Kurt Winter interview & comp

Portrait Lex Kembery

We caught up with Australian Adidas rider Kurt Winter to find out more about his board sponsor Hype and his love of London. Competition details below.

Interview Henry Kingsford

What have you been up to?
I’ve just been skating around back home in Melbourne since I’ve been back for the last few months. But right now I’m in Perth on an Adidas/SUPERbrand trip. It hasn’t been below 30 degrees so it’s pretty tough. Don’t take the cool weather for granted over there!

Tell us about the Adidas trip to Brazil last year. How was it skating with guys like Mark Gonzales and Dennis Busenitz?
It was a pretty crazy trip having the whole international and global team there. I’ve always wanted to visit South America and it is pretty wild and ghetto over in Brazil in most places. I was quite nervous meeting some of those guys but it’s just as awesome meeting guys like Chewy (Cannon) who is a pretty incredible dude to see skating in the flesh.

Tell us about Hype. Some of our European readers may not be so familiar with the company.
Hype is the rebirth of Popwar Skateboards, and in my opinion it’s a really cool company run by good dudes who do it for the love. They have some exciting things coming up.

Is there a Hype video in progress?
Yes, the whole team is working on parts at the moment. I think I might be having a shared part with one of the new riders so I’m pretty excited about that.

What about Adidas? Diagonal was really good. Any plans for a similar project in the near future?
Yeah, there has been talk of a video but we’ll see what happens. I’d love to film a whole part for those guys.

 

Switch ollie. Photo Henry Kingsford.

You’ve been travelling a lot the past couple of years, throughout Europe, Brazil and the US. Which is your favourite country and/or city?
London is definitely my favourite. I’ve got to know quite a few people there, so I always look forward to coming back to visit.

What is it about the UK that appeals to you? Do you think Australia and the UK are similar culturally?
The drinking culture is pretty similar but you guys love to hit it way more than we do. Your alcohol prices are a lot more reasonable too.

Any plans to visit the UK this summer?
One can only pray. I wish I could but I think I’ll only be going to the states again this year. I hate spending too much time away at once, and it’s expensive

Tell us about your hometown. Do you enjoy spending time there, or would you rather be travelling?
I love it! If you’ve been to Melbourne then you’d understand. It’s great for skating, great for just hanging around, the only thing is the weather that can be a little all over the place, sometimes it’s hard to tell what season it is. But you can’t complain.

Do you make a living from skateboarding?
I’m nearly making a living. I’ve actually started a distribution company here in Australia with my friend Chris. It started off as an idea to just distribute Hype ourselves just so we could get it in the country, but we ended up picking up some more brands. Now we do Landscape, Heroin, Palace, SML. Wheels, SUPERbrand and Hype.

Sounds great. OK to finish off, what are your five favourite things about London?
Tescos, Southbank, Chez (Neil Chester), pubs and just the skate scene in general.

And who are your five favourite Londoners?
In no particular order Henry Edwards-Wood, Karim Baktaoui, Chez, Lev Tanju and John Tanner.

Thanks Kurt. To win a Hype board and t-shirt (see below) and a pair of Adidas Dennis Busenitz shoes please choose your favourite switch kickflip from skateboard video history and tell us why it’s the best. Our favourite answer will win the gear. Please email entries to comp@greyskatemag.com.