he’s real funny (laughing) he was always up his little antics. I remember that day, that’s in Richmond and we just stumbled across this spot and I ended up 5-0ing, I don’t even know who took the photo
HM: What is that from?
Ben: Someone from the crew just took it and gave it to me. I think that rails still there
HM: Would you 5-0 it right now?
Ben: (laughs) Sure, why not? If I had to, sure…
Oh, that’s my first skateboard right there. (Walks over to a skateboard on the wall) That’s my very first skateboard. I think I have to take it down, it hasn’t been taken down in years. (takes it down) oh my God, it’s got friggin’ dust all over it. Look at that thing. I think I’ve got Craig Johnson’s signature somewhere on here, from like, ’86. Anyway this is my first skateboard. I don’t know how many people you know that they rode their very first skateboard to “the end”… Basically, I had friggin’ no nose, and I had to drill my holes forward for the back truck to even get more tail, ‘cause I had no tail. So I was basically doing my sweepers and stuff, that’s all we did right? We’re doin’ sweepers, and trying to do handplants with these decks, and anyway, I got this deck from Skull Skates. This is a Steve Olson deck, Skull Skates – Steve Olson. And the son skate now and he’s a Pro, Alex Olson, that’s his son. I got it from P.D. Obviously P.D was the man back then, everyone bought their boards form P.D.’s Hot Shop, right? If you were a skater, so…
(Move into Skatepark)
HM: So tell us about The Dry Spot, the indoor skate park, The Dry Spot. Why did you start The Dry Spot?
Ben: Um, I started The Dry Spot because I just wanted to be more connected, locally. With the brand, I was extending myself out into the world and I just felt like I was travelling around too much, and I kind of just wanted to be more local. So I just changed my business plan into more of a Service Type business. And I wanted to collect cash from people, instead of like “bouncing, rubber cheques”. So that’s basically why, because of the down turn of the economy
HM: Has The Dry Spot been successful?
Ben: Yeah, I mean we’re on our third year, and there’s been ups and downs in doing it, so I learned a lot in the last 3 years about people and business… It’s life lessons, but you know, everything’s good.
Do you wanna know what we do at The Dry Spot?
HM: Yeah, Whad’ya do at The Dry Spot? Plug The Dry Spot. How do people come to The Dry Spot? What is it for?
Ben: The Dry Spot is a place that is mostly built for younger kids, so, you know, it’s built for the younger kids, but the older kids are always welcome to come. This is where a parent can drop off their kids, and it’s a safe environment, it’s controlled. We do lessons, and birthday parties, rentals, drop-ins and skate camps.
The Dry Spot
#312 – 8495 Ontario St, Vancouver, BC
604-324-4962
HM: Awesome. I’d like to thank you for coming on GLORY DAZE, and just thanks for everything you’ve done for the skateboard community over the years. I know a lot of people don’t know it, and might not give you the credit for it, but I know what happened
Jaden and Hippie Mike will be rockin’ out this Sunday at the Surrey Pride Festival at Holland Park. We’ll have the booth set up and we’ve got tons of products for sale. Ryan Brynelson will also be present to give freestyle demos.
Located in Carlsbad, California, a suburb of San Diego, Carlsbad High School was built in 1957. Carlsbad High School is renowned for its high level of academic success and graduate levels, with top students from each year attending many of the most prestigious universities in the United States. But the most memorable part of the high school had to be the gap that was skated to its limit for many, many years. From Danny Way’s nollie, to Jeremy Wray’s frontside 360, the Carlsbad Gap was already demoed just in the old Plan B videos. Josh Kasper, Tom Penny, Andrew Reynolds, and so many more amazing skaters destroyed this gap during the 1990’s and the next generation continued the religion. Even Bart Simpson blasted the Carlsbad Gap at one point. I think my favorite trick of all still has to be a very young Brandon Turner in the Shorty’s video – Guilty, with the switch hardflip. If you watch it in super slow mo, it’s baffling to try to figure out where he actually popped on his take off. Insane.
So many different tricks went down over this massive obstacle over the past 2 decades and I’m sure lots of people travelled worldwide to Cali just to skate it. On February 23rd, 2012 the legend of the Carlsbad Gap actually became just a legend.
Demolished forever.
Kris Markovich was the first person to ever kickflip the gap, and was also blessed by being the last person to Ollie it…
I speak of it as my Christmas – July 1st. Every year we go to Seylynn Bowl and hang out with the massive family of skateboarders we have grown up with in this Lower Mainland over the 14 years we have lived here. It used to be the biggest party of the year, but has mellowed down a bit. There’s still a large group of people hanging out and having a good time, but not nearly as many as the past used to see. I remember 350 person Canada Days… I would say about 100-120 this year. The weather could have been a factor on that note since it looked like it was going to pour rain at any given moment for the first couple hours of the day, and it had rained that morning, but I think a lot of people stopped coming out after the incident with Don Hartley in the bowl in 2009. A large part of the crowd seemed to have dies along with Don, and although his spirit lives on every year at on Canada Day, the atmosphere that he helped to create over the years will never be the same.
It was a great day for the event. Tons of people of all ages skating and having a blast together. If you’ve never been to Seylynn you need to go check it out, it is not the easiest place to skate, unless of course you frequently go there. Some of the best skateboarders in the world would just sit there if they showed up to avoid having to learn the lines in front of so many people. This was the first year I can remember in a long time where there was a large group of Beginners in the contest. I think that’s cool. After 18 years for a series you want to see new young faces showing interest. That way it shows initiative that the Bowl Series will continue on and on. It was also the first year in a long time that there was a Long Board Division. And we actually got to have a Beer Relay for once.
A great day, filled with lots of smiles, positive attitudes and tasty drinks. With the likes of Dave Boyce, Andy Anderson, Adam Hopkins, Steve Lange, Jamie Sherratt, Stevie Denham, Dave Priest, Eve Feaver, Hippo, myself, and many more all ripping the bowl all day it just makes for great memories. I’ll add those memories into the bank in my brain containing all the Canada Days of the past.
For those that want to know:
Adam Hopkins 1st place
Steve Denham 2nd Place
Andy Anderson 3rd Place
See you at the next stages of the Bowl Series 2012
One of the moments I long for all Winter every year is getting the tarp off my ramp. It’s a luxury to be able to float a tarp over the ramp all winter so that we can skate it any time we want but it’s two completely different worlds – tarp or no tarp. When the tarp is up, it feels more like you came out just to skate, not to hang out, and you skate more like you’re on a mission. When the tarp isn’t up, you’re surrounded by the beauty of nature and the atmosphere seems way more relaxed and you just skate to have a good time. Plus everyone can actually see the ramp from anywhere in my the yard and we don’t all have to crowd into the floating fortress. We had a good chunk of the Protest Team come out to enjoy the first tarpless skate session, Jordan Strong, Cisco Gooding, Brad Muscat, Jeff Cole, Jaden Easton-Ellett, Andy Anderson, and of course myself and Carrie were both there since we live here.
This looks like a really fun experience for anyone to participate in, just make a skate video maximum 3 minutes long, upload to Youtube and submit to Lucky. Simple.
You have from July 1st – July 31st to submit which is plenty of time to film a 3 minute part. Majority of the kids around here now a days could film a 3 minute part in 3 minutes…
I like that it’s called Canada’s First Online Contest, but it’s unfortunately not. But that’s okay, this is going to be one of the new styles we are all going to see constantly popping up in the future. I like the online contest versions because it gives everyone a fair chance to get some exposure.
I guess we’ll be getting some of the same competitors entering this one as “Show Up Mike”. I think I’ll even be entering a video myself.
It was a beautiful day outside, especially first thing in the morning. Super sunny and just the perfect day to go out for a skate. A lucky coincidence that it was Go Skateboard Day on this day since the weather has not been the friendliest lately in the Vancouver Region. To prove how lucky it was, we got pissed on hard the very next day.
I got down to the Skate Plaza at about 10am to be greeted by hundreds of people of all ages skating their hearts out already. There was a huge line up for “Waffles on a Stick” formed on the side road and the crew was in full effect. Hosted by Vans and Underworld, along with DC, RDS and many others, MC Cyrus was ready to take control of the mob any time he felt like it. I skated around a bit and threw down some tricks on the Wally Ledges around the pillar and then started shooting photos. The best trick contest down the 7 stair was tight. Cody (GhettoBird) from Bonsor hardflipped over the rail, Ryan Prasad and Graham Bohn threw down multiple flip tricks to perfection, Dominic Devries showed up with a backside flip, and then kickflip front boarded the rail – the list went on and on. Cyrus was just handing out boards like Trick or Treat on Halloween. The kids skated the stairs, the hubba, the ledge over the grate, and the hip, and all 4 got demoed…
The mob moved out around 1:30pm to Cambie Bridge, followed by a couple street spots and then made their traffic disrupting way over the Georgia Viaduct towards Strathcona Park. I think there were more people at Strathcona at that one moment than there normally would be in an entire year. The place got destroyed, in a good way. I left early to head to Hastings Park for a BBQ, but not until after Ryan Prasad laid down a Heelflip Nose Manual Nollie Bigspin on the long ledge – solid buddy!!
Watch out for this kid, he is sick.
We headed out to Hastings and were met by the Local Crew, Surrey Stu Benoit, Timmers, McCallum, Adam Hopkins, and so on. Rob Boyce was there too, one of my favorites to watch. The beers definitely came out at Hastings, like usual. And everyone who knew how to rip bowl, did just that. The tricks were insane, huge airs all over the place, and Frontside Kid was going so fast on his grinds I think he may have melted the coping. Out of all, I think Adam Hopkins was the man to watch. Big airs left, right and centre, tailslides, smith grinds, handplants and more. He even blew the crowd away at one point by tossing out a drunken 540 McTwist in the deep end first try – no pads. I thought that was pretty much gonna shut it down, but then Andy Anderson rolled in just as the sun was dimming – Protest Represent!!
Andy had the crowd wowed in the matter of 30 seconds in his first run to warm up. 2 runs to get the legs going and then straight to the Indy Transfer over the gap from the hip to the other quater pipe that I made him learn last time we were there. Andy kills it, and proved it once again. Jeff Cole called him out on a trick he’d never tried before – Frontside 5-0 transfer fakie over the spine, and Andy laid ‘er down 2 tries. The night slowly came to an end and people finally disbursed. It was a great day for skateboarding, and just plain hanging out. It’s a great vibe in this City where all skaters come together in harmony, and it makes me glad to be a part of it.
I heard yesterday at Go Skate Day that the new Richmond Skate Park was finally complete, and they were holding the Grand Opening that night. I was stoked that it was done and planned to go shred it up today since I would be working right near there, except it was raining when I got there.
It’s located right beside the Thompson Community Centre on Granville Ave, near No. 2 Rd. (5151 Granville to be exact)
I took a photo anyway so those who don’t know what it looks like can see. I was a little confused on the style of the park, and some of the obstacles make no sense at all to me. But that’s what happens sometimes when certain cities take things into their own hands. Personally I think I like the old Richmond Skate Park better. I know there was some issues getting this park built, so all I’m gonna say is – at least it happened. Hopefully people enjoy it. Definitely will be good for manual tricks anyway.
I guess I need to go film 5 more tricks now for the Show Up Mike contest…
In 2006, I released the first full length video from Protest Skateboards. A lot of people probably didn’t see this video just because I didn’t publicize it, didn’t have it for sale anywhere, and didn’t utilize YouTube back then, if it even existed. It’s a shame though because it contained one of the craziest skateboard video parts ever made with the2×4 board, which a lot of people have watched now since I put that section on YouTube.
The Video was named Never Give Up.
It was named this for many reasons, mainly just because I’m one of those people that makes tons of goals for themselves and then does whatever it takes to fulfil those goals. And sometimes, most times, there are many many surprise barriers that come into play.
All my life I was one of those guys that was always hurt, and I would get seriously injured often where it would take months to recover and life would never be the same. To some, they might consider me to be accident prone, but for any that knew my lifestyle, I was far from it. I just liked to do crazy things, and invent a lot of new tricks on skateboards and snowboards. I wasn’t accident prone, I just spent my life doing things that if you make a mistake, you’re gonna get hurt.
So we worked on this video for quite a while, and one day in 2005, I got really hurt, blew out my MCL kickflipping down a 3 block. I couldn’t believe it happened, especially on such a basic trick down a fairly small gap compared to some of the stuff I used to fly over, but it happened. I was out. It took me almost 7 weeks to put my cane down permanently and start skateboarding again. 1 week later I was asked to do a Video Shoot for a Commercial this guy was making for a contest and I said yes. I started ignoring the pain and doing flip tricks on the flat banks and over this pyramid. I had a great day, and didn’t get hurt!
I think I was too excited though because as the guys were putting away their equipment, I stopped them and said, “I got one more…”
I pulled out this fold up table and told them I was going to hijump it, you know I jump over it and my board goes under and we come back together in perfect unison.
Blam!! My back foot slips off my tail when I land it and fully folded my knee over sideways, again.
So my friend Homer carried me out to the car and we went back to my house so I could wallow in sorrow. I had still not been to see a doctor, and had no plans for it. I spent another 6 weeks recovering again, all the time gaining weight and losing skills. It was painful, mentally more than anything. But I knew one thing, I was not going to quit. I worked hard to recover, and I made my way back, and unfortunately had to give up big gaps after that injury, but I still skate hard everywhere I go.
It just proved my entire way of life though –
Go out and try new things, fight for what you believe in and work hard to bring your beliefs to reality, take what’s thrown at you and throw it right back, get back up every time you’re pushed to the ground, and whatever you do…
Never Give Up!!
Intro Poem:
As your body crashes into the ground,
You know you’re hurt, you want to scream,
Scream from the pain,
or more the frustration,
Your life could be over,
a career down the drain,
Pain crushes your soul like a tidal wave of mass destruction,
